David Bahn – Reflections

Click here for an audio version of this blog post.

These devotions are part of the Follow the Word Bible reading program at St. John Lutheran Church in Cypress, Texas. This year we are reading through the Scriptures together, listening for how God speaks through his Word day by day. I hope you will join me on this journey.

Today’s readings are Leviticus 22-24, Psalm 64.

Leviticus 22:17-23; 23:33-36

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁸ “Speak to Aaron and his sons and all the people of Israel and say to them, When any one of the house of Israel or of the sojourners in Israel presents a burnt offering as his offering, for any of their vows or freewill offerings that they offer to the Lord, ¹⁹ if it is to be accepted for you it shall be a male without blemish, of the bulls or the sheep or the goats. ²⁰ You shall not offer anything that has a blemish, for it will not be acceptable for you. ²¹ And when anyone offers a sacrifice of peace offerings to the Lord to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering from the herd or from the flock, to be accepted it must be perfect; there shall be no blemish in it. ²² Animals blind or disabled or mutilated or having a discharge or an itch or scabs you shall not offer to the Lord or give them to the Lord as a food offering on the altar. ²³ You may present a bull or a lamb that has a part too long or too short for a freewill offering, but for a vow offering it cannot be accepted. 

^23:33 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ³⁴ “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, On the fifteenth day of this seventh month and for seven days is the Feast of Booths to the Lord. ³⁵ On the first day shall be a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work. ³⁶ For seven days you shall present food offerings to the Lord. On the eighth day you shall hold a holy convocation and present a food offering to the Lord. It is a solemn assembly; you shall not do any ordinary work.

It must have made quite an impression on him. He mentioned it years after I had said it. “The Lord doesn’t need your money.” That is not only something that made an impression on him, it is important that we understand that. God doesn’t need our money, nor did he need the bulls, goats, birds, or grain of the various offerings he commanded through Moses. Here is God’s own witness to that fact.

• “I will not accept a bull from your house or goats from your folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine.” – Psalm 50:9–12
• “The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein.” – Psalm 24:1
• “But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able thus to offer willingly? For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you.” – 1 Chronicles 29:14
• “Thus says the LORD: Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool… All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the LORD.” – Isaiah 66:1–2

But that’s only half of the truth – maybe only a third of it. For while God doesn’t need our money, we need to give. Giving forces us to let go of control (if we truly give). It guards us against greed. It allows for the love of God to flow from us to others. Rather than becoming stagnant in greed, giving opens the channels of God’s blessing, refreshing others — and in that very act we ourselves are refreshed (cf Proverbs 11:25). God doesn’t need our money, but our neighbor does. Giving is a tangible expression of the love we have received from God.

Notice one more thing: Not just any gift will do. Jesus makes it clear that a restored broken relationship between a brother or sister in Christ is more important than giving a gift. Ananias and Sapphira offered an offensive gift and paid the ultimate price for doing so. Aaron’s sons were struck down when they offered unauthorized fire before the Lord.

God doesn’t need your money. But we should realize that giving is a good and proper thing to do. It is also a privilege to give, and an act of worship as well. We give properly as we remember the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who “though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich (2 Corinthians 8:9).