Scan through Leviticus 18-20 in your Bible, and look for the important repeated phrase.

Find it? (No… it’s not “do not!”) :)

I am the Lord.

Over and over and over again it repeats. Like we’ve talked about before, repetition is always purposeful – it’s always emphasizing something that we are not supposed to miss!

Remember back to Exodus – what was God doing in the book of Exodus? In many ways and different circumstances, He was introducing Himself. To the Egyptians, to His people, to the world. “I am the Lord…” was repeated many times in the book of Exodus, connected mainly with his works. In these chapters, what is the phrase “I am the Lord” connected to? What the people were supposed to do! Exodus was the “I am…”, and now Leviticus adds the “so you…” Be holy – FOR I AM HOLY.

Israel was supposed to be a mirror of God’s character, revealing the uniqueness of their God and His salvation to the rest of the world (remember the Kingdom of Priests?) Take a look at Leviticus 19:2b and 19:9-14.

Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.
When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the LORD your God.
Do not steal. Do not lie. Do not deceive one another.
Do not swear falsely by my name and so profane the name of your God. I am the LORD.
Do not defraud your neighbor or rob him. Do not hold back the wages of a hired man overnight.
Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block in front of the blind, but fear your God. I am the LORD.
Do not pervert justice; do not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the great, but judge your neighbor fairly.
Do not go about spreading slander among your people.
Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor’s life. I am the LORD.
Do not hate your brother in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in his guilt.
Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.

God was commanding His people to act in a way consistent with His character. God created mankind in His image, and people are valuable to Him – so they were to value human life, also. When you’re harvesting your crops, purposely leave the edges untouched – allow the poor and the displaced to glean from what is left. No one should go unprovided for in Israel (but they had to do the work themselves, by the way – Israel did not have a government funded welfare system!). Don’t endanger people’s lives, judge their worth based on wealth, or take advantage of the disabled. Recognize the worth of the people around you. Why? I am the Lord.

In his book “Right from Wrong,” Josh McDowell teaches the idea of “3 P’s,” which I refer to often. The 3 P’s are the three layers of teaching morality.

*Precept – these are “do/ don’t do” rules and guidelines. Ie: Lying is wrong. The Bible says not to lie. (“You shall not give false testimony…”)

*Principle – these are the basic, underlying principles which are behind every precept. Ie: Honesty – be truthful, transparent, trustworthy. (“Put off falsehood and speak truthfully…” Eph. 4:25)

*Person of God – the ultimate standard of morality. Ie: God is Truth. Anything contrary to His nature is sin. (“…a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is He.” Deut. 32:4)

If you ask most Christians a simple question like, “Is it wrong to lie?”, they will answer, “Of course!”
“Why is it wrong to lie?”
“Because the Bible says so.”
“Why does the Bible say that it’s wrong to lie?”
“…uh…” And then the conversation will end!

In fact, we frequently shut down children’s inborn desire to understand by silencing their “why” questions. We must answer the question! Even without them asking! We have stayed at the “precept” level TOO LONG. Yes, it is true, my 2 year old can’t really understand the principle and person of God layers. So, I teach her precepts. “Don’t lie, AG. Lying is wrong.” If I keep teaching the precepts without the underlying principle and person of our God, I will be leaving some big holes, however.

Remember the illustration of the construction barrels? Right and wrong is not determined by lists of laws, or the individual barrels. Right and wrong flows from the character of God Himself. He is the ultimate standard – He is truth, He is justice, He is love, He is HOLY. The moral laws are consistent with His nature, because His character is the very basis of morality. Do ______, for I am the Lord.

We must teach the bigger picture! If we only teach where the construction barrels are, we end up justifying our sin. “I didn’t actually LIE to my parents, I just let them assume…” “Is lying really wrong if it doesn’t hurt anyone? It’s just a little white lie.” You can get into some sticky situations with this type of reasoning – and you’re just swerving between barrels on the road and clearly breaking the law! How do I know that you’re breaking the law? Because the boundary is God’s Nature. Is God a God of truth, or deceit? If my actions and words are not purposely portraying the truth, I am violating His nature. I am clearly in sin.

We must, we MUST teach morality based on God’s nature and not on a set of rules that “good Christians” follow. We must go even beyond “the Bible says_____” to WHY the Bible says that! We must know the character of our God! We must act and judge right and wrong based on our knowledge of Him!

I firmly believe that this is a foundational principle to Proverbs’ assertion that “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” As I know Him, as I stand in awe of His holiness and recognize my own sinfulness, as I revel in His mercy and understand that I deserve nothing – I will act (obviously not flawlessly) accordingly. His nature will guide my steps, not trying to live by a set of rules, not trying to do what I want while outwardly looking good. The Pharisees tried to do that, and Jesus said they were white-washed sepulchers! They looked great on the outside but inside was decay and death.

Knowing our God is no 60-minute-per-week type of goal. We must soak up His Word, meditate on it, chew on it, memorize it, turn it over in our minds. We must, like Moses, crave His presence and cry out, “Show me your glory!”

My son, if you accept my words
and store up my commands within you,
turning your ear to wisdom
and applying your heart to understanding,
and if you call out for insight
and cry aloud for understanding,
and if you look for it as for silver
and search for it as for hidden treasure,
then you will understand the fear of the LORD
and find the knowledge of God.
Proverbs 2:1-5