Party Time!

[0:00] I think one of the, probably one of the greatest enjoyments of life is good food in the company of good friends.

[0:10] ! I mean, who doesn't love a good braai with your mates? Or who doesn't love a dinner party? It's why we love going out to restaurants and eating. It's why we see that as a special occasion that we'll save up for.

[0:26] And we'll look forward to going and having good food with the people we love. That's why, you know, 77 billion rand is spent on the restaurant industry in South Africa every year.

[0:39] Because we love partying with food and friends. It's one of the greatest pleasures in life. I wonder if you realize how much God loves a good party too.

[0:52] One of the things that strike me when I read, for example, John's account, the Apostle John, of Jesus' life, is that in John, Jesus' first miracle is providing wine for a party. Did you know that?

[1:12] And the last chapter of John is Jesus having a braai on a beach with his friends. And in between, we often read of Jesus, like often, reading of Jesus eating and enjoying good food with his friends.

[1:29] To the point that his opponents called him a glutton and a drunkard because he enjoyed partying. He enjoyed being with his friends and having good food. Well, we discover the same thing about God, actually, surprisingly, in the book of Leviticus.

[1:46] Underneath all of these sacrifices and ceremonies we're reading about in the beginning of Leviticus, there is this desire of God to actually have a party with his people.

[2:01] Because right in the middle of these offerings, and if you didn't know, at the beginning of Leviticus, there's five different offerings, and we learn something different from each of them. We learn something about God or something about ourselves.

[2:13] But right in the middle of these five offerings, the third offering we're going to look at today, is called the fellowship offering. And this is a central offering that God wanted his people to bring to the temple.

[2:28] And what we wouldn't have picked up in chapter 3, but in chapter 7 and later it goes into more details in this fellowship offering, is that this offering was unique.

[2:40] Of all the offerings, only in this offering, the fellowship offering, were the worshippers who brought the sacrifice allowed to eat of the meat of the sacrifice. In fact, most of it was there for them to eat.

[2:53] And it was unique in that. It was the only offering where that happened. And they were invited to eat of this offering with their family and friends in God's presence.

[3:06] And in many ways, this is the sacrifice that all the others were there to make possible. So all these other sacrifices that deal with sin and atonement and cleansing and the effects of sin, and we're going to look next week at more of those sacrifices, but all of those were there so that at the end of the day, people, human beings, could have joyful relationship with God and with each other.

[3:39] That was actually the point of everything in Leviticus. If you want to know what Leviticus is all about, it's what is necessary for people to have joyful relationship with God.

[3:51] You could go so far as to say actually everything in the Bible is really about that. Everything that we read about, everything that God has done in history is so that we can come and have joyful relationship with Him and with each other.

[4:06] To enjoy God. But this fellowship offering in Leviticus chapter 3 teaches us just how to do that.

[4:20] How to enjoy God. That's what we're going to look at mainly this morning. Now I don't think people realize just how much, how much God wants us to experience joy.

[4:35] I don't think we realize that. How much God wants us to experience pleasure. Did you know that? That's how much God actually wants that for you.

[4:46] I mean, if God inventing taste buds does not convince you that God wants you to experience pleasure. Or God coming up with these amazing flavors of different foods that we experience.

[5:00] Or God inventing something like music or colors. If that doesn't convince you that God actually wants us to enjoy things. Then this fellowship offering actually is here to tell us that.

[5:16] Because the whole point of this offering is enjoyment. Again, we don't pick that up so much from chapter 3 of Leviticus. Because this is more telling us, telling the Israelites exactly what they needed to do.

[5:30] And all the details about it. But at its heart, and we read about this elsewhere. The point of this sacrifice was actually for God's people to have fun. To enjoy.

[5:41] To have a great meal together. So, you don't have to turn there. But listen to Deuteronomy 12. From verse 7.

[5:52] This is talking about the fellowship offering. And it says this. This is how God wants His people to use this offering.

