It is hard to continue after a song like that. Praise the Lord. That is wonderful.
Good morning, brothers and sisters. Please turn to 1 Chronicles 12. We will begin with our theme verse, 1 Chronicles 12:32:
And of the sons of Issachar, men who understood the times, with knowledge of what Israel should do.
Then turn to James 1:25:
But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man shall be blessed in what he does.
Also, Leviticus 3:1–2:
Now if his offering is a sacrifice of peace offerings, if he is going to offer out of the herd, whether male or female, he shall offer it without defect before the Lord.
And he shall lay his hand on the head of his offering and slay it at the doorway of the tent of meeting.
And Leviticus 7:30:
His own hands are to bring offerings by fire to the Lord.
Finally, John 19:30:
When Jesus therefore had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished.” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.
Let us bow for a word of prayer.
Lord, this morning we come before You, our King of kings, knowing, Lord, that You are coming. This morning, Lord, we ask that You might take Your rightful place on the throne of our hearts. In the throne room, we pray, Lord, that here in our meeting You would have the highest place—every heart, every word spoken, every word heard.
Lord, we thank You. We ask that this morning You would take down those barriers that we have put up between You and us. Lord, we have done it without even knowing we have done it. We ask that You would take them down and that You might enter into our hearts. Lord, we worship You. Be magnified. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Good morning, brothers and sisters. In John 11, there are a couple of verses about Martha, and I thought the Lord put it on my heart this morning to begin with this short passage. We remember that Lazarus, Martha’s brother, had died. They had called for the Lord Jesus, and the Lord had come, but He had delayed—purposely delayed, I think. By the time He came, Lazarus had died.
Now, we remember Martha in her daily life. She was a little bit of a busybody. She would work for the sake of working, and when others would not carry their load, she would probably be the first to point out, “You know, they are not carrying their load.”
That day, they had called to the Lord. He did not come in a timely way, and Lazarus had died. When Martha heard that He was coming, she ran to Him. Her heart was broken. The Lord said to her in John 11:23, “Your brother shall rise again.”
Martha knew a lot. She had heard a lot, and in her mind she understood certain things. She said to the Lord, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” This was the correct answer. It showed the knowledge that she had.
Then the Lord looked at her and said, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies.” Martha had given Him the technically correct answer from her wealth of knowledge, but the Lord made it alive. What had been in her mind became Someone she could see, Someone she could hold, Someone she could look forward to and put her hopes upon.
Brothers and sisters, we have heard many things. We have been so blessed with the ministry of the Word, with faithful brothers and the testimony of their lives. Those things have come into our minds. We have heard them, and perhaps we have even memorized them.
But at some point in our lives, the Lord causes Lazarus to die. Then He brings us to the point where something has to go from a flicker to a flame. Something has to go from being buried in our head to being alive in our heart.
The sons of Issachar had learned much through many lessons personally taught to them by the Lord in real ways. Then the time came in 1 Chronicles 12 when the Lord brought them to Hebron. They had knowledge of the times, a real knowledge, taught through many journeys and difficulties.
At the right time, He brought them—and all the houses of Israel—to Hebron to make a choice. The sons of Issachar knew that the knowledge which had moved from their minds into their hearts was now to be borne forward in what they would do.
The burden for these two messages has been this phrase: “with knowledge of what Israel should do.” Yet, brothers and sisters, knowledge of what Israel should do comes second, after an understanding of the Lord Jesus and an understanding of the times.
The danger for all of us is that, when we are saved, enthusiastic, or “on fire,” we like to jump into the action and do something. But when we do things in the wrong order, there is always danger. These messages must come under the authority of the ministry concerning the knowledge of the times, which may ultimately yield in our hearts an understanding of what we should do.
Yesterday evening, we shared about moments in our lives where the Lord makes us make a macro decision—a foundational life decision. Whom should we follow? Where will our home be? Will we engage, or will we withdraw? What do we want the testimony of our lives to tell?
