Memorial Day weekend is here! What are you going to do? BBQ? Go to the lake? Watch baseball? Sleep? Any way you slice it, you're going to make some memories that will last for a very long time. Things you can look back on a few years from now and remember are always happening. Memorial Day is a time set aside for remembrance of those who have and are serving in the Military. To those of you serving, to those of you who have served, and to the families of those who have lost loved ones in the armed forces and civil services, I thank you for the sacrifice of service you have made for our country. We also spend time remembering those in our lives who have passed away. There are many that I crossed paths with who shaped my education, upbringing, hunger for knowledge, and walk with Christ that no longer tread this mortal plane. I remember them, especially on this day.
However, remembrance needs to extend to our spiritual life as well. God called the first century Hebrews to remember, and so should we, for we end up failing more often than not when we forget God and try to do things our own way.
Leviticus 19:5-8 (NIV)
5 "'When you sacrifice a fellowship offering to the Lord, sacrifice it in such a way that it will be accepted on your behalf.
6 It shall be eaten on the day you sacrifice it or on the next day; anything left over until the third day must be burned up.
7 If any of it is eaten on the third day, it is impure and will not be accepted.
8 Whoever eats it will be held responsible because he has desecrated what is holy to the Lord; that person must be cut off from his people.
5 "'When you sacrifice a fellowship offering to the Lord, sacrifice it in such a way that it will be accepted on your behalf.
6 It shall be eaten on the day you sacrifice it or on the next day; anything left over until the third day must be burned up.
7 If any of it is eaten on the third day, it is impure and will not be accepted.
8 Whoever eats it will be held responsible because he has desecrated what is holy to the Lord; that person must be cut off from his people.
Now, you might be asking yourself (and me) "What in the world does the Fellowship Offering in Leviticus 19 have to do with remembering God?" This is a noble and important question! Let's unpack it a bit. In order to understand where I am going, we need to understand why God set rituals like the fellowship offering in place. I believe there are 4 main reasons.
1. He set them in place to visibly set His people apart from the rest of the surrounding cultures in the area.
Many of the surrounding cultures practiced all kinds of pagan rituals such as prostitution, homosexuality, cutting themselves, and human sacrifice. God set forth a completely different set of rituals that would free them from dealing with these dangerous and potentially deadly ones.
2. He set them in place to remind them constantly of who He was and what He had done for them.
From the beginning of God's story with Abraham through this point after the Exodus, God was tangibly active in the life of His people. However, they continually forgot His deeds and commands, and therefore, ended up in bondage. God instituted these rituals in order that His people would continually remember what He had done.
3. He set them in place to remind them of who they were in relationship with Him.
God wanted His people to remember that they were set apart. They were to be a "peculiar people". In observing these rituals, they were reminded of their relationship with God, and their relationship to Him as His people.
4. He set them in place to remind them of their dependence upon Him.
God continually provided all that His people would need after the Exodus. He wanted them to remember that their prosperity and blessing were a gift from Him, and that all they needed to do was depend upon God to supply their needs.
Why choose the fellowship offering as an example? I believe that the fellowship offering shows us 3 major points to being the Church as God intended for us to be.
First we need to look at "fellowship" - its general meaning is of entering into a state of wholeness, unity, and restored relationship. To fellowship with others is to come together in unity for a common purpose. To fellowship with God is to commune with your Creator in unity.
Next we look at the word "offering" - it is a sacrifice. many different sacrifices took place in the Old Testament, but they were all a gift of great price from the giver. You have to remember here that the first century economy was not the great capitalistic machine we have to day in America. It was a farming and ranching society with only so much money and livestock to go around. To give an offering meant to sacrifice a piece of your livelihood in order to atone for sin or spend time in communion with God and others.
Finally, we look at being "cut off" - it means literally to be broken off or ruined. To root out, eliminate, remove, excommunicate, or destroy by a violent act of man or nature. This is NOT a pleasant experience!
Elmer Martens, in his book "God's Design" says this about being cut off: "The seriousness of violating these borders is emphasized by the degree of punishment: excommunication from the congregation or permanent severance from it, through either ostracism or death... Such drastic punishment is necessary because Yaweh's name has been defiled."
So, how does this ancient ritual from the first century apply to our church here in post-modern America? We need to take a look at our big 3 again.
Fellowship - Just as in ancient times, God desires fellowship between His people.
Hebrews 10:24-25 (NIV)
24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.
25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.
