REFORMED CHURCH BELLVILLE : SUNDAY 30 October 2011 MORNING SERVICE Sing before: Psalm 118:12,13 Let us commence this meeting with God by declaring openly to one another and to God: Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth. Beloved grace and peace be to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, through the mighty working of God the Holy Spirit. Psalm of praise: Psalm 100:1-4 Confession of faith: Nicene We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all ages; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made. Who, or us men and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was Incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven and sits on the right hand of the Father; and He shall come again, with glory, to judge the living and the dead; whose kingdom shall have no end. And we believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life; who proceeds from the Father and the Son; who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets. And we believe one holy universal and apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins; and we look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.. After the reading of the Law we confess our guilt and pray for forgiveness and a new life before God with Psalm 19:6,7 Law Psalm: 19:6,7 Prayer: Doxology Worship Confession of sins Forgiveness Gratitude Prayer for the need of the congregation of the church, the authorities and the sinful world and appeal to God s promises General prayer
2 Enlightenment from the Holy Spirit for the sake of the ministry of the Word. Psalm 116:7,8,10 Scripture reading: Leviticus 3:1-17; 7:11-21 Scripture text: Leviticus 3:3-5 ³And he shall offer of the sacrifice of the peace offering an offering made by fire unto the LORD; the fat that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that is upon the inwards, 4 And the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, which is by the flanks, and the caul above the liver, with the kidneys, it shall he take away. 5 And Aaron's sons shall burn it on the altar upon the burnt sacrifice, which is upon the wood that is on the fire: it is an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the LORD.(KJV ) Theme: He who has been reconciled with God may eat in His presence Beloved in our Lord Jesus Christ, to enjoy a meal together must be one of the things that are most enjoyable. When you invite someone to share a meal at your table you say a great many things. Amongst other things you say: I want to share with you that which I have, I appreciate your company and I want to strengthen our friendship. And, indeed we feel honoured when we are invited to dine with someone. With the invitation to dine together you are assured that you are accepted by the people and that they would like to have you with them as a friend. The Lord s love for His people envelops everything. We see this in the various voluntary offerings which could have been offered to the Lord. In the instructions that Lord gives with each of these offers He clearly indicates that He wants His people in His presence. Believers belong close to the Lord. The Lord saves people because He wants to have communion with them. They must love, praise and thank Him. They must live their love toward God in a visible and audible way. In the two previous offerings we have seen how all encompassing the Lord s love is for His people and also how all encompassing man s love for the Lord must be. With the burnt offering, the believer states clearly that he or she loves the Lord so much that they devote themselves wholly unto Him. With the grain offer they bring their job into the presence of the Lord in order to confess that they work in order to praise and serve the Lord, every day. With the peace/fellowship offering the Lord teaches us that He does not only want us in His presence as individuals but also together as a community. He wants us to devote our relationships with other people, be they friends or family, to Him. To understand how we can devote our relationships with other people to the Lord, we must focus on three things, being: the fellowship offering itself, the purpose of the offering and the meaning thereof. The fellowship offering differed from the burnt offering and other offerings where animals were used. The believer could sacrifice a bull or a cow from his cattle, and from his small stock either a ram or an ewe, as a peace/fellowship offering to the Lord. Indeed it is an expensive offering and therefore the Lord does not allow that a pigeon or turtle-dove be brought as peace/fellowship offering. 2
3 Even though it was an expensive sacrifice, no one was forced to make the offering. This is the reason why it was not necessary to provide options open to the poor to bring the offering. Nothing is mentioned in this part about reconciliation, and therefore it was not necessary for every-one to be able to bring the offering. The bringing of the offering went like this: the believer brought the animal, without any defects to the tabernacle. One does not sacrifice a sick and cripple animal to the Lord. He expects the best. At the entrance to the tabernacle the believer places his hand on the head of the animal and says that he brings the animal as peace/fellowship offing to the Lord. By placing his hand on the head of the animal the believer says that this animal is to die in his place. After this the believer cannot sit back and become a spectator. Service to the Lord is done by the believer himself. No one can serve God in the place of someone else and that is why the believer must kill and offer the animal. He then gives the carcass and blood to the priest and so doing to the Lord. The priest then takes the blood and pours it against the altar. So doing the life force of the animal is poured out before the Lord. The blood which is poured out like this is the symbol of the believer devoting his life to the Lord. After this certain parts of the slaughtered animal is burnt on the altar. This would be the entire fat tail cut off near the backbone, all the fat covering the internal