We Pledge to Bring the Firstfruits
Nehemiah 10:35-39 We pledge to bring the firstfruits of our land and the firstfruits of every kind of fruit tree to the house of our God for ourselves. 36We also will bring the firstborn of our sons and our animals, as is written in the Law, and we will bring the firstborn of our cattle and flocks to the house of our God for the priests who serve in the house of our God, 37and we will bring the first of our dough and our contributions and the fruit of every tree. We will bring new wine and olive oil to the priests, to the storerooms of the house of our God, and we will bring the tithe from our land to the Levites. It is the Levites who collect the tithes in all the cities where we work. 38A priest, a descendant of Aaron, will be with the Levites when the Levites collect the tithes. The Levites will bring a tenth of the tithes up to the house of our God, to the chambers of the treasury, 39because the Israelites and the sons of Levi are to bring the contribution from the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil to the storerooms where the vessels of the sanctuary are kept, where the priests, the gatekeepers, and the singers serve. In this way we will not abandon the house of our God.
Jesus challenges, “If anyone wants to follow me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me” (Mark 8:34). Amen.
The nation of Israel had pledged numerous times throughout their history to be faithful to the one true God. They broke their pledge numerous times and worshiped false gods.
To discipline his unfaithful children, God allowed the nation of Israel to be captured by the Babylonian Empire. They were taken from their homeland and forced to live in exile for 70 years in Babylon.
After the Medo-Persian Empire defeated the Babylonian Empire, King Cyrus – the Persian King – allowed Ezra to return with exiles to Israel to rebuild the temple in 457 BC. Nehemiah was allowed to return to Israel with more exiles twelve years later to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, which had been in ruins for over one hundred years. Nehemiah joined with Ezra in the more important spiritual rebuilding of Israel.
The work of rebuilding Jerusalem’s walls and the rebuilding of the temple was tough … but now everything was finished. As part of the rededication of the wall and the temple, the people gathered together. Listen to what they said. “We pledge to bring the firstfruits of our land and the firstfruits of every kind of fruit tree to the house of our God for ourselves. We also will bring the firstborn of our sons and our animals, as is written in the Law, and we will bring the firstborn of our cattle and flocks to the house of our God for the priests who serve in the house of our God, and we will bring the first of our dough and our contributions and the fruit of every tree. We will bring new wine and olive oil to the priests, to the storerooms of the house of our God, and we will bring the tithe from our land to the Levites” (Nehemiah 10:35-37a).
The people of Israel want to fulfill Solomon’s wise proverbial words, “Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits from your entire harvest. Then your barns will be filled to capacity, and your wine vats will overflow with fresh wine” (Proverbs 3:9, 10). They pledged to God the firstfruits of their vegetables, fruit, grain, wine, oil, bread, herds, cattle, and even the firstborn of their sons. They pledged to give God the firstfruits of basically everything.
Firstfruits are the first of your harvest or the best of your flock. If you grow tomatoes, peppers, or snap peas in your garden, you pick the first of your harvest and give that to God trusting you’ll
receive more tomatoes, peppers, and snap peas later. You God the first and best. Then you live on the leftovers.
But what do we often do? We keep the best for ourselves. Then we give God the leftovers. We earn our income and then use it to pay bills, put gas in our vehicle, buy groceries, and spend some on entertainment. After we have taken care of ourselves, then we decide what we want to give to God in our offerings.
Do you see how backward that is?!
The children of Israel tried that during the time of Malachi – who is around the time of Ezra and Nehemiah. Listen to what God says about their backwards giving practices. “When you bring a blind animal as a sacrifice, isn’t that evil? When you bring something lame and sick, isn’t that evil? Try bringing that to your governor. Would he be pleased with you? Would he receive you with favor? This is what the LORD of Armies says” (Malachi 1:8).
The people are bringing God the second-bests and leftovers – the blind, the sick, and lame animals. And God is ticked! He asks if their governor would be pleased with those kinds of sick sacrifices. Yet they tried with their God. He calls it “evil.”
These are strong words. Strong words meant not only for the children of Israel in the Old Testament. Strong words also for us today in the Christian Church in 2024. God is ticked when we cheat him out of the first and best! He is the God of the Universe. Our Creator. Redeemer. Sanctifier. King of kings. Lord of lords. He doesn’t deserve leftovers. He doesn’t desire second-bests.
Do you get the point? When you set aside your firstfruits for God – your first and best – and live on the rest, two things happen. First, you show God that he really is number one in your life, worthy of more than the occasional leftover, but worthy of top billing. Second, you can expect that a delighted God who receives blessing from you will bless you in return with physical and spiritual blessing. He promises that later in Malachi. “Bring the complete tithe to the storehouse so that there may be food in my house. Just test me in this, says the LORD of Armies. See whether I do not open for you the windows of heaven and pour down blessing on you, until there is more than enough” (Malachi 3:10).
