2. Leviticus 2-3
Leviticus - Blood and Glory • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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There’s nothing better than eating good food with really good friends.
I reckon that is honestly one of the best things in life. Really good time, enjoying really good food, with really good folk.
We’ve just come through Christmas, maybe that’s one of the things that made your Christmas great - time to celebrate and and eat with close family, folk (perhaps) you don’t often get to see.
Of course that’s also one of the things that CAN make Christmas difficult - even excruciating… because close fellowship with close friends and family can be bliss…. But close fellowship with difficult friends or family… can be a nightmare.
PAUSE - BREAK OFF TO APPLY
Whether you know it or not (and I suspect most of us don’t)… what we have before us here in these two short chapters, our second Sunday in Leviticus… it a glorious invitation to dinner.
These chapters are about food and fellowship of the very best kind… food and fellowship with GOD HIMSELF.
These chapters will deeply challenge us… but they also ought to warm our hearts. If I do my job properly and we understand this passage properly we should leave today astonished and delighted with the idea of a God who wants to share food and fellowship…. WITH US!
What a thought! But it’s a thought which brings us to the dilemma which lies at the heart of the book of Leviticus.
How can unholy people, be with a holy God? That being his to our first heading today…
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1. Being with God
1. Being with God
One of the reasons so many folk find Leviticus difficult or confusing is that they separate it out from the rest of (what we call) the Pentateuch - these first five books of Scripture which tell us the grand story, the great narrative about…. the creation of all things… and the ruining of creation through fall of mankind into sin and rebellion… and the rescue plans of God, beginning with one man, Abraham, to work through a nation - to save a people for himself…
And then, when they were enslaved to rescue them by his great power and his undeserved grace… out of Egypt… to call them toward a promised land.
Leviticus is part of THAT great story… but instead we treat it like a car manual… the sort of thing you’d really rather avoid and will only open in dire straights.
Leviticus comes to the people of God as they stand at Mount Sinai. Leviticus is NOT about how God’s people EARN their salvation from the Lord - NO they’ve already been saved out of Egypt.
Leviticus deals with a very real and practical issue… you see Israel have been saved…. But Israel are not perfect… ALREADY - even as they stand at Mount Sinai waiting for Moses to bring down the law they have demonstrated that… they both their own God’s - the hideous, blasphemous golden calf.
Israel are saved and called as God’s people… But Israel are sinful and carrying their guilt.
And yet God has made it clear… in the latter parts of the book of Exodus that he (the God of all glory and holiness) intends to live WITH THEM… AMONG THEM… in the Tabernacle. As Israel go on the road and pit h their tents… God’s tent and God’s presence will be pitched right there alongside them, among them.
But how can this be? God in all his burning holiness will simply consume sinners who come near him.
How can sinful people dwell with a holy God?
And if you don’t think that’s a problem you haven’t grasps the awesome holiness of God… listen to how he is described in Exodus 20:18-19 SLIDE
When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.”
PAUSE - RESTATE QUESTION….
How can sinful people dwell with a holy God?
And you see the problem laid out in black and white right at the start of Leviticus…. Skip back to the very first verse. SLIDE
The Lord called to Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting.
God calls to Moses FROM the tent… Moses is not IN the tent… how can sinful people be near a Holy God?!
Leviticus begins to bring the answer. And you can see that by jumping from the very start of the book right to the very end of the book… in fact slightly further.. look a the very first verse of the next book - Numbers. SLIDE
The Lord spoke to Moses in the tent of meeting in the Desert of Sinai on the first day of the second month of the second year after the Israelites came out of Egypt.
Do you see it there? Now God speaks to Moses IN the tent.
How do we from God speaking FROM his tent (apart from the people)… to God speaking to Moses IN his tent?
Leviticus begins to bring us the answer.
This book is beautifully structured to highlight that answer.