[6:03] What He wants them to do with it. It says there, In the presence of the Lord your God. You and your family shall eat and shall rejoice in everything you have put your hand to.

[6:14] Because the Lord your God has blessed you. You shall rejoice. That's what God wants His people to do. And He's given them this offering to remember that the purpose of the fellowship offering is to enjoy God.

[6:28] But we also see as we read more about this offering that a key to that enjoyment was thanksgiving. Was the discipline of coming and thanking God for things.

[6:44] To recognize that all the things we're enjoying are from God. And to give Him the credit for that. We actually see later in Leviticus in chapter 7.

[6:55] That the fellowship offering was split into three types. And one of the main types of fellowship offering that the Israelites could come bring was called the thanksgiving offering.

[7:07] The thanksgiving offering. And the Israelites would bring this to God. They would bring this offering to God and follow these instructions.

[7:18] When something good had happened in their life. So, something big like the birth of a child or a victory in a battle. Or if they were delivered from something bad in their life.

[7:31] If they had survived a treacherous journey. Or if they had survived a serious illness and recovered from that. They would bring this offering to recognize that the good that has happened in their life is from God.

[7:44] That's what the thanksgiving offering would be for. As a way of remembering that the only reason they experience good in their life is because they have a good God.

[7:57] Who looked after them. And actually cared for them. And would continue to do that because they were in this covenant relationship with Him. So they knew that the good that comes in my life is from this God.

[8:10] And He wants to continue to give me good. That's what the fellowship offering and the thanksgiving offering especially was for. And that was a key to them actually enjoying God on the day when they came to bring it.

[8:23] Is remembering what He's done for them. That was a key to enjoying, to finding, experiencing joy in God. But it's not just the Israelites. It's the same for us. It's the same for us.

[8:34] It's the same for us. If we're going to find real joy in God in our lives, we've got to take this idea of thanksgiving seriously.

[8:48] Let me ask you a question. Do you enjoy God? Do you enjoy God?

[9:00] Not, do you believe in Him? That's not what I'm asking. I'm not asking, do you serve Him? Do you worship Him? I'm asking, do you actually enjoy God?

[9:14] Do you enjoy God? Back in the 1800's, the scholars of the Bible came together and put together a catechism.

[9:25] A question and answer of summarizing what the Bible teaches. It was called the Westminster Catechism. And the first question was, what is the chief end of man? It was, what is the whole purpose of humans?

[9:37] And the answer summarized what the Bible taught was, to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. That's the chief end of man. To glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

[9:49] And the truth is, you can't truly glorify God unless you enjoy Him. The two go hand in hand. So let me ask you, do you enjoy, do you enjoy God?

[10:02] Now, when I ask that question, you might be uncomfortable because, you know what, it's actually difficult for sinners to enjoy God. I struggle to enjoy God.

[10:14] I enjoy things more, often, as a sinner. Because it's easy to enjoy things that are enjoyable in life, right? Food and TV and sport and whatever it is that you enjoy.

[10:25] We all enjoy things in life. And as sinners, we tend to enjoy those things more than God. Even though we know, if we're Christians, if we know the Bible, that our whole purpose is to enjoy God, we tend to enjoy other things more.

[10:40] It's easier, let's be honest, to enjoy things that are enjoyable immediately. So how do we then learn to enjoy God more?

[10:54] We know we should. But how do we? How do we enjoy God? Well, I think Leviticus 3 teaches us.

[11:09] And ultimately, we want to enjoy God because of who He is, right? Ultimately, we just want to enjoy God because of that He's God and He's amazing.

[11:21] But we need help to do that. So one great way to learn to enjoy God is to consciously and regularly thank Him for the things you do enjoy.

[11:38] Thanksgiving. Because the discipline of thanksgiving, amongst other things, and why it's so important, is it connects our enjoyment of good things back to the God from whom all those good things come.

