Today we are continuing on in our series on the spiritual disciplines called “Sacred Rhythms.” We are studying the spiritual disciplines because they help us to live a Christ-centered life all the time. Today we are going to examine the spiritual discipline of giving or as it is also called the spiritual discipline of stewardship.
This a topic that is often uncomfortable for both the pastor and people of many churches mostly because it touches on some areas of our life that can be very sensitive – specifically our money/treasures and our time. For a lot of different reasons people get uptight when this type of sermon is preached; it seems to hit a nerve in a lot of people.
My goal today is to have an honest look at the spiritual discipline of giving by examining 1 Chronicles 29. This chapter is about how David and the people of Israel provided for the building of the temple of God. I believe this passage gives us a really good rounded picture of the spiritual discipline of giving. As we look at this passage together we will be asking and answering three questions: (1) What do we give? (2) Why do we give? and (3) How do we give? We will not be exhaustive in our answers to these questions. We will primarily stick to this passage and see what it has to say to us regarding these three questions.
Why do we give?
I believe there are three things that we should give to God. These three things are in our passage.
1. We should give our treasures to God.
In our passage we see that David and the people gave God their gold and silver. We see this in verses 1 to 9. David and the people gave to God financially. They gave God their treasures.
We should be giving our treasures to God as well. We call this the “tithe”. This comes from a Hebrew word that means “the tenth” or 10%. I believe this is a good place to start. We should be setting 10% of our income and giving it to God.
Some of you may be thinking, “I can’t do that. It’s impossible!” Unfortunately, in some ways, this could be true because many people have undertaken unnecessary financial obligations that put them in bondage. Or they are living way beyond their means.
If we find ourselves in this situation what needs to be done is some serious evaluation of our spending habits. I think a very helpful way to do this is to set up a budget and track your spending. In the Fall we are going to be offering a small group study called “Financial Peace University.” This study deals specifically with how we can better manage our finances. More information on this class will be coming out soon.
So we need to be setting aside a portion of our income (10%) and be giving it to God. Before we move on from this point I think we need to clarify one point: a tithe is not an offering. The Bible distinguishes between tithes and offerings so they are not the same things. The tenth was considered the minimum; the starting point. An offering is what you choose to give above your tithe. An offering is usually given for a particular cause or ministry.
2. We should give our talents to God.
The gold and silver was given so that the craftsmen would have the necessary provisions to work with. These craftsmen were giving their talent to God and we should be doing the same.
You may not think of yourself as being particularly talented but everybody has things that they are good at and that they enjoy doing. These are the talents that God has given you and you have a responsibility to give them back to God by using them in His work.
You may think of your talent only as a way to make a living, but you need to start seeing it as a way to do ministry as well. This could be the ability to work with children, plan an instrument, build things, work with computers … the list goes on and on. The point here is the we need to be looking for ways to give our talents to God!
3. We should give our time to God.
This is closely related to giving God our talent. If the craftsmen were to give God their talent in constructing the temple, then they were going to give Him a good amount of their time as well. Next to our money our time is probably our most precious commodity. It seems like we never have enough time. But if we are to give our talent to God we must also give our time to God.
It takes time to prepare for and teach a Sunday School class or bible study. It takes time to clean the church. It takes time to make repairs. It takes time to minister to our community. Everything takes time and so we must be willing to carve the necessary time out of our busy schedules.
So the answer to our first question “What do we give?” is: We give our treasures, our talents and our time to God.
Why should we give?
This question helps us understand the purpose of the spiritual discipline of giving. Many would say that they have worked very hard to earn their money and so why should they turn around and give it away to God. Many would say, it’s MY time and I am going to do whatever I want with it. Or many would say, these are MY talents and I am going to use them for my purposes. They worked for it. They earned it. It belongs to them, right? But we as begin to delve into the passage at hand we quickly learn that this simply isn’t true.
1. We give to God because everything belongs to God.
If it really belongs to you, you can do with it as you please. However right off the bat we learn that it doesn’t really belong to us but to God. David prays in verse 11,
“Yours, LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendour, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, LORD, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all.”
This exposes a fundamental flaw in the worldviews of most people including many Christians. It shows us that our possessions, our money, our time and our talents really belong to God and not to us. And since these things don’t belong to us in the first place we have no right to hoard them and use them only for ourselves.
2. We give to God is because everything comes from God.
Not only does God own all things, but also everything we have comes to us as a gift from God. David as he continues to pray says this in verse 12,
“Wealth and honour come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all.”
We give to God because in reality He is both owner of all things and the source of all things. David clearly understood this when he said this in verse 14,
“But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand.”
When we understand this truth we realize that when we give we are not giving God what belongs to us, but we are giving God what already belongs to Him. God is the One who blesses us with treasures, talents and time. These are generous gifts from Him and they should be treated that way. So we give to God because everything belongs to God and because everything comes from God.
How should we give?
This question deals with what manner we should give to God. Did you know that it is not enough to simply give to God? Did you know that you can give to God, but do it in the wrong way? It is important that when we give to God we do it for the right reason and in the right way.
1. We should give generously.
David and the people gave very generously to the Lord’s work. They gave generously of their treasures, talents and time. We can give generously to God because God has given generously to us. How generous were David and the people in their giving? Consider these numbers.
