I’ve said it before, but I will repeat myself. Thursdays are one of my favorite days. I love Sunday, just focusing on the Lord all day. Mondays have so much potential. Even with a challenging week, Thursday brings the opportunity for improvement, and your accomplishments fill you with gratitude.
Today, we read the greatest number of verses we will read in one day all year, except for October 9. Sorry, it just works out that way because I keep us to full chapters and try not to jump books. I say try not, because in December we will read two very short books in one day.
But, let’s get into what Leviticus 23-25 were saying to me today.
The festivals
Here, God is telling Moses how he and the people of Israel were to honor Him through festivals.
In Amos 5:21-24, we will get some clarification. God does not want the festivals, he wants an obedient and contrite heart. But, at this point in our history of communicating with the Lord, He is setting up the festivals.
These were to be sacred assemblies. This included the Sabbath.
Most Christian denominations worship on Sunday. God gave direct days to have His festivals on. The point was not the day; it was the Lord.
Sadly, what I see in churches today is a complete lack of reverence to the importance of that event.
People wear shorts, t-shirts with inappropriate messages on them, dirty clothes, pajamas. I accept clothes are clothes and fashions change, but if that is what you are showing on the outside, what does the inside look like?
That is the real question. Are you in church because it’s Sunday, and that is what you are supposed to do? Or is going to join your family in Christ to worship your Savior the pinnacle event of your week?
Is it a chore or duty you need to perform, or a passion you have?
Notice in 23:3 this is an ordinance the Lord gives to people wherever they live.
Giving
Then we hear about giving. This is a topic a lot of pastors will avoid. They’re uncomfortable making anything about money.
So, let’s not make it about money. It is in everything you have; we are to give to the Lord.
The way I have always looked at it, and we will see in today’s reading proof of this, everything I have belongs to God. Because of His love and mercy, He has allowed me to enjoy more of it than I deserve. If you don’t feel that describes you, I would question if you understood what you actually deserve. None of us even deserves the days we have. We don’t understand our sinfulness.
God gives us this incredible offer: Instead of justice, He gives us mercy, and along with that, He blesses us. If we are faithful in returning the firstfruits, the best of what He gave us, back to Him; He will bless us more. (See Luke 6:38)
I am not talking about a prosperity gospel. God has a plan for each of us, and I have learned a long time ago, financial wealth was not a part of His plan for me. Therefore, I don’t focus on money. Jesus taught you can’t love God and money. (see Matt 6:24).
What I am saying is we need to come to the Lord with our best labor, our best presentation of ourselves, and the best attitude in our hearts.
When we give irreverently, showing up Sunday half asleep because someone else “made” us be there. That is not what God is asking for.
Verse 23:24 cautions that those who do not deny themselves on that day will face being cut off (NIV).
Sunday should be about honoring God in all we do.
Keep it going
If we approach Sunday in this way, we soon discover that Monday is Sunday, part 2, Tuesday is part 3, etc. God will bless your soul in ways beyond money and you will yearn to serve Him more.
24:2 tells us to keep the lamps burning. While I am taking this out of context, it is still a valid point.
When we develop a relationship of mutual loving reciprocity with God. Realizing He gave us His best, so we give Him our best, and our best gets better, so we give even more. We soon realize how selfish we have been. How much we had been holding back.
I learned there were sins I was not giving to Him. Not out of shame of the sin, but out of selfish desire to keep the thing which was causing me to sin.
Then we are taught that we must take all these commandments from the Lord seriously. Our reading declared a death penalty for those who blaspheme the Lord. They were to be taken outside the city walls and have the entire assembly stone them to death.
Because we have Jesus’s forgiveness, that punishment no longer hangs over us, but it is important to realize that it was serious enough for God to allow His One and Only Son to be killed for us.
Share the love
Then, in 25:17, we are told not to take advantage of each other. This is something I see too often. If someone will give of themselves, everyone else backs away and thinks to themselves, “whew, I escaped that one?” They feel relief. Instead, they should say, “thank you for taking care of that this time. Let me help you with the next one.”
Why do I feel that everything I have is God’s? We read in 25:23 that even the land we live on, when we buy it, is still the Lords. Everything that comes from that land, which in those days would have been the food, the materials to earn a living, etc. God owns everything, and we must return it to Him.
Today, we try to wrap our arms around as much as we can grab hold of, and like a stubborn toddler declare, “Mine!”.
Tomorrow we will talk about the reward for obedience, but today I challenge you to examine what you look like on the inside. How could you let what is in you shine brighter on the outside?
