FIRSTFRUITS by Dr. W. euGene Scott (Ph.D., Stanford University)
Category: Religion and Philosophy

              "FIRSTFRUITS"

         by Dr. W. euGene Scott (Ph.D., Stanford University)

Every year, this ministry has acted on the promises God laid down to those who are obedient in the giving of First Fruits. If we start the year right (obediently), God's promises are mighty for each participant, as well as for the ministry that we have in "Giving the Winds a Mighty Voice." On Festival several years ago, I taught the meaning of First Fruits. Read this transcription, and ask yourself if it isn't equally applicable today. Go to Exodus 23:10-11:

"Six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather the fruits thereof. But the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie still, that the poor people may eat; and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat. In like manner thou shalt deal with thy vineyard, and with thy oliveyard."

Over this past year, when there's been a lot of controversy about giving to churches and giving to ministries, we have survived because from Day One we have taught the Biblical truths that giving to God is not the same as charity. God always provided charity.

Here's a perfect case in point. They were to work six years. "Sow thy land...gather the fruits thereof." but in the seventh year, "let it rest and be still." Why? "That the poor people may eat; and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat." God's providing charity for the poor. That's just one of His methods, but it's a very important one. Another one was when they gleaned, they were always to leave a little in the field.

Don't confuse charity with God's claim on what He provides you. The thing that's wrong with so much of the church world is that about the only time they raise money is for charity. They do it, most of the time, in order that they might piggy-back their administration costs on charitable motivation.

I want you to notice these Israelites didn't take any administration costs out of this charity. That meant that, going out the gate, these landowners, these privileged of God who had been given their lot, and were going to have that lot assigned to them by Joshua, were the inheritors of what God gave to Abraham as he strode up and down the land, and God said to him, "As far as you can see, and wherever you walk, is for you and your children."

Now in Exodus, they are going back to that land, as God promised, and Joshua is going to divide the lots to the people, and they're getting their instructions. "When you get to this land that I gave you, there are strings on it." Deuteronomy is going to say, "Remember, when you get to the land, and you get wealthy, remember it's the Lord that giveth you the capacity to get wealth."

Here's one of the strings: charity. You've got to make do in six years. You don't till the land the seventh year.

But man has an amazing capacity to convince himself that he can't make it. So they didn't keep this promise. They tilled the land year after year, never keeping the Sabbath year, for 490 years. Do you know what God did to them? He carried them off into bondage for 70 years so the land would lie fallow for 70 years.

He'll eventually get you, because the laws of God are as operational as laws in the natural world. The spiritual laws operate with, if anything, more unchanging force.

They got the land. God gave it to Abraham, and they were going to inherit it. "You don't till the seventh year." And God cared enough about charity for the poor and for the beasts that he put these people in bondage for 70 years for not doing it. So, let no one ever dare say that it's not part of God's program for Christians to give charitably.

That's why we did the telethons for the City Library and the Rose Bowl Aquatic Center. We even reran the Library telethon. The pledges were for three years. I wanted to remind the people that they had that duty to God. We have taught you, when we get involved with charity, we don't want to process the money. We tell you to send the money directly to the charity.

I met on New Year's Eve with Chairman Lod Cook and Co- Chairman Tom Bradley, and the decision was made, as we offered it, to play this refresher telethon around the clock. I want to commend those of you that worked and those of you that responded. That's charity - in this case, for books that are available for all.

Don't ever confuse that with giving to God of tithes and offerings, burnt offerings, FIRSTFRUITS, and those things that you give directly to God. Don't ever mix the two. Don't think that because you pay tithes and offerings you are exempt from charity. Don't ever think that because you give big charitable gifts (one- seventh) you are exempt from God's other requirements.

The seventh year, letting your land lie fallow, no plowing, no sowing, did that eliminate tithing? You know the answer: NO!!! Verse 12:

"Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest; that thine ox and thine ass may rest." (All of us need to rest our ass once in a while). "And the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed."

I want you to pay attention to what God was going to require of these people:

"Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year. though shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread," (in the spring, starting immediately the day of Passover) "and the feast of the harvest, the FIRSTFRUITS of thy labors, which thou hast sown in the field," (or Pentecost) "and the feast of ingathering" (or Tabernacles) "which is in the end of the year."

They had two New Years; they had a spiritual New Year and a civil New Year. The civil New Year started in the seventh month, when the feasts of Trumpets, Atonement and Tabernacles began. The religious New Year began with the Passover.

Three times a year, every single one of them had to drop what they were doing and go to Jerusalem (or to the place designated by God until Jerusalem became that place of permanence) to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which was a week long, during the time of Passover; the Feast of Pentecost, or Harvest; and the Feast of Ingathering, or Tabernacles.

It didn't matter what you had planned. You went three times to those feasts, and one of the tithes (the third tithe) was laid in store to pay the bill for this.

The seventh year took care of charitable needs - the poor and the beasts of the field. Every seventh year, they were not to sow. They could use the land for six years; the seventh year they didn't do it. Three feasts they had to pay for and go to every year.

