Remember and Give Thanks
11/23/09
Deuteronomy 26:1-11
Pastor Greg Smith
One of my great joys is the Farmer's Market. We go to the one on Thursday mornings in front of Sears on Florin Road. I love the multi-cultural atmosphere, I enjoy meeting the people who sell their crops, and I very much enjoy eating the fresh fruits and veggies all week long. We've had fun trying new things.
• Fresh fava beans were wonderful. Very surprising to shell.
• Bitter melons— a very popular Asian cucumber— were to our taste so bitter that it was impossible to eat. We probably didn't prepare it correctly.
Each season has something wonderful— that's one of the blessings of living in the Sacramento valley.
• Now we are enjoying the pink lady apples, crisp persimmons, the most flavorful carrots and beets that are nothing like the flavorless red stuff that comes out of a can.
• Earlier this week we had the freshest, snappiest green beans— nothing like from the store.
• And we enjoy a wide variety of greens. Friday for dinner we had steamed curly mustard greens. Yum!
But even the Farmer's Market can't match what you can grow in your own garden. It may not be the flavor that better—sometimes it isn't! Instead, it's about the effort that went into it. At this time of year it takes imagination to remember the anticipation of the first tomatoes coming ripe. Searching the inner parts of the bush to find the first hint of a blush. Waiting a week or even more until it is fully red. The first tomato is much better than the last!
You gardeners know that that first tomato is the result of a lot of hard work: tilling, sowing, watering and weeding. You can imagine the growing anticipation as you invest all that hard work and then patiently wait as the first leaves, then buds, then fruit appeared. The first fruit has special significance. It symbolizes all the effort that has gone into the growing process. And in that first fruit there is the promise of so much more, a bountiful harvest to come.
That is what we need to have in mind as we approach the text in Deuteronomy 26. The people of Israel had been wandering in the wilderness for almost 40 years. The LORD had rescued them from slavery in Egypt and he was about to give them a land of their own in faithfulness to the promise made generations ago to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. All along the way the Lord had been faithful, teaching them his ways, as well as protecting and meeting their needs.
Now the Israelites were at the border of that Promised Land. It was time to take the land and eventually build homes, settle down, and plant crops. In the verses before us, Moses is giving them instructions about what they should do when they have their first harvest. Let's begin with verse 1.
1 When you have entered the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance and have taken possession of it and settled in it, 2 take some of the firstfruits of all that you produce from the soil of the land the LORD your God is giving you and put them in a basket. Then go to the place the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name 3 and say to the priest in office at the time, “I declare today to the LORD your God that I have come to the land the LORD swore to our ancestors to give us.”
I love this picture of worship. They come into the presence of God with something that represents their hard work. But even more, what is in that basket is a testimony to the faithfulness of God.
4 The priest shall take the basket from your hands and set it down in front of the altar of the LORD your God. 5 Then you shall declare before the LORD your God: “My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down into Egypt with a few people and lived there and became a great nation, powerful and numerous. 6 But the Egyptians mistreated us and made us suffer, subjecting us to harsh labor. 7 Then we cried out to the LORD, the God of our ancestors, and the LORD heard our voice and saw our misery, toil and oppression. 8 So the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror and with signs and wonders. 9 He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey; 10 and now I bring the firstfruits of the soil that you, LORD, have given me.”
There, placing their gift before God, they recounted the story of what God had done. And they were to remember it not as just past history, but as their own story.
Notice how this is told in the first person. For even the very first Israelites in the Promised Land, it was a previous generation that had actually left Egypt. And yet they told the story as their own.
And what Moses commanded them to do once became an annual celebration. With every new harvest the great story of God’s mighty deliverance from slavery in Egypt was retold so that each succeeding generation would know what God had done. And they would know that though the events took place long ago, they happened for them as well. The deliverance story was their story, too.
Why? To remember that the fruit of the ground was a result of God’s deliverance and salvation. God was the one who gave them the soil and caused the soil to be bountiful. By offering something costly to God, the first of the fruit of the ground, was a way that each generation made the story their own.
The offering had a very practical purpose as well.
11 Then you and the Levites and the foreigners residing among you shall rejoice in all the good things the LORD your God has given to you and your household.
It did two things. First, it contributed to the support the ministry of the people of God: the Levites. And it supported the aliens, the immigrants who resided among them. Both the Levites and the immigrants had something in common: neither had a share in the land. In that agrarian based society, they were dependent upon those who did have land. It shows God’s priorities: worship and helping those shut out of the means of self-support, the unemployed, the unemployable, any who are in need. In their time of celebration and remembrance they were to share the benefits of the land with others who needed it. Through the years, the festival of the first fruits helped the people of Israel remember that their ability to produce comes from the LORD’s gift of the land, a gift meant to be shared.
Now we are no longer farmers. Nor do we live in a Promised Land. Yet the principle of the first fruits has important applications to our lives.
1. First, it reminds us that we too experience a promise fulfilled.
The New Testament often uses the word inheritance— a term that comes from the Old Testament promises about the land. The promises about the land are translated into spiritual realities. Ephesians 1:11: “In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance…” In Colossians 1:13 the inheritance is called “the kingdom of God’s beloved Son.” And 1 Peter 1:3-4:
By God’s great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope … and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.
