Leviticus 2 - Grain Offerings and Yeast In Your Money

Podcast Transcript (Auto-Transcribed by Apple Podcasts)

Welcome back to Tabernacle Talk today, and it's kind of fun. We are going through Tabernacle Talk, and most all of the book that we are now going through, the Book of Leviticus, is taking place as God is speaking to Moses from the Tabernacle.

And so we get to kind of hear those echoes on Tabernacle Talk, and I'm really excited for us to continue in this, just as a very quick recap.

The Book of Leviticus is answering the question, how can a sinful, wicked, imperfect people be in the presence of a holy God and not be consumed, not be destroyed? How do you, I heard it expressed this way recently by a seminary professor.

He said this, Leviticus is giving, if you will, the illustration of how do you not asphyxiate yourself with turning on your car in the garage. It's here's what you do to get the garage open. Here's the order that you do in.

Here are all of the pieces that have to be put together because God is holy. No sin, no wrong, no injustice can survive in contact with his perfect goodness and holiness.

And so the Book of Leviticus is God going, I want to be with you all, but I realize your sinfulness, but I don't want it to kill you. I don't want it to consume you. And so here is the way in which you can be in my presence.

And as I mentioned yesterday, the ultimate fulfillment of that is in Jesus and in what Christ did on our behalf that he was the perfect sacrifice all throughout the Book of Leviticus.

It's, there's all of these sacrifices that take place, the substitution of an animal, a bull or a goat or a lamb, or even a bird sometimes if you were particularly poor.

Any of those things could be given in exchange for your life, their life in exchange for yours, which was all a picture of what Jesus would eventually do so that then we could have the Holy Spirit living inside of us, his presence that does not

consume, does not kill us, but that we know him. Yesterday, we looked at the burnt offering, which is the very first thing that's mentioned in the Book of Leviticus. This was something that was dedicated entirely to the Lord.

It wasn't something that benefited the priests. They didn't eat any portion of that offering, and it didn't benefit the person that was offering it. They didn't get to eat any portion of it.

It was all given to the Lord.

And it's the same type of thought as we would read about in Romans 12, verses one and two, where the Apostle Paul tells us that we should have our lives be a living sacrifice, not a sacrifice that dies, but that we are to be a living sacrifice,

wholly acceptable unto God, which is our reasonable service. Now, in Leviticus 2, we're gonna look at the grain offering. And the Bible says this. When you present grain as an offering to Yahweh, the offering must consist of choice flour.

So here, the same thoughts as he had in chapter one. Don't bring God your worst. Don't bring God, if you're bringing a sacrifice, don't bring the lame.

Don't bring the most inexpensive type of thing. Bring of your best to God. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all of your might, that we would not just give God the worst of us.

Let's give him our best. So he says, bring this offering must consist of choice flower. He says, you are to pour olive oil on it, sprinkle it with frankincense, which would be a very costly material.

He says, and bring it to Aaron's sons, the priests. The priest will scoop out a handful of the flower, moistened with oil together with all the frankincense and burn this representative portion on the altar.

It is a special gift, a pleasing aroma to Yahweh. And that phrase, a pleasing aroma, is meant to remind us of in the Book of Genesis. After the flood occurs, Noah and his family get off of the ark.

He is incredibly thankful for what God has done, and so he offers a sacrifice.

And it says that God smelled that from heaven, and it's almost like what's being done on earth in this place has ramifications in heaven, that though they are separate in the Garden of Eden, that there was an overlap here in Leviticus, as you are in

here the Tabernacle, later the Temple, you have that same overlap of heaven and earth that's taking place. And it is something that causes joy to the heart of God when we give to Him.

When we give of our time here, treasures, possessions, they didn't have money as much in those days. It was mainly animals and crops. And God says, when you give to me, it's pleasing.

It's a wonderful thing. You don't have to wonder about where you're standing is with God. God says, hey, you do this, you do this from the heart out of belief in me.

You can know that I am pleased with this gift. He says, the rest of the grain offering, so a portion goes to God on the altar. He says, the rest of the grain offering will then be given to Aaron and his sons.

This offering will be considered a most holy part of the special gifts presented to Yahweh. So here, this is part of how the priests ate. They didn't charge a temple tax, and they didn't have land that they were working.

They weren't making things on the sides. Their whole goal was to fulfill these sacrifices and offerings, as we'll read about later on. And so this was one of the ways in which they lived, was through the generosity, the giving of God's people.

He says, if your offering is a grain offering baked in an oven, it must be made of choice flour, but without any yeast. He says, it may be presented in the form of thin cakes mixed with olive oil or wafers spread with olive oil.

If your grain offering is cooked on a griddle, it must be made of choice flour mixed with olive oil, but without any yeast. Break it in pieces and pour olive oil on it. It is a grain offering.

If your grain offering is prepared in a pan, it must be made of choice flour and olive oil. He says, okay, no matter what kind of form that your grain offering takes, it has to be done God's way. And I think of Jesus, who is the anointed one.