All God was saying by all of this is, "See? All the land I've given you, and I'll bless you there, but there are some strings. You do it my way. You can work it six years, you don't work it the seventh year. You can work it six days, you don't work it the seventh day. Three times a year I'll call you to leave it, and you'd better be ready to go. And you come to the place that I have designated to worship, or show my `worthship.' You're a lease-holder. You get everything you've got, with these terms that go along with it."

I could go on: "Not only do you work it for six days and not the seventh, and six years and not the seventh, and leave it three times a year to come to the place that I have designated to give proper thanks to me and to worship me, but there's going to be three tithes laid on you.

"I've given it all to you, but you're going to work one-tenth of all that I've given to you for me. If you've got ten acres, I've given it to you. You can only work the ten acres six days out of seven, and you've got to leave the ten acres and make it provide for you in such a way that you can leave three times a year to come and worship me. And in addition, of the ten acres, one-tenth of the total acreage, you must till for me, and all that comes from that tenth belongs to me, the Lord.

"Then, of the nine-tenths that remain, ten percent of the earnings off that belongs to me as the second and third tithes, and you have no claim on them. That means you end up with 90 percent use of the land, the earnings of which are yours after you deduct the tithe from those earnings and have faithfully tilled the full tenth of the whole as God's portion.

"And you work it six of the seven years, six of the seven days, and three times you come to see me every year, at your expense. The only concession I'm making is the third tithe pays the bill for the trip."

"Why can't I have it without those strings?" The ways of God!

"What happens if I don't meet the strings?" A curse on all you do.

"What happens if I meet the strings?" A blessing on all you do.

"Is that all?" No, God's not done.

"What does this have to do with me in the 20th century?" All that you have comes from God.

Lenin used to call Communists "dead men on furlough." That's why they had more commitment than most Christians. Christians know that they deserve to die, they've been bought with a price, they are not their own, redeemed by the blood, as Paul said to the Corinthians, "In that He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him that died for them and rose again."

We are men with life given back - eternal life - on a temporary tenure in which all we have comes from God, and we use it according to His terms.

You say the tithe is under law? Baloney! the tithe is not limited to the law. The same argument of Galatians that what God promised to Abraham 450 years earlier, cannot be annulled by a law given 450 years later, applies here. Abraham paid tithe to his teacher, Melchizedek, none other than Shem. Jacob paid tithe in his agreement with God after the ladder came down from heaven.

..00711/http://www.drgenescott.org/tab.gif">All the law did was refine the application of the tithe to the purpose of the law, that was the schoolmaster. And it is changed to a promise at the end of the Old Testament, where God literally says, "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse ... prove me now herewith," and see if I don't "pour you out a blessing." (Malachi 3:10)

Jesus said concerning the tithes, "This ye ought to have done."

We're no longer an agrarian society. Still, the tithing principle doesn't change. Your estate is God's gift. He has a tenth on it; that's the first tithe. A tenth of all you own belongs to Him. And of the 90 percent that remains, He gets the tithe, ten percent of the earnings. So don't think you can get by with just a tenth. But is that all?

That brings me to the 19th verse: "The first of the FIRSTFRUITS of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the Lord thy God."

What is FIRSTFRUITS? Don't complicate the simple. The Jews had two new years, a civil and a religious. It doesn't matter what the month is; the principle is, there is a designated starting point of the new year, and the firstfruits of the new year belong to the Lord. You start a new job; the firstfruits of that new job belong to the Lord. You start a new investment; the firstfruits of that investment belong to the Lord. You get a raise on the job; the first paycheck that reflects that raise, the portion of that check that is the raise, that's new - FIRSTFRUITS!

We could have picked any time; I would just as soon have picked the new year of the ancient Hebrew calendar. But we live in this country by a calendar that comes out of the Middle Ages, rooted in the old Roman and then the Medieval Empire. January 1 is the new year. Don't argue with me - I imagine every one of you celebrated it. How wonderful it would be to celebrate the New Year, and then, when the price tag on it hits you today, to say, "Well, I'm going to pick a different time to celebrate." This is the New Year.

What is the FIRSTFRUITS application of the new year? The first check you get.

You say, "Well, what if I get paid once a year?" Divide it by 52. The first week's pay is FIRSTFRUITS.

"Well, I can't live without a week's pay." Do you know how many times in my life I've had people tell me that? They get out of step, lose their consecration, then they get fired - but they're still alive!

Do you know how quick an accident or sickness or emergencies that hit you and yours can wipe out a week? Just think about last year; did any of you lose a week?

"Well, why should I give the FIRSTFRUITS to the Lord?" Well, first and foremost, because He said for you to do it. But in this case, He gives a pretty good reason:

"Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared."

Now, of course, the way most of us like to have that read is, God says, "Behold, I send an Angel before the to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which you would like to have prepared."

If you've listened to anything I've preached, God's going to control the orbit. But, if He has to, He will take us into a place where we will find how painful it is not to have the angel in front of us. But when His word has already declared it, there is no going back on His word.

"Bring the FIRSTFRUITS into the house of the Lord thy God ... Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared."