These are large and foundational decisions. But our brother yesterday morning reminded us that the Christian life is a daily life. If every day we were put in an Ittai situation, I think we would all wear down pretty fast.
Daily life is normal life, and sometimes it simply runs under the radar. It is easy to think that, if someone challenged us with life or death—“Do you believe in the Lord?”—most of us would say, “Yes, I do.”
But when it comes to something daily—“Will you go to the prayer meeting?”—that is much harder. This is daily life. I must decide between my own weariness and something such as a prayer meeting. If my life depended on it, I would go with the Lord; but in daily life, it becomes much more difficult.
Large decisions are important and have to do with understanding the times in which we live. But the larger decisions, as our brother was sharing—the kairos vision—trickle down and influence our daily decisions. They help us know how simply to live each day.
These daily decisions are based on choices. The Lord, in His manifold wisdom, gave us the liberty to choose. This can seem risky, because when He gives us the choice, we so often choose the wrong way. We may feel that it risks the Lord’s purposes.
But brothers and sisters, we should have no fear. Our wonderful Lord knows exactly what He is doing. In His wisdom, love, and grace, He is raising us up, teaching us, and guiding us to points in our lives where we come to make decisions and choices for Him.
Choices tell us what is really in our hearts. My son Aaron wrote me a card when I was going to speak at a meeting. The card said, “Dad, I love you.” I was so happy. I thought, “This is the best card I have ever gotten.” I was going to frame it and put it up somewhere.
I said, “Aaron, thank you for this card.” Aaron said to me, “Mom made me write it.” Now, because it is my story, I get to selectively remember which details I want to remember.
But love, brothers and sisters, cannot be coerced. Love is a freewill decision. In the building up of the house of God, the Lord needed to give us this free will because He wanted us to come to Him with the freedom to choose.
Even though the enemy throws alternative choices our way—different things to capture our hearts and move us away from Him—the Lord wants us to see Him through the camouflage of all those things and say, “Even though there are all these other things, I still choose You, Lord.”
This is the victory that the Lord will receive. Sometimes we look at ourselves and think, “What a mess.” We look at the house of God and think, “What a mess.” But the truth is that the Lord is working. The ark is in the field, and He is always preparing His bride. He is bringing us to decision points in our lives in order that we might choose Him.
Freedom, free will, and choosing the Lord can sometimes seem to move in opposite directions. Yet there is a very interesting picture in the Lord Jesus’ life. Turn to John 10:17–18:
For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it up again.
No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative.
I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again.
This commandment I received from My Father.
In the Lord’s relationship with His Father, the Father gave Him a command: “You have the liberty and freedom to lay down Your life and also to take it up again.” The Lord said, in effect, “I willingly laid down My life,” and it was an expression of love to His Father. This is a statement of freedom.
But then, in John 5:30, the Lord says:
I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge.
On one hand, the Lord said that His Father commanded Him and gave Him freedom to choose. Yet He also said, “I can do nothing on My own.” We see these two seemingly opposite points in the Lord Jesus’ life: “I have freedom,” and yet, “I am constrained; it is as though I have no choice.”
This does not mean that the Lord objectively had no choice. He loved His Father so much, and He knew what was in His Father’s heart, that although He had freedom to choose, He knew that because He loved His Father, it was as though He had no choice. He wanted His Father’s heart to be pleased.
This is how the Lord Jesus lived: with free will, yet with a heart subject to His Father’s will. For us, brothers and sisters, it is the same. First Peter 2:16 says:
Act as freemen, and do not use your freedom as a covering for sin, but use it as bondslaves of God.
The Lord, through such terrible cost, set us free. When He set us free, He gave us the choice of how we should live our lives. The Bible reminds us that we should take that choice and choose to be slaves of God. This is the law of liberty: we have freedom, but what will we do with it? How will we live?
