“Top Priority (Numbers 28-30)", Will DuVal | 5/25/25
Numbers 28-30 | 5/25/25 | Will DuVal
Let me begin this morning by asking you a question: “What’s the most IMPORTANT thing that you will do tomorrow?”
*Now, if you’ve got a toddler - especially a CRAZY toddler, like mine - you may answer, “Keep my kids ALIVE!; that is my #1 priority… EVERY day!”
*Or if you’re in a different phase of life, you may answer, “Take care of my aging PARENTS; that is MY #1 responsibility right now.”
*Kids: if school just let out for summer break, you may be thinking, “The only thing on MY to-do list is VEG OUT!”
*Some of you realize, “Wait a minute- tomorrow is a HOLIDAY: MEMORIAL Day. Perhaps the most important thing ANY of us can do is remember and honor those who fought and died for our freedoms in this country.” Very important.
*But then we have a FEW of you who think, “It’s not a holiday for EVERYONE; I’M still working tomorrow, and the most important thing I’LL do is perform surgery; hopefully save someone’s LIFE! Or I’m flying a donor organ halfway across the country so someone can get the life-saving transplant they need.” Some of you have INCREDIBLY important jobs.
But the passage we’re going to be looking at together this morning - Numbers chs 28-30, if you want to begin turning there in your Bibles, if you have them; if NOT, we’d love to BLESS you with a Bible this morning; we’ve got plenty at the Info Bar out in the lobby - but in the passage we’re going to consider together, God will intimate that the most important thing that ANY of us can do on ANY given day is to WORSHIP HIM. To love and honor and glorify the LORD.
According to Isaiah 43:7, this is the very PURPOSE for which we were CREATED: “I created [you]”, God declares, “for MY glory”.
What is His GREATEST COMMANDMENT? Our TOP priority? “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength” (Mt 22:37).
His FIRST commandment was ““You shall have no other gods before me.” No higher PRIORITIES.
We are to “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness” (Mt 6:33)
More than our kids or parents, more than relaxation or recreation, even more than saving LIVES or honoring those who gave THEIR lives to save OURS… our highest priority in life is honoring THE LORD.
Worshiping Him; to “worship” simply means to “assign WORTH”. So in ONE sense, all we DO is worship. We are constantly “assigning worth” with our time, our talents, and our treasure. Where we devote our minutes, our muscles, and our money says a LOT about our priorities, who or what we truly WORSHIP.
This morning, God is saying, “Worship ME. Give ME your time, talent, treasure; I am WORTH it. I’m worth EVERYTHING you could EVER possibly give me… and MORE.”
And Numbers 28-30, in particular, are going to instruct us WHEN, WHY, and HOW we worship the Lord. That’s really a good 3-point sermon outline for you; I know I put FOUR in your bulletins, but points 3 & 4 are both gonna answer the question of “HOW we worship God”. WHEN, WHY, and HOW; that’s where we’re headed.
And before we even turn there, let me quickly remind you of the context here: we’ve been following the story of Israel, God’s people, as He’s led them out of slavery in Egypt and through the Sinai wilderness, toward the Promised Land of Canaan. But once they GOT there, they REFUSED to go fight for the land because they DOUBTED God’s promises, so God let the older generation wander an extra 38 years until they all died out in the wilderness. But last week, we just met their KIDS, the NEW generation God will actually lead into the land. And these are the very next chapters we read, the very first thing God wants to remind them of, after they’ve taken the new census last week, is THIS: the primacy of WORSHIP! It is their - and OUR - “Top Priority”.
(SCRIPTURE:) So would you STAND with me… We’re not gonna read all THREE chapters, 87 verses; but let’s read the first 25 verses of ch28 at least, and then later we’ll read excerpts from the rest of the passage as we work our way through. Ch28, v1; hear the word of the Lord:
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“28:1 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Command the people of Israel and say to them, ‘My offering, my food for my food offerings, my pleasing aroma, you shall be careful to offer to me at its appointed time.’ 3 And you shall say to them, This is the food offering that you shall offer to the Lord: two male lambs a year old without blemish, day by day, as a regular offering. 4 The one lamb you shall offer in the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight; 5 also a tenth of an ephah of fine flour for a grain offering, mixed with a quarter of a hin of beaten oil. 6 It is a regular burnt offering, which was ordained at Mount Sinai for a pleasing aroma, a food offering to the Lord. 7 Its drink offering shall be a quarter of a hin for each lamb. In the Holy Place you shall pour out a drink offering of strong drink to the Lord. 8 The other lamb you shall offer at twilight. Like the grain offering of the morning, and like its drink offering, you shall offer it as a food offering, with a pleasing aroma to the Lord.
