The “Feasts”
Series #6
"FEAST OF WEEKS!"
(Also called the
“Feast of Pentecost”)
TEXT: Lev.
23:15-22
INTRO: Romance,
intrigue, the courtship ... remember this time in your life? You couldn't wait to see her, talking on
the phone was almost a mystical experience, you thought about her all day! How the time flew when you were together
and how it dragged through the day as you waited for the time you could be
together again!
When you finally did get
together you came prepared; flowers, your best coordinated outfit, you opened
and closed doors for her, you were on your best behavior and you brought your
best into the date ... "YOU BROUGHT YOUR BEST" … out of love for
her!!!
ILLUS: You
can give without loving, but you can't love without giving.
-- James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers,
Inc, 1988), p. 323.
Love is a powerful motivator
... it brings the best out of people and creates the atmosphere where one WANTS
to give their best in every way!
HENCE ... the
celebration of PENTECOST! It was a celebration of giving,
bringing to God the very best of the grain for the whole harvest season ... a
celebration where the people praised God for His giving to them by their giving
back to Him their very best ... reflecting a real love relationship! God got the “firstfruits” … not leftovers, or what they
could spare, God got the best and the first of the
produce!
ILLUS: A
certain businessman, who just recently got married, has to go away on an
extended business trip and he chooses 3 friends for a very special
responsibility.
So
before he leaves, the businessman gathers his 3 friends to have a meeting and he
says to them, "I'm going away on a long trip and I'm not sure how long I'll be
gone. And I'm going to send each
one of you $10,000 a month while I'm gone. Now you may keep $9,000 of the money and
spend it as you please. But I want
each of you to give $1,000 a month to my wife for the meeting of her
needs."
As
promised, while the man is away, he sends each of his friends $10,000 a month.
After few months he is able to
contact his new wife and he asks her if she has received the monthly support
that he had arranged with his 3 friends.
And
her reply was this: "Well, the first one sends $1,000 a month, just as you
instructed him." "And for some
reason the second one is sending me $2,000 a month. "But the 3rd man, he sent me $800 the
first month, $300 the second month, and after that, I have received nothing ever
since."
As
understandable, the husband if upset. Here he is providing the money to these
men to take care of his bride and all they had to do was give her 10% so that
her needs would be met and they could keep the rest with no questions
asked.
When
the man finally arrives back in his home country, he finds his 3 friends to
reward them for the deeds. To the
one who was faithful in giving the 10% to his bride, he decided he would
continue to give him $10,000 a month.
To the one friend who was not faithful in giving the 10% to his wife, the
man who stole from him, he gave him nothing anymore. But to the one friend who demonstrated
that he cared about the man's bride like she was his own, to him the businessman
gave him a double portion of $20,000 a month.
You
see church; Jesus has gone away for a season of time. He has said to each of us,
"I want you to take care of my bride, the church, while I'm away by giving her
10% of what you make. And then I
want you to feel free to spend the other 90%, as you desire. –
Source Unknown
PROP.
SENT: Our
relationship with God should be characterized by joyous giving; this was the
meaning in the celebration of Pentecost.
Giving also shows that what we have has come from the gracious hand of
God and that He is the rightful owner of all that we have, so we give back out
of love.
I. BEST GRAIN Lev.
23:15-16
A. Faithful! Lev.
23:15-16a
1. For 7 weeks (49 days ... including
the first day it was actually 50 days, hence the term “Pentecost” – the term actually meant “fiftieth,” they brought in the abundance of
God's provisions and the efforts of their work from the
fields.
a. This 7 weeks was a very busy one of
reaping what had been sown, and what God had blessed!
b. Each day in the fields they
witnessed the results of God's faithfulness to them and the fruit of their hard
work!
c. Though a time of heavy work ... it
was a labor of joy!
2. After 7 weeks of reaping God's
faithfulness ... a special celebration for one day (“Pentecost”) was planned to give opportunity
for them to give back to God the finest (firstfruits”)
grain as a witness of their faithfulness and thankfulness to
God! This “Pentecost” celebration was also called: “the day of the
firstfruits” (Num.
28:26)
a. All healthy
relationships involve 2 way giving!
b. It would be spiritually and
practically unhealthy for us to expect from God without giving in return! (Yet, how many Christians do this
today?)
ILLUS: Paul
and I were dairy farmers in the Northern New England town of Lancaster, NH in
1976. Our small farm was in the
Connecticut River Valley. We were
in financial difficulty because we had borrowed money to start our
business. We had recently given our
hearts to the Lord and were attending an Assemblies of God Church pastored by
Norice and Bert Gallop. Dave and
Marlene Tidwell worked at the Church and began coming to our farm to share God's
Word with us. One evening Dave
asked if were tithing. We didn't
know what tithing was, so he explained from Malachi 3 about bringing the tithes
into the storehouse and not robbing God.
