The Guilt Offering

The King provides a way to restore our relationships.

Leviticus 5:14-15,17-18 Then the LORD said to Moses, 15 "If one of you commits a sin by unintentionally defiling the LORD's sacred property, you must bring a guilt offering to the LORD. The offering must be your own ram with no defects, or you may buy one of equal value with silver, as measured by the weight of the sanctuary shekel. 

17 "Suppose you sin by violating one of the LORD's commands. Even if you are unaware of what you have done, you are guilty and will be punished for your sin. 18 For a guilt offering, you must bring to the priest your own ram with no defects, or you may buy one of equal value. Through this process the priest will purify you from your unintentional sin, making you right with the LORD, and you will be forgiven.

Leviticus 6:7 Through this process, the priest will purify you before the LORD, making you right with him, and you will be forgiven for any of these sins you have committed."

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So far in the book of Leviticus we have seen the first four sacrifices that God established for his people so that they would be able to approach his holiness. This is important because the people that originally received this information have just completed the Tabernacle and now that God is with them there they must know how to approach him.

The fifth sacrifice that Leviticus gives us is usually called the Guilt Offering which doesn't give you a clear idea of what it is since feeling guilty was a common part of all of these offerings. A better name is restitution offering since this was given to repay debts caused by unintentional sin against:

• Holy things (Leviticus 5:14–16)
• Sin against God’s commands (Leviticus 5:17–19)
• Sin against a neighbor (Leviticus 6:1–7)

When the offense is against God and his holy things, he shows us how to return his stuff back to their clean, holy state. In our culture we have very little sense of the holiness of God, we have been given so much freedom in Jesus that we take it for granted. We fail to see that holy things need to be respected and protected from unholy uses that would make them unclean. 

When the offense is against a neighbor and their things, it may require more than an apology to make things right between you. This offering helped show remorse for your sin so that the people you offended will see that your repentance is genuine.

Atonement and restitution go together like repenting and obeying, it is always good when we have verbs to back up our change of heart. The offender is in great need of both, repentance and obedience, the first brings about pardon and the later proves the condition of the heart. 

Remember the way that Zacchaeus reacted after Jesus changed his life, a notorious taker became a most generous giver after he received God's forgiveness he voluntarily gave back what he took and paid interest. (Luke 19:8-10)

The Joy Of Being Forgiven And Cleared Of Guilt

Psalm 32:1-2 Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight! 2 Yes, what joy for those whose record the LORD has cleared of guilt, whose lives are lived in complete honesty!

God's people didn't groan when they received God's rules, it is unfair that we named these first books of the Old Testament "The Law" so that they seem like a burden, we don't see any of the rules in the Torah as a source of joy.

But God's people were joyful about the law because it was their source of information about how to please their God so they could live without fear. The man made gods of the pagans didn't come with any clear instructions on how to please them. (Psalm 1:1-2) We have been blessed with God's revelation of himself from the Torah all the way to the book of Revelation and every book in between.

Loving God And Your Neighbor

Repairing relationships is the main story of the Bible. The Old Testament sacrifices show us that as we become right with God through his atoning sacrifice we should be able to restore our relationships with the people around us. 

The people back there in Moses day didn't realize it but we know that those sacrifices were pointing toward a better sacrifice. The only sacrifice that truly mattered, the only sacrifice that can make peace with God and restore my relationship with my friends and neighbors.

God didn't need to do anything to reconcile our relationship with him, he could have allowed us to continue into the downward spiral that our sin caused, he could have done nothing to help us and it would not change his holiness. 

But God did everything that we couldn't do to have a peaceful relationship with him, not that we in any way deserved it, he personally gave us the best gift ever so that we can stand before him with confidence. (2 Corinthians 5:5-8) 

God's awesome goodness toward us should control everything that we do, it should give us a huge desire to please him in everything, living for ourselves should not be an option for God's people. (2 Corinthians 5:9, 14-15) 

2 Corinthians 5:18-21 And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. 19 For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people's sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation.

20 So we are Christ's ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, "Come back to God!" 21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.

God came down to our level to restore our relationship with him so how can we think we can refuse to restore the relationships around us? The Old Testament sacrifices show us the high cost that God was willing to pay to make us right with him. I have no excuse to hold resentment and judge those that have offended me.

I should imitate God by giving the gift of restored relationships away to others. His example of extravagant giving is the standard that I must live up to. As God's ambassador I need to share the gift of restored relationships with my friends and neighbors so they can do the same. 

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The Guilt Offering (bible.org)

The Purification Offering

The King offers cleansing when we become stained with sin.

Leviticus 4:1-2 Then the LORD said to Moses, 2 "Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. This is how you are to deal with those who sin unintentionally by doing anything that violates one of the LORD's commands.

Leviticus 5:13 Through this process, the priest will purify those who are guilty of any of these sins, making them right with the LORD, and they will be forgiven. The rest of the flour will belong to the priest, just as with the grain offering."

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The most important thing we need to know about God is that he is holy. His holiness is at the core of who he is and it is the driving force behind his righteousness, justice, mercy, wrath, compassion and all the other attributes of God.

Because of God's holiness we cannot approach him in an impure state or we will be consumed similar to the way that the sun would destroy us. We know that the sun is powerful and good but you would need something to cover you to allow you to have access without burning up.  

So far in this series from the Book of Leviticus we have seen the rules for worshipping God:

• The Burnt Offering shows us that God is merciful in providing a way for us to approach him through the blood sacrifice.
• The Grain Offering shows us that we need to be grateful for his mercy in providing us everything that we have.
• The Peace Offering was a celebration of our renewed fellowship that we have because of God's mercy.

Our next lesson in how to worship God tells us how to continue to receive God's mercy when we fail him. 

The sin offering was actually a purification of God's people and God's places that he has designated as holy. The purification rituals were done so that God could inhabit those holy spaces and come close to his people without jeopardizing their safety.

The purification offering had different sacrifices required for different people and the amount of purification that would be needed:

• the high priest (vv. 3–12)
• the congregation (vv. 13–21)
• a tribal leader (vv. 22–26)
• an individual member (vv. 27–35)

The application of blood to the holy areas of the tabernacle restores the sacred space that was defiled by the sins of the priest. The blood was applied to the veil, the incense altar, and the altar of burnt offering so that the sacred space would be cleansed.