It reminds us of the Hebrew servant who, after earning his freedom, could return to his master and say, “Even though I have been set free, I have loved you, and I choose of my own free will to be your servant.” The master would pierce his ear as the testimony of his decision.
We have all been set free. Praise the Lord. What will we do with this freedom? How will we live with the knowledge of the times? We believe that the choices we make in this context will prepare for the bride to be made ready.
Yesterday evening, we shared about larger decisions the Lord may put before us. This morning, we will consider daily decisions. There is an example in the Old Testament which is even called a freewill offering.
When you get into the offerings, brothers and sisters, if any of you are experts on these offerings, forgive me. I read through this, and it can be confusing. But the freewill offering is linked with, or encompassed in, the peace offering.
It is a non-mandatory offering. Unlike the burnt offering or the sin offering, the freewill offering was exactly what it was: a freewill offering. It fell under the umbrella of the peace offering.
If we could move back in time and consider what it was like to be alive then, there would be an altar. Every morning, and all the time, there would be an offering upon that altar. That continuous offering was mandatory. It was called the burnt offering.
The burnt offering was followed by a sin offering. That sin offering was mandatory. If you and I did not have a burnt offering and a sin offering, we would die. There was no choice.
But the peace offering was volitional. It was optional. We did not need to bring it. It was not mandatory. It was an offering of our own free will.
Today, by the Lord’s grace, we would like to consider three functional aspects of this offering, and then three reasons why we might bring it. But before that, we have to ask: What does a peace offering really mean?
The peace offering is not perhaps what we would understand in our culture. When I offend my wife—in my notes I wrote, “if I offend my wife,” but I should clarify that it should be “when I offend my wife”—I might bring her flowers. The flowers would represent a peace offering because, in our everyday vernacular, a peace offering restores peace or makes up for something I have done wrong.
This is not the peace offering mentioned in the Bible. The biblical peace offering speaks of an offering we make because peace has already been established for us. It is an offering we make because there has already been a burnt offering and a sin offering.
I work in a cancer hospital. At times, people come in and we do a biopsy. I always remind myself that I have to call them immediately when the results are available, because between the biopsy and the phone call, the patient has no peace. There is uncertainty, and there is the risk of something bad.
When they learn that the result is good, what was feared has been removed and replaced by something secure and good. This is a poor example, because peace is not always linked with the removal of something bad and the introduction of something good in our daily lives. But from the point of view of God, something bad removed and something good coming in gives us peace.
When the Lord Jesus came, He came as the Prince of Peace. Every one of us has fallen short of the glory of God. Something bad was awaiting every child born on this planet, and there is no escaping it.
In the enemy’s distortion, men and women feel that there may be something good in us that is redeemable outside of God. Even among Christians, this distortion has come into many hearts: that there is something good in us, or that the lifestyle of Christianity can somehow bring something good upon us.
But the Bible is very clear, and we know it in our hearts: each of us has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. For each of us who has sinned, there is a cost. From the beginning, the Bible has been clear: if you have sinned, there is a judgment that will fall upon you and me, and no one is spared. That judgment is death.
None of us can offer anything in our lives to redeem ourselves. We can bring every good thing we think we have done—all our acts of kindness, all our random acts of kindness—and bring them before the judgment seat and ask, “Can I trade these things in for my life?”
The judgment seat is characterized by the law. There will be a balance. We will see the weight of our sins, and on the other side we would place our perceived goodness. Yet none of us, brothers and sisters, friends—none of us—will be found worthy. This is simply a fact. We have to get over it. It is the truth.
What hope was there for us? Something bad was coming, and there was no peace. But then, brothers and sisters, on that wonderful day in Bethlehem, the Lord Jesus came.
He was born a baby. He came from the majestic throne of God and was born into a feeding trough for animals. He had a young dad and a young mom. Going from the throne of God to that feeding trough, we might think, “This is a big change,” but He was right at home.
He grew up among normal people. He was a good Son. He worked with His hands. His earthly father taught Him how to be a carpenter. He learned, He built, and He was a good older Brother.
The rabbis listened to Him and wondered, “Who taught Him all this?” They did not know that, while He had an earthly father, He also had a heavenly Father. Then the time came for Him to come into the light, and He did.
Children saw Him and knew. They ran to Him, and He held them. His disciples might have said, “He is too big for the children,” but the Lord said, “No, come.” He was so approachable.
He never sinned—not once. When He was struck on the cheek, He turned the other cheek. When He went with His brothers and someone needed a cloak, He gave his cloak. What He said, He did.
Later, when His brothers were saved and some wrote books in the Bible, perhaps there was a little jealousy before they believed. Their older Brother was considered by so many to be such a wonderful Person, and their older Brother was the Son of God. People might have tried to recruit James or Jude to say something against Him, but they would have had to say, “No, He was always like that. He really did do that.”
This is how He was, brothers and sisters: He was perfect. If we met Him, He would win us over. Our hearts might be hard, but when we saw Him, our hearts would melt. The enemy has done such a work of distortion concerning His life, but those of us who know Him know who He really is and who He has been to us. Never forget, brothers and sisters.
The day came when the burnt offering and the sin offering had to be placed. We had no hope. There was only bad in our hearts. On that day when He was crucified for us, something bad died.
It is strange to think of the Lord Jesus as something bad, because there was nothing bad in Him. Everyone who knew Him knew that there was nothing bad in Him. But on that day, when you and I were hidden in His heart, when He died and we died in Him, He became sin for our sakes.
He took upon Himself all the evil and sin that we had committed. On that day, something bad died. Everything bad in me died in Him, and everything good in Him came to life in me. Something bad was dealt with, and something good came in. He is the Prince of Peace.
He became each of our burnt offerings and each of our sin offerings. We put our hand upon the Lord Jesus and claim Him: “He is mine.” Brothers and sisters, this is simply a fact.
The Christian can rest assured that our own goodness plays no role in who we are. Get it out of our minds. When the enemy says, “Who are you to serve? Who are you to stand for the Lord? You are not good enough,” we can say, “That goes without saying. I already know that is true.”
Our goodness rests on the Man on the cross. He is our burnt offering, and He is our sin offering. Only after there has been a burnt offering and a sin offering can we come into His presence with a peace offering. It must go in that order.
The burnt offering speaks of the greatness of God, the fallenness of man, and the distance that we could never make up. It had to be continuously there so that a perfect God might be approachable by sinful men and women. Brothers and sisters, it is always there for us: our perfect offering.
The sin offering speaks of the fact that there must be punishment. Sin cannot come into the presence of God. We sometimes think sin was swept under some great rug in heaven, still there but hidden from sight. No, brothers and sisters. Every sin carries punishment, and every punishment fell on the Lord Jesus Christ.
He is our sin offering forever. It cannot be taken away. No matter what the enemy suggests, it cannot be undone for the Christian. These two things are always true. Upon the burnt offering and the sin offering, we can come with a peace offering.
The peace offering does not suggest that we come to earn anything on our own. It has already been done. All we are bringing is an offering. We must have this clear, brothers and sisters.
The peace offering is so down to earth. The burnt offering and the sin offering are big deals, and they should be big deals. We remember them all the time. But the peace offering can be so simple.
It can be as simple as a prayer of thanks in the car, a song in our hearts while taking a shower, or a word of kindness to a brother or sister in need. The peace offering is something given to the Lord of our own free will because He is our burnt offering and our sin offering and has made a way for us to come.
The first functional point of the peace offering is that it must come after the burnt offering and the sin offering. Our daily life, brothers and sisters, is built upon what the Lord Jesus has done for us.
Now let us consider how the peace offering was brought. Leviticus 3:2 says:
And he shall lay his hand on the head of his offering.
The Bible says, “He shall lay his hand on the head of his offering.” We brought something of our own to bring to the Lord. Then Leviticus 7:30 says:
His own hands are to bring offerings by fire to the Lord.
After the burnt offering and sin offering were placed, when we brought our peace offering, we brought it ourselves. It was our offering, and we brought it with our own hands.
Many offerings were conducted by the Levites or priests. They would take the offering and offer it up. But in the peace offering, we would bring it ourselves. Thus, the second functional point of the peace offering is that it is personal. It cannot be brought by someone else.
What does it mean for something to be personal? When we are hidden, when we are on our own and no one else is around, that is when we can know who we really are. In public, people see our public personas, but often that is not who we are. When we are alone in our rooms, in the dark, the true nature of who we are becomes apparent to us.
The personal nature of the peace offering is precious. We bring it ourselves to the Lord every day. It is one thing to come to a meeting like this. It is easy to engage; we are brought to our feet by the hymns, rhythms, and words of the songs. But when we go home, sometimes it is more difficult.
The peace offering is personal. We come exactly as we are. Ephesians 2 tells us that He brought peace to those who were far away and peace to those who were near.
Sometimes we think, “I am far away from the Lord. I am a sinner. I am captured by sin. I must not be able to bring a peace offering.” But the Lord brought peace to us who were far away and peace to us who were near.
If you and I are far away, the enemy will whisper, “You could not possibly bring a peace offering in your condition.” But when that happens, we turn our eyes to the cross and remember: “It is finished.”
Then we say, “I am going to come. I am simply going to come personally, as I am, with all my weaknesses and all my failures. I am going to come as I am, based on the blood of Jesus, and offer an offering of my own free will to Him.”
Watch what will happen in our lives when we come from our hearts’ desire and offer this to Him. It is amazing that when we bring peace offerings to Him for His blessing, He showers us with blessing.
This is so personal. It cannot be replaced with speaking from a pulpit, leading hymns, leading a Bible study, or functioning in the body of Christ. This is a personal, hidden relationship.
The Bible tells us that, in the architecture of our bodies, there is a room hidden in our hearts. It is called the inner room; Moses called it the secret place. In that inner room, there is a place that really fits only two people.
It is a room with a door, and the Bible tells us that we can close the door. Matthew 6 tells us that we can enter this inner room, close the door, and no one else goes into that room except us and the Lord.
This is a room where you and I are meant to live every day. For many of us, that room is rather empty. Yet it was designed into the human heart, and when the Lord Jesus became our Savior, He came in. He is waiting for us.
This is the room where personal peace offerings can be brought to Him. We bring them with our own hands. This does not suggest that we live on our own, but we must have this personal time with Him.
In our daily lives, what should Israel do with knowledge of the times? We must live in this inner room, brothers and sisters. I wander easily, and sometimes brothers or sisters ask us to serve when we do not really want to serve. Yet the Lord brings us to a place where we cannot make it without Him, and we run back into that inner room.
May I ask you, not because I know: When was the last time that you and I were in that inner room? When was the last time that we found peace there? There is no peace elsewhere. Brothers and sisters, may we find our life there again.
The first functional aspect is that the peace offering comes after the burnt offering and sin offering. The second is that it is personal and brought on our own. The third is that it produces fellowship.
If we read Leviticus 3 and 7, we realize that when the peace offering was brought, part of it was offered to the Lord. The fat, kidneys, and the lobe of fat above the kidneys were offered to God. The breast and shoulder were given to the priest. The remainder was given to the offerer to be shared with others.
Some peace offerings catch our attention, such as the prodigal son. They had a fatted calf. When it was time to make the offering, it was unto the Lord; part went to the priest, and the rest was shared in thanksgiving because the son had come home.
This is an interesting part of the peace offering. In our lives, when we bring an offering before the Lord, it produces body life in some heavenly way. It is difficult to describe, but when brothers and sisters are thankful and share their thanksgiving for what the Lord has done, it brings joy and life into the house of God.
We share in each other’s joys. Often we share in each other’s sorrows, but when sorrow is brought to closure by the Lord, it produces joy, and we share in that joy together.
I remember when my wife and I lived in the Bay Area. There was a brother and his wife who wanted so badly to have a child. They tried and tried, but it never happened. Every Tuesday night, we prayed that they would be able to have a baby.
One day our brother came to the meeting. He was very soft-spoken, and he said, “Well, I just wanted to share some news.” It was so dry that we expected something about his work or perhaps a car accident. But then he said that, by the Lord’s grace, his wife was pregnant.
We just jumped up. We were so happy, because brothers and sisters, we are bound together in the house of God. We are meant to shout for joy together. We are meant to go through the valleys together.
The Lord’s intention is that we would be bound together, not finding every fault in one another, not gossiping, but being built together. We would suffer together, grow together, and rejoice together.
Thus, the peace offering comes after the burnt offering, is personal, and yields the fruit of fellowship as we share our lives together. This is not easy, because we are all wired differently. We have different cultures, different outward forms, and different ways of doing things.
The enemy’s attack is to cause us to run into camps and hide in our camps. There is no greater thing against the building up of the body of Christ than human, man-made camps. These are not constructs of God.
The overcoming in the house of God is that we would see Christ in one another, share in each other’s joys, share in each other’s sufferings, and go on together. It is easy to say, but only the Lord Jesus can do this.
Only the Lord Jesus can cause brothers and sisters to reach out and be willing to suffer in the sense that our flesh does not feel comfortable. Our flesh loves to identify differences. It is the nature of man and the nature of the enemy to compare ourselves with one another and identify differences.
But in the house of God, the Lord says, “Do not identify these differences. See Christ.” The offering was meant to bind us together: sharing our lives, sharing our joys, sharing our sufferings, and rejoicing when the Lord delivers.
Let us turn to Leviticus 7:12:
If he offers it by way of thanksgiving.
The first reason the voluntary, freewill peace offering is given is that we are thankful. Brothers and sisters, in the deception of the world these days, the thankful heart is under attack.
The enemy is attacking the church and families. We may see superficial ways in which he attacks, but in military strikes, the initial attacks target critical points. To break down a country, an attack might target communication facilities or supply lines so that the entire country may fall.
In the enemy’s tactical strategy, there are strikes at critical points to begin bringing down larger things. One of those strikes has been against thankfulness. This may sound a little hokey, but it is so true.
In our current time, we can somehow feel that the Lord Jesus coming to die for us is something to which we may have had some right. We may think, “I could possibly be worth it. I have some right to this.” In our hearts, we feel entitled to something.
But Luke 17 gives us an example. Ten lepers met the Lord:
And as He entered a certain village, ten leprous men who stood at a distance met Him;
and they raised their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
And when He saw them, He said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.”
And it came about that as they were going, they were cleansed.
One of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice. He fell on his face at the Lord’s feet, giving thanks to Him. He was a Samaritan.
And Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine—where are they?
Was no one found who turned back to give glory to God, except this foreigner?”
And He said to him, “Rise, and go your way; your faith has made you well.”
There were ten healed, but one turned back. The Lord had healed all ten; they had all been made well. But because this one turned and gave thanks, the Lord told him, “Your faith has made you well.” There was a deeper wholeness in the one who was thankful.
In these days, it is important that we appreciate what He is doing in our lives. Sometimes the Lord must allow us to go through difficulty in order for us to remember what it is to be thankful again.
When we become hard-hearted and entitled, the Lord may bring difficulty into our lives. We wonder why it is there, but as He brings us out of it, we begin to feel thankful again. Brothers and sisters, this is grace.
The first reason we bring a peace offering is thanksgiving. I ask my children sometimes during Thanksgiving, “Can you enumerate all the things you are thankful for?” They will say, “Mom,” then “the dog,” then a couple of other things, and perhaps Dad.
This exercise that we do with our children is worthwhile for us as well. If we take a moment to think of the things for which we are thankful and go to the Lord to thank Him, there is a softening of our hearts and a bringing in of peace.
Brothers, when was the last time you realized how thankful you should be for your wife? We have many problems in our families because sometimes we forget what a blessing our wives are to us.
As husbands, fathers, and heads of households, may we be thankful for our wives and thankful for our children. This is life-changing. It sounds simple, but we easily forget. The enemy’s attack on thankfulness causes us to point out everything she does wrong and never be thankful for what she has done for us.
Is this not true, brothers and sisters? I know the sisters think so. Brothers, is this not true? May it be that in our normal lives we have thankfulness for what He has done.
The second reason is found in Numbers 6, in the account of the Nazarite. I thought that big clock in front of me meant I was out of time. It is only 11:15, so I have a little more peace.
The Nazarite dedicated himself to the Lord. We remember from children’s stories that the Nazarite would grow his hair out, as Samson did. At the end of his vow, there would be a burnt offering, a sin offering, and then his peace offering.
Numbers 6:18 says:
The Nazarite shall then shave his dedicated head of hair at the doorway of the tent of meeting, and take the dedicated hair of his head, and put it on the fire which is under the sacrifice of peace offerings.
At the completion of his vow, he would cut off his hair and put it under the peace offering. In effect, he was saying, “This is for You, Lord.” It is an incredible picture.
It had nothing to do with the burnt offering. That goes without saying. A sin offering was necessary, but the Nazarite had dedicated something in his heart to the Lord. Upon completing his obedience, he placed it under the peace offering.
Sometimes we hear about vows and shy back. The Lord says in Matthew not to make oaths or vows casually: do not say, “By the Lord, I am going to do this.” Rather, let your yes be yes and your no be no.
But this Nazarite vow was different. It was to say, “There is something for which I have been asked and charged, and I will obey.” In that obedience, the offering would be for the Lord. When the obedience was completed, the capstone was a peace offering.
In our lives, have we said to the Lord, “Lord, I am going to do this for You”? We shy back because it makes us fearful, and it should, because there is danger that we might think such obedience gives us merit or makes us more worthy in His presence.
It does not. Our worthiness comes from the burnt offering and the sin offering, and we must keep that in mind. Nor can it be a quid pro quo: “I will give this to You, Lord, and perhaps You will give that to me.”
Whenever I share, I tell the Lord something personal. I cannot tell you, brothers and sisters, because it is personal. It does not increase merit. It is not a quid pro quo. It is simply something the Lord has put in my heart, and it is what it is.
There is so much peace when the message is done and I can sit down and thank the Lord. In our lives, we can say, “Lord, I am going to live for You,” or, “On this day, I know You want me to do this, and I am going to try to be faithful to this.”
All the brothers and sisters teaching children, and all the service going on in this conference, may face little interferences from the enemy. But at the end of it all, we can make a peace offering to the Lord, and it will be victory no matter what the enemy does, because it is unto Him.
We remember when Nehemiah and the people finished the wall: they made an offering of thanksgiving. It was real to them that the Lord had brought them through. We remember Paul at the end of his life saying that his life was being poured out as an offering. The capstone of a life given to the Lord was still an offering.
Every day, we can bring something to Him and finish it with a peace offering. It has nothing to do with our own goodness. All our goodness is in the burnt offering and the sin offering. This is simply something from our hearts, given freely, genuinely, and authentically.
Young people are leaving the church in droves because it seems inauthentic and not genuine. Brothers and sisters, there is nothing more genuine than a freewill offering that we do not need to bring, that is personal, and that no one else can see.
These normal, daily, real things can prepare for the return of the Lord Jesus. These daily things reach to heaven and should not be underestimated.
The final reason is not actually in Leviticus but in Romans 12. It is the sacrifice of worship. Romans 12:1 says:
I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
The Bible does not specifically say this is a peace offering, but we know it is not a burnt offering or a sin offering. Paul urges us to present ourselves as a living and holy sacrifice.