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The first 7 chapters show us five different ritual sacrifices. The first two - grain and fellowship offerings are simply about expressing thankfulness and worship to God (that’s where we’ll be today) and the second group - the final three are all abut atonement…. About human sin being paid for…
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We’ve seen in the great drama of the Pentateuch so far - way back in Genesis that the penalty for sin…. The price to be paid from disobeying God… the wages to be had in turning away from the source of all life… is DEATH. Leviticus will help us see just how serious sin is… and blow it can be paid for.
Leviticus will do much else besides… it will reveal God’s character, it will show s God’s intention…. And his intention (AMAZINGLY!) is to MAKE a way for sin to be dealt with… to PAVE the way for sinners to be able to approach him… so, far from showing God to be miserly, or miserable, or prescriptive… properly understood Leviticus shows him to be Gracious and merciful!
Leviticus will also help us understand the rest of the Bile… and (crucially) the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You cannot (for example) understand why on earth John the Baptist would behold Jesus and exclaimed “Look the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” Unless you know Leviticus.
Simply put Leviticus is all about how we can BE WITH GOD.
So much for our hours point ‘being with God’ - we need to get into today’s passage - that’s our second point…
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2. Honouring God
2. Honouring God
Read with me from the start of chapter 2.
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“ ‘When anyone brings a grain offering to the Lord, their offering is to be of the finest flour. They are to pour olive oil on it, put incense on it and take it to Aaron’s sons the priests. The priest shall take a handful of the flour and oil, together with all the incense, and burn this as a memorial portion on the altar, a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the Lord. The rest of the grain offering belongs to Aaron and his sons; it is a most holy part of the food offerings presented to the Lord.
This is the first of several paragraphs giving detailed instructions on (what the NIV translates as) Grain offerings. It’s also possible to translate this as TRIBUTE offerings.
BREAK OFF TO EXPLAIN
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In the ancient world if you wanted to honour a King or a ruler… you might bring him TRIBUTE - a tribute offering. A gift of your grain or your crops (for example). In doing so you were saying he was a King worthy of honour. It’s a voluntary gift not an imposed tariff!
Likewise here, did you notice in the text that these offerings are NOT COMMANDED to be brought. They are a voluntary… freewill offering (sacrifice).
And will you also notice that there is no talk here of Sin or Atonement. That’s interesting isn’t it? We tend (I think) to have a kind of truncated view about the Old Testament sacrificial system… that it is always and only about atoning for Sin. Now look… we’re going to get there - I mentioned the five main types of sacrifice - we’re in the first couple today, they following three ARE indeed all about guilt and sin and making atonement for transgression… But today these offerings, these sacrifices are simply about honouring God… thanking God… adoring God…. Bringing costly worship to him… TRIBUTE to him. Saying “Lord you are my saviour and I want to honour you….”
And if you think that Lagrange of Saviour is inappropriate here in the OT then think again - this people have been rescued, SAVED, from the slavery of Egypt by God’s great power and God’s free grace.
In bringing these grain offerings the worshipper is saying Lord you are WORTHY of my best… you are DESERVING of my worship. There’s probably a hint too of saying… Lord you own the cattle on a thousand hills… you are the maker of all things… I only have this grain in the first place because of your goodness and kindness and provision and generosity… and so I bring a portion of it back to you in acknowledgment that you’re the giver and the maker of all.
And here we find easy parallels don’t we?
We do not live under the direction of Leviticus in a DIRECT way… Jesus Christ has fulfilled this sacrificial system but the principle remains utterly unaltered doesn’t it?
When we give of ourselves in service of Jesus… when we sacrifice our time in a way that kind of hurts… when we give our money in a way that really costs… we are saying (or we ought to be saying) LORD I do this because you are worthy! I do this because you are my Saviour… the Lord Jesus has given everything for me - even his very life… you are worthy of my devotion.
You’re also the maker of all - everything I have is a gift from you anyway… whatever I offer back to you in your service is a small token of thanks.
Just listen to the way King David puts it - this verse comes from first Chronicles when he and others are gathering gifts for his Son Solomon to use in the building of the temple.. David captures it so well.
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“But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand.
