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Hey, you're listening to cut for time a podcast from Faith Church located on the north side of Indianapolis My name is Claire Kingsley And I'm Dan Breitwieser each week one of us will sit down with the person who gave Sunday's sermon to discuss their message Cut for time is a look behind the scenes of sermon preparation and they'll share with us a few things that we didn't hear from The sermon on Sunday. Thanks for listening and welcome back to another edition of cut for time I'm Dan Breitwieser and you know, we should just have a nice easy conversation conversation very Easy tops to talk about Light-hearted. Thanks so much for joining us today Yeah, I have to ask how many times have you ever had to preach about the topics we're going to talk about from the pulpit As we're talking about Leviticus 15 Leviticus 17, I mean this 20th time 25th time like how many times are we talking about? Well, I've never preached through Leviticus 15 before but there's certainly been yeah enough opportunities to talk about sexual morality sexual perversion honoring God with our bodies and desires Yeah, not not quite to the level of detail that we get into in 15 and 18 Admissions and menstrual cycles. 

I feel like there was a reason why Claire went on vacation this week. I really Said oh, I see what we're gonna be talking about. You know, Dan, I think this is your week So no, but I again just as we we worked through Leviticus, I really appreciate how We're I mean, obviously we can't get into every verse and we can't you know, we're not doing a three-year study on this, but I always appreciate at faith how we Don't skip over some uncomfortable topics or You know This isn't this isn't relevant at all. 

Let's just move on to you know, the the highlights in the Old Testament And so we're gonna try to do our best job to to give it justice and we have some good things to talk about So pastor Jeff again Thank you for joining us and once you give us kind of a rundown of your sermon from Sunday Yeah, we are continuing in this length series that we've been in in the book of Leviticus and we talked about This progression kind of a literary progression towards the center of the book and the high point of the book Which is the Day of Atonement in Leviticus 16 and as we've gone kind of metaphorically up the mountain towards that high point And then we come down out of the mountain. There's Parallel texts that are connected to each other. So on the on the way up the mountain we see kind of the Impurity the uncleanness that needs to be cleansed and then coming down the How we live out the holiness that we've experienced in meeting with God. 

So we looked at Leviticus 15 and Really kind of disordered bodies how the fall has affected us in the most private intimate parts of our lives and then on Leviticus 18 the parallel chapter is Looking at how we live that out particularly in relationships and this was all about various ways various things that God is warning his people against in terms of sexual immorality and just all kinds of Perverse degraded behavior In terms of how we connect with one another how we use our bodies how we're actually called to honor and respect one another and and keep the Good gift of sexuality that God has given us inside the boundaries that God has provided so that we actually experience life in following his way and then we talked about some application of kind of What that would look like for us And the sermon was titled Disorder in the tent and we are you know, you know one week away from really that the pinnacle of Leviticus 16 so yeah, and and really kind of the the big idea and all that was Because Christ has restored everything that's disordered we honor him with our bodies and our desires That's and that's I think really what those chapters are about what the sermon was trying to focus on Yeah in previous weeks, you know, it's been the disorder that's you know outside the camp and things like that Now we're talking about the things that are are truly the most personal and you know to us so What you know, what what are the things that you had to cut for time and then we'll get to a few other questions we have Yeah Just some thoughts about I had additional thoughts. There's so much we could say about this in terms of some of the application points that In terms of honoring God just with our bodies Right like to recognize that we honor the body. We pursue holiness We embody a different kind of life so one is just the reminder that we're called to care for our bodies and that's actually a way of worshiping God and Expressing gratitude for his gift rest sleep nutrition and exercise not about vanity but about good stewardship and gratitude That we're called to use our bodies for good Again that reminder that our bodies don't ultimately belong to us to do whatever we want with But so we're called to serve others Physically to help to show up to be presence And we use our words to speak life and truth and peace and wholeness not to harm or tear down people and well, I one of the things that I I wrestled with that do we have the time to really talk about it and We're obviously in this moment Becoming more and more aware and speaking out more and more about What has we've realized has been a decades-long? Scandal at the highest levels of rich and powerful people across parties from no political party who have been involved in the trafficking of girls and abusing of them for their own pleasure and Christians ought to be the people who speak out for protection of the vulnerable and who demand justice for abusers and predators no matter who they are and again, I'm yeah, that's not something that I'm saying everyone has to be involved in but it's just It's so significant and it's such a clear violation of what God calls us to be as his people and what leads to life and it's just so big that I think there is a need and an opportunity for Christians to Use our bodies to speak out to act out On behalf of the weak and the vulnerable and just as you know The church has done for decades in terms of the pro-life movement that's another great example of using our bodies using our voices to Seek the protection of the vulnerable and to defend the rights of the innocent You know, we just we want to make sure we have healthy boundaries in our relationships to dating relationships that honor God You know making an intention that we're gonna choose wisdom over just following impulse And it's all coming from this realization that our bodies belong to Christ ultimately The Apostle Paul does a great job bringing this together in 1st Corinthians 6 where he writes Don't you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you whom you have from God You're not your own you were bought with a price so glorify God in your body and It's just it brings together so much that relates to where we are in Leviticus that God desires purity for his people and purity in his temple and if we're Christians our Bodies are now where God's Holy Spirit dwells If you are a temple, I am a temple my body is a holy site and So that is meant to make us really slow down and stop and think wow. 