He is the one that, as we think even about his crucifixion, that his head was indeed anointed with blood, that he is the one, he is the, if you will, the choice flower of God. He is the bread of life in whom there was no sin.

Yeast is often mentioned in Scripture as a picture of sin. It's not the actual yeast that there's anything wrong with yeast. But the thought is, it's like how sin can be little, and then it can grow and grow and grow.

And so it's often used as a picture in Scripture. So Jesus is the one that was God's choice possession. He's his only, older translations would have it, his only begotten son, that mono genus, that one of a kind.

God did not give you a second best. He didn't send some lower tier angel. He sent himself, Jesus Christ.

Verse number 8. No matter how a grain offering for Yahweh has been prepared, bring it to the priest who will present it at the altar. The priest will take a representative portion of the grain offering and burn it on the altar.

It is a special gift of pleasing aroma to Yahweh. The rest of the grain offering will then be given to Aaron and his sons as their food. This offering will be considered a most holy part of the special gifts presented to Yahweh.

Do not use yeast in preparing any of the grain offerings you present to Yahweh, because no yeast or honey may be burned as a special gift presented to Yahweh.

You may add yeast and honey to an offering of the first crops of your harvest, but these must never be offered on the altar as a pleasing aroma to Yahweh. So here he says, there is a time and place for the yeast and the honey.

He says, but for this particular offering, it's supposed to be done in this way. And whenever God says, hey, these things need to be done like this, we need to pay attention.

If God says, this is how a person receives salvation, we need to pay attention and only go about it that direction.

You can look all the way back in the very beginning in the book of Genesis at a person who did not do this, that God said, hey, for human sin, there has to be a life given on behalf of the life that sinned.

And so he instituted that sacrifice that would picture one day the Messiah coming and him giving his life on behalf of ours. But you had Cain and Abel and Abel offered the sacrifice that God had told them to and Cain had not offered that sacrifice.

He was a farmer and so he offered his crops, but it wasn't what God had asked for. And so God accepted Abel's sacrifice and he did not accept Cain's sacrifice.

And over and over and over throughout the Old Testament, you see that exact type of thing happen. I think we'll even read about it in a little, in a few days in Leviticus itself along those same lines.

Whatever God says, we need to be faithful and diligent to obey. He says, season all your grain offerings with salt to remind you of God's eternal covenant. That salt was a preservative.

It would help keep meat edible for far longer. It just had many wonderful properties. And here as God's including that salt, and he says it's particularly to remind you of God's eternal covenant.

He says, just as long as salt keeps your offering tasting good and able to be eaten by the priest, that it preserves it for them, he says God is preserving you. He loves you and he is for you.

He says, never forget to add salt to your grain offerings. If you present a grain offering to Yahweh from the first portion of your harvest, bring fresh grain that is coarsely ground and roasted on a fire.

Put olive oil on this grain offering and sprinkle it with frankincense.

And we can think even of Christ, our sacrifice, who at his birth or shortly thereafter, as the wise men from the East, as they brought the gifts, they brought gold and frankincense and myrrh.

And that Jesus was anointed with some of those things even at his death after the cross.

He says, The priest will take a representative portion of the grain moistened with oil, together with all the frankincense, and burn it as a special gift presented to Yahweh.

So, again, as we journey through the book of Leviticus, the question that we're going to be asking ourselves again and again, where is Jesus? What does this show me about Jesus?

And then, how do I think about these things in relation to the fact that I'm now a New Testament believer who doesn't have to sacrifice anymore, that Jesus is the last, the final sacrifice for sin on my behalf?

Well, I can think even of some sacrifices that we are encouraged to give as a part of the priesthood of the believers.

So, 1 Peter chapter 2, Peter would write to those believers in Asia Minor that we have become priests, that Christ is our High Priest, and that we are joining him in his actions.

Now, obviously, as he represents us to God, and he shows his wounds, and he says, I have redeemed them, they are my people, I have paid the sacrifice, they are now right with you, they can enter into your presence.

As all of that is taking place, we also have responsibilities to the Lord, so I mentioned earlier Romans chapter 12, that we are to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, that whatever God wants us to do, whoever he wants us to talk to, whatever he

wants us to give, whatever message he wants us to bring, that we have a responsibility. It's our job. We're priests. If you're a priest, you don't get an option on whether or not you present these offerings.

It is what you have to do. So Paul in Romans 12 encourages the believers, whatever God tells you to do, do it.

Whatever we would read about in Scripture that God would say, here's the mission that I have for you now in the New Testament, that we would accept that mission.

In Romans chapter 15, the Apostle Paul mentions the fact that he is, in a way, offering up the Gentiles as a sacrifice to God.

He says, the people that I am witnessing to and that I am bringing to Christ, it's like I am presenting them to God saying, Lord, I have invited them into the kingdom that they have accepted. They want to be a part of your kingdom and your mission.

And so now I am giving them to you that they interacted with me and I sent them to you. And so evangelism is one way in which we can sacrifice to the Lord.

You can look at Hebrews chapter 13 and you can see that we are called to give a sacrifice of praise to God. And as you look at that particular passage, I think it's Hebrews 13, 15, and 16.