[11:49] And we slowly, in the discipline of thanksgiving, we slowly retrain the pathways in our brain to look not to the things that we enjoy, but to look to the God and to find our joy in Him rather than the things.

[12:04] It's through this discipline of thanksgiving, we connect the enjoyment of our good things with the good God who gave them to us. When we recognize and remember that God is the source of all that is good.

[12:19] It's only because of God that we can enjoy these things. And to deliberately make this habit of thanking God for everything we enjoy will eventually cause us to realize that we're actually enjoying God Himself.

[12:37] I mean, think of this, think of enjoying a beautiful sunset. You go outside and maybe you go to Lundadno or go up the mountain or something and you just watch this beautiful sunset and as the sun is setting it's just these colors.

[12:53] You know those sunsets that are just, they take your breath away and it's so much enjoyment just to look at this thing, to let that fall upon your eyes. Imagine just you're sitting there enjoying that or maybe you're enjoying a good meal like a really nice, I don't know, medium rare pepper steak.

[13:11] It's probably one of my favorite meals. And you're just enjoying this. But if you now, with anything you're enjoying, if you take a moment as you're watching that sunset or eating that meal, you take a moment to let that direct your thoughts to the God who made this sunset or provided this meal.

[13:31] And it's far more amazing than even this thing you're enjoying. Then what you're doing is you're training your heart to enjoy God even more than the sunset or the meal.

[13:42] And that's what the fellowship offering did. That's what it was helping the Israelites to do to train their minds to enjoy God more than the things that He gave them.

[13:53] To find joy in God through this discipline of thanksgiving, of recognizing God gave this to me.

[14:04] How often do you consciously thank God for the good things you experience in your day or in your life? Well, I'll tell you, not nearly enough.

[14:17] Because throughout the New Testament, Christians are encouraged to give more thanks than they already are. Listen to some of these verses.

[14:29] Colossians 2.7 says, Live your lives overflowing with thankfulness. 1 Timothy 4.4 says, Everything God created is to be received with thanksgiving.

[14:43] 1 Thessalonians 5.18 says, Give thanks in all circumstances. And you see it throughout the instructions to Christians. Learn this discipline of thanksgiving.

[14:54] 1 Timothy 5.22 says, 1 Timothy 5.22 says, 1 Timothy 5.22 says, 1 Timothy 5.22 says, 2 Timothy 5.22 says, 2 Timothy 5.22 says, 2 Timothy 5.22 says, 2 Timothy 5.22 says, Israelites, constantly remember and celebrate that we have a God who cares for His people and wants to give us good things.

[15:08] We do that through thanksgiving. But to celebrate that He wants to give us good things, not just here and now, not just in this life. Because let's be honest, the good things in this world are very limited.

[15:22] Even if you have enough money to enjoy the really good things of life, it will only last so long. Good things in this life are really limited.

[15:33] And that's why this enjoyment that was to be had at the fellowship offering also didn't just focus on what they had then and there. It focused on what God wanted to give them in the future.

[15:47] This pledge of the ultimate good that God has planned for His people who are in relationship with Him. And that's what this fellowship offering was for.

[15:58] It was to help them enjoy God here and now, but ultimately to look forward and to remember God has so much more planned for us. And the Israelites believed that.

[16:09] Listen to how it's expressed in Psalm 16 at the end. You will fill me with joy in Your presence, with eternal pleasures at Your right hand.

[16:24] So the limited joys they experienced in life were to point them forward to the eternal joys that God has planned for them. The same God who provides them with good things now is going to provide them with even better things to come.

[16:41] And that's how they could find joy in Him. Even when life was not going well. That's how we can do what 1 Thessalonians says and give thanks in all circumstances.

[16:54] Do you see that? It says, it doesn't say give thanks in the nice circumstances. Some circumstances. What does it say? All circumstances. Give thanks in all.

