Discipleship – the first thing belongs to God

Date: 25 August 2024 | Pre­a­cher:
Series: | Bible text: Levi­ti­cus 23:9–14; 1 Corin­thi­ans 15:12–23; Colos­si­ans 1:18
Hint: This ser­mon has been machi­ne trans­la­ted. Plea­se note that we can­not accept any respon­si­bi­li­ty for the accu­ra­cy of the content.

The peo­p­le of Isra­el were ins­truc­ted to cele­bra­te fes­ti­vals at cer­tain times as soon as they were in the Pro­mi­sed Land. One of the­se is the Feast of First­fruits. The first part of the grain har­ve­st belongs to God. Only when this has been sacri­fi­ced may the rest be eaten. Jesus Christ rose from the dead on the Feast of First­fruits. In a sen­se, he is also the first of many, as is the case with grain – he is the first to rise from the dead. Through the resur­rec­tion of Jesus, fol­lo­wers of Jesus have the cer­tain­ty that they too will one day rise from the dead. The first­fruits is a prin­ci­ple that expres­ses two things. On the one hand, it is a sign of gra­ti­tu­de towards God’s care and mer­cy. On the other hand, it indi­ca­tes that «the­re is more to come».


The first harvest belongs to God

«You should cele­bra­te the fes­ti­vals as they fall» was a song that was published almost fif­ty years ago. This mor­ning we are going to talk about a feast. A cele­bra­ti­on has the cha­rac­ter of a remem­brance and also of loo­king for­ward. Good things are remem­be­red and this is usual­ly fol­lo­wed by a look ahead to what may yet come. The­re are also some fes­ti­vals in the Jewish-Chris­ti­an tra­di­ti­on. The­se are part of the faith. The­re are two types of fes­ti­vals. On the one hand, the­re are tho­se in the annu­al cycle, such as Christ­mas and Eas­ter. On the other hand, the­re are various fes­ti­vals in life tran­si­ti­ons. The­re are fes­ti­vals in con­nec­tion with birth, the attain­ment of reli­gious matu­ri­ty, mar­ria­ge and, last but not least, death and fun­e­rals. Fes­ti­vals are an expres­si­on of the fact that God has led us this far and will con­ti­nue to do so bey­ond. The peo­p­le of Isra­el were pro­mi­sed a land by God. They will farm the­re. God is a God of life. He gives life and ever­y­thing that goes with it. He is a God who is at the cent­re of life. He the­r­e­fo­re gives ins­truc­tions for a sacri­fi­ci­al feast that is con­nec­ted to the first har­ve­st. The peo­p­le of Isra­el recei­ve the­se ins­truc­tions even befo­re they have seen the Pro­mi­sed Land. «Then the LORD com­man­ded Moses, «Give the­se ins­truc­tions to the Israe­li­tes: «When you come into the land that I will give you and bring in the grain har­ve­st, you shall give the first she­af of your grain to the priest. […] Until that day, until you have offe­red this sacri­fice to your God, düYou don’t get any bread and noöeat fresh grain from the new har­ve­st. This order appli­es toüalways forüfor you and your des­cen­dants, whe­re­ver you live» » (Levi­ti­cus 23:9–14 NLB). This feast is the feast of the so-cal­led first­fruits. It con­cerns the first part of the har­ve­st, the first she­af of grain that was bound tog­e­ther. This feast imme­dia­te­ly fol­lows the Pas­so­ver. At Pas­so­ver, the peo­p­le remem­ber the Exodus from Egypt. I pre­a­ched more exten­si­ve­ly about this on Good Fri­day, so I will not go into it fur­ther here. At the Feast of First­fruits, the peo­p­le offer the first har­ve­st to God. This is the focus of today’s ser­mon. This feast is fol­lo­wed by the Feast of Weeks (Shavuot). Which is cele­bra­ted seven weeks plus one day after Pas­so­ver – i.e. a total of fif­ty days after­wards. It is a har­ve­st fes­ti­val and I will only men­ti­on it in pas­sing today.

For some time now, we have been focus­sing on the peo­p­le of Isra­el. I would like to take a brief look at the under­stan­ding of the rela­ti­onship with God in the Old and New Tes­ta­ments. It is often unders­tood in this way: The Old Tes­ta­ment was about the law. In the New Tes­ta­ment, the focus is enti­re­ly on grace. It seems as if we are deal­ing with a dif­fe­rent God or at least a dif­fe­rent rela­ti­onship with God. But this is not the case. «Ever­y­thing that is good and per­fect is given to us from abo­ve, from God, who crea­ted all the lights of hea­ven. Unli­ke them, he does not chan­ge, nor does he alter­na­te bet­ween light and dark­ness» (James 1:17 NLB) God does not chan­ge. But why then can the fee­ling ari­se that the God of the Old Tes­ta­ment is dif­fe­rent from the God of the New Tes­ta­ment? In my opi­ni­on, this is due to the too firm focus on the law in the Old Tes­ta­ment. It would the­r­e­fo­re be appro­pria­te to chan­ge the under­stan­ding. The new and old covenants are roo­ted in God’s act of sal­va­ti­on. In the New Tes­ta­ment, Jesus Christ takes the guilt of the world upon hims­elf and pays for it. In the Old Tes­ta­ment, God leads Isra­el out of Egypt – befo­re any human obli­ga­ti­on. Even in the Old Tes­ta­ment, no one is saved on the basis of their own per­for­mance. It is the­r­e­fo­re also signi­fi­cant that the Feast of First­fruits comes after the Pas­so­ver. The feast in which peo­p­le are sup­po­sed to do some­thing for God fol­lows the feast that reminds us of what God has done for mankind.