What what does it mean? For what I do with and how I treat my body given that it's literally where it's God's dwelling place. It's his holy sanctuary And and that should boy there's just so much with to think about to unpack I You know that I also want to get into talking a little bit about not just restraining ourselves but reorienting reordering our desires that Part of what Leviticus is suggesting is that we're not it's not just about saying no, but learning to love what is good And so we want to fill our lives with things that shape our desires in the right way Scripture and worship and and a healthy Relationships To recognize this. This is a long process, right? It's it's a lifelong pursuit, but we can start now to train our desires Because what we choose becomes what we eventually want, right? Like we have the ability to actually train ourselves to choose things that are for our good and that process helps it become what we desire and anticipate More and more often and finally we need one another to do this, right? Like we're not doing this on our own. 

We need community. We need accountability We need to be known. We need to be present with others to bear each other's burdens And to to just you know be a people where confession and restoration are normalized right that is that we're a church where People can say I'm struggling and they will hear. 

Thank you for letting me know. You're not alone I want I want to walk through this with you. So yeah, there's just there's there's so much That we just I've literally had to cut for time. 

There's yeah, there's so much there I know I was personally blown away with again, you know in the you know journalism business at the time when Indianapolis hosted the Super Bowl and What a huge effort that was to get the word out that there was sexual trafficking I mean like there's just a huge Yes, right shows up when a Super Bowl happens, right? And you know Indianapolis is hosting the final four and I'm sure to a lesser degree There's a whole industry that just shows up, you know in our city And so yeah, you know, it's yep. It's the powerful. It's it's but it's a we are we are A Sinful people and so that You know, it's not just that's happening over there. 

Yeah Here, you know and so be aware of that and to you know, and as you say to speak up to do what we can You know for that and and I also thought about the the desires. I mean that you know, we are We become what we desire. We really do, you know see how much You know over time what you continue to choose to feed really You turn into and so yeah thinking through well And that's you know That's such a good reminder again as we did as I did talk about on Sunday that our culture of course is telling us all Constantly if you desire it then you should have it You should go for it. 

And the worst thing that you can do is deny yourself some desire, especially in this area of sexuality and and kind of saying Well, no, not all desires are good and actually to live Under the direction of your desires becomes a kind of slavery and you're essentially surrendering control of Yourself to whatever comes into your head or your heart and God is saying I actually want you to be free I don't want you to be enslaved even to yourself or to your own desires and there's a life and a freedom and a joy that God is holding out for us if we will partner with him and inviting him to direct our desires appropriately and You know broadly this isn't just about sexual desires about all kinds of desires. I mean all of us have this Bent and this brokenness still lingering in us towards things that are not good things that are not healthy things that are not Life-giving and that's you know, I mean we just see it of course over and over in Paul's letters and in throughout the New Testament Peter's letters James letter you know, they're constantly having to direct God's people into what is actually life and freedom and joy in Christ in a way from competition and pride and backbiting and gossip and slander and sexual immorality and greed and Drunkenness and all of it right like all of us were fighting a battle against desires that would Take control and lead us away from it really does I mean if you it I think it's easy to see from you know drug addiction maybe is the easiest like right visible image of that where you You know desire for the high and then suddenly And not not for everybody not but everybody, you know so many examples you can see where people are then You know Their lives are ruined by that one desire And I think if you can remove the drug and instead choose, you know, put in you know loft lust or self-satisfaction or you know money or those kinds like those desires Yeah, yeah, I'm an addict too and they will also ruin your life Maybe in a more culturally acceptable way, but yeah, yeah, they will really and so that that that is really the Freedom that Christ offers. Yeah, absolutely. 

