Where the rubber meets the road, part VI

The studies this week will continue and then complete our study of the tenth chapter of Nehemiah. The people of God are making commitments to apply the truth of God's Word to their lives.
The next thing that they committed to was to provide the money, the grain, and the animals for the sacrifices and offerings at the temple.

“We assume the responsibility for carrying out the commands to give a third of a shekel each year for the service of the house of our God: 33 for the bread set out on the table; for the regular grain offerings and burnt offerings; for the offerings on the Sabbaths, at the New Moon feasts and at the appointed festivals; for the holy offerings; for sin offerings to make atonement for Israel; and for all the duties of the house of our God.
34 “We—the priests, the Levites and the people—have cast lots to determine when each of our families is to bring to the house of our God at set times each year a contribution of wood to burn on the altar of the Lord our God, as it is written in the Law. (Nehemiah 10:32-34)

As the Word of God was explained to them, they realized the need for offerings and for sacrifices, and that they had to continue from year to year. In Israel's history, we see that the emphasis of their religious activity was on shedding the blood of animals and on offering their crops to God.
Why?
In this way, they never would forget the cost of redemption. God wanted them to truly understand that sin was a problem. A serious one. It could not be solved simply by instructing the mind - only death could "cure" it. These offerings prepared the way for the death of Jesus -- this is something that we believers should recall each day. We can never allow ourselves to forget or take lightly the cost of our redemption; it took all that God had, the best that He had, to open a door so that we could return to Him.

For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. 19 It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God. (I Peter 1:18-19, NLT)

They also committed to the promise to bring the first-fruits of their crops, flocks, and their sons to God,
Here are the verses:

We promise to bring the first part of every harvest to the Lord’s Temple year after year—whether it be a crop from the soil or from our fruit trees. 36 We agree to give God our oldest sons and the firstborn of all our herds and flocks, as prescribed in the Law. We will present them to the priests who minister in the Temple of our God. (Nehemiah 10:35-36)

Why was it important for them to bring the first of everything?

“And in the future, your children will ask you, ‘What does all this mean?’ Then you will tell them, ‘With the power of his mighty hand, the Lord brought us out of Egypt, the place of our slavery. 15 Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, so the Lord killed all the firstborn males throughout the land of Egypt, both people and animals. That is why I now sacrifice all the firstborn males to the Lord—except that the firstborn sons are always bought back.’ 16 This ceremony will be like a mark branded on your hand or your forehead. It is a reminder that the power of the Lord’s mighty hand brought us out of Egypt.” (Exodus 13:14-16, NLT)

To bring this into our world and apply it to our lives, we can remember this truth:

 You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. (I Corinthians 6:19b-20a, NIV)

God owns us; we don't own ourselves. We are His, bought with an extremely high price. That's one of the most important elements of our salvation. We must recognize the rights of God and live within the limits that He establishes for us. When our free will surrenders to His will, then we can live in fellowship with the Creator of all things -- that is truly amazing, no? This is why it was important for the people to bring their first-fruits: they would recognize that their lives were not their own. They, too, were precious in His sight and belonged to God.

The remainder of the chapter speaks of their tithes and the process for bringing and storing them. As we've noted before, we are not under the law of Moses, but there are principles here in this chapter that apply to us. Today, the church buildings are not His house, but the people indwelled by His Spirit are, and we should be committed to them, just like the people of Israel were committed to taking care of the temple and the offerings.
For us, giving the first fruits can mean that we give to the Lord and His work the best that we have -- off the top, not the leftovers. "Well, if I have something left at the end of the month, I will make sure that I put it in the offering."
Uh, no, that's not what we mean! We need to make sure that we plan; it's a system; it's cheerful and it's "off the top." It demonstrates that God has first place in our hearts:

On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made. (I Corinthians 16:2)

The New Testament standard for giving is not just the tithe! Instead, it's as the Lord has prospered us. He owns it all and we simply manage it for His kingdom purposes. That's what stewardship is all about -- cheerfully giving to God from the finances He has blessed us with. There's no need for beating the pulpit about giving, nor for droning on about a building program. When we trust Him for what we need, we can give generously and cheerfully to His work.

We're almost done with this chapter! I know this has been a lengthy post..... there was a lot here to digest! See you next time!