So…how’d you do? How did you do with last Sunday’s challenge?

If you were not here last week – or if you were here but can’t remember that you were or what we talked about - we put out a challenge to do our best to live in the week to come according to the holiness code of Leviticus 19.

The Old Testament book of Leviticus was for the ancient Jewish people the rulebook for entering the presence of the Lord. In order to come into the Tabernacle – and later, the Temple – one had to be “clean”. All forms of “uncleanness” had to be scrubbed from your life – the mildew in your home, clothing made of mixed fibers, any foods that Leviticus said were unclean – like lobster and shrimp and barbecue!

Over and over again in Leviticus, God says, “You must be holy for I, the LORD, am holy!” So before you could enter the presence of the Deity, you had to clean up your act.

So how’d you do this past week? Did you get yourself clean enough to enter God’s holy presence?

Now before you get all defensive and complain that we Christians don’t have to follow the laws of the Old Testament let me remind you that Jesus says we do! The commandment Jesus taught as the one that sums up all the Old Testament law is this: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength…and you do this by loving your neighbor as yourself.” This is Deuteronomy 6:4-5 and Leviticus 19:18. The Christian life is centered on living out those two laws of the Old Testament.

But holiness laws change from time to time. When I was in college I worked one summer in the dining room at the Jewish Home for the Aged. It was quite an experience. They were a kosher establishment with a very orthodox sense of clean and unclean. They kept two kitchens – a meat kitchen and a milk kitchen – because Deuteronomy 14:21 says, “Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.”

I don’t understand what that means, but it’s why we had a meat kitchen and a milk kitchen.

But I discovered that summer that not all Jewish people follow the holiness laws. For many – like one old man named Myer – those laws were for long ago. When I served him his bowl of Borscht or his plate of Gefilte fish, Myer would grab my arm, pull me close and say, “I’ll give you money if you can get me a pork chop!”

Some laws change. But other laws are forever.

“Love God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength…and love your neighbor as yourself.”

So that was last Sunday’s challenge. No talking about people behind their backs, or listening to or spreading gossip – no complaining about stuff, but lots of thanksgiving for God’s blessings – and most especially, using the “gleanings” of your life – your leftovers – to bless people who don’t have it as good as you – and being sure to reach out and welcome strangers and practicing hospitality with them.

I’m not going to repeat that sermon, but if you missed it, you can go to tellicochurch.com and watch it on YouTube.

But let me ask those of you who heard it last week, “How’d you do?” I’d love to hear about your experiences with this simplest and most basic command of Jesus.

You know, it never ceases to amaze me how we Christians overcomplicate our faith. Even in the earliest years of the Church there were people who had way too much time on their hands and spent their lives generating what they often called “deeper wisdom.” Soon, it wasn’t enough to just follow Jesus and live the Jesus way. You had to believe this, or that, or some other thing ABOUT Jesus or ABOUT the Bible in order to be among the “wise.” And this still happens today.

Go into any Christian bookstore and all you find are books with titles like, “The 99 Secrets of the Beatitudes,” “12-Steps for Growing a Healthy Christian Family,” “2,011 Reasons the World Will End in 2011”….

I’ve actually heard a person tell another person they could not possibly be truly saved because they think Tim LeHaye’s “Left Behind” series is a bunch of bunk – which it is.

I just think Jesus never told anyone to go read books about the end of the world. What he told us to do was to love God with all the heart, mind, soul and strength…and love your neighbor as yourself. And do you know what? You won’t find many books about how to do that in most Christian bookstores.

But you will in the Bible. That’s exactly what the book of Leviticus is about – a community’s million-and-one ideas about how to love God and neighbor. And people today may laugh at some of the things those ancient Jewish people came up with. But just the fact that they devoted themselves to thinking and discussing and coming up with ideas about how to love God and how to love neighbor is to me a breath of fresh air!

The apostle Paul ran into this very conflict in Corinth. All the amateur Bible scholars were running around spouting out their “deeper wisdom” versions of the Christian way. They had more special spiritual secrets than Victoria’s Secret. And they criticized Paul for not being among the “wise.”

So in the 4^th chapter of 1^st Corinthians, Paul responds to his critics – and by the way, this is helpful advice for dealing with people who are OUR critics.

