No Casual Sundays
God desires His people to respect His boundaries, engage in proper worship, and trust in His perfect care.
Leviticus(14) (Part of the Leviticus(11) series)
by Marc Webb(147) on February 22, 2026 (Sunday Morning(421))
No Casual Sundays
Most of us know how to dress for different moments. You don’t show up to a job interview in pajamas. You don’t attend a wedding in gym clothes. You don’t walk into a courtroom like you’re headed to the beach. Why? Because the moment matters. The way you prepare says something about how seriously you take what you’re about to enter. Somewhere along the way, we began to believe that Sunday is different, and that worship is the one place where preparation doesn’t matter, boundaries don’t matter, and reverence is optional. We say things like: “It’s just church.” “I’m here—that should be enough.” Yet in Leviticus 7, God makes something very clear: When His people drew near to Him, they couldn’t come casually. There were boundaries to respect. There were offerings to bring. There were portions that belonged to God alone. Not because God is picky—but because He is Holy, and worship shapes the hearts of His people. Our title “No Casual Sundays,” isn’t talking about clothes, style, or traditions. We’re talking about posture, the posture of our hearts. Worship isn’t a drive‑through. It isn’t background noise. It isn’t something we squeeze in when we’re not too tired. It is a moment where the holy God meets His redeemed people—and that moment deserves our undivided attention and our every intention. That brings us to the big idea this morning that God desires His people to respect His boundaries, engage in proper worship, and trust in His perfect care. God desires these things from His people not because He needs our effort—but because we need formation. Not because He withholds—but because He provides faithfully for those who draw near Him His way. There can be no casual Sundays—because our God is not a casual God.
Let’s Pray: Holy God, we come now to worship You—not casually, but with reverent hearts. You are holy, and You are worthy of our full attention. Quiet our minds, humble our hearts, and prepare us to hear Your Word. Shape us through Your truth and draw us near as we worship You the way You demand and deserve. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Our first point is, Prohibition, found in Leviticus 7:22-27. Follow along as I read those verses. This is what God’s Word says, “The Lord said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites: ‘Do not eat any of the fat of cattle, sheep or goats. The fat of an animal found dead or torn by wild animals may be used for any other purpose, but you must not eat it. Anyone who eats the fat of an animal from which a food offering may be presented to the Lord must be cut off from their people. And wherever you live, you must not eat the blood of any bird or animal. Anyone who eats blood must be cut off from their people.’”
Every time the Lord started a new regulation or instruction about the proper way He wanted His people to worship Him, we see the words, “The Lord said to Moses.” This meant it was important for Moses, the priests and the people to pay attention. The Lord is still instructing Moses about the fellowship offering and Moses was to continue to tell the Israelites what the Lord commanded. We see God setting clear boundaries about what belongs to Him, what must be treated with reverence and because of this what must not be eaten by the Israelites. The first time we saw this prohibition against eating fat and blood was in Leviticus 3:17 which concluded the section of the regulations for the peace offering the first time around. If you remember, the first time around the offerings was mainly instructions for the people with some for the priests, whereas the second time around was mainly instructions for the priests and some for the people. Both groups needed to know what each was to do to make sure that they worshipped the Lord properly because the consequences were dire. In our scripture today, we see more detailed instructions on the prohibition to not eat any fat or blood. There were two reasons why these prohibitions needed to be made clear again. One, the fellowship offering was the only offering that the worshipper was allowed to eat a portion of. So, here at the end of the fellowship offering instructions is a good time to remind them, so that the meat didn’t become defiled and they wouldn’t be rejected by God.
