OFF

FERING: A STUDY OF LEVIT

TICUS

Thhe Peeace O
Offering:
wship With
Feellow h God d
Leviticus 3:1-17 / 7:111-18; 28-34 January 22/23, 2011

DRA
AWING NEA
AR IIn Old Testament times, the w worshiper praised God, madee
vowss, and brought petitions to Good at the time oof the
Those who surrrender their hearts
h to God and
a come fellow wship offeringg. Today’s Com mmunion servicces afford
before him on
o the basis off the shed blood
d of the Chrisstians occasionns to rededicatee themselves too God’s servicee
ssacrifice may celebrate
c g at peace with God (in a
being and tto bring their pprayers and praaises to their Loord.
communal meal). A striking conttrast between tthe fellowship offering and
the L Lord’s Supper iis seen in the m matter of the drrinking of
bloodd. Under the olld covenant, coonsuming sacriificial blood
E PEACE OF
THE FFERING
was pprohibited, beccause it was thee vehicle of atoonement. In thee
T
The peace offerring could be an a animal of the herd, a
Lordd’s Supper, how wever, we receiive the very blood shed on
lamb,, or a goat. Thee purpose was, like the grain offering, not
Calvaary’s cross toggether with the wine to assuree us of our
to efffect atonement but to celebratte covenant uniion. It
bloodd-bought salvaation.
produuced a soothing g aroma, thereb by attesting to God’s
NNew Testamennt counterparts of the fellowship offering
pleasuure with the offferer. So much h was this the case
c that the
mighht also be thougght of as worshhip services in general. As wee
peacee offering actuaally was vieweed as a common n meal in
hear God’s Word, w we are partakinng of the Breadd of Life. As
whichh the Lord, the offerer, and th he priests “sat down”
d
we exxperience its bblessings, we fiind joy in the kknowledge thatt
togethher to share theeir respective parts;
p (see furth
her 7:15–18,
otherrs share these bblessings with uus. Faith is streengthened by
28–344). (Holman Concise
C Bible Commentary)
C
worsshiping with felllow believers..
SSurely it is nott out of place too think of Chriistmas dinners,
THE
E FELLOWSHIP OFFER
RING AND Chrisstian wedding receptions, bapptism dinners, and so on as
THE
E LORD’S SU
UPPER fittinng counterpartss to the Old Tesstament fellow wship offering
A
Although the teerm “fellowship p offering” doees not occur inn too. F For example, aafter attending a Christmas w worship service
the N
New Testament, the distinctivee feature of thiis offering, the in whhich we have rremembered Good’s greatest ggift to man and
eatingg of the festivee meal in comm munion with Go od, does praissed him for his Son’s coming, there is a placce for a festive
resemmble the practicce of the celebrration of the Lo ord’s Supper. meall at which we rrejoice at his prresence in our lives and enjoy y
In Leeviticus the worrshiper is God’’s invited guestt to enjoy the our ffellowship withh him and withh one another.
festivve meal. Similaarly, in the Lord’s Supper the believer is IIt is wonderfull to relish the reelationship wee have with Godd
inviteed to feast regu ularly upon the blood and bod dy of the lamb in Chhrist. But let’s face it. We donn’t always do tthat. There are
of Good.135 The parrticipant is only y warned to be clean in order timess when conscioousness of our sinfulness makkes us feel far
to parrticipate (Lev 7:20;
7 1 Cor 11::27). fromm God. In the O Old Testament, there were bloood sacrifices
T
The focus and mainm feature off the fellowship p offering wass speciifically intendeed for just suchh moments in liife. (The
fellowwship with God d. This fellowsship was made possible by Peopple’s Bible: Levviticus, M. J. L Lenz, pp. 34-355)
atoneement through sacrifice. The fellowship
f offeering was not
presented until the burnt
b offering had
h been madee. In order for A ST
TRANGE REQUIREME
ENT
anyonne to have fello owship with God, an atoning sacrifice on TThere is a strannge requiremennt found chapteer 7:15-18, thee
behallf of the sinner must be made. comppanion passagee to Leviticus 33:
B
Believers of thee New Testameent partake of a meal to “ 15And the flessh of the sacriffice of his peacce offerings for
expreess their fellow wship with God and with one another.
a We thankksgiving shall bbe eaten on thee day of his offfering. He shall
sometimes call it Ho oly Communio on, in order to emphasize
