Going on to Maturity as Revealed in #leviticus 1 #bible #jesus #christian When we mope around, relying only on God's initiative and the help of the priest (or today's Priest or pastor), we are living in spiritual laziness. Spiritual laziness is a great problem for church members today. D L Moody once said that he had never seen a lazy man get saved. In today's church, many Christians only attend church to listen to sermons. They are "Sunday Christians”; during the week, they never read the Scriptures, pray, or offer any sacrifices to God. Although such Christians can meet God, they are all living in the outer courtyard. In Verse 10-13, the Bible gave instructions about offering sheep and goats as burnt offerings. Sheep and goats must be without blemish, just like the bull. Verse 11 specially instructs worshipers to kill the sheep on the north side of the altar. After that, he would cut it into pieces, with its head and fat, and wash the entrails and legs with water. The priest’s job was sprinkling the blood against the sides of the altar, putting the sacrifice on the firewood of the altar, and offering the sacrifice on the altar. The same basic principles that we saw with the last burnt offering also apply to this offering. However, please note that this passage does not mention laying hands on the sheep to identify with it. This shows that to a certain extent, this worshiper’s experience of Christ is not as mature as the one who offered the bull. The person who offers birds as a burnt offering is even more immature (Verse 14-17). The worshiper’s only job is bringing the turtledove or pigeon; the priest does the rest. The priest would bring the bird to the altar and wring off its head and burn it on the altar (vs. 15). Its blood would be drained out on the side of the altar. The priest would remove the bird's crop with its contents and cast it beside the altar on the east side, in the place for ashes (vs 16). The priest would tear the bird open by its wings, but not sever it completely (vs 17). And the priest would burn it on the altar, on the wood that was on the fire. This burnt offering was a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord. These images are very thought-provoking. In many churches, most Christians are only mature enough to offer birds as sacrifices. That is, they attend Sunday Services, but all other responsibility for their growth is shouldered by the pastor. Years have passed since they came to know Christ, yet they have not matured spiritually. This is not God’s ideal wish for us. God desires that we offer the bull, but if we really can't afford to offer the bull, we can offer the sheep instead. If we can't offer sheep, we can offer birds. In his mercy, God meets us in our differing degrees of spiritual growth. However this is not God's ultimate goal for us. God hopes that we can experience the growth and maturity of life in Christ, and that we can continue to advance to the Holy of Holies to meet Him.