25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
He also desires fellowship WITH His people
Psalms 119:9-16 (MSG)
9 How can a young person live a clean life? By carefully reading the map of your Word.
10 I'm single-minded in pursuit of you; don't let me miss the road signs you've posted.
11 I've banked your promises in the vault of my heart so I won't sin myself bankrupt.
12 Be blessed, God; train me in your ways of wise living.
13 I'll transfer to my lips all the counsel that comes from your mouth;
14 I delight far more in what you tell me about living than in gathering a pile of riches.
15 I ponder every morsel of wisdom from you, I attentively watch how you've done it.
16 I relish everything you've told me of life, I won't forget a word of it.
9 How can a young person live a clean life? By carefully reading the map of your Word.
10 I'm single-minded in pursuit of you; don't let me miss the road signs you've posted.
11 I've banked your promises in the vault of my heart so I won't sin myself bankrupt.
12 Be blessed, God; train me in your ways of wise living.
13 I'll transfer to my lips all the counsel that comes from your mouth;
14 I delight far more in what you tell me about living than in gathering a pile of riches.
15 I ponder every morsel of wisdom from you, I attentively watch how you've done it.
16 I relish everything you've told me of life, I won't forget a word of it.
We are required to sacrifice. However, instead of livestock or agriculture, He asks that we sacrifice our very lives.
Romans 12:1-2 (MSG)
1 So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.
2 Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
1 So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.
2 Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.
We must have fellowship with others within the body of Christ so that we might sharpen, encourage, rebuke, pray for, work with, and lift up each other for the benefit of all. We must have fellowship with God both personally and corporately so that we might grow closer to Him and mature spiritually. In addition, we must sacrifice our wants and desires so that we can be used in whatever way God chooses. His Word shows us the prescribed path that we should follow, and the way in which we should go. These are very clear in the Great Commandment and the Great Commission.
Matthew 22:37-40 (NIV)
37 Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'
38 This is the first and greatest commandment.
39 And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'
40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
37 Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'
38 This is the first and greatest commandment.
39 And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'
40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
Matthew 28:18-20 (NIV)
18 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
18 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
These two passages remind us of the attitude and heartbeat for how we are to fellowship and sacrifice so that we can do the work God has set before us. If we choose to forget what God has done for us, and come to worship with any other agenda than those listed in the Great Commandment and the Great Commission, we risk being "cut off". That doesn't mean that you're going to be stoned to death or excommunicated from the Church, but it does mean that you may have God's blessing removed from your efforts.
You might be thinking "now what?" How do we honor the memory of what God has done for us, and pass that on to others so that they can make memories of what God is doing for them? There must be action.
Rick Warren, speaking at the Baptist World Centenary Conference in Birmingham, England, said "A non-serving Christian is a contradiction. God didn't save you to sit, soak, and sour. He saved you to serve. Significance (or honoring the memory of what God has done) comes from service."
He also said "What Jesus did in His physical body, he expects us to do in his spiritual body as the church. Why do we do this? Why should I care about the sick and the poor and the uneducated and the spiritually empty? Because of what Jesus has done for us. We do it out of gratitude."
"Do you know what God cares about most?" Warren asked the crowd. "He wants his lost children found. ... God never made a person He didn't love."
These are powerful words, and they cut to the heart of what we need to be doing. Let's remember what God has done for us, and be the Church He has called us to be!
Be the Church INSIDE the walls!
The Church needs nursery workers, Sunday School teachers, Small Group leaders, Ushers, Care Team members, Men's and Women's Ministry workers, Server, Communion preparers, Musicians, Technicians, Prayer Warriors, Sacrificial Givers, and more.
Be the Church OUTSIDE the walls!
The community needs Missions teams, Evangelism teams, Apartment ministries, School mentors, Vacation Bible School workers, Rescue Mission teams, and the list grows, depending on your community and its specific needs.
There is much to be done! However, that cannot get accomplished if we forget that we are to fellowship and sacrifice TOGETHER. Many churches spend way too much time bickoring and infighting amongst themselves that they lose sight of the amazing works God has done for them, and the memory of what it is that God has asked the Church to do fades away. It is of the utmost importance that we put this aside and start a new reformation from within; a reformation that hinges on the remembrance of the promises, command, and commission of God.
Rick Warren says "It's time to stop debating the Bible and start doing it. It's time to stop criticizing and start cooperating. It's time for the church to be the church. This is the new reformation I'm praying for."
Paul speaks of this in Ephesians as well.
Ephesians 4:29-32 (NIV)
29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.
32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.
30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.
32 Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
Let's stop engaging in backbiting, slander, false witness, gossip, and discontent! Instead, let's remember what God did for us, and focus those energies into what we can do to be the Church in the way God intended: Fellowshipping together and offering ourselves completely for His purposes, so that, rather than being cut off from His blessings, we are receiving a full measure of them as a body and as individuals.
