This is Chad Harrison, and you're listening to hope alive, applying God's word to your daily life. Hi, this is Chad Harrison, and I am the teaching pastor of Lake Community Church and have been serving as a pastor for 25 years. I'm also a practicing attorney. This podcast is designed to help you study God's word and find God's will for your life. I pray in the name of Jesus right now that God would open up his word to you and allow you to see him and to know him and to know his will, that you might glorify him and that you might walk in faith and power each and every day, especially today, in Jesus name.
Well, good morning. Welcome to Lake Community Church's morning Bible study. We are in Leviticus, chapter 27. We've reached the end, and chapter 27 is about a subject matter that I know all of you want to talk about. You love it when you. When your pastors or when the sermon for Sunday morning is about this, and so you look forward to it every year. And that's about tithing? Well, no, not really. Not. Not really tithing. It's. The chapter 27 is about dedicating certain things to the Lord. Now, what does that mean? Well, that means that there are things that obviously, you give to God as a part of your worship of God, and they are, in essence, I guess, the best way for me to describe them from an economic point of view, they are the product of your labor, meaning you have the freedom of will. That's liberty. You have the freedom of will to do as you see fit, as hopefully as God leads you. But as you see fit, you have the liberty to do that. In the world that we live in now, when you have the freedom to do that, you have the freedom to acting and attain assets. Really, what you have the ability to do is you give away your labor, whether it's to something you're doing or whether it's somebody else who pays you for it. You give away your labor to them, and they compensate you with money, which is really an exchange of. It's an exchange of resources or things in the physical world. Might be. Might be a car, might be a house. You might take that money and exchange it for your power bill. Whatever it might be, it's something that you attain from the physical world, and that's your wealth or your value. And a lot of times, we spend a lot of our money and our wealth on things that are perishing, meaning they go away. And one of the main things we'd spend our wealth on to survive is food. But you may spend your wealth on shelter that you may actually have a deed to, and that would be something that would be less perishing. You might, you might spend your wealth on an automobile, which you would stick gas into, and that would be perishing, but the automobile would retain some value over time. And so it's not as much perishing as others. But remember, this whole universe that we live in is perishing. It's passing away. And so, and so when we, when we think about making vows to God or giving God certain things, and the best way for me to describe them are tithes, offerings first, food offerings, all the things that we've been going through in Leviticus, all the, all the offerings that we've been talking about in Exodus and in Leviticus, and we'll talk more about in deuteronomy. All these things are offerings to God. And general speaking, the best way for you to, for us to describe them is they're offerings to God that are the product of our labor. And you say, well, why, why are you using those terms? Because I want you to. I want you to get how the universe operates and how economic systems operate so that you can, you can be the master of your money, the master of your labor. And so how does that work? Well, you have physical resources which you've attained, which you've gotten. And usually you've gotten those resources from a family member or a friend, or you've gotten them from the value of your work or your labor. You've gotten those things. Okay? Now, the medium for exchanging those things to make it a little bit easier is money. Okay? But money is just a medium of exchange. It really doesn't have value by itself, especially in our modern age, where we've got fiat currency that really is not backed by anything. It's just, it's just a medium to exchange. You know, it's a medium to exchange my work at my work, my power bill. So I get money, and then I give it to them for my power bill, or I get money and I give it to the grocery store for my food. So money is just a medium to exchange those things. Okay? Now, when, when in the Old Testament, they didn't have necessarily offerings that were money, although people would give money to God. They had offerings of. Of, of the fruits of their labor, maybe. Maybe the first fruit of their animals, meaning the first, the first lamb that was born, the first goat, the first whatever animal it was, they give that to God, whether it was clean or unclean, whether they. Whether the animals they had were clean or unclean, they would give that to God. That was a first fruit offering. They would give God offerings for sin. And those were very particular. God would say a dove. You know, whatever the offerings were, we've been through all those. They were to be given to God. And then sometimes you would consecrate, literally somebody in your family, a person to God. And you go, I don't know. What are you talking about? Well, one of the great stories in the Bible is the story of Samuel, where Samuel's mother was barren and she asked God for a child. And she said, if you give me a child, I'll predicate that child to you. And she did. She dedicated Samuel to God. And Samuel went to live in the temple and went to work in the temple and be a part of God's work in the temple. She dedicated, literally dedicated Samuel to God. And he went, and Eli was the chief priest, and Eli was in many ways his father. And so when we dedicate these things to God, there are times when God says, okay, look, we can use the medium of exchange, which is money. We can use money for you to buy that back. Maybe, maybe you need it. Maybe you realized, you know, I told God I'm going to give him a 10th of my labor this year. And then I don't want. I don't. I'm