CAN WE GIVE GOD TOO MUCH?
EXODUS 363-7
This morning I am not going to preach on what was to come next in the sermon series on How people grow. The reason is quite simple – we all need to hear what I am going to say this morning about our finances and about our giving. Before some of you begin to groan ‘here he goes about money again’ let me say to you that in the seven years I have been your pastor I have preached on giving four or five times. Maybe that actually is the reason we find ourselves in need of addressing the financial situation of the parish this morning. Maybe I have not taught often enough or well enough on the topic. So this morning I want to address the area of giving to God. I have deliberately entitled this sermon: Can we give God too much?
Turn with me if you would please to Exodus 36 and at the same time put a marker or your finger at 2 Corinthians 8 and 9. I am going to look at each of these passages this morning as we examine this whole area of Giving.
Exodus 36 verses 3-7. I found these verses fascinating when I read them. I don’t ever remember reading them before or ever hearing of the incident before. Let me set the scene. The people of Israel are two years into their forty year wilderness wanderings. God has brought them safely out of Egypt through the Red Sea and he has provided water and manna for them to eat. He has given Moses instructions concerning the building of a Tabernacle – a wilderness dwelling for the presence of the Lord to be in the midst of his people. Moses has given instructions for the Tabernacle to be built and in chapter 35 he gives instructions as to how the cost is to be met.
Turn to chapter 35 verse 5 note will you what he says concerning a ‘generous heart’, turn then to verses 20-22 Read and verse 29 Read of the same chapter. Do you see what is at the very foundation of their giving? ‘A willing or generous heart.’ It is out of the willingness, the generosity of their hearts that their giving flows. Turn now to chapter 36 and what do we read in verse 2? Those whose hearts were stirred brought their offerings. Do you see the importance of your heart when it comes to giving here? Not every one in the camp of Israel responded but only those whose heart had been stirred. Why did they respond? Well I believe there were two major reasons:
1. They recognised the worthiness of God to receive their offerings and so responded. Turn back to chapter 35 and verse 20-29 – look at what was given. Each person gave their best. In material terms it was not of equal value but in spiritual terms and in terms of ‘the best’ each individual had they were of equal value. You see their giving was an expression of their worship. It was not a token, it was not to meet the bills and get the Tabernacle built. It was not so that their names would appear above a door post or something. It was a true expression and reflection of their worship of Almighty God – the one who had freed them from slavery in Egypt and who had provided for their daily needs in the wilderness.
2. They realised how blessed they were by God. They had wandered for two years in the wilderness. During that time God had provided water from a rock, manna from heaven and their clothes and shoes had not worn out. God had blessed them with the daily provisions of life and so they out of their blessedness return to God what they had previously received from His hands. You see these people, the ones whose hearts had been stirred by the Lord, knew that they were not self-made people. They knew that God had provided for their daily needs and so in thankfulness they respond to God’s command to build the Tabernacle.
THEIR GIVING WAS HABITUAL – 36 VERSE 3.
God had expressed through Moses a desire to have a Tabernacle, a place where he could dwell in the midst of his people as they journeyed to the Promised Land. The people responded, not to Moses, not to his words for we know from his own lips that he was no great orator. No, they responded to the Word of God – because it is only the Word of God empowered by the Spirit of God that can stir up men’s hearts to this level of generosity. You see when you read the passage closely you realise that the first thought in their hearts each day was to build the Tabernacle. Their first thought was for the glory of God and their first desire was for the presence of God in their midst. Look at what the passage says – ‘day after day.’ Day after day they brought their offering to Moses for the Tabernacle. They had a habit of giving to God’s work. It was daily habit. They brought the best of what they had. They were not expected to bring what they did not have.
THEIR GIVING WAS INFLUENTIAL – VERSES 4-5.
Friends I want you to listen to what I am about to ask you. Have you ever given something to the work of God that it stopped a workmate in his tracks, made him down tools and come and say to the leader ‘they are too generous tell them to stop?’ Well that is exactly what happened here. Their giving so influenced the workmen that they had no choice but to go to Moses and say they are giving too much and we have more than we could need or use. Wouldn’t that be a great situation to be in as a church? Wouldn’t it be some testimony to our love for God that Edwin had to come to me and say ‘tell them not to give anymore we have too much already.’ The building materials for the Temple came from the hearts of the people. They knew that God had met their daily needs and now they were going to meet the needs of the Tabernacle. When God gave them the opportunity to respond they did not hold back – they gave with such generosity it floored the workforce. Their sweeping generosity had an influence.
THEIR GIVING WAS IN RESPONSE TO A NEED.