organs, the kidneys and the fat on them, and the best part of the liver. For many of us the parts of the animal that is burnt is not what we would consider as a meal and would easily toss them to the dogs, because we either consider them unhealthy or unappetizing. But here it has nothing to do with taste or health. The parts that are burnt are the choice, the prime parts of the sacrifice animal. The fat is a symbol of power and prosperity. Fattiness is also a sign of abundance and blessings from the Lord. The kidneys and the liver is as meaningful. For the people of those times the kidneys and the liver was the center of a person s deepest emotions and thoughts. By offering the fat, liver and the kidneys, the believer did not only offer the best of the animal to the Lord but also his power and prosperity, his emotions and thoughts to the Lord. The believers thoughts, power and soul belongs to the Lord, because he loves the Lord with all his thoughts, with all his power and his entire soul. After the fat and kidneys and liver was offered on the altar, the believer receives the carcass of the animal from the Lord. Then he and everyone who was invited feast close to the tabernacle. They come together and eat in the presence of the Lord. The priests will also receive their part of the fellowship/peace offering, as the Lord takes care of His servants, The right leg and the breast of the animal is given to the priests. If the fellowship/peace offering is a votive offering, the meat must be eaten on the same day. If it is a covenant or any other voluntary offer, the meat may still be eaten the following day. This stipulation that the Lord gave, has to do with health precautions and was given in order to teach the Israelites to trust in the Lord for their food every day. But another convincing reason is that the person who brings the sacrifice must invite as many as possible fellow believers to the feast. This would include the poor in order that as many people as possible could share in the care and kindness of the Lord. The only condition was that those who take part in the feast must be religiously pure. 3
4 Beloved, we must not think that the peace/fellowship offering was a pleasant feast and that was all. The Holy Spirit focuses our attention on the words in verse 5. The offering has nothing to do with reconciliation. The objective of the peace/fellowship offering was to enable believers to experience the goodness of the Lord, but this could only happen after reconciliation was achieved. This is why the Lord says that the parts for the peace offering must be burnt on top of the burnt offerings. The Lord said the following about the burnt offering: And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. Without this reconciliation the believer could not approach God with a peace/fellowship offering and he also could not eat together with other believers in the presence of the Lord. Concerning the meaning of the peace/fellowship offering, brothers, sisters and children, we have to turn to Leviticus 7. The first objective of the peace/fellowship offering was to express gratitude. With the peace/fellowship offering believers enjoyed the goodness of the Lord and showed their gratitude for the blessings they received from the Lord. The offering is a gift for the Lord. Today we still bestow gifts as a token of gratitude and appreciation. With the peace/fellowship offering Israel showed their gratitude to the Lord for being generous and merciful. A second objective of the peace/fellowship offering is to formally acknowledge a promise made to the Lord. In times of crises we will easily make promises to the Lord and it happens too often that, when things change for the better, that person forgets about his promise towards the Lord. When a promise is accompanied by an offering the formality of the promise is acknowledged. It is almost as if the person is saying: with this offering I give my word that I would do that which I promised. The peace/fellowship offering, which was an expensive offering, also served to remind the believers not to make promises to the Lord lightly. What you promise must be done. The third objective of the peace/fellowship offering, is to be a voluntary offering. A voluntary offering is a gift to the Lord, just because He is good. The believer voluntarily brings a peace/fellowship offering to the Lord, because He answered a prayer or protected him. This offering is not payback for what the Lord has done and not something used to manipulate the Lord. It was purely an expression of the believers love for the Lord. The fourth objective of the offering was to strengthen a person s relationship with the Lord. To eat together is to strengthen the friendship bonds with those who share a meal with you. The peace/fellowship offering also was a way of strengthening the relationships amongst people, but also about strengthening their relationship with the Lord. We must guard against imagining that the Lord also, in one way or another, share in the fellowship offering. Heathens do this, they think their gods eat the food they offer to them. The Lord isn t a guest at the fellowship offering feast, not even a guest of honour. He is the host. He invites His people to feats in His presence. He provides the food at the feast, He determines how the feast is to be celebrated. He wants His people to bring peace/fellowship offerings, not because He is hungry but because He desires their devotion and service as a faithful community. Such an offering and the accompanying feast did not excuse believers from a disobedient life, but the joy of the Lord s presence was augmented by deliberately spending time worshipping in His presence as well as to live faithfully and obediently in the world. 4
