1 Chronicles 21:18-25
When Ordinary People Give
Today in our service I want to share with you four principles that ought to guide your giving. Our services are going to be a little different this morning because during the course of the sermon you will be hearing some personal accounts from some of the members about how God has impressed upon them the need to give and the blessings they have received from doing so. I’m not going to try to hide this from you – God wants you to join Him in His work through faithful and generous giving, and so do I. The success of our ministries and the amount of work we do for the Lord through them is directly dependent on tithes and offerings.
In our sermon text, we are jumping into the middle of an account where King David is going to make an offering to God. Some of you will remember that David was feeling proud of his accomplishments during his latter years, so he had his military general take some men and go through the country and number the people. The Lord punished Him for doing this. What difference should it have made how many people David had? Was his trust in numbers or in God? When God got ready to punish David, He told him to choose one of three options, either three years of famine, three months to be destroyed by his enemies, or three days of judgment by the angel of God. David chose the three days, and during that time 70,000 people died. We are told that God in His mercy stopped the angel when it came to Jerusalem, a place known to us as the threshing floor of a Jebusite man named Ornan. David was deeply sorrowed because his sin had caused so much pain, and as he prayed we begin our text:
"Then the angel of the Lord commanded Gad to say to David, that David should go up, and set up an altar unto the Lord in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. And David went up at the saying of God, which he spake in the name of the Lord. And Ornan turned back, and saw the angel; and his four sons with him hid themselves. Now Ornan was threshing wheat. And as David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David, and went out of the threshing floor, and bowed himself to David with his face to the ground. Then David said to Ornan, Grant me the place of this threshing floor, that I may build an altar therein unto the Lord: thou shalt grant it me for the full price: that the plague may be stayed from the people. And Ornan said unto David, Take it to thee, and let my lord the king do that which is good in his eyes: lo, I give thee the oxen also for burnt offerings, and the threshing instruments for wood, and the wheat for the meat offering; I give it all. And king David said to Ornan, Nay; but I will verily buy it for the full price: for I will not take that which is thine for the Lord, nor offer burnt offerings without cost. So David gave to Ornan for the place six hundred shekels of gold by weight."
One of the most well known statements about giving in the Bible is found in our text – I won’t make an offering to God that doesn’t cost me something. I think that’s a great principle – and its one that we’ll come back to another time, but today I don’t want to look at David’s offering, because as great as it was, I don’t think it was the greatest act of giving in the passage. I believe it was what Ornan gave that was great! Think about it – David was king – if he wanted he could have taken the land. David was one of the wealthiest men alive at that time. It would be like Jerry Jones coming to buy your house and land. Sure he bought it, but did it really cost him anything? Ornan on the other hand was a man just like you and me. He was a hard working family man who was making a living. He wasn’t poor, but he wasn’t necessarily rich either. When David told him he wanted his threshing floor, what did Ornan do? He gave it – and that’s the act of giving I want us to consider for a few minutes this morning. So, with all that said, let’s consider four principles that ought to govern our giving. When ordinary people give…
It should be done out of a healthy fear of God.
Look at verse 16,
"And David lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of the Lord standing between the earth and the heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem."
Now verse 20,
"And Ornan turned back, and saw the angel…"
Can you imagine what must have run through his mind when he looked up and saw this angel? That angel was killing folk! He had already killed 70,000 and he would have killed Ornan too had God not stopped him! Try that out for fear! We hear a lot about having a fear of God and how we shouldn’t be afraid of God, but instead have a reverent awe of God. Well I agree that we ought to stand in reverent awe of God, but listen, we ought to fear Him too! I think a good healthy "being afraid" of God would do a lot of us a lot of good!
It was certainly one of the driving motivations for Ornan! Can’t you hear him now? "Here, take what you want!" Kathy and I were talking about this the other day. I believe God wants us to give, and He has led us to do so. He has commanded us in His Word to join Him in His work of supporting other men on the field who are reaching people that I can’t and won’t reach. I know all of that – and I fear what God might do should I decide that I don’t want to be obedient in doing what He has told me to do. When the Holy Spirit gets a hold of you and He prompts you to give, I hope that you will trust that He will meet your needs and that you will be too afraid not to give.
(Dale Simmons’ testimony about how he bought a new house and car and quit giving, and the Lord took his job away.)
It should be done out of love and respect for the king.
