The Blessing of the First Things

The Blessing of First Things

(Many of the concepts in this message come from Robert Morris’s book “The Blessed Life”)

Well, here we are week two of Money Month.  If you are visiting or new to Cornerstone each year we take the month of April to teach the theology of giving.   Almost a dozen years ago I decided that instead of simply preaching in response to any given financial crisis in the church that I would take the time to teach those who call Cornerstone their church home why giving is a proper response to the love and Grace of God.  You understand, God doesn’t need you to give for His sake. God is God, the entire universe is his.  So if he doesn’t need us to give for his sake than it must be that he wants us to give for our sake.   Our giving shapes our response to God.

Last week I looked at the fact that God wants to bless us, thus the theme of this year “The Blessed Life.”  We saw how the concept of God’s blessing is seen in the first chapter of the first book of the bible, in the last chapter of the last book of the bible and scattered throughout the bible.

And that blessing comes when we are faithful with what God has given us and we are obedient to the commands of Christ.  And that shouldn’t surprise us.  And while the bible talks about the many blessings that God gives to his people it certainly doesn’t shy away from financial blessings.  But the blessed life doesn’t mean the blessed cheque book it means the blessed life, a life lived in obedience in the presence of God. 

This week I want to look at the Blessing of the First Things.  Which brings us to the scripture that was read for us today.

At first it seems like one of those weird Old Testament things.  You know the ones, they leave you scratching your head and thinking. . . huh?  And there are a few of those, things and stories we don’t understand lessons that were for people who lived in a different land and a different culture. 

And sometimes it’s hard for us to get our head around things that happened in a desert 3,000 years ago.   For that matter think back to the sixties and seventies and there are things that are difficult to understand from fifty years ago.

But if we actually take the time to work through this one, we get an explanation.

Exodus 13 begins with these words:  Exodus 13:1-2 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Dedicate to me every firstborn among the Israelites. The first offspring to be born, of both humans and animals, belongs to me.”  And then God explains to Moses why he requires the dedication of the first born.  As a part of that explanation God establishes the Passover Celebration so the people wouldn’t forget their deliverance.

This story in Exodus happens right after the Exodus, that is right after the people of Israel have been delivered by God from the slavery of Egypt.  It is here that he establishes the celebration of the Passover so that his people would never forget what He had done for them.  And the Passover is still celebrated around the world by Jews for the same reason that it was instituted 3000 years ago.

But after God gives Moses direction about the Passover Celebration He returns to the original theme.  That is the passage that was read for us this morning, Exodus 13:11-12 “This is what you must do when the LORD fulfills the promise he swore to you and to your ancestors. When he gives you the land where the Canaanites now live, you must present all firstborn sons and firstborn male animals to the LORD, for they belong to him.

It is here that God decrees that the first of all things born to his people belonged to him.  And so this was the law, if your first born was a son then he was dedicated to God and a sacrifice was made: not the child, just to make that clear.    The child was symbolically given back to the Lord, we kind of do that with baby dedications today.  And then the parent’s presented a sacrifice that was them purchasing the child back from God.  Remember from the Christmas story Luke 2:22-23 Then it was time for their purification offering, as required by the law of Moses after the birth of a child; so his parents took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. The law of the Lord says, “If a woman’s first child is a boy, he must be dedicated to the LORD.”

In the case of acceptable animals, that is those which could be eaten under Jewish law the first born was presented to the Priests for sacrifice, the idea of animal sacrifice seems weird to us today and somehow unbecoming but we aren’t talking about today it was 3000 years ago.  The animal was killed and a portion was offered to God and the remainder was used to care for the Priests and their families. 

In the case of an unclean animal, one that was not permitted to be eaten under the law, a clean animal was offered.  So, something unclean could be redeemed through the sacrifice of something that was clean, that’s the entire gospel message right there.

And so we are told in Exodus 13:13 A firstborn donkey may be bought back from the LORD by presenting a lamb or young goat in its place.  And then it goes on to say But if you do not buy it back, you must break its neck. However, you must buy back every firstborn son.

Did you catch that?  If you didn’t give the animal back to the Lord you were going to lose it anyway.  There is probably a full sermon there.  Personally I have never benefited from any of God’s money that I kept.  I discovered years ago if I didn’t give God what was his I gave it to someone.  A mechanic, carpenter but I certainly didn’t get to keep it. 

And maybe you are still wondering: Why?  And maybe that would have been the same question that the children of the Israelites would have asked.  Perhaps when the oldest child got to be old enough to understand what was happening around the farm he would have asked his father: Dad, I don’t understand, we are supposed to be in the farming business but every time one of our animals has their first offspring you give it away to be sacrificed.   Isn’t that counter intuitive? Aren’t we are giving away our profits?

And that would provide the opportunity for the father to tell his son;  Son we weren’t always farmers, there was a time that we were slaves. It’s spelled out in Exodus 13:14-15 “And in the future, your children will ask you, ‘What does all this mean?’ Then you will tell them, ‘With the power of his mighty hand, the LORD brought us out of Egypt, the place of our slavery. Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, so the LORD killed all the firstborn males throughout the land of Egypt, both people and animals. That is why I now sacrifice all the firstborn males to the LORD—except that the firstborn sons are always bought back.’

The First Born Was Given In Remembrance  And so when you write your cheque for your tithe, or put cash in your envelope, or look at your monthly bank statement and see your debit for Cornerstone it isn’t out of obligation, it isn’t because Denn guilted you into giving. 

You give because your remember that you weren’t always free that once you were a slave.  You give because you remember the grace and forgiveness that made you a new person.  You give because you remember that it wasn’t because of  anything you did and it was because of everything God did. And I think that everyone of us should let our kids know what we give and then use that as an opportunity to tell our children why we give, what our God has done for us.

But it wasn’t just the first born that God asked for.    

 Later in the book of Exodus we read Exodus 23:19 “As you harvest your crops, bring the very best of the first harvest to the house of the LORD your God.  In some translations this is referred to as the first fruit.  This was the very first portion of the harvest that was gathered.  The law didn’t require that you collect the entire harvest and then decide what you would give to God.  This was a statement of faith.

The first part of your harvest, the first grain that was cut the first fruit that was picked, the first vegetables that were harvested belonged to God. 

And remember there was no guarantee that there would be more.  The first harvest could be followed by a drought, or a flood.  But the giving of the first fruits was a statement of faith. 

The first story of giving is recorded very early in the bible.  It is the story of two of Adam and Eve’s children, Cain and Abel.  Maybe you remember the story.  It is recorded in Genesis chapter four.  It would appear that Cain was a farmer and Abel was a shepherd because the older brother we are told presented crops while the younger brother presented a lamb.  And the bible tells us that God accepted Abel’s offering and rejected Cain’s.  And some people say they don’t understand why one was acceptable and one wasn’t.   But we should figure it out, because if there are acceptable offering and unacceptable ones I want to give what is acceptable. 

The answer is in the original account of the story.  Genesis 4:3-4 When it was time for the harvest, Cain presented some of his crops as a gift to the LORD. Abel also brought a gift—the best of the firstborn lambs from his flock. Did you catch that?  “ain presented “some of his crops” and Abel gave “The best of the firstborn lambs” 

When we give to God, notice I didn’t say if we give to God.  When we give to God do we give him the first or the last?  When you get paid is the first cheque written, the first online transaction performed your offering to God? 

You see if giving the first born is a remembrance of all that God has done for us The First Fruit was given in recognition.  Recognition that all we have comes from God.  We talked about this last week, how easy it is to remove God from the equation, to say “I work hard for my Money”.  But who gives us the ability and opportunity to be able to earn that money?   

Are we afraid that if we give God the first part then there won’t be anything left for us?  That God will allow our children to starve because we are faithful to Him?  When we recognize that what we have isn’t ours it should make it easier to return it to the one it comes from.  

I know it’s weird I empty my pockets before I preach.  And seriously I don’t know why.  It’s just something I do, I take my keys and wallet out before I leave my office, I know it’s just weird.

  Now suppose I got as far as the sound booth and realized that I still had my wallet with me and so I gave it to Mike to hold for me.  You still with me?  After the service I would expect Mike to give me back my wallet, and he shouldn’t be resentful, after all it isn’t his wallet it is my wallet, he was just holding it for me.

Last week we looked at the parable of the talents and talked about how everything we have, our talents, our abilities our resources have been given to us by God and he expects us to use them wisely and faithfully.   And we talked about how you would never be held accountable for what God had given me and I would never be accountable for what God has given you.   In the same way you should be willing to do your part, return to God the first fruit and be willing to believe that he will honour that and that you won’t be in need because of  your faithfulness.  Solomon wrote in Proverbs 3:9-10 Honour the LORD with your wealth and with the best part of everything you produce. Then he will fill your barns with grain, and your vats will overflow with good wine.

So what do we have, We are to give the first born in remembrance of what God has done for us.  And we are to give the first fruit in recognition of the fact that all we have comes from God.  But it doesn’t finish there. 

There is a cool story in the book of 2 Chronicles.  It involves a King by the name of Hezekiah.  Now I would assume that not everyone here is familiar with Hezekiah.  Remember after Solomon died Israel split into a Northern Kingdom and a Southern Kingdom?  And each kingdom had its own King.  Some were good but most were bad.  Goes back to the old adage that first coined by Lord Acton, the British historian, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

Hezekiah was one of the good Kings. We are told this about him in 2 Chronicles 29:2 He did what was pleasing in the LORD’s sight, just as his ancestor David had done.

Part of what he did was to reject the false gods that were being worshipped in the Kingdom and led the people back to worshiping the true God and restored the temple. 

And Hezekiah knew if that was going to happen that it would require sacrifice.   And so let’s pick up the story.  In 2 Chronicles chapter 31 we see the initial process of re-instituting the temple worship in Jerusalem.  2 Chronicles 31:2-3 Hezekiah then organized the priests and Levites into divisions to offer the burnt offerings and peace offerings, and to worship and give thanks and praise to the LORD at the gates of the Temple. The king also made a personal contribution of animals for the daily morning and evening burnt offerings, the weekly Sabbath festivals, the monthly new moon festivals, and the annual festivals as prescribed in the Law of the LORD.

