world s people? That means if you re a professional, if you hold a regular full time job that means you re in the top 20 percent of that 5 percent. Bo

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1 God is calling us to give him our Best! People often get very uncomfortable when pastors, as leaders of the church, talk about money. It is said, that, common social etiquette suggests that there are two things in this world that are inappropriate to discuss publicly faith and money. But today we re going to talk about both. Christians must openly and honestly talk about both faith and money. We have to do it. Why? Maybe an explanation by illustration will help. If you went into a doctor and said, Doctor, I m constantly tired and always sick. Can you help me? The doctor would look at you and then tell you that he needs to know how well you re sleeping, what you re eating, how many hours you re working and how satisfying your work is, and what the personal stresses of your life are, etc. Now, if you said, That s none of your business. Your job is to treat the symptoms, to help me out physically. I don t want to talk about all of that other stuff. The doctor replies, Listen. I can t help you then. All of these things are connected. Maybe you re getting sick because of some psychological strain on you. Maybe you re caught in a bad pattern of thoughts that s leading to depression. These physical symptoms may be part of a deeper problem and you may need some counseling. Unless you let me in on that, I can t help you. And so, you are able to see, you can t splice up and dice up and cut up your life. Every aspect of your life affects every other aspect. This is merely a symptom of the whole body. Very similarly, God says that If you come to me because you want strength, renewal, and meaning in your life, but I can t talk to you about money, then I can t help you. You have to let God talk to you about your money. For many people, money is at the root of all sorts of life s worries, problems, and stresses. If God is going to treat you, you have to let him guide you on this issue that affects so many lives. As Christians, part of the reason that materialism and greed are so important to talk about and warn against is that greed is a unique temptation in that it blinds people. It blinds people because, it s fairly difficult to commit adultery and not know you re an adulterer. It s hard to steal and not know you re a thief. But how many people legitimately consider themselves truly greedy? Did you know that about 70 percent of the world s wealth is in the hands of about 5 percent of the

2 world s people? That means if you re a professional, if you hold a regular full time job that means you re in the top 20 percent of that 5 percent. Bottom line, there s never been a group of people as wealthy as we are here in the U.S. Did you know that the number one determining factor for an undergraduate to declare a major in the U.S. is still what the anticipated salary will be upon graduation? And yet, you would be hard pressed to find too many people who categorize themselves as greedy. We relativize it. We rationalize it. We make excuses. As long as we can find one person in our lives with a more money or things than we do, we are blind to our own things, and we want more. Money plays a significant role in every human s life, because we are an interconnected whole which means everything in our lives affects everything else particularly when it comes to our Christian faith, and because spiritually speaking, the love of money is a dangerous temptation, for which Biblical guidance is needed. King David understood that his people needed guidance regarding their money. They needed guidance to see that the use of money to celebrate God s presence in their lives was a wise investment. When you offer your money to celebrate God s good gifts as well as spread the gospel, it demonstrates a trust that God is present and therefore in control. One of the reasons that money is so fiendishly pursued in this world is that it creates the illusion of control in an uncontrollable world. We re inclined to think, Ah, if I had this much... then my future would be provided for, then my family would be taken care of, then I could sleep easily at night. But the real issues of life relationships, health, satisfaction, peace, eternal life none of them can be addressed by throwing money at them. You can t truly control these things with money. David understood this. He understood that God alone, as Creator and Sustainer of the entire universe, controls all things. Not only did David understand God s controlling providence over this world, but David also understood that as a sinner, he really had no business having a relationship with this generous God. David s sin is well-documented. David understood his sin should have separated him from God, but God s gracious arms continued to welcome him back. Through the promise of forgiveness won through

3 the eventual offspring of David, the Messiah, David had assurance of the eternal blessing of God s presence. So, when David gives an enormous offering towards the construction of the temple, it isn t at all an attempt to manipulate God to stay with the Israelites or to appease him. It s an expression of thankfulness and gratitude for God s overwhelming and undeserved love, the love that drove God to stick with his people even in their unfaithfulness, the love that drove God the Father to experience personal loss so that sinners could be forgiven and remain part of his family. With the peace that God was in control, joy that he was loved and forgiven by God, and certainty of future glory with God, David was compelled to bring an enormous offering to the Lord, an offering that matched the love and appreciation he had for God in his heart. It s impossible to calculate David s offering in modern currency. However, if you use current per ounce rates for calculation, David s offering of 3,000 talents of gold and 7,000 talents of refined silver (verse 4) comes out to nearly $5 billion in today s money. To put this in perspective, the most expensive building on the planet today is the Wynn Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. Built in 2005, the building, with a Ferrari-Maserati dealership on site, a famous night club, and a towering waterfall pouring into its own lake, comes with a $2.7 billion price tag. David s offering is DOUBLE that. Now, some might suggest that David s public gesture is too showy. Why must he brag about this impressive offering to everyone? Well, it s important to understand that David s not bragging. He s leading. True godly leadership comes not just in speaking hypotheticals, but in demonstrating that the actions found in your life are consistent with what is present in your heart and what comes out of your mouth. David recognized his failures of leadership in the past and the negative consequences. He also recognized the blessings and positive consequences of faithful leadership. He knew that God was in control. He encouraged his people to demonstrate that they knew that too. So he said to them, Who is willing to consecrate himself today to the LORD? The phrase that David used for consecrate himself here is an interesting one. It was used at the time of a priest s dedication of his life for service to the LORD. So

