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Have you ever wondered what dietary restrictions and tithing practices in the Old Testament have to do with being God's people today? What can we learn from them if they are not enforced in our modern faith? Pastor Wei unwraps the scriptures for us today.

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Church, this morning we are looking at uh Deuteronomy chapter 14. And uh from this passage, we are kind of essentially asking the question: what does it mean to be a people caught by God's name?

unknown 0:33

Right?

SPEAKER_00 0:34

And I I think as as we hear the passage, it I don't know how familiar you are with the passage, right? I'm guessing that it might be foreign to some of us, right? It's not a passage that we usually come across. And if we do come across, we usually try to skip or try to skim through very quickly, right? Uh because this cannot eat, that cannot eat, this thing cannot do, that thing cannot do. And then we kind of just like want to skip uh these things. Um after all, these are just laws of the old covenant, right? It's like it's not like we uh we follow them anymore. So read so much for what, you know, know so much for what? Uh what's the point? Right? If they're archaic and and and uh obsolete, then uh yeah, we can just kind of skip like entire chunks of Leviticus and Deuteronomy, right? Um and yet I do believe that God's word, even in the Old Testament and even in you know, books, difficult books are Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, uh, God has something to say to us today, because it is still his living word for the church, right? So even if the ritualistic stuff, right, the the things like like like not doing this, not doing that, right? Even those, even though those are done away with, God is still conveying to us his will through these stipulations that he set for Israel. Um, and so that's it. I I know that it is rather uh a rather difficult passage, right? Um and in fact, it it looks like a list of do's and don'ts that were just kind of haphazardly put together. Right? Moses talks about three different things in this chapter, right? Don't cut yourself and don't shave your head, and then suddenly jump into dietary laws, and then suddenly say uh what hiding is all about, right? Um and so it's quite hard to find how these things link together. Yeah. Um and are they it's it's difficult to see how they are even related to one another, right? And why and so why did Moses kind of just lump these things all together? And uh I suggest that these uh stipulations that we just read in Deuteronomy chapter 14, uh, even though it may seem all over the place, uh they all go back to this fundamental principle that we see right in verse 1 of chapter 14. You are the children of the Lord your God. You are the children of the Lord your God. All of us, we are the sons and daughters of the Lord our God. Before the stipulations are given, before they were given laws to obey, um they were already considered the children of God. Right? Before asking us to do anything, God first establishes our position. The practice comes after, but God establishes our position in him as his children. Right? So our identity is God is established first before our expected behavior. Uh one commentator puts it Israel's status as offspring or the holy people of God is not an outcome of obedience, but the premise for obedience. Right? Israel, being the children of God, is not an outcome of their obedience, but a premise for their obedience. And so we obey his law because, precisely because we are his children. And it is from this distinctiveness, right? Being children of God uh means that they are this holy uh people of God, set apart from the rest of the nations, right? And it is from this distinctiveness um uh that they are told, um, following you shall not cut yourself, uh cut yourselves or make any bonus on your foreheads for the dead. And um it sounds strange. Uh yeah, cut cutting yourself uh for the dead sounds weird, shaving your apartment your forehead. I don't really even know how that works, because I don't think we have hair on for it. But but I think I think just like cutting patches here, cutting patches there, right? Uh as a right to mourn for the dead, um is is it's prohibited. And it sounds strange to us, right? But we do need to consider where they were gonna go to, right? They were about to enter Canaan. So a lot of these things, a lot of what has been said in uh uh Deuteronomy especially, is really in uh anticipation of what they will meet, what they will see in Canaan, right? And in Canaan, uh many of you will know, in Canaan they worship a god named Baal. Yeah? And Baal is a god of uh several things, right? Uh part of part of it is fertility, and they also pray to Baal for the day and all. Um and it's so both customs are actually rites that they they uh they perform in connection with uh their Canaanite cultic practices, right? It's part of their worship to Baal. Um there is a special emphasis given to self-laceration, cutting themselves, right? Um and it is connected actually not just to death, but also to fertility. So if you remember 1 Kings chapter 18, verse 28, uh 1 Kings chapter 18, Elijah, you know, in uh confronting uh King uh the king and then Jezebel and all uh challenged the the prophets of Baal, right? 