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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
The Lord said to Moses, "Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'If anyone makes a special vow to dedicate persons to the Lord by giving equivalent values, set the value of a male between the ages of twenty and sixty at fifty shekels of silver, according to the sanctuary shekel; and if it is a female, set her value at thirty shekels. If it is a person between the ages of five and twenty, set the value of a male at twenty shekels and of a female at ten shekels. If it is a person between one month and five years, set the value of a male at five shekels of silver and that of a female at three shekels of silver. If it is a person sixty years old or more, set the value of a male at fifteen shekels and of a female at ten shekels. If anyone making the vow is too poor to pay the specified amount, he is to present the person to the priest, who will set the value for him according to what the man making the vow can afford.’
‘If what he vowed is an animal that is acceptable as an offering to the Lord, such an animal given to the Lord becomes holy. He must not exchange it or substitute a good one for a bad one, or a bad one for a good one; if he should substitute one animal for another, both it and the substitute become holy. If what he vowed is a ceremonially unclean animal—one that is not acceptable as an offering to the Lord -the animal must be presented to the priest, who will judge its quality as good or bad. Whatever value the priest then sets, that is what it will be. If the owner wishes to redeem the animal, he must add a fifth to its value.’
‘If a man dedicates his house as something holy to the Lord, the priest will judge its quality as good or bad. Whatever value the priest then sets, so it will remain. If the man who dedicates his house redeems it, he must add a fifth to its value, and the house will again become his.’
‘If a man dedicates to the Lord part of his family land, its value is to be set according to the amount of seed required for it—fifty shekels of silver to a homer of barley seed. If he dedicates his field during the Year of Jubilee, the value that has been set remains. But if he dedicates his field after the Jubilee, the priest will determine the value according to the number of years that remain until the next Year of Jubilee, and its set value will be reduced. If the man who dedicates the field wishes to redeem it, he must add a fifth to its value, and the field will again become his. If, however, he does not redeem the field, or if he has sold it to someone else, it can never be redeemed. When the field is released in the Jubilee, it will become holy, like a field devoted to the Lord; it will become the property of the priests.’
‘If a man dedicates to the Lord a field he has bought, which is not part of his family land, the priest will determine its value up to the Year of Jubilee, and the man must pay its value on that day as something holy to the Lord. In the Year of Jubilee, the field will revert to the person from whom he bought it, the one whose land it was. Every value is to be set according to the sanctuary shekel, twenty gerahs to the shekel. 'No one, however, may dedicate the firstborn of an animal, since the firstborn already belongs to the Lord; whether an ox or a sheep, it is the Lord's. If it is one of the unclean animals, he may buy it back at its set value, adding a fifth of the value to it. If he does not redeem it, it is to be sold at its set value.’
‘But nothing that a man owns and devotes to the Lord - whether man or animal or family land — may be sold or redeemed; everything so devoted is most holy to the Lord.’
‘No person devoted to destruction may be ransomed; he must be put to death.’
‘A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord; it is holy to the Lord. If a man redeems any of his tithe, he must add a fifth of the value to it. The entire tithe of the herd and flock — every tenth animal that passes under the shepherd's rod — will be holy to the Lord. He must not pick out the good from the bad or make any substitution. If he does make a substitution, both the animal and its substitute become holy and cannot be redeemed.’”
These are the commands the Lord gave Moses on Mount Sinai for the Israelites.
Leviticus 27
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
The final chapter of Leviticus deals with the dedication and devotion of things to the Lord. Whether dealing with people, animals, households or land, one thing we see right away is that the Lord expects anything that He has either created or provided to be attributed and committed to Him.
With this, we see this scripture passage step through covering the various items that could be dedicated to the Lord. Whatever the item, we see where it would become property of the tabernacle unless the provider bought it back by paying a set fee in some instances or a fee set by the priest when the item’s value was in question. In those instances, the priest would establish the value and the subsequent amount owed for repurchasing. We should note that the Lord set different stipulations for the poor. In those cases, if the impoverished person was unable to buy back an item at its face value, the priest was to examine what the person could afford and adjust the redemption value accordingly.
Before the chapter closes, the scriptures tell is that there was one more matter of devotion mentioned, one distinct from the dedication expectations. For anything devoted to the Lord would fully belong to Him and it couldn’t be sold because it belonged to Him and Him alone.
The chapter finishes with guidance on tithing and there is little doubt that the Lord required this form of giving.
“A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord; it is holy to the Lord."
By definition, a tithe is a "tenth part of something paid as a voluntary contribution…for the support of a religious establishment." In this passage, the tithe was to be dedicated to the Lord to care for the tabernacle and the priests.
We need to know that the Lord’s requirement for tithing hasn’t changed today. For all believers should still be seeking to return a portion of what the Lord has blessed them with, a portion that rightfully belongs to Him.
As we wrap up Leviticus, chapter 27, we need to keep in mind three main points.
First, the Lord provides us all things and expects that those things be dedicated to Him.
Second, the Lord expects us to dedicate a portion of what He provides back to Him and the work of His church.
And finally, redeeming something doesn’t happen without a cost.
Each of these closing points can help us establish a base foundation for our own Christian living. Let me explain.
First, when we acknowledge that all things come from the Lord, we gain a greater appreciation for what we have. And when that happens, we find ourselves seeing things in a whole different light as a greater sense of stewardship is gained by using all He gives to His glory. We also adopt an inner accountability, ensuring we properly take care of everything that God provides.
Second, the church or other ministries ordained by the Lord can only go forth and do great work in His name if they have the proper resources to do so.
When I first became a church member, I never realized how much the church relied on the tithes and offerings of its members until I was ordained as an elder and gained a first-hand look at how contributions were budgeted and managed. Ultimately, I learned how any church will struggle to carry out their Great Commission responsibilities when there is a lack of funds to do so.
Ultimately, the Lord blesses us with what He wants us to have in accordance with His will and He expects that all believers will redirect a portion into the church as it works to fulfill its purposes.
Unfortunately, too many people fail to carry out their end of this deal. They love to get all that God gives but then they hoard it as it is their own, and not His, and in doing so, they disobey God and diminish the redemptive, Kingdom work of the church and its ministries.
It’s time for all Christians to understand that giving requires personal sacrifice, especially in light of how Jesus gave Himself up fully for us. This takes me to my final point to finish this message for redemption does not come without a cost.
Go back to the times before God made the way so that no person would ever need to perish. Out of love, He gave up His one and only Son so that whoever would believe in Him wouldn’t perish but gain eternal life (John 3:16). It was the greatest sacrifice ever made, one that bought the opportunity for all mankind to be saved from sure destruction in Hell.
In Jesus, we see where something of great value had to paid in order to purchase the pardon of every man, woman and child of the world. The cost calculated to cover creation’s sinful ways was the life of Jesus. Therefore, the sin debt that was owed by all people was paid in full through the surrendered life of one Perfect Savior, Jesus Christ, the Passover Lamb of God who came and took away the sin of the world (John 1:29).
Freedom and liberation comes to all Jesus believers without cost but that’s only because the price was already covered by Christ on Calvary’s cross. Today and every day, let us give thanks for this act of selfless love and sacrifice by our Savior.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
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