4 what David is suggesting here is that as each person brings their offering to God, they are showing that their lives are dedicated in service to the LORD who graciously has control of their life here on earth, as well as their eternal life. Offerings today function the exact same way. They demonstrate thanks for what God has done for us in the past and they demonstrate trust in God s control for the present and future. The Israelites saw David putting his wealth, symbolic of his life, in God s hands, and they were moved by it. Upon hearing David s appeal as well as seeing his generosity, we re told that the leaders of the Israelites responded accordingly. Our lesson 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 (verse 9). Their collective offering was, in fact, even larger than David s. The temple, God s home, would be built in all its magnificence and splendor. David s Account Points Us to Jesus, the Greater David But I d like to back up a minute as we think about this lesson. In fact, I d actually like to back up one chapter to 1 Chronicles 28, where we hear King David talking about his plans for the temple. David mentioned the fact that God had told him that he was establishing a throne through David s line. David quoted God talking about Solomon, saying, I will establish his kingdom forever if he is unswerving in carrying out my commands and laws, as is being done at this time. The problem, however, is that Solomon, like David, did NOT hold unswervingly in carrying out God s commands. That means that Solomon s throne and Solomon s kingdom would and eventually did fall. His kingdom would not last forever. In fact, in the book of Ezekiel we hear about the Lord s presence departing from the temple. But, where David s son Solomon had failed, a greater son would indeed succeed as the one who would establish God s throne forever. A thousand years after David, a man, an unlikely king, showed up at the temple in Jerusalem who pointed to himself and was talking crazy about how the temple would be torn down and rebuilt in three days. His name was Jesus. In the past, by his grace, God had made his presence with the Israelites at the temple. But in unfaithfulness, they lost it. Jesus, however, was the only one who

5 ever earned the presence of God. And yet, at the end of his life he received the opposite, the absence of God, which we deserved. His blood was shed and put on the mercy seat of God. Why? So that we could receive the opposite of what we deserve and enter the presence of God. David built a physical temple to God through his wealth. But Jesus was the temple, and through faith in him, we become part of that temple. By connection to Jesus, the glory of God comes into our lives, and we gain the gift of heaven. David didn t just build this temple and release this glory at the cost of his wealth, but did so at the cost of his own life. Think about how this now affects our offerings to this crucified and risen Lord. Christian offerings should have nothing to do with guilt or moralizing or budgets, or doing our part. Our thank offerings, instead, are all about the gospel of Jesus. The gospel of Jesus is the only truth that will ever motivate us to bring pleasing offerings to our LORD. When we realize that Jesus took his hands off of his own life for us, we start to take our hands off of our lives and money for him. Some people have tight, clenched fists, unwilling to let go of their money. This is fear. This is unwillingness to trust God s good promises. And God says that he can t put blessing into those tight fists. But by faith, you can open your hands so that God can put his blessing in. Look at what happened when Jesus opened his hands to give you blessing he gave up the treasure of heaven in his generosity, but this blessing became salvation for the world. Open your hands and let go to see what God accomplishes through your open fists as well as what God puts into your hands. By his promises, you know God is present. You know he is in control. And he s waiting to show you the blessing he has in store through this expression of faith. Think about someday being in heaven and someone coming and tapping you on the shoulder, expressing their gratitude for your Christian generosity. You suggest that you re afraid they must have the wrong person because you ve never met before. But they tell you that because of your offering, the gospel was spread and proclaimed in their life. This is the ONLY way that money in this lifetime will have impact beyond this lifetime treasures in heaven. Can you imagine that! I

6 challenge you to find an investment on earth that can yield that type of long-term dividend. Please understand that what God ultimately desires is not your wealth. How silly a thought would it be that the God who created the universe needs material goods from us! Rather, God who created us to be in a loving relationship with us desires our hearts. However, when we give freely to him the thing which the world holds on to most tightly, the thing that grips the hearts of many, it s a tangible expression of love to God. It shows that our hearts belong to him, that he is truly present in our hearts. For this grace we give thanks. Prayer Dear Jesus, you gave up everything to have us. And your generosity saved our lives. What grace! While we were spiritually dead and unlovable, you bought us back with your own life, the most valuable substance there is. Now we have opportunity to give thanks as we anticipate the treasures of your home in heaven. Open our eyes to see the opportunities we have to generously support your work. Open our ears to continuously hear of the great things you ve done for us and the promised glory you have in store for us. Open our mouths to thank you and speak your praises. And, dear Lord, open our hands, to give gifts that are consistent with the saving faith in our hearts. In your name we pray. Amen.