“What God Deserves (Leviticus 27)” | 4/21/24
Leviticus 27 | 4/21/24 | Will DuVal
But that of course means this is our last Sunday together in the book of Leviticus. I hope this series has been as much a blessing for you as it has been for me. And as we typically do on the last Sunday of a series, I want to spend the FIRST part of this morning with you reviewing the big takeaways of the past 26 chapters & 14 weeks now. We do this for a few reasons:
First of all, have any of you actually made it every Sunday, since January? (I haven’t! I missed for spring break!) Btw: remember when you DO have to miss a Sunday, you can ALWAYS go back and listen / watch / READ every sermon online on our website (obviously it’s not the same, but it’s better than nothing!)
But hopefully this quick recap at the end will help fill in some of those gaps you may have missed.
Secondly, and maybe even MORE importantly: when you spend 15 weeks in a book of the Bible, it can sometimes be difficult to see “the forest for the trees”, to see how the whole book fits and functions together, as a unified WHOLE. So it’s helpful to ZOOM OUT here at the END and do a quick FLY OVER of chs1 thu 26 again, to remind ourselves of ALL the important lessons God has been teaching us these past 3+ months.
And that’s the third and MOST important reason for reviewing: we’re more likely to actually REMEMBER and INTERNALIZE these messages - commit them to our heads AND our hearts.
So, we began Week 1 with some Introductory CONTEXT for Leviticus: It was written by Moses. Remember: the preceding book - Exodus - concluded with God’s glory descending on the tabernacle Israel had built him, but Moses couldn’t ENTER the tent to get INTO God’s presence. But the following book - NUMBERS - opens with God speaking with Moses INSIDE the tent of meeting. And what happened in BETWEEN, that ENABLED sinful humanity to actually enter into God’s holy presence - was LEVITICUS. That’s what this book is all ABOUT: Sanctifying once-Separated Sinners, for communion with a holy God.
And in ch1, we learned right off the bat that the only way sinners CAN be forgiven and made holyFOR relationship with God, is through SACRIFICE. The Bible says, “Without the shedding of blood, there is NO forgiveness of sins” (Heb 9:22); later in LEVITICUS, God will say, “I have given it for you on the altar to make atonement [PAYMENT] for your souls… [with an animal’s] blood” (Lev 17:11). Life for life. And the first kind of sacrifice God outlined for Israel was the BURNT offering, which introduced us to so many of the important, recurring features of ALL the offerings - they were PRESCRIBED - ch1 opens with “WHEN you bring an offering”; not “IF”, but “WHEN”; sacrifice was NECESSARY. And the animal had to be PRECIOUS (God said, “I deserve the BEST of your flock, your herd…”), and yet, this offering was alsoPOSSIBLE for every Israelite; if you couldn’t afford a bull or a sheep or a goat, you could bring a BIRD, to serve as both a PROXY (a substitute; “This should be MY life, MY blood, because it was my SIN that severed relationship with God…”) as well as a PROPITIATION (God is rightfully angered by our sin, but he pours OUT his righteous wrath on the sacrifice instead). And we saw how this offering had to be PERSONAL (each Israelite not only brought their own animal, but they actually had to KILL it; get THEIR hands bloody; feel the WEIGHT of their guilt), and yet it also had to be PRIEST-MEDIATED (only the PRIEST could bring the blood into the tabernacle, into God’s presence; we need an INTERCESSOR). And so ultimately we saw how ALL of this serves as a PICTURE of JESUS - our BETTER sacrifice, the “lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world” (Jn 1:29).
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Then in week 2, we were introduced to the Thanksgiving offerings - if the Burnt offering was primarily about a proxy & propitiation purchasing God’s PARDON, then the GRAIN offering in ch2 was a way of giving God one’s PLEDGE and PRAISE in response to God’s PROVISION.
The PEACE offering in ch3 was similar, but offered thanks specifically for one’s enjoyment of PEACE with God, reconciliation, restored relationship, FELLOWSHIP with God.