We felt the Lord speak to our hearts to tithe on what we needed just to
keep our farm from going under. The
grain store refused to sell us more grain until we paid $2,000. We decided we needed $4,000 to keep our
farm and felt led to pay a tithe in advance on that amount. When we got our bimonthly milk check for
$700, we took out $400 in cash and placed it in an envelope. The following Sunday we put the money
into the offering at Lancaster Assembly of God. The next day, an elderly couple who
lived up the street from us, came to our door. They said as they were praying that
morning the Lord told them to give us some money. They hugged us and left. The check was for $2,000, enough to pay
our grain bill. We went into the
field and sat down in the middle of our herd, held hands and began to praise the
Lord. From that moment our prayer
life together began. This couple's
obedience was the beginning of a series of miracles. The same herd of cattle, eating
sub-standard hay, doubled their milk production within two months, so our milk
checks more than doubled. When the
Lord called us into ministry in 1978, we sold our equipment and cattle to pay
the bills. Who would give money to
a poor dairy farmer? Only those who
were walking in the Spirit and listening to God. --
Paul & Lana Duda have been Assembly of God missionaries since 1990. They assisted Dave and Marlene Tidwell
pioneering First Assembly of God in Bangor, Maine; then pioneered Elim Assembly
of God in Bath, Maine. They served
in the Northern New England District office for 5 years.
--
Pentecostal Evangel - June 11, 2000 issue pg. 26 "The Day The Lord Visited The
Farm"
3. God's desire was for a real
relationship with man ... thus a 2 way street.
B. Finest!
Lev.
23:16b
1. God never gives less than His best
to us ... and as in all loving relationships, He expects our best in
return!
2. It was NOT the leftovers God asked
for ... but the FIRSTFRUITS! The
finest of the grain! To people
truly in love, this is NEVER an issue!
a. The first pickings of grain were
the best ... they were superior seed!
b. This grain made the best bread, if
pressed produced the finest oil.
3. When you're in love the object of
that love is the FIRST in your heart, mind and spirit!
ILLUS: A
young girl sat at the counter of an ice cream store. "How much is an ice cream sundae?" she
asked. "Fifty cents," the waitress said with hardly a glance at the child. The girl opened her fist and looked at
her coins. She asked, "How much is a dish of just plain ice cream?" Annoyed, the
waitress snapped, "Thirty-five cents!" The girl counted out 35 cents and handed
it to the waitress. "I'll take the
plain ice cream."
The
waitress took the money without a word and brought the ice cream. After the small customer had eaten and
left, the waitress, cleaning up, suddenly flushed with shame. There, placed neatly beside the dish were
two nickels and five pennies - her tip. –
Source Unknown
4. Very few courtships go well when
one party brings 10 day old flowers that are wilted and rotting ... or when one
serves leftovers for a romantic candlelight dinner to save on
expenses!
a. When you're in love you want to
give the best, in fact it is a JOY TO GIVE THE BEST!
b. This is true with our relationship
to God as well!
5. The giving of ones best produces a
healthy kind of pride ... like when you've done your best for someone and you
see their joy as they realize you’ve given your best!
II. BREAD & GIFTS Lev.
23:17-21
A. Flour! Lev.
23:17a
1. Here the image of Pentecost takes
on a significant meaning about us!
a. The image of the bread here is
reflecting the worshipper ... unlike the UN-leavened bread at Passover which
symbolizes the sinless Christ; here the Pentecost bread was leavened,
symbolizing us as flawed people.
b. Passover's
bread was God's sacrifice ... Pentecost's bread was their sacrifice
... thus a symbol of their own self!
2. Notice that the finest grain
required grinding to produce the full flavor and texture of the finest
bread!
a. How true this is with us, often the
pressures grind us down, but this is also part of God's design to bring the best
out of us!
ILLUS: "I
was eight years old when my father took me with him to Washington," said a man
who was later prominent in national life. "It was during the darkest hours of
the Civil War.
"We
were walking on the street when a tall, thin man with very long legs, loose
clothes and a frowning, wrinkled face, came striding toward us. His eyes were
fixed on the pavement. His lips were moving. I remember thinking how cross he
looked and what long strides he took, making his coattails flop about his
legs.