450 Baal uh prophets of Baal came came together and then challenges one man, lone man of God. And then and he said, you know, let's let's just put two two uh calves here and then let's see who whose God can lit it up, right? Um if you read the account, right? At some point, they were just praying and shouting for Baal to do something, and then like nothing was happening. So Elijah was mocking them, right? They were he was making fun of them and saying, Why don't you just do loud, shout louder, please cry louder. Maybe he's asleep, maybe he's like like uh in the toilet or something, just you know, get his attention, right? So what did what did they do? If you read uh verse 18, they cried aloud and cut themselves after their custom with swords and lances until the blood gushed out upon them. Right? First Kings chapter 18, we see uh a glimpse of Ba'al worship that in order to invoke their God, in order to rouse their God to do something, they'll cut themselves. They'll make sure they are bleeding and all as a way of getting their their God to do something. And here uh the God of Israel is saying, Because you are my holy people, you are never to do what they do, you are never to cut yourself, or you are never to make yourself ball as you mourn for the day, because you are never to participate in their Celtic rites. Right? You are my people, and therefore you should follow only my ordinances. And so Moses reiterates that point, verse 2 you are a people holy to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth, right? And actually this refers back to uh chapter 7, and it's almost word for word in in from from verse 6, right? For you are you are people holy to the Lord your God. Um in verses 7 and 8, uh Moses actually goes on to say, It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you. For you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Right? Essentially saying that when God chose Israel, it was not because Israel is special, it was not because they were inherently wonderful, good, obedient people. They were not even powerful, they were the smallest amongst the nations back then. And God chose them because of his love for them, and it becomes very important for their self-identity. God did not choose Israel because they were somebody's uh because but but God chose them even though they were nobody. Right? And and and so they were called by God to be holy. Um and it's actually saying, you don't need to be like the other nations, right? They when they cross over, they'll be tempted, right? Oh, these nations are so powerful. I want to be like the Canaanites, I want to be like the Egyptians, I want to be like next time the Babylonians, the Assyrians, right? I want to be like them, right? We want to have kings that are as powerful as their kings, right? And God is saying basically, don't follow them. You don't have to follow them. Right? I am the one who powerfully saved you out of Egypt, and I am the one who will lift you up as my nation. And this becomes uh an important theme later on as we talk about the dietary laws. Um, but in verse 3, out of nowhere, Moses jumps, right, you shall not eat any abomination. You shall not eat any abomination. Um and it doesn't refer to someone's cooking being uh a detestable, abominable, right? Um, but it refers to certain animals that they cannot eat. Um and it it's uh the word abomination has been used kind of three times prior in Deuteronomy, and they all are used in the context of Canaanite idolatry, right? So we we begin to see some of the link here, right? Even the the dietary laws has something to do with Canaanite idolatry, right? Um not everything, but something to do with that, with them, and um and and so they become an abomination because it is the practice of a foreign uh nation, right? The principle that uh that lay behind the distinction in the animal world, um in uh in animal in relation to Israel's eating habit was the same um as that which required the rejection of the Canaanite gods, right? Um sorry, let me let me just rephrase that. Um why is God asking them to reject these things? The principle that lay behind the rejection is the same as why they should be rejecting God, uh Canaanite gods, right? Um the holiness is the key, right? The fundamental question is how do we be God's holy people, his children, right? Um and so let me just let me quickly go through uh verses 4 to 20. It's is it's um yeah, it's hard to go through all of them, right? But um Moses kind of breaks it up into three different sections, right? Land animals, sea animals, and then uh winged animals, animals with wings, right? Um so the uh I kind of just kind of break it down for us, uh just from the text alone, right? Um these are the clean and then these are the unclean animals. Um and so uh yeah, I mean you have you have uh the sheep, the ox, the sheep, the goat, deer, gazelle, roebuck. Uh some of these I've never really heard before until I kind of