9 “On the Sabbath day, two male lambs a year old without blemish, and two tenths of an ephah of fine flour for a grain offering, mixed with oil, and its drink offering: 10 this is the burnt offering of every Sabbath, besides the regular burnt offering and its drink offering.
11 “At the beginnings of your months, you shall offer a burnt offering to the Lord: two bulls from the herd, one ram, seven male lambs a year old without blemish; 12 also three tenths of an ephah of fine flour for a grain offering, mixed with oil, for each bull, and two tenths of fine flour for a grain offering, mixed with oil, for the one ram; 13 and a tenth of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering for every lamb; for a burnt offering with a pleasing aroma, a food offering to the Lord. 14 Their drink offerings shall be half a hin of wine for a bull, a third of a hin for a ram, and a quarter of a hin for a lamb. This is the burnt offering of each month throughout the months of the year. 15 Also one male goat for a sin offering to the Lord; it shall be offered besides the regular burnt offering and its drink offering.
16 “On the fourteenth day of the first month is the Lord's Passover, 17 and on the fifteenth day of this month is a feast. Seven days shall unleavened bread be eaten. 18 On the first day there shall be a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work, 19 but offer a food offering, a burnt offering to the Lord: two bulls from the herd, one ram, and seven male lambs a year old; see that they are without blemish; 20 also their grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil; three tenths of an ephah shall you offer for a bull, and two tenths for a ram; 21 a tenth shall you offer for each of the seven lambs; 22 also one male goat for a sin offering, to make atonement for you. 23 You shall offer these besides the burnt offering of the morning, which is for a regular burnt offering. 24 In the same way you shall offer daily, for seven days, the food of a food offering, with a pleasing aroma to the Lord. It shall be offered besides the regular burnt offering and its drink offering. 25 And on the seventh day you shall have a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work.”
This is the word of God… Seated…
Now, there’s a LOT there for us to try and unpack, but let’s just START with the OVERARCHING principle being made here: WHEN do we worship the Lord?
#1- We ought to worship Him in MANY various RHYTHMS. (28:1-25) At many times; at ALL times!
David declared in Psalm 34: “I will bless the Lord at all times! His praise shall continually be in my mouth!”
Hebrews 13:15 exhorts us: “let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.”
So in ONE sense, we are called to worship God CONTINUALLY. But what Numbers 28 & 29 are focused on is our DIRECT worship. I think it’s important to distinguish between DIRECT worship and INDIRECT worship. In 1 Corinthians 10:31, the apostle Paul writes, “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” So according to God’s word, there’s a way to bring Him GLORY, to WORSHIP Him, EVEN in the way that we EAT or DRINK… the way we use the BATHROOM or we SLEEP! Paul said, “WHATEVER you do”; if you can be ASLEEP while you’re doing it, that is by definition UNCONSCIOUS worship. Worship cannot ALWAYS be, then, this whole person, “heart, mind, soul, & strength” all fully engaged, DIRECT, intimate experience of personal communion with God; that’s just not practical or even POSSIBLE. We’ve got FAMILIES to care for, HOUSES to maintain, JOBS to report to… and those are all GOOD things that God CALLS us to; to assign SOME worth to THEM as well.
So MUCH of our worship of God, then - our “eating and drinking”, our cooking and cleaning, our spreadsheeting and surgeoning and SLEEPING… it’s all INDIRECT worship.
But Numbers 28 & 29 here address our DIRECT worship. Yes, we should “CONTINUALLY worship the Lord” in ALL that we do, but God ALSO calls us to set aside certain SPECIAL, sacred times to worship Him DIRECTLY - explicitly - as well.
To spend TIME with God in His WORD, and in PRAYER; to LISTEN to Him and TALK with Him.
And these first 25 verses highlight the various RHYTHMS with which we ought to DO so:
Vv1-8 record Israel’s DAILY offerings.
Vv9-10: their WEEKLY offerings, on the Sabbath.
Vv11-15 outline the MONTHLY offerings, at the “new moon” festival.
And vv16-25 BEGIN the list of ANNUAL offerings, at Israel’s various YEARLY festivals, their HOLY days.