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Notice too (back in Leviticus now) that God is to be approached with the best. It is the FINEST flour to be used in the grain offerings - that is repeated, v1, v4, v5… also Olive Oil - valuable stuff.
Are we giving our best to God? Or is our service of Jesus and our giving to his cause just kind of ‘whatever is left over?’
Did you notice too that the instructions (both here in chapter 2 on grain offerings and - as we’ll get to in a moment in chapter 3 on fellowship offerings….) are very specific.
You’ll see it just read from v4….
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“ ‘If you bring a grain offering baked in an oven, it is to consist of the finest flour: either thick loaves made without yeast and with olive oil mixed in or thin loaves made without yeast and brushed with olive oil. If your grain offering is prepared on a griddle, it is to be made of the finest flour mixed with oil, and without yeast. Crumble it and pour oil on it; it is a grain offering. If your grain offering is cooked in a pan, it is to be made of the finest flour and some olive oil.
There are varied types… with instructions for preparation. What does this tell you? It tells you that God is to be approached…. God is to be worshipped… God is to be honoured in HIS TERMS, not ours.
Again, remember God is Holy, Awesome and pure… sinners may not simply approach him however and whenever they feel like it. God dictates the terms of our worship, not us.
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It’s one of the reasons that when we meet like this we want to be careful ONLY to do those things that God clearly commands - the reading and preaching of Scripture…. The Singing of Psalms, Hymns and spiritual Songs, corporate prayer.
If you come to me saying ‘Peter instead of next week’s normal service can we have a drama production with a sound and light show the answer will be…. NO.
God is to be approached, worshipped, on his terms not ours. Some of the stipulations here might seem strange… for example on several occasions the worshippers are instructed NOT to use any yeast in their baked Grain offerings… it IS ok to bring yeast as a first fruits offering but not in a grain offering. And when we read stuff like that we move think WHY?
Now the commentators speculate with various potential reasons… but really we have to be honest and say ‘we don’t know because the text simply doesn’t say’. It may be (and we’ll come across this thought again in Leviticus) it may well be that for instructions are given simply to make Israel distinct from other nations…. Simply to make the point that GOD calls the shots and not us.
Far from being miserable or miserly though… can you see what the grain offering shows us?
What kind of relationship does the Lord want with his people? One of love and devotion… where he is the great provider and we return our costly thanks and praise… an you see Leviticus shows us a God who desires (and makes a way for) this kind of fellowship.
Speaking of which - time is already running short - and we’re yet to get to point 3 today… which really is remarkable and wonderful.
We’ve seen something about being with God, something about honouring God…
Thirdly then…
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3. Eating with God
3. Eating with God
Read on now - chapter 3…
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“ ‘If your offering is a fellowship offering, and you offer an animal from the herd, whether male or female, you are to present before the Lord an animal without defect. You are to lay your hand on the head of your offering and slaughter it at the entrance to the tent of meeting. Then Aaron’s sons the priests shall splash the blood against the sides of the altar. From the fellowship offering you are to bring a food offering to the Lord: the internal organs and all the fat that is connected to them, both kidneys with the fat on them near the loins, and the long lobe of the liver, which you will remove with the kidneys. Then Aaron’s sons are to burn it on the altar on top of the burnt offering that is lying on the burning wood; it is a food offering, an aroma pleasing to the Lord.
So here is a set of instructions for a fellowship offering… in this case here’s what to do if it’s a cow from the herd… and the instructions are repeated ~(modified here and there) if the fellowship offering is a sheep or a goat instead.
Now you think - what on earth is this all about?
Well… the clue is in the name - this offering is all about FELLOWSHIP… it’s about celebrating and enjoying and expressing the FELLOWSHIP - its RELATIONSHIP that God’s people enjoy with God himself (and also with each other).
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Did you notice what happens? An animal - a precious valuable thing… is slaughtered… and everyone gets to “eat” (I put the eat in inverted commas for reasons which will become clear).