5 The feast with the offering proclaimed that Israel felt at home in the presence of the Lord and it spoke of the abundance that they received from His hand. The fellowship offering was confirmation of the joy and happiness that Israel had in their relationships with the Lord and other people, because they are reconciled with their God. Brothers, sisters and children, now we must get to the meaning of the fellowship offering and specifically the meaning for us, Christians, as fellowship offerings are part of the ceremonial laws which were fulfilled in Jesus Christ. In the beginning we said that it was still part of our culture to share a meal. With the fellowship offering an image is drawn of the people in the times of old living together in peace and harmony, sharing the goodness of the Lord with each other and who provide for the poor through the feast and luxurious meal. These elements of gratitude, joy and openhandedness is once again found in the community of believers of the first church in Jerusalem. Christians sold their land and belongings and handed out the money to fellow believers according to their needs. They also eagerly met together in the presence of the Lord. Luke writes in Acts 2 : And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart. They ate together as we hear that they were breaking bread from house to house. Praise and thanks to the Lord were not excluded. Luke writes that they praised the Lord. With these elements of the fellowship offering in the first church, the Lord makes it clear that He still expects His believers to live in fellowship with one another. In the church of the Lord, in which the Holy Spirit guides us, there is no place for pride and a stiff and formal atmosphere where you do not know what you can and cannot say. The church of the Lord that allows the Holy Spirit to guide them, is friendly, filled with joy and they serve the Lord together, because they love Him with their body, mind and soul. The church of the Lord is a community of believers who truly cares for one another and this concern becomes clear in the honest care that is shown to those in need. Beloved, we can only thank the Lord for the elements of the fellowship offering that is visible in this congregation. Sincerity and friendliness is part of how we are the church of the Lord. In this congregation care is given to those who are in need. But now, we can t praise ourselves and think that we are 100%. We are not perfect, that is why we must continue to work on these elements of the fellowship offering for it to become greater and clearer in our life as church. But, being church is not only coming together in a social gathering with other believers, although being and worshipping together makes up a great part of being church. We saw this in the fellowship offering as well. The fellowship offering had its first aim to strengthen the relationship with the Lord and other believers. Therefore without reconciliation between the congregation and God there cannot be a fellowship offering and feast. It is in the Lord s Supper, which we regularly celebrate, that the fellowship offering finds its meaning for us. Note the comparison between the fellowship offering and the Lord s Supper. The fellowship offering was a celebration of the covenant of God which He confirmed on Mount Sinai; in the Lord s Supper we celebrate the new covenant which He confirmed on Calvary. Only people who are religiously pure, could have a part in the fellowship offering feast; the new covenant expects a person to be personally pure to have a part in the Lord s supper. That is why each believer must do soul-searching. With the 5
6 fellowship offering believers were forbidden to drink the blood of the sacrificial animal; during the Lord s Supper we are commanded by Jesus to drink the wine, which is a symbol of His blood. While we drink the wine, we are reminded that he shed His precious blood to reconcile us with God. The fellowship offering and feast was not only a way of showing the gratitude of the believers but also an expression of their hope that God will continue to bless them. Isaiah prophesied of the Messiah who will host a feast for His people and that He would provide the food Himself. During the Lord s Supper we eat and drink that which the Lord supplied, the signs of Jesus sacrifice on the cross. We gratefully celebrate the Lord s Supper, grateful to have been saved. But we also celebrate it with a great longing in our hearts. We long for the day when we will be guests at the wedding feats of the Lamb where Jesus will be the host, visible before us Beloved, indeed it is a beautiful comparison between the fellowship offering and the Lord s supper, which the Holy Spirit makes clear to us. I am certain that everyone of us, who will be celebrating the Lord s supper in three week s time, are serious about our relationship with the Lord. We know that we must be reconciled with God, before we can sit at the table, therefore we hold on tightly to the salvation through Christ and are serious about the remaining sin in our lives. Still we have to ask ourselves if we are also serious about our mutual relationships. Does the way we celebrate the Lord s supper speak of happiness and joy because we have each other as believers? Do I know those who celebrate the Lord s Supper with me, am I really interested in who they are? If our answer to any of these questions are no, is it not the time now to set a challenge to ourselves: Let us make it our aim to get to know at least two more believers who will share the table with us. Then we will really start to pray for each other and our friendliness will become more sincere. More and more of us will realize that we enjoy being amongst the children of God and that together we want to serve the Lord even better. It is true: we first need to be reconciled with God, before we can dine in His presence. As true as these words are it is also true that: being reconciled with God places us under an obligation to dine with true joy, happiness and generosity towards each other in the presence of the Lord. May the Holy Spirit guide us as congregation that each and every element of the fellowship offering becomes concrete and has true meaning. Closing prayer. Closing Psalm: Psalm 23:1, 3 The Lord bless and keep you, the Lord make his face shine on you, the Lord turn His countenance to you and give peace. Rev. Coen Vrey Reformed Church Bellville 30 October 2011 6