Now, we will come back to this main point and APPLY God’s exhortation here to worship him routinely in our OWN lives PERSONALLY, but before we DO, if you’re like ME, you may find yourself asking two important QUESTIONS at this point that we need to address before we can move on:
Why all the ANIMALS, offered here? and…
Why are they called God’s “FOOD offerings”, a “pleasing AROMA” to Him?
We MODERN worshipers are probably familiar with the idea of worshiping God through SONG; we may even call Pastor Brian our “worship pastor”, which is a bit of a misnomer, since we are ALL worship pastors!
-Brian facilitates our worship through SONG;
-I am charged with facilitating our worship of God through the internalizing and living out of his WORD;
-Pastor Thad facilitates our worship through COMMUNITY (through fellowship with Christ’s BODY, the CHURCH);
-and Pastor Austin facilitates our worship through MISSIONS (reaching those OUTSIDE the Church with the love of Christ, as an act of worship. We serve THEM because we love HIM; because HE, Jesus, loves them.
-Missions, community, discipleship, singing… it’s ALL worship!
…But killing ANIMALS?? How is THAT worship? Moreover, why was it seemingly God’s preferred FORM of worship, 3,500 years ago? And can God really TASTE and SMELL these offerings?
There are really TWO ways to show someone you LOVE them. You may have heard of the FIVE “Love Languages” - Words of Affirmation, Quality Time, Acts of Service, Receiving Gifts, & Physical Touch - well, you can really GROUP them into two categories: 1) we can show love through PRESENTS and 2) we can show love through PRESENCE.
1) “Presents”: you GIVE a person something (a GIFT, or SERVICE, or AFFIRMATION) out of love, or
2) Presence: you spend time WITH them as an expression of love (that’s “Quality Time” & “Physical Touch”/Presence).
Why do I bring this up? Because the OFFERINGS we find here in vv1-25 of Numbers 28, and ALL of this chapter and the NEXT one too - ch29 is just gonna continue the list of OFFERINGS that God prescribes for each of Israel’s HOLY days - but ALL these offerings were the ancient Israelite’s means of communicating their LOVE to God in those two basic ways: presents and presence. “You shall LOVE the Lord with all your heart, mind, soul & strength”; but how did they DEMONSTRATE it? They offered God GIFTS (“presents”) and devoted themselves TO Him, spent time WITH Him, in His PRESENCE.
BOTH those dimensions of one’s LOVE for God were on display in this idea of a SACRIFICE. The gifts that God instructed His people to offer Him here were COSTLY; it required THEM to sacrifice, in order to obey. And we’ll come BACK to that in point #3.
But first, we must recognize that we can’t have ANY relationship with God, we can’t even be IN His presence, without a SACRIFICE. God’s word tells us that He is HOLY; He is PERFECT in every way. We, however, are SINFUL; we have all VIOLATED God’s perfect Law and REJECTED His good will for our lives. And the only fair CONSEQUENCE of our sin, sin against a HOLY God, is DEATH. We ALL deserve to DIE; without death, God’s justice cannot be satisfied. Hebrews 9:22 says, “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.”
But by instituting these SACRIFICES, God made a way for Israel to pay the penalty of their offenses through the blood of an ANIMAL instead, in their PLACE, and thus be FORGIVEN and RESTORED back to right relationship with God.
So every offering we find here in Numbers 28 & 29 was a way of saying EITHER: “God, I ADORE you; please accept this present”, OR “God, I’m SORRY; please accept me back INTO your presence, through this sacrifice”; but either WAY, what you’re REALLY saying is “God, I LOVE you; I WORSHIP you”.
Now, as for God calling it “my FOOD” and “my pleasing aroma”, we know those are METAPHORS. God laments in Psalm 50: “your offerings are continually before me… [But] I will not accept a bull from your house… For every beast is mine… “If I were hungry, I wouldn’t tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine” (vv8-13). In other words, God’s saying, “Look: I don’t GET hungry, but if I DID, I wouldn’t have to depend on Y’ALL to feed me ANYWAY”; “The God who made the world and everything in it… is not served by human hands, as though he needed anything” from US (Acts 17:24).