Two, God knew the heart of man. Many times, when we are told not to do something, we have this urge to do exactly what we were told not to do. This is because of our sinful nature. So, God was taking this opportunity here to reiterate these prohibitions. This prohibition was on the sacrificial fat of the sacrificial offerings, namely, ox, sheep and goats. There were different Hebrew words for “fat.” First, was the fat of an animal that was considered saturated fat used for cooking, etc. Second, was the inner fat, the fat around the internal organs that was to be taken out of the animal and sacrificed on the burnt altar to the Lord. What was so important about the inner fat that it couldn’t be eaten? First, the different offerings pointed to Jesus and His work on our behalf. When it came to the foreshadowing of His son, Jesus, God took minute care and attention in instructing the Israelites how to treat his offerings. Second, this fat was to be a food offering and sweet-smelling aroma to the Lord. If the fat belonged to the altar of the Lord as a sacrifice to Him, then it was not to be eaten at any time or place as a personal meal. Three, this fat on the vital organs was considered the choicest and most flavorful part of the animal. The same word is found in Genesis 45:18, where Pharoah tells Joseph to bring his family to Egypt where they will eat “of the fat of the land.” This was a poetic way of saying “the very best.” The very best of the animal was to be reserved for God alone because He deserved the very best of their worship.
Fourth, there seems to be some connection between fat and blood. Nearly every time, the inner fat is mentioned with blood, in the first five books of the Bible, it appears both as something forbidden and part of the rites the priests were to perform. We know that we can’t live without blood. Drain all the blood from our bodies and we will die. The fat around the inner organs is there to protect the animals. Fat keeps the vulnerable organs from being damaged and so, in that sense, the internal fat is like blood; without it the animal wouldn’t fall dead, but their life would be more hazardous than it already is. The fat was to guard the inner parts of the animal that were needed to be kept from damage so it could live. The fat protected the parts of the animal that it couldn’t protect itself. To eat this protective fat would have been cruel. This is a statement about the value of standing in the gap and protecting the vulnerable. Rosenberg states, “God chooses not the largest cut, nor the most well-muscled. Rather, that which stands guard over the organs least seen but most essential—that is God’s very own.” Next, we see that the Israelites were also forbidden to eat the fat of a sacrificial animal that died naturally or was killed by wild animals. It couldn’t be offered on the altar because it had defects and its fat still couldn’t be eaten. But it could be used for any other purpose such as making soap, candles, medicine, etc. Then we see the consequences for eating the fat of a sacrificial animal that was to be offered to the Lord as a food offering. The consequences were that the person would be “cut off from their people.” As I said last week, these consequences could have been exile from the covenant community, death or the offender’s family line being cut off, by God.
Lastly, the Lord prohibited the eating of blood from any bird or animal. If they did, they were to be “cut off from their people.” This prohibition goes all the way back to Genesis 9 where God allowed Noah to eat meat after the flood. But He commanded him to not eat meat with its blood in it. This prohibition was because life is in the blood and all life belonged to God. Also, God used blood to be the atonement for people’s sin and the blood of the sacrificial animal pointed to the precious blood of Jesus. This was a complete ban on the eating of all blood or meat with the blood still in it. This was a straight-forward and clear command from God and would have been a serious breach of the covenant and the penalty was severe. In this section God set clear boundaries about what could be eaten and not eaten. He drew clear lines around what belonged to Him and what must be treated with reverence. Before the Lord gave provision or blessing, He established clear boundaries and He desired that His people respect those boundaries (Big Idea).
That brings us to our second point, Participation, found in Leviticus 7:28-33. This is what God’s Word says, “The Lord said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites: ‘Anyone who brings a fellowship offering to the Lord is to bring part of it as their sacrifice to the Lord. With their own hands they are to present the food offering to the Lord; they are to bring the fat, together with the breast, and wave the breast before the Lord as a wave offering. The priest shall burn the fat on the altar, but the breast belongs to Aaron and his sons. You are to give the right thigh of your fellowship offerings to the priest as a contribution. The son of Aaron who offers the blood and the fat of the fellowship offering shall have the right thigh as his share.”
