A HEART FOR GIVING

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In Christ, Mark

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

The Lord said to Moses, "Tell the Israelites to bring me an offering. You are to receive the offering for Me from each man whose heart prompts him to give. These are the offerings you are to receive from them: gold, silver and bronze; blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen; goat hair; ram skins dyed red and hides of sea cows; acacia wood; olive oil for the light; spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense; and onyx stones and other gems to be mounted on the ephod and breastpiece.”

"Then have them make a sanctuary for Me, and I will dwell among them. Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you."

Exodus 25:1-9

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

In yesterday’s message from the closing verses of Exodus, chapter 24, we saw where Moses entered a cloud that covered the top of Mount Sinai, and in doing so, entered into the presence of God where he would stay for 40 days and 40 nights.

Today, in the opening verses of chapter 25, we see where Moses begins to receive further instruction from the Lord. Look again at those verses here:

The Lord said to Moses, "Tell the Israelites to bring me an offering. You are to receive the offering for Me from each man whose heart prompts him to give. These are the offerings you are to receive from them: gold, silver and bronze; blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen; goat hair; ram skins dyed red and hides of sea cows; acacia wood; olive oil for the light; spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense; and onyx stones and other gems to be mounted on the ephod and breastpiece.”

"Then have them make a sanctuary for Me, and I will dwell among them. Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you."  Exodus 25:1-9

Now, you’ll remember that during the time the Israelites had encamped at Mount Sinai on their way to the Promised Land, the Lord had given them a multitude of commandments and directives which dictated the way they were to relate to Him and one another as His people. Here, we see Him giving guidance to Moses regarding the place where He and the Israelites would worship Him, instructions for a holy tabernacle which would serve as a portable sanctuary during the remainder of the exodus.

This tabernacle was to be built by the people of Israel and would house the blessed Ark of the Covenant once completed. It would continue being the place of worship for Israel, the place where God would “dwell among His people, all the way up to the time of Solomon, the king who God would task to build a more permanent temple in 960 BC.

As we will see in the future, more is to come on the tabernacle construction but before it could be built, materials were needed. We see in today’s passage where the Lord expected the Israelites to provide the necessary items as a part of their offering to Him, an offering that was to come from "each man whose heart prompts him to give." It’s this command and stipulation that serves as the central theme for today’s message because I believe there are three key things God is trying to tell us, just as He was trying to tell the people of Israel through Moses.

First, God wants is to give.

Our Lord expects us to be a people who give generously to Him and others and this spirit of giving is really a spirit of sacrifice. It allows us to turn away from our self centeredness, focusing instead on making a difference in the lives of God’s people, the essence of how Jesus lived. For He, Jesus, God’s only Son was the epitome of giving. He never hesitated to give His love, give His teaching and wisdom, give His healing power to those in need, and give up His very life so to give new everlasting life from death.

Indeed, Jesus didn’t just give some things. He gave up everything and God expects all Christian believers to willingly do likewise. He wants us to be givers.

Secondly, God wants us to give willingly and from the heart.

In our scripture passage for today, we see God telling Moses to "receive the offering for Me from each man whose heart prompts him to give." He could have just said this in a way where every man wouldn’t have the option to give but He didn’t. God wanted His people to give to Him because they wanted to, because in their heart they cherished Him and were willing to give to Him as He had given to them. They would give because they wanted to, not because they had to.

This made me wonder how we treat the matter of giving today.

Do we give from the heart because it’s our desire to honor and glorify the Lord through freely offering to others what He has first given to us?

Or, do we give grudgingly, because we feel we have to even when we don’t really desire to?

You see, God knew that those who were faithful to Him would never resent giving to Him because they realized that everything they had was a result of His blessing and providence. They were only giving back a portion of what God had given to them in the first place.

In further support of this, we find Paul writing these powerful words in 2 Corinthians:

"Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work." 9:6-8

Friends, God wants us to give, to give willfully and cheerfully. And if we truly believe His promise to more than provide for our needs as we give, then we can always be charitable from a willing heart and an attitude of good cheer.

Finally, God expects that we not just give but give our best.

Up to this point in the scriptures, we have seen clearly that He honors those who bring Him their best, their first fruits, and His expectations in today’s scripture passage are no different.

For look at His demands.

The metals God asks for (gold, silver and bronze) represent the finest metals available to the Israelites at that time.

Colored yarns were made that way by dyes that were extremely expensive.

The finest linen was representative of what the royal Egyptians would wear.

The goat hair was extremely valuable and would be used to weave tents.

Dyed leather from ram skins and the hides of sea cows were also of great worth.

The acacia wood was no ordinary wood because it was especially resistant to wood-eating insects that might plague the people of Israel during their journey.

Olive oil would ensure the people had light in their sanctuary while the anointing oils and incense would transform the tabernacle interior into a fragrant place of worship as the people entered into God’s presence.

Precious stones would adorn the ephod or robe of the high priest.

Truly, God expected everything offered to be of the best quality. He gave the people of Israel His best and He expected the best back in return.

So what about us today?

When we give to God, do we give Him our best or just some token offering?

It’s a question we all need to reflect on from the heart, first taking into account all that God has given to us. For it’s only when we do this, when we step back and really think about how good the Lord has been to us, that we can how richly blessed we are, especially when we consider that He willingly gave up His one and only Son, Jesus to bring us salvation and the opportunity for eternal life.

If we’re honest, we can never truly pay God back for all He has already given us but He doesn’t expect us to try to do something this impossible. Rather, He just wants us to have a heart for giving, a heart willing to offer Him and others our best to His honor and glory.

In my life, I have found the most joy when I give to others rather than keep what God has given for myself. I pray that you will discover the same.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.