And once again, we considered how BOTH these offerings find their ultimate fulfillment in CHRIST - whose sacrifice has provided for us ETERNALLY - eternal life - because of the lasting PEACE with God we now have through him; NOTHING can now “separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:39)
In chs 4 & 5 we looked at the ATONEMENT offerings - the SIN offering, as well as the GUILT offering, which highlight 2 important dimensions of our OWN sin - sin is both a moral STAIN we need to be washed of, as well as a spiritual DEBT that we owe God. But “Jesus PAID IT ALL / All to him we owe / Sin had left a crimson STAIN / he WASHED it white as snow” - Jesus both paid our penalty, and cleansed our soul’s contamination.
Then in chs 6 & 7 we unpacked some of the miscellaneous laws concerning sacrifices, and what they teach us about the way in which God desires to be WORSHIPED. That’s what ALL these offerings had in common: they were an ancient Israelite’s expression of WORSHIP - of assigning God WORTH. And we saw that the worship God wants is perpetual (continual), PURE (sinless), pious (whole-hearted), precious (we give God our best), public (corporate) yet personal (heart-FELT), and it is PROPER - worship is our FITTING response, in light of who God is and what he’s done for us.
In chs8-9 we surveyed the ordination of the PRIESTS, and considered how WE TOO - as God’s NEW Testament priesthood of ALL believers now - like the Levites, we must be CALLED by God, CONFIRMED by the community of faith, COMMANDED (instructed) by God’s WORD, CLEANSED (washed of our sins) and CLOTHED in new priestly garments (Christ’s righteousness); we must be CONSECRATED (set apart for God’s service), COMMITTED to the work, COMPLIANT (obedient unto God), and we are CAREGIVERS (we’ve been saved to serve others, with God’s love and truth).
Then in ch10 we observed how NOT to be a priest, with the story of Nadab & Abihu, Aaron’s wayward sons, who offered “unauthorized fire” to the Lord. We must NOT be disobedient, DISHONORING, DEFILING, DITHERING (divided-hearted), or DISAVOWING of our own sin; if we CONFESS our sins, God is faithful and just to FORGIVE us our sins.
In chs11-15 we read all about “Leprosy & Mold & Bodily Discharges”, and considered how God’s laws about AVOIDING such impurities whenever possible (and being CLEANSED of them when they were UNavoidable) - how it’s all intended to subtly remind us of WHO GOD IS: unlike us, God is neither FALLEN nor COMMON (instead, he is HOLY and TRANSCENDENT); God is neither MORTAL nor VULNERABLE (he is ETERNAL and UNassailable); God is neither CREATED nor GENDERED (he is creaTOR and limitless); and God is not EXCLUDING or UNCLEAN (he is radically INCLUSIVE, welcoming EVERY sinner to come to him, but only after being CLEANSED of our sins through the blood of CHRIST).
In chs16 & 17, we learned about the Day of Atonement, this central ritual not only in Leviticus but in all of the OT for gaining access into God’s presence. And we discovered that in order to approach God, we must come ON HIS TERMS (in the OT, that meant only ONE man, only one DAY of the year; today, it means we come to God through JESUS, “no one comes to the Father, but through [HIM]”); we must come to God through a PRIEST (again, formerly, only the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies on behalf of the people; today, the book of Hebrews declares that CHRIST has now “entered the heavenly places” to grant US - ALL who would trust in him by faith - we have access to God’s own presence. But only through HIS BLOOD; WITHOUT it, there is NO forgiveness of sins. And we must come in HUMILITY and REPENTANCE (the high priest wore linen garments as a symbol of humility, as he confessed not only the sins of the people, but his OWN sins. But WE now have a high priest who has no NEED for confession, because he was sinLESS. And Jesus calls us to repent, and trust in his FORGIVENESS and CLEANSING).
