Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Prayer Meeting Lesson Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/pm/pm20010404.htm

LEVITICUS: GOD'S CALL FOR A SEPARATED WITNESS
Part II: The Path Of Walking In Fellowship With God (Leviticus 11-27)
Q. Revealing How Our Efforts For God Can Be Acceptable
(Leviticus 27:1-34)
  1. Introduction
    1. One of the greatest needs we humans have is the need to achieve something worthwhile in our lives.
    2. For the believer, doing something for God or giving something to Him that is of value by way of Christian service is important, and God Himself wants us to be productive, John 15:8.
    3. Leviticus 27:1-34 reveals how our service efforts for God can be acceptable in His sight (as follows):
  2. Revealing How Our Efforts For God Can Be Acceptable, Leviticus 27:1-34.
    1. In ending Leviticus, God had Moses write a chapter on freewill vows, Lev. 27:1. This chapter climaxes the holy walk with God, focusing on making our efforts and gifts for God be acceptable in practical ways!
    2. As such, the following directives reveal how our efforts and gifts for God as believers can be acceptable:
      1. When a party chose to dedicate a slave or family member to the Lord in the equivalent of money, the value was to be set at a price high enough to make it valuable to the giver, Leviticus 27:1-8:
        1. The values set on the worth of a male or female slave or family member dedicated to the Lord were based on the worth of the party as a worker, Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, ftn. Leviticus 27:3-7.
        2. Hence, persons given to God were valued at levels matching their personal labor values, 27:3-7.
        3. Now, a poor man might dedicate a party who was worth beyond the poor man's means to pay in equivalency values. In such a case, the poor giver had the priest set the value of what was paid proportional to what he could afford, Lev. 27:8 (cf. the widow's mite in Mk. 12:41-44). The point was, the one giving to the Lord would give what was VALUABLE to himself as God was not to be given what was cheap to the GIVER, J. Vernon McGee, Thru The Bible, vol. 1, p. 448.
      2. When a man had a sacrificial animal to give to the Lord, once he decided it was God's, he was not to greedily to alter or exchange it, good for bad or vice-versa, but keep his pledge unto the Lord, 27:9-10.
      3. Though a ceremonially unclean animal not permitted for sacrifice could be given, the giver was to have the animal appraised by the priest and pay that sum plus 20 % for giving an unclean animal, 27:11-13. This would motivate people to avoid being tempted out of greed to give only unclean animals they could still keep for their business efforts rather than lose clean animals through sacrifice altogether.
      4. When a house was given to the Lord, it was appraised in value by the priest, and a mortgage was set up whereby the giver was to pay for it en route to having the house become fully God's. If a man decided to redeem the house, or failed to pay mortgage to God this way, he was to add 20% to the principal, 27:14-15, Ibid., McGee, p. 450. This kept people serious about their promises to the Lord!
      5. Though people could dedicate their land to the Lord, the land was appraised at the value of what it could produce coupled with the years remaining before the Year of Jubilee when the land returned to the original owners, Lev. 27:16-25, Ibid. This kept people from boasts of dedicating all of their land when they stood to lose only a year's worth of crops, ensuring gifts were true expressions of worship.
      6. The firstborn of man and animal already belonged to God, so they could not be given to God, 27:26-27
      7. In certain cases, God claimed people, animals or things belonged to Himself, and these were not permitted to be used as gifts. The spoil of Jericho was in this category, cf. Joshua 7, Lev. 27:28-29.
      8. Also, a tenth of the produce of the land, trees and animals belonged to God, so they could not be given as man's gifts to God, Lev. 27:30-33. For practical inconveniences, God allowed portions of these tithes to be substituted in terms of money plus 20%, cf. Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, ftn. Lev. 27:30-33, 34.
Lesson: Our gifts to God in terms of finances, service, etc. are ACCEPTABLE providing (1) we not only obey God and are right with Him in our lives, but our (2) offerings are (a) of true value to US, (b) are items that do not already belong to God in a monetary way, (c) are gifts given free of the false motives of greed and (d) pride, and (e) are issues given with all seriousness as real GIFTS!

Application: Aside from our personal practical holiness, God's acceptance of our service or gifts is based upon the quality of our ATTITUDE toward Him as seen in HOW and WHAT we give to Him!