like had to go and Google them. Like wild goats, ibex, uh the antelope, and mountain sheep. Yeah, I mean you we can see kind of similarities between some of these uh animals, right? Um and and I I think uh they had uh they had a controlling principle here, right? Those uh those animals that parts the hoof and has the has the hoof cloven into and chews the cut. These two uh criteria must be in place. They must have uh uh the hoof split and they must chew the cut. If it's either one or the other, cannot, right? So uh camels cannot. Hair, or which is rabbit, uh, or the rock badger, you can't eat them because they chew the cut but do not part the hoof. The pig, because it parts the hoof but does not chew the cut, is unclean for you, right? So no bacon, no shuba, right? It's it's it's quite quite quite sad, right? Imagine. Um and so so all these things we cannot, they cannot touch, they cannot eat, right? Um and then he goes on to see animals. Um not much, not much is said here, except to say that uh those who have fins and scales you can eat. Without fins, without scales, you cannot eat. Right? So your shrimp, your hebi, your your your lobster, chili crab, uh scallops, oyster, all this you we cannot eat, right? Because there's shellfish, there are there are no skin, no skin, no fins, and no scales, right? Um so quite simple. Um and lastly, the winged animals. And uh this is, I think, I don't know, one of the more one of the least helpful lists. I mean, Moses kind of lists down all the things we cannot eat. Doesn't really tell us what we can, but I think in their context, I suppose they already know the poultry, the the bird, the birds that they can actually eat. But he lists out all these things that you you you are not supposed to touch, right? Um and I have no idea we had so many different kinds of vouchers and uh owls and then and so on, right? Um but these are all the unclean birds that we cannot eat. And I know at the end of at the end, I know some uh some of some of us here might be uh smart smart and see like, oh, the last part bat. Bat is not a bird, right? Uh are they wrong by uh in their biology, right? Um the the Hebrew word is is not actually bird, like I mean it just refers to winged animals, right? Um and so bat is considered um one of the winged animals that they are not supposed to eat. And I know some of us here have eaten bat before, and like it's kind of almost like a delicacy in your hometown. And so thank God we are we are past the Old Testament laws, right? Um but you know, all these things cannot eat, winged insects, also unclean for you, uh, therefore they shall not be eaten. But all clean wing things you may eat, I guess it meant the other animals that they will encounter, uh I guess the partridge, the pigeon, you know, chicken, I I don't know what else they would have encountered there. Yeah. Um we suddenly shift gear and have two other stipulations that is a bit um strange to us, I guess, uh strange to our ears. Um he goes on to say, you shall not eat anything that has died naturally. Right? You you may give it to the sojourner who is within your towns, and he may eat it, or you may sell to a foreigner. It's not saying, yeah, not good enough for you, then you're gonna give to someone else, right? Like like whatever, like treating treating a sojourner poorly, right? Um but it's got to do with how they how whether they have bled the animal, right? Um it's again another part of uh the the Levitical law to kind of uh bleed your animal in a certain way before you can cook and consume the food. So if it died naturally, most likely it was not bled in a kosher manner, right? And so they have to give it away. But it's so so actually this is a good uh provision, right? Don't waste the meat, right? You can still give to someone else, to the foreigner, to the sojourner amongst you, right? But you are holy, you are people holy to God. So you keep kosher, yeah? Um, and then finally we have this strange uh phrase out of nowhere: you shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk. Um and yeah, scholars are divided. We we don't really know why it's been said, uh, but it has been said three times in the Old Testament. We don't really, we don't really quite know why. Um there it there are essentially two two main uh ways of interpreting it. One is it seems cruel, right? Milk from the mother is supposed to nourish the kid, the the baby animal, right? And it seems kind of cruel to be boiling a young goat in the milk which was supposed to nourish the goat, right? So there's this there's this line of thought that it's kind of inhumane, it's cruel, it's it just doesn't sit right. Yeah. Um another line, another school of thought thinks that again it connects back to the Canaanite uh rites and and and rituals, right? And that and that it points, it suggests that there might have been a practice amongst the Canaanites where they do this, right? Precisely because milk is the nourishment of the young goat, that you will buy the young goat in that nourishment almost like double double the the potency as a fertility rite. Right? They will do this in order to invoke bao to come and uh make