[17:05] How do we do that when things are not going well? Well, we remember it's not just about here and now. We remember the good things that God has planned for His people in the future. And so this thanksgiving of regularly recognizing not just what God has done for us in the past, but what that means about what He's going to do for His people in the future is something that we need to discipline into our lives.

[17:33] And you know what? God helps us to do that by giving us a regular meal to take part in together called Holy Communion. God commanded us to have our own thanksgiving meal to remember the same thing that the Israelites would remember.

[17:55] What God has done for us in the past and what that tells us about what He plans for us in the future. But if we don't keep on consciously remembering that, it's not going to make us joyful.

[18:07] We've got to have the discipline of remembering. That's why Jesus commanded, do this often as a regular thing, which we do here at church. And so when we take communion, do you use communion for what it should be used for?

[18:23] Because you can't just sit there passively if you're a Christian and take communion and just do the thing because we do the thing. And not actually use that opportunity. We do it once a month, right?

[18:34] I mean, I'd be more than happy to do it more. But at least once a month we do it. Do you use that opportunity to do what God wants you to do? Because every communion should be an opportunity to remember, to consciously bring us up to mind what Jesus actually achieved for us.

[18:55] What He achieved for me. What that means about what God's favor towards me. And the pledge that God has made and what that means about my future.

[19:06] And if you just use communion to let those thoughts into your head and roll around in there a little bit, that is the key to more joy and to spiritual growth and to hope.

[19:23] That's what we should be using communion for. That's why God gave it to us. To look back and then to look forward. Jesus, when He was sharing the Last Supper with His disciples, and He gave us the pattern for communion, He wanted them also to think about the future.

[19:46] He said this in Matthew 26, 29. Right at the end of when He's sharing the bread and the wine with them, He says, I tell you I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.

[20:04] He wanted them to see that this, because of what He was going to do for them on the cross, was going to guarantee that one day they're going to be in that kingdom and enjoy God's eternal pleasures, what God has always planned for us.

[20:18] And so they were to look to the future. Communion is done so that we can look forward. When we share this meal of communion, and let's be honest, it's not much of a meal, right?

[20:32] It's a little piece of bread, a morsel, and a little cup of grape juice. But you know what it's meant to do? I'm glad that it's only those little things, because it's meant to, it's designed to make us look forward to something much greater.

[20:46] And so it's not meant to be a great meal in and of itself, because it's meant to be a symbol to point us to something much better to look forward to, because of what Jesus achieved on the cross.

[20:59] In fact, the next thing we learn in Leviticus 3 about this fellowship offering is that it's not about the food, actually.

[21:12] It's not about the food. You know, we've got to be careful when we're celebrating God's blessings, when we're thanking God for His blessings in our life. One thing we've got to be careful of is getting so caught up in celebrating what God gives us, that we start to see God as just a means to an end of giving us nice things, when in fact, fellowship with Him is the whole point of Him giving anything to us.

[21:40] It's to draw us to Himself, to show us that ultimately He is the good one, He is the satisfying one, not the things He gives us, and that He is where true joy lies.

[21:53] And that is why, this is really interesting, if you look at the details of the fellowship offering in Leviticus, there are certain instructions, weird instructions, God gives about this fellowship offering to prevent His people from just focusing on enjoying it and the blessings and forget the whole point of it.

[22:13] And so I just want to show you two very interesting and weird instructions He gives. Firstly, the instruction about the fat. Did you notice a lot was said about the fat of the sacrificial animal in Leviticus 3, verse 9 to 11, for example.

[22:30] From the fellowship offering, you are to bring a food offering to the Lord. It's fat, the entire fat tail cut off close to the backbone, the internal organs and all the fat that is connected to them, both kidneys with the fat on them near the loins and the long lobe of the liver, which you will remove with the kidneys.

[22:50] The priest shall burn them on the altar as a food offering presented to the Lord. So you see what's happening here. Before they could enjoy their steaks and their lamb chops, they had to take certain bits of the fat off the animal and burn it as an offering to the Lord before they could enjoy their meal.