e thiss not leeave any of it uuntil the morniing. 16But if thee sacrifice of
aspecct of it. It is fascinating to seee how the Old Testament
T his o ffering is a vow w offering or a freewill offerring, it shall be
fellowwship offering beautifully forreshadowed thiis sacred meal. eatenn on the day thaat he offers hiss sacrifice, andd on the next
Whenn Jesus instituteed his supper, he referred to the t cup of day w what remains oof it shall be eaaten. 17But whaat remains of
wine as “the new co ovenant in my blood”
b (1 Coriinthians the fl
flesh of the sacrrifice on the thhird day shall bbe burned up
11:255). Thereby, hee alluded to the blood of the old o covenant, with fire. 18If any oof the flesh of thhe sacrifice off his peace
the bllood of burnt offerings
o and feellowship offerrings, that offerring is eaten onn the third day, he who offerss it shall not be
foreshhadowed the sh hedding of his blood on the cross.
c But acceppted, neither shhall it be creditted to him. It iss tainted, and
togethher with the brread and wine, Christ in the saacrament also he wh
who eats of it shhall bear his iniiquity.”
offerss us his true bo ody and blood forf the assuran nce of our IIsn't that a straange requiremeent? As an Israeelite, you could d
forgivveness. eat thhe meat of the peace sacrificee on the day yoou offered it if
Lighthhouse Ministry Discussion Guide – Winter
W 2011 Page 1
This sttudy guide is produuced to coordinatee with the weekly sermon
s series “Offfering: A Study off Leviticus” by Firrst Family Church, Ankeny, IA. Morre resources on thiis
series aare available at ww
ww.firstfamilymin nistries.com. This work is licensed under
u Creative Coommons Attributioon-Non-Commerciial-Share Alike 3.00 Unported license e.
it wass an offering off thanksgiving for some partiicular thing. If if sommething strangge were happenning to you. Insstead, be very
it wass a general exp pression of you ur gratitude to God,
G you glad— —because thesse trials will maake you partneers with Christ
couldd save some of the meat for th he second day. But under no in hiss suffering, andd afterward you will have thee wonderful joy y
circum mstances weree you ever to eaat of the meat of o the peace of shharing his gloryy when it is dissplayed to all thhe world. (1
offeriing on the thirdd day. It had too be burned witth fire. If you Peterr 4:12-13).
omination unto God.
tried tto eat any of itt, it was an abo W
William Lane w writes of the ‘ooffering made by fire’: The
W
What is God saaying through the t symbolism of these salt-ssacrifice metapphor is approprriate to a situation of
requirrements? He iss giving Israel– –and us–some intensely
i suffeering and trial, in which the pprinciple of sacrifice
practiical life truths. He is saying th hat there must be no cultivvated with resppect to the indiividual membeers of the body
separration between the peace that you feel and th he source of is now w severely testted. The discipples must be seeasoned with
that ppeace, the sacriifice which pro ovided it. You must
m not salt, llike the sacrifice. This will taake place throuugh fiery trials,,
separrate the two. In other words, you y must not depend
d upon throuugh which Godd will purge aw way everything contrary to hiss
the feeelings of peace that are given n to you. Don'tt try to live on will.
the baasis of feelingss, but live on th
he basis of youur trust in the
ultim
mate Sacrifice, whow is Jesus alone. YS TO THE TEXT
KEY
O
Once we experiience the peacee of trusting th he work of (From
m the MacArthhur Study Biblee)
Jesus Christ, we oftten say to ourseelves, “Ah! I feeel much
3:1–117 See 7:11–366 for the priestts’ instructionss. The peace
betterr. That is the feeeling of peacee I was seekingg! Now I can
ooffering symboolizes the peace and fellowshhip between thee
continnue on with my b this feeling of God's
y life covered by
ttrue worshiperr and God (as a voluntary offeering). It was
peacee!” In other wo ords, we are temmpted to shift our
o trust from
tthe third freew
will offering ressulting in a sweeet aroma to
Jesus Himself, the OneO who brings peace, to the peaceful
tthe Lord (3:5),, which served as the approprriate corollary
feelinngs themselves. We stop trustting Jesus; we beginb trusting
tto the burnt off
ffering of atoneement and the ggrain offering