sure they have a bountiful harvest. Yeah. Um and so you know they make this stipulation you shall not be like them, you shall not buy a young goat in its mother's milk. Um we don't we don't have uh a straight answer to all of these things. And in fact, we don't even have a straight uh reason exactly why there is such a division. The Bible doesn't tell us why certain animals are considered considered uh ritually clean and therefore suitable for the holy people of God and why other animals are considered unclean. And it has to be said, um the Bible does not treat these animals as uh morally unclean, right? It's not it's not like you if you if you if they um it wasn't like when they if they touch a pig, then they become morally uh sinful, right? It wasn't that, but they were ritualistically unclean, right? It was a ritualistic uh category, right? Ritually, you become unclean before God if you touch, say you if it say pork, camel, but you are clean if you eat you know sheep, cow, um, and so on. Right? It's about your it's about ritualist, uh ritualistic uh categories and not uh not a really a theological or biological or a moral category. Yeah um and I I'm gonna very quickly run through all the different suggestions because we we know the Bible doesn't really tell us straight straight away why these restrictions, right? Why these divisions and why these categories. Um so several uh suggestions have been suggestions have been put forth. Uh very quickly, the first one is hygiene. Um it's it was a it's a theory that I think is quite popular amongst uh some some some some people, right? Um some groups, that that it pre- that back then this was God's uh prevention of diseases and illnesses or infections, right? They didn't have what we have, they didn't have modern science, they didn't know uh trigonosis, that you can get uh this infect worm infection from eating pork that's not been cooked well and all those other things, right? So it was a question of hygiene. Uh uh or I mean some some some people claim that you know some of these animals that were unclean has a higher level of toxicity, right? Um so you know, all this was God's provision to prevent uh diseases and infections in the desert where they had you know no no no, I guess modern uh science to help them with their illnesses. Um the second the second is is the second suggestion is that um God is essentially breaking down the animals into certain uh categories, certain types, right? Uh and and they know that most of the animals are carnivores or they are scavengers, uh, meaning they'll eat decaying flesh, right? And eating decaying flesh is somehow again doesn't quite sit quite right with with uh with uh the the faith. Or they are ground creatures or they are there are creatures in the sea that they're constant that it is in constant contact with unclean matter, right? So somehow um pigs eating all sorts of stuff, you know. We we like to see uh the some some people like to say you know the the meat of pork is uh the pork is very dirty because pigs eat all sorts of stuff, right? Um so they had that there's that kind of uh connotation, right? So categories of types of animals. Um third is is why we have said right, counter-canaanite, um, going against uh Canaan's uh practices, right? Um yeah, so built on the print, this is built on the principle of verse one, right? That we are uh God, we are a people holy uh unto the Lord. So it must be distinct and different from the Canaanites. Um uh and so which is why you have uh these different stipulations and also don't boil a young goat in its mother's milk. Um the fourth may may um suggest that that it mirrors the sacrificial system that God has set in place. God says, you know, sacrifice a cow, a calf, sacrifice a lamb uh or pigeons, whatever, and to mirror that sacrificial system, right? If these animals are uh considered clean unto the Lord, it's considered clean unto us for consumption. But those that are not you know used to sacrifice to God, then we don't eat for our consumption. Um that's the fourth one. And the fifth one is simply by God's command. And uh instead of mirroring the sacrificial system, it mirrors Israel's election. And um there seems to be some truth in in all these different suggestions, right? Um I personally at least would find this a little bit more convincing than the rest. Um because it's just like I read uh Deuteronomy chapter 7, verses 6 to 8. Right? And if you remember, I said this that God chose Israel not because they were anybody, and not because they were powerful or whatever, right? But simply because God loves them. Right? It's in some sense that unconditional uh election of Israel as his people, right? And in this case, it could simply mean that this is just God's will as he chooses for Israel what is clean and unclean. And so as you follow God in choose in eating only the clean food uh and not eat unclean food, right? You are simply following God's will in in this regard. Um and by following, you become uh distinct, uh the distinct people of God. Um and so it's simply God's command. Yeah, um, and and the the food laws then become a daily reminder to Israel of their