The very first part of his plan involved equipping and empowering the priests and Levites.  These were the men who did what had to be done on a daily basis to keep the temple running and making sure that everything was in place for the people to offer sacrifices and worship.  And Hezekiah knew that this wasn’t only a spiritual exercise it was also a practical exercise. 

He knew that if this was going to become a reality that it would involve giving.  In verse three it tells us that “The king also made a personal contribution. . .”   So the giving started at the very top but that isn’t where it ended, so let’s move into Verse 4

2 Chronicles 31:4 In addition, he required the people in Jerusalem to bring a portion of their goods to the priests and Levites, so they could devote themselves fully to the Law of the LORD.

The next verse records the response of the people.  2 Chronicles 31:5 The people of Israel responded immediately and generously by bringing the first of their crops and grain, new wine, olive oil, honey, and all the produce of their fields. They brought a large quantity—a tithe of all they produced.   Did you catch the last part of that verse They brought a large quantity ----- a tithe of all they produced.  Tithe is just a spiritual term for a tenth.  The people were required to bring a portion and the portion they brought was ten percent, we’ll talk more about that next week. 

So what was the tithe required for here?  The King was under no illusion that resuming worship in the temple would be free or even cheap.  And He knew that if he simply assumed that people would give, they probably wouldn’t or wouldn’t give enough. 

Because my sermon preparation involves spending a fair amount of time with the people of the past I am continually amazed at how little people have changed through the years. People’s passions, motives and thought process were very much the same three thousand years ago as they are today.  

And so I would suspect that Hezekiah was probably well aware of the potential for people to either underestimate what it costs for the temple or overestimate how much others would give to support the temple and things haven’t changed.  Through the years I continue to be amazed that   people either underestimate what it costs for the church or overestimate how much others will give to support the church.

In the first case I don’t think it is a matter of neglect as much as a matter of ignorance.  People either don’t think about it at all or they don’t do the math. 

I didn’t.  Until I started pastoring it never crossed my mind.  The church was there when I arrived to worship, it was warm, the lights were on, the building was clean, the pastor was there and he preached the water was turned on and never once did it cross my mind:  “I wonder how they pay for this?”  and if that thought had of crossed my mind I’m not sure that I would have been bright enough to have connected the dots and figured out how much it cost. 

And Hezekiah knew that if the people of God were going to resume worship in the temple than there were expenses that would be involved. 

So if the first born was given in remembrance and the first fruit was given in recognition, then The First Tithe Was Brought In Obedience   I need you to notice something here, the tithe was not given, it was brought.  And maybe you are thinking “What’s the difference?”  the difference is you can’t give someone what already belongs to them.   

Imagine if it was a beautiful spring day, I said you would have to use your imagination here, and Pastor Jason came to me and asked if he could use my Smart Car for the day so he could put down the roof and he and Marla could drive out to Peggy’s cove and have a picnic.  And I said “yes”, remember this in only an illustration.

At the end of the day if Pastor Jason came to me and said “Denn, Marla and I would like to bless you by giving you this Smart Car convertible”   I would say, in love “You are an idiot!  You can’t give me what already belongs to me, you are simply bringing it to me.” 

You can’t give what doesn’t belong to you and so you can’t give your tithe to God, you can only bring it to Him.  Nowhere in the Bible does it tell us to give our tithe to God, it always tells us to bring our tithe to God’s house.  In the Old Testament that was the temple, in the New Testament it was the local church, not a university, not the United Way not a Television Ministry, the local church. 

No listen to how this story ends.  2 Chronicles 31:5-7 The people of Israel responded immediately and generously by bringing the first of their crops and grain, new wine, olive oil, honey, and all the produce of their fields. They brought a large quantity—a tithe of all they produced. The people who had moved to Judah from Israel, and the people of Judah themselves, brought in the tithes of their cattle, sheep, and goats and a tithe of the things that had been dedicated to the LORD their God, and they piled them up in great heaps. They began piling them up in late spring, and the heaps continued to grow until early autumn. Heaps is the technical term.

Well the King came to see how things were going and saw the heaps of stuff that had been brought to the temple.  And he was a little concerned that he had been misunderstood and that people were giving more than they needed to or perhaps more than they could afford and so he asked the priests “where did all this come from?”  and they response is recorded in 2 Chronicles 31:10 And Azariah the high priest, from the family of Zadok, replied, “Since the people began bringing their gifts to the LORD’s Temple, we have had enough to eat and plenty to spare. The LORD has blessed his people, and all this is left over.”

They brought what they were required to bring and the Lord blessed them.  You gotta love that. 

So what do you do with the first of everything you get?

You realize of course that you honour who give to first.  Is it God?  Or is it the cable company, or visa or dinner out?   When asked about the tithe people are usually told that it is 10% of what they make, the reality according to scripture is that it is the first 10% of what we make.  If you make a thousand dollars a week, the tithe is the first hundred dollars that you spend of that thousand.  So the question is who’s getting the tithe?

Let’s pray.