Holiness Desires Perfection
Leviticus 22:31-33
Introduction.
In Lev. 21 and 22, we see the standards given the priests and the high priest are even higher than that of the general public.
Since we are a royal priesthood, the rules given to the priests are of special interest to us today.
Last week we covered the sexual purity that the Israelites were to possess.
Today, we will note some of that as well, but to a higher standard.
This was because of their duty as representatives of God among the people.
Their character, their lives, even their physical bodies had to be above reproach.
We will consider the applications that this has for us today.
These two chapters are divided up in a particular way.
Lev. 21:1-6, 10-12 deal with death rituals.
Lev. 21:7-9, 13-15 deal with sexual purity.
Lev. 21:16-24 deals with priestly defects.
Lev. 22:1-16 deals with eating holy bread.
Lev. 22:17-30 deals with proper worship.
There is a level of perfection that must be maintained for the priests and for their sacrifices.
Perfect Cleanness.
Perfect Purity.
Perfect Priests.
Perfect Food.
Perfect Sacrifices.
Body.
Perfect Cleanness (21:1-6, 10-12).
Perfect Purity (21:7-9, 13-15).
Perfect Priests (21:16-24).
Perfect Food (22:1-16).
Uncleanness made it impossible to eat the holy food.
Recall that for many of the sacrifices the Israelites made, the priests were to eat of it.
It is their food, after all (22:7b).
But it was made holy, set apart for the purpose of atonement, so only those who were clean could eat of it.
We talked about so many ways people became unclean, Lev. 11-15; 17, and each one of those could prevent one from eating it until they became clean.
Here we see who could eat of this holy food.
Only the priest’s close family could eat of it.
Since it was their food, they relied on it for their sustenance.
If there were any other way for the individual to be taken care of, they were to go that route.
The hired servant can pay for food with the money he is receiving.
The one who is purchased is likely not being paid and relies on the priest for food.
The daughter who married an outsider was to be taken care of by her husband.
But the widow or divorcee who has no means now, was to be taken in again.
If accidentally eaten, one fifth was returned, as a trespass offering.
Application.
We recall that a laborer is worthy of his wages.
As the minister, I have a right to expect support for the work I do here (1 Cor. 9).
The elders have been so gracious as to provide me with that support, which could not be done without your offerings.
So you are helping me to provide for myself and my family just as the people provided for the priests back then.
But there is a limit to what the church should do.
One of the things we as the church are to do is to take care of our own—others yes, but our own comes first.
Among those that we see discussed in Scripture are our widows.
Back then there was no social safety net, and if a woman’s husband died and she didn’t have any children or they refused or couldn’t help, the widow wouldn’t be able to take care of herself.
But the priority is that the family takes care of the widow, if they can (1 Tim. 5:16).
If any believing man or woman has widows, let them relieve them, and do not let the church be burdened, that it may relieve those who are really widows.
If she could find another way to be taken care of, she should take it so the church could allocate those funds to help those who really need it.
That principle we see in the OT and here in the NT.
As a sidenote, this is the law that David bent in 1 Sam. 21 when he and his men asked to eat the showbread, since he was not a priest. But it’s also why the high priest asked if they had “kept themselves from women” – this is helpful in understanding Jesus’ response in Mark 2:23-28 and the discussion we had on that some months ago.
Perfect Sacrifices (22:17-30).
The sacrifices also were to have no defect.
One of the interesting connections we see is that neither the priests nor the sacrifices of the people were to have any defect in them.
Sacrifices could be offered by the Israelite or the foreigner.
These sacrifices were not obligatory, but were made of one’s own free will.
We definitely see the burnt offering, the grain offering, and the peace offerings were all offered as free will offerings (Lev. 1-3; 6-7).
People could choose to make those sacrifices.
Sometimes these were obligatory, as when commanded at other times, but generally speaking, one could offer such things freely.
Such offerings were not to have any defect.
God through Malachi judges the people for offering defective sacrifices (Mal. 1:8).
“And when you offer the blind as a sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? Offer it them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you favorably?”
The sacrifices were also not made too soon or with its mother.
For many, the younger the sacrifice is, the better—there’s less of a chance of it developing a defect.
So the Lord provides a lower age limit for a sacrifice being made—8 days old.
This allows the sacrificial animal to grow up enough to be acceptable to the Lord.
Sacrificing the young animal and its mother together would also severely deplete the population.
God was protecting their ability to make sacrifices.
Application.
Christ is both our High Priest and our sacrifice.
As the high priest was to have no defect, neither was the sacrifice.
Christ fulfilled both requirements in one fell swoop.
No sacrifice could be more perfect than He—perfectly sinless and without any defect whatsoever.
He is our ultimate sacrifice, but we also know that He is not our only sacrifice.
The Bible talks of other sacrifices we can make as well: sacrifice of praise, sacrifice of our lips, sacrifice of our material things, our bodies as a living sacrifice.
We should offer them up without reservation, wholly thinking of Him.
Paul writes that we need to “present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is our reasonable service” (Rom. 12:1).
When we live the life God wants us to live, we can present ourselves without spiritual defect to Him.
This can only be accomplished with the blood of Christ, that perfect sacrifice.
Again, will we mess up? Sure, but we must continue to strive for the righteousness God desires.
Conclusion.
God wants us to be holy as He is holy.
That holiness requires righteousness, requires perfection.
We saw the different ways in how that manifested itself for the priests under the Mosaic system.
For us, while the particulars are not the same, the spiritual applications are very much applicable.
We are to work to maintain righteousness, purity, and moral excellence.
Christ has already taken care of things from His end, now we much return the favor, treating Him with the holiness and reverence that He deserves.
We are human beings and prone to failure.
We know that we will not live perfect lives, so what’s the point?
The Lord knows this, and made provisions for this in the Mosaic Law knew this.
The people and the priests were to offer sacrifices to make them clean and holy.
The Lord has made provision for us, too, in this Christian age with the blood of Christ.
As we quoted this morning, we are not to continue in sin.
But John says that if we do sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
Let us take full advantage of His advocacy by becoming a Christian, and making things right with God through Christ today!