Word of Salvation – April 2025
Grain Offerings
Sermon by Rev. Andrew De Vries on Leviticus 2
Scripture reading: Leviticus 2
If you were going to study the topic of Christian living, where in the Bible would you go? Perhaps you’d go to the armour of God in Ephesians 6, and you’d think about how we are to stand firm in our faith against the devil’s lies. Perhaps you’d go to Matthew 18, and consider Jesus’ instructions on forgiveness and how we have every reason to forgive our brothers and sisters in the faith. Perhaps you’d go to Corinthians and look up what it teaches us about sexual ethics, or marriage in the Lord. I bet none of us would have gone to Leviticus to think about Christian living. But that’s what we’re going to do this evening. We’re going to see what the grain offering teaches us about Christian living. You’ll be surprised to find that even though these words were written to ancient Israel nearly 4000 years ago, they have a lot to say to us here and now about how we live out our faith.
There’s something immediately obvious here about this offering that is different from the burnt offering we studied last week. In fact, this is the key difference with all the other Levitical sacrifices – this one doesn’t involve blood. It’s not about a sacrificial animal, yours sins symbolically laid up on them, and their life taken. This is about voluntarily bringing a gift to the Lord, and in this instance the gift was that of grain. When you think about food offered to God, you shouldn’t picture little pagan shrines that you might have seen somewhere on your overseas travels. There’s some incense burning. The worshipper puts food at the front. And that food is for the God to eat, as if they are hungry. That’s not what’s going on here. God doesn’t need anything from us, certainly not food.
Remember that the sacrificial system is what God gives to His people (Lev.17:11). It’s his gift to his covenant people. Showing how sinful people, can relate to a Holy God. And so he gives them a sacrifice of atonement, a burnt offering, as a gift, to show us how we are able to come into his presence. But here the Lord gives us instructions on what a sacrifice of praise looks like for his people. Again it’s a gift to us, showing us how we are to relate and to respond to this holy God. And this grain offering gives us 3 abc’s of the Christian life.
Let’s have a quick look at the details.
There are three main types of grain offerings. In verses 1-3 there was your raw ingredients option. You simply present your flour, oil and incense to the priest. And these were not small amounts. In other places in the Bible where the grain offering is mentioned, the estimates are that it is about 12-16 cups of flour, and probably about 1 litre of olive oil in the mix. So it was a fairly substantial offering (Ex.29:40, Num.15:4).
Your second option was your cooked grain offering in vs.4-10. You could oven-bake it – makes a loaf of bread, cook it on a griddle, that’s open fire cooking with it on a plate with holes – it produced a hard thin cake, or cook it in a pan to make something like a pancake.
Then from verses 14-16 there is the first-fruits grain offering. After harvesting the first part of the grain crop, you would then prepare it and bring it to the temple and offer it to the Lord.
So, 3 types of offerings, but the procedure was the same for each. You would make this offering voluntarily. When you brought it the priest would take a handful and burn it on the altar. It was called the memorial portion. And that would rise as a pleasing aroma to the Lord. And the rest of that offering would become the property of the priest. So, pretty exciting so far, but what does it all mean? What does it teach us? Three things about Christian living.
Firstly, the grain offering teaches us the logic of the Christian life
The grain offering was essentially an offering of thanksgiving and consecration to God. The worshipper is thanking the Lord for his covenant mercies and provisions. That’s what first-fruits is all about. It’s the worshipper saying, I wouldn’t have a harvest if God didn’t make that crop grow. I wouldn’t even have any land, if God didn’t keep his promise to give it to me. So thank you Lord for your goodness. And that memorial portion, that little handful of the grain the priest put on the altar… that didn’t mean some for the Lord, and the rest is for me. It was a representative part. It was the worshipper saying, all I have in terms of my crop belongs to you. Everything is yours. It’s all a gift from you. And so I thank you Lord.