They did not give aimlessly but in response to a need. I read recently of Tony Campolo, he is an international speaker and writer. He was speaking at some women’s conference when the chairwoman announced that they had got a message from some missionaries who desperately need $4000. She asked Campolo to pray that the need would be met. He refused. She was really taken aback by this. He then stood up and said – God has already provided for that $4000 right here and now. I am going to give all I have in my pocket right now and I ask the rest of you to do the same. He only had $15 in his pocket. There was nervous laughter around the conference centre for a moment and then they realised he was serious. Slowly the people responded and more than $4000 was raised for the missionaries. Campolo said ‘the answer to giving is always in the hearts and pockets of people.’ You see it sounded very spiritual to pray about the $4000 – and it was right to pray – but God had already provided the answer it just needed people to respond to the opportunity to give. God has already provided the answer to our financial needs as a congregation – we just need to respond to that opportunity to give.
Turn with me to 2 Corinthians 9 as we come to the end of this sermon. I want for a few moments to share with you from God’s Word how we should give. In 2 Corinthians 8.1 to 9.18 we have instructions concerning giving under grace. The OT clearly taught that 10%, or tithing, was the rule for the people of God. The NT does not teach tithing – it teaches giving under grace. Let me explain.
Turn to 2 Corinthians 8.8-9 Read. Your giving is to be a matter of your love for God and for fellow believers. It is not a commandment but of love.
Turn to 2 Corinthians 8.12-14 Read. We read here that it is about the readiness to give out of what we have and not the amount that is important. Do you remember the incident of Jesus in the Temple and the widow’s mite (Mark 12.41-44)? We read that Jesus commends the woman for the amount she gave, even though in the scheme of things it was a paltry amount. But he says it is because she ‘gave out of her poverty.’ Being poor did not exempt her from giving but it was the very fact that in relation to her financial situation she had given all to God. It was the amount left and not the amount given which spoke about generosity of heart, and it was that that mattered to God and to Christ His Son. Also please note in verses 13 and 14 that it was a matter of fairness and not hardship that dictated the amount given by the Corinthian believers. Those who were financially prosperous were expected to contribute more than those who were struggling financially. The same should be true here.
Now turn to chapter 9.6-7. Paul says here that your giving reveals your attitude vis a vis generosity. You see you are to give as you have made up your mind and you are not to be compelled to give and you are not to give reluctantly. It is not under guilt nor with reluctance in your heart but out of generosity of heart that you are to give. God examines the attitude of your heart as you give and it is joy that he wishes to see there when you give – not guilt, not resentment but joy. He then moves on the verses that follow to say that because the Lord has supplied all your needs then your giving is to reflect his generosity in your life. Friends what does our giving say about our thankfulness to God for our daily bread?
Finally in verses 11-15 Paul says that the reason you are to give generously is because it will bring glory to God. Glory to God – is that why you give? Let me ask you ‘how do you think the rest of the camp of Israel who had not given reacted when they saw that those who did give gave more than was needed? What must they have thought about the givers and their relationship with and to Almighty God?’
I read recently of a minister who upon receiving the offering held it up and prayed the following prayer: “Lord, regardless of what we say about you with our lips, this is really what we say about you, this is really what we feel about you. This is really what you mean to us. Amen.” Now I was tempted to do the same thing here this morning but I am not that brave and a lot of you would have taken offence. Yet assuming that the offertory truly reflects our feelings towards God, remembering that Jesus said ‘where your treasure is there your heart will be also,’ what does the financial state of Holy Trinity say about our love for God.
You see there are three types of givers in any church:
The Flint – you have to strike them with a hammer to get them to give and then all you get are chips and sparks.
The Sponge – well to get water out of a sponge you have to squeeze it and the harder you squeeze it the more water you get.
The Honeycomb – well the sweetness of the honeycomb just overflows from it. It just pours out. It just oozes out and it oozes out from the heart of the comb.
I was going to end this sermon on a financial breakdown of what we need and how we could all meet it but I know that is not what God wants me to say to you this morning. I know that as I prayed about this sermon and as I prepared it God clearly spoke and said that the issue at Holy Trinity was a matter of our hearts and our relationship with God. I know that his Word clearly teaches that the giving of our finances to God reflects our love for God and our relationship with God. Only you know what you are saying to God and about God this morning in what you have given. I deliberately lifted the offering this morning before the sermon because I did not and I do not want anyone responding out a sense of guilt or a sense of pressure. I want us now, in the time that we normally lift the offering to quietly in our own hearts examine our relationship with God and to examine our financial commitment to his work at Holy Trinity. I want you to go home and I want you to pray about it and to seek God’s face concerning it. I don’t want you to do anything about what you give unless you clearly know that God has put it into your heart to change the amount you give.
Finally let me finish by saying this to you all. God is no man’s debtor. We owe God more than we can ever repay. We give as an act of worship not because we expect a blessing in return. God cannot and will not be bribed by our giving. It is from the thankfulness of our hearts and lives that God wants us to respond to his, this, opportunity to give. Amen.