It’s just a METAPHOR; it is a SYMBOL in PARTICULAR of our fellowship with God. Especially in the ancient world, but still today too, sharing a MEAL together is one of the best ways of expressing and enjoying RELATIONSHIP with someone (Skylar, Numbers, 346). That’s why God calls it a “pleasing AROMA”; NOT because he loves the literal smell of dead animals (although depending on the STAGE of the sacrificial process… the longer you’re AT it, the better they SMELL - Not so much during the SLAUGHTERING, but once you got to the SMOKING, fired up the grill, it would have been a “pleasing aroma” in the LITERAL sense as WELL!). But what GOD has in mind when HE announces it is the SYMBOLIC reality to which the sacrifice POINTS: restored RELATIONSHIP with His people: Repentance… Atonement… Forgiveness… RECONCILIATION. God LOVES that.
But returning to the MAIN point of the passage now, we are invited here to worship God in a variety of RHYTHMS: daily, weekly, monthly, annually. Our top priority every year… every month… every WEEK, every single DAY… ought to be the worship of the LORD. And like Israel, we have different ways of expressing that worship and enjoying the FRUIT of it - communion with God Himself, enjoying His PRESENCE - daily, weekly, monthly and annually.
We ought to carve out time DAILY to be with the Lord, and to worship Him DIRECTLY. We bask in His presence as we open His word and we hear His voice. And then our PRAYERS in response are like GIFTS that we’re invited to offer God in return, “a sacrifice of praise… the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name” (Heb 13:15). Sometimes in the Church we call this our “quiet time”, or “daily devotions”; the Bible doesn’t actually NAME it, and as a matter of fact, the Bible doesn’t actually COMMAND this daily discipline either. You won’t find “Thou shalt spend time with the Lord DAILY”, because God doesn’t want our worship to be COMPULSORY, obligatory. And moreover, because God doesn’t HAVE to command those who truly belong to Him to spend TIME with Him; we just WANT to. The day doesn’t feel right, we feel “off”, until we’ve GOTTEN that time with Him.
I don’t have to command or try and convince my kids to spend time with me; they WANT to. They wake up and know Dad’s out on the porch swing, he’s got BREAKFAST ready for me, he’s gonna wrap me in a big warm hug in his nice snuggly bathrobe and read to me… I wanna be with DAD!
That’s how believers feel about time with our HEAVENLY Father, daily.
But then we’re invited to a WEEKLY rhythm here as well. For Israel, it meant observing the SABBATH; for US, it means observing the Lord’s Day, on Sundays. When we gather here together with and as God’s people to worship Him CORPORATELY, through Scripture and prayer, through music and missions, through community with the saints and communion with the Lord… and all the other Sunday morning RHYTHMS that make this the most important three HOURS of your week (that includes the SUNDAY SCHOOL hour, for you visitors who were getting nervous; Don’t worry: we’re not gonna hold you HOSTAGE all 3 hours - worship isn’t COMPULSORY - but we do INVITE you to stay and worship with us all morning long, from 9 to noon!)
And there is kinda, sorta almost a COMMAND this time, really more of an EXHORTATION to weekly corporate worship in Hebrews 10: “let us draw near [to God] with a true heart in full assurance of faith… And let us… not neglect to meet together, as is the habit of some, but [rather] encourage one another” (vv22,25). We draw NEAR to God in one, unified COLLECTIVE heart of faith as his people, MEETING together for MUTUAL ENCOURAGEMENT. Aren’t Sundays so encouraging? Hearing the voices of God’s people in unison singing out His praises, lifting our hearts up together as one before God’s throne in corporate prayer, reminding one another of the GOSPEL as we recite the Call to Confession & then the Assurance of Pardon together. Aren’t you ENCOURAGED by these 45 minutes you spend sitting under the preaching of God’s WORD every week? If NOT, I’m doing something WRONG! …Or YOU are. One of us is. You should leave here feeling CHALLENGED, yes, to worship God more whole-heartedly this NEXT week than you did LAST week. But Church, we should ALSO feel so ENCOURAGED by the GOSPEL - the good news that our relationship status with the Lord is NOT most defined by the regularity with which WE are drawing near to HIM in worship, the “sacrifice of praise” that WE offer HIM, but rather, our relationship was secured by God HIMSELF drawing near to US, by the sacrifice that HE offered US of His own Son JESUS.
Let us not neglect to meet together to worship HIM, and to encourage one another with HIS good news.
