Why all the excitement, celebration? What was the great event?

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1 Chapter 14 Giving Joyfully! "And they offered great sacrifices that day, and rejoiced; for God made them rejoice with great joy; and the women also and the children rejoiced: so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard even afar off." (Nehemiah 12:43) Why all the excitement, celebration? What was the great event? A newly built wall was being dedicated! Most of these people were poor immigrants, recently arrived from Babylon. (Many of them were born in Babylon.) Yet they sacrificed greatly. The Lord was so pleased with them he made them rejoice with great joy. Their joy was so great, people far away heard about it. God s children are immigrants and displaced persons here on earth, and most of them are not rich. But, no one can stop them from sacrificing (sacrificing, not just giving) until it 209

2 stops hurting, and sadness turns to gladness. Giving grudgingly hurts. But giving joyfully (literally: hilariously) is exhilarating and therapeutic! The immigrants in Nehemiah s Jerusalem did not say, "First, let us rebuild our own houses, furnish them, buy a chariot or two, and make ourselves financially secure. After all, we were denied all these things in exile, in captivity; now we are going to make up for lost time. We deserve it. Then, when our personal needs and wants are satisfied, we'll think about rebuilding the wall and gates of God's City." Role models Building the wall was not something that only the men had done; the women and children were involved. Whole families! Children were being taught how to give to give sacrificially, enthusiastically. When our children see how, and how much, we give to our local church and to God's work worldwide, what value do they put on Christianity? Can they get interested, excited? Will they grow up committed, caring Christians because of our example? Blessed is the child whose parent loves the Lord with all her/his head, heart, hand and handbag. Children need to see good giving role models right from the start. They should be taught by words and works - to think of others, to help others, to share with others. From day one, they need to be told and shown that self-centeredness and selfishness are selfdestructive. Early on, they should be diverted quickly from anti-god, anti-social selfindulgence. Parents are responsible to show their children how to be compassionate, generous and joyful in giving. What a blessing for a child to experience, firsthand, that while getting may be good, giving is better! My words alone will not convince my children; my example will. Spouses! Don't discourage each other from giving. Dare to give generously, together, in agreement. Invest in eternity together and reap dividends in heaven individually. (No joint accounts there.) Sow sparingly, reap sparingly In God's economy, abundant living comes only as a result of abundant giving. The costlier the gift, the greater the joy. That is true freedom in Christ. Allow Christ to be as generous as he wants to be through you. He has no other way to reach next door or around the world. It is possible to have much money and little joy, as most millionaires know. Or you can have little money but great joy, as a lot of Christians know. What really matters is not the amount of money we have but our attitude toward it. You don't actually have to have money to "love" it. And you shouldn't love it, even if you do have it. The love of money can torment you whether you have it or not. Have feelings for God, not for money. 210

3 "Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously...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...[so that] you can be generous on every occasion..." (2 Corinthians 9:6,8,11). How many shoes do I need? Imelda Marcos (wife of Ferdinand Marcos, former President of the Philippines) is reported to have 1500 pairs of shoes. She obviously liked shoes, not that she needed that many. Some Christians have perennial problems with money because they have not determined the difference between their needs and their wants. Have you established a specific standard of living, regardless of your income bracket? Don't miss out on the joy of giving just because you still haven't figured out how much you actually need to live on. If I don t set a limit on my personal or family spending, there will never be enough money. And, anyway, why should God give or entrust more money to me, if I am only going to give all, or most of it, to myself? And at what point, at what level, will I stop spending on myself? How many shoes do I need? A person without shoes would be happy to have one pair of secondhand ones. A person who is used to having one pair of shoes wants a second pair, preferably new. And a person who is used to having two pairs of shoes wants a third pair new, of course. Where does it stop? It does not stop unless I myself put a stop to it whether it s shoes or something else. Do I give just enough to make me miserable? We think that the size of our bank account, the size of our house, car or TV is important. But where do these amounts and sizes come from? From our hearts! Some hearts are happy with daily bread and enough clothes to cover and keep them warm. Some hearts are never satisfied. Are we overlooking another important need the need of selfdiscipline? Great sacrifice will bring you great joy. Little sacrifice brings little joy. No sacrifice brings no joy. Refusing to give brings sadness. The greater the refusal, the greater the sadness. Do you know the joy of giving? Or do you give just enough to make you either smug or miserable? Break the giving barrier and pass from sadness to gladness! Get rid of the stultifying sin of covetousness. When God and people look at you, do they see a hand that s closed or one that is opened? The Lord is a Great Giver. To experience his joy, you need to be a great giver also. Dead diamonds or living souls? If you had the money, how much would you give for a one-carat diamond a piece of beautiful but dead stone? How much would you give to save one living, lost soul? If 211