Yep Well a couple things I want to throw in one who did get a wonderful comment. Thank you for getting that into us Someone just wanting to say, you know Jesus restores intimacy with God for all of us and I really think none of me about these things that are so Intimate to ourselves. I mean that is what Leviticus really does speak to and so And and this person wanted to point out, you know, God doesn't provide intimacy all intimacy only for those who are married. 

And so Jeff what do you think about this and you know, is this true and and how would you respond to that? Yeah, that's it's a great great comment and absolutely, right Yes, I Think I just mentioned that as part of what Christ does like just one little part of a you know bullet point and I wish I'd had more time to Pull that out more because there's there's a lot to say on that. That's absolutely right that Jesus is restoring covenant and intimacy Not just for people who are married but for all who belong to him in in male and female That image of Christ as the bridegroom and the church being his bride is It mean it sort of forces us it stretches our thinking about I'm a man, but I'm part of the Bride of Christ and I have in Christ an intimacy with him That's even greater than the intimacy that I have with my wife whom I'm married to and for single people, of course I mean, it's it's all of us, right? Jesus is after our hearts and he's ultimately working at restoring the closeness the intimacy in relationship that Adam and Eve had not even primarily with each other but with the Lord when when they were walking in the garden in the cool of the day and yes in the Bible marriages use this kind of a picture of the relationship of Christ to his church Which again is reinforcing that point exactly that that Jesus is rebuilding intimacy between us and him And we could even say more broadly within the church community Not in that not in a physically intimate way He's he's restoring the intimacy the closeness the community the trust the love the vulnerability the support that marriage also pictures, but is also embodied in the church as a community and Man, we could we need to do a cut for time on this cut for time to dive into this But you know, there's that statement that Jesus gives in the Gospels when he says You you don't understand there's not gonna be giving and taking in marriage in heaven and That so there's a you know, that's a whole other conversation but Jesus seems to be saying but he said you but you'll be like the the angels who are before God and it's just so we Struggle with that. It's Jesus saying like we're not gonna have gender where there's not gonna be sexuality or sexual expression and Well, like I said, it would take a whole cup for time to unpack that but but the significance there is Jesus seems to be indicating that marriage may just be an expression and a relationship that exists in this world and in You know this created order as it exists now that doesn't necessarily carry over into heaven and our eternal state so I again, I don't I haven't really dug a lot into that but it does tie into the point that the person was making that There's a relationship with Jesus and an intimacy That's even greater than that of husbands and wives that we all Both individually and then corporately experience with Christ that definitely does carry over into eternity That we get to experience some of now That may not even be true of marriage itself and so in some ways the the not just in some ways maybe the most profoundly the intimacy that we have with Christ is Absolutely eternal and significant and foundational in ways that as good as marriages Marriage isn't eternal and foundational to our identity. 

It's it's big but that means that there's nothing that married people have that single people are lacking in terms of Relationship with Christ and and part of Jesus most important work is Re-establishing and nurturing the intimacy that we have with God our Father through Jesus our bridegroom and that absolutely will carry over into eternity well, very cool. I've yeah, it's a Powerful words regardless of your marital status. Yeah. 

Yes Yeah, and then and then it applies obviously then that applies to children too, right? because children clearly can and do come to faith in Christ well before the age of Potentially getting married and Jesus has a real and vital relationship with them And and they have their own faith and they have their own relationship with Jesus and that's that's what's so awesome, right? like it's You're not missing out on anything in relationship with Christ in terms of not being married. Yes question for you connected to this sort of idea and Intimacy and losing the intimacy. I think it's been really good throughout These we should just be reminded, you know that The uncleanliness that we're talking about in in Leviticus Isn't the same thing as sin Because you know, it's it's and I appreciate how you explained it in terms of you know it's just a Reflection of what's maybe appropriate to be in God's presence in a very busy tabernacle I thought that was a really good way of kind of thinking through it. 

