“Now the Lord called Moses, and spoke to him from the Tabernacle of meeting, saying, “Speak to the children of Israel…” (Leviticus 1:1).
The original title assigned to this third book of the Bible was “Matters of the Levites.” In Leviticus, God gives clear commands to Moses concerning the roles and responsibilities of Aaron and his sons in carrying out their priestly duties in worship that is authorized, approved, and acceptable to God. Moses, as God’s ordained lawgiver, is to hold the priests and the people accountable to God’s way of worship. This is a lasting word of instruction to be learned in Leviticus; our worship is regulated by God – for it to be received by God. We don’t make up our own human way of worship to present to God. This is what it means for a church to take the LEVITICUS CHALLENGE. This challenge is about assessing our standards in worship. In an earlier season of my life, as one trained in engineering, I was very much aware of the basic law of entropy: things go from order to disorder. It’s true scientifically, and it’s the way things can go in the church, in our worship. Without a Bible-based commitment to steadfast evaluation, we can start lowering God’s high standards for worship. In Leviticus, God gives highly detailed commands for the way worship ought to be and must be. At Waterbury, we must keep this church committed to a basic challenge in Leviticus: worship must be regularly evaluated to ensure we are doing it God’s way. VHH