If we are honest and look at our lives, we often think, “What a mess.” I think that very often. Sometimes we feel that we cannot come and cannot bring an offering.
But worship is an extremely wonderful thing. It is the lifting up of the Lord Jesus in our lives. “I worship You, Lord.” It is such a simple thing to say, but when it is said with an honest heart, with no one watching, hidden in a personal offering, it is a wonderful thing.
The best example of a peace offering, I think, is this: in our daily life, if we could lift up the Lord for a moment with a worshipful heart, the Lord’s heart is pleased. As His heart is pleased and as we live this way, there is something eternal and consequential.
At the end of Revelation, the Lord says, “My reward is with Me.” I believe that as we live these daily lives, worshiping Him and lifting Him up, He remembers. There is a making ready. Worshiping Him in our hearts every day makes us ready.
When was the last time that, for no particular reason, we spontaneously worshiped Him? There is something powerful in that in our lives.
What might we bring? When we look at ourselves, there is not much that we can bring. Yet hidden in our broken lives and broken bodies is a treasure. On that day when the Lord offered Himself for us, something good came into us.
The life of the Lord Jesus came into our hearts, and something of that life we can put down to give back to Him. I have a weakness for Diet Coke.
Many years ago, I would buy Diet Coke with my own money and put it in my kitchen. It was mine. One day, as I was going to work, my little son ran to the cabinet, took the Diet Coke—which was mine—and brought it to me. He said, “Dad, Diet Coke.”
I took it from him, and I was so happy. Objectively speaking, that Diet Coke was already mine. It was mine in the cabinet, mine when he took it, and mine when he gave it back to me.
But my son took something of mine, brought it to me, and gave it to me. It brought so much joy to my heart. Brothers and sisters, the Lord gave something of Himself to us. He deposited it in our hearts.
If every day we could bring it back to Him and say, “Lord, thank You. I worship You with the only good in me, and that is You. I am going to give a little bit of it back to You,” it would bring joy to His heart.
It will bring us to that final day when there will be joy inexpressible, with no upper bound. Brothers and sisters, this is normal life.
As I come to the end, I have to share something concerning the Lord. I began thinking about this message months ago, and only as I considered it between then and now did I begin to see something precious.
When the Lord Jesus became your burnt offering and sin offering, and my burnt offering and sin offering, something else was happening behind the scenes. The Lord Jesus Himself did not need a burnt offering or a sin offering because He was already perfect.
But there was something going on between Him and His Father. When everyone told Him, “Do this, do that,” the Lord kept saying, “My time has not yet come.” He was waiting for the completion of an obedience to His Father.
It was personal. The offering He was making was unto His Father, offered up for us and shared with us at the Lord’s table. When we come every Sunday, we share together in what He offered.
It was unto thanksgiving to His Father. It was unto worship. When the Lord Jesus was offered for us, He was a burnt offering and a sin offering for you and me. But there was a relationship between Him and His Father that we sometimes cannot see.
As I read through this, I think there was a hidden peace offering that He made to His Father, apart from you and me. In that moment, all these things were fulfilled. It was a personal dedication and worship offering to His Father, and it pleased His Father’s heart.
In our Lord’s life, may we find our example for our daily life and how we live. We have heard many things, and we are not worthy of the things we have heard. But may we have a heart to live every day and make what we have heard become part of our lives, for the glory of our Father and for the return of our King.
May the Lord have mercy upon us. Brothers and sisters, this week and this year, may there be many peace offerings unto the One worthy of each one. We worship Him.
Let us pray.
Dear Lord, we thank You. We thank You for the example of Your life. We thank You, Lord, for being our burnt offering and our sin offering. We put our hands upon You and claim You as our own.
Lord, we pray that You will give us a heart for You in our daily lives. We pray that You would reign not only in our lives globally, but in every moment, every day. Lord, have Your place—number one—in our hearts. Thank You, Lord. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.