God is again introducing a new set of regulations but is still instructing the Israelites about the fellowship offering. God mandated that the offeror be actively and personally engaged in worshipping the Lord. They were to bring their fellowship offering to the Lord which would have consisted of the sacrificial animal, a male or female from the herd or the flock without defect and the bread offerings we studied last week The worshipper brought the animal to the tent of meeting and slaughtered it there. We have already studied this, but to review, the worshipper was to put their hand on the animal’s head and lean on it with all their weight and cut its throat. This identified the sinner and their sacrifice. Then the officiating priest splashed the blood against the sides of the altar as the worshipper cut out the internal organs with its fat connected to them. At this point the worshipper “with their own hands” were to present their complete fellowship offering to the Lord. They were to bring their complete offering and wave it before the Lord as a wave offering. A wave offering would have been presented by holding the offering “before” or “in the face of” the Lord, meaning in front of the tent of meeting where God dwelled, and waving it from side to side.
The word translated as breast comes from the word meaning “to see” or to be “mentally perceptive as in a vision.” Waving the offering from side to side before the Lord acknowledged the fact that God is all-seeing. The priest would then burn the fat on the altar. After first offering the breast to the Lord, it became the property of Aaron and his sons for serving God in the tabernacle as priests. The inner fat reflected the inner qualities of Christ, such as, his emotions and motivations including His love, life and obedience to the Father. It signified that Christ’s sacrifice was a sweet-smelling aroma to the Lord. Along with the breast, the worshipper offered the right thigh of the animal as a “contribution” or “heave” offering before the Lord. The word for “thigh” can also mean shoulder, hip, or leg and comes from the word for “abundant.” This part of the animal would have had an abundant amount of meat on it. And the right side signified the honorable side and reflected the power and the strength of the animal. The word for “heave” comes from the word meaning “high” or “exalted.” The abundant, powerful and most honorable part of the offering was to be exalted and lifted to the Lord. Offering the right thigh acknowledged God’s omnipotence, the fact that he is all-powerful. The breast and the right thigh also reflected the inner qualities of Christ especially His wisdom, power, knowledge and strength. After offering it to the Lord first, the right thigh became the property of the priest who offered the fat and the blood of that fellowship offering. It became his “share” or “part” which means to “number” or to “count.” This meant that this honorable part of the offering was reckoned or counted to the one who officiated the sacrifice.
After instructing the Israelites on the prohibition of eating the fat of the sacrifices and all blood, the Lord invited the Israelites to personally engage with Him in worship. This meant the worshiper didn’t watch, they brought and presented the offering themselves. This could not be delegated to a servant or a friend. The offering had to be voluntary and carried by the worshipper’s hands to the altar, their hearts had to be engaged in the moment, and when obedient they were joyfully joined in peace and fellowship with the Lord at His table. This worship was costly and intentional. God didn’t want spectators at the altar—He wanted participants. His demands of holiness weren’t to push His people away; it was to draw them nearer to Himself in proper and meaningful worship. Why all these regulations and instructions on worship? Because proper worship can only happen when we worship the way God demands us to worship. And we can only worship God the way He demands after He defines what proper worship is and what is sacred and holy. We don’t get to define it or demand it, only the Lord does. So, the question before us this morning is “Will we submit to God’s holiness and worship Him the way he demands or will we follow our own preferences and worship Him the way we want? That brings us to our first next step which I will respect God’s boundaries of holiness and engage Him in proper worship the way He defines and demands of me.
That brings us to our third point, Provision, found in Leviticus 7:34-38. This is what God’s Word says, “From the fellowship offerings of the Israelites, I have taken the breast that is waved and the thigh that is presented and have given them to Aaron the priest and his sons as their perpetual share from the Israelites.’” This is the portion of the food offerings presented to the Lord that were allotted to Aaron and his sons on the day they were presented to serve the Lord as priests. On the day they were anointed, the Lord commanded that the Israelites give this to them as their perpetual share for the generations to come. “These, then, are the regulations for the burnt offering, the grain offering, the sin offering, the guilt offering, the ordination offering and the fellowship offering, which the Lord gave Moses at Mount Sinai in the Desert of Sinai on the day he commanded the Israelites to bring their offerings to the Lord.”