election, their status, and their role in God's purpose. Um we yeah, again, we don't know if any of this is the answer. It may be a combination of a few of these, right? Uh, but we do know this. Uh and and I think it's important to get away with from from from you know finding exactly why you know God this did and that, and really ask so what function does this dietary loss do this dietary loss? They define and they set up the boundary markers for the holy people of God. Such restrictions were not just placed on the food they could or could not eat. If you have read through Leviticus and Deuteronomy, you'll find that there are some, if I can have um uh can you have the next slide? Yeah, you'll find that the the the really the core idea of these stipulations is not to make our lives difficult, per se, right? Uh even though it is quite inconvenient, right? But it is to woof holiness into our everyday lives. So if you can, if I can have the next slide, just to show you two uh the laws from Leviticus and from Deuteronomy. Um Leviticus 19, right? Do not mate different kinds of animal, do not plant your field with two different kinds of seeds, do not wear clothing woven with of two kinds of material, right? Then Deuteronomy chapter 22, right? Don't plant two kinds of seeds in your vineyard. Uh if not, they'll be defiled. Don't plow with an ox and a donkey, right? Unequally yoked. Um we can recall in the New Testament, Jesus says the same, right? Don't be unequally yoked. Uh sorry, Paul says this, says that don't be unequally yoked. Uh or do not wear clothes of wool and linen woven together. Right? And it sounds ridiculous to us. If we have to practice this, then well, a lot of us will be in trouble. Can I buy from Uniqlo, H A M, uh, all these other fast fashion, right? All our all our clothing is like mixed fabric, right? We'll be in a lot of trouble. And it sounds kind of ridiculous to us. Um, but the whole point of these stipulations was to embed the concept of holiness into our everyday lives. Uh, we like to say, or we used to say this a lot, uh, worship is a lifestyle. Have you heard that have you heard people saying that? Worship is a lifestyle, right? Um, and this is what it is precisely about. The stipulations were given precisely because worship is meant to be a lifestyle. Right? It makes worship a lifestyle that impacts everything we do in our daily living. So by obeying and following uh these laws, they were actively learning and living out holiness in the mundane and ordinary activities. So we can kind of see why we can have two different materials, cannot plant two different seeds, uh, and so on, right? Because we cannot have a duality in us. Right? Jesus says you can only serve one master. Either you love God and you hate mammon, all right, or you serve mammon and you you you you despise God. So there can never cannot be two kinds of seeds uh in the field or two kinds of fabric in uh in our clothing, right? Um because it is meant to uh point to us that wholeness, oneness. So it defines holiness as wholeness. That we are holy, completely, singularly, God's people. And we remind ourselves by the clothes we wear, we remind ourselves by how we plant in our field, we remind ourselves by what animals we use to plow our land. And so coming back to these dietary laws, uh, they they they they they serve a very similar uh function here, right? Um they give us a clear sign that we are God's people. I mean, for for Israel back then, right? They are holy and they are set apart, they're distinct from other nations because they do not eat uh uh in this sense arbitrarily, they eat as God dictates. Right? It is another way of defining holiness as people set apart by God. Um so very quickly, if you recall Daniel um when he was captured, right, he went into exile. Um he can change his name, he can learn and become essentially the Babylonian, but he refused to eat the food from the king's table because he knew that it would defile him. Right? It was a way for him to safeguard this uh this idea that he is set apart by God. And so this is why the diaretory laws were given, not to be so strict, not to make things difficult for them, but to teach them what it means to be set apart, even in their uh meals. And so, as we look at uh this this this portion of Deuteronomy chapter 14, right? Um again, there are old testament laws. What have they got to do with us? Right? There's a principle that undergirds these laws, and it still stands, right? Peter repeats a lot of the things that has been said in the Old Testament and says this in 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 9. We are the children, uh we are the a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own possession. Right? We can say with uh Moses in Deuteronomy chapter 14, verse 1, we are the children of the Lord our God. And so something like the dietary laws has something to say to our lives even today. Because, and we can we can think about this question for ourselves. What makes us different from the unbelievers and from the world? What sets us apart as a people called by God's name? What is it about us that is really different?