I’ll be much quicker with our monthly and annual rhythms of worship: monthly could include your men’s breakfast, your women’s coffee… Senior’s lunch… Young Adult Ministry lunch. I might also put our quarterly all-church meetings in that category as well (it would be great if we could hold those monthly instead of just quarterly…). By the way, put “SMALL GROUP” in there under the ideal “WEEKLY rhythm” as well - LIFE group, DISCIPLESHIP group; if you’re not IN one yet, summer’s actually a great time to check them out; email Pastor Thad and he’ll get you connected.
But like Israel, we share ANNUAL rhythms together as a church as well: New Year’s Kick-off, Good Friday, EASTER, Church in the Park, VBS, Sign-up Sunday, Fall Festival, Night of Thanks, Advent, Christmas EVE…
And I’ll let that segue way us now INTO point #2:
We worship the Lord for many REASONS. (28:16 - 29:40)
As I said, we’re not gonna read all of chs 28 and 29 here, but we need to at least understand and APPRECIATE what’s going ON here in the text, what GOD deemed IMPORTANT enough to include in HIS holy and inspired WORD. So what we have here starting in v16 of ch28 and continuing all the way down through the end of ch29 (v40), is a list of God’s prescribed offerings for each of Israel’s FIVE major annual FESTIVALS, their HOLY days. And they are listed here in chronological order, beginning with PASSOVER and the Festival of Unleavened BREAD, followed by the Feast of WEEKS or “Firstfruits”, all THREE of which were celebrated in the SPRING, in the Hebrew month of Nisan. And then 6 lunar months later, in the FALL, they would observe the Feast of TRUMPETS, the Day of ATONEMENT (or Yom Kippur), and finally the Feast of BOOTHS.
Now, hopefully those of you who are REGULARS have continued reading the passage we’re going to be studying on Sunday before you come. If not, that’s another good, important weekly rhythm to build into your devotional life, to ensure you’re getting the most out of our study on Sundays. But I’m gonna assume MOST of you read these chapters in preparation for this morning, and we’re not going to RE-read back over them, and examine exactly how many bulls and rams and lambs and goats… and how much FLOUR and OIL and the DRINK offerings that God wanted at each of these six holidays. Praise GOD: we no longer WORSHIP Him through the blood of animals, which could NEVER truly cleanse our sins (Heb 10:4); we now worship God through the blood of His SON, “the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the WORLD!” (Jn 1:29). So TODAY these Old Testament festivals are just that: they are OLD. The Book of Hebrews says, “In speaking of a new covenant, [God] made the first one obsolete” (8:13). To try and go back and observe the OLD festivals NOW would be like running your computer on MS-DOS; it’s OBSOLETE. (It would also be ILLEGAL if we all brought our lambs and rams with us to church to SLAUGHTER them. But WORSE, it would undermine the ALL-SUFFICIENCY of Christ’s sacrifice.)
But what I DO wanna review with you BRIEFLY are the symbolic REASONS BEHIND - the distinctive MEANING and SIGNIFICANCE - of each of these annual festivals. Many of you may recall it was actually on EASTER of last YEAR, the CHURCH’s highest “holy day”, that we exposited these OT festivals and the unique answer each one offers us to the question: “WHY do we worship the LORD?” We don’t worship Him the same WAY Israel did - with the same offerings at the same festivals - but underlying the historical particulars of their worship here are universal principles - the WHYs, the REASONS for worship - that are TIMELESS and transcendent.
Like Israel, we too worship God for SO many reasons, and each of their festivals here highlights a different impetus to praise:
At PASSOVER, Israel celebrated God’s PARDON by RELISHING, savoring the Passover MEAL. That’s what was most distinctive about Passover; there was FOOD involved with almost ALL of these festivals (except for the Day of Atonement, when everyone FASTED), but if you joined us for our OWN Passover seder just last MONTH, on Good FRIDAY, you know that the meal really SETS and SHAPES the liturgy at Passover. It tells Israel’s STORY: the bitterness of their slavery in Egypt, symbolized in the bitter herbs; the HASTE with which they had to FLEE, represented in the unleavened bread; But MOST importantly, the PARDON which Israel RECEIVED - the Angel of Death KILLED all the Egyptian firstborn, but “passed over” the Israelites’ homes, overlooking THEIR sins - because of the BLOOD of the Passover LAMB.
And as God’s people today, the Church relishes in God’s pardon for sin not just annually (although we do that TOO, especially, on Good Friday), but we gather WEEKLY to savor Christ’s salvation for sin at the Lord’s Supper.