As you move on from the priest to the congregation, to the tribal leaders and then to an individual's sin you see a decreasing level of threat to holiness. The lack of holiness in Israel's leaders required more blood to be applied to more places, including the holiest places, whereas the sins of one ordinary person required less.

The popular notion theses days is that sin is sin, no matter which one you commit, is terrible theology. God's law shows us that sin has various levels of consequences, in this chapter we can see that unintentional sin and defiant sins are not treated the same. There are premeditated sins that the Bible says puts us in great harm and there are smaller sins that you are not even aware of such as accidently taking a pen home from work.

Another popular idea is that my sin is my sin and you should stay out of my business. We think it doesn't concern anybody else but God's word shows us that the individual sinner has a negative affect on the whole community. When God sent the Jews into exile, many good people suffered and died as a result of national sins. It's not just a personal thing, individual sins affect the tribes and the entire nation, that's why we have the responsibility to look out for each other. (2 Samuel 12:1-10, Galatians 6:1-3)

This offering shows us our sin nature, our natural ability to do wrong by God's standards, we don't need to learn how to sin, we can do it without any effort. The old definition of sin that I learned in Sunday school is not good theology. I was taught that sin is when you know what is right and you don't do it. This definition is completely discredited by the demand for a sacrifice that covers unintentional sins. (Also in Psalm 19:12-14)

The Old Testament shows us that the purity of God's places and his people could only be restored through the blood sacrifice. In Leviticus four we see that the result of these sacrifices was forgiveness of the sins of God's people. (Leviticus 4:20, 26, 31, 35; Leviticus 5:10,13; 6:7)

Pardon for sin was accomplished to some degree through the animal sacrifices, otherwise the High Priest wouldn't be able to come into the most holy places in the Tabernacle and the Temple, but the New Testament tells us that these sacrifices didn't forgive our sins. (Romans 3:20, Hebrews 10:1-23)

It seems to be a contradiction but maybe what looks like a contradiction is actually a difference in perspective. The Matthew Henry Commentary shows us the difference in the types of forgiveness that we are talking about.

Under the old, sacrifices must be often repeated, and after all, only pardon as to this world was to be obtained by them. Under the new, one Sacrifice is enough to procure for all nations and ages, spiritual pardon, or being freed from punishment in the world to come.

-Matthew Henry Commentary

The sacrifices of the Old Testament when done with the right motivation clearly brought them forgiveness from punishment in this world (1 John 1:9) but the sacrifice wasn't enough to obtain pardon that would free them from punishment in the after life (John 3:16).

Offering the Old Testament sacrifices flowed from the life of one rightly related to God by faith, but was not the means of the right relationship, just as Abraham was counted as righteous by his faith. Doing good, even following the rituals of the law, didn't get anybody into Heaven.

1 Timothy 2:5  For, There is one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus.

The perfect sacrifice is the only one that will get you to a forever home with God, it had to be the sacrifice of the perfect God/Man that could forgive us and give us the right to be God's children living with him for eternity. 

Have you found the perfect lamb for sacrifice? 

RELATED ARTICLES

The Purification Offering (meetinggodinthemargin.com)

The Provision of Sacrifice in the Old Testament (crossway.org)

Was There Forgiveness Under the Law of Moses? (christiancourier.com)

The Peace Offering

Celebrating the restoration of shalom with the King and with our neighbors.

Leviticus 3:1-3 "If you present an animal from the herd as a peace offering to the LORD, it may be a male or a female, but it must have no defects. 2 Lay your hand on the animal's head, and slaughter it at the entrance of the Tabernacle. Then Aaron's sons, the priests, will splatter its blood against all sides of the altar. 3 The priest must present part of this peace offering as a special gift to the LORD. This includes all the fat around the internal organs,

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From my previous post, you may get the idea that sacrificing animals began in the book of Leviticus but sacrifices have already been around ever since the first sin while man was still living in the Garden of Eden. Right after they left Eden the Bible moves on to Cain and Abel worshiping God and somehow they knew that they shouldn't approach God without a sacrifice.

The first sacrifice that the book of Leviticus shows us is the Burnt Offering which was a gift wholly given to God, they did not approach God casually like we do today. Next was the Grain Offering that was given to show our gratitude to God for providing for our needs.

After the worshiper finished the obligatory Burnt and Grain offerings it was natural to celebrate their renewed fellowship with God. It wasn't enough to have peace with God and just keep it to yourself, to receive shalom and not celebrate it would be a sign that you don't really appreciate the amazing deed that God has done for you.

Since God is the host of this party the food must be eaten in his house. Parts of the sacrificed animal belong to God, other parts to the priest and other parts to the person bringing the offering. It reminds me of the covenant meal that God served to Israel's leaders when they ratified the covenant at Mount Sinai.

Exodus 24:11 And though these nobles of Israel gazed upon God, he did not destroy them. In fact, they ate a covenant meal, eating and drinking in his presence!

All of the religious systems around God's people had sacrifices and celebrations but none of them had the demand from God to be ceremonially clean and celebrate by his rules. This celebration time had to be free from the immoral practices that Israel had learned from the culture. (Leviticus 7:19-21)

Luke 1:78-79  Because of God’s tender mercy, the morning light from heaven is about to break upon us,  79  to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide us to the path of peace.

God has done everything necessary to give us the only way to obtain peace with him.

The solution to our sin problem could only come from God and it was always his intention to go to the extreme to restore our relationship. Only the perfect sacrifice that God provided could provide our pardon and bring back the shalom that was lost in the garden.

God provided my peace offering which isn't really mine unless I accept it, I need to admit that Jesus is my only way to have fellowship with God, and he is the only way that I can come to the table and eat the bread and drink the cup. Do you have peace with God? (Romans 5:1-2)

God has done everything necessary for us to obtain peace with everyone. 

The peace that I have with God should naturally bring joyful, peaceful and loving relationships with my enemies, my neighbors and especially with the rest of God's family. True peace should bring an amazing joy that has to come out and be shared with others. (Matthew 5:9)

When my sins, which are way more offensive to God, are forgiven how can I refuse to forgive other sinners who have sinned against me? If I cannot forgive the sins that have been committed against me, which are so small, then I must not appreciate the undeserved forgiveness that I received. (Matthew 18:21-35)

As a priest of the king of kings I need to do my job, showing the world the only source of everlasting peace with God that will bring great joy. (Mark 9:50 / 1 Peter 2:5, 9 / Colossians 1:19-20)

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Leviticus Chapter 3 – The Peace Offering (meetinggodinthemargin.com)

What is a peace offering? (gotquestions.org)

The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant (tabletopmagazine.com)

The Grain Offering

A gift of thanks for the kindness of the King.