In chs 18 & 20 we considered God’s call to SEXUAL HOLINESS, and specifically, the 5 REASONS God offers us for pursuing purity: Because 1) God SAYS so, and we BELONG to him; because 2) it’s GOOD for us (God’s sexual boundaries are like protective guardrails that keep us from veering off a CLIFF); 3) we obey to receive God’s BLESSING that accompanies holiness, and ALSO 4) to avoid the CONSEQUENCES of DISobedience. But most importantly, we pursue purity because 5) We want to PLEASE and to REPRESENT God WELL, and bring him JOY and HONOR, as his beloved children.
Then in ch19, after the RITUAL purity and SEXUAL purity laws, Pastor Thad walked y’all through the MORAL purity laws, and what is sometimes referred to as Leviticus’s “Sermon on the Mount” chapter, where God elaborates on His top 10 Commandments, and calls us, in summary, to “love God, and love our neighbors as ourselves”.
In chs 21 & 22, we examined MORE laws about priests, and how they pointed us to our BETTER high priest JESUS, who is LIVING, PURE, PERFECT, WORTHY and yet WELCOMING of sinners like us, because Jesus is SAVING.
Ch23 was EASTER SUNDAY, where we looked at the 7 “Holy Day HOLIDAYS” God prescribed in the OT for CELEBRATING Him and all that He has DONE for us, and how ALL of them find their fulfillment not only in JESUS, but in his RESURRECTION, specifically - in what we celebrate at EASTER, when Christ gave us the hope of eternal life after death, of which he is the “firstfruits”.
In chs 24 & 25 we exposited “10 Commandments” God calls us to obey: we rejoice in His presence; we remember God’s provision; we revere God’s personhood; respect God’s products (the sanctity of life); we rest God’s plots (and care for ALL of creation); we restore God’s parity (and fight for equity & justice); we rely on God’s promise of future provision; and we redeem and respect God’s people and posterity (giving EXTRA concern to how we treat those in NEED, and especially those who belong to the LORD, within the community of FAITH).
And then Finally, last week in ch26, we surveyed the “Blessings & Curses” God promised in response to Israel’s obedience & DIS-obedience, respectively, and ENDED with the MERCY and FORGIVENESS God offered them DESPITE their rebelliousness, if they would but REPENT, and turn back to HIM. And once again, we gloried in the gospel: that Jesus Christ fulfilled the Law’s righteous demands that you and I FAILED to, that he might bestow upon US God’s BLESSING that only HE deserved, and instead take our punishment upon HIMSELF, “redeeming us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse FOR us” on the cross (Gal 3:13). We get the blessings because JESUS took our curse - the divine exchange.
Which LEADS us to Leviticus’s CONCLUSION here in ch27 this morning. You know, LAST week I referred to ch27 as a kind of “Appendix” God tacked on at the end. But after further study this week, I think that description sells it short. This is a FITTING ending to a WONDERFUL book, because in light of ALL these LAWS (some 251 laws we’ve considered now throughout the book of Leviticus), in light of ALL of it, the question that remains is: “How then should we RESPOND?”
ch26 answered that question last week by exhorting us to OBEY God’s law (and receive His BLESSING), and warned us not to FORSAKE God’s law (and receive His PUNISHMENT).
But ch27 this morning is gonna encourage us to take that response even a step FURTHER, and not just give God the deference he DEMANDS, but offer him the whole-hearted DEDICATION that he DESERVES as well.
Not just the deference (the “dutiful submission”) that God demands - yes, God commands our compliance; but what he REALLY wants even MORE than that, MORE than our obligatory obedience - God wants our HEARTS. Our voluntary, above-and-beyond devotion. He wants us asking not “What MUST I do for God? (like, the minimum bar)”, but rather, “What CAN I do for God? (the maximum I am able to offer him)”.
