Seeing where permissiveness starts

Last week, we mentioned that sometime during Nehemiah's trip back to Persia, the people's determination to keep their covenant with God had waned. They'd heard the reading of the scriptures, and they had repented, made a covenant, and celebrated.
Then, at some point, Satan had sidled in and introduced permissiveness. Compromise is one of his best weapons, ya know?
The people should have been well aware of God's standards of holiness. After all, it had not been that long ago that they stood and listened intently to the reading (and then the explanation) of the Word of God. God had commanded that His people be holy:

I am the Lord your God; consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. (Leviticus 11:44a)

For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession. (Deuteronomy 7:6)

The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: ‘Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.'" (Leviticus 19:1-2)

In the Old Testament, the concept of holiness is that something (or someone) is separated from the world and from sin, and dedicated to God. In the verses above, God said that His people were to be holy -- separated from all other nations and dedicated to the worship of the one true God. "Things" could be holy, too; the Sabbath was holy because it was separated from work, and from travel, and from all of the everyday activities of life. It was dedicated to rest and to worship. The vessels in the temple and the tabernacle were holy because they were separated from ordinary usage; they were dedicated and only to be for sacred use.
All of the laws and "do this, not this," of Levitical law were to make the Israelites separate from all other nations. The Jewish people were to be different -- in their diet, their clothing, their farming practices, their observance of the Sabbath, their morality, and even their sanitation. The Levitical laws taught the people a clear distinction between clean and unclean, holy and unholy.

You must distinguish between the unclean and the clean, between living creatures that may be eaten and those that may not be eaten. (Leviticus 11:47)

The priests were to teach the people:

They are to teach my people the difference between the holy and the common and show them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean. (Ezekiel 44:23)

These standards of holiness made Judaism unique among ancient religions. It incorporated (well, actually it was founded upon) the idea that morality was linked with religion.  This was far removed from the other religions of the era -- other peoples and nations worshiped idols like Baal, Molech, Ashteroth, and more. Their religious rituals included immoral sex such as prostitution and orgies, as well as human sacrifices. 
What? Seriously? 
It doesn't seem that difficult to see that those practices are wrong, wrong.
So why in the world would the people of Israel have a continuing struggle with idolatry? 
I think part of the problem is this: when the people of Israel finally walked out of the wilderness, they found Canaan to be a land of farmers. Here they were, finally finished with wandering in the desert, picking up manna to eat, and so on, and they are looking at a land that is fertile beyond anything they've imagined. Put yourself in their sandals, so to speak. If you'd been a dusty, tired nomad for years, wouldn't you love seeing lush fields and vineyards? Wouldn't you be impressed?

Well, the trouble starts when the Canaanites say that they attribute the fertility to their God Baal.  Tiny, niggling doubts creep into the minds of the Israelites . . . can the God who led them out of Egypt and through the desert also provide them with fertile farms in the promised land? Maybe to be safe, and to "cover all the bases," it would be good to worship both -- YAHWEH and Baal.
Perhaps that is why the Israelites were attracted to the Canaanite gods. Over and over again, they fell into this trap. Over and over, God would discipline them. The people would repent, and God's mercy would fall like the rain; all would be well until the next time that the Israelites reached for Baal or for Asherah, instead of for Jehovah.

Unfortunately, with human nature being what it is, this spiritual battle went on and on. And on. By the time of Ahab and Jezebel, the fertility gods appeared to have the official sanction of the rulers of Israel. Ahab was encouraged by his wife to build a temple to Baal in his own capital of Samaria. Of course, prophets like Elijah (his name means "YAHWEH is God"), Hosea (his means "salvation"), Isaiah ("YAHWEH is salvation"), and Jeremiah ("YAHWEH will exalt") were exhorting any who would listen, and telling them that YAHWEH alone deserved the allegiance and worship of the people. 
Sigh.
Not many listened.
It took the Assyrians to destroy Israel and take Judah into captivity to convince the Jewish people that there is only ONE omnipotent God. 

This struggle to be totally committed to God, "sold out" to Him, is of vital significance to us today, too. We probably don't think of ourselves as idol worshipers. We look askance at these examples from the Old Testament and pat ourselves on the back. We don't do anything like these terribly crazy people did; we don't have fertility gods or idols on the shelves in our homes. We don't engage in temple prostitution or sexual immorality, thinking that this what those idols will be pleased with. 
But here's the bottom line: we struggle to serve God alone in every part of our lives. If we are honest with ourselves, we will admit that. It's so easy to honor possessions, relationships, fun, fame, and money -- and a whole list of other potential "gods" that would replace our Savior as first priority in our lives. And these things are so seductive, too. This whole permissiveness deal can start with something that seems so innocent at the time.
We need to learn from Israel's experience. We need to respond to Christ's command for total allegiance, and not allow permissiveness to blind us.
Now, we do have some advantages today, no? We are no longer saddled with the Levitical law and all of its "do this, not this" rules. That ceremonial law foreshadowed the greater truths that we know today. That law taught spiritual principles in physical, concrete form, and was a pointer toward what we are guided by today:

So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. 25 Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.
26 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. (Galatians 3:24-27) 

The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. (Hebrews 10:1)

The new covenant did away with the ceremonial law, but it retained the call to morality and spiritual holiness:

Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. (Colossians 2:16-17) 

Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bondslaves of God. (I Peter 2:16)

Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord.  (Hebrews 12:14)

So, we have come full circle; we are back to where we were talking about standards of holiness and about permissiveness that overlooks our not maintaining those standards. The only way that Nehemiah knew the people had deviated from God's standards was that he was steeped in the scriptures -- as we should be, too.
This week, we will be looking at several areas where it's easy to allow compromise to creep in. These include the areas of our faith, our finances, our time, and even our homes. 
Keep those Sherlock Holmes hats and magnifying glasses handy, now, we'll be needing them again as we examine ourselves regarding spiritual permissiveness!