The Memorial Price
Text: Exodus 30:11-16
Power Point Link
Introduction: Which Service?
One Sunday morning, the pastor noticed little Alex was
staring up at the large plaque that hung in the foyer of the church. The plaque was covered with names, and small
American flags were mounted on either side of it.
The seven-year old had been staring at the plaque for some
time, so the pastor walked up, stood beside the boy, and said quietly, "
Good morning Alex."
"Good morning pastor," replied the young man ,
still focused on the plaque.
" Pastor McGhee, what is this?" Alex asked.
"Well , son, it's a memorial to all the young men and women who died in
the service."
Soberly, they stood together, staring at the large plaque.
The Pastor sensed that some strong questions were running through the boys mind
and he prepared himself to answer them as best he could.
Little Alex's voice was barely audible when he asked, "
Pastor?”
“Yes, son.”
“Did they die in the morning or the evening service?”
Counting the Cost Exodus 30:11-12
And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying when thou takest the
sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give every
man a ransom for his soul unto the LORD, when thou numberest them; that there
be no plague among them, when thou numberest them.
The Command
In this section of Exodus the Lord is instructing Moses in
the building and preparation of the tabernacle, the place that would serve as
the meeting place between God and His people. The tabernacle would stand at the
center of their camp and would serve as a rally point for the people of God
during times of crisis or celebration.
This particular part of the preparation of the tabernacle is
unique in that the silver taken from the men of the tribes of Israel was not
voluntary as were the other gifts of gold, linen, and bronze. This was in a
sense a tax, each man had to give a small amount of silver as commanded by God.
We know this wasn’t voluntary because the Lord tells Moses
that he should count the people and then they shall give every man a ransom for
his soul unto the Lord. He also says the this would be done so that there would
be no plague among them.
What exactly is God commanding and what did He mean to
collect this ransom from every man in order to avoid the plague?
The word ransom in Hebrew is kofer. It translated 8 times in
the KJV as ransom. It comes from a word that means “cover” and 3 times in
translated as pitch that would be used to cover a vessel or basket and make it
repel water, like the ark or the very basket that Mose had been placed in as a
baby.
The word used here, as a ransom for souls, does not mean
that they were giving money in order to be saved. Instead, as we will see later
in the passage, the silver given is a reminder of the unholiness of Israel's
nature, that by nature it was alienated from God. This payment in silver and
the use of that silver later was a reminder, a memorial, that they were in covenant
with the Lord and in a relationship with him on the ground of His grace, which
covered their sin. (– paraphrased from The Wycliffe Bible Commentary.)
Centuries later this is the money that Jesus had Peter take
from the fishes mouth and pay to the Temple.
This tribute was to be paid as a ransom of the soul, that
there might be no plague among them.
Hereby they acknowledged that they received their lives from God, that they had forfeited their lives to
him, and that they depended upon his
power and patience for the continuance of them; and thus they did homage to the
God of their lives, and deprecated those
plagues which their sins had deserved. – Matthew Henry
The tribute money was an acknowledgment of the grace God had
given them, it was not a purchase of forgiveness. Such an idea is an abhorrence
to everything the Bible teaches us about salvation, but the idea of every man
giving because of what God has already done through grace is exactly what the
Bible does teach. That is what we see happening here.
So let’s see how we as people who no longer have a
tabernacle or a temple and in fact not even any real silver can apply this to
our Christian life today.
The Commitment
The Lord said there were two reasons why they were to give.
First, the tribute was to be given as an acknowledgment of salvation,
but I believe also it was in recognition of all the blessings given to us by
God through the relationship we share with him.
Secondly, they also gave in order to prevent a plague, a
punishment, because of their refusal to obey the Lord and pay the price
commanded by God.
For us the application is that each person is to pay the
price, each person is to give because of what God has given and in order to
prevent the lose of future blessing and indeed the punishment of God.
It has often been said that freedom is not free, this is
true. True when we are talking about our nation and true when we are talking
about our freedom in Christ. We enjoy the benefits, but it cost a great deal to
bring us that freedom. The tribute, the part that each of us is called upon to
give, is a reminder of what has already been given to us and now must be given
by us with the understanding that if I refuse, there is a terrible price to pay
in the future. In doing our part, in paying our own price, we acknowledge the grace
of God and the price paid by those who have gone before us as well as the price
that is necessary now to continue in the blessings of God.
If we quit paying the price, we lose that which the
generations before us have paid with their lives blood. Whether it be political
freedom or the work of the gospel, both have been bought and paid for with shed
blood, broken backs and battered spirits. The next generation and those who
follow will not have the blessings we now enjoy unless each of us is willing to
make the commit to pay the price.
