CHEERFUL GIVING

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

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. 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, stones of various colors, and all kinds of fine stone and marble—all of these in large quantities. 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: three thousand talents of gold (gold of Ophir) and seven thousand talents of refined silver, for the overlaying of the walls of the buildings, 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?”

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. They gave toward the work on the temple of God five thousand talents and ten thousand darics of gold, ten thousand talents of silver, eighteen thousand talents of bronze and a hundred thousand talents of iron. Anyone who had precious stones gave them to the treasury of the temple of the Lord in the custody of Jehiel the Gershonite. 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.

1 Chronicles 29:1-9

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

One of the most important aspects of the Christian walk is the matter of giving. I say this because we can’t be like Christ and be selfish and self centered. He was never like that. Instead, He willingly gave up everything for others to include His very life on Calvary’s cross where He bore the death penalty that should have been ours. And He did so to give us the very chance of eternal life, the same gift He received from God the Father when He rose three days after that cross-induced death.

Yes, Jesus was all about giving and if we’re truly Christian, we’ll be about it as well.

Now most people seem to think that giving is all about money. It isn’t but I want to touch on this form of giving for a moment because it’s central to today’s passage.

During church services, the offering plate is passed and that is the call for people to give.

Some give generously and thankfully.

Others give begrudgingly seeing their giving as more of a burden than a blessing, a chance to give back a portion of what the Lord has given them toward supporting ministry in His name.

Some feel they can’t give because they have just enough to pay their bills and put food on the table. More on this in a moment.

I don’t know what category you fall under but I do know this: We are expected to give and give willingly and cheerfully. This is the kind of giver the Lord desires as validated by this verse:

Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 2 Corinthians 9:7

We should keep this word of God in mind the next time we are asked to give. We should keep in mind that God has blessed us a great deal with everything that we have and part of our desire in life should be to give back to Him, even if we don’t have much. You may recall this parable of Jesus regarding giving:

As Jesus looked up, He saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. “Truly I tell you,” He said, “this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.” Luke 21:1-4

Maybe you can only afford to put a dollar in the offering plate each Sunday. If that’s all you can give based on what you have to live, then give it and give it cheerfully. The Lord knows everyone’s circumstances and rejoices when He sees others willing to sacrifice as He sacrificed for them.

Sometimes, people have a lot to give and they give only a little. It doesn’t seem to make sense but when someone attains wealth, they often become more stingy with their money and unwilling to part with it. Think Ebenezer Scrooge-like giving. Their treasure is not so much Jesus but rather their money and their heart is in their money too. They choose to store up treasures on earth when they could be giving and storing up treasures in heaven (Matthew 6:19-21, 24). God’s word further addresses this kind of giving in the Old Testament book of Malachi:

“I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from My decrees and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty.

“But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’”

“Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob Me.”

“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’”

“In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the Lord Almighty. “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the Lord Almighty. (vv 6-12)

God’s word is clear. We’re not to hold back from our giving unless we want to be seen by the Lord as robbing Him. And note that when we give, God blesses us for it. I can honestly say in my experience that as I have learned to give freely to the church and to others, God has always given me what I needed. I have never been left in want as He provides just what I need. Giving is something that brings me great joy, far more than using my money for myself. I think this is what the Lord does through His Holy Spirit, He brings us a sense of contentment and peace when we are obedient to His call to give. I call it a warm fuzzy feeling from the Lord that says in a sense that He is well pleased with what we have done.

I get a sense that this warm and fuzzy feeling from giving freely had come into the hearts of the Israelites as we look at the closing chapter to 1 Chronicles. Look at these words:

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. 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, stones of various colors, and all kinds of fine stone and marble—all of these in large quantities. 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: three thousand talents of gold (gold of Ophir) and seven thousand talents of refined silver, for the overlaying of the walls of the buildings, 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?”

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. They gave toward the work on the temple of God five thousand talents and ten thousand darics of gold, ten thousand talents of silver, eighteen thousand talents of bronze and a hundred thousand talents of iron. Anyone who had precious stones gave them to the treasury of the temple of the Lord in the custody of Jehiel the Gershonite. 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, as he prepared to turn over the throne to his son Solomon, left no detail out in planning for the temple construction and organization of the Israelites to man the temple and guard Jerusalem. He worked hard to set his son up for success, knowing that he was young and inexperienced as he ascended into power.

But David wasn’t just satisfied with giving Solomon a good plan to construct the temple and the people to ensure it happened successfully. No, David wanted to give his wealth to the Lord and, and in doing so, motivated other to do likewise. He didn’t hold back anything that he had providing gold, silver, bronze, iron, marble, and wood as well as precious stones like onyx and turquoise. All his personal treasures were given to the Lord and the work of the temple.

And then David did something awesome. He asked others to follow his lead and dedicate themselves to the Lord as he had. And so they did.

We read that the leaders of families, the officers of the tribes of Israel, the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, and the officials all gave and, most importantly, gave willingly. They gave their gold, silver, bronze, iron, and precious stones to the treasury for the work of the Lord just as David had done and the end result of their giving was nothing but worship.

You see, giving is to take us to a place of rejoicing. We, like David and the people of Israel, should rejoice in our giving, joy-filled in knowing we gave freely and wholeheartedly to the Lord.

Friends, whether we talk about money or our time or our talent, the Lord expects us to give back to Him what He has freely given to us. And He wants us to do so willingly and with the desire of our whole hearts.

Christ Jesus gave everything for us. Can we not give Him back everything in return?

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

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