YEAR 2, WEEK 9, Day 4, Thursday, 27 February 2025

https://esv.literalword.com/?q=leviticus+13

Observations from today’s readings and today’s S-WOD, Thursday, 27 February 2025:

Listen to this message on Leviticus 13 by Bob Davis from North County Chapel — https://www.blueletterbible.org/audio_video/popPlayer.cfm?id=10395&rel=davis_bob/Lev

Leviticus 13 – Leprosy is a lot like sin: It seems to come from nowhere, is painless at first, grows slowly, sometimes seems to come and go, produces a numbness to its spreading, causes death to the affected areas, makes a person unclean and disgusting, and potentially spreads to others. Like leprosy, those with untreated sin are like walking dead. Like leprosy, sin leads to isolation and broken relationships. Unlike others, Jesus engaged the lepers, those with apparently no hope and shunned by others. Jesus loved them and healed them when other religious ‘leaders’ avoided them and ostracized them. In OT times, it was left to the priests to determine how to treat the leper. The Bible says that we are priests, able to discern the needs of those plagued with sin, and the Holy Spirit uses us to bring healing to others.

Sin and leprosy have much in common, but sin is far worse than leprosy, though few would agree. Sin, reveals a disconnect from God Himself, who is Life eternal. Sin has eternal consequences we cannot measure. As much as people guarded against leprosy, we should guard against sin but far more so. If you knew someone who had leprosy, and you had the cure, you would be most unloving if you didn’t share it. Even more so, how unloving would it be to have the cure and withhold it from a multitude of dying people? How much more unloving is it to withhold the Gospel from countless facing eternal damnation?

In 2 Kings 5, Naaman, commander of the army of king Syria, contracted leprosy, and his Hebrew servant girl informed him that the prophet Elisha could cure Naaman’s leprosy. Naaman went with his great entourage to see Elisha at his house, and Elisha, rather than seeing Naaman face-to-face, sent a messenger to him saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean.” (2 Kings 5:10) The bible records, “But Naaman was angry and went away, saying, ‘Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper. Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?’ So he turned and went away in a rage. But his servants came near and said to him, ‘My father, it is a great word the prophet has spoken to you; will you not do it? Has he actually said to you, “Wash, and be clean”?’ So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and he came and stood before him. And he said, ‘Behold, I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel.’” (2 Kings 5:11-15)

Many people are simply too prideful to accept the simplicity of the Gospel delivered through simple messengers. “Wash (in the blood of Jesus Christ) and be clean.” Receive forgiveness for your sins through Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross that you would be reconciled to Him and know Him, the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Our salvation cost Jesus His life that we would have eternal life as a free gift, but a gift which must be taken to possess. Pride makes it hard for people to accept something for free, to humbly admit no merit in themselves. Naaman approached Elisha pridefully but could only be cleansed in humility. Only after Naaman humbled himself and obeyed (upon the advice of his humble servants) did he receive healing, acknowledge God as God and have fellowship with Elisha. Pride stands in the way of our relationship with God and with others. We must learn to be servants.

• Matthew 12:18 — “Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.
• Matthew 20:26; 23:11 — It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant…. The greatest among you shall be your servant.
• Mark 9:35 — And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.”
• Luke 1:38 — And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
• Luke 12:37, 47 — Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them…. And that servant who knew his master’s will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating.
• Luke 16:13 – “No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”
• Luke 17:10 — So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’”
• John 12:26 — If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.
• John 13:16 — Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.
• John 15:15 — No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.
• John 15:20 — Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.
• Romans 1:1 — Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God….
• Romans 14:4 — Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
• Romans 15:8 — For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God’s truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs,
• Romans 16:1 — I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church at Cenchreae,
• 1 Corinthians 3:5 — What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each.
  • 1 Corinthians 4:1 — This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.
• 1 Corinthians 9:19 — For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them.
• 2 Corinthians 4:5 — For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.
• 2 Corinthians 6:4 — but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities….
• Galatians 1:10 — For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.
• Galatians 5:13 — For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
• Ephesians 6:5-9 — Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or is free. Masters, do the same to them, and stop your threatening, knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him.
• Philippians 2:5-7 — Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
• Hebrews 3:5 — Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later….
• 1 Peter 2:16, 18 — Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God…. Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust.
• 1 Peter 4:10-11 — As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
• Philippians 2:3 — Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.

“Cross” Fit S-WOD (Spiritual Workout of the Day) – 27 February 2025: Live as a servant before God and others. Share the Gospel to as many as you can. Treat everyone as more significant than you. (Philippians 2:3) Serve others the same way you would serve the LORD. (Ephesians 6:5-9; Matthew 25:40-45) At the end of the day, assess how you did. See if pride hindered your relationship with God and with others. Pray that God will help you overcome your pride.