Leviticus 2:1-2 "When you present grain as an offering to the LORD, the offering must consist of choice flour. You are to pour olive oil on it, sprinkle it with frankincense, 2 and bring it to Aaron's sons, the priests. The priest will scoop out a handful of the flour moistened with oil, together with all the frankincense, and burn this representative portion on the altar. It is a special gift, a pleasing aroma to the LORD.

Leviticus 2:8-9 "No matter how a grain offering for the LORD has been prepared, bring it to the priest, who will present it at the altar. 9 The priest will take a representative portion of the grain offering and burn it on the altar. It is a special gift, a pleasing aroma to the LORD.

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God's people must receive forgiveness before he will accept anything else from us, the Israelites learned that they cannot give any other offering to God before they have their sins forgiven. But after their relationship was restored through the burnt offering it is only proper to honor God by showing their gratitude. ( 2 Corinthians 5:18-21)

The grain offering was an important part of worship that reminded them that everything they had came from God. God knows the heart of man will turn away from him if we just keep taking from him without acknowledging him by giving back a portion.

God's people prepared this offering at home before they took it to the priest. The priest would burn a portion on the altar and the rest was used by the priest for his food because he was not allotted any land to produce his own food.

Three kinds of grain offerings are listed: 

• Choice flour with oil and frankincense, 
• Baked cakes or wafers of choice flour and oil, and 
• Roasted kernels of grain with oil and frankincense.

God's people are not in the Promised Land yet, they aren't harvesting anything, if they had any grain for this offering it would have to be what they brought from Egypt. But we already know that they didn't have grain to make flour to feed themselves because God was giving them manna, their daily bread from Heaven to sustain them.

We can't be sure how this offering worked out before they took the Promised Land and started growing their own food but their future has a promise of abundant crops. So abundant that they were warned over and over before they even arrived that they would be ungrateful and turn away from God.

They were going to be blessed in their new homeland so that they could be a blessing and point people to the source of their blessings but we know they failed to do this even though they were warned ahead of time. (Deuteronomy 8:7-11)

Sacrificial giving is a great challenge for most of us. In our self centered culture it is difficult to think of giving away something that you feel like you deserve because of your work to produce it. The attitude of the carnal man is, I'm all that matters in the world (narcissism), others don't matter (individualism) and neither does God (secularism). (From the post "The Solution to Self-Centeredness")

Just like God's people in the Promised Land we also struggle to acknowledge him when we have so much abundance. Most of us have back-up plans and safety nets, margins and contingency plans that keep us from being reliant on anybody, not even God.

It is difficult to give so much that it makes you rely on God daily for your needs. We see little need to pray for today's bread when we have enough in the cupboards to sustain us for weeks. 

Consider sacrificial giving in scripture:

• The first fruit offering which was given before the barns were full. (Proverbs 3:9-10)
• The Gentile widow that fed Elijah with her meager resources. (1 Kings 17:8-16)
• The poor widow that gave her last two coins. (Mark. 12:42)
• The offering that the Macedonian church gave out of poverty. (2 Corinthians 8:1-2)
• Paul's instructions to the church in Corinth. (2 Corinthians 9:10-11)

I have never seen giving done to the extreme that it is in the Bible. The examples given in scripture show kindness toward others that exceeds any kindness that most people would ever consider even to their best friend. Our gifts to God are not really very sacrificial.

We struggle with, or just ignore the fact, that we are to desire what's best for others even though we have been given the ultimate example of what that looks like. We treat others with the same attitude as the world has, we interpret situations and respond no different than the world, we view our stuff the same as the world. 

If Jesus gave away his right to be individualistic and self centered what right do we have to contradict his attitude in our own lives? (Philippians 2:5-8)

Seeing Jesus in the details of the grain offering:

• The oil (Lev. 2:1–2, 4, 6, 15), either poured on it or mingled with it, a picture of the Holy Spirit of God, who was given to Christ without measure (John 3:34). 
• The salt (Lev. 2:13; Matt. 5:13), which speaks of our Lord’s purity of character. 
• Jesus compared himself to a grain of wheat (John 12:23–25), and He was crushed (“fine flour’’) and put through the furnace of suffering that He might save us from our sins.
• Jesus told us that he is the bread of life (John 6:32)
• Leaven is to be excluded from the offering. This speaks of the fact that there is no evil in Christ. There is no sin in the life of Christ.
• Honey was also excluded. It represents natural sweetness. It will sour, just as leaven is a souring thing.
• Frankincense was a pleasing aroma to God

The greatest way to honor the King for what he has done for me is to give him a portion of his provision for me back to him. I need to be grateful to God for his blessings and realize that I have been blessed so I must be a blessing or I am being disobedient.

Before the grain was used personally for groceries, a portion of it was first prepared and taken to the temple to be offered to God first and then to others (the priest). This attitude should still be in us today!

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The Grain Offering (meetinggodinthemargin.com)

What is a grain offering? (gotquestions.org)

The Burnt Offering

You can't approach the King without a sacrificial gift.

Leviticus 1:1-4 The LORD called to Moses from the Tabernacle and said to him, 2 "Give the following instructions to the people of Israel. When you present an animal as an offering to the LORD, you may take it from your herd of cattle or your flock of sheep and goats. 

3 "If the animal you present as a burnt offering is from the herd, it must be a male with no defects. Bring it to the entrance of the Tabernacle so you may be accepted by the LORD. 4 Lay your hand on the animal's head, and the LORD will accept its death in your place to purify you, making you right with him.

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In the previous post we saw that nothing else could be more important than knowing God and knowing his demands. Something in mankind has always made him aware that there is a higher power and they knew that they should be concerned about making sure that higher power is pleased.

Our God is the only higher power that we need to know, he is the real God and he wants to have a relationship with us. The fact that we are unclean makes it dangerous to come close to our holy God if we ignore his rules. Thankfully God has given his people the information that we need so that we can safely approach him. 

Just as you wouldn't come into the presence of an earthly king without a gift, you certainly shouldn't approach the ruler of the universe without a gift. The believers in the Old Testament would not ever consider going to the tabernacle or the temple without a sacrifice.