Verse 21 tells us that when King David walked up, Ornan threw himself on the floor. David told him what he wanted, and Ornan told him to take it. I don’t know how much access the people had to King David, probably not much. I do know that David was a legend in his own time, and the people worshipped him. He was a great man of God, so when he showed up at Ornan’s place he gladly gave to him what he had. It was a great honor for him to give to his king.
Well you know where I am headed with this. If Ornan was willing to give to his earthly king all he had, how much more should we be willing to give to our eternal heavenly King! Remember that last week we saw where He owns it all anyway. It belongs to Jesus by right, and He has made you a steward over your property and your money. It all belongs to Him, and by giving you express to Him that you have faith in His ability to continue to protect and provide for you and your family.
Listen, if Jesus were to walk in to this sanctuary this morning, and he walked up to you and said, "Joe, I have this missionary and his wife and three kids over in Romania, and dozens more just like him all over the world. He’s doing a great work, but I don’t want him spending my time over there begging for money." Then Jesus says to you, "I want you to give me X amount of dollars every week to pay for him to be on the field." What would you say? I can’t afford it? Would you tell Jesus that you want to get some of your bills paid off first? Of course not! If Jesus walked up I’m telling you that except for the ones of you who would sleep through it, the whole house would be full of people laying prostrate on the floor giving it all to Jesus! Well Jesus is here this morning in the person of the Holy Spirit and He is saying it!
(Harold Walker’s testimony about how now at age 74 with a good retirement income coming in still works most days because by working he is able to do more for the Lord than he would be able to otherwise.)
It should be sacrificial.
Now, what did Ornan give? Let’s look in verse 23. He gave him the threshing floor, the oxen for burnt offerings, his tools for firewood, the wheat for an offering, and then he said, "I give it all." That man gave to David all his property, his entire livelihood, and even his ability to make a living because the tools he needed would be firewood! Now that’s sacrificial! What would he have done? How would he have made a living? How would he work? What would he tell his wife?
These are all good questions – but they were irrelevant in light of the need of the hour! When the king made his need and request known Ornan was compelled to give. When I think of our church’s commission to reach the world for Christ, to reach our nation for Christ, to reach our state for Christ, to reach our county for Christ, and to reach our city for Christ, and then I look at that map of our great big world with its 6 billion people and I see 18 mission points – it compels me to say to you – we need to do more! We need to give more! We need to dig deeper and give sacrificially!
How much should you give today? I think you should give it all. I don’t mean that you ought to write a check to the church that will clean out your account and donate all your assets to the church, but that this morning, right now as I speak, you say in your heart to God in prayer – God, everything I have belongs to you and I am giving it all to you for your service, now how do you want me to use it?
(Gwen Sulton’s testimony about how the Lord led her to give her last $20 to missions when she didn’t know how she was going to eat and when she got home she found $60 under her chair. Although she had money in the floor at home, she didn’t know it and in her mind gave every last dollar she had.)
It will be rewarded.
When Ornan gave the threshing floor and all the other stuff to David, David could have taken it. Ornan gave it and that was that, but David paid him for it and Ornan left there better off financially that day than when he got to work.
Lest any of you think that I am promoting a health, wealth and prosperity type of giving this morning, I assure you I am not. Just because you give to God an offering does not mean that He is going to fill your bank account, but you will be rewarded.
Ornan left there that day the recipient of great blessings. Yes, there was a financial blessing. He gave without thought of personal gain and yet he experienced personal gain. But there were also some other blessings as well. Let me show you something you may or may not have known. Find 2 Chronicles 3:1.
"Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem in mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite."
If you were to go to Israel today and stand in the Jerusalem temple, you’d be standing on Ornan’s old property. Solomon built his great temple there; the Jews later built the second one there. King Herod renovated it later again, and Jesus ministered there. One day Jesus will sit on His throne on the old threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. Do you think that old wheat farmer knew how he was participating in the work of God when he said, "I give it all?" I don’t think he did any more than you or I know how far reaching every dollar we send on the field is, because you see, when we support some missionary we don’t even know and folk are saved as the result, we will enjoy eternal rewards because we took part in leading that soul to Christ.
There was the blessing of knowing he served his king. Then of course there was the financial blessing. He was rewarded for his giving, and I believe God will reward you for your giving. He certainly has rewarded mine, and while you may not see it in the clothes I wear or the furniture in my house, I am confident each week as I give that God is meeting my needs, and because I trust that He will continue to do so, I give.
