SERMON NOTES: What's First? Series First Fruits – Prov 3:5-10
SERMON NOTES: What's First? Series
Problems with
Modern Thoughts
1.
It is a Rejection of Biblical Teaching (OT &
NT)
2.
Secular request vs. Covenant
Commitment - Historical Summary: “Pay to Play”
Current Situation: “Sunday Morning Stickup”
3.
Focusing on money over the Master
(Matt 6:24)
4.
Lost vs Saved Membership
I.
Biblical Teaching on “First Fruits”
CF> First Commandment (in context of Covenant) (Matt.
22:35-40)
1.
Honor
– Rightful place as Owner/Authority
Heart
– (3:5) (First Love)
Ways
– (3:6) (First Search)
Wealth
– (3:9) (First Fruits) Heb. T’buah – two meanings:
a. Production from your harvest
b. Revenue from your sales
2.
First
= Best (Heb. Reshiyth)
II.
Old Testament Offerings
• Instructions:
–
The Law:
–
Ex 34:26 - You shall bring the very first of the first fruits of your soil into
the house of the LORD your God;
–
Lev 23:10-17- “Speak to
the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘When you enter the land which I am going
to give to you and reap its harvest, then you shall bring in the sheaf of the
first fruits of your harvest to the priest.
–
Num 18:12-13- The
Lord spoke to Aaron, All the best of the fresh
oil and all the best of the fresh wine and of the grain, the first fruits of
those which they give to the Lord, I give them to you.
– Deut
26:2-4- Then it shall be, when you enter the land which the Lord your
God gives you as an inheritance, and you possess it and live in it, 2 that
you shall take some of the first of all the produce of the ground which
you bring in from your land that the Lord your God gives you, and you
shall put it in a basket and go to the place where
the Lord your God chooses to establish His name.
–
The Prophets:
–
Neh 10:35-37-that they might bring the
first fruits of our ground and the first
fruits of all the fruit of every tree to the house of theLord annually, 36 and bring to the house of our God the firstborn of
our sons and of our cattle, and the firstborn of our herds and our flocks as it
is written in the law, for the priests who are ministering in the house of our
God
–
Eze 44:30- The first of all the first fruits of every kind and every [a]contribution of every
kind, from all your [b]contributions, shall be
for the priests; you shall also give to the priest the first of your [c]dough to cause a blessing to rest on your house.
–
2 Chr
31:5- 5 As soon as the [a]order spread, the sons of
Israel provided in abundance the first fruits of grain, new wine, oil, honey
and of all the produce of the field; and they brought in abundantly the tithe
of all.;
– Mal
3:10- Bring the whole tithe into
the storehouse, so that there may be [a]food in My house, and test
Me now in this,” says the Lord of hosts, “if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you a blessing until [b]it overflows.
–
First Fruits & Tithing NOT the same as
sacrifice offerings for sin, guilt, etc.
III.
New Testament Giving
• Jesus’
comments
–
Pharisees tithing without salvation
(Matt 23:23)
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and
dill and cummin, and have neglected
the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but
these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.
–
Widow commended for giving all (Mark
12:44)
for they all put in out of their surplus, but she, out of her poverty,
put in all she owned, all she had to live on.”
• Church
behaviors (Book of Acts)
–
Shared All things in common (Acts 2)
–
Deacon ministry for physical needs
(Acts 6)
–
Systematic missions giving (Acts 20; 1
Cor 16:1-4)
IV.
New Testament First Fruits Larger Symbolic Concept
1 Cor 15:20-23 – firstfruits from dead
But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those
who are asleep. For since by a man came death, by a man also came the
resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all
will be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after
that those who are Christ’s at His coming,
2 Thess 2:13 – firstfruits of the saved
But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by
the Lord, because God has chosen you as first fruits for
salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in
the truth.
James 1:18 – firstfruits of the re-created
In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so
that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures.
Rev 14:4 – firstfruits of the redeemed
These are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they have
kept themselves chaste. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He
goes. These have been purchased from among men as first fruits to God and to
the Lamb.
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