a computer programmer, and the church doesn't really have any computer to program. And so I'm not going to give God that. I'm going to give him a 10th of what the business that I programmed Pharaoh, gives me, the medium of exchange. And so if we were to going to give those things, that that would be important. Understanding how those things work, in fact, I think understanding how those things work make us free, make us allow us to function in the liberty and the freedom that God has given us from above. And it's important that you kind of get these things because the world that we live in, they're really taking a lot of things from you that you don't realize that are being taken just because you don't understand. You don't understand basic economics. You don't, you don't understand the principles, scriptural principles of giving and making offerings to God. And so we don't understand the physical world we live in, the system, economic systems that we operate in. And then we also don't understand the spiritual significance of a tithe, of a first fruit offering, of a sin offering. We don't understand the significance of those things, so we don't place value on them. And then when we don't place value on them, but we don't realize the significance that God places on them, and then we don't get the blessing and the benefit of offering them to God, we don't do that. And so we're just kind of languishing in this world of ignorance and not taking advantage of what God has given us. And that is a very poor place to be in. You know, he says to Moses, saying, speak to the children of Israel and say to them, when a man consecrates by vow a certain person to the Lord according to your valuation, what he's saying is, if you, if you consecrate somebody to God, and then you realize, I need them back. I need them back in my family. I need them back working for me. I need their labor in my house. Then you gotta, you gotta, you gotta figure out what they're worth to go, and you've given it to God. Now you gotta go and figure out what's the value for it. And God gives a value, he says, you know, if they're 20 years old or 60 years old, and they're male, you give them 50 shekels. If they're female, you have to give them 30 shekels. You go, why are women worth less than men in this? Well, remember, this is all about labor. It's all about how much work can be done. And I think it's really interesting that women are about 60% of the value of a man in labor. And, you know, women have about six. Generally speaking, on average, women have about 60% of the strength of a man. That's interesting, isn't it? He says, if it's a female, then your valuation gonna be 30 shekels. If from five years old up to 20 years old, notice if it's a child, you know, you're not gonna pay as much for them because their labor is not much. You're gonna give. You're gonna give for a child, 20 shekels if he's a male, and if he's a female, ten shekels. Notice, the little girls are worth more as a proportion than the women are. Why? Because they're generally, in their younger years, just as strong as a boy. And then when they get to be teenagers, they lose that. They lose that equality as far as strength. And so they're not as valuable as far as physical labor would be concerned back then. And he says, and if a month from old, from to five years old, then your valuation shall be five shekels. And your valuation of the female shall be three shekels. Now, that's just all speculation about what they'll be worth when they're adults. And if from 30, from 60 years old and above, if it is a male, then your valuation will be 15 shekels, and for a female, ten shekels. Notice the women are of maximum value when they're the oldest. That's interesting, he says, but if he is too poor to pay your valuation, then he shall present himself before the priest, and the priest shall set a value for him. Notice God's going to say, listen, but, you know, if y'all really need this person to do whatever you need them to do in your household as part of your family, and you can't really afford to pay these prices, you know, bring them to the priest and let the priest decide. Wow. I mean, there's. There's a little bit of a social welfare net there, right there in scripture. And then he says, if it is an animal, then that man may bring as an offering to the Lord. All that anyone gives the Lord shall be holy, but he shall not substitute and exchange it good for bad. Meaning if you bring one animal and you need that animal back, you don't give as an exchange of bad one. You got to give equal value. You got to give what it's worth. And that's dealing with that medium of exchange, that's dealing with how we deal with these things, how we kind of walk through these things and understand them. And so when you're studying God's word, there's a lot of. There's a lot of things that we miss out on because we get all caught up on how to do a certain thing. And the thing that when I was a child, everybody tried to figure out is whether you tithed on the net or the gross of your income. And, boy, that was just, for me, that was just a moot point. It wasn't even a. Wasn't even an issue. Because, remember, we're not in the Old Testament law. We're not. We're not under the law. That's not how this works. These. These things are given to God as. As a overflow of our heart toward him. We should. You should. And when you give to God, when you give of your life to God, God blesses your life. When you give of your family to God, God blesses your family. When you give of your business to God, God blesses your business. When you give. When you give of your. Of your time and energy to God, God blesses your time and energy. Why? Because you've made him lord of those things where your treasure is, there, your heart is. And if you give of the valuation of your life to God, God, God always blesses that. He always reaches down and says, I see you love me and you want me to have of you, and so I'm going to bless that. That is how God operates, that's how God works. And so understanding that and understanding that, that's how God does what he does, you