And this teaches us the logic of the Christian life. There is a very important pattern in the series of sacrifices in the book of Leviticus. The first sacrifice is the burnt offering. It’s what God gave to the Israelites so that they could find acceptance with him. He provided for them a substitutionary animal, who would die in their place, and who would be completely consumed in the flames, so that the worshipper could be accepted before God. It is a picture of the work of Christ. He was the lamb without blemish who was completely consumed in the fires of God’s judgement so that sinners could be accepted before a Holy God. And what is the appropriate step to take if you have been accepted by God? Thanksgiving..! You say thank you Lord. ‘Wholehearted thanksgiving to your I will bring, In praise of your marvellous grace I will sing.’
The burnt offering was made morning and night at the tabernacle. It was the most frequent offering in the sacrificial system. And there was almost always one offering that followed it. Guess what it was? The grain offering. What’s the logic? The logic is: it’s grace and then gratitude. It’s what we see on Mt Sinai. The people are delivered from slavery to Egypt, and then they are called to live lives of obedience to the Ten Words God lays down for them. It’s the pattern of Romans. Eleven chapters recounting God’s stunning grace to his people, and then chapter 12. “In view of God’s mercy, offer your bodies as living sacrifices…!” It’s the pattern of the Heidelberg Catechism: Guilt, Grace, and then …Gratitude. It is the pattern of the Christian life, embedded into the very heart and soul of the sacrificial system. Grace calls for a response of heartfelt thanksgiving.
We actually have an example in the Bible of the kind of thing an Israelite might say when he brought a grain offering to the tabernacle. Turn with me to Deut.26. There we find laws about Offerings of First-fruits and Tithes. And remember that first-fruits could be offered as a grain offering. And so when you came and set your first=fruits before the Lord, this is what you would say… [READ vs.5-11.] What’s the worshipper doing? He’s remember God’s grace. His grace in choosing Abraham. His grace in delivering the people out of Egypt. His grace in bringing them into a land flowing with milk and honey, and he’s saying, thank you Lord. I praise you Lord for your grace.
So shouldn’t our response of thanksgiving and praise be far greater than the Israelite worshipper. Because we see more clearly than them, how God’s grace has been expressed to us in the person of Jesus Christ. We’ve been shown grace in being brought into the family of Abraham, at the cost of the Son of God. We’ve been shown grace in being delivered from slavery to death and sin and hell, through the death and resurrection of Jesus. And our inheritance is not some bit of real estate in the Middle East which you can be kicked out of, where the crops might not grow, where you might have periods of drought and misery. Our inheritance is the new heavens and the new earth; this is what Jesus has won for us. Don’t you have a reason to bring your grain offering of thanks and praise to the Lord. It’s the logic of the Christian life.
They don’t teach logic in many schools these days. But the Christian is the person who has been taught the logic of grace deep down in their heart. In response to God’s grace, they can’t help but say, ‘All that I am, and all that I have is yours Lord.’ This is why we come to worship isn’t it? Because we’ve been saved by Grace..! This is why we live distinct lives from the rest of the world, because we’ve been saved by Grace and we want to be the Lord’s special people, a people separate for the Lord and his service. This is why we give to the work of the Lord. Not because it’s expected of members here, but because we’ve been saved by grace, and we want to say, thank you Lord for your grace to me. And that leads to our second point.
Secondly, the grain offering teaches us the interdependency of the Christian life
There was a very practical reason the Lord commanded the grain offering. It was so that the priests who worked at the tabernacle had something to eat. They were your O.T. gospel labourers, and they needed to be provided for. Because they were called to give their full time labours at the tabernacle, and so they couldn’t work their own land. So, when an Israelite brought their grain offering, the priest took one handful which was burnt on the altar, but the rest was for him. God’s covenant people were required to provide for God’s gospel labourers so they could devote themselves to ministry. So the priest were dependent upon the people for theirs daily needs.