You can see that the “inheritance” that is ours as a Christian is the gift eternal life and the experience of God’s gift of salvation even now. We have entered a Promised Land: the gift of salvation in Jesus Christ. And we have reaped the first fruits— a harvest of love, joy, and peace— of a harvest yet to come: the “inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.”
It was appropriate for an Israelite to bring the first fruits of the harvest because it was a testimony to God’s sustaining gift of the land.
It is appropriate for a Christian to give one’s whole self to the One who in his mercy rescued us from death to give us life. In worship the Israelite fittingly gave the first of the fruit of the ground. In worship the Christian fittingly gives the first fruit of their whole lives. Romans 12:1 puts it plainly.
I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual [logikos] worship.
2. We are part of the Bible's story, too.
Ephesians 2:4-6 in the Good News Bible.
4 But God’s mercy is so abundant, and his love for us is so great, 5 that while we were spiritually dead in our disobedience he brought us to life with Christ. It is by God’s grace that you have been saved. 6 In our union with Christ Jesus he raised us up with him to rule with him in the heavenly world.
We were raised with Jesus. We are united with him. His story is our story. What happened 2000 years ago involved me.
3. On this Thanksgiving Sunday, then, it makes sense to apply this principle of the first fruits to our offerings to the Lord.
There are two ways to give to the Lord: the first fruits or the leftovers. When we give the first fruits of our labors we ask, “What shall I give that makes sense to show my thankfulness? What does the Lord want me to give?” Then adjust my lifestyle accordingly. Tithing is one way to do this: we start with our 10% gift to God and then adjust our lifestyle accordingly.
Giving our leftovers is very different. It’s waiting to see what I can spare. People spend more on one vacation then they give to the Lord. Give this from the beginning.
Remember the motivation: thankfulness for what God has given you.
We can see how the principle of the first fruits applies to other areas of our lives as well. Take God’s gift of time.
Taking seriously the principle of the first fruits might mean that we start the day with prayer and Bible study. In the same way, it may mean starting the week with worship.
We can go beyond this to putting aside time for service to the Lord. Plan for giving your time to God, your first fruits, not your leftovers.
These are all example of how to give the first fruits of our lives. All my gifts, all my time, all my life, are gifts from God. They are given to me to share. I won’t hold back from the work of God or helping the poor among us. With open, giving hands I will celebrate what God has done for me, remembering the gift of Christ’s salvation in my life.
Pastor Greg Smith
One of my great joys is the Farmer's Market. We go to the one on Thursday mornings in front of Sears on Florin Road. I love the multi-cultural atmosphere, I enjoy meeting the people who sell their crops, and I very much enjoy eating the fresh fruits and veggies all week long. We've had fun trying new things.
• Fresh fava beans were wonderful. Very surprising to shell.
• Bitter melons— a very popular Asian cucumber— were to our taste so bitter that it was impossible to eat. We probably didn't prepare it correctly.
Each season has something wonderful— that's one of the blessings of living in the Sacramento valley.
• Now we are enjoying the pink lady apples, crisp persimmons, the most flavorful carrots and beets that are nothing like the flavorless red stuff that comes out of a can.
• Earlier this week we had the freshest, snappiest green beans— nothing like from the store.
• And we enjoy a wide variety of greens. Friday for dinner we had steamed curly mustard greens. Yum!
But even the Farmer's Market can't match what you can grow in your own garden. It may not be the flavor that better—sometimes it isn't! Instead, it's about the effort that went into it. At this time of year it takes imagination to remember the anticipation of the first tomatoes coming ripe. Searching the inner parts of the bush to find the first hint of a blush. Waiting a week or even more until it is fully red. The first tomato is much better than the last!
You gardeners know that that first tomato is the result of a lot of hard work: tilling, sowing, watering and weeding. You can imagine the growing anticipation as you invest all that hard work and then patiently wait as the first leaves, then buds, then fruit appeared. The first fruit has special significance. It symbolizes all the effort that has gone into the growing process. And in that first fruit there is the promise of so much more, a bountiful harvest to come.
That is what we need to have in mind as we approach the text in Deuteronomy 26. The people of Israel had been wandering in the wilderness for almost 40 years. The LORD had rescued them from slavery in Egypt and he was about to give them a land of their own in faithfulness to the promise made generations ago to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. All along the way the Lord had been faithful, teaching them his ways, as well as protecting and meeting their needs.
Now the Israelites were at the border of that Promised Land. It was time to take the land and eventually build homes, settle down, and plant crops. In the verses before us, Moses is giving them instructions about what they should do when they have their first harvest. Let's begin with verse 1.
1 When you have entered the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance and have taken possession of it and settled in it, 2 take some of the firstfruits of all that you produce from the soil of the land the LORD your God is giving you and put them in a basket. Then go to the place the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name 3 and say to the priest in office at the time, “I declare today to the LORD your God that I have come to the land the LORD swore to our ancestors to give us.”
