9-14-25 Enjoying Leviticus Part 2

Good morning everyone. I want to thank you for the opportunity to share with you this morning.

This last week was pretty hard for some. I know it was for me.

24 years ago our whole world got turned upside down. It’s a date that comes and goes for some, but it’s one where I like to spend a portion of my day remembering and praying.

And last week on September 10th a man I admire, have learned from, and agreed with on so many levels, was shot and killed.

And this was all while I was preparing a message on Enjoying Leviticus. And let me tell you, as a westerner, it is work to enjoy Leviticus in the best of circumstances and I was having a less than enjoyable week.

But as I looked at the news this week an interview with Charlie Kirk that was issued a few weeks before he was shot and in the interview he was asked a question.

“What do you want to be remembered for?”

This is not a new question. People have been asking this question of others probably since Adam.

And answers come in many shapes and sizes

Some may say: I hope people know me as a good dad or mom.

I hope people remember me as the funny guy in the room.

As the man who provided for his family.

The hopes and dreams of men and women come in all shapes and sizes.

"I want to be remembered for courage for my faith. That would be the most important thing; most important thing is my faith." - Charlie Kirk

I’m not going to list his other accomplishments, because now that he is gone, the only thing that matters is that he be known for his faith and he had it in abundance.

So, I had a hard time getting into Leviticus on Wednesday and Thursday and Friday, but I knew that dwelling on something I have no control over isn’t going to help anyone.

So I think of another man who was known for his faith. Another man who if he was asked the same question he would have said the same.

Moses loved God so much. Every time he was called to the mountain to talk to God he couldn’t get up there fast enough. And he was over the age of 80.

Moses wanted others to have a faith and hunger for God like him. But the people weren’t where he was. So the tabernacle was built. Rules were made, traditions established. Faith, which was supposed to be the core became a by line.

A few weeks ago we looked at the burnt and grain offerings as described in Leviticus 1 and 2 and looked for Jesus in those offerings.

We learned that many of these offerings were voluntary, they were not a requirement. They were a sacrifice of faith.

I give God the VERY best of my herd because I have faith that he is the one who cares for me.

I give God the very best of my grain because I have faith that he provides for me needs.

My initial plan was to focus on the Peace offering and the Sin and Trespassing offering this week. It was going to be a lot, but also not hard because showing that all these sacrifices point to Jesus makes things make a little more sense, at least in my mind.

But I was going through the five offerings and noticed one big difference between the first two and the last two. The burnt and grain offerings were voluntary. They were a method of worship. Much like tithing.

Since we understand money way more that burnt offerings. I’ll use that as an illustration.

Churches run off of the proceeds of those who belong to the Church. Now, if you were in a union or a part of a country club, you would get an invoice and to stay in the union or club, you would have to pay your dues.

The Church doesn’t do this. In fact, the way it works, is very few people even knows who gives and how much. And to remove any guess work. I’m not one of them. Full disclosure, since the fire I have been made privy to numbers from donations received from other churches or organizations, but not the community.

Why? Because tithing is your worship. I don’t need to know how much or if you even give. It is voluntarily. There is not going to be a ledger on the other side of eternity where St. Peter says, “you only gave 7%, so your mansion is going to have 4 less rooms than those who gave ten.”

That’s not how the freewill offering works. It’s from the heart and it’s worship. I do hope people give, we can do a lot more in this community when people do and we can share our faith much easier. But again, don’t let me be a guilt trip on you. When you give, give as an act of freewill worship, not a “my pastor guilted me again” offering.

The Burnt and the Grain offerings were voluntary.

So the first two were freewill. The last two, which we will cover next week, were mandatory.

The Sin and Trespass Offering were mandatory.

But then we have this nice little one in the middle. It’s called the Peace offering and here is the bullet points of the peace offering:

Leviticus 3:1 ESV

1 “If his offering is a sacrifice of peace offering, if he offers an animal from the herd, male or female, he shall offer it without blemish before the Lord.