Now before you think you might drop off on my doorstep tomorrow morning, a grain offering. Because, hey, it’s a cheaper option than tithing [if you do want to give a grain offering, I prefer the pancake offering]. I want you to be aware that this was not a cheap way to thank the Lord, and at the same time provide for the gospel labourers. The incense referred to here is frankincense. And frankincense was costly. It is paired together with gold in some passages of the Bible (Is.60:6). And what’s the most famous record of frankincense in Scripture? The magi bring King Jesus gold and frankincense. So this is quality incense. And the flour used is fine flour. It’s not the rubbish, it’s top shelf, requiring a lot of labour. So these are quality gifts in both monetary and labour terms. And they were to provide for the necessities of life for the gospel labourers.
Paul uses this OT example of grain offerings as justification for paying gospel labourers. The reason you pay a stipend to your minister, is not because of tradition. Or it’s the law of the land and you’ve got to abide by the award. Or because you like us so much and you just like to give us gifts. It’s because God commands it. Paul says in 1Cor 9:13, ‘Don’t you know that those who serve in the temple get there food from the temple. And those who serve at the altar (ie.priests) share in what is offered on the altar. In the same way the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel.’ Put simply, the church is responsible for meeting the practical needs of those who minister the gospel. And just so you are aware, I’m thankful this is practiced in this congregation of the Lord.
But this also reflects another biblical principle. That our lives are not lived as atomised individuals, but we’re an interdependent body of people. You depend on me, I depend upon you. I depend upon you for physical provisions, and you depend on me for spiritual provisions through the word and sacrament. And when we are living these interdependent lives as the Lord calls us to, we bring blessing to each other. Your enthusiasm and participation and presence in worship, blesses others and encourages them to worship. Your willingness to make a meal for a new mother in the congregation, brings a blessing to them. Serving in your church with your gifts, blesses the other members. Your giving to the work of the church, blesses me and many other ministries we contribute towards. Our grain offerings, bring blessing to many.
But notice that this provision for priests is not just for practical reasons. The priests are provided for, so that they can do something very important. There’s something really, really, important to the LORD. Did you notice what it was? Worship..! No priests, meant no tabernacle worship. That actually happened in Nehemiah’s time – the Levites had to work the land because the people weren’t bringing offerings and the temple and its worship was neglected.
The Lord’s priority is that he be worshipped and praised for who he is, and all that He’s done. God considers it a priority for him to receive the adoration he deserves. John Piper said, ‘Missions exists, because worship doesn’t.’ That’s the whole reason for mission and for gospel labourers, so that people would come to know the glories of Jesus Christ, and then they’d come and bow before him, and worship and adore him. And so this should be our priority as well. Worship should be a priority for us – and I know it is otherwise you wouldn’t be here. But we should also want to see others who don’t know the Lord come to know him and want to worship Him. That’s what the grain offering teaches us. We need to give, to give to the work of missions and to support gospel labourers, so that Jesus would be adored and worshipped by people from every tribe and language and nation.
Finally, the grain offering teaches us about loyalty in the Christian life.
The language of the covenant pervades this passage. Covenant is the shape of our relationship with God. If you want to understand your relationship with God, and you want to grow in that relationship with Him, you need to know what a covenant is. In the covenant relationship we have with God, he initiates the relationships, he provides the means for us to have that relationship by saving us through Christ, he promises to be faithful to us in this relationships, and then he calls us to faithful to Him as well.
We see this covenant motif in the name of the offering. It is the ‘minhah’ offering. Minhah was a word that was used to describe tribute. Tribute would be paid by an inferior subject people, to their covenant Lord (for an example see Judges 3:15). That is what we have here in the grain offering. A subject people, giving ‘minhah’ to their covenant Lord.
But this is not some impersonal transaction between a subjugated people and the emperor they don’t know and they don’t love. This not like Australia being subjugated by China, and then they force us to pay them taxes. We would only very begrudgingly give, if that were the case. We’d bring tribute just to make sure we stayed out of trouble. That’s how many people think about OT religion. You begrudgingly brought some sacrifice to God to keep Him from doing bad things to you. That it’s cold, and impersonal, and there is no heart or love in it.
