1. Tornado Story
A husband and wife from California were driving through Texas. They saw a tornado coming and they were scared. They pulled the car off to the side of the road and got out a crouched down beside it. The twister was moving directly toward them but at the last second veered off across a field and then hit and totally demolished a small wooden house. The man and woman still shaking with fright got up and ran toward the house which was now nothing but kindling wood and a hole in the ground. They looked down into the hole and saw an old man holding on for dear life to a piece of timber, his eyes tightly closed.
The woman called down to him. “Hey down there, are you all right?”
The old man opened his eyes, looked around cautiously and said, “I guess so.”
The woman asked, “Was there anyone else with you?”
The old man replied, “Just me and God, and we were having an urgent conversation.”
2. The crisis times are those in which we easily look to God
3. What about the Good Times?
4. Deuteronomy 26.1-11
“When you come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance and have taken possession of it and live in it, 2 you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from your land that the LORD your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket, and you shall go to the place that the LORD your God will choose, to make his name to dwell there. 3And you shall go to the priest who is in office at that time and say to him, ‘I declare today to the LORD your God that I have come into the land that the LORD swore to our fathers to give us.’ 4 Then the priest shall take the basket from your hand and set it down before the altar of the LORD your God.
5 “And you shall make response before the LORD your God, ‘A wandering Aramean was my father. And he went down into Egypt and sojourned there, few in number, and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous. 6 And the Egyptians treated us harshly and humiliated us and laid on us hard labor. 7 Then we cried to the LORD, the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. 8 And the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great deeds of terror, with signs and wonders. 9 And he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10 And behold, now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground, which you, O LORD, have given me.’ And you shall set it down before the LORD your God and worship before the LORD your God. 11 And you shall rejoice in all the good that the LORD your God has given to you and to your house, you, and the Levite, and the sojourner who is among you.
I. A Priority Matter
Comes from ‘resheet – Beginning
A. First Can Be:
1. Order – First Fruits; Firstborn – Exodus/Passover;
2. Importance –
a. First Love of Ephesians in Revelation 2.4 – the beginning love; also love that is most important – high priority;
b. Yeshua (Jesus) – First Fruits of resurrection
3. Principle – Genesis 4.3-4
4. Purity – 2 Corinthians 11.3
But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
a. Satan’s attack – take away our “first” to God in Giving; then in Prayer; then in Study; and on and on – once we start giving in we lose over all
b. Often we selfishly rearrange our priorities
Riddle: Why is a person with six kids is more satisfied than a person with six million dollars? Answer: The man with six million dollars wants more.
B. First Pays Dividends – Proverbs 3.9-10
Honor the LORD with your wealth
and with the firstfruits of all your produce;
10 then your barns will be filled with plenty,
and your vats will be bursting with wine.
II. A Personal Matter
A. Personal Responsibility – No Substitutions
1. During the Civil War northern draftees were allowed to pay for a substitute and then were free of their responsibility to their nation; Proxy Voting
2. Demonstrated by God
a. Animal sacrifices – temporary nature – pointed to the permanent
b. God’s Personal Sacrifice (and Resurrection)
26 For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. 27 He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. Hebrews 7.26-27
B. Personal Walk with God
A Japanese artist painted a picture on a fairly large canvas. Down in one corner was a tree, and on the limbs of the tree were some birds, but all the rest of the canvas was bare. When he was asked if he was not going to paint something more to fill the rest of the canvas, he said, “Oh, no, I have to leave room for the birds to fly.”
We often fill our lives so full of obligations that there is no room for the birds to fly and there is no room for God besides.
Look at all the Lord does in our lives:
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless his holy name!
2 Bless the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits,
3 who forgives all your iniquity,
who heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit,
who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
5 who satisfies you with good
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. (Psalm 103.1-5)
1. Can’t live off of others’ faith
2. Can’t live off of others’ obedience
3. Exercise our Choice to serve
a. We actually feel good in our obedience to God
b. [Weight Watchers – Nothing tastes as good as thin feels.”
III. A Presentation Matter
A. There Must Be Follow-Through
The story is told about a man who was stingy and miserly. People looked at this person as a real skin-flint.
One day, one of the folks in the town was given the task of serving as the chairman of the community charity. He decided he was going to start with the town skin-flint. He was determined to get a contribution from him. After all, if he could get this man to give, he could get anyone to give to the fund-raiser.
