SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/8/2011 9:01:40 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Parts 2-4 “Their Support for the House of God”
Bible Reading
& Meditation Reference: Nehemiah
10:34-39
Message of the verses: “34 Likewise we cast lots for the supply of wood
among the priests, the Levites and the people so that they might bring it to
the house of our God, according to our fathers’ households, at fixed times
annually, to burn on the altar of the LORD our God, as it is written in the
law; 35 and that they might bring the first fruits of our ground and the first
fruits of all the fruit of every tree to the house of the LORD annually, 36 and
bring to the house of our God the firstborn of our sons and of our cattle, and
the firstborn of our herds and our flocks as it is written in the law, for the
priests who are ministering in the house of our God. 37 We will also bring the
first of our dough, our contributions, the fruit of every tree, the new wine
and the oil to the priests at the chambers of the house of our God, and the
tithe of our ground to the Levites, for the Levites are they who receive the
tithes in all the rural towns. 38 The priest, the son of Aaron, shall be with
the Levites when the Levites receive tithes, and the Levites shall bring up the
tenth of the tithes to the house of our God, to the chambers of the storehouse.
39 For the sons of Israel and the sons
of Levi shall bring the contribution of the grain, the new wine and the oil to
the chambers; there are the utensils of the sanctuary, the priests who are
ministering, the gatekeepers and the singers. Thus we will not neglect the
house of our God.”
As
mentioned in the last SD (9-8-2011) there are four sub-points in this last main
point from Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary (“Be Determined”), from the tenth
chapter. I covered the first sub-point
yesterday and will attempt to cover the last three in today’s SD.
The
second sup-point is entitled “The wood offerings” and covers Nehemiah 10:34
which is written above.
Leviticus
6:12-13 state “12 ’The fire on the altar
shall be kept burning on it. It shall not go out, but the priest shall burn
wood on it every morning; and he shall lay out the burnt offering on it, and
offer up in smoke the fat portions of the peace offerings on it. 13 ’Fire shall
be kept burning continually on the altar; it is not to go out.” These two verses explain that the fire on the
brazen altar was to be kept burning constantly, and so the exiles were now
setting up a system in order to keep the fire burning. The Lord did not tell how to set up the
people so that this job would be taken care of this job specifically only that
it had to be done and that is what these leaders were doing, setting it up so
that it could be done. Dr. Wiersbe
writes, “That such a humble thing as wood was important to God’s service and
could be sanctified for His glory is an encouragement to me.” I can understand that statement, and when you
put that statement in the context of the NT Church, where each member is a part
of the body, and each member has a specific gift in order to make sure that the
body runs efficiently then when you read in Paul’s writings that not all of the
parts of the body seem to be important for the body to work, yet all are
necessary even in the OT economy of bring wood to keep the fire burning.
The
next sub-point covers verses 35-37a, and is entitled “The firstfruits.” In the
teaching of the OT Law the Jews were taught to give God the first and the best
of their crops and also their flocks and herds.
This started when the Lord killed the first born son’s of Egypt, which
was the last of the plagues and the one that finally changed the mind of
Pharaoh to let Israel go, however the first born of Israel was not killed so
from that time on the Lord wanted the first fruits from the nation of
Israel. Proverbs 3:9 states “Honor the LORD from your wealth And from
the first of all your produce.”
It
is not stated in Scripture how much of the firstfruits of their harvest that
should be brought to the Lord, but they were not to use any of the crops until
the firstfruit was brought to the Lord in an offering. As far as the first born son they had to be
sanctified by a sacrifice because that child did belong to the Lord.
The
next and last sub-point is entitled “The Tithes” and the verses that go along
with this are Nehemiah 10:37b-39. The
word tithe actually means a tenth, and the Jews were to bring a tenth of their
produce to the Lord in order to support the Levites so that they could do their
work for the Lord. When the Levites
received this tithe they would tithe off of the tithe and give it to the
priests and this can be seen in Numbers 18:25-32. Now of the 90% of what was left by the Jews
they were to also to tithe off that and bring it to the annual feasts (Deu.
26:1-11). These two tithes would add up to one third, and this takes faith in
order to do this.
I
have mentioned in an earlier SD that there is no mention of how much is to be
given in the economy of the NT, yet there are some guidelines that the Apostle
speaks of in his writings to the Corinthians in 2Cor. chapters 8-9. Let’s look
at 1 Cor. 16:1-3 “1 Now concerning the
collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you
also. 2 On the first day of every week
each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no
collections be made when I come. 3 When I arrive, whomever you may approve, I
will send them with letters to carry your gift to Jerusalem.” I think that the key phrase in this section
is “as he may prosper.” This gives NT believers a guideline of what
we will call proportionate giving, the more you prosper the more that you give.
Here
are two quotes, one from Sir Winston Churchill and one from the Lord Jesus, “We
make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” “Where
your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matthew 6:21). Nehemiah 10:39 says “We will not forsake the house of our God.”
Spiritual meaning for my life today: As I look at these three sub-points I see
that my attitude has to be right in doing what I do for the service of the
Lord, for if my attitude is not right then there is little benefit in me doing
things for the Lord. For instance I am to
give cheerfully my tithes and offerings to the Lord and not give reluctantly as
if I really want to hold on to them but I know that the right things to do are
to give them. When I look at the cross
of the Lord Jesus Christ and see that He gave of His all in order that I may be
a child of God then my attitude should be of the same as His was when He gave
of His all.
My Steps of
Faith for Today:
1.
Seek to have a good attitude in all that I do,
especially what I do for the cause of Christ.
2.
Continue to learn contentment.
9/8/2011 10:09:15 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment