Called to Give our Best

end times 1 (CLOC year three – true riches)

Shepherd of the Hills Ev. Lutheran Church (WELS)

1 Chronicles 29:1-9

1Then King David said to the whole assembly: “My son Solomon, the one whom God has chosen, is young and inexperienced. The task is great, because this palatial structure is not for man but for the Lord God. 2 With all my resources I have provided for the temple of my God—gold for the gold work, silver for the silver, bronze for the bronze, iron for the iron and wood for the wood, as well as onyx for the settings, turquoise, stones of various colors, and all kinds of fine stone and marble—all of these in large quantities. 3 Besides, in my devotion to the temple of my God I now give my personal treasures of gold and silver for the temple of my God, over and above everything I have provided for this holy temple: 4 three thousand talents of gold (gold of Ophir) and seven thousand talents of refined silver, for the overlaying of the walls of the buildings, 5 for the gold work and the silver work, and for all the work to be done by the craftsmen. Now, who is willing to consecrate themselves to the Lord today?”

6 Then the leaders of families, the officers of the tribes of Israel, the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, and the officials in charge of the king’s work gave willingly. 7 They gave toward the work on the temple of God five thousand talents and ten thousand darics of gold, ten thousand talents of silver, eighteen thousand talents of bronze and a hundred thousand talents of iron. 8 Anyone who had precious stones gave them to the treasury of the temple of the Lord in the custody of Jehiel the Gershonite. 9 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. (NIV)

She’s the woman of your dreams, so you want to make sure tonight, the night you ask her to be your wife, is memorable.  You both arrive at your place.  As you open the door for her, a wretched smell causes her face to wrinkle with disgust.  But she quickly forgets about the smell when she sees your roommate and his disgusting buddies lounging around and spread out all over a filthy living room, playing video games.  You proceed to the kitchen, where you eagerly pull out a Styrofoam container with some leftovers that you know she will love, and you throw them on a plate and toss it in the microwave.  While that is reheating you grab a cheap bottle of wine that was given to you years ago and pour it into two glasses.  The microwave dings, and dinner is served.  Before she’s hardly had a chance to dig into her delectable second-hand meal, you’re down on one knee, amidst the loud cheers of recent video game success in the other room, and you peel back the lid of a tiny black box to reveal… the most affordable cubic zirconia placed in a such a chincy, cheap setting that it looks like it would bend or break at even the slightest hint of pressure.  And then you ask her to be our bride.  How could she say no?  How could she refuse when you have so clearly shown her how much you treasure her by giving her your absolute best?

Now obviously that’s not giving your best.  In fact, that better not be anyone giving his best!  No, you would strive for something on a much grander scale if this was the woman you were going to spend the rest of your days with – you’d pull out all the stops and put your best foot forward in addressing every last detail of this special occasion.  You wouldn’t settle for mediocrity or anything that’s simply “good enough” in that case, and the same holds true when it comes to our relationship with God.  He deserves our absolute best – no shortcuts and no excuses will do – only the best for the one who has given us the best in Jesus.  He has given us true riches, and the only appropriate response is for us to give him our best.

King David recognized an opportunity to give his best to the Lord.   His life was coming to an end and David longed to build a temple worthy of the Lord, sparing no expense to construct a dwelling that would be set apart from any dwelling of man.  He could not stand to live in a luxurious palace while the Ark of the Covenant was stored in a tent (and the parking lot was in shambles, the lawn was dotted with circular patches of dead brown, the roof leaked, the windows needed replacing, etc…).  And even when God had revealed that his son and not he would be the one to build a temple for the Lord, David made the most of the opportunity to give his best to the Lord.  David was well aware of how richly God had blessed him throughout his life and his reign, and he wanted to express his thanks to God by building him a temple. But the Lord made it clear that it would not be him, but his son Solomon who would build the temple.  Not to be discouraged, David got everything prepared for the new king, his son Solomon, and collected the supplies for the project so all would be ready when Solomon assumed the throne.

A building project today is no small thing; imagine what all was involved in David’s day.  Building a temple was a serious undertaking, and one which David was eager to take on, even if it meant that his role was acquiring the necessary materials so that someone else would be responsible for the finished product. “With all my resources I have provided for the temple of my God—gold for the gold work, silver for the silver, bronze for the bronze, iron for the iron and wood for the wood, as well as onyx for the settings, turquoise, stones of various colors, and all kinds of fine stone and marble—all of these in large quantities.  Besides, in my devotion to the temple of my God I now give my personal treasures of gold and silver for the temple of my God, over and above everything I have provided for this holy temple:  three thousand talents of gold (gold of Ophir) and seven thousand talents of refined silver, for the overlaying of the walls of the buildings,  for the gold work and the silver work, and for all the work to be done by the craftsmen” (v.2-5).  David provided funds from the state treasury, but then added his own offering over and above the treasury, out of his own pockets.  How much?  The most expensive building in the world today is the Wynn Casino in Las Vegas, costing over $2.5 billion.  David gave enough to build almost two of them.  David gave his best.  As far as David was concerned, a cheap bottle of wine and reheated left-overs weren’t good enough for God.