If they wanted to come into God's presence a costly gift from their herd or flock was required. It had to be a real sacrifice that cost them something, it wasn't a sacrifice just because it was burned on the altar, it was a sacrifice because it was expensive. They had either purchased the animal or they had the expense of raising it from birth.

Going to worship was a mentally, physically, and emotionally draining event. Thousands of years later we have lost the worship experience that God's people had back in the Old Testament. We come to worship so casually without much forethought or preparation.

Imagine the impact of bringing your own animal, laying your hands on the innocent and personally taking it's life while the priest caught the blood in a basin. After you caused it to bleed out and die you still had to cut your animal into pieces and wash them while the priest burned them, piece by piece, on the altar.

The burnt offering has so many symbols that point to Jesus:

• The bull speaks of our Lord as the patient, unwearied laborer, always doing the Father’s will. 
• The sheep represents the Lord as the meek and lowly one. 
• The goat speaks of Christ as our substitute. 
• The turtledove points to Him as the man of sorrows (mourning dove)
• To cleanse and restore the sinner to fellowship with God

The way to atone for our sins and restore our fellowship with God was through the blood of a perfect sacrifice. This truth was fulfilled perfectly and was replaced by a better sacrifice when Jesus came.

For 33 years the lamb of God was inspected and found to be without fault, he lived the perfect life to be the only sacrifice that actually pays the penalty for my sin. The symbolic sacrifices in the Old Testament only covered their sin for a season until the lamb of God offered himself as the only sacrifice that could bring salvation and make us holy. (John 1:29, Romans 3:25, 8:3, Hebrews 10:1-18)

It is much more difficult to have genuine, deep sorrow for our sin and truly appreciate the costly sacrifice made for us. We come so casually to worship, we seem to think that there isn't much required of us, we have forgotten the fact that holiness is still required in order to have a relationship with God.

God has only one intended destiny for mankind—holiness. His only goal is to produce saints. God is not some eternal blessing-machine for people to use, and he did not come to save us out of pity—he came to save us because he created us to be holy.

-Oswald Chambers

Holiness is the reason for salvation, it is the ultimate reason that Jesus came to be sacrificed, becoming holy is the only way that I can spend eternity with God. Pleasing God is the most important thing in the world and the only way to please him is to become like him and that means being holy. (Hebrews 10:10)

We love to think that God wants us to be happy, healthy and wealthy but none of those things are going to get you into God's presence for eternity. The most important thing in life is your holiness achieved by accepting Jesus as the perfect sacrifice and then committing yourself to work to become more like Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit living in you.

Burnt Offering- Genesis 8:20-22, Exodus 29:42-46, Numbers 28-29 / 1 Samuel 7:9-10 / 1 Chronicles 21:18-22:1, Ezra 3:1-6, Job 1:5, Isaiah 1:11-20, Mark 12:33, Romans 3:25, 8:3, Hebrews 10:1-18

The Law of Burnt Offering- Leviticus 6:8-13

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The Most Important Thing

God is holy and he requires that his people be holy.

Leviticus 11:44-45 For I am the LORD your God. You must consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am holy. So do not defile yourselves with any of these small animals that scurry along the ground. 45 For I, the LORD, am the one who brought you up from the land of Egypt, that I might be your God. Therefore, you must be holy because I am holy.

Leviticus 19:1-2 The LORD also said to Moses, 2 “Give the following instructions to the entire community of Israel. You must be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.

Psalms 33:8  Let the whole world fear the LORD, and let everyone stand in awe of him.

Psalm 96:8-9 Give to the LORD the glory he deserves! Bring your offering and come into his courts. 9 Worship the LORD in all his holy splendor. Let all the earth tremble before him.

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Something in mankind has always made him aware that there is a higher power and they knew that they should be concerned about making sure that higher power is pleased. The most ancient cultures all over the world have sought to appease the gods so that they could live and be prosperous. 

But we aren't worried about their "gods." We know there is only one higher power to be concerned with. Our fear about how God will treat us became obvious as soon as we sinned, Adam and Eve didn't have any way of knowing how God would react, we read in Genesis that they were afraid but I think that is an understatement.  

The first worshippers that the Bible tells us about are Cain and Abel, after that is was Noah and then all of the forefathers of Israel. They all used a sacrifice as a gift to God even before the laws about sacrifices was given. 

The book of Leviticus is God's gift to his people to let us know what he expects from them when they have made him unhappy with them. None of the "gods" ever went out of their way to help their believers know what is expected.

Nothing else could be more important than knowing God and his demands but most of us like to stay out of the Old Testament so we don't get the full story. We don't realize that our view of God is inaccurate because we are only reading half of God's book.

The fact that God devoted an entire book of the Bible to the subject of holiness would indicate that it’s an important subject, one that we dare not ignore. Whenever we minimize the holiness of God, we’re in danger of minimizing human sinfulness, and the combination of these two errors results in the minimizing of the cross of Jesus Christ.

-Warren Wiersbe Commentary

The most popular way of referring to God in scripture is simply "the holy one," it is so important that it is the one characteristic that is most celebrated before his throne in Heaven. "Holy, holy, holy" is the song of the saints before God's throne. (Isaiah 6:3, Revelation 4:8-9, 15:2–4)

God wants a relationship with us but his holiness is dangerous to unclean people if we do not adhere to his rules about approaching's him. By ignoring the Old Testament we find it easier to avoid the fact that God is holy, Moses described him as being "glorious in holiness" (Exodus 15:11) and we have been commanded in both the Old and the New Testament to be holy just as he is.

God’s holiness can be understood as the momentum behind all the other attributes of God.  Holiness is the essence of God.  It is the driving force behind the righteousness, justice, mercy, wrath, compassion, will, truth, and all other attributes of God.

A Brief Analysis Of The Holiness Of God by John Wilsey

We don't like to think about God's holiness or his demand that his people be holy. The most popular way of referring to God today is to say that God is love, everybody likes that God, we want a God that helps us get along with each other, solves our problems and carries our burdens. We want a God that affirms us and tells us to follow our heart or trust our feelings.

We are too much like the crowds that followed Jesus around looking for a cure, looking for a meal or looking for a leader to save them from the Roman oppression. But as soon as Jesus fails to make our life better we turn on him.

We want a Jesus that makes us happy, so don't even mention a Jesus that wants to control our lives and change our character. The idea of God or Jesus wanting us to be happy is a concept that isn't found in the Bible.