The Feast of First­fruits is a remin­der of this and shows that ever­y­thing should begin with God: Ever­y­thing should be star­ted with God and ever­y­thing depends on him. In the Old Tes­ta­ment it is said that not only the first grain belongs to God. But also «Con­se­cra­te to me all the first­born sons of the Israe­li­tes and every first­born male ani­mal. They are mine!» (Exodus 13:2 NLB). By con­ce­ding the­se things to God, the gra­teful reco­gni­ti­on of God’s mer­cy is shown. It is an expres­si­on of the fact that ever­y­thing belongs to God and that pro­vi­si­on depends on him.

Succession from the perspective of the first fruits

So what does this feast of first fruits mean in con­cre­te terms for my fol­lo­wing of Jesus? In prac­ti­cal terms, this can be seen in ritu­als of gra­ti­tu­de. In our fami­ly, this is most evi­dent at meal­times. To a cer­tain ext­ent, fes­ti­vals ful­fil the same func­tion. They are ritu­als of gra­ti­tu­de and remem­brance. Around the Feast of First­fruits in par­ti­cu­lar, the­re are a total of three feasts that are rela­ted to Chris­ti­an holi­days. First­ly, the­re is the Pas­so­ver. Our Good Fri­day ori­gi­na­ted from this. On this day, an inno­cent lamb had to die as a sub­sti­tu­te for the guilt of man­kind. In the end, Jesus died for the guilt of man­kind and thus recon­ci­led crea­ti­on with God. This is fol­lo­wed by the Feast of First­fruits. The first of the har­ve­st of the pro­mi­sed land belongs to God. Eas­ter Sun­day, the day of Jesus Christ’s resur­rec­tion from the dead, cor­re­sponds exact­ly to this day. Jesus is the first of the New Crea­ti­on. «[…]. He is the begin­ning and the first to rise from the dead, so that he may be first in ever­y­thing» (Colos­si­ans 1:18 NLB). Fol­lo­wers of Jesus share in the resur­rec­tion. Jesus died as a lamb at Pas­so­ver and rose again at the Feast of First­fruits. The third feast is Shavuot. It is the har­ve­st fes­ti­val on the 50th day after Pas­so­ver. The Chris­ti­an holi­day of Pen­te­cost cor­re­sponds to this and thus got its name. Pen­te­kos­te is Greek and means «the fif­tieth». On this holi­day, the Holy Spi­rit came upon the fol­lo­wers of Jesus.

The first­fruits are an indi­ca­ti­on that the­re is more to come. The Israe­li­tes trus­ted God that the­re was more to come. They con­fi­dent­ly shared the first, in the know­ledge of their depen­dence on God. The resur­rec­tion of Jesus Christ on Eas­ter Sun­day is cen­tral for fol­lo­wers. This is argued at length by Paul and I do not want to with­hold this from you. «But now I ask you: If we preach that Christ has risen from the dead, how can some of you say that the­re is no resur­rec­tion of the dead? If the­re is näIf the­re is no resur­rec­tion of the dead, then Christ has not risen eit­her. And if Christ has not risen, then our prea­ching was wort­hl­ess and your trust in God is also in vain. Yes, in this caseäIf we apost­les even had Lügen üWe have affirm­ed that God rai­sed Christ from the dead, and this can­not be true if the­re is no resur­rec­tion from the dead. For if the­re is no resur­rec­tion of the dead, then Christ has not risen eit­her. But if Christ is not risen, then your faith is use­l­ess, and you are still in your sütrap­ped in the ground. In this caseäall peo­p­le who have died in faith in Christ are lost! If faith in Christ is only forüIf this life gives us hope, we are the most mise­ra­ble peo­p­le in the world» (1 Corin­thi­ans 15:12–19 NLB). Becau­se Jesus rose from the dead, fol­lo­wers of him know that the­re is more to come. Name­ly, his own resur­rec­tion at the end of days. Fol­lo­wers of Jesus can be con­fi­dent in their depen­dence on God. In this way, they can also give back to him some­thing of what God has given them. Becau­se they know that ever­y­thing comes from God.