[23:07] Why? Now you may think, well, that's, you know, God was concerned for their health, that He was helping them not to get fat themselves.

[23:20] Like, kind of like what Coca-Cola does by making our Cokes smaller and smaller over the years. Have you noticed that? Or Cadbury's? They're making the chocolates that used to be 100 grams, now it's 80 grams, but you pay double the price.

[23:33] What's, it's called shrinkflation. It's a thing in economics. But is that what God's doing? He's just protecting them from, you know, getting too fat and unhealthy?

[23:43] No. It's actually got a deeper meaning than that. You see, we've got to understand, to the people in this world, the parts that God wanted them to burn up before they ate the meat was the best part of the lamb or of the goat.

[24:01] It was the richest and the most flavorful and had the most energy. But it's this best part that God insisted belongs to Him.

[24:13] Verse 16, all the fat is the Lord's. The best part is the Lord's. And it would have been difficult for them to cut this off and go, man, and give it to the priest to put in the fire.

[24:30] Because that was the best part. But God wanted them to remember something by doing that, through that discipline. It was a way to help the people to remember that the best of everything they experience in their life actually belongs to God and it is from Him.

[24:46] And so He is always to take priority at the party rather than just enjoying the food itself. So it was a reminder, listen, it's not about the food.

[24:57] It's about God. The food is not your ultimate joy. God is. God is. God is.

[25:07] And that's something we've got to remember today as well. With the things God gives us to enjoy. We've got to remember that everything we enjoy, of all the things you enjoy in your life, and, you know, it might be to a greater or lesser degree from person to person, but there are things that we enjoy, the things that God gives us to enjoy in this life.

[25:31] But we've got to remember, none of them is able to give us the ultimate joy that only God can give us. And so don't pin your hopes on God's gifts in your life to ultimately satisfy you.

[25:46] Don't pin your hopes on your money or your home or your marriage to satisfy you ultimately. Because when we do that, and I've seen it in marriage counseling, for example, when we pin our hopes in our marriage or our spouse to give us ultimate happiness, it puts a weight on that marriage that it was never designed to bear.

[26:11] But it's the same with everything enjoyable in life. When we look to that thing to ultimately satisfy us, it never will. What we've got to do, and what God is training His people to do here, is to remember only God can satisfy us ultimately, not the things He gives us.

[26:29] So that's the first instruction, and that's the significance of the fat. But there's a second strange instruction. We actually see this in chapter 7, where it goes through the fellowship offering again.

[26:43] And in chapter 7, verse 15, it says this about especially the thank offering. It says, The meat of their fellowship offerings of thanksgiving must be eaten on the day it is offered.

[26:56] They must leave none of it till morning. Okay, that's a strange instruction. Why did they have to eat the meat of the sacrifice on the day?

[27:06] Why couldn't they eat it the next day? I mean, don't you love having leftovers of a nice meal, put it in the fridge, and then next day, you're like, what am I going to have for lunch?

[27:16] Oh, I've got leftovers. It's a great feeling, isn't it? But God didn't want them to have any leftovers. Why? Well, it wasn't just for hygiene, because actually they could preserve. They did have methods of preserving meat for a number of days.

[27:29] And in fact, other fellowship offerings could be eaten up to two days afterwards. But this central thanksgiving offering had to be eaten on the same day. Why?

[27:41] Well, think about it. Think about it. You've just brought this animal and sacrificed it. You've done the thing with the fat, and now you get the meat back. And you've got a whole animal's worth of meat.

[27:52] And whatever you haven't consumed by midnight, you have to throw away. What are you going to do? You're going to have a party, right? You're going to invite your friends and family.

[28:03] You can't get through all this meat yourself. And so God is forcing His people to have a party by giving them that instruction. God is forcing His people to fellowship together, to enjoy not just the food, but to enjoy each other around the food.

[28:20] That's what God wants. That's why He gave this instruction. God wants people to enjoy Him together. The party that God invites His people to is not just about enjoying God vertically.

