Text: Psalm 20:1-9
Theme: He remembers all your Offerings (Psalm 20:3)
We had had meditations on Thanksgiving through Worship, through giving to the poor, inspired giving and Levitical offerings. Today I would like to share on Thanksgiving offering. (Psalm 20:3).
Introducing the theme:
We had had meditations on Thanksgiving through Worship, through giving to the poor, inspired giving and Levitical offerings. Today I would like to share on Thanksgiving offering. The sacrificial system of the Old Testament served as a means of grace to restore the relationship between God and humanity. Ultimately, the sacrificial system was inadequate, which is why Jesus came to earth.
Psalm 20:3, “All your offerings”.
Adam Clark: The word minchah mentioned refers to gratitude-offering.
Albert Barnes: The word means an offering of any kind or anything could present to God, except a bloody sacrifice - anything offered as an expression of gratitude to obtain his favour.
Matthew Henry: Let none expect benefit by the prayers of the church, or their friends, who are capable of praying for themselves, yet neglect it. Pray that God would protect his person and preserve his life.
OLD TESTAMENT
There are five types of offerings in the Old Testament.
• The Burnt Offering - voluntary act- Leviticus 1,6::8-13
• The Grain Offering - voluntary act - Leviticus 2, 6:14-23
• The Peace Offering or Fellowship or well-being- the voluntary act of thanksgiving with a communal meal.
• The Sin-offering- Purification Offering -mandatory- Leviticus 4:1-5, 6:24-30
• The Guilt offering- mandatory- Leviticus 5:14-6:7, 7:1-6 Reparation Offerings.
These were legalistic rites one must perform to earn God’s grace. The system was an outward expression of a person's inward desire to restore the broken relationships between humanity and God and humanity and the world. If someone wants to offer everything together: He must follow the orders as found in Numbers 7:16-17: Sin-offering, the Guilt offering, Burnt offering, Fellowship offering with the grain offering.
NEW TESTAMENT
The majority of biblical references to ‘sacrifice’ in the Old Testament prefigure Jesus’ sacrificial death for us on the cross. In the New Testament, almost all the references are about Jesus’ sacrifice – the death of Jesus as the one perfect and complete sacrifice fulfilling all the Old Testament preparation and prediction. NT tells us that there are three sacrifices we can make that pleases God.
Four valid reasons
There are four valid reasons for bringing thanksgiving offerings to God are:
• The Lord is good is righteous
• He delivered my soul and Kept me from stumbling
• He rescued my feet from stumbling
• To honour God
1. The Lord is good
Jeremiah 33:11: the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who say, “Give thanks to the Lord of hosts, For the Lord is good,
For His lovingkindness is everlasting”; and of those who bring a thank offering into the house of the Lord. For I will restore the fortunes of the land as they were at first,’ says the Lord.
2. According to his righteousness
Psalm 7:17: I will give thanks to the Lord according to His righteousness, And will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High.
3. Delivered my soul and Kept me from stumbling
Your vows are binding upon me, O God; I will render thank offerings to You. For You have delivered my soul from death, Indeed my feet from stumbling, So that I may walk before God In the light of the living (Psalm 56:12-13).
4. To honour God
Psalm 50:23: “He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honours Me; And to him who orders his way aright I shall show the salvation of God.”
The Prophet Samuel said, “to obey is better than sacrifice,” (1 Samuel 15:22), and Jeremiah likewise negates Burnt Offerings for atonement and says that disobedience results in calamity (Jeremiah 44:23). Leviticus 22:29: “When you sacrifice a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the Lord, you shall sacrifice it so that you may be accepted”.
Three kinds of Offerings: We are settling with three Kinds of Offerings:
1. The sacrifice of our lips-
Hebrews 13:15–16: Singing, telling loudly that we love him. Expressing to others as The Lord is good to me all the time. The writer of Hebrews is calling on us to focus on the words that we use. Are these words, coming from our lips confess Christ as Lord. The metaphor of fruit suggests the idea of seasons: first, we plant the seeds of our words in our thoughts; then we allow those thoughts to grow as we contemplate how to express them; finally, we send them out, finally ready to be harvested.
Steve C Singleton: As we turn our lives to Christ, we experience disappointment and frustration as we discover the tenacity with which sin clings to our internal and external conversations. Let our lips bring ripped fruit. We expect sweetness to satisfy our craving but finding instead only rottenness from the lips of people. We are expecting to be encouraged and inspired, but hearing instead words that are filthy, cold, complaining, or self-justifying from the lips of others make bring more distress.
Book of Hebrews urges us to “continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise.” We offer him the fruit of our lips, not just occasionally – being weekday sinners and Sunday saints – but constantly, yielding our weekdays to His service as well. (ref: deeper study). My lips will shout for joy when I sing praise to you— I whom you have delivered. (Psalm 71:23). We can’t stop our fest with feasting on Saturday, but we need to have Sunday worship with the same enthusiasm and involvement.
J A Shedd: "He who thanks but with the lips Thanks but in part; the full, the true Thanksgiving Comes from the heart."
2. The sacrifice of our lives
The first eleven chapters of Romans are about the sacrifice of Jesus for us. Paul, having set out all that God has done for us, responds with a sacrifice of praise (Romans 11:33–36). Paul continues, ‘Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, because of God's mercy [because of all that Jesus has done for us through the sacrifice of himself on the cross], to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship’ (12:1, AMP).
God wants you to offer all of yourself and all of your lives – your time, ambitions, possessions, ears, mouths and sexuality – as well as your mind, emotions and attitudes. Paul’s description of a living sacrifice also reminds us that you have to go on offering your life as a sacrifice to God, offering the whole of your life for the whole of your life.
As Eugene Peterson translates it in The Message, ‘Take your every day, ordinary life – your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life – and place it before God as an offering’ (Romans 12:1 MSG).
Roy T Bennett: "Be thankful for everything that happens in your life; it’s all an experience."
3. The sacrifice of our wealth
Generous giving is another New Testament sacrifice. Paul encourages the sacrifice of generosity in contributing to the needs of others (v.8). ‘Share with God’s people who are in need’ (v.13). This is another sacrifice the writer of Hebrews says pleases God: ‘to share with others (Hebrews 13:16). ( ref: bibleinoneyear)
Offering to refer to the economical sharing, giving from our pockets, opening our valets pulling the currencies notes, Bills for the needy and ministry. Unless the Lord touches your heart you can’t touch your valets.
Johannes A Gaertner: “To speak gratitude is courteous and pleasant, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live gratitude is to touch Heaven.”
Conclusion:
We know so much about Tithe, thanksgiving offering, special offering, offering for poor, offering for missions. Do you honour God with your offerings?. Why do we struggle to raise funds? Most of the time, people wouldn’t honour God as he expects them to do. We can’t rob God, we can’t cheat him.
Robert Casper linter: "Thanksgiving was never meant to be shut up in a single day."
Catherine Pulsifer: "Give thanks not just on Thanksgiving Day, but every day of your life. Appreciate and never take for granted all that you have."