No word, but One thought that I sort of had and come on get your opinion on this too is is You know, I feel like in some places especially in the New Testament the uncleanliness or uncleanness that it talks about and again, maybe for more of a Pharisees standpoint But I mean some of it may be the you know, women bleeding the example that you had brought up And I think that would be definitely more of a ceremonial and cleanliness than sin per se But it's like at various points the New Testament it there would be some Uncleanliness equals sin. I'm and and is that so is there is there multiple meanings of that word and maybe there's a ceremonial uncleanliness that we sort of Maybe in our heads today can think of as sin But in other places maybe in Scripture, maybe specifically maybe not in Leviticus where those two things are more closely connected Right. Yes Yes, and yes, you're you're right and that is true But we even see it here in Leviticus and that's in a sense. 

What you're what you're talking about is this whole framing structure that we've been talking about through Leviticus where The ceremonial cleanness and the ceremonial purity is connected to The lived-out holiness and and the practical purity in terms of how we live out the fact that we've been cleansed so the the the ceremonial cleanliness purity is pointing towards moral righteousness and embodied holiness and we kind of see a sense of that even in Leviticus 15 Like in in verse 31 where God says you shall keep the people of Israel separate from their uncleanness Lest they die in their uncleanness by defiling my tabernacle So in this chapter again, God is talking about kind of the ceremonial purity the ceremonial uncleanness that can actually lead to death if they don't deal with it, so There there's definitely all the overlap of language there also, right that the uncleanness can be about Ceremonial purity but uncleanness can also be an expression of defilement in terms of what we do I think Nick did a good job bringing this out a few weeks ago where he said yes, there's The laws around ceremonial purity and uncleanness and being unclean is not sinful But it can become sinful in itself if you don't actually deal with it So if if you're aware that you're impure unclean and you just say but I don't care And I don't care what God says about it. That is self is sinful And then yes sort of by I forget what the you know nerdy Actual term is for but but by linguistic kind of extension The uncleanness is also a category for moral impurity and moral degradation That gets picked up in Leviticus and then through the New Testament as well, right like that that uncleanness is not just about About Ceremonial purity but is also about moral purity and I mean we kind of understand that right like That unclean isn't just about Purity and needing cleansing but it can also Mean we're morally defiled and degraded and and we need forgiveness as well as cleansing So yes I think the New Testament writers are certainly picking up on that language and the terminology and the breadth of that that meaning around uncleanness that Can be about purity but can also definitely be about morality and behavior that is objectively wrong and needs forgiveness and not just cleansing and I think which is a perfect kind of lead into Looking ahead to next week and Realizing that oh, man, we are all unclean and boy we And so can you kind of maybe just give us a little Taste of what next week and and Leviticus 16 is going to bring for us as we really You know bring this home for for Palm Sunday and Leviticus 16 Yeah, great question Coming up this Sunday on Palm Sunday We're gonna I think look back a little bit to if you remember the in Leviticus 10 where Aaron's sons go into the temple and they just decide that they're gonna worship God, however, they want and it leads to destruction because they're Defiling the temple and disobeying God and at the same time in Holy Week Jesus enters the temple to confront a similar kind of distortion remember that that As soon after Jesus enters Jerusalem on Palm Sunday He goes to the temple and he clears out the people who are similarly kind of defiling God's holy place and and trying to reestablish order and worship of God and preeminence of prayer and Looking to the Lord in this place and not to just whatever seems good to us And so it's it's kind of a the the preparation. It's it's the cleansing that reminds us that the defilement is not even just out in the world. 

It's not just in our bodies, but It's it's even at the center of God's temple that needs cleansing Before we get to the high point of the Day of Atonement On Good Friday and Easter where we'll be seeing Jesus final ultimate work to Fulfill and complete everything that Leviticus has been showing us and pointing us towards and encouraging us to hope in Fantastic. Well pastor Jeff. Thank you so much for joining us. 

I can't wait for Sunday and to continue this Atonement series as we're you know, smack dab in the middle of this season and and looking forward to the Celebration of Christ and and all that he meets for us. Hey, man, me too. Thanks, Dan Thanks for listening to this week's episode of cut for time If you wish to submit questions to our pastors following Sunday's sermon you can email them to podcast at faith church indie calm or Text them in to our faith church texting number and we'll do our best to cover them in next week's episode If this conversation blessed you in any way, we encourage you to share it with others. 

We'll be back again next week

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