[28:36] It's also about enjoying each other horizontally. That's what God wants. That's what He made us for. Ultimately, He made us to enjoy community together.

[28:48] He didn't make us to live as individuals. And so that's what God reminds His people of here. I want you to enjoy me and my gifts, but I want you to enjoy each other as well.

[29:01] While you're enjoying me. And I think we can forget that. Especially in our highly individualized sort of modern culture, right?

[29:16] It's all about me. And we cut ourselves off very often from community. I think we can forget that God actually wants us to enjoy His people as much as He wants us to enjoy Him.

[29:32] In fact, that's something the Christians in Corinth had forgotten. Did you hear that reading earlier that Jean read for us? 1 Corinthians 11. Let me read again what was going on there.

[29:44] And what the Apostle Paul had such a problem with. 1 Corinthians 11 from verse 20. He says, So then when you come together. He's talking about when they gather together and enjoy the Lord's Supper.

[29:57] He says, Don't you have homes to eat and drink in?

[30:13] Or do you despise the church of God by humiliating those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? Certainly not. And so what they were doing was that they were making, when they came together to remember God and to celebrate God, they were actually making it all about their own enrichment.

[30:33] Even communion they had made about their own enrichment. But they were ignoring each other. Now we hopefully don't do the same thing.

[30:45] We can't with just a little morsel of bread. Maybe it's good that we don't eat a whole meal in communion because the Corinthians are doing that. And look how they were misusing it. But I think we can still do it in a different way.

[30:58] In church. When we just come to church for our own personal benefit. But not for the people around us. And let's be honest. In our consumer culture, that's often why we come to church.

[31:10] Just for what I can get out of it. Very often Christians aren't even thinking, how can I go to church for someone else? How can I go to church to encourage someone else? Or to bless someone else?

[31:20] No. Often it's just, let me see what I can get today. See, we can very easily be like the Corinthians and be self-absorbed and self-focused. But I think that's one of the reasons that in this fellowship offering, God didn't want His people to separate their enjoyment of Him with their enjoyment of each other and their fellowship with each other.

[31:45] And that is why He forced them to come together. But I think it's also why He forces us together today. To be in this church together.

[32:01] With people that we wouldn't have ordinarily chosen to hang out with. We might not have any interest in. God actually forces Christians together. Into church.

[32:13] And He makes it so that we have to be together and use our gifts for each other to get maximum benefit from Him. Christianity is not just about your personal relationship with God.

[32:23] But it's about being part of God's people. We've got to remember that in our culture. Now of course we can and we should enjoy God privately.

[32:35] In our own personal lives. In daily devotions. To seek fellowship with Him through His Word and His Holy Spirit in us. Which we can do if we're Christians. That's an amazing privilege we get to do.

[32:48] We get to have this communion with God. At home. By ourselves. When we put aside proper time to do that in our day. Which unfortunately we often struggle to do.

[32:58] But when we do. And we put aside proper time to do that. And we spend real time with God. In prayer and in His Word. We find this joy and this peace that we can get nowhere else.

[33:11] And so we should enjoy God in daily devotions privately. But that should then lead us to enjoy God in the company of others who enjoy God too. That's what He wants.

[33:22] He doesn't want it to stay private. He wants our enjoyment of God to be shared. And to be celebrated with others. That is why you should join a growth group.

[33:34] If you haven't yet. Don't. They're not for us. You don't have to join a growth group for us or for this church. Do it for yourself. Because it is the way that you can enjoy God more than just being by yourself.

[33:49] God wants us to enjoy Him in communion with His people who enjoy Him. And that actually I've found personally. Just being in a growth group with other Christians meeting once a week.

[34:03] I find my joy in God increases when I get to hear and experience other people's joy in God. It has the self-reinforcing effect that grows it more than it could be just by myself.

