Altar’d: At What Cost?
Notes
Transcript
Today, we wrap up our series on transformation through surrender, following the themes found in our Lent devotional boook “Altar’d” by Susan Kent. For the past few weeks, we have been studying the different sacrificial offerings prescribed by God for the Jewish people in the Old Testament - sacrifices of devotion, praise, thanksgiving and atonement — and how the sacrifices find their fulfillment in Jesus’ sacrifice of himself on the cross. The last sacrificial offering to consider is the Guilt Offering.
Today is also Palm Sunday and the beginning of Holy Week. We remember Jesus triumphal entry into Jerusalem on a donkey with the people singing “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”
My focus today will not be on Palm Sunday - but there is a connection to Palm Sunday that we will see as we get into this topic.
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “If anyone sins and commits a breach of faith against the Lord by deceiving his neighbor in a matter of deposit or security, or through robbery, or if he has oppressed his neighbor or has found something lost and lied about it, swearing falsely—in any of all the things that people do and sin thereby— if he has sinned and has realized his guilt and will restore what he took by robbery or what he got by oppression or the deposit that was committed to him or the lost thing that he found or anything about which he has sworn falsely, he shall restore it in full and shall add a fifth to it, and give it to him to whom it belongs on the day he realizes his guilt.
In short, a Guilt Offering is for sin that has to be paid back. There is restitution that needs to be made. A wrong that needs to be made right.
That is the biblical purpose of guilt, to bring us to the place of acknowledging our failure and to move us toward surrender, so that we may be restored. Our redemption comes at a cost.
The Bible provides us with several instances where failure results in guilt which leads to surrender which brings transformation.
One such example is in the gospel of Luke. Luke 19:1-10
Luke 19:1–10 (ESV)
He (Jesus) entered Jericho and was passing through. And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
There was joy in surrender for Zacchaeus. His encounter with Jesus resulted in him acknowledging his failure to treat his neighbor fairly and honestly, and a willingness to pay back fourfold what he had stolen. His “guilt offering” enabled him to hear and receive the gift of salvation. His life was changed.
The story of Zacchaeus shows us that our past failures can be used to move us toward transformation.
Question: What do you do after you fail?
do you let your guilt move you to surrender or do you hold on to it? Does it turn into the trap of shame?Reminding yourself why you are not worthy?
Do you let others remind you of your failure? Allowing them to keep you stuck in your past.
Or do you lay it all at the cross? Allowing Jesus to take your failure and turn it into your testimony?
Let us consider what David did when he faced failure and to do so, we will look at the passage we heard this morning from 1 Chronicles. We need some context to understand why King David was moved to buy the threshing floor from Ornan to build an altar and offer sacrifices.
Under David’s leadership, Israel had defeated her enemies. They had experienced victory after victory - just as God promised they would when he established his covenant with David.
Part of that covenant was found a few chapters back where we hear God speaking through Nathan, one of his prophets:
Now, therefore, thus shall you say to my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be prince over my people Israel, and I have been with you wherever you have gone and have cut off all your enemies from before you. And I will make for you a name, like the name of the great ones of the earth.
David was king for no other reason than this; God chose him and made him king.
From early in his life, David operated out of a strong faith and he knew that victory was found in obedience and trust in the Lord.
However, when we experience success - it is tempting to to start thinking too highly of yourself.
Victory after victory began to feed David’s ego. It is a challenge for any leader to remain humble.
We are told that at this point, Satan was allowed to test David.
Then Satan stood against Israel and incited David to number Israel.
“To number” means to count - to take up a census. David wanted to know how many fighting men he had in his kingdom.
When a king is contemplating war with another nation, it was not unusual to order a count to be taken. That is a valuable bit of data to have: the number of fighting men at the king’s disposal when deciding whether or not to fight an adversary. But David was not facing an adversary. Israel had already won their battles. Besides, Their numbers had nothing to do with their victories - Part of their covenant with God is that He would deliver them as long as they remained faithful.
We do not know David’s rationale for calling for a census, nor do we fully understand why it was considered such an egregious sin before the Lord - but we do know David’s own commanders warned him against it. His chief commander, Joab, said to him “Why are you doing this? Why should it be the cause of guilt for Israel?”
One of the ways it violated God’s laws is found in the book of Exodus. There we find very clear instruction’s given to Moses about how a census, if God commanded one, was to be taken.
Exodus 30:12–14 (ESV)
“When you take the census of the people of Israel, then each shall give a ransom for his life to the Lord when you number them, that there be no plague among them when you number them. Each one who is numbered in the census shall give this: half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary …half a shekel as an offering to the Lord. Everyone who is numbered in the census, from twenty years old and upward, shall give the Lord’s offering.
This is something new I learned this week: for the people of Israel, to be included in the census was a voluntary decision - an Israelite made the choice to be counted among God’s people, if they chose to do so, they would pay half a shekel. To be counted as one of the Lord’s possession cost each person something.