unknown 27:18

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At a time where the church uh continues to seek cultural relevance, right? But becoming more and more like the world. We in the in terms of music, in terms of uh how we how we how they set up church churches and all, in the terms in terms of what sort of speakers they they have and all, uh the the the the charisma and all, right? Um we the the church is is is you know always on this uh constant struggle with with culture and wanting to become more and more culturally relevant, right? But at what point do we say no? We we are completely distinct from the culture in particular ways, right? And so in what sense are we uh different from the world? And if we still hold to the idea that worship is a lifestyle, how exactly does that look like today? I mean, fine, we don't follow these stipulations, right? They had these stipulations, I eat this, I wear this, I plant this, because these are clear signs that we are a holy people. These are clear signs for me that worship is a lifestyle. How exactly is worship in a lifestyle for us today? How exactly are we different from other people? And how does it show in our everyday lives? Right? Um I think very quickly the Apostle Paul gives us a good handle when he writes in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, verses uh verse 23. All things are lawful, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful, but not all things build up. And incidentally, he uses food as an example, what we eat as uh and what we drink as an example. Um uh the food in question is whether we can eat food that has been offered uh in a sacrifice, offered to idols in a sacrifice. And on the face of it, the answer is uh seems to be yes, right? Because we don't believe in the gods, we don't believe in the idols, doesn't matter whether it was sacrificed or offered, right? Um, as as a Christian, we can eat with good conscience. But if someone points it out to you and tells you, uh this has been offered to an idol there, you know. Uh I think with the intention that you know, you as a Christian, is it alright for you to eat? Right, then Paul says, Don't eat. For the sake of the person, we refrain from eating. Um and it's actually something I used to do uh back at home. My mom would is the one, of course, she's the cook of the house. And she's also the one preparing the food for their uh offerings are for their gods and uh the pie pie in in Chinese. Um and and she will always, after I became Christian, I have never said this word before, you know, but after I became a Christian, she herself would set aside food for me, right? Um and I I was very tempted to just tell her, uh, never mind, no anyone. You can just everything you just offer, then I can I can eat, right? It doesn't matter to me. I was very tempted to do that because I think it's very troublesome, right? You could go cook, then you're gonna put aside some food, make sure that it's not not offered, you know, and all that. Um but I decided not to. Um not because I want to give her more trouble. I'm pretty sure I have given her enough trouble in in her lifetime. But uh but because I wanted to keep that distinction, I think I I thought it was important for her to see and understand that uh yes, you are right. I am a Christian, and so I do see these things differently. We are kind of distinct in our faith. And so I kind of just quietly let her do so. Um it's the same when when uh eventually um she passed away, and then we were at the funeral and all uh one of my relatives came out to me and said, Hey, Joseph got two different colors for two different purposes. The red one is for their gods. Uh uh, by the way, this relative is also Christian. And then she said, Yeah, yeah, don't don't take, don't use the red one. But green one is for ancestors, it's okay. You know, you're not worshipping God, you're their gods. Just kind of like paying respect to your uh relatives or your ancestors. And I again I refuse because I think that distinction must be made. And um it's it's it's not easy, right? But I think there are times when we have to make certain calls in our lives to uh distinguish ourselves from the practices of of others. Um and and I I remember when I was in Thailand uh many years back, I met up with a schoolmate from TTC, right? Um he brought me to a jazz pub. Some of you may know it, it's called Saxophone in Bangkok. Fantastic jazz pub, right? Very good music, uh good food. Um, and that's why he brought me there. Not because of drinks. I didn't really drink back then. Uh I don't drink a lot now, even. Um, but when we were there asking, how come you never order uh drinks? Like asking, do you drink or not? Yeah, yeah, yeah. He enjoys beer and all that, you know. But he chose not to drink in the pub. Um because he said that alcohol abuse is such a big problem, especially amongst the men in Thailand, that he he chooses to refrain from drinking in public. And that is his Christian