[34:16] I mean, if you're still hesitating about joining a growth group. I don't know what you think is going to happen. Whether we can all sit in a circle and burn incense and chant whatever. Whatever you think is going to happen, it's not as freaky as that.

[34:28] It's actually fun. Try one. Okay? If you don't like it after a few weeks, then stop. But just try if you haven't yet. You might be pleasantly surprised by how good it is for you spiritually.

[34:40] Anyway, that's the whole point of this fellowship offering. It's to remind God's people of all that God has given. All that God has done for them.

[34:52] And what that means about their future. So that they can celebrate and enjoy Him together with His people. That's the point of this fellowship offering. And I think it has a lot to teach us today.

[35:03] To celebrate with joy. To enjoy God. And that is a joy. As I close, I just want us to think about something.

[35:13] That is a joy that should be seen here when we come together as a church. Right? When we come together to remember and to call again to mind what God has done.

[35:26] Who He is and what He is doing for us. And what that means about His future. When we remind each other of these things in song and in liturgy. You know what? Visitors should come into this church and be asking, Why are these people so happy?

[35:41] That's what should happen. Now, not to say that we've always got to be bubbly and always have a smile on our face and never be sad. No, there is a time for sadness.

[35:53] Especially in this world. We learn that in the Bible. There is a time to mourn. There is a time to cry. There is a time for sadness. But you know what? I don't think that should be on Sunday. I don't think that should be when we come together to celebrate God's goodness to us.

[36:08] If we really believe what we are singing and what we are hearing. Sunday should be a time of rejoicing. Yes, Monday is coming. And it's hard. And there will be things that make us sad.

[36:21] But this is Sunday. It's not Monday yet. Okay? So don't let Monday bring you down. Yet. Don't let that spoil Sunday.

[36:33] You know? You know who knows how to party well at church? The township churches.

[36:45] Out there. On the Cape Flats. Or in the townships. You go there. To the Christians there. On a Sunday in church. And they are singing. They are celebrating.

[36:56] They make us look like a funeral dirge. They are having a whale of a time. And you know what? Their lives are hard. They are going to face so many hardships in their week. So many things that can make them sad.

[37:06] But they don't let that spoil Sunday. They don't let that spoil what the reminder of God and the gospel is doing for them now. They don't let that spoil their joy in Christ.

[37:19] And they show that. We need to learn from them. Or take the charismatics. Take the charismatics. The Pentecostal. For all their bad theology.

[37:31] At least they are excited about what they believe. Right? I think we could learn a thing or two from them. I mean just because we have conservative theology doesn't mean we need to be conservative in our worship.

[37:43] And in our excitement. Because when we come to church and we hear the gospel. We should realize just like the Israelites bringing this fellowship offering. That we have more reason than anyone in the world to party.

[37:55] Not in a worldly self-absorbed way. But in a godly way. Where he is the center of the party. And all the good things we enjoy.

[38:06] We direct back to him where all joys are truly to be found. And so as we end our time together this morning and we go out and we leave here.

[38:19] I want to challenge you this week. I want to challenge you. And I want to ask you how this week are you going to consciously enjoy God more? Because if you're a Christian you have every reason to.

[38:32] How are you this week going to consciously enjoy God more? And I want to suggest that starts with a better discipline of thanksgiving. Of realizing every day the things we enjoy are from God.

[38:45] And giving thanks back to him. Just training our minds to do that is a great first step to enjoying God more. But then secondly. Not just how are you going to consciously enjoy God this week.

[38:57] But how are you going to let others see that enjoyment. So that they will want to come and enjoy God too.

[39:08] Let's pray. Lord. Wow. You give us so much good things.

[39:20] Even in this broken world. But Lord as we enjoy the limited things in this broken world that are good. Help us always. To redirect that enjoyment back to you.

[39:33] The God in whom all joy is to be found. And who has so much more planned for his people. Lord help us this week to enjoy you more. To thank you more.

[39:45] And to show that joy to others. In Jesus name. Amen.