Burdens or Blessings?

Today's Readings: Numbers 28 -29 (Instructions Concerning Offerings)
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Modern Christians often neglect paying any attention to biblical feasts. We happily embrace Paul's concept of freedom and abandon any formal recognition of God's instructions in these two chapters of Numbers. I confess, as I read through the chapters my mind screamed, "I can barely keep on top of prayer and scriptures reading, how was anyone supposed to keep track of so many obligations and events?!" I know I am not the only one with these thoughts...

The long list of sacrifices and feasts seem to me to be a great burden of responsibility. While God had revealed himself to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, God's reigning relationship with the "nation" of Israel was relatively young at this point in history. It seems like an unfair introduction: "Hi, I'm your God, now do all this stuff..."

As I thought more about God's instructions to the Israelites, however, I realized God was not trying to overburden his people. As I asked God to convey to me the meaning of the passage, He showed me the analogy that this was his form of a "Master's Commission" on worship. The People of Israel were coming from a diverse religious background. Released from the tyranny of Egyptian oppression, the Israelites were saturated with Egyptian polytheism and steeped in their practices of idolatry. If the LORD was going to be the God of Israel, his people needed to know how to worship him in, what Jesus would later define as, "spirit and truth." God wanted to provide his children with a starting point for worshipping him. A means for them to begin the process of focusing on him, his character, and his will. A means for the people to recognize their shortcomings, seek atonement, and praise the LORD.

This type of "schooling" was absolutely necessary for the people of Israel. How else could they build a foundation for understanding their God? How else could they prepare the way for the Messiah, who would build the ultimate platform for understanding God?

The list of obligations in Numbers 28-29 were God's way of leading his people into blessing. When we worship God, we are blessed by the ministry of his presence. Today, we are not bound by these obligations because the pattern or model of worship has been established by Jesus Christ. He taught us how to internalize the spirit of worship without the necessity for the outward rituals. Furthermore, he provided the final sacrifice for the atonement of sin. However, there is much to be learned by the contemporary Church from these offerings and feasts.

Many churches today seem lost in the act of worshipping God. The heart of worship has been lost as people seek to generate an emotional experience around music, visual arts, or liturgy. Worship comes from the attitude of the heart, not the action of the body. Therefore, all that we do can be worship to God. For churches that have lost sight of true worship, a review of these instructions can be a healthy way to understand the God behind the activities.