Second is the Feast of WEEKS or FIRSTFRUITS. Where Israel celebrated God’s PROVISION for THEM by in turn rendering THEIR gifts to HIM. They would offer BACK to God the “firstfruits” of their harvest. Since most of us don’t literally harvest ANNUALLY anymore, but rather WE now “reap” a paycheck every month, or every two weeks, that becomes OUR rhythm, and our REASON - what you and I REMEMBER every time we offer BACK to God a tithe - 10% - OF that paycheck that God so graciously PROVIDED us. The Bible reminds us that even the power to GET wealth, to EARN a living - your BRAIN, your ABILITIES - were GIVEN to you by a generous God. So we give BACK generously in RESPONSE.
Third is the Feast of TRUMPETS, when Israel would celebrate God’s PRESENCE by READYING themselves; it was observed on the first day of the month of Tishri, in preparation for the HOLIEST day, Yom Kippur, when once a year, the Jewish high priest was invited INTO the Holy of Holies to meet with GOD HIMSELF.
Today, because of OUR high priest Jesus Christ, you and I can now meet with God EVERY day! But ONE day, God promises, we will finally meet Him FACE TO FACE, when the heavenly trumpet is blown, and Christ RETURNS for His BRIDE, the CHURCH. And UNTIL that day comes, we are exhorted to “stay awake! Be on the lookout!” To READY ourselves for Christ’s RETURN.
Do we have a RHYTHM for REMEMBERING and CELEBRATING Christ’s return for us? Are we regularly PRAYING for it - “Maranatha, come QUICKLY, Lord Jesus!”
And then we come to the Day of Atonement, when Israel would celebrate God’s PURIFICATION for sin by collectively REPENTING of their sins.
And today, friends, God promises “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 Jn 1:9)
You want a reason to WORSHIP? That is ALL the reason we NEED! That “while we were YET sinners - rebels against God; destined for damnation and deserving every FLAME of it! - yet CHRIST died for US” (Rom 5:8). Our once for ALL time, atoning sacrifice for sin. And “If we confess our sins, [our Savior JESUS] is faithful… to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Friends: if you have not CONFESSED your sins, and received Christ’s PURIFICATION, his forgiveness and CLEANSING for sin, do not wait a moment longer - REPENT, turn from your sin, trust in Jesus this morning, and be SAVED!
Lastly, there’s the Feast of BOOTHS, in which Israel celebrated God’s PRESERVATION by RELYING on Him:
“Once a year, for 7 days, [the Israelites] would construct and live in BOOTHS, these little makeshift tents, to remind themselves of these 40 years out in the wilderness… when they were forced to DEPEND on God to sustain them every step of the way. When they had to collect MANNA, from God, daily- because they couldn’t FEED themselves. God brought forth WATER from ROCKS, to quench their thirst. He guided them, as a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night… God was their EVERYTHING! Israel was TOTALLY reliant and dependent on him, for survival…
God LOVES weakness, because God’s strength is made PERFECT in our weakness, when he can prove that HIS grace is sufficient to SUSTAIN us. But maybe somewhere along the way, you FORGOT your weakness and your dependency on the Lord, and started relying on YOURSELF, on YOUR strength instead. And God is calling you back to the BOOTH this morning.
Life is HARD out here in the wilderness, isn’t it? This period of time between our salvation and our eventual homecoming to Heaven, the Promised Land God has awaiting us - life can get TOUGH here!
Who are we RELYING on, Church, to get us THROUGH?
Only GOD has the power to PRESERVE us, to SUSTAIN us, to KEEP you to the very end. Let’s trust in Him.” (DuVal, “Holy Day Holidays,” 2024)
For all these reasons and MORE, we WORSHIP the Lord.
#3- We’ve considered WHEN we worship and WHY we worship; but what about HOW we worship? Well, God offers us TWO answers here, at the end of ch29 and then the beginning of ch30, but for STARTERS:
We worship the Lord with our RICHES. (29:12-40)
I mean, that’s the thing that HAS to stand out to us about ALL of these offerings, but is ESPECIALLY driven home now with the Feast of BOOTHS, which receives 28 verses of biblical real estate here - longer than all 4 PREVIOUS festivals COMBINED - all detailing for us the LAUNDRY list of OFFERINGS God requested:
“you shall offer a burnt offering… thirteen bulls from the herd, two rams, fourteen male lambs a year old… and their grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil, three tenths of an ephah for each of the thirteen bulls, two tenths for each of the two rams, 15 and a tenth for each of the fourteen lambs; 16 also one male goat for a sin offering, besides the regular burnt offering, its grain offering and its drink offering. [and THAT was all just day ONE! They still got seven more days to GO!]