Illustration: Hold the Rope
There is a famous missionary story that involves William
Carey, the father of modern missions, and a group of men who met with him in at
a farewell service in 1793 to pledge that “they should never cease till death
to stand by him.”
Andrew Fuller was one of those men, and he described the
occasion with an analogy. He said that the mission to India seemed like a few
men who considered going into a deep, unexplored mine. To Fuller, it was as if
Carey said, “I will go down, if you will hold the rope.” The meeting, in
Fuller’s mind, was as if he and the other brethren gave their word that “whilst
we lived, we should never let go the rope.”
Let me expand the analogy to us today, it applies to
missions and missionaries still but I want you go think of that rope, as our
part, our giving, our commitment. We grasp that rope by what we do today and it
not only joins us with the freedom we have today but it also links us with the
past and it secure the future. As long as we are committed to hold fast that
rope, then we grasp the blessings of the past and help to insure those blessing
into the future.
That is our commitment, that is our part, that is our price.
Reckoning the Ransom Exodus 30:13-15
This they shall give, every one that passeth among
them that are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary: (a
shekel is twenty gerahs:) an half shekel shall be the offering of the LORD.
Every one that passeth among them that are numbered, from twenty years
old and above, shall give an offering unto the LORD. The rich shall not
give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when they give
an offering unto the LORD, to make an atonement for your souls.
Every Man Blessed, Every Man To Give
Moses was told that each man was to give, Half a shekel as
the ransom price. Each was to pay the same whether rich or poor the offering
was still half a shekel. Most commentators think this amount was about 50 cents
in comparison to our currency today. It would be an amount that every man would
have in his power to pay.
By this qualification of the command the Lord was simply
saying each person was to pay their fair share. The rich did not pay more, the
poor did not pay less. God viewed them all as equal in His sight. This gift was
within the ability of everyman to do his part, as they had all been blessed by
God equally than all should give equally.
Equally Blessed, Equally Commanded
Proverbs 22:2 The rich and poor meet together: the LORD is
the maker of them all. (Now there’s a description of a Baptist church. Except
the part about the rich, of course.)
As Proverbs says and as this passage shows, in God’s eyes,
in this payment there was no difference between rich and poor. Other offerings
were by ability and were proportionally like the tithe but this was not an
offering and it was not to be reckoned as percentage, instead it was a set
price.
The reason for this equal and set price is stated in vs. 15
“to make atonement for your souls.”
The money was to be paid by every man over 20 and it
represented God’s redemption, his atonement of the nation of Israel. In that
nation every soul was precious to God, every soul was of equal worth to God and
every soul that had been blessed by God was to be pay this tribute at the same
price.
This graphically tells us that God is no respecter of persons
but views all as equally needy and equally loved in His sight. Rich or poor,
great or small, famous or obscure all are bought with the same priceless gift
of the shed blood of Jesus Christ.
This is what we read in Romans 3:22-26 …for there is
no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in
Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith
in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are
past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his
righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth
in Jesus.
In the wilderness, each man of the Hebrews was to and equal
price, for all had benefitted from the redemption of Israel from Egypt. In the
same way each of us should be willing to give back to God, because each one of
us have been saved and blessed by God’s gift to us in his Son Jesus Christ. Our
gift is given because we remember the great gift of salvation.
Illustration: This Do In Remembrance Of Me
There is another very graphically reminder of giving and
memorials that we seen in the Lord’s supper. For the church it the most
important memorial given to reminds us of what Christ has sacrifice for us. It
serves the same purpose of all memorials, tying the past, the present and the
future together. Jesus said, “this do in remembrance of me.” Paul added the
purpose of the memorial, “For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this
cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.”
This is the reason for every memorial and it our calling,
our duty to do our part, give our share, pay the price to continue that
memorial. Without the memorial we will lose both the past and the future.
Transition: Finally lets see how that God would take this tribute money
and use it to build a memorial for Israel.
Making a Memorial Exodus 30:16
And thou shalt take the atonement money of the children of
Israel, and shalt appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of the
congregation; that it may be a memorial unto the children of Israel before the
LORD, to make an atonement for your souls.
Memorial in the Wilderness Then
The Money was used to build and service the tabernacle,
which would be a memorial for them in the years to come. The silver used in the
tabernacle, taken from their gift, be a reminder
of the Children of Israel before God, the Bible says, that would make atonement for their souls. The
money was used to purchase the offerings and the implements of those offerings
for the benefit of all the nation of Israel. This money paid to the Tabernacle
and later the Temple, did not buy their redemption but instead it was given as
a memorial that would that would continue through the service in the tabernacle
of that atonement gift.