But here’s the thing: God also knows us WELL enough to know that even when we DO set our minds to GIVE him the kind of devotion he truly deserves, our natural, sinful tendency is gonna be to RENEGE on that commitment almost as soon as we’ve MADE it! When we begin to actually count the COST, of whole-hearted… whole-handed, whole-WALLETED devotion, all of a sudden we start to BACKTRACK. It’s easy to vow: “God, I’m scared of this diagnosis; if you DELIVER me, I promise I’ll devote my LIFE to you…” But within just a few weeks of remission that person has already forgotten their oath, never to be seen at church again. “God, if you help me get that promotion, I can finally afford to start TITHING…” Btw- “tithing”, returning the first 10% to God: that wasn’t one’s “over-and-above DEVOTION” in the OT; that was just your compulsory obedience. If you wanted to give MORE than 10%, THEN it was considered a “gift”; but the first 10% is just what you OWED.
But ch27 here is really a kind of protective clause God adds now at the end - anticipating His people’s FITTING desire to dedicate themselves wholly unto Him - to ENSURE that they would remain a man or woman of their WORD. “Honor the VOWS you make me,” God is gonna say. And the LAWS that God puts around those vows here will show us SIX things that God DESERVES from us, as the book draws to a close.
So let’s READ IT; I invite you to STAND… Leviticus 27:
“The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, If anyone makes a special vow to the Lord involving the valuation of persons, 3 then the valuation of a male from twenty years old up to sixty years old shall be fifty shekels of silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary. 4 If the person is a female, the valuation shall be thirty shekels. 5 If the person is from five years old up to twenty years old, the valuation shall be for a male twenty shekels, and for a female ten shekels. 6 If the person is from a month old up to five years old, the valuation shall be for a male five shekels of silver, and for a female the valuation shall be three shekels of silver. 7 And if the person is sixty years old or over, then the valuation for a male shall be fifteen shekels, and for a female ten shekels. 8 And if someone is too poor to pay the valuation, then he shall be made to stand before the priest, and the priest shall value him; the priest shall value him according to what the vower can afford.
9 “If the vow is an animal that may be offered as an offering to the Lord, all of it that he gives to the Lord is holy. 10 He shall not exchange it or make a substitute for it, good for bad, or bad for good; and if he does in fact substitute one animal for another, then both it and the substitute shall be holy. 11 And if it is any unclean animal that may not be offered as an offering to the Lord, then he shall stand the animal before the priest, 12 and the priest shall value it as either good or bad; as the priest values it, so it shall be. 13 But if he wishes to redeem it, he shall add a fifth to the valuation.
14 “When a man dedicates his house as a holy gift to the Lord, the priest shall value it as either good or bad; as the priest values it, so it shall stand. 15 And if the donor wishes to redeem his house, he shall add a fifth to the valuation price, and it shall be his.
16 “If a man dedicates to the Lord part of the land that is his possession, then the valuation shall be in proportion to its seed. A homer of barley seed shall be valued at fifty shekels of silver. 17 If he dedicates his field from the year of jubilee, the valuation shall stand, 18 but if he dedicates his field after the jubilee, then the priest shall calculate the price according to the years that remain until the year of jubilee, and a deduction shall be made from the valuation. 19 And if he who dedicates the field wishes to redeem it, then he shall add a fifth to its valuation price, and it shall remain his. 20 But if he does not wish to redeem the field, or if he has sold the field to another man, it shall not be redeemed anymore. 21 But the field, when it is released in the jubilee, shall be a holy gift to the Lord, like a field that has been devoted. The priest shall be in possession of it. 22 If he dedicates to the Lord a field that he has bought, which is not a part of his possession, 23 then the priest shall calculate the amount of the valuation for it up to the year of jubilee, and the man shall give the valuation on that day as a holy gift to the Lord. 24 In the year of jubilee the field shall return to him from whom it was bought, to whom the land belongs as a possession. 25 Every valuation shall be according to the shekel of the sanctuary: twenty gerahs shall make a shekel.
26 “But a firstborn of animals, which as a firstborn belongs to the Lord, no man may dedicate; whether ox or sheep, it is the Lord's. 27 And if it is an unclean animal, then he shall buy it back at the valuation, and add a fifth to it; or, if it is not redeemed, it shall be sold at the valuation.