1 Peter 1:15 But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy.

1 Peter 2:5 And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God.

1 Peter 2:9 But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.

We have been commanded to be holy, that is our greatest goal, we must be unique and separate from the world. We belong to a holy God who has given us a job to do. As his nation of priest we have work to do that requires us to be holy. (1 Corinthians 6:19-20, and 2 Corinthians 7:1)

10 Things You Should Know about the Priesthood of Believers

Jesus came to be our High Priest so that we can be priest that do God's work, interceding for others and representing God to them. How can we draw near to God as a priest if we are unholy? How can we accurately show God to others if we are a terrible example?

God's attributes must be seen as equal, we shouldn't stress his love and neglect wrath and justice, too much emphasis on any of them is a distortion of who God is. Without a proper view of God's holiness there is a lack of fear or reverence for him and we won't see a need to change.

Pleasing God is the most important thing in the world and the only way to please him is to become like him and that means being holy. Instead of pursuing our happiness in this world we should seek to prepare ourselves for the next world where we will experience joy eternally.

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The Problem Solving Jesus (mereorthodoxy.com)

God's Holiness And Your Worship (gty.org)

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God With Us: Holiness Is Required

How to be acceptable when you come before God.

Video:  The Book of Leviticus by The Bible Project

Leviticus 19:1-2  The LORD also said to Moses,  2  “Give the following instructions to the entire community of Israel. You must be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.

Leviticus 26:11-13  I will live among you, and I will not despise you.  12  I will walk among you; I will be your God, and you will be my people.  

13  I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt so you would no longer be their slaves. I broke the yoke of slavery from your neck so you can walk with your heads held high.

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The story line that began in Genesis continued through the book of Exodus and now we will see that it keeps on going through the next book. We saw in Exodus that the people of God were redeemed from the kingdom of darkness, they were taught how to live to please God and they have just built a place to meet their God.

Now that they have a place to meet with God they need to learn how to do it, our God is not like all of the false gods that were mean and their rules about how to relate to them were not clear. Our God gave his people the book of Leviticus as a loving revelation of the essential requirements for his people, as bad as they are, so they will know how to come into his presence.

God with us has requirements, it's easy to see that in the Old Testament, but it is still equally true today! God’s expectations for his people have not become less strict just because we don't have to go to the temple and slit the throat of a perfect sacrifice from our flock and watch it bleed out. In the church age few of us consider the cost of going to worship, it is too easy to just show up without a sacrifice and expect God to be pleased.

The Holy One commands his chosen ones to be holy.

1 Peter 1:15-17  But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy.  16  For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”  17  And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites. He will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of him during your time here as “temporary residents.”

The pursuit of holiness is still required as we reside in this temporary home, progressively becoming more like our holy God, even though we will not fully obtain holiness until Jesus takes us to our permanent home. We need to realize that God isn't expecting less of us than he did of the believers of the Old Testament.

As believers, we need to be "set apart" (sanctified) from the world, we need to be living by God’s standards, not the world’s. God knows we won't be perfect, but there should still be a distinct difference seen in us. As a holy nation of priest we need to live set apart, in the world but not of it, if we are the same as the world then the world won't see anything that needs to change in their lives.

Children inherit the nature of their parents. God is holy; therefore, as His children, we should live holy lives. We are “partakers of the divine nature” and ought to reveal that nature in godly living.

-Wiersbe Bible Commentary

The culture has turned up the anti-God indoctrination in the past few years in an attempt to silence people that refuse to call evil as good. We will all be forced to decide which side we will be on, we will be tempted to lower God's holy standards, just like Israel did in the Old Testament.

The New Testament requires our holiness just as much as the Old Testament. If we truly love a holy God then we will want to please him and seek to be just like him. 

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Why Should We Bother Reading Leviticus? (biblestudytools.com)

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The Shepherd

Have you found a spotless lamb for sacrifice?

The Chosen Series: The Shepherd Pilot

Luke 2:8-21  That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep.  9  Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified,  10  but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people.  

11  The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David!  12  And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”  

13  Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying,  14  “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”  

15  When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”  16  They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger.  

17  After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child.  18  All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished,  19  but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often.  20  The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them.  

21  Eight days later, when the baby was circumcised, he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel even before he was conceived.

Saved By The Passover Lamb

Apply the blood to your life so you can be saved from God's judgment.

Exodus 12:12-14  On that night I will pass through the land of Egypt and strike down every firstborn son and firstborn male animal in the land of Egypt. I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt, for I am the LORD!

13  But the blood on your doorposts will serve as a sign, marking the houses where you are staying. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. This plague of death will not touch you when I strike the land of Egypt.  

14  “This is a day to remember. Each year, from generation to generation, you must celebrate it as a special festival to the LORD. This is a law for all time.

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In the previous post we saw that Pharaoh's magicians could imitate the real deal sometimes but as God sent more and more plagues that they couldn't counterfeit they proved that Satan may come close but God's Mighty Power is not available anywhere else. God's power couild not be matched as he used it to devastate nature, command animal life and now in today's scripture we will see that he has power over death.

God has been more than fair enough in his dealings with the Egyptians, the Bible focuses on Pharaoh but he isn't the only Egyptian to have a hard heart toward God, most of the citizens of Egypt are guilty of treating God's people harshly even when Pharaoh attempted to kill all of the Hebrew babies. It is amazing that Moses was protected from death by the daughter of the man that wanted him dead and she knew that he was a Hebrew baby that should have been killed by her father's decree. (Exodus 2:6)

God always protects his own, before God judges the world he warns his chosen people that there is a way to escape judgment, they can receive mercy if they believe in the power of the blood to save them. But they were not allowed to just believe, real belief requires action, if they didn't follow God's instruction then they would not be any better off than the rest of Egypt.

Psalms 78:49-52  He loosed on them his fierce anger—all his fury, rage, and hostility. He dispatched against them a band of destroying angels.  50  He turned his anger against them; he did not spare the Egyptians’ lives but ravaged them with the plague.  51  He killed the oldest son in each Egyptian family, the flower of youth throughout the land of Egypt.  52  But he led his own people like a flock of sheep, guiding them safely through the wilderness.

God offers his chosen people protection from the destroying angels, he didn't exempt his people from this plague like he did some of the others, instead he told them how to avoid it through their obedience.