Even though the breast and the right thigh were given to Aaron and his sons, they first belonged to the Lord. Verse 34 says, “From the fellowship offerings of the Israelites, I have taken . . . and I have given them to Aaron the priest and his sons.” The breast and the right thigh were to be the priest’s perpetual share from the Israelites. We are again reminded that these regulations were to last until the covenant was fulfilled which happened when Jesus came to earth. Verse 35 points toward a future event when Aaron and his sons, the priests, would be “consecrated” to serve the Lord in the tabernacle. The word “portion” means “consecrated portion”, “the allotment” or the “anointed portion.” These portions were consecrated to the priests alone by God himself from the people’s offerings to Him. These portions would become the priest’s “allotment” on the day they were presented by God to serve Him as priests. It will be the anointing of the Aaronic priesthood in chapter 8 that will allow them to begin receiving those portions. Verse 36 is a summary statement of this regulation from beginning to end. From the day they are anointed to the day that Jesus Christ fulfilled the covenant. The priests had no inheritance of land and so the Lord was to be their inheritance. God wanted them to trust in His perfect care for them. He wanted them to rely on Him for their livelihood and for their family’s sustenance. The Lord provided for the priests and at the same time, were instructing them and the people that someone better was yet to come. Jesus Christ would come and be the fulfillment of what all the priests from Aaron to Jesus’ time could only foreshadow. Jesus would give himself freely as a sacrifice for our sins once and for all.
After setting clear boundaries and instructing the priests and the people how they were to participate in proper worship, the Lord then provided for His servants. He faithfully provided for the priests from the offerings of His people. He reserved the breast and the right thigh for his servants. As they served at the altar they were sustained by the altar. The same God who sets the boundaries and invites His people into worship is the same God who provides generously for His people (Big Idea). The same is true for us today. Most commentators see this section as a call for the people of God to give to the work of the church and for pastors. And certainly, that is part of it. But we are all a kingdom of priests and God desires to prove His faithfulness to all His people. He wants us to trust in His perfect care to provide for us as we do His work and His will on this earth. And so, as Christians, we should acknowledge that our lives and the best we have to offer belongs to the Lord. We must allow Him to lay claim to our lives and the best we have. And guess what? He will be faithful to provide perfectly for us. 2 Corinthians 9:8 says, “And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” And Ephesians 3:20-21 says, "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” If we give our whole lives and the best that we have to the Lord as a sacrificial offering, He will bless us abundantly, more than we can even ask or imagine. That brings us to our second next step, which I will give my whole life and the best I have to offer to the Lord, trusting in His perfect care to provide all I need.
In verse 37 we have a summary statement which includes all the offerings discussed in Leviticus plus one. Commentators are split as to what these verses are a summary for. The first choice is that they are a summary of Leviticus 1-7. The second choice is they are a summary of just chapters 6 and 7. The one additional offering is called the “ordination” or the “consecration” offering. The word for “consecration” means “to fill.” The priests were going to be “consecrated” or “filled” with the Spirit to perform the duties God called them to in the tabernacle and they would yield their lives to God’s will. When we ask God to fill us with the Holy Spirit, we must be willing to yield ourselves as the priests did. We yield to God by praising Him, praying to Him, participating in the proper worship of Him with like-minded people, by offering thanks to Him and by meditating and studying His Word.