28 “But no devoted thing that a man devotes to the Lord, of anything that he has, whether man or beast, or of his inherited field, shall be sold or redeemed; every devoted thing is most holy to the Lord. 29 No one devoted, who is to be devoted for destruction from mankind, shall be ransomed; he shall surely be put to death.
30 “Every tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees, is the Lord's; it is holy to the Lord. 31 If a man wishes to redeem some of his tithe, he shall add a fifth to it. 32 And every tithe of herds and flocks, every tenth animal of all that pass under the herdsman's staff, shall be holy to the Lord. 33 One shall not differentiate between good or bad, neither shall he make a substitute for it; and if he does substitute for it, then both it and the substitute shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed.”
34 These are the commandments that the Lord commanded Moses for the people of Israel on Mount Sinai.”
[This is the word of the Lord… Seated…]
I thought perhaps an ILLUSTRATION might help us understand what’s going on here. Suppose my kids say to me, “Dad, you are just the BEST father. You are SO good to us, SO generous, so GRACIOUS and patient and loving; you lay down your life DAILY to take care of us. Dad: we want to respond by devoting OUR lives to serving YOU in return.”
That’s the kind of response that God anticipates from ISRAEL here. Now, if MY kids did that, who do you think PRACTICALLY would have the most to actually OFFER me?
Well, ELLERY is 8 years OLD - she’s old enough that she can pretty much cook me breakfast, she can play most of my favorite BOARD games with me, she can change Bo’s DIAPERS for me…
ELIJAH… not so much. However, he could BRING me the breakfast in BED... Elijah could PLAY with Bo, and distract him, so Ellery & I can play our game. And Elijah can CARRY the poopy diaper outside to the trash can. So that’s not nothing…
BO on the other hand… well, Bo gives the best hugs & kisses, his smile & laugh brighten my day. But that’s about ALL he’s bringing to the table at this point.
Now, imagine Ellery makes me pancakes. And she accidentally BURNS the ones in the center of the pan a little. But she thinks, “Well, it’s the THOUGHT that counts; I’ll give DAD the burnt ones, and save the good ones for myself.” How’s that gonna make me feel?
Or how about this: she runs out of batter and decides she can’t spare ANY pancakes for me; only she and Elijah get them.
Or… they just give me one small pancake, while they both get two big ones.
Or suppose they say, “Actually, Dad, breakfast is just too much work; we’re just gonna MAKE OUR BEDS for you this morning instead.” Even though that’s ALREADY one of the chores that they’re EXPECTED to do; not as a GIFT to me, but as a COST of living under my roof (that’s like their “tithe”).
Or suppose they said, “Here, Dad - we found an OLD pancake from a few WEEKS ago in the BACK of the fridge that needs to be THROWN OUT anyway; we’ll just heat THAT up for you…”
Or suppose I ask, “Hey kids, I’M actually happy to make breakfast; could y’all just come SIT with me, ENJOY it with me?” but they IGNORE me and go back to playing in their rooms.
Now, I spent a good bit of time building out this illustration, but for good reason - every ONE of those scenarios corresponds to one of the potential DEVIATIONS we see here in this chapter from the worshiper’s original VOW that they’d pledged to God. So let’s walk back THOUGH them now, and see what each teaches us about what God deserves.
For STARTERS, 1) God deserves our LIVES. (1-2)
That’s what God anticipates his people desiring to OFFER him, in response to his love and mercy: “a special vow… involving the valuation of persons”; in other words, this Israelite was saying, “God: I give you my WHOLE LIFE… my whole SELF - “heart, mind, soul & strength” - I want to be WHOLLY devoted to YOU!”
That is a GOOD and GODLY impulse. But practically speaking, in ISRAEL’s case, God already HAD a whole TRIBE’S worth of folks who were exclusively devoted to His service - the LEVITES. So God designed this system of “valuating persons” so that a NON-Levite could still devote THEIR life to him as well.