"But
I was more interested in watching a ragged little urchin between us, standing on
the curb, his big eyes fixed on a pile of oranges in a vendor's cart. The
vendor's back was turned while he made change for a
customer.
"The
tall man passed the boy at the same time we did. He stopped suddenly, plunged a
hand into his pocket, bought a big orange, gave it to the boy, and went
on.
"The
boy was grinning and had already set his teeth in the orange, much to my envy,
when my father asked him whether he knew who gave it to him. He shook his head,
his teeth going deeper into the orange.
"'That
was President Lincoln, lad,'my father said, 'Hurry and thank him.' "The boy ran, caught the flopping coat,
and as the stern face turned sharply, he called, 'Thank you, Mr. President
Lincoln!'
"Suddenly
the face was transformed as I have never seen a face since then. A beautiful
smile covered it, making it what has ever since seemed to me one of the
handsomest faces I have ever seen. A voice which thrills me yet said: 'You're
welcome, boy. You wanted to steal it while the man wasn't looking, didn't you?
But you wouldn't because it wasn't honest. That's the right way. I wish some men
I know were like you.'" – Source Unknown
b. Christians are like tea, their real
flavor comes out in hot water!
3. It was time consuming, but well
worth it!
B. Fire! Lev.
23:17b
1. The bread was nothing but a gooey
paste without the fire! In the fire
the individual grains were combined into a hot, steaming loaf of
nourishment!
2. We often pass through the fire
right after the grinding process ... but many times this is all part of the
process of the finest loaf of bread in town!
3. Like the grinding, we resist the
fire, but we need this to bring out our real flavor!
a. The 3 Hebrew children went into the
fire ... and came out as living bread, brought life to the kingdom, recognition
of the one true God!
b. Rather than destroy the dough, the
oven transforms it into a palatable delight that nourishes those who partake of
it!
ILLUS: Two
wealthy Christians, a lawyer and a merchant, joined a party that was going
around the world. Before they
started, their minister earnestly asked them to observe and remember any unusual
and interesting things that they might see in the missionary countries through
which the party was to travel. The
men promised-carelessly, perhaps-to do so.
One
day in Korea, they saw in a field by the side of the road a boy pulling a crude
plow, while an old man held the handles and directed it. The lawyer was amused, and took a
snapshot of the scene.
"That's
a curious picture! I suppose they are very poor," he said to the missionary who
was interpreter and guide to the party.
"Yes,"
was the quiet reply. "That is the
family of Chi Noui. When the church
was being built they were eager to give something to it, but they had no money
so they sold their only ox and gave the money to the church. This spring they are pulling the plow
themselves."
The
lawyer and the businessman by his side were silent for some moments. Then the businessman said, "That must
have been a real sacrifice."
"They
did not call it that," said the missionary. "They thought it was fortunate they had
an ox to sell." – Source Unknown
C. Fermented!
Lev.
23:17c-21
1. Here's where the image really comes
alive as US!
a. Yeast was usually thought of as a
pollution, therefore the many warnings in Scripture to "BEWARE THE YEAST
OF THE PHARISEES" and "A LITTLE LEAVEN LEAVENETH THE WHOLE
LUMP."
ILLUS: The
empire of the Franks had an unusual commitment to Christ, sometimes whole armies
were baptized as Christians because of their leader's conversion to
Christianity. However, they were at
war, and because of this so much was at stake that they didn't want to be too
much of a Christian army. So, a
solution was found, when baptizing the Franks ... as stated, sometimes a whole
army at once, the warriors would go down into the water with only their right
hands held high above the waters so that it was the only part of their body not
baptized. This way, they could
soothe their conscience in war by brutally killing the enemy because their hand
had not been baptized! While we
don't do this today with swords, some people hold high their pocketbooks so they
don't get baptized so they don't have commit their finances to the
Lord! -- Unknown
b. Unlike Passover where the bread was
unleavened to signify both the speed in which they left Egypt and later as the
sinless sacrifice of Christ the living bread of God, here the bread was leaventh
... BUT ACCEPTABLE!
2. The point: We are now imperfect ...
but God will accept us as is, if offered as a willing sacrifice unto God! Here the bread was the sacrifice of the
worshipper, not the symbol of God's sacrifice!
a. Rom. 12:1 "offer
yourselves as living sacrifices unto
God..."
b. The bread would remind them of
their both bringing their best and their worst to God to be accepted when giving
sacrificially!
3. *NOTE:
They also were to bring
firstling lambs without defect to go with their sacrifice -- HERE we find
Christ, the Iamb of God without blemish ... these sacrifices together became a
sweet smelling savor in the nostrils of God. Lev.