Leviticus 3:2 ESV

2 And he shall lay his hand on the head of his offering and kill it at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and Aaron’s sons the priests shall throw the blood against the sides of the altar.

Leviticus 7:11–12 ESV

11 “And this is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings that one may offer to the Lord. 12 If he offers it for a thanksgiving, then he shall offer with the thanksgiving sacrifice unleavened loaves mixed with oil, unleavened wafers smeared with oil, and loaves of fine flour well mixed with oil.

Leviticus 7:16 ESV

16 But if the sacrifice of his offering is a vow offering or a freewill offering, it shall be eaten on the day that he offers his sacrifice, and on the next day what remains of it shall be eaten.

From Leviticus 3 and 7 we learn that a peace offering was at times voluntary and at time mandatory, it all depended on what you were bringing it for, a vow, freewill or thanksgiving.

The Peace Offering was both.

And we are going to get into the mandatory next week, but I want to emphasize that this offering is place in the middle of the 5 types for a reason. With Jesus, he took care of the mandatory for us. Yeah, that’s a spoiler for next week, couldn’t help it.

With the voluntary, that’s on use. Whether we stand and sing, up to you, whether you give 5%, 10 %, 30% or 0% all up to you.

Forgiveness, all on Jesus, nothing you can do to earn it or buy it.

Peace though, that’s a joint effort.

IT always takes two, one to offer the peace, the other to accept it. And that’s why when we look at the peace offering it can be either mandatory or voluntary. It depends on the situation

When we mess up and rebel against God, we have the opportunity to turn and repent or continue warring with God. It’s not an option. We must offer peace. When the Israelites sinned against God they were required to bring a peace offering. And when we turn and repent and offer that peace, God accepts that peace.

1 John 1:9 ESV

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Every time. No matter what. If you cuss out God and turn back, he’s there, willing and just to forgive.

If your a 22 year old kid that made a really bad choice last Wednesday afternoon and someone is now dead. The only way back to peace is to turn and offer it. He is there to accept it.

That is our part and the big thing to remember is our part doesn’t earn us anything. We don’t get eternal life from making peace. We get eternal life when he offers peace and we’ll get to that, but I want to take a moment and show you how to do it the wrong way.

Any parent in the room has had an instance of making their kid tell someone “SORRY” (sarcastically). ANd many of us parents let it go, even though the kid is very obviously NOT SORRY. And often times we see that play out when they go back to play. They are still stiff and argumentative, they have performed peace, but they haven’t given or received it.

Open up to the Book of Jonah.

Those who have been going to Thursday night study already know where I’m going with this.

Jonah 1:1–2 ESV

1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.”

And what did Jonah do? Anybody?

He ran away. He got on a boat and tried to run away from God. Is there anywhere we can go where God isn’t?

Jonah tries to run, but God runs after him. You see God wanted to offer peace to one of the Israelites biggest enemies and Jonah didn’t like that idea. He knew that if the Ninevites accepted God’s peace, then they would be forgiven and Jonah didn’t like the idea of spending an eternity with people he hated.

He ran, and it didn’t turn our well for Jonah. He ended up in the belly of a fish for three days. Which when you read Jonah 2 you see that was God offering peace. Jonah realizes that his choice was one of rebellion and separating himself from God’s love and he knew the wages of sin was death. When Jonah went into the water he fully expected to die.

But God offered peace. Jonah didn’t. Jonah has a “SORRY” moment.

Jonah 2:9 ESV

9 But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord!”

In a plain reading we see him say sorry, but his future actions really show us he said, “I thought I’d be free of going to Nineveh if I jumped into the sea, but you didn’t let me die. Fine, I’ll go do what you want.”

Did Jonah accept Peace?

Not peace, but compliance. That is not what God wants from us. Can he use our compliance? Sure, Nineveh repented to the worst sermon imaginable

Jonah 3:4 ESV

4 Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”

And everyone repented. Everyone turned to peace with God.

