Defective

Normal

Most of us think of ourselves as “normal.” I know that our culture is overrun with a victim mentality that causes people to believe that they are truly afflicted in some special way. Others are convinced that they are genuine snowflakes, as unique as their own fingerprint. Still some are filled with hatred and pride because they belong to a particular tribal affiliation. But in truth, we all think that we are rather normal. We assume that our experiences, thoughts, understandings, and emotions are like most other people’s. Or, more accurately, we believe that other people are like us. We are even likely to do things purposefully or subconsciously to try to fit in when we feel like we are outsiders.

I believe that this sense of normalcy is closely connected with our innate understanding that we are made in God’s image. This goes deeper than just our outward, corporeal existence because the image of God is reflected in our whole being including both our rational mind and soul. Even though because of sin we are plagued by the sins of partialism, kinism, and tribalism, we all also have a common understanding of our connection as human beings.

Excluded

Because we have this natural sense of belonging, we tend to think that to be excluded is somehow unfair. But when reading through the many laws given in the Old Covenant to the nation of Israel, it becomes very apparent that God took very seriously who could and could not come near to worship Him. For a specific example, consider Leviticus 21:16-13, in this text the Lord is giving specific instructions about who is prohibited from serving as priests because of physical deformities. 

To understand these exclusions, we must remember the external nature of the Old Covenant. But still reading the list it is striking to see these people excluded from this service and access to God because of physical defects. For the most part these are not necessarily the outcome of any moral or ethical failure on the part of the individual person. I am sure that many enemies of God would want to use this as evidence that God is capricious and unfair. However, we must understand that the purpose of these holiness codes and ceremonial commandments were to communicate the perfection and holiness of God Himself. God is not condemning people because of these things nor is He being unfair because in truth no one should be allowed to approach His holiness, rather He is communicating His greatness and holiness to His people and to the world through the law code which is a revelation of His righteousness (Romans 3:21).

Accessible

I must admit as I was reading the text in Leviticus 21, I was reminded that in that covenant I would have been excluded from the service and access to Yahweh. This thought caused me to immediately reflect on the amazing grace of God. In Christ, I am given free access to the very throne of grace and presence of God (Hebrews 4:14-16)! I must add that this access has nothing to do with my calling or vocation being in service to the church but rather it is the heritage of every member of the New Covenant (1 Peter 2:9). In Christ, all believers are priests and have access to God through Jesus.

This last Sunday, we considered Paul’s teaching about the fact that through the doctrine of adoption Christians have been brought into God’s family. Paul goes on in Ephesians 2:18-21, to tell us that through Christ we have access in the Holy Spirit to the Father. He then explains that we are therefore, citizens in God’s kingdom, saints in God’s service, and members in God’s household. When we come to God through the transforming power of the gospel and the sanctifying work of God we are given access to God both free and forever! That is something worth singing about, worth preaching about, worth living for with our whole life!

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