Imagine your dad owned and operated a small business all his life. And when he got ready to retire, you said, “Dad, you’ve devoted your LIFE to this shop; I want to carry on your legacy. I’ll step up and run the family business.” And your dad said, “Well, that is very noble and much appreciated, but I already asked your older brother who has his MBA and 20 years experience on the job to take it over for me. But I still want YOU to be able to contribute as well, to HONOR your good, loving impulse and offer - you would have made about $200k your first 5 years here on the job; why don’t you just pledge to GIVE that ANYWAY, to INVEST that much INTO the family business.” 50 shekels of silver was roughly 4 or 5 YEARS worth of WAGES for the common laborer (Ross, Holiness, 490); that’s a BIG chunk of CHANGE! But it’s still actually SMALL in comparison to literally devoting your whole LIFE.
God deserves our LIVES. The NEW Testament, Romans 12:1, exhorts us to “present your [self] as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” Not everyone can be a LEVITE, a PASTOR, an elder. But what might God be calling YOU to give him in exchange. I shared with y’all - someone here back in December anonymously wrote a check for $225,000 that cut our remaining mortgage on this building in HALF. THAT is above and beyond (it’s actually roughly equivalent to the 50 shekels of silver here!) Not everyone can GIVE a gift like that; that’s okay - we’ll get to that in vv3-8 here. But what CAN you give God, TANGIBLY? Talk is CHEAP. Vows are CHEAP. God says, “Don’t come and sing me your worship songs, “I give you my heart, my whole LIFE, God”, and then skimp in the offering plate. SHOW me how much you love me. Step up and serve in the kids ministry. Devote your LIFE to me, not just abstractly, but to teaching the next generation about me, every Sunday, for the next 50 years. Or if you can’t do THAT, then write really big checks, that are truly representative of a LIFE’S worth of SERVICE to me, if you’re a non-Levite.
You don’t HAVE to. But you GET to. Ch27 is all about VOLUNTARY GIFTS. Because God is WORTH it; he DESERVES it.
#2) God deserves our WORK. (3-7)
That’s what vv3-7 are all about. At first glance it may APPEAR as though God values the LIVES of males more than females, or the lives of the middle-aged more than children or seniors. But this isn’t about the value of one’s LIFE, but rather one’s live-LIHOOD. It’s about PRODUCTIVITY, your EARNING POTENTIAL. Now, even THIS has become controversial in our backwards society today. But God is not concerned with closing the gender pay gap. There’s a REASON Caitlin Clark is gonna make less in the WNBA (with its $200 million annual revenue) than her male counterparts in the NBA (with its $10 BILLION revenue).
And this was ESPECIALLY true in an agrarian society like Israel’s; God says, “There’s a REASON women earn 77 cents on the dollar to men… or back THEN, it was SIXTY cents - 30 shekels compared to the man’s FIFTY - because on average, a woman can plow 60 acres in the time it takes a man to plow 100.” And kids can produce ONE-TENTH of that; the ELDERLY, about one-THIRD.
The reality is: we don’t all have the same capacity for contributing to God’s work. We can ALL contribute SOMETHING - and we SHOULD! That’s gonna be v8: if you’re too POOR to give the full 50 shekels (man), the full 30 shekels (woman), you can STILL give SOMETHING… “whatever the vower can afford.” That’s Paul’s point in 1 Corinthians 12, with the spiritual gifts: EVERYONE’s got a GIFT, and they’re ALL important, but they’re not all EQUALLY important. Paul CONCLUDES that chapter by calling us to “earnestly desire the higher gifts” (31); some gifts are “HIGHER” than others.
There’s a RULE here, and at a LOT of churches, that the pastor’s not supposed to know what people GIVE to the church, financially, because the fear is I might not treat people equally. Which has always seemed ODD to me, because I don’t see GOD treating US equally in Scripture.
*He says, “To whom much is GIVEN, much is REQUIRED” (Lk 12:48). God expects MORE of some, because he GAVE them more to WORK with.