First, let’s look at David’s generosity. We see this in verses 1 to 5 which say:
“Then King David said to the whole assembly: “My son Solomon, the one whom God has chosen, is young and inexperienced. The task is great, because this palatial structure is not for man but for the LORD God. 2 With all my resources I have provided for the temple of my God—gold for the gold work, silver for the silver, bronze for the bronze, iron for the iron and wood for the wood, as well as onyx for the settings, turquoise, [a] stones of various colors, and all kinds of fine stone and marble—all of these in large quantities. 3 Besides, in my devotion to the temple of my God I now give my personal treasures of gold and silver for the temple of my God, over and above everything I have provided for this holy temple: 4 three thousand talents[b] of gold (gold of Ophir) and seven thousand talents[c] of refined silver, for the overlaying of the walls of the buildings, 5 for the gold work and the silver work, and for all the work to be done by the craftsmen. Now, who is willing to consecrate themselves to the LORD today?”
When the people saw the generosity of their leader they were moved to follow suit. We see this in verses 6 and 8, which describe the people’s generous giving:
“Then the leaders of families, the officers of the tribes of Israel, the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, and the officials in charge of the king’s work gave willingly. 7 They gave toward the work on the temple of God five thousand talents[d] and ten thousand darics[e] of gold, ten thousand talents[f] of silver, eighteen thousand talents[g] of bronze and a hundred thousand talents[h] of iron. 8 Anyone who had precious stones gave them to the treasury of the temple of the LORD in the custody of Jehiel the Gershonite.”
That is some generous giving. But before you get overwhelmed with those massive numbers remember that they were able to generously give to God because God had given generously to them. The Bible tells us that we should give to God in proportion to how we have been blessed. We give to God generously as He has blessed us.
2. We also need to give willingly.
It is one thing to give generously, but it is another to give willingly. Would you be able to give as generously as the people of Israel did and so willingly or would you have to be coerced? There are many examples throughout history of kings collecting money from the people by force. But David did not have to send out the army to do door to door collecting from the people at the point of a sword. Verse 9 says,
“The people rejoiced at the willing response of their leaders, for they had given freely and wholeheartedly to the LORD. David the king also rejoiced greatly.”
David also said in verse 17,
“I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity. All these things I have given willingly and with honest intent. And now I have seen with joy how willingly your people who are here have given to you.”
In verse 18 David prays that this will always be the desire of the hearts of the people. That they would always desire to give to God both generously and willingly.
I want to conclude by sharing a story and some final thoughts. The story is about a dad names James and his son names Jimmy.
One day James wanted to do something special with his five-year old son Jimmy. He asked “Son, is there anything you’d like to do right now?”
Jimmy said, “I want some McDonald French Fries.”
His father said, “If that’s what my boy wants, then that’s what my boy gets.”
They got into their blue and white Chevy truck and headed toward McDonald’s. Jimmy’s lips and tongue were silently moving as he could taste the fries before they even reached the restaurant.
His Dad made the order and Jimmy’s heart pounded when his Dad said, “Make it a super size fry”.
James took the money out of his wallet to pay for the fries and a drink. Jimmy’s little teeth were ready to sink into those hot golden fries before they made it to the table.
When they sat down, grace consisted of “God bless this food amen” but it seemed like way too many words to Jimmy who was eager to delight himself with this huge blessing of French fries.
James was happy to see his little boy so happy over something so simple so he decided to join in the fun. He reached over to get a couple of Jimmy’s fries for himself.
To his surprise, his son quickly put his arms around his fries as though building a fort and pulled them toward himself and said, “No, these are mine.”
His dad was in a state of shock for a moment. He could not believe what had happened. James pulled back his hand and began to reflect about his son’s attitude toward the fries.
He was thinking, my son failed to realize that I am the source of those French fries. At the counter, I was the one who gave the cashier the money from my wallet.
I did not give him the size fry he was expecting but something twice as big. Yet here he is talking about his French fries.
Not only was I the source of the French fries, he has forgotten that I at 6 feet tall and 195 pounds have the power to take all the fries despite his little arms surrounding them as a fort.
Or that if I wanted to, I could go back to the counter and bring him so many fries that he could never eat them all.
He also does not understand, that I don’t need his French fries. I could go back to the counter and get as many fries as I wanted.
As the Dad thought about it, one or two fries really would not have made much of a difference for him that day. What he wanted was for his son Jimmy, to invite him into the wonderful little world he had made possible for his son.
He wanted his son to be willing to share the very blessing that he had provided.
God takes us to McDonald’s on a regular basis in our lives. God blesses us. He blesses you and God blesses me. He’s given us all some French fries. Some have small bags, others medium, others large and some super size. But God has given us all some fries.
Like that the dad James, God desires to sit down at the table with us for some fellowship. When God reaches over to use some of the blessings He has given to us, far too often we say “No God, these are mine. No, No, No. Go and get your own.” We try building our own little forts around our blessings.
God asks us to give because God wants us to be like Him. God has a giving attitude and He wants that giving attitude modeled in His children. The first verse many people learn is John 3:16 which begins by saying “For God so loved the world that He what….He gave His only Son.” Throughout the Bible, we find that God is always giving. In your own lives, how many of you know that you cannot underestimate God’s ability to provide for you in ways that you had not thought possible? This is why we need to practice and learn the spiritual discipline of giving.
God is very interested in response to the blessings He sends our way and what we choose to do with them.
Will you break down your wall around your fries and say to God,” Your plan and your purposes for my life and the lives of those around me, are far greater than what I could do with these fries. You take them and do as you please.”
Will you surrender your treasures, your talents and your time completely over to God?