emotiions and feelin ngs. And what happens
h then? Within a day
oof consecrationn and dedicatioon. It symbolizzed the fruit of
or two, we find we are a back in thee same mess as before. Our
rredemptive recconciliation bettween a sinnerr and God (cf.
heart is troubled; ou ur mind is distuurbed.
22Co 5:18).
F
Feelings come and go. Only JesusJ Himself is
i the
Cattlle (vs. 1–5)–Peertains to cattlee, i.e., the herd,, used in the
unchaanging Rock we w can depend on. o He will nev ver let us
ppeace offering.
downn. Even though our emotions may change, His H love and
Malee or female (vss. 1-2)–This is similar to the bburnt offering
strenggth never change. We can tru ust the love andd power of our
iin manner of ppresentation (cff. 1:3–9), but ddifferent in that
risen Lord, because He can handlee our problems and crises in
a female was aallowed.
ways we can't begin n to imagine--iff we will trustiingly place
The ffat (v 3)–All oof the fat was ddedicated to thee Lord (3:3–5,
them in His hands. (The ( Way to Wholeness,
W Ray C. Stedman)
99–11, 14–16).
Sheep
ep (vs. 6–11)–P Pertains to sheeep used in the ppeace offering..
AN O
OFFERING MADE BY FIRE
F
TThe phrase occurs several tim mes in the descrriptions of the As foood (v. 11)–Thhe sacrifice wass intended to syymbolize a
offeriings we have beenb exploring but it was in th he account of mmeal between G God and the onne offering it, w
where peace
the peeace offering th hat it is particu
ularly noticeablle. Part of this aand friendship were epitomizzed by sharing that meal
peacee offering mustt be presented to t the LORD as a an offering ttogether.
madee by fire. The priest will burn them on the alltar as food, an n Goatts (vs. 12–16)––Pertains to goaats used in the peace offering g.
offeriing given to thee LORD by firre. (Leviticus 3:5, 9, 11, 14, Not eeat … fat or … blood (v. 17)–The details given in the
16 KJJV). cchapter distincctly define whicch fat was to be burned and
TThe expression n “an offering made
m by fire” reminds
r us of nnot eaten, so thhat whatever addhered to otherr parts or was
something Jesus saiid to his disciplles: “For every yone shall be mmixed with theem might be eaaten. As with m many facets of
saltedd with fire and every sacrificee shall be salted d with salt.” tthe Mosaic leggislation, there were underlyinng health
(Markk 9:49 KJV) bbenefits also.
““Everyone willl be salted with h fire.” (NIV).
““For everyone will
w be purified d with fire.” (N
NLT). ISSU
UES FOR D
DISCUSSION
N
AAs other Scripttures came to mindm I came to see that while
we ceelebrate with grreat joy all that the Lord has done for us, 11. What was the significancce of the peacee offering?
we neeed to keep in mindm that a reffining process isi going on in 22. What formm did the peacee offering take??
our liives. God’s purrpose is that wee may become increasingly 33. What is piictured for us inn the peace offfering?
like C
Christ. The process will not be completed ho owever, until 44. What weree some of the ooccasions on w which the peacee
his reeturn. Peter mentions this fierry furnace as hee writes offerings wwere made?
encouuragingly: 55. What doess the expressioon 'An offering made by fire'
TThese trials aree only to test yo our faith, to shoow that it is say to youu?
strongg and pure. It isi being tested as fire tests and d purifies
gold— —and your faitth is far more precious
p to God d than mere FOR
R FURTHER
R STUDY
gold. So if your faitth remains stron ng after being tried by fiery TTo dig in deeper to many of tthe key conceppts and
trials,, it will bring you
y much praisse and glory an nd honour on teachhings found in Leviticus, be ssure to enroll inn the
the daay when Jesus Christ is reveaaled to the who ole world … comppanion site for this study founnd at
don’tt be surprised at a the fiery trialls you are goin ng through, as elearrning.firstfamillyministries.com.

Lighthhouse Ministry Discussion Guide – Winter

W 2011 Page 2
This sttudy guide is produuced to coordinatee with the weekly sermon
s series “Offfering: A Study off Leviticus” by Firrst Family Church, Ankeny, IA. Morre resources on thiis
series aare available at ww
ww.firstfamilymin nistries.com. This work is licensed under
u Creative Coommons Attributioon-Non-Commerciial-Share Alike 3.00 Unported license e.