It was no ordinary tribute, therefore, which Israel was to
pay to Jehovah as its King, but an act demanded by the holiness of the
theocratic covenant. -Keil and Delitzsch - Commentary on the Old Testament –
Volume 1: The Pentateuch.
This first tribute money paid in silver was given and used
in the building of the tabernacle. When the tabernacle was being crafted
together and God’s plan called for a silver capital or hook, the silver that
was used to fashion that came from the money that was given by the Children of
Israel. When they would enter into the outer court of the tabernacle and see
the top of the posts that made up the wall, shining in silver, they would know,
that was part of my giving, part of what I paid. Years later when their descendants
would enter that same courtyard, they would see those same posts and remember,
those who gave their all in the wilderness escaping the slavery of Egypt, gave
that I might be able to enter into this place and know the blessing of God
today.
And in the full assurance of what God had done, what else
could they do but also give what God asked of them. It was a fair price, it was
a price they could all pay and is was a price that would build a memorial that
protected the heritage of the past and insured the hope of the future.
Memorial in the World Today
As I read this passage this past week, I could not help but
ask the Lord, “Am I paying the price?” When I realize all that God has done,
the price that was paid for my redemption, the blessing that have been poured
into my life and the promise of eternity, when I understand all that God has
meant to me, I must ask, am I doing all that I can to pay the price and continue
to build a memorial in the world today. A memorial that will honor the past and
will also ensure that God’s blessing carry to the next generation.
God told Moses each person must pay their own price or else
punishment would come.
Aren’t we seeing that today? Churches that hold up sin and
call it love? Who offer forgiveness without repentance? Christians who have
forgotten the heritage of the past, some who have forgotten the name Baptist,
or what a church is or even what a Christian is supposed to be and believe.
Some who have even forgotten, if they ever knew, the
sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Forgotten that they were sinners and God shed the
blood of His only begotten Son, to atone for them, to cover their sins, to pay
the price and ransom their souls.
I think of some who have given up, some who have turned
bitter and angry and walked away, not willing to pay the price and build a
memorial. Or some who perhaps have not actively turned against God but have
quit supporting their church, giving to missions or caring about the past or praying
for the future? Aren’t they aware of the cost they will pay one day for their
refusal to give as God as commanded?
Just as God commanded the Israelites under Moses to pay the
price, He commands us today, to make the commitment. Just as William Carey went
into the darkness of India while those back home held the ropes, we hold the
ropes of the past and present in our hands and in our giving to God, his church
and his work.
I see a parallel between our memorial for God’s work and the
memorials built in our nation that also tie together the past, present and
future. One reason many wish to destroy
memorials and statues of the past, is to try and erase that past,
especially the blessing of God in our past as a nation. An in destroying the
memorials, the statues, and the landmarks, as God warned they will bring a
plague of punishment upon this country.
It is was not that way just a few short year ago nor was it
this way when Abraham Lincoln gave his most famous speech at the dedication of
the Gettysburg cemetery, after a battle in which the armies of the north and
south suffered nearly 8,000 dead and 27, 000 wounded. Listen to some of these
unforgettable words.
Illustration: Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln
We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come
to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who
here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and
proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate -- we
cannot consecrate -- we cannot hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and
dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add
or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but
it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be
dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far
so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task
remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion
to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we
here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain …
Isn’t that the same commitment we should share as both Christians
and Americans? Now please understand, I don’t in anyway equate these two. My
commitment to God is and must always be the greater and must always demand the
greater price paid, but the reasoning is the same and I would be a fool not to
realize that this nation and its freedom is part of that heritage and blessing
that God has given. And I believe that it is fitting to apply Lincoln’s words
to the commitment we should make today.
“It is for us the living to be dedicated to the unfinished
worked when they so nobly advanced.”
Conclusion:
I hope that you have been challenged this morning to
pay the price that is called by God from all of His own. A price that will
build the memorial of our lives, our families, our churches and our nation. A memorial that
will hold together the blessings of the past and the hopes of the future through
God’s blessings. This memorial price cannot be paid by others, it is a cost that I must
personally bear because of all that God has done to bless me. It is not a price I
dare to ignore or refuse, for if the blessings of God will continue into the future
then I must I must pay the memorial price today.
It was common when I was a child to observe Memorial Day
with a red poppy worn on the lapel, but it is rarely seen anymore. The poppy
was chosen due to the poem “Flanders Field” written during WWI by army surgeon
Lt Col John McCrae in 1915
In Flanders Fields
By: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army
In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
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