God told them that the Passover lamb must be the best of the best, a young lamb without defect, this lamb became known as the symbol of the perfect lamb that would come to be the final sacrifice.

Isaiah 53:7 He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth.

Jesus is the only sacrifice that pleased God, unlike those lambs that died before him, he is the only one that has God's complete approval. Without his life of sinless obedience his sacrifice would have had no value at all. We need to see that not only did Jesus die for us, He also lived for us.

Most of us fail to see that we are all slaves in a foreign country under the reign of an evil dictator. You can come out of the kingdom of darkness and become a child of God that will not be punished with the rest of this crazy world someday.

1 Peter 1:18-19  For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value.  19  It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.

The value of silver and gold will fluctuate but the commodity used to pay our ransom from slavery never changes. The blood of our Passover lamb is priceless yet it is meaningless if it isn't applied to your life by your personal faith. 

Have you had your own personal Passover moment? Find out how you can have peace with God.

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The Lord Will Provide A Son

God's promised son is the only sacrifice that can save.

Genesis 22:1-2  Some time later, God tested Abraham’s faith. “Abraham!” God called. “Yes,” he replied. “Here I am.” 2 “Take your son, your only son—yes, Isaac, whom you love so much—and go to the land of Moriah. Go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.”

Genesis 22:7-8 Isaac turned to Abraham and said, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “We have the fire and the wood,” the boy said, “but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?” 8 “God will provide a sheep for the burnt offering, my son,” Abraham answered. And they both walked on together.

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It is easy to become overwhelmed with the Old Testament and set it aside and stay in the New Testament. If you avoid Genesis through Malachi and jump into the Bible somewhere in Matthew through Revelation then you miss out on a lot of important information.

Genesis explains to us that in the beginning our world was perfect and it tells us that he is the only one that can fix the problems caused by sin. There are a lot of social justice warriors out there today but they are not very effective because they do not address the heart problem that only God can fix. As soon as we messed it up God told us about his plan to make it all perfect again, that's what the rest of the Bible is trying to reveal to us.

God chose Abraham to be the beginning of a special people that would be the lineage of our savior. Abraham wasn't chosen because he was perfect for the job, over the years Abraham slowly progressed through the school of faith, as he learned more about God his faith would grow and he would trust him more.

This story of God telling Abraham to sacrifice Isaac is very disturbing from our perspective and we have to wonder how God could make such an extreme request. It seems like mental torture for everybody involved. But we have to realize that in the Old Testament we see God interacting with man very direct and often times he asks very great things of them that we never see in our day. 

In the book of Genesis alone there was Noah, Abram, Isaac and Joseph that all did mighty things for God that he would never ask us to repeat. Since we have never experienced God in such a personal and direct way, it can be very difficult to understand this relationship between God and his people in the Old Testament.

Abraham is asked to go to an undisclosed location, a mountain somewhere in the land of Moriah where he would build yet another altar to sacrifice to God, today we know this place as the area that includes the Temple Mount and the Garden of Gethsemane in Jerusalem. Abraham was to go there to offer God the most precious sacrifice. 

Abraham's love and faith in God was put to the ultimate test that reminds me a lot of Job. We will find out whether his blessings were the reason for his obedience or would Abraham be obedient in the most difficult circumstances? God gives us good things but what happens when God wants them back?

Abraham's only verbal response to God was simply "Here I am." The Bible doesn't tell us that he debated with God to try to change his mind and he didn't ask for an explanation. Abraham personally started the task of obeying, he didn't leave it up to a servant to get things ready to go.

After over forty years of following God, he has experienced God and come to know him in a more intimate relationship than anybody that I know of in today's world. That's probably why God made a request that seems so huge to us. Abraham's faith journey brought him into such an intimate, trusting relationship with God that anything short of this extreme request wouldn't really be a true test of his faith. 

Earlier when he didn't trust God, Abraham had Ishmael running around the house as a constant reminder of his lack of faith, if he failed this faith test then he would have Isaac hanging around the house as a painful reminder of his failure, sometimes our sins have long term consequences that we have to live with.

Abraham passed this test, but he wasn't the only one being tested, his only son was old enough that he had to be submissive to God's command in order for it to happen. Isaac could have refused to be involved once he found out that he was the one that his dad intended to put on the altar.

Ancient cultures were killing their children to please their gods but Abraham learned that the only sacrifice that the one true God seeks is a living sacrifice. (Romans 12:1-2) God is never pleased with a dead human and it grieves him greatly that we are so willing to rebel by murdering our baby's. 

When he laid himself on the altar, trusting his father and his God, he came of age as the true seed of Abraham and entered on the inheritance, making God his God. At that supreme moment he made himself over to God, he put himself at God’s disposal; if his death was to be helpful in fulfilling God’s purpose he was willing to die. It was God’s will that must be done, not his.

He had familiarized himself with the thought that he belonged to God; that he was on earth for God’s purposes, not for his own; so that now, when he was suddenly summoned to lay himself formally and finally on God’s altar, he did not hesitate to do so.

-Expositors Bible Commentary

This cooperation between father and son are a foreshadow of God the Father and his Son Jesus. The Father was willing to sacrifice his Son but the Son had to be willing to be a part of the plan to save the world.

There are a lot of prophecy's in the Bible that have a dual fulfillment. Abraham's prophecy that God will provide the lamb for the sacrifice was fulfilled that very day but it was also a prediction that would take thousands of years to accomplish.

John 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

John 3:16-17 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.

The true lamb of God is the promised son that was represented in the foreshadowing of Isaac, God would never have been pleased with the death of Isaac, only a perfect human sacrifice could pay the penalty for man's sin. Since there are not any perfect humans around, Jesus is the only one that could satisfy God's demand for a sacrificial payment for our sin. (Matthew 10:37-39, 1 Peter 1:18-20)

The Lord has provided, just as he promised way back in the book of Genesis, but we have to believe in the provision. We must see how far short we fall from perfection and realize that God kindness in providing the sacrifice for our sin is our only hope of being with him in eternity. (Romans 3:23)

Isaac Was A Foreshadow of Jesus
The miracle birth was prophesied God issues His command—His will—to sacrifice a beloved son The sons accept God’s will The sons carry the wood God provides a substitute Loved ones grieve for three days Faith in the resurrection

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Extreme Giving

Do you give from your surplus or is it a true sacrifice?

Habakkuk 3:17-19 Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, 18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD!

