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“Make Corrections With Your Neighbor And Then With God.”
Categories: Bible, Daily Living, Expository Study, Forgiveness, God, grace, Jesus Christ, Leviticus, New Testament, Obedience, Old Testament, SacrificeI am sure we are familiar with the words of Christ in Matthew 5:23-24 where He said if someone was going to offer something to God, but remembers that he needs to correct something between him and a brother, he needed to take care of this first and then offer the gift. This is similar to what Moses taught in Leviticus 6:1-7! God said if a man has sinned against his brother (v. 2-4), he needed to “make restitution” and then come to God and offer his sacrifice (v. 6). Only after this has happened will God forgive the man (v. 7). When reading Leviticus (and Exodus), we see where God demands men make restitution for their sins and not merely check something off of their proverbial “checklist.”
In this text, God taught men the proper order of things. It was not appropriate for the man to offer a sacrifice to God and then worry about the neighbor later, if ever. I am reminded of passages such as James 3:9-10 and I John 4:20-21 that tell us how we ought to treat our fellow man, God’s creation. The point is made by asking how can we mistreat someone on earth but proclaim our love for the Creator? We shout our love for a God we hadn’t seen, but our hatred for the people we do! Something is not right about that!
Turn your attention to Leviticus 6:1-7 again and notice the pains God expected this person to take in order to be right with his neighbor. Only by first making corrections with his neighbor could he go to the Father and offer his trespass offering and expect it to be accepted. He could not “skip a step”!
Dear one, do you have something between a brother or sister that you need to correct? What is stopping you from taking care of it? I ask this, not because we live under the Old Testament, but because we live under the New! Jesus taught this same principle we read in Leviticus 6. Even in Matthew 18:15, He makes a point of saying if you have some trespass (sin) against another, then go and deal with it one-on-one and try to gain a brother. How many problems might be avoided, how many misunderstandings and hurt feelings might be resolved if we dealt with the person one-on-one instead of telling the “world” about the issue or speaking in vague ways on social media about the person?
In like manner, how many relationships might have been salvaged in Moses’ day if people did what was taught in Leviticus 6 and they tried to make it right between themselves? The Old Testament has much to teach us (Rom. 15:4). Are we listening?
- Jarrod M. Jacobs