The people of Israel made a pledge that day. They made a commitment to bring God their firstfruits.
It’s OK for us as Christians to make pledges, too. We pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. We pledge in our confirmation vows to be faithful even to the point of death rather than fall away from our Christian faith. We can make a pledge to give God our best and live off the rest.
The people of Israel also pledged to support their church. They knew one of the reasons they were commanded to give was so their church – their temple, priests, and Levites – would be provided for. They pledged to no longer neglect the house of God. “In this way we will not abandon the house of our God” (Nehemiah 10:39b).
There are a lot of ways to destroy something. Do you know one of the easiest ways? Neglect it. How do you destroy a garden that was once productive and thriving? What do you do? Nothing! Just neglect it. Don’t water it. Don’t fertilize it. Just let the weeds take over.
How do you destroy a car? How can you ruin it? Do nothing! Just neglect it. Don’t change the oil. Don’t replace the filters. Don’t wash off the salt or dirt.
What about a church? How does a once growing and thriving church die? The same way. God’s people neglect it. They don’t pray for it. Aren’t involved in its ministries. Don’t worship in it. Don’t invite others to worship in it. Don’t financially support it. Over time it will happen. It happens to about 4500 churches annually in America.
The paint fades. The wood cracks. The people age and die. There aren’t new members, babies, or baptisms. The pews are empty. The people in the community wonder, “What happened over there? It used to be a great church. What did they do?” The answer will be … nothing. They didn’t do anything.
The people in Nehemiah’s time decided they had been down that road before and didn’t want to do it again. So they made a pledge, “We will not let this happen again.” They each made a commitment saying, “I will not neglect the house of God.”
In these 10 for 10 sermons, Bible studies, and cottage meetings, we are challenging you. We want each of you to make a pledge to God saying, “I will not neglect Water of Life. I will support my church with my offerings.” This pledge will be private between you and the Lord of the Church. But we want you to hear God’s challenge and then accept that challenge. Hear God’s Word. Discuss it at home. Pray about it. Then make your pledge to God.
Years ago, in the time between the World Wars, there was a very special Christian school in England.
Staffed by teachers from around the world, the students were blessed to find out how others lived. One year an instructor shared his experiences when he worked in India as a private tutor. The children were especially moved when they heard about the children who were part of India’s “untouchable” caste. The children decided to reach out to those untouchables at Christmastime.
The English children gave brand new toys to the Indian children. Dolls for the girls in the village. The boys received boy toys. The giving and receiving of the gifts pleased both groups of children.
Then one year a medical missionary helped distribute the gifts in the Indian village. He told the children about another place where the boys and girls had never heard about Jesus or the salvation he won for the world. The doctor suggested that maybe the untouchable children would like to give them some of their old toys. That would give him, he explained, the opportunity to talk about God's great gift of Jesus.
The children liked the idea.
A week later the doctor returned to collect the gifts. He was shocked by what happened. One by one the children filed by and gave the doctor a doll or toy. Amazingly, the children gave their new toys, not the old ones. When the doctor asked, “Why?” a little girl spoke for the rest when she said, “Doctor, think what Jesus did for us. He gave us his best. Can we do anything less?”
The girl had it right. Jesus always gave his best.
Jesus left the mansions of heaven to be born in a barn. Throughout his ministry, the foxes had holes and the birds had nests, but the Son of Man had no place to lay his head. Jesus was tempted
by Satan to cut corners. He was tempted by his good friend, Peter not to go to the cross. Jesus declined all luxuries. He resisted all temptations. He always gave his best.
While we were still enemies, Jesus reconciled us with his holy, heavenly Father. Jesus justified us by his divinely human blood. He saved us from God’s divine wrath that we justly deserved (Romans 5:9, 10). While we were still helpless, Christ died for the ungodly (Romans 5:6). The Son of God died to help us so we might become the sons and daughters of God. Jesus suffered hell so we might be given heaven. He reconciled us from God’s enemies so we might be claimed as God’s children. He drank every drop from the cup of his Father’s wrath so we might enjoy eating and drinking at the Father’s banquet feast.
Jesus always gave his best and in so doing won forgiveness and salvation for us. Now he challenges all those who have been saved to respond with a grateful heart.
And how will we respond? The answer is simple: we do what Jesus did. He carried a cross for us. We carry a cross for him. He gave us his best. We give him our best. He is the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep (1 Corinthians 15:20). That means he is the first and best of the resurrection. The rest of the harvest of the resurrection will follow on the Last Day. He is the firstfruits, so we pledge to give him our firstfruits. Amen.
Jesus challenges, “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it” (Mark 8:35). Amen.