The First Fruits
Joshua 7:1
I had just read about all that happened to Achan because of his thievery
36 soldiers died, Achan, his children, animals and all he had destroyed
and then I read
Josh 8: 1 And the LORD said unto Joshua, Fear not, neither be thou
dismayed: take all the people of war with thee, and arise,
go up to Ai: see, I have given into thy hand the king of Ai,
and his people, and his city, and his land: 2 And thou shalt
do to Ai and her king as thou didst unto Jericho and her king:
only the spoil thereof, and the cattle thereof, shall ye take for
a prey unto yourselves:
God is giving them the very things he just punished them for taking. Why?
Because God said in
Josh 6:19 But all the silver, and gold, and vessels of brass and iron, [are]
consecrated unto the LORD: they shall come into the
treasury of the LORD.
Josh 7:21 When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment,
and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of
fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them;
and, behold, they [are] hid in the earth in the midst of my
tent, and the silver under it.
Josh 7: 19 And Joshua said unto Achan, My son, give, I pray thee, glory to
the LORD God of Israel, and make confession unto him; and
tell me now what thou hast done; hide [it] not from me. 20 And
Achan answered Joshua, and said, Indeed I have sinned against
the LORD God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done:
First Mention Gen 4:3 Cain and Able
Cain just gave an offering (works) Able the firstlings= his best (faith)
We have to put God first
Deut 6:15a (For the LORD thy God [is] a jealous God among you)
Exod 20:5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for
I the LORD thy God [am] a jealous God, visiting the iniquity
of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth
[generation] of them that hate me;
Deut 6:5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and
with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
Luke 10:27 And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with
all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength,
and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.
WHY WE GIVE OUR FIRST FRUITS?
We are commanded to give it.
Prov 3:9 Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the
firstfruits of all thine increase:
Exod 23:19 The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring
into the house of the LORD thy God.
By giving it, you demonstrate your appreciation for God and the things
He has done in your life
(Deut 26:10 And now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land,
which thou, O LORD, hast given me. And thou shalt set
it before the LORD thy God, and worship before the LORD
thy God: 11 And thou shalt rejoice in every good [thing]
which the LORD thy God hath given unto thee, and unto
thine house, thou, and the Levite, and the stranger that
[is] among you.
God is delighted in our obedience to His word;
for it is better to obey than to sacrifice
1Sam 15:22 And Samuel said, Hath the LORD [as great] delight in
burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice
of the LORD? Behold, to obey [is] better than sacrifice,
[and] to hearken than the fat of rams.
First Fruits in Hebrew is "bikkurim" and literally means "promise to come.
1Cor 15:20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, [and] become the
firstfruits of them that slept.
Gold= His Diety
Silver= His Redemption
Clothes= His covering our sin
Heb 11:4 By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than
Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous,
God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet
speaketh.
CHURCH CAKE COVER-UP
It was time for the annual cake sale at a Presbyterian church not much different than our own. Ms. Billings always made the most beautiful cakes...she was expected to make another one this year. However, Ms. Billings was a very busy woman with the time she spent with her family and the time she gave to her community. She put off making the cake this year thinking she could put it all together at the last minute.
When the cake came out of the oven, Ms. Billings was horrified to see that the cake had fallen. She didn’t have the time or the ingredients to make another one...she panicked. Frantically, she devised an ingenious plan. She would find a way to "fix" the cake...then she would be the first one to the sale and buy her own cake back.
She looked around the room, trying to find something that she could use to "prop" the cake back up, and then she found it. A roll of toilet paper was the perfect size. So she put it under the center of the cake and the cake looked perfect. She decorated it bright yellow and took it to the bake sale. Then she stuck around until the bake sale started.
She was the first in line when the doors opened; she smiled to herself about how clever she was. But then there was a terrifying horror crawling up from within her. She looked at every single table; no yellow cake! Someone had snuck in before the sale and purchased it. The helpers couldn’t remember who had purchased it either; there was so much going on.
She went home and felt absolutely horrible. That was it: they would find the toilet paper in the cake, trace it back to her, and ban her from ever cooking ever again, except for potlucks.
Well, she didn’t have a whole lot of time to dwell on it, like I said she was a very busy woman. She was going to a reception that the Mayor’s wife was holding, and she was already a little late.
When she got there, she almost died right where she stood… because there, at the center of a brilliantly decorated table, was a bright yellow cake. She debated all of her options: grab the cake and run, changing her name and moving to Tahiti, calling in a bomb threat, or telling the hostess. It was a dead tie between calling in a bomb threat and telling the hostess, when she decided to muster up the courage to tell the Mayor’s wife of the horrors that awaited inside the yellow cake.
But as she got up to tell the hostess about the cake, she overheard someone complementing her. "That is simply the most beautiful cake I have ever seen!" To which the Mayor’s wife replied, "Thank you, I made it myself." Ms. Billings then sat down and enjoyed her fruit salad.