come to a place where you realize that I need to understand what is a tithe, you know, what is 10% and that's what tithe means is a 10th. And should I give that to God? Well, you know, if it's the fruit of your labor, yeah, you ought to. How do you do it? Well, I mean, don't get into legalism about how to do it. We're not, we're not counting pennies with God. I don't, when I, when I give a, when I give a, a tip to a waitress, I don't sit down and try to figure out how, what exactly 20% is and give it to her in the pennies. That's not how I do. I figure out what 20% is and I round up why? Because I want to be a blessing to people who serve me. When I give to God, I don't want to. I'm not going to count pennies. That's not how that works. I'm going to give him over and abundantly more. And if, if I'm giving to someone else, because God is, is moved my heart to give to someone else, not going to count pennies with that. I'm going to try to give, give them the best I can give them. And that ought to be the lifestyle that you live. And you go, well, you know, we need to be good stewards of our resources. Well, when I'm giving them to God, I'm not being a bad steward at all. And, and by the way, I've lived my life now for 30 years, and I've never failed to be blessed by God financially because I've been free to give him financially. He is the lord of my finances and he is a good lord, and he's been that way for a long, long time. Since Kathleen and I first got married, he's been Lord of our finances, and because of that, I have been blessed because of that. And so I don't go around trying to figure out counting pennies with God. I freely give because my God freely gives to me. And so we give a regular offering every month that comes out of our bank account straight to the church's bank account. And then when offerings and tithes are asked for, for things all during the year, boy, I'm gonna make sure I'm gonna be a part of that. Cause I wanna. I wanna. I wanna sow some. Some of my labor, some of my work, some of the who I am and into the things God's doing. Why? Because I want to reap that reward from that. And I know how economics works. I have an economics degree from Princeton. I know how. I know I don't want all my resources to be in that medium of exchange that the federal government keeps debasing all the time. I don't want it to be that. I want my resources, who I am, to be invested in good things, good things that grow. And let me tell you one thing that definitely is always at work and always growing, that's the kingdom of God. And so, and so if I listen, you go, well, do you what? This whole thing about dedicating people to God. I'm gonna tell you, when both my daughters were born, I dedicated both of them to God. I sure did. I said, God, I'm. They're not mine, they're you. They're gift from you to raise. And I'm. I'm dedicating them to you. And let me tell you, both my daughters serve God. They do. And so it's, there's these spiritual truths that we get from. From giving to God are important. And when people get all legalistic, and that's the problem, is we get legalistic, we try to go and live by the Old Testament law rather than live by the principles the Old Testament law teaches. And the principles are God's character. So I want to live by God's character, but I don't want to necessarily live under the yoke of the law, because the law doesn't redeem or save me. The blood of Jesus saves me. But I do want to know the character of God, and I want to live my life and operate in such a way that the character of God manifests itself in who I am and what I'm doing. And so, yeah, I'm gonna be a. I'm gonna be a tither. I'm gonna be a first fruit giver. I'm gonna be a. Making sure I take care of those in need giver. I mean, all those things. All those things. And I want to be. I want to be abundant in them. I don't want to be, I don't want to be minimalistic in them. I don't want to count pennies. I want to give over and above, and I want to give offer. I want to give to others in a way that builds the kingdom and builds relationships and builds what's important. And what's important is me and God and our relationship and me and others and our relationship. And money is just a medium of exchange by which God takes care of our physical needs and God takes the care of those around us. And so the church ought to benefit from your. From your labor, and your family ought to benefit from your labor, and the kingdom ought to benefit from your labor. And understanding those principles, understanding that, you know, when something first happens, I want to give to God because I want him to be a part of it. And when I get paid each month, I want God to be a part of that. And when there's a need in the community or need in the faith community, which is our church, I want to give to that. And I want to be a part of all the things God's doing so that I can experience all that God has for me and a lifestyle that's lived that way. I'm going to tell you of all the things I can tell you about God. And we've been doing Bible studies now for years and hope to. Hope to finish out the whole Bible eventually, maybe one time, one at some point in time, 1015 years from now. Of all the things I know for sure about God is, I guess, because he sent me to Princeton to kind of learn it and then prove it out in my life. I know that when I give to God, I'm invested in a sure thing. I mean, I am invested in a sure thing. And he has been most assuredly good in that area. And doesn't matter how old you are, you can start investing in a kingdom, a kingdom that has no end. Why would you not invest in something like that? Companies rise and fall. Land burns and tears up. Houses get old and. And get mold. But the kingdom of God is forever. And so I want to dedicate a lot of my life to and a lot of my labor to those things. I pray that you'll learn that. I hope you will, because it is a great blessing to know it.
As you go today. I pray that the Lord will bless you and keep you, that he'll make his face to shine upon you, and that he will give you hope and peace today in Jesus name.