*Jesus tells the parable of TALENTS, where the Master gave one servant TEN talents (that’s a large monetary unit), and another FIVE, and another just ONE. And the Master expects ALL of them to USE their talents to serve him. But the expectation is GREATER for the one given MORE talents.
*Jesus said it’ll be WORSE in Hell for those who heard him PREACH and saw him perform MIRACLES and STILL rejected him - God gave them MORE REASON to follow Jesus, and they didn’t.
*James 3:1 warns “Not many of you should become teachers… for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.”
So it’s pretty clear to me: God DOESN’T treat us EQUALLY. So I’m not sure why I’d be expected to, as a pastor. You can’t hide how much you SERVE the church. Should I view the elder, the deacon, who spends HOURS and hours every week serving this body the same as I view the 40 members I emailed last week because they aren’t serving ANYWHERE (37 of whom never responded to my email)? That seems very SILLY to me.
We’ve got another membership class TODAY, and we’re gonna ask people NOT to join the church if they have no intention of serving. No intention of giving. We don’t have enough PARKING spaces for those kinds of members here. EVERYONE can contribute - SHOULD contribute - SOMETHING.
But we can’t all contribute EQUALLY. And that’s okay. Because God doesn’t EXPECT us to - HE knows how much he’s given us. And what kind of ROI - “return on investment” - he’s receiving from us.
God deserves our WORK.
#3) God deserves our BEST. (8-12)
THAT’s the point of v8 now: if you’re too poor to bring the full “valuation” of having truly devoted your LIFE - your LIVELIHOOD - back to God, even though you VOWED to, you DESIRE to, then just give God “what you can AFFORD”; the BEST you can do.
That’s ALSO the point of vv9-12: if you vowed an ANIMAL (“God, you are SO good; I’m gonna give you the BEST sheep in my HERD this spring”), then v10 says: come SPRING, don’t RENEGE, and swap it out for anything LESS than your best. Don’t give dad the burnt pancakes - don’t I deserve the BEST?!
This principle actually balances out point #2. Because we DON’T have equal gifts. And Jesus said the widow who gave her 2 mites to God actually gave more than ALL the self-righteous Pharisees in the Temple that day, with their large sacks of money. Because she gave 100%; she gave her BEST, her ALL! That’s why even if I DID know how much y’all gave, I wouldn’t know who to respect more, because I don’t know how much you MAKE. You might give $100 a month, but that’s MORE than the couple that gives $1,000 a month because THEY make 6 figures and YOU’RE at the cash register at Chick-fil-a trying to pay off your student loans. You’re giving more than THEM; and God will BLESS you for it.
Some of you serve this church WAY more than I do; even though I work 6 days a week and you work ONE. Because I’ve got THREE young kids and I get PAID to do this; YOU’VE got FIVE kids, and TWO of them have special needs… and you still make time to serve the church FOR FREE! I am confident that NOAH’S serving - co-leading our worship this morning - means more to God than MINE, even if I spent more cumulative hours in sermon prep, because HE had to cram HIS prep into less than 24 hours! Short notice, with Pastor Brian out sick. AND he’s doing it for free… AND he’s a full-time student with another paid job OUTSIDE the church. But he’s giving God his BEST this morning.
And so MANY of you do EVERY Sunday, every Monday thru Saturday - because serving God isn’t just restricted to serving in the CHURCH; you serve God in your WORKPLACE, in your FAMILY, your neighborhood, in your assisted living facility, on your PTO school board, your kids’ soccer team you coach… their are COUNTLESS ways we can devote our lives tangibly to God’s service, if we have the EYES to see, and the HANDS to ACT.
But whatever our capacity for contributing, God deserves our BEST.
