Specific Instructions
My
first reflection of Leviticus 3 is pretty much a reflection that runs the whole
of Leviticus. Do you notice that for the
most part the instructions giving in this chapter are repeated whether the
peace offering is from the herd or the flock?
From today’s perspective, it would have made much more sense to say the
instructions once and only list the minor changes to each one. However, that is not the case here. We have the instructions repeated in their
entirety for us to read.
This
is an indication that this law is important to God. God’s purpose here is not to get the
information across as quickly as possible.
Rather, God’s purpose is to speak to the community and be clear about
the information because it is important to Him.
In a day and an age where writing is expensive to produce, taking the
time to meticulously duplicate details that could otherwise have been combined
is a sign of significance to the community.
In
general, this is true about the whole of the Law. As modern Christians we tend to dismiss the
Law knowing that we are saved by grace.
We want to jump straight to the grace, which means that we often
overlook the importance that God places on developing the law. I’m not saying that we need to go back to the
sacrificial system, but neither should we stroll casually through a reading of
these words, either.
Have
you ever spend hours planning and preparing something only to have the person
for whom you were doing the work only give it a passing glance? If so, then you know what I am talking
about. For example, let’s take the
typical Thanksgiving meal. How many
hours do we spend preparing the meal and making sure that it is all
perfect? And all of that preparation is
for what – 30 minutes of enjoyment at best?
Yet, we still do the preparation year after year because it is important
to us. That’s pretty much my point with
God’s Law. We shouldn’t ignore the law
any more than we should ignore the time of preparation for Thanksgiving. We shouldn’t think we can jump straight to
grace any more than we think we can jump straight into Thanksgiving without
doing some work beforehand.
Peace
The
other angle that I will consider today is that this offering is called a peace
offering. This offering was not mandated
at any particular time, merely whenever the person wanted to bring attention to
the fact that he and God were at peace.
This offering is a sign of good-will between God and mankind that has no
mandate for when it must be offered.
While
we are to be grateful for the other offerings in that they speak to providing
atonement, this offering is a joy and a blessing. How good is it that we can be at peace with
God in the first place? While we were
yet sinners, God came and made peace with us.
As
I write this, I am reminded of 2 Corinthians 9:7 where we are told that God
loves a cheerful giver. How much more
efficacious are our offerings to God when we do them out of joy rather than
obligation? The offerings done out of
obligation are okay, but what God is truly desiring is a relationship of peace
in which we cheerfully come to Him.
We
can be at peace with God. That doesn’t
mean that we are without blame, fault, guilt, or sin. In spite of all of that we can be at peace
with God. Thanks be to God!
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