I like that! There is nothing you could buy with your first week's salary in the new year worth that.

You say, "Well, I'm lucky. I don't get paid until the 16th." God knows - and you know - how much of that check represents the first seven days of the year. He knows you know how to divide and you know how to count.

And don't you go holding out on what was withheld and give just the check and then keep the tax returned at the end of the year. Some of you are getting your rebates back from the tax people; 1/52nd of that is return on the first check.

"Huh? 1/52nd?" Get yourself a calculator. You don't even have to know how to count; just be able to punch buttons. Because the state of the law is such that they withheld on your first week's income.

You may have given your FIRSTFRUITS check, and think you can keep the tax rebate when it comes back. But 1/52nd of that is return on the first week.

I'll make it real simple for you. Do you want an angel in front of you "to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared."?

You may say, "I'm not sure." Well, you're crazy! I mean, even if you don't believe in one, you ought to want one!

You might say, "Well, I haven't seen much of Him this last year." If you get too smart with God, He might let you live this next year without Him so you can see the difference. You may have thought it was bad ... let me tell you, I don't have to defend this; this is God's word.

I've been saying to you for all these years: if you're going to be a Christian, be one!

"Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way; and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of him," (that means he's a mean one!) "obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions; for my name is in him." (Exodus 23:20-21) That means he can be a mean angel.

"But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries." (Verse 22)

You say, "Well, this is for those Israelites going into the Promised Land." II Corinthians 1:20, in the context of these very people, says, "All the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen..." These were but Types of the way God deals.

"For mine Angel shall go before thee," lists the enemies, and says, "I will cut them off." (Verse 23)

Boy, I'm telling you, I've got an upgraded list for God the first week of January. I had a list last January, and God has been rather successful, because I can't even remember that list. I've got a whole brand new list, so it must have worked last year.

I would like the adversaries that I could list right now to be as far from my memory a year from now as the ones that were bothering me last January are from my mind right now!

"And ye shall serve the Lord your God, and He shall bless thy bread, and thy water." (Verse 25)

You might find it had to believe this next one, but why don't you try it?

"And I will take sickness away from the midst of thee. There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren in thy land; the number of thy days I will fulfil." (Verse 27) "I will send my fear before thee, and will destroy all the people to whom thou shall come, and I will make all thine enemies turn their backs unto thee." (Literally, "their necks unto thee;" Verse 27) "And I will send hornets before thee..." (Verse 28)

Boy, do I like that idea! Hornets! All of this for paying the FIRSTFRUITS. There's not a bargain that you can make with God (second only to the tithe, where He promises to bless everything), where God has committed so much for so little.

I want you to take these verses seriously. How many of you believe God's Word and are willing to get on the way of faith with God? Let's go into the new year right! God's made grand promises, and He's capable of keeping them. Our problem is we won't take the step of faith to claim those promises from God. DO IT NOW!

Don't anybody confuse FIRSTFRUITS with tithes. Don't anybody confuse FIRSTFRUITS with charity. "The tithe is the Lord's." FIRSTFRUITS is that first result of your labors on which God has smiled His blessing - in this case, in the new year. God wants your commitments on the first week's check. It doesn't matter when you get it in January. God wants your commitments of FIRSTFRUITS now. I want it testified to. I want the church that I pastor to be full of people with this angel in front of them.

You say, "I won my first Lotto of the year and got $77 today." As long as you understand that that's the FIRSTFRUITS in the Lotto and it doesn't compensate for the first paycheck of the first week. You've got to give the FIRSTFRUITS from the Lotto and the first week's paycheck.

You say, "Well, I'm not working." Well then, you give the first week's unemployment check.

Do it God's way! Do you want the angel in front of you? Make up your mind, "This is the year I'm going to give it a go, and I'm going to go God's way."

We're teaching on doing it God's way. God gave people the land in Israel, but they were like lease-holders. He gave it to Abraham, and as He brought them back to the land, He says, "All the land I'll give you," and Joshua was going to divide the lots, but He put His conditions on it. "You work it six years, leave it vacant the seventh year for the poor and the beasts of the fields" - God's provision for charity.

Don't ever confuse charity with giving to God for religious reasons. Even though God considers a cup of cold water given in His name as unto Him, there is a difference in the focus between that which ascends to the Lord as a direct gift to Him as tithes and offerings (burnt offerings, peace offerings, meat offerings, FIRSTFRUITS offerings), and that which provides horizontally for charitable acts.

../www.drgenescott.org/tab.gif">He says, "Six days you work; you don't work the seventh." (Verse 12) And three times a year He made them come to the spiritual headquarters, and there was no exception, to give recognition to Him and worship Him. Then He said in verse 19, "The FIRSTFRUITS are the Lord's." And the condition attached to it is an angel before you - a mean one or a good one. God's promise of an angel that goes before you to prepare the way, to tackle your adversaries for you - the best deal God makes is the promise that He gives because of the FIRSTFRUITS.

Now, I'm collecting FIRSTFRUITS. I'm asking those that truly believe God's Word and want that angel in front of you that's promised in Exodus 23 to make that commitment NOW.

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