The FAT belongs to the Lord… the fat and the internal bits which is it connected to are burned on the altar… this goes up as an aroma pleasing to the Lord… that is God’s portion if you like (he doesn’t “eat it” - but you see the point.
Likewise… there is a portion for the Priests who serve in the temple.
The deal in ancient Israel was that all the different tribes were allowed land - which of course they could farm and so on, providing a living for themselves…. All the tribes that is, apart from the preistly tribe - who serve in the temple…. They survive by eating some of what is brought as sacrifice. You’ll have notice that with the grain offerings…
Just look back to chapter 2 verse 10 for example….
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The rest of the grain offering belongs to Aaron and his sons; it is a most holy part of the food offerings presented to the Lord.
likewise here with these fellowship offerings - once the fat is burned “to the Lord” there’s an awful lot of cow or sheep left!
The priests are fed from some of what remains. So now the Lord has his portion and the priest join the fellowship meal too!
Just as an aside… this system often functions as a kind of spiritual barometer in the life of ancient Israel… when the people are walking closely with the Lord.. well then they are offering sacrifices o him (as a sign of their love and devotion)…. And as they offer these sacrifices that means the Priests are well provided for and the temple functions well… it’s a kind of spiral of incline.
Sadly though you often see the reverse… when people are now walking with the Lord… and not bringing regular offerings… then the Priests are not provided for… the tabernacle (later the temple) don’t function well… you sometimes then get wicked Priests persuing dishonest gain in other ways - it becomes a spiral of spiritual decline.
But here in Leviticus we see things as they should be…
The fat portions are burned as a pleasing stone to the Lord…
The Priests enjoy a pleasing meal too….
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But of course a cow or a sheep is still a big thing… what happens to the rest of it? Well we’re not told here but later on chapter 7 we get more detail… including the fact that these sacrifices close not be left but must be consumed (eaten) on the same day they are offered. This would mean that not only the priests… but also those who brought the offering…. And quite possibly also their friends or relatives or neighbours would be eating too!
In other words… what may at first read like a nit-picky list of regulations… when you get under the skin of it (pun intended)… is actually describing a joyful… thankful… fellowship meal - where the Lord and the Priests and the people all have a share.
No wonder then it’s called a FELLOWSHIP offering.
Again - what does this tell us about the Lord? That he is a God who desires fellowship (relationship) with US his people…. AND (not only that) but he makes a way for that to be possible.
Listen to the way one Bible commentator sums it up this celebratory feast…
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The theological importance of these chapters should not be underestimated. At one level, Leviticus 2–3 contains procedural details pertaining to tribute and fellowship offerings. Yet, as noted earlier, this is not [merely] a how-to manual... Instead, these chapters are, once again, aimed at forming a picture of the ideal and inviting participation: voluntary acts of homage (tribute offerings) which rightly recognize [the LORD’S greatness; celebratory, communal meals (fellowship offerings) that are the very embodiment of restored relationship – with God and neighbour. G. GEOFFREY HARPER
As we close… see the links here - both backwards and forwards.
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Surely backwards think back to Eden - what was LOST at the fall of mankind into sin? Answer - fellowship with God and with each other.
When our first parents are cast out of the garden they are cut off from fellowship with the Lord.. and even human relationships are badly compromised. It’s no surprise that the expulsion from Eden is followed in short order by the first murder (Cain and Abel).
What does we see here in Leviticus…. In embryonic form… we see the Gospel… we see the good news that God is in the business of restoring what was lost - restored relationship with himself and with each other.
And so Leviticus compels us to look back in Scripture but also - we have the great privilege of looking forward too… to see these things fulfilled in Christ.
Christ who, supremely honoured his father, Christ who knew nothing but unbroken, uninterrupted relationship with his Father…
Christ who said I and the Father are one.
Christ who went to the cross for us - for our sin, to bring us salvation… who endured being forsaken by his Father… bearing our guilt… so we might be restored.
And that is the work of the Gospel now in us…. To restore us to fellowship with the Father and YES with each other too.
And you thought this chapter was a list of instructions!
Let’s pray