I love this picture of worship. They come into the presence of God with something that represents their hard work. But even more, what is in that basket is a testimony to the faithfulness of God.
4 The priest shall take the basket from your hands and set it down in front of the altar of the LORD your God. 5 Then you shall declare before the LORD your God: “My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down into Egypt with a few people and lived there and became a great nation, powerful and numerous. 6 But the Egyptians mistreated us and made us suffer, subjecting us to harsh labor. 7 Then we cried out to the LORD, the God of our ancestors, and the LORD heard our voice and saw our misery, toil and oppression. 8 So the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror and with signs and wonders. 9 He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey; 10 and now I bring the firstfruits of the soil that you, LORD, have given me.”
There, placing their gift before God, they recounted the story of what God had done. And they were to remember it not as just past history, but as their own story.
Notice how this is told in the first person. For even the very first Israelites in the Promised Land, it was a previous generation that had actually left Egypt. And yet they told the story as their own.
And what Moses commanded them to do once became an annual celebration. With every new harvest the great story of God’s mighty deliverance from slavery in Egypt was retold so that each succeeding generation would know what God had done. And they would know that though the events took place long ago, they happened for them as well. The deliverance story was their story, too.
Why? To remember that the fruit of the ground was a result of God’s deliverance and salvation. God was the one who gave them the soil and caused the soil to be bountiful. By offering something costly to God, the first of the fruit of the ground, was a way that each generation made the story their own.
The offering had a very practical purpose as well.
11 Then you and the Levites and the foreigners residing among you shall rejoice in all the good things the LORD your God has given to you and your household.
It did two things. First, it contributed to the support the ministry of the people of God: the Levites. And it supported the aliens, the immigrants who resided among them. Both the Levites and the immigrants had something in common: neither had a share in the land. In that agrarian based society, they were dependent upon those who did have land. It shows God’s priorities: worship and helping those shut out of the means of self-support, the unemployed, the unemployable, any who are in need. In their time of celebration and remembrance they were to share the benefits of the land with others who needed it. Through the years, the festival of the first fruits helped the people of Israel remember that their ability to produce comes from the LORD’s gift of the land, a gift meant to be shared.
Now we are no longer farmers. Nor do we live in a Promised Land. Yet the principle of the first fruits has important applications to our lives.
1. First, it reminds us that we too experience a promise fulfilled.
The New Testament often uses the word inheritance— a term that comes from the Old Testament promises about the land. The promises about the land are translated into spiritual realities. Ephesians 1:11: “In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance…” In Colossians 1:13 the inheritance is called “the kingdom of God’s beloved Son.” And 1 Peter 1:3-4:
By God’s great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope … and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.
You can see that the “inheritance” that is ours as a Christian is the gift eternal life and the experience of God’s gift of salvation even now. We have entered a Promised Land: the gift of salvation in Jesus Christ. And we have reaped the first fruits— a harvest of love, joy, and peace— of a harvest yet to come: the “inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.”
It was appropriate for an Israelite to bring the first fruits of the harvest because it was a testimony to God’s sustaining gift of the land.
It is appropriate for a Christian to give one’s whole self to the One who in his mercy rescued us from death to give us life. In worship the Israelite fittingly gave the first of the fruit of the ground. In worship the Christian fittingly gives the first fruit of their whole lives. Romans 12:1 puts it plainly.
I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual [logikos] worship.
2. We are part of the Bible's story, too.
Ephesians 2:4-6 in the Good News Bible.
4 But God’s mercy is so abundant, and his love for us is so great, 5 that while we were spiritually dead in our disobedience he brought us to life with Christ. It is by God’s grace that you have been saved. 6 In our union with Christ Jesus he raised us up with him to rule with him in the heavenly world.
We were raised with Jesus. We are united with him. His story is our story. What happened 2000 years ago involved me.
3. On this Thanksgiving Sunday, then, it makes sense to apply this principle of the first fruits to our offerings to the Lord.
There are two ways to give to the Lord: the first fruits or the leftovers. When we give the first fruits of our labors we ask, “What shall I give that makes sense to show my thankfulness? What does the Lord want me to give?” Then adjust my lifestyle accordingly. Tithing is one way to do this: we start with our 10% gift to God and then adjust our lifestyle accordingly.
Giving our leftovers is very different. It’s waiting to see what I can spare. People spend more on one vacation then they give to the Lord. Give this from the beginning.
Remember the motivation: thankfulness for what God has given you.
We can see how the principle of the first fruits applies to other areas of our lives as well. Take God’s gift of time.
Taking seriously the principle of the first fruits might mean that we start the day with prayer and Bible study. In the same way, it may mean starting the week with worship.
We can go beyond this to putting aside time for service to the Lord. Plan for giving your time to God, your first fruits, not your leftovers.
These are all example of how to give the first fruits of our lives. All my gifts, all my time, all my life, are gifts from God. They are given to me to share. I won’t hold back from the work of God or helping the poor among us. With open, giving hands I will celebrate what God has done for me, remembering the gift of Christ’s salvation in my life.