#4) God deserves our FOLLOW THROUGH. (13-23)
Did you notice all the times in vv13-23 where God says, “if you wish to redeem [something… your animal, your house, your field…], you shall add a fifth to the valuation”? To “redeem” is to “buy BACK”. So if you said, “God, I’m devoting my OX to you next year” but come planting season, you realize how DIFFICULT it is to plow without your ox, and you think, “Actually, God, let me HANG ON to the ox, and I’ll be able to reap a better HARVEST for you that way, serve you even BETTER,” that’s FINE, but God STILL wants you to pay a RENEGE fee, a “TAKE-BACK tax” - 20%. Because God deserves our FOLLOW through. Don’t tell him you’re making pancakes and get him all EXCITED and then make him settle for OATMEAL. Not cool.
Jesus told a parable about a man with 2 sons. Dad asked both boys to help him out in the field. One said, “SURE Dad, I’ll be right out…” - but he got busy and forgot. The OTHER stood up, walked outside, and started working. Jesus asked, “Which one, do you think, did the will of his Father?”
Talk is cheap. God deserves our ACTION, follow through.
#5) God deserves our INTEGRITY. (16-33)
Look at v16: God tells them EXACTLY what a field is WORTH; “You vow to dedicate your LAND to me; wonderful - here’s what it’s WORTH, so you’ll KNOW, just in case you change your mind and need to pay that “take back tax”.
Look at v25 - God even helped regulate their CURRENCY, to ensure that things stayed fair and honest: “Every valuation shall be according to the shekel of the sanctuary”. Because God doesn’t want them inflating the value of their shekels to try and ROB him of what he deserves. That’s what God condemned Israel for in Malachi 3:8; he says, “You’ve ROBBED me of my tithes!” Not only are you not giving these VOLUNTARY, above-and-beyond contributions to the Temple, you’re not even giving your 10%, the bare MINIMUM! Forget making me BREAKFAST; you’re not even doing your CHORES, the stuff you’re EXPECTED to do!
Same principle here in v30: “Every tithe of the land… is the Lord's” already.
Likewise, v26: “But a firstborn of animals… no man may dedicate”. Because the firstborn ALREADY belonged to the Lord! Exodus 13:2.
V29: “No one devoted… for destruction… shall be ransomed” - pledging your life to God wasn’t a convenient LOOPHOLE, to AVOID the death penalty, if you DESERVED it.
God deserves our INTEGRITY. We think of Ananias & Sapphira, in Acts 5 - TRYING to rob God, LIE to God - could actually EARN you the death penalty! Watch out!
Lastly, to wrap it all up: #6) God deserves our OBEDIENCE. (34)
V34: “These are the commandments that the Lord commanded Moses for the people of Israel on Mount Sinai.”
And thus concludes LEVITICUS. But here’s where we NEED to end: by reminding ourselves what ALL of these laws - all 251 in Leviticus - what they’re all FOR; what is the law’s PURPOSE? Romans 3:20 says, “by works of the law no human being will be justified in God’s sight” - Paul says, “I’ll tell you what the Law’s NOT for: it’s NOT for SAVING us!” It’s NOT for reconciling us to restored relationship with a holy God. Otherwise, God would have GIVEN Israel his Law BEFORE he adopted them as his chosen people in Exodus 19. No, he RESCUED them from slavery THEN adopted them THEN gave the Law. So what’s it for? Paul goes on: RATHER, “through the law comes the knowledge of sin.”
Friends, the LAW is here to show us our sinfulness and thus our need for a SAVIOR. We need JESUS!
God deserves our OBEDIENCE, not just our obligatory checking of the box; he deserves our above-and-beyond, whole-hearted devotion: our INTEGRITY, our FOLLOW through, our WORK, our BEST, our whole LIVES!
But the truth is: we give him SO much LESS than that.
But the good news is: JESUS gave God the Father his EVERYTHING… and he DID it… for YOU. That you and I might be counted righteous not because of OUR faithfulness to give God ALL that he deserves, but because of CHRIST’S.
God deserves our BEST, but so often, he gets our SIN.
WE deserve HELL, but instead, we get HEAVEN.
And the REASON is JESUS.
Come to him TODAY, and be saved.