Paul basically says, “I’ll listen to my critics. I may learn something from them. But I will not let my critics become my judge.”

Lewis Smedes once preached a powerful sermon about Paul’s words here. Lewis reminds us about the difference between a critic and a judge. A critic gives you his or her opinion and you can accept it or reject it. But when a judge gives you a judgment, you are stuck with it.

When we let our critics become our judges, we let them decide whether we are good enough or beautiful enough to be loved and accepted. Lewis tells the story of meeting a woman who had just about everything a beautiful woman, fifty-ish, could want: besides being good looking, she was well educated, and wealthy, and on top of that she was a very good, generous human being.

But with all her fine qualities, she was miserable. Deeply depressed, sometimes thought of taking her own life. How did she get in that terribly sad state of mind? She got into that sad state of mind by letting her critics become her judges. She had lived her whole life to win their approval. She lived in fear that if she did not measure up to their judgments, she would not be good enough for anyone, especially God, to love her.

What happened to this wonderful woman? Well, she finally learned how to deal with her critics. She found the courage to say to them all: "I respect your criticism, but from now on, I will not let you be my judge."

There are critics all around us – friends – fellow church members – our mothers, or fathers – even our own children. And they can criticize us for just about anything.

But hold onto Paul’s response to his critics: "I am listening. What you say matters to me. But at the end of the day, and you have had your say, your words are never the last word for me. You are not my judge."

Paul goes on to say that he doesn’t even judge himself. None of us is capable of that. We are never as good, or as bad, as we think we are.

The only one capable of judging us, Paul says – is God.

And there, facing his Corinthian critics who don’t think he’s doing a good enough job out on the evangelist circuit because he is not imparting the “deeper wisdom” they have come up with, Paul says this: “I care very little if I am judged by you or any human court; indeed I do not even judge myself…It is the Lord who judges me.”

And here is what God will judge him on: whether or not he has been a faithful steward – not of the wisdom of people – but of the secrets of God.

This is a message for the Church – the Christian Church – our church – and all members of Christ’s Church.

We have been entrusted with the secrets of God. You have been entrusted with the secrets of God.

Do you know what those secrets are?

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength; and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

We have our critics, you know, who offer their “deeper wisdom” about what they think is our flawed theology, or incorrect doctrine, or that we do not belong to a particular denomination – as if Paul was a Presbyterian, Matthew was a Methodist, Bartholomew was a Baptist, Luke was a Lutheran, Cornelius was a Catholic, or as if any of that nonsense existed when Christianity was born.

There are even those who criticize us because of our willingness to accept people into our fellowship before they have achieved sainthood. As one person said, “They’ll let anybody come to the Community Church. They have no standards at all!”

And it’s true! God has not entrusted us with manmade standards, but with the secrets of God.

Love God with everything you’ve got, and love your neighbor as yourself.

And Paul concludes his writing today by saying, “When all is said and done, the Lord himself will judge us. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of people’s hearts. At that time, each will receive his praise from God.”

In the meantime, embrace – cherish – protect - and teach what God has entrusted to us.

And here’s a challenge for this week:

Spend some time in prayer, and then – by yourself, or with a group of friends – come up with some ideas about you can grow your love for God. One obvious way would be by signing up for our spiritual life conference where Philip Gulley will stretch your heart, mind, soul and strength. Set aside some time each day to look out at the beauty of nature or the wonder of a sunrise and think about the God who made all that for you. Like the ancient Jewish people, figure out some simple, but creative ways to deepen your love for God.

And then get together with your friends and make a list of all the ways you can love your neighbor.

That list should include some things you will not do anymore because they are hurtful to someone else. And that list should include lots of things you WILL do to bless your neighbor. One of the things on that list might be to help in our Sunday School. You know, it’s growing! We started with one class and two students. Now we have 8 or 9 kids and we have to split that class because of the age spread. And listen to this – at our Tellico Family Connection event last Sunday evening, there were TWENTY-THREE kids.

These young neighbors need you to love them!

So take some time to list all the things you won’t do anymore, and all the things you can come up with that you WILL do to love your neighbor as yourself.

And don’t be afraid of the critics.

Don’t let them become your judge.

Only God can judge whether we are faithful with what has been entrusted to us.

Go and love God. And love your neighbor, too.