But God didn’t ask for sacrifices and offerings like that. He doesn’t want you to come to church just to tick off a box. I’ve done my bit for God. No, these were voluntary offerings that the worshipper brought to their faithful covenant God. Perhaps the reason there are options for what you can bring, is so that the worshipper is thinking. I know my baked bread is just so good and everyone else loves it, so that’s what I’m going to make for my God because I want to give Him my best. These were meant to be personal acts of affection given in love to their covenant Lord.
And that leads us to the ingredients. Two ingredients are not allowed to be offered – leaven or honey (vs.11). The reason for that is not given in the text, so I’m not going to speculate[1]. But one ingredient was indispensable to the grain offering. The heart foundation wouldn’t be pleased about this, but 3 times the worshippers are told, don’t forget the salt. Vs.13 ‘Season all your grain offerings with salt. Do not leave the salt of the covenant of your God out of your grain offerings; add salt to all your offerings.’ Now, some might conclude from this, that God does not like bland food and so that justifies us liberally putting salt on whatever we like. But this is not trying to give us some kind of bible recipe tips. These offerings were not eaten by God. This is called salt of the covenant. Salt was a symbol of permanence. Two other times the Bible speaks about a covenant of salt, and it refers to something will last forever (Numbers 18:19, 2Chron 13:15). So as the worshipper comes and brings his/her grain offering. It’s as if God is saying, this covenant relationship. I’ll be loyal to it. I’ll keep all my promises and commitments to you. You can count on me, I’ll be loyal no matter what.
And that’s good news. Because if you are walking through darkness this evening. If life feels so bleak that you wonder if God has forgotten you. If arthritis has followed prostate surgery which has followed a bad back. If the sorrows of family life just don’t go away and you really wonder if God loves you. Well, remember, God has made a covenant of salt. God will be loyal to you. He will keep all his promises to you. Nothing will snatch you from his hands. That’s what he wants the Israelites to remember as they bring a grain offering.
And God has given us something to remember his loyalty to us. He’s made a new covenant with us. Not with salt. But in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we have a covenant meal that we celebrate every month. The Lord’s Supper. Which reminds us that the Lord will be loyal to us, he’ll keep his covenant. It seems just like the O.T. people, we need visual reminders of the grace and faithfulness of the Lord. The Lord’s Supper is provided for us weak and weary pilgrims. For those who need strength and encouragement to press on. For those who need to hear again and again and again the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ was poured out for the complete forgiveness of all our sins. For those who are all too aware of their failures, who know they are not worthy to sit at the table with the King, but who need to hear from God: I know you, and I love you, and I always will. Because I’m your faithful covenant God. I’m loyal to the covenant.
And what kind of response does this call from us? That we would be loyal to our covenant King. When we celebrate the Lord’s Supper – and in fact every time we meet to worship – we are renewing our covenant promises to be loyal to the Lord. We are saying, whatever comes, whatever challenges we face, whatever the world throws at us… I will be loyal to my covenant God. Because you’ve loved me, you’ve purchased me, you’ve blessed me, you’ve bought me into your family. And you’ll never let me go. So, Lord, I won’t let you go either. I want to be loyal to you not just for a season. But for every day of my life. Oh give me the grace to do that. Oh give me the grace to live out the words of the that great hymn, ‘Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were an offering far to small, love so amazing, so divine, demands my life, my soul my all.’ That’s what the grain offering is teaching us. We have a faithful covenant God. Let’s be His faithful people.
AMEN
[1] The grain offerings were to be made without leaven (2:11, NIV “yeast”) and honey probably because these ingredients cause fermentation or decay. In addition, as noted above, honey like leaven, was widely used in pagan cults and was thus also prohibited. New American Commentary on Leviticus