Verse 38 begins by underscoring that the instructions for the sacrifices originated with the LORD Himself, not by human tradition. Because they were God-given, the offerings carried His authority and revealed His holy and merciful character. It also tied the offerings of Leviticus back to the covenant promises first spoken in Exodus 20:1 and reaffirmed in Exodus 25:40. God also reaffirmed Moses as the covenant mediator and in mentioning Mount Sinai, where God’s presence descended in fire and cloud, confirmed that these offering regulations came from the same voice that spoke the Ten Commandments. The Desert of Sinai reminded the Israelites that God met His people in a barren place, testing and teaching them to depend on Him and revealing Himself to them. God’s presence in the desert assures us, as believers that He still guides and provides in life’s “wilderness” seasons. “On the day He commanded the Israelites” was the same day God set Israel apart as His holy nation under covenant obligation. And the offerings they were commanded to present before the LORD were God’s gracious means for sinful people to approach Him. Each sacrifice—burnt, grain, fellowship, sin, and guilt, taught His people about atonement, gratitude, and fellowship and ultimately, they foreshadowed the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus, the Lamb of God. Jesus was first and foremost in God’s mind to be the atonement for the sins of His people. I like how Garrett puts it, “the Person of Jesus Christ literally shouts out from these ancient words compiled by Moses as the Lord spoke to them to him.”
I want to conclude with this illustration: Imagine carrying a debt you could never repay. Not because you were careless—but because the cost was simply beyond you. Every month the notice arrives, reminding you of the boundary: that the debt must be paid. There are No negotiations, No shortcuts, No ignoring the debt. Then one day, someone else steps in and pays not because they own it, but because they choose to pay it. They don’t wave the rules away. They don’t cancel the debt by pretending it never existed. They honor the terms, absorb the cost, and settle it in full. That’s the moment everything changes—not because the boundary disappeared, but because the price was finally paid. When Israel brought sacrifices in Leviticus, they were reminded repeatedly that God is holy, boundaries matter, worship is costly and care comes only through obedience. But every sacrifice also whispered a deeper truth: this is not the final one. When we say, “Christ is our Sacrifice,” we are not saying God lowered His standards. We are saying Jesus met them. Christ respected God’s boundaries perfectly. Christ offered Himself fully and willingly once for all. Christ trusted the Father completely—even unto death. And because He did, God’s people no longer live in fear of provision or punishment. We live in trust. So, this passage didn’t just teach Israel how to worship—it prepares us to see why Christ matters. Because Christ is our sacrifice, we now understand what God has always desired: He has always desired that His people respect His boundaries, engage in proper worship, and trust in His perfect care. Not as a burden—but as a response to grace. Not to earn His favor—but because it has already been secured (Big Idea).
And above all, He desires that all come to Him. That is the first step of obedience for the lost soul. Until we come to Him and receive Him, we cannot be pleasing to God. And so, if you have never accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, today can be the day. But only if you are ready to come to Him the way He has revealed Himself to humanity, the way of forgiveness and reconciliation, the way the book of Leviticus points us to, which is Jesus Christ, who is the only way, the truth and the life. First, you must admit that you are a sinner. Second, you must believe that Jesus was crucified on the cross for you and you sin, was dead, buried and resurrected after three days. And third, confess Jesus as the Lord and Saviour of your life and as Romans 10:9 says, “you will be saved.” If you just made that commitment or would like to talk more about it, please mark the spot on the back of your communication card where it says, “send me info about – becoming a follower of Jesus” and I will be in touch with you. If we are going to worship the Lord properly, we must do so the way he deserves and demands. This means we can’t come casually and expect God to accept casual worship from us. There can be no casual Sundays—because our God is not a casual God.
As Gene and Roxey come to lead us in a final song and the ushers prepare to collect the tithes and offerings, let’s pray: Lord, we thank You for reminding us that You are a holy God and that worship matters. Help us to respect Your boundaries, to engage You with sincere hearts, and to trust You fully as we give You our best. Thank You for Jesus Christ, our perfect sacrifice, who fulfilled every requirement and made a way for us to draw near to You. Shape our lives so that our worship does not end here, but is lived out in reverence, obedience, and trust each day. We commit ourselves to You, confident in Your faithful care. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