The peace offering in Leviticus 3 does show us that we can offer peace to God and he will accept it. Why, because he is also offering it.

The problem is not many people offer it. When we are deep in our sin, it is not us who seek God out, but it is him who seeks us out.

I read an account of a woman this week named Selina Hastings. She was a very wealthy woman in the 1700’s England. She had been baptized Anglican as a baby and raised as a high class member of society. She wanted for nothing and was popular among her peers.

Then she met Evangelical preachers like John Wesley and George Whitfield.

A woman of her class and stature came to accept the peace of Christ. She wasn’t seeking it, because she thought she had it. Thought she was born into it and deserved it based on her breeding.

That’s many Americans today. Of course I’m a Christian, I’m American. And these folks reject that they share a sinful nature with the homeless and the drug addicts, the less sought of society.

Selina accepted the peace Jesus offered and started to tell others of her station about the peace Jesus offers.

Catherine Sheffeld, the Duchess of Buckingham had this to say to an invitation of peace.

“The doctrines of these preachers are most repulsive and strongly tinctured with impertinence and disrespect towards their superiors, in perpetually endeavouring to level all ranks and do away with all distinctions. (In other words, “these preachers say that the Bible says all people have sinned and that’s just ridiculous, people of our rank don’t Sin) It is monstrous to be told that you have a heart as sinful as the common wretches that crawl upon the earth. This is highly offensive and insulting, and I cannot but wonder that your ladyship should relish any sentiments so much at variance with high rank and good breeding.”

In other words, you are a rich and prosperous person, you are nothing like the poor hell bound poor that we should be ignoring.

It is so often that people reject the peace that God offers because it would change what other human beings think of us.

Selina Hastings accepted peace with God and was hated by her peers. But she then took the wealth she had and gave it to the advancement of the gospel to the people she, in her station, was supposed to spit on.

Charlie Kirk, went out into places he was hated and despised. Within hours of his death some were cheering he was gone, even people who would say they are Christian.

Charlie could have gone along with the status quo. Done things like they have always been done. Been another cog in the machine.

That is the opposite of what he did. He went where he was not popular and heard people out. He let people say their peace, but then he shared the truth. And that truth is that true peace only comes from a relationship with Jesus. There is no other way.

Turn over to John 20.

This is shortly after Jesus rose from the dead. After Jesus died the people who followed him scattered and were lost. They thought their peace was gone. They thought they would just have to go back to life as normal.

John 20:19–22 ESV

19 On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. 21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” 22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.

This was a big thing for the disciples. But one was missing. Thomas wasn’t there. He was told about it, but would accept it until eight days later.

John 20:26 ESV

26 Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”

What is the Peace Jesus offers?

Peace be with you. We might read this in our common common greeting as meaning the same thing as. Hey, how’s it going. or Nice to see you.

Jesus was not just saying HI. he was telling them what was now in the room. Peace is here, because Jesus is peace.

In the peace offering the worshiper would eat some of the flesh being offered in order to receive the peace being offered. Jesus died on the cross for our sins and the night before showed that the bread the people ate symbolized his flesh.

When we accept the peace of Christ it is like we are eating the flesh of the peace offering.

We who are in Christ have seen what peace with God is like. It is peace with God and our fellow human being regardless of how they live compared with how we live.

Peace with God is taking the gifts he has given us and giving them away to others who need the same peace with God we have.

It is more than attending a service on Sunday morning. It’s a daily sacrifice of peace. We had this sign up at the building when you entered that said “Welcome to the training field.” and a sign on your way out that said “Welcome to the Mission field.”

We come here to learn more about how to act out there. We come here to practice worship and peace so we can give it better out there.

I want to share a song in closing today. It’s one my kids have been singing in the morning that has impacted me greatly.

It shows me that peace is offered to everyone. Whether you are rich and prominent or a 22 year old kid that made a really bad choice that ended the life of someone else. Jesus offers peace to everyone, but it is up to us to accept that peace and receive his mercy.

SONG

Let’s Pray