So he knocked on the skin-flint’s door one day and when the stingy miser opened it, the fund-raiser said, “Look here, our records show that despite your wealth, you’ve never once given to our community charity.”
The man looked at the fund-raiser and became angry. “Do your records show that I have an elderly mother who was left penniless when my father died? Do your records show that I have a disabled brother who is unable to work? Do your records show I have a widowed sister with three small children who can barely make ends meet?”
The embarrassed and humiliated fund raiser looked at his neighbor in a new light and simply said, “No. I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
The man looked at the fund-raiser, still flushed with anger, and said, “Well, I don’t give to any of them, so why should I give anything to you?” (Landon Parvin in Leaders, Readers Digest, May 1996, pp. 67-68.)
1. It is one thing to think/believe
2. It is another to act on that belief – repentance/obedience
B. Presentation of First Fruits is from God’s Gift – Deuteronomy 8.18
You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day.
1. God gave: Land – Sunshine – Rain
2. We are completely dependent on God – Matthew 16.5-12
5 When the disciples reached the other side, they had forgotten to bring any bread. 6 Jesus said to them, “Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 7 And they began discussing it among themselves, saying, “We brought no bread.” 8 But Jesus, aware of this, said, “O you of little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that you have no bread? 9 Do you not yet perceive? Do you not remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? 10 Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? 11 How is it that you fail to understand that I did not speak about bread? Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 12 Then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
C. Presentation of First Fruits Includes:
1. The Basket – a Generous presentation (no fillers)
2. A Proclamation (Deuteronomy 26.3)
3And you shall go to the priest who is in office at that time and say to him, ‘I declare today to the LORD your God that I have come into the land that the LORD swore to our fathers to give us.’
a. No Ad Lib – told exactly what to say – an important proclamation – giving back to God what he has given
b. We go forward best by looking back – we can forget what God has done
9/10 lepers – Luke 17.12-19
c. Proclamation of God’s Goodness in our Words and Actions (Deuteronomy 26.5-9)
5 “And you shall make response before the LORD your God, ‘A wandering Aramean was my father. And he went down into Egypt and sojourned there, few in number, and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous. 6 And the Egyptians treated us harshly and humiliated us and laid on us hard labor. 7 Then we cried to the LORD, the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. 8 And the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great deeds of terror, with signs and wonders. 9 And he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.
3. Giving to the Priest
a. Is it hard to let go of the fruit of our hands?
b. Put on altar – give it to God
1. How is our relationship with God – First place or mediocre?
7 Be not wise in your own eyes;
fear the LORD, and turn away from evil.
8 It will be healing to your flesh
and refreshment to your bones. 9 Honor the LORD with your wealth
and with the firstfruits of all your produce;
10 then your barns will be filled with plenty,
and your vats will be bursting with wine.
11 My son, do not despise the LORD's discipline
or be weary of his reproof,
12 for the LORD reproves him whom he loves,
as a father the son in whom he delights. Proverbs 3.7-12
2. Some Firsts we can give to God:
At first light – Psalm 118.24
First Words – “Blessed are you. . . .”
First Reading – Good News or Newspaper?
JQ Adams in a letter to his son: "I have myself, for many years, made it a practice to read through the Bible once every year.... My custom is, to read four to five chapters every morning immediately after rising from my bed. I employs about an hour of my time...."
First Place in the Day with talent/ability that God gave
3. I read an interesting story recently about a woman named Eunice Pike, who for several decades worked with the Mazatec Indians in Southwestern Mexico.
During this time she has discovered some interesting things about these people. For instance, these people seldom wish someone well. Not only that, they are hesitant to teach one another or to share the gospel with each other. If asked, “Who taught you to bake bread?” the village baker answers, “I just know,” meaning he has acquired the knowledge without anyone’s help.
Pike says this odd behavior stems from the Indian’s concept of “limited good.”
They believe there is only so much good, so much knowledge, so much love to go around. To teach another means you might drain yourself of knowledge. To love a second child means you have to love the first child less. To wish someone well—“Have a good day”—means you have just given away some of your own happiness, which cannot be reacquired. (Bernie May, “Learning to Trust,” Multnomah Press, 1985)
Contrast that with the Christian mandate to be generous. In our faith, whether we practice it or not, we affirm that the more you give, the more you receive.