I will be joyful in the God of my salvation! 19 The Sovereign LORD is my strength! He makes me as surefooted as a deer, able to tread upon the heights.

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Habakkuk chapter three doesn't make sense to anyone that has not established a personal relationship with God. If your circumstances are as bad as Habakkuk was facing would you have any reason to rejoice in tribulation? Would you be able to trust God's plan and purpose for your life?

Trusting God when it doesn't make sense is probably the most difficult when it comes to giving away a portion of what you have when you seem to have so little or when it isn't clear how much you will have.

In the Old Testament law God's people were required to bring a first fruit offering to the temple. This offering required a level of trust because you were giving a sacrifice at the beginning of the harvest before you knew how much you would earn. (Leviticus 23:14)

This idea of giving before we get is very foreign to us, we want to give after the paycheck or the bonus comes in, but the Bible teaches that our giving should show that we trust God to take care of us regardless of our financial circumstances.

Give Sacrificially

Mark 12:43-44 Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has given more than all the others who are making contributions. 44 For they gave a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she had to live on.”

Jesus told his disciples that the poor widow at the temple was the best giver that day while he was in the temple. Her gift was a true sacrifice that created a financial struggle that none of the other people experienced that day.

Looking back at Habakkuk's situation, the country was in full economic collapse, their wealth had disappeared, the ability to provide for their families was destroyed and the possibility of having a meal on any given day was bleak.

Giving sacrificially requires that you give until it hurts, your giving should make you a little bit uncomfortable, and your lifestyle should be affected by your giving. Is your giving really a generous sacrifice? If you are only giving from your surplus then what happens when the surplus is gone?

Give Joyfully

Deuteronomy 26:8-11 So the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand and powerful arm, with overwhelming terror, and with miraculous signs and wonders. 9 He brought us to this place and gave us this land flowing with milk and honey! 10 And now, O LORD, I have brought you the first portion of the harvest you have given me from the ground.’ Then place the produce before the LORD your God, and bow to the ground in worship before him. 11 Afterward you may go and celebrate because of all the good things the LORD your God has given to you and your household. Remember to include the Levites and the foreigners living among you in the celebration.

In the teachings about the first fruit offering they didn't just drop their offering in the collection box and walk away. Their offering was given joyfully with a testimony about the one that provided the offering.

We give our money cheerfully to the things that we are passionate about, it doesn't matter what your interest is, you will spend money easily on those things that you love the most. You will have to be careful not to spend too much on those things.

What do you treasure so much that you can effortlessly give money to? Do you give as cheerfully to God as you do to your earthly pleasures?

Give Graciously 

2 Corinthians 8:2-3  They are being tested by many troubles, and they are very poor. But they are also filled with abundant joy, which has overflowed in rich generosity.  3  For I can testify that they gave not only what they could afford, but far more. And they did it of their own free will.

When you give your time, treasure or your talents to God it becomes part of God's grace to others. God didn't bless me so that I can accumulate the blessings and keep them to myself, I have been blessed so that I can introduce the people that I bless to my loving God who provided for me.

When God's people share their blessings we fulfill our mission here on earth, our blessings help bring charity, good works and justice to our hurting world. Our giving will help us be better ambassadors for our Savior who was the most extreme giver.

I need to be faithful to give even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the LORD!

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Only One Lamb

A substitute lamb will take my punishment.

Genesis 22:1-2, 7-8 Some time later, God tested Abraham’s faith. “Abraham!” God called. “Yes,” he replied. “Here I am.” 2 “Take your son, your only son, yes, Isaac, whom you love so much, and go to the land of Moriah. Go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.”

7 Isaac turned to Abraham and said, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “We have the fire and the wood,” the boy said, “but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?” 8 “God will provide a sheep for the burnt offering, my son,” Abraham answered.Verses

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Abraham and his son left home not really sure what was going on, Sarah isn't mentioned in the story but I bet that she was just as puzzled about the situation, even the servants must have wondered why they were not tending to an animal along the way to a unknown mountain destination.

Everybody must have been wondering the same thing that Isaac was when he asked his dad "where is the lamb?" We have been told to go worship but are we really ready to? Issac's question must have burned deep inside Abraham, he knew the source of the sacrifice, but he was willing to give up his only son that was promised by God to be the heir of a great promise.

Abraham knew that God will provide a lamb, Jehovah-jireh, the Lord will provide, but he wouldn't provide it until after Abraham was faithful to God's directions. Abraham was just being obedient, he surely didn't know that he was an illustration of the Father who “spared not His own Son” and that Isaac is a type of Christ “obedient unto death.”

There Is The Lamb!
John 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

John the Baptist made it clear without any doubt that God did provide a Lamb. But not just any Lamb this Lamb is the true Lamb of God, the only one that could be offered as the prefect, permanent sacrifice for our sins. The sacrifices that the law required were no longer needed because this Lamb is God Himself.

It is fascinating that God satisfied the requirements of the law by having the sacrifice of His Son correspond with the time the evening sacrifice was being made in the temple. The fact that God had provided this Lamb at just the right time should have made it crystal clear to the Jewish religious leaders.

God shows us over and over again that He is in the business of providing. My greatest need for forgiveness was provided by the innocent death of God's only Son in my place. We must trust the Great Provider with every detail instead of allowing our circumstances to get us down.

Sacrifice And Serve

At the Lord's Supper we are challenged to sacrifice and serve.

 

Luke 22:17-27 Then He took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. Then He said, "Take this and share it among yourselves.  18  For I will not drink wine again until the Kingdom of God has come."  19  He took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then He broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, "This is My body, which is given for you. Do this to remember Me."

20  After supper He took another cup of wine and said, "This cup is the new covenant between God and His people--an agreement confirmed with My blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you.  21  "But here at this table, sitting among us as a friend, is the man who will betray Me.  22  For it has been determined that the Son of Man must die. But what sorrow awaits the one who betrays Him."  23  The disciples began to ask each other which of them would ever do such a thing.

24  Then they began to argue among themselves about who would be the greatest among them.  25  Jesus told them, "In this world the kings and great men lord it over their people, yet they are called 'friends of the people.'  26  But among you it will be different. Those who are the greatest among you should take the lowest rank, and the leader should be like a servant.  27  Who is more important, the one who sits at the table or the one who serves? The one who sits at the table, of course. But not here! For I am among you as one who serves.