23:l8b
a. God would be pleased with BOTH
sacrifices ... this released God's joy over His
people!
b. God made a sacrifice and so did man
... thus demonstrating the 2 way flow of a genuine loving
relationship!
ILLUS: The
Los Angeles Times (12/15/96) reported that David Suna and John Tu sold 80
percent of their company, Kingston Technology Corp., the world's largest
manufacturer of computer memory products, for $1.5 billion
dollars.
The two men decided to share their
windfall with their employees. The
average bonus payment their workers received was just over $75,000. Sun summarized their decision: "To share
our success with everybody is the most joy we can have." -- Scot Snyder, Los Angeles, California. Leadership, Vol. 17, no.
3.
III. BALANCED GENEROSITY Lev.
23:22
A. Fairness!
Lev. 23:22a
1. In their giving to God their finest
they were not to ignore the needs of people either!
a. And so as they reaped their fields
they were to leave the borders and the fallen grain for those less
fortunate.
b. This joyous giving would thus
become a ministry to others as well ... BUT notice the balance in this: Those
who were poor were required to do the reaping from these fields, thus work was a
part of the process of their receiving ... and their
giving!
c. This "work" ethic gave dignity to
the welfare system by allowing the recipient to feel the satisfaction of effort
and reward ... and the joy of being able to also participate in giving something
they earned.
2. Example: Remember Ruth the Moabitess ... when a widow she was very
poor and so she reaped from Boaz's field ... her integrity and hard work won
Boaz's heart!
a. Both rich and poor retained their
dignity through this system ... so that neither looked down upon the
other!
b. It allowed compassion in the
picture and true thankfulness.
3. Everyone could receive ... and everyone
could give.
ILLUS: Years
ago it was the custom for the people to bring their gifts to the front of the
church. A well-known preacher was
making an appeal to the people to give for a good cause. Many came to present their offerings of
love. Among them was a little
crippled girl who hobbled along at the end of the line. Pulling a ring from her finger, she
placed it on the table and made her way back up the
aisle.
After
the service an usher was sent to bring her to the preacher's study. The preacher said, "My dear, I saw what
you did. It was beautiful. But the response of the people has been
so generous that we have enough to take care of the need. We don't feel right about keeping your
treasured ring, so we have decided to give it back to
you."
To
his surprise the little girl vigorously shook her head in refusal. "You don't understand," she said. "I didn't give my ring to you, I gave it
to God!" Lovely. "Each one must do
as he has made up his mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a
cheerful giver" (2 Cor 9:7).
a. The tithe helped bring fairness
into the system by having everyone give the same percentage ... not the same
amount!
b. Thus the sacrifice was equal no
matter rich or poor, and all could participate in receiving and
giving.
B. Focus Lev.
23:22b
1. Notice the breadth of God's love
... everyone could be in the picture, the POOR and even the ALIEN among
them!
2. The incentive for this is found in
the last line: "I AM THE LORD YOUR
GOD!"
3. This powerful statement of
relationship gives the basis for all our giving; our Giving God is our incentive
for our own giving!
ILLUS: Oseola
McCarty, 87, did one thing all her life: laundry. Now she's famous for it -- or at least
for what she did with her profits.
For decades, Miss McCarty earned
50 cents per load doing laundry for the well-to-do families of Hattiesburg,
Mississippi, preferring a washboard over an electric washing machine. Every week, she put a little bit in a
savings account. When she finally
retired, she asked her banker how much money she had socked
away.
"$250,000," was his reply. She was in shock. "I had more than I could use in the
bank," she explained. "I can't
carry anything away from here with me, so I thought it was best to give it to
some child to get an education."
This shy, never-married laundry
woman gave $150,000 to nearby University of Southern Mississippi to help
African-American young people attend college. "It's more blessed to give than to
receive," she tells reporters. "I've tried it." -- Christian Reader. Leadership, Vol. 17, no.
2.
a. Thus Pentecost or the Feast of
Weeks was a time of joyful giving and celebration of abundance... of increase,
this was also certainly true of Pentecost in the book of Acts ... God gave His
disciples the abundant power of the Holy Spirit and a great increase in the
Church resulted!
b. The entire focus of Pentecost was
relationship giving... a 2 way street, don't miss out on God's joy by making it
a one way street!
CONCLUSION: Giving is a joyful
experience, whether we give our resources or ourselves! God's very nature is that of a giver ...
of life, of provisions, of Himself!
He desires a loving relationship with us that allows us to also give; of
our life, our provisions, of ourselves!
Don't just "count your many blessings" ... contribute
them also!