conviction that he needs to set himself apart in that regard. Not because it is wrong and not because it's impermissible to drink beer outside in public, but because he doesn't want to be seen as encouraging the culture of heavy drinking or getting drunk and so on, right? Um and so actually, for similar reasons, some denominations don't uh prohibit their pastors from drinking alcohol. You know, thank God that Anglicanism, Anglicans is not one of those denominations that prohibit pastors from drinking, right? But some some some denominations do. Um and I'm not a tea totaler myself, so I don't see a problem in drinking per se, right? Um But if I if I find myself in a situation where people are, the culture is to go out club and to drink a lot, to go crazy, and then go out, go out of the club and puke and at 2 a.m. that kind of stuff, right? Then I will most certainly choose to abstain completely. But of course, you have to decide for yourselves, right, uh how you want to set yourself apart. Right? It's for us to kind of understand what it means to be set apart in our very specific situations. Um so Paul ends off that that that portion with this. So whether you eat or drink, uh in verse 31, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, it doesn't just uh cover, it doesn't, I mean, there's more to life than eating and drinking, right? But everything else that we do, whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. It's not restricted to drinking or eating, right? It's the language we use with our friends, with you know, our colleagues, with our family. The language, the words that we use. It's the shows we watch, podcasts that we listen to, the websites that we visit. It's how we spend our money and our resources. Um, it's about it's about the things that we we we choose to pursue in life, the things that we value in life, um, what we do, what boundaries we set in a relationship, it's about how we view marriage and what we do uh for our spouses, how we raise our children, what we do with our possessions, and so on and so on and so on. Whatever we do, Paul says this do all to the glory of God. Because God is still interested in how we conduct our daily affairs, right? Not just whether we attend Sunday service or not, right? So worship is not a two-hour affair on a Sunday, but again, a lifestyle. He is still calling us to wove holiness into our everyday lives, just as he did in the Old Testament. The stipulation of the Old Testament, the stipulations in the Old Testament point us to this principle, right? Um, we are to be holy because our God is holy. And that necessarily makes us counter-cultural in some ways that make life, that makes life more sometimes more difficult, more inconvenient, right? But we are called to be counter-cultural people, set apart uh for God, becoming visible weaknesses uh of our holy God. Uh it all stems from what we have seen in Deuteronomy 14 so far, right? That we are people called by God's name. We are wholly his because we are his children. Um and so if we we have just looked at you know this whole bunch of stuff about dietary laws, and then he quickly goes into tithes and it's not disjointed. So I hope we can begin to see that even the discussion of tithing is uh seen in in terms of the principle. Because we are God's children, because we are his holy people, uh, we tithe and we we we appreciate the principle behind tithing. And I'm realizing that that I'm running off time, so I'll just make it uh very quick for us. Right? Um tithing is first and foremost an acknowledgement of all that we that that all that we have is the provision of God. Right? Tithing is acknowledging that all that we have is from God. 1 Chronicles uh 19, verse 14. David says this all things come from you and of your own have we given you. Right? We have it in our Anglican liturgy as well. All things come from you, and of your own do we give. So we give a thanks of what we receive as an act of worship, an act of trusting uh in the Lord to continue to provide for us. Uh an act of trusting precisely because we are God's people, He will take care of us. He has provided us, He has given us all that we have, and He will continue to do so. And tithing is an act of trusting God in this way. Um and I will quickly just kind of go through um the tithing portion and and say and say that um even in within tithing, God is concerned with eating, but this time about enjoyment, right? So he makes provisions. Um the the whole point about tithing is you bring the a tenth of everything, you go to the temple, you go to the sanctuary, you eat with everyone. God wants you to enjoy these things. He's not making it making life difficult. I know sometimes, especially those who just started working, oh I give 10%, wow, very painful. Then, wow, next year promotion, oh, I've got more, got more pay, but wow, more tithe, wow, painful, right? Um it can feel like like a huge sacrifice. But God's main purpose for tithing was for his