The Feast of Firstfruits

Introduction

Illustration

Motivation

Explanation

Leviticus 23:9–14 CSB

The Lord spoke to Moses: “Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When you enter the land I am giving you and reap its harvest, you are to bring the first sheaf of your harvest to the priest. He will present the sheaf before the Lord so that you may be accepted; the priest is to present it on the day after the Sabbath. On the day you present the sheaf, you are to offer a year-old male lamb without blemish as a burnt offering to the Lord. Its grain offering is to be four quarts of fine flour mixed with oil as a food offering to the Lord, a pleasing aroma, and its drink offering will be one quart of wine. You must not eat bread, roasted grain, or any new grain until this very day, and until you have brought the offering to your God. This is to be a permanent statute throughout your generations wherever you live.

Summary of Points

What it Was: Thanking God First

Illustration: I’m a father of three wonderful children. In our household we pray before we eat our meals. Sometimes my wonderful children have a bit of trouble with the whole waiting until everyone is sitting down together and we’ve prayed thing. I can’t blame them, hunger is a powerful thing and sometimes it takes a while for us all to get gathered around the table together to pray. So why do we make them wait until we’ve prayed to eat? Because we want to teach them the importance of thankfulness for what God has provided for us.

After all, like we teach our children, it’s important to say “thank you.” It’s putting words together intentionally to say that we recognize that someone has done something for us. So we try to say thanks to each other, but especially to God.

Of course this isn’t some really smart idea that I had. God taught us in Scripture the importance of being thankful. There’s lots of places where the Bible actually directly commands us to give thanks, but God also teaches through actions the importance of being thankful. This was the primary purpose of the festival that we’re talking about tonight. Let’s read again the passage where Jesus commanded the Israelites to celebrate this festival:

Leviticus 23:9–14 CSB

The Lord spoke to Moses: “Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When you enter the land I am giving you and reap its harvest, you are to bring the first sheaf of your harvest to the priest. He will present the sheaf before the Lord so that you may be accepted; the priest is to present it on the day after the Sabbath. On the day you present the sheaf, you are to offer a year-old male lamb without blemish as a burnt offering to the Lord. Its grain offering is to be four quarts of fine flour mixed with oil as a food offering to the Lord, a pleasing aroma, and its drink offering will be one quart of wine. You must not eat bread, roasted grain, or any new grain until this very day, and until you have brought the offering to your God. This is to be a permanent statute throughout your generations wherever you live.

Application

What it Is: God Provides

Illustration

Motivation

Explanation

James 1:16–18 CSB

Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. By his own choice, he gave us birth by the word of truth so that we would be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

1 Corinthians 3:6 CSB

I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.

Application

What it Will Be: The Firstfruits of Resurrection

Illustration

Motivation

Explanation

1 Corinthians 15:20 CSB

But as it is, Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

Application

Conclusion

Recap

Application

Sending