David ignored the warning of Joab, so his men did was they were told. Joab reported back, there were 1.1 million in Israel, and 470,000 in Judah. Interestingly, Joab did not count the tribes of Levi and Benjamin (presumably because from the tribe of Levi came the priests and the small tribe of Benjamin had the best warriors - he may have wanted to protect them from any divine punishment that may result in this sinful act). As soon as David heard the count, guilt hit him and he knew he had sinned. We find this same account told in 2 Samuel chapter 24 - where we read…
But David’s heart struck him after he had numbered the people. And David said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Lord, please take away the iniquity of your servant, for I have done very foolishly.”
If you have ever done something so wrong that later you were sick over it - it may be said of you that your heart was struck. The deep, piercing pain of guilt and realization that you crossed a line. You have violated God’s law and - depending on the sin - you may have caused harm to another. Something is owed - and to balance the books, payment will need to be made.
David confessed his sin, but there was a cost to be paid. Restitution was required. The wages of sin is death and so we find in this story that a pestilence, a fatal disease spread, killing 70,000. We are shown this penalty from the view of the physical realm - people are dying suddenly of a fast spreading disease, but also from the spiritual realm, we are given the picture of the Angel of the Lord, sword unsheathed, passing through David’s kingdom striking people down. The Angel of the Lord was poised to slay Jerusalem as well, but God has mercy and tells him to sheath his sword.
Meanwhile, David, distressed and repentant, fell to his knees:
And David said to God, “Was it not I who gave command to number the people? It is I who have sinned and done great evil. But these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand, O Lord my God, be against me and against my father’s house. But do not let the plague be on your people.”
This brings us to the passage we heard read this morning. The Angel of the Lord commanded David to go to the threshing floor owned by Ornan the Jebusite, to build and altar, and offer a sacrifice.
Threshing is the process of crushing husks of grain. It is usually done on a hard, flat circular surface - the stalks of wheat are placed on the surface and a team of oxen pull a driver standing on a flat sled-like board across the wheat - loosening the grain from the husks. Then workers take a winnowing fork to separate the edible grain from the chaff.
Ornan, out of reverence for his king and fear of the Lord, offers to give his threshing floor to David - a significant offer since this is a major component of his farming operation - but David insist on paying full price for it.
But King David said to Ornan, “No, but I will buy them for the full price. I will not take for the Lord what is yours, nor offer burnt offerings that cost me nothing.”
David failed God, he did what he knew to be evil, he ignored all warnings. And as we even see today, when a leader does what is wrong, it effects everyone.
Yet look what David did with his failure. David confessed, repented and sought God’s mercy. He felt the cost of sin to such a degree that only in surrendering to God completely, calling out for mercy, and paying whatever was needed could he possibly experience redemption for himself and his people.
There was another who intimately knew the cost of sin and was willing to pay for it. Jesus knew that the cost was more than we could ever pay and satisfy. As we enter Holy Week, we remember that Jesus was our guilt offering - He willingly gave himself and paid that cost so that we would receive God’s grace and live redeemed.
“Grace is free, but not cheap.” Those words were spoken by a German Lutheran priest named Detriech Bonhoffer, who died in a Nazi prison camp for speaking out against Hitler - being bold enough to voice opposition to the Nazi party. He witnessed first hand cheap grace - churches that baptized, partook of Holy Communion, yet turned a blind eye to the persecution of Jews and other oppressed groups. He explained the costliness of grace like this:
“Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: "ye were bought at a price," and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.”
Romans 5:8-9
but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.
Now, before I close - let me show you the Palm Sunday connection.
Ornan’s threshing floor was located on Mount Moriah. This is where Abraham was tested and instructed to sacrifice his son Isaac which we spoke of a few weeks ago (the place where God stopped him and provided a ram as a substitute.) This threshing floor would become the actual site that David instructed his son Solomon to build the Holy Temple. This is where the Temple Mount in Jerusalem is located today.
This is the place Jesus entered when he rode into Jerusalem on a donkey with the crowds singing Hosanna. In doing so, he was making public His claim to be their Messiah and King of Israel.
This is the partial fulfillment of what John the Baptist preached at the start of the Jesus ministry:
“I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
The King will return one day to separate the wheat from the chaff, the righteous from the unrighteous. Now is the time to accept his atoning sacrifice on the cross, to confess your sins, repent, pick up your cross and follow Him.
This gift of grace has already been paid for with the blood of Jesus. Restitution has been made on your behalf. But know that this is costly grace. God wants all of you. He wants your obedience. He wants your trust. He wants you to surrender all and be transformed.
What you will receive in return is far greater than you can imagine.
New life. Eternal life. The crown of salvation.
to God be the glory.
Let us pray.