John 13:4-5  So He got up from the table, took off His robe, wrapped a towel around His waist,  5  and poured water into a basin. Then He began to wash the disciples' feet, drying them with the towel He had around Him.

John 13:12-15  After washing their feet, He put on His robe again and sat down and asked, "Do you understand what I was doing?

13  You call Me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and you are right, because that's what I am.  14  And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each others feet.  15  I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you.

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At the stroke of midnight God sent the final plague down on Egypt because of Pharaoh's refusal to let God's people leave his country so that they could move to a better place that God had prepared for them. God's people received instructions so that they would be covered with the sacrificial blood but all of Egypt was in mourning and finally they were allowed to go.

For hundreds of years the Jews have celebrated and now Jesus prepares to observe his third and final Passover. He knew that this Passover would be different, he knew that the symbolic Passover lamb would be replaced with the real and final sacrificial lamb.

At Jesus final Passover we see his example to us to be a sacrifice and a servant:

The Greatest Sacrifice

Hebrews 10:13 Our High Priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then he sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand.

The Savior is soon going to be killed, no longer living on earth and not yet glorified in heaven, Christ sacrifice was the beginning of a new covenant between God and man, an eternal covenant and the only sacrifice for our sins that would last forever. Jesus made His sacrifice our sacrifice, His life became our life, and His Father became our Father.

The blood of the new covenant was shed for all, the final payment for sin was achieved, the door to the Gentiles was opened and the temple veil was torn in two giving us direct access to God. (Hebrews 10:20-22)

Romans 12:1  And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all He has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice--the kind He will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship Him.

Now it is our turn to be a sacrifice, it is our turn to be offered up completely, we should give up any rights that we try to claim and give it all to Jesus. A sacrifice doesn't die partially, it is submitted to God, to be disposed of at his will. I should be devoted to God in the same way, I should be given over to his will for my life even if it means suffering, I need to be a living sacrifice.

The Greatest Servant

Isaiah 53:11-12  When He sees all that is accomplished by His anguish, He will be satisfied. And because of His experience, My righteous Servant will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for He will bear all their sins.  12  I will give Him the honors of a victorious soldier, because He exposed Himself to death. He was counted among the rebels. He bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels.

The suffering servant displayed the greatness of his love for us at Calvary but before he died he gave us another example of his love in action. Our Lord became our foot washer, the King of Kings became our servant, he was never too good to do anything that would benefit us. Because of his incredible love he was completely sold out to his mission.

As God, He owned everything; as the servant, He had to borrow everything: a place to be born, a boat in which to cross the Sea of Galilee and preach from, a donkey (itself a symbol of humility and servitude) to ride into Jerusalem for His triumphal entry, a room to celebrate His final Passover in, and a grave to be buried in.

-John MacArthur

Meanwhile we are busy trying to accumulate everything that we can acquire while we are here on earth. We built bigger barns and rent out storage facilities to hold our stuff. We forget that slaves do not own property, they do not have anything of value, and they cannot control what happens to themselves.

Jesus made it clear that he came to live on this planet to be a sacrifice and to serve. How can I think that my life in this world should be any different? Why are we so busy looking out for ourselves?

I need to sacrifice and serve, look out for the interest of others and have the same attitude that Jesus had. I don't have the right to serve when I feel like it. I don't have the right to give an offering that doesn't seem like a sacrifice. (Philippians 2:2-5)

Giving Your Best Gift

Since God gave his best gift to us we should give the best gift that we have to offer.

Genesis 4:1-5  Now Adam had sexual relations with his wife, Eve, and she became pregnant. When she gave birth to Cain, she said, "With the LORD's help, I have produced a man!"  2  Later she gave birth to his brother and named him Abel. When they grew up, Abel became a shepherd, while Cain cultivated the ground.

3  When it was time for the harvest, Cain presented some of his crops as a gift to the LORD.  4  Abel also brought a gift--the best of the firstborn lambs from his flock. The LORD accepted Abel and his gift,  5  but He did not accept Cain and his gift. This made Cain very angry, and he looked dejected.

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The opportunity to live in paradise is gone and it won't come back for a very long time. Imagine having to explain that to your children. Adam and Eve had to tell their boys how good they had it and awesome it was to have daily visits from God.

Since they weren't living in paradise the boys had to work, they would grow weary and tired, Cain had to fight the weeds in order to protect his crops and Abel had to protect his livestock from the wild animals.

The boys learned what sin is and they learned that because of sin God required an offering as a part of their worship. This offering must be the best gift that they had but when it was time to worship God one of them brought a perfect gift and the other offered a gift that was less than the best.

They both knew the right thing to do but the condition of their heart and their attitude toward God was reflected in their gift giving.

Genesis 4:6-7  "Why are you so angry?" the LORD asked Cain. "Why do you look so dejected?  You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master." 

God let Cain know that he needed to change his attitude and he gave him the opportunity to do so but Cain ignored God advice. Imagine bringing a gift to God and he tells you that you didn't do it right, maybe it is the right gift but your heart is not right, maybe the gift is wrong but your heart is right, if you get a chance to fix what is wrong then just do it.

Cain didn't offer God a satisfactory gift and he didn't appreciate the undeserved gift that God gave to him. God could have killed Cain but instead of enjoying forgiveness, mercy and grace, Cain decided that he loved his sin more than God. Cain should have learned from his parents that the consequences of disobedience were severe and that God could have been a lot more harsh. (Genesis 4:13)

The Bible is full of examples of God giving and man rejecting, over and over again God gives his best and we don't appreciate it. Adam and Eve didn't appreciate it and now Cain has followed in their footsteps and the process just keeps on going through all of history.

Romans 12:1-2  And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all He has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice--the kind He will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship Him. Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God's will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. 

Have you ever received a gift so great that you just had to give your best in return? If you are a child of God you have! God cared enough to send his very best so we should feel compelled to follow his example. I should be willing to follow God's example in giving up my rights and privileges in order to give like God. (Philippians 2:5-11)

Video: Giving God Our Best - Francis Chan
What kind of gift do I give? Too often it isn't my best gift.

Sometimes I give him my time after everything else and I am too tired. Sometimes I give him my spare change instead of giving generously and sacrificially. Sometimes I want to impose my own rules about worship or I want to decide what my worship looks like. (Isaiah 58, Amos 5, Malachi 1)

How deliberate are you in showing how much God means to you by what you give back to him?