What the writer there says is, yes, we can praise, we can sing, we can talk good about God. That's one aspect. And another way is by confessing Jesus.

The end of the verse says the fruit of our lips, confessing to His name, that we would tell others about Jesus, that we wouldn't be ashamed of Him.

Another way that we can do this is through what Paul tells Timothy in 1 Timothy 2, that we can pray for others, that we are called to pray for everyone, for kings, for everyone that's in authority, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceful life in all

godliness and honesty. So those are some ways in which we can offer sacrifices.

And as I think about the grain offering, maybe some of the things that I would say that we can think about as New Testament believers is, are you taking care of your spiritual leaders?

So this is one of the big reasons why I often advocate for what's called a plurality of elders, that there would be a multiplicity of those in a church that are communicating the truths of God.

So at our church, we've got obviously myself kind of as the main teaching pastor. And then we also have Pastor Ron, who though he's retired, that he is still faithfully teaching God's Word every single Wednesday at our church.

That many people, when they have Bible questions, that they ask him that he served as our church's interim pastor. And he's able to provide some of that same type of pastoral care that I attempt to provide for Tabernacle.

We also have men that have served in a variety of roles and a variety of names, but that through their service, through their teaching, through their care for people and the oversight of the church, have kind of exemplified this same, if you will,

priestly role. They work with people, they help them to better know God and His ways.

And men like Gary or Myron that have served, that have taught classes regularly, speaking in a sense on behalf of God, saying, this is what the Word of the Lord says. And so very, very grateful for those.

But one of the ways in which we as New Testament believers can apply Leviticus 2 is, are we caring for those that are spiritually providing for us? And you can read about that truth being applied in the New Testament.

In 1 Corinthians, it's either 9 or 10. In 1 Timothy chapter 5, Hebrews 13, and some other places as well that we would be responsible to give.

It's why I don't, as the main pastor of Tabernacle, I don't neglect to give to the church, but I give to the church every month that I would say, I know that these people have been a blessing to me, and I want to give to God's work in general too.

I want to give him a sacrifice, but I want to be faithful to give to help Pastor Ron, or I want to give to help even our church custodian or our church secretary be able to help out God's people with what they're doing.

So that's one way in which the grain offering can be thought of. Another way that we can think about it is, what do we give God from what he has given us? So for some of us, God's given us a lot of time.

How are we using the time that God has given us? How are we using the money, the finances that God has given us? Are we spending it all on ourselves?

Are we spending it all on frivolous things? Are we giving to others? Are we being generous?

Are we giving to further his work? I think about sometimes our abilities. How are we using, God says, okay, I've given you a gift to sing.

I would say this first. Check with some other people, see if you can actually sing or if maybe you might be a little bit tone deaf. Check with that, but then sing.

Maybe sing at a nursing home to people that need just that little bit of light in their life. That's how I got started off. Sing in youth groups, sing out loudly in the congregation.

Maybe if there's a time where there's maybe a choir, if there's people that are needed to help sing with congregational music, that you would help out with that. However, God has gifted you.

If God has given you gifts in relation to construction or any number of things, try and utilize them to benefit, to bless others. Here, God had given these people grain and they offered it back to God saying, God, you are worthy of this.

I'm going to expend this on you and for your people. What are we giving to others? What are we expending?

And then even here, as it mentions, yeast not being used.

Do we realize that in our lives that sin is insidious, that the devil in our flesh would love to put just a little bit of selfishness, just a little bit of self-serving, just a little bit of how can I get something from this into our service, into

our gifts for others? Maybe if we're giving finances, that little bit of yeast, that little bit of sin might look like, oh man, I bet I can twist what people say or what they do or what ministries they do through me giving this money, because I'm

giving money, I'm going to use that as like a dial to turn. Maybe it might be if you are serving others, that you're not doing it out of a heart of love for people, but that you're doing it so that you can be seen and praised.

Whatever it is, don't allow Satan to twist your gifts, your offering to God.

Don't allow him to ruin that through little sins, because if we allow those little thoughts, those little patterns, imaginations to take hold in our mind as we serve, it will only grow and grow and grow.

Maybe if you have been in that place, as I know I've been before, let's turn to God and say, God, please clear this out. May there be no wrong, may there be no sin in what I am offering to you. May you cleanse me completely.

And as we do, we can have the same assurance that Moses gives here, that he wrote down that the Lord gave, that this grain offering, it is acceptable. It is a pleasing aroma to the Lord.

The exact same thing that Paul says to the Philippians, in Philippians 4, where he says, the gift that you gave me, I've received it all. Everything's here, and it is a sacrifice, acceptable, well pleasing to God.

And when we give in whatever fashion, when we give to God, it is pleasing to him, provided we do not have that yeast of sin that is in our gift. Thanks for tuning in today.

Again, I know that this is something we really kind of got to dig into it and find out all sorts of things, but I hope that this would bring some meaning to the Book of Leviticus in your life, that as we look at all of God's Word together, we see it

all fits, it all belongs, it's all important. We're in Leviticus 3 tomorrow. Thanks for tuning in.