Earthly principle with a heavenly end

The feast of the first­fruits is an earth­ly prin­ci­ple with a hea­ven­ly end. Jesus Christ is the type of the first­fruits. This means that Jesus is the ful­film­ent of what is indi­ca­ted here in the Old Tes­ta­ment. The resur­rec­tion of the dead has alre­a­dy been brief­ly allu­ded to. Fol­lo­wers of Jesus share in the resur­rec­tion of Jesus. We con­ti­nue rea­ding in Corin­thi­ans. «But now Christ is the first to rise from the dead. Just as death came into the world through one man – Adam – the resur­rec­tion from the dead has now begun through ano­ther man – Christ. Peo­p­le die becau­se they are all rela­ted to Adam. Like­wi­se, through Christ all are made ali­ve and recei­ve new life. But the­re is an order: Christ first, and when he comes again, then tho­se who belong to him» (1 Corin­thi­ans 15:20–23 NLB). Jesus is the first. The Greek word here is «apar­che», which means first­fruits. This word is also used in the trans­la­ti­on of the Old Tes­ta­ment from Hebrew into Greek. This means that Jesus is the first­fruits laid out in the Old Tes­ta­ment. The first­fruits is a refe­rence to more. It is a refe­rence to the resur­rec­tion from the dead at the return of Jesus Christ. It has not yet hap­pen­ed, but it is a refe­rence to it.

For the Israe­li­tes, the Pro­mi­sed Land was the goal of their lon­ging. When the peo­p­le crossed the Jor­dan, they ente­red the pro­mi­sed land. The­re they cele­bra­te the Pas­so­ver. «On the day after the Pas­so­ver, they ate unlea­ve­ned bread and roas­ted grain that they had har­ve­s­ted in the new land. From that day on, the­re was never again any man­na, and the Israe­li­tes fed on the fruit of Cana­an that very year» (Joshua 5:11–12 NLB). The man­na cea­sed. But not God’s pro­vi­si­on. From now on, God pro­vi­des his peo­p­le with grain, etc. As a thank­ful ack­now­led­ge­ment of God’s mer­cy, they should now cele­bra­te the Feast of First­fruits. For the fol­lo­wers of Jesus, eter­ni­ty with God is the goal they long for. Once they are united with God. The Holy Spi­rit, who works in the fol­lo­wers, gives so-cal­led spi­ri­tu­al gifts here on earth. In his let­ter to the Corin­thi­ans, St Paul wri­tes a trea­tise on various such gifts which the Spi­rit of God bestows. At the end he wri­tes: «Love will never cea­se, even if pro­phe­cy, spea­king in unknown lan­guages and know­ledge will pass away. Now we reco­g­ni­se only a litt­le, and even our pro­phe­tic speech reve­als only a litt­le! But when per­fec­tion appears at the end, the litt­le will cea­se.öI was a child. When I was a child, I tal­ked and thought and made jud­ge­ments like a child. But when I grew up, I shed my chil­dish­ness. Now we still see things imper­fect­ly, as if in a dream.üI will not be able to see mys­elf in a mir­ror, but then we will reco­g­ni­se ever­y­thing with com­ple­te cla­ri­ty. Ever­y­thing I know now is incom­ple­te, but then I will reco­g­ni­se ever­y­thing as God alre­a­dy knows me. Faith, hope and love, the­se three remain. But the grea­testössis love» (1 Corin­thi­ans 13:8–13 NLB).

In Jesus Christ, the type of first­fruits, fol­lo­wers of Jesus know that they too will rise from the dead. The earth­ly prin­ci­ple is that ever­y­thing belongs to God. Espe­ci­al­ly the first and the best. The hea­ven­ly end means that through the first­fruits of «Jesus», fol­lo­wers of him have a share in it. Jesus expres­ses this earth­ly prin­ci­ple with a hea­ven­ly end as fol­lows. «Make the king­dom of God your most important con­cern, live in God’s righ­teous­ness and he will give you ever­y­thing you need» (Matthew 6:33 NLB).

Possible questions for the small group

Read Bible text: Levi­ti­cus 23:9–14 and 1 Corin­thi­ans 15:12–23

  1. Fes­ti­vals mark life tran­si­ti­ons or cer­tain moments in the annu­al cycle. Which Chris­ti­an fes­ti­val appeals to you the most? What makes it so spe­cial for you?
  2. Jesus Christ is the type of the first­fruits. He is the ful­film­ent of what is laid out in the Old Tes­ta­ment. How does this mani­fest its­elf? What does this mean for you?
  3. What does this prin­ci­ple of first­fruits have to say for your fol­lo­wing of Jesus?
  4. How do you feel about the resur­rec­tion from the dead? Can you belie­ve in it as cle­ar­ly as it is writ­ten in 1 Corin­thi­ans? Whe­re do you have doubts? What pre­vents you from doing so?