“On the second day, twelve bulls from the herd…” - And we won’t read all of it, but I did CALCULATE for us the TOTAL here, not just for the Feast of Booths, but for all FIVE of these festivals: 1,086 lambs, 37 rams, 113 bulls, 37 goats + many many TONS worth of grain and drink offerings… and that’s not to even mention the voluntary, free WILL offerings, and the purification and “SIN offerings”; skip down with me to v39: “These you shall offer to the Lord at your appointed feasts, in addition to your vow offerings and your freewill offerings, for your burnt offerings, and for your grain offerings, and for your drink offerings, and for your peace offerings.”
Big Picture: for Israel, worshiping the Lord was COSTLY! You gave God your FIRST and your BEST because He deserves nothing LESS!
And we already discussed the implications for our FINANCIAL generosity - TITHING, as a good biblical MINIMUM expectation (although the New Testament mainly just encourages us to give CHEERFULLY and LAVISHLY, without even SUGGESTING a percentage, so as not to STIFLE our giving in any way; the EARLIEST church in the book of Acts sold ALL their possessions and gave the money to the church for the building of the Kingdom, so… there’s THAT).
But our FINANCES aren’t the ONLY kind of “riches” that the Lord desires from us in worship. It is TELLING that by FAR the predominant type of sacrifice that God calls for here in Numbers 28 & 29 was the WHOLE BURNT OFFERING, which symbolized one’s TOTAL devotion to the Lord. Likewise, Romans 12:1 “appeals” to us to “present our [SELVES; our WHOLE selves - heart, mind, soul and strength…] as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, which is our spiritual worship.”
God has RICHLY blessed ALL of us, in different WAYS and to differing degrees, but physically (he gave you your BODY), intellectually, (he gave you all your MIND), materially (he gave you all your STUFF), relationally (he gave you your FRIENDS and FAMILY), and MOST of all, SPIRITUALLY (“He has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies”); how can we USE those blessings to in turn, bless the LORD, worship HIM?
King DAVID said, “I will NOT offer my God sacrifices that cost me nothing.” God paid the HIGHEST price - it cost God His own SON to purchase US as His people - may WE therefore willingly, joyfully, RICHLY respond in our worship of HIM.
Lastly and briefly, but it’s so IMPORTANT:
4) We worship the Lord through our RECTITUDE. (30:1-16)
Through the “rightness of our principles or conduct; our moral virtue”. We WORSHIP God through our OBEDIENCE; by living RIGHTEOUSLY.
Ch30 - again, we won’t reread it all - but it’s all about making and KEEPING your VOWS: “If a man vows a vow to the Lord… he shall not break his word. He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth” (v2). Which I think we could ALSO extrapolate out to include “being who you SAY you are”. That’s what the word INTEGRITY means: you are who you SAY you are, and your WORD is your BOND. Integrity.
And for sake of time, I’m gonna let you ask all your questions about why the BULK of the chapter is spent on “WOMEN and vows”, and all the exception clauses here - why God distinguishes between a MAN’s vow and a WOMAN’s - you can ask those for our “After the Sermon” podcast later this week. 🙂
But the main idea God LEAVES us with here is THIS: the BEST offering we can give Him is our HOLINESS. Our rectitude; to “live RIGHTLY”, according to His COMMANDS. If worship is really all about our LOVE for God; what did Jesus say: “If you LOVE me you will… KEEP my COMMANDS” (Jn 14:15).
God says TIME and time again throughout the O.T.: “To OBEY is BETTER than sacrifice” (1 Sam 15:22, et al). Holiness is God’s FAVORITE offering of all.
Church: May we worship the Lord ROUTINELY…
May we worship Him for all KINDS of reasons…
May we worship Him RICHLY, offering Him our first, our best, our ALL…
And May we worship Him in RIGHTEOUSNESS, putting our MORALITY where our MOUTHS are.
…And when we FAIL to, may we rest in the One - JESUS - who offered His Father the PERFECT worship and holiness that we owe Him but all too often fail to offer Him. Praise GOD for His SON.