4 people can get excited and make great sacrifices for the building of a wall, can't we get excited about making great sacrifices for the kingdom of God, for the salvation of priceless souls? The more you give God, the more you will love him; and the more you love him, the more you will give him. Jesus stated that your heart is where your treasure is. (See Matthew 6:21.) Meeting God s needs God is sensitive to our needs. He takes care of us. He's happy to do it. But, we are to take care of God. He has many needs. We should be sensitive to him. It's a two-way street. Give and take. Cooperation. Mutual assistance. What an honor, what a privilege, what a joy to work with the Lord! And he is carefully crediting our eternal account. He wants us to help ourselves in heaven by helping him on earth! Jesus calls it storing up for yourself treasures in heaven. (See Matthew 6:20.) Yes, I know there is a sense in which God does not need anyone; he can take care of himself. But that s not the way he wants it and that s not the way he s doing it. That s not the way he set up our relationship with him. The implementation of his strategy makes us co-workers with him, makes him dependent on us. In fact, he needs more than people; he needs people s resources. Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied up there, which no one has ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, Why are you untying it? tell him, The Lord needs it (Luke 19:30,31). He has invested in us to represent him on earth. If we fail, he fails. Where is your heart? In his first letter, chapter two, verse eleven, Apostle Peter reminds us that we are immigrants and migrants (aliens and strangers) in this world. We should always feel like foreigners no matter where we settle temporarily in this world. But our citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20). At the moment, we should be homesick for heaven. If we "Set [our] minds on things above, not on earthly things" (Colossians 3:2), we will be busy laying up for ourselves treasures where our heart is - in heaven and not on earth. You joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded (Hebrews 10:34,35). Can you see beyond this present world's horizon? Or, are you taking the shortsighted and dangerous route of storing up temporary and unreliable treasures on earth rather than safe and secure eternal riches in heaven? Surplus giving Why did God make the wall builders rejoice with great joy that glorious day in Jerusalem? Because they offered great sacrifices (Nehemiah 12:43). Everyone can sacrifice, even the poor widow, distinguished for giving God her last two pennies. (See Mark 12:42-44.) Jesus pointed out that the others put in a contribution out of their surplus; but she has given out of her neediness all she possessed, her whole living 212

5 (Moffatt). There is surplus giving and there is sacrificial giving. Guess which kind of giving excites God. Beyond ability giving One of the most beautiful biblical examples of the grace of giving is related in 2 Corinthians 8:1-5. We will note only that the Macedonian churches "...gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability." Here we see the kind of giving God loves, the kind of giving he blesses. Normal ability giving is careful and calculated. It would probably not be much more than the obligatory tithe (tenth), which people in those days gave to their heathen gods (if they were not Christians) or to the Lord (if they were Christians). But what is beyond ability giving? It can mean only one thing: self-denying, sacrificial giving. Denying oneself something. Giving up something. Cutting back. Living on less. Daring to work with God. Daring to believe him, to trust him. God himself is behind that kind of thinking, that kind of giving. The privilege of sharing Verse one says they gave, because of the grace God gave them. It had to be the grace of God because, (verses 2-4), "Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints." Sadly, nowadays, you don t see this kind of disposition and demonstration very often. We must come to the point in our stewardship for God when we are completely convinced that sharing is our joy and a privilege. They first gave themselves Why did God pour out His "grace" on these impoverished Christians, with the result that they gave so sacrificially, yet so joyfully and insistently? I think it was because, as Apostle Paul states: " they first gave themselves to the Lord...in keeping with God's will." That must be the explanation for what happened. That is what should happen to each one of us. The first step of giving is giving myself entirely and unconditionally to the Lord, because that is God's will. When God has all of me, there will be no dispute over money: what is Caesar's, what is God's, what is mine. The Holy Spirit will direct me. With his guidance, I will not give or keep too little or too much. But, if we are to go to an extreme, may it be in the direction of more than enough rather than not enough. Giving too much doesn t happen very often but, when it does, it s a happy problem. Wouldn t it be wonderful if, in church and mission work today, it would happen on a regular basis? More than enough giving After God told him to build the Tabernacle in the wilderness, Moses made an appeal to the Israelite community: Everyone who is willing is to bring to the Lord an offering of 213

6 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 anointing oil and for fragrant incense; and onyx stones and other gems to be mounted on the ephod and breast piece (Exodus 35:5-9). At one point the craftsmen told Moses, The people are bringing more than enough for doing the work the Lord commanded to be done (Exodus 36:5). Then Moses gave an order and they sent this word throughout the camp: No man or woman is to make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary. And so the people were restrained from bringing more, because what they already had was more than enough to do all the work (Exodus 36:6-7). How often have you witnessed Christians restrained from bringing more because there was more than enough? Remember that these were unregenerate people, yet they gave more than enough to carry out God s will and work. As God s new creation, we should be doing not less to build the Kingdom of God - but more than they did. And, of course, joyfully! 214