Wordfulness will keep us from Worldliness

Rabbi Ken Alpren
April 15, 2011
Sermon Notes by: Teresa Bennett, Pharm.D.

Leviticus 18:1-5, “ADONAI said to Moshe, 2 "Speak to the people of Isra'el; tell them, 'I am ADONAI your God. 3 You are not to engage in the activities found in the land of Egypt, where you used to live; and you are not to engage in the activities found in the land of Kena'an, where I am bringing you; nor are you to live by their laws. 4 You are to obey my rulings and laws and live accordingly; I am ADONAI your God. 5 You are to observe my laws and rulings; if a person does them, he will have life through them; I am ADONAI.”

Three times in this passage the L-rd says, ‘I am ADONAI’, emphasizing the point that His instruction was for the Israelites not to imitate the Goyim but to follow Him. Our ability to follow Him starts with Him and is not based upon us or our own ability. The passage also emphasizes the He is in our past and our future; where we used to live and where we are going.

As He brings us out of one place and leads us to another, there is no guarantee that life will be any easier! The truth is we are aliens here and are just passing through.

1 Peter 2:11, “Dear friends, I urge you as aliens and temporary residents not to give in to the desires of your old nature, which keep warring against you”

Where is our primary citizenship?

Philippians 3:20, “But we are citizens of heaven, and it is from there that we expect a Deliverer, the Lord Yeshua the Messiah.”

He is telling us not to live in our past or even our futures here on Earth, but to live in Him! He is our G-d of the past and future and the only way to be set apart here is through Him and His Word.

Wherever He is leading us here, He is with us. Look closely at Leviticus 18:3, “You are not to engage in the activities found in the land of Egypt, where you used to live; and you are not to engage in the activities found in the land of Kena'an, where I am bringing you; nor are you to live by their laws.”

The Hebrew meaning in this verse literally means that ‘where He is coming, you are coming with me’. He leads us where He has already been. The provision for the Israelites then was G-d Word as it is for us now.

The Word of G-d keeps us and cleanses us. Yeshua exemplified this principle in John 13 when He washed His Talmidim’s feet at Pesach.

When G-d brought the Israelites from Egypt to Kena’an, He brought them from one hostile environment to another. He was with them and wanted them to be set apart and to abstain from the immorality and idolatry of these cultures.

Deuteronomy 28 explicitly details blessings for obeying the Word of G-d and being set apart as well as cursings for complying with the world. We are to be trend-setters, not culture-copiers! We are to implement G-d’s ways and be different because we are already different!

1 Corinthians 5:7-8, “Get rid of the old hametz, so that you can be a new batch of dough, because in reality you are unleavened. For our Pesach lamb, the Messiah, has been sacrificed. 8 So let us celebrate the Seder not with leftover hametz, the hametz of wickedness and evil, but with the matzah of purity and truth.”

The truth is we are already different! We will be miserable if we try to be like those around us anyway.

We are already set apart and we are set apart by His Word! John 17:17, “Set them apart for holiness by means of the truth -- your word is truth.”

Be aware that worldliness is more than our focus and fascination with outward or materials things. Worldliness begins internally with our attitude and values. Do our attitudes and values come from our culture or from the Word of G-d? If from the Word, then our thoughts are pure and our actions will result from pure hearts and minds.

What we want and where we focus our attention are our modern idols. John warned us in 1 John 5:21 to keep ourselves from idols.

So how do we keep ourselves from idols and be full of G-d’s Word rather than full of the world?

G-d is my life. Rather than living in the past or future, I am to live in Him!

How?

Colossians 3:1-3, “So if you were raised along with the Messiah, then seek the things above, where the Messiah is sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Focus your minds on the things above, not on things here on earth. 3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with the Messiah in God.”

Know we are in Him but we also must do as He says and therefore, be more like Him.

When Yeshua prayed for His Talmidim in John 17, He also prayed for us to set apart; sanctified through the Word. His prayer was for us to remain in the world, not be of the world, to be kept from evil while we are here and to be on a Mission with Him to that others would believe and know who Messiah really is.

Further Reading: Leviticus 17:10-11, 14, Jeremiah 10:2-3a, Ephesians 5:1-8, Hebrews 11:13; 13:14, John 15:3, Ephesians 5:26, Isaiah 40:8, Romans 12:1-2, Colossians 2:20, Ephesians 2:6, Colossians 3:8-11, Ephesians 4:23, 1John 2:16, Matthew 13:22, Isaiah 8:11-14, Isaiah 8:18, Deuteronomy 17:14