Easter Devotional - Day 28
"Araunah answered, 'Take it, Your Majesty, and do whatever you want with it. I'll even give you the oxen for the sacrifice and the wheat for the grain sacrifice. And you can use the threshing floor boards for the fire. It's all your!' But David replied, 'No! I want to pay you what they're worth. I can't just take something from you and then offer Yahweh a sacrifice that cost me nothing.'" 1 Chronicles 21:23-24
So what is the point of sacrifice, tithes, and offerings? We struggle as Araunah did with issues of form, substance, and meaning. Araunah was concerned with questions of form. He was also worried with issues of pleasing the king. David had authority to simply requisition his threshing floor, oxen, grain, and anything else he might consider needed. David could have demanded anything as king, and it would have been handed over. On one level, Araunah knew that, and he was likely seeking, at least in part, to avoid the king's anger. Things would go better with him if he were to offer the king more than was requested. On the other hand, giving lavish gifts to the king might also ingratiate himself with power, and that was always a good idea for self-advancement.
David looked beyond these issues, however. He was not so concerned with form, neither with the politics of gifts, nor even with allowing Araunah to participate in the sacrifices he planned to offer. He was more concerned with the purpose of sacrifice. He was concerned with gaining an audience with Yahweh—with pleasing God.
The formality of ritual is not what Yahweh was seeking. Going through the motions of offering sacrifice did not address the questions of heart, attitude, dedication, and an earnest desire to join in fellowship with God. There is a difference in authentic, honest worship and the ritual forms by which worship is enacted. One is an internal question of heart, motive, and dedication. The other is the external question of rituals which may be reduced to a show.
Worship can also be a show, in that it may include a well-crafted and presented program. Even so, worship must be so much more than a show. It must flow from an attitude and desire to draw near to God and seek the will of the Almighty in our lives.
Araunah was perhaps more concerned with pleasing the king than with pleasing God. David recognized that pleasing God required worship to include participation and personal cost in the act of presenting an offering and sacrifice. What cost him nothing would likewise gain him nothing. If he did not materially participate in the sacrifice, he would not spiritually participate in worship or in God's response to the offering he presented.
Attending the sacrifice would not bring David into God's presence, as it did not open David's life to dependence upon God. To what extent do we participate in worshiping God? Are we doing more than going through the motions and formalities by presenting ourselves in earnest dedication to God? If our worship costs us nothing and does not impact our lives, it is at heart worthless both to ourselves and to the God in whose presence we ostensibly enter to present our service.
Give something of value to God—bring yourself to worship as an instrument in his service.
"Lord, help me to evaluate my dedication and my participation in worshiping you."
—©Copyright 2009 Christopher B. Harbin
My latest books can be found here on amazon.com
http://www.sermonsearch.com/contributors/104427/
So what is the point of sacrifice, tithes, and offerings? We struggle as Araunah did with issues of form, substance, and meaning. Araunah was concerned with questions of form. He was also worried with issues of pleasing the king. David had authority to simply requisition his threshing floor, oxen, grain, and anything else he might consider needed. David could have demanded anything as king, and it would have been handed over. On one level, Araunah knew that, and he was likely seeking, at least in part, to avoid the king's anger. Things would go better with him if he were to offer the king more than was requested. On the other hand, giving lavish gifts to the king might also ingratiate himself with power, and that was always a good idea for self-advancement.
David looked beyond these issues, however. He was not so concerned with form, neither with the politics of gifts, nor even with allowing Araunah to participate in the sacrifices he planned to offer. He was more concerned with the purpose of sacrifice. He was concerned with gaining an audience with Yahweh—with pleasing God.
The formality of ritual is not what Yahweh was seeking. Going through the motions of offering sacrifice did not address the questions of heart, attitude, dedication, and an earnest desire to join in fellowship with God. There is a difference in authentic, honest worship and the ritual forms by which worship is enacted. One is an internal question of heart, motive, and dedication. The other is the external question of rituals which may be reduced to a show.
Worship can also be a show, in that it may include a well-crafted and presented program. Even so, worship must be so much more than a show. It must flow from an attitude and desire to draw near to God and seek the will of the Almighty in our lives.
Araunah was perhaps more concerned with pleasing the king than with pleasing God. David recognized that pleasing God required worship to include participation and personal cost in the act of presenting an offering and sacrifice. What cost him nothing would likewise gain him nothing. If he did not materially participate in the sacrifice, he would not spiritually participate in worship or in God's response to the offering he presented.
Attending the sacrifice would not bring David into God's presence, as it did not open David's life to dependence upon God. To what extent do we participate in worshiping God? Are we doing more than going through the motions and formalities by presenting ourselves in earnest dedication to God? If our worship costs us nothing and does not impact our lives, it is at heart worthless both to ourselves and to the God in whose presence we ostensibly enter to present our service.
Give something of value to God—bring yourself to worship as an instrument in his service.
"Lord, help me to evaluate my dedication and my participation in worshiping you."
—©Copyright 2009 Christopher B. Harbin
My latest books can be found here on amazon.com
http://www.sermonsearch.com/contributors/104427/
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