people to enjoy. Right? Number one, to enjoy. Uh to enjoy his blessing. To, as we obey God, uh he wants us to enjoy his blessing. But more than that, right, he wants everyone else to have the same blessing. So in Deuteronomy 14, we read also this provision for the Levites. Levites had no land, they had no inheritance, unlike the rest of the tribes. So they rely on the giving of the people, right? They can't grow their own crops, they can't feed themselves, right? And so God says, no, don't neglect these people, but I want them to have the same blessing. You like to eat and enjoy and have uh uh meals to your satisfaction, right? I want them to be satisfied in the same way. Right? Um and and so there are there are essentially a social aspect to it, right? Uh down to the rest of uh to the to the end of Deuteronomy 14, there is a provision that says that every three years you keep your tithings uh in the store so that uh the poor, the needy, the stranger, I mean the sojourner, the Levites, they can come and they have food. It is very social in nature. Um and what this teaches us, right, is that tithing is really uh at the core of it, it's about trusting in God's provision and also becoming socially aware of our responsibility for those who are in need. Yeah. Um precisely because we are God's people, we are called to be special in the way we treat others. We are called to share our possessions. I mean, possessions that were not really ours to begin with, right? But God's. We are called to share those resources with those who have nothing so that everyone may be blessed by the Lord. And and so even tithing in this sense, right, has uh a function to play in their understanding of uh of being God's holy people. I think for us today as well, then as we as we tithe, we offer to God you know the things that we have received from Him, it is still our act of worship today, it is still our act of trust, saying, God, I trust that you will continue to provide for me. Right? All that I have is yours, and of your own do I give you. And I trust that you continue to provide for us, for me. And also to see then that because of this relationship that we have with God, because the things that we are we have is from Him, right? We can also use His resources, not ours, His resources, to then go out and bless the other people, bless the needy, the poor, those who are uh those who require assistance. Right? Um and and I and just a very quick um encouragement to us that that you know as I as I talk to different people in in our church here, um, there are a lot of generous people amongst us, right? I've heard um several testimonies from brothers and sisters here uh of how God has blessed them. And um it doesn't just stop there, right? They see they because they are blessed by God, they they seek to be a blessing to other people. Uh so there are a few who say you know they feel very blessed that they they they have a car, they can afford a car, and they seek to use their cars for ministry purposes, to help people, fetch people uh for something for the church, right? Um and and you know, others are always willing to open their homes for connect group meetings and so on. You know, there are still others who happily give uh financially to those who are needy or those who are serving as missionaries and have no income, right? Um and these are I know just some examples, and there are many of us here who are very generous in nature, and and and um God calls us to be generous because He is a generous God, right? We are the people of a generous God who uh who gives cheerfully. And and the tithing here, therefore, has really two uh it causes us to make two responses. One is a vertical response to God, uh vertical gratitude to God through tithes, uh, but also the horizontal care and support uh in the community. And so as I end, I just want to say um in conclusion that Deuteronomy 14 may seem obsolete, right? In some sense, it is true because the laws have been abrogated, right? The laws are kind of a thing of the past, but the principle remains true. We are the children of God, we are a people called by God's name. That is our position in the Lord, and thus we are called to be holy as He is holy. And so the stipulations found in today's passage: not doing as the Canaanites do, eating only clean animals as defined by God, and trusting in the Lord in our tidings and caring for others. All these stipulations describe what it means to live holy unto God. They're instructions for us today, too, right? They afford us wisdom and discernment uh as to how we should live today, how holiness is to be woven into our everyday lives, how we are to offer what we have as a gratitude to God and as a help to those who are needed. And so may the Lord give us grace and courage to worthily live our call for uh to worthily lift up his call for us, to be his chosen priest, a royal priesthood in the holy nation.

SPEAKER_01 42:28

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