This is the third of a four year stewardship focus under the theme, “Christ’s Love, Our Calling.”  The first year emphasized the management of our time as children called by Christ’s love.  The second year emphasized the management of our unique gifts and talents as children called by Christ’s love.  This year we emphasize the management of our financial blessings as children called by Christ’s love.  Whether it be time, talents, or treasure, Christ’s love calls for our best in each and every case.

I’ll leave it to you to answer: when we flip to month eleven out of twelve on the calendar and not so much as a penny has been recorded in our offerings to the Lord, is that giving our best?  Or is that a cheap bottle of wine and reheated left-overs?  Is it really worth anyone’s time to talk about tithing – giving 10% – when the sad reality is that Christian giving in this country doesn’t even scratch the surface of 3%?  Is that giving our best, or is that a cheap bottle of wine and reheated left-overs? 

When we talk about our giving, we rightly discuss it within the context of giving with a cheerful heart.  But have you ever stopped to consider that a person’s heart can give cheerfully for two completely different reasons?  One can thankfully give a generous amount to the Lord and be cheerful that God has blessed him to give so much.  But another could also be giving cheerfully because he knows that in his giving so little to the Lord, he’s got plenty in the bank to satisfy his out of control spending.  Both hearts are cheerful, but only one is pleasing to the Lord, while he despises the other.  Which kind of “cheerful” heart is truly giving God his best? 

And, while we do well to speak about giving in terms of percentages, it might be helpful to consider which amount of money strikes you as being “a lot” when it comes to giving: $20 a week? $50? $75? $100? Over $150?  Now do those same amounts still strike you as being “a lot” if they’re going toward your texting and data plan for your smart phone, or for cable, or NFL Sunday ticket, etc. – you get the point.  Does the amount of my offering reflect the best I can give to God, or am I keeping the best and giving him the rest?  Is my best going to the God of my salvation, or the god of spending? 

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. What do I mean by that? Well, 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? Bottom line, there’s never been a group of people as wealthy as we are here in the U.S., and yet we continuously pursue more. Do you know what is the number one determining factor for an undergraduate to declare a major in the U.S.?  The anticipated salary upon graduation.  And yet, you would be hard pressed to find too many people who categorize themselves as “greedy.” We relativize it. As long as we can find one person in our lives with a more lavish lifestyle, we are blind to our own luxury, and we want more.  We can’t see our sinful and damning greed, even though it’s right under our nose. 

Is that why our offerings are such a private thing to us?   Are we ashamed that others might clearly see what we refuse to, that our meager giving can sometimes be the result of greedy hearts not making God a top priority?  Notice that David did not hide his offering from anyone, claiming it was a private matter.  He let his offering be known before the entire assembly, not to boast in himself, but to lead by example. He then called on the other leaders to do the same.  It wasn’t a command or threat, but an opportunity for them to take ownership of the temple in a way that showed their love for the Lord.

The people responded by matching their king’s offering, and then some.  “Then the leaders of families, the officers of the tribes of Israel, the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, and the officials in charge of the king’s work gave willingly. 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.” (v.6, 9)  Like David, they recognized what the Lord had done.  Grace had brought this people from the prison of slavery to possession of the Promised Land.  God’s mercy gave them peace with their neighbors.  God’s undeserved love promised a Savior would come through their nation.  God’s forgiveness freely given for when they failed to give him their best or make him a priority allowed them to stand before him now and for eternity.  In response to him, they gave him their best. 

We find ourselves in much the same situation as the people of Israel.  Like them, we have been freed from slavery of sin and given possession of the Promised Land of heaven.  Our sin tormented us incessantly, owning us.  Even though we have robbed God of our best, he still offered up his best.   For every time he has fallen from our top priority and we’ve given him less than our best, Jesus came to be punished.  For the times we offer what we have deemed as “good enough,” Jesus came to be better than “good enough.” He came to be perfect in our place.  The debt of gratitude we owe for the love he has shown is immeasurable.  Suffice it to say, it calls for our best.  Giving our best starts with giving him our whole hearts in response for giving us pure hearts.  It’s possible to give your money away without giving yourself, but it’s impossible to give away yourself without giving away your money. God’s primary concern is where your heart is.  He knows that if your heart is his, everything else will reflect that, including offerings.  Hearts that belong to God long to give him the best, because his grace moves us to it.

Hearts redeemed by Jesus give with an open hand, not a clenched fist.  A clenched fist is unwilling to part with money, but an open hand is open both to give freely, but also to receive freely the blessings that God pours out abundantly.  The clenched fist, the miserly heart, is not ready to receive more from God.  How can God place more blessings into a clenched fist?  Instead, look at what happened when Jesus opened his hands and spread his arms wide to give you blessing, the blessing of forgiveness and peace with God, which in turn opened up the storehouses of heaven, where God lavishes on you true riches. Open your hands and let go to see what God accomplishes through your open fists as well as what God puts into your hands.

God doesn’t need your money, but he loves it when we find joy in saying thank you to him.  He loves it when we prioritize our lives around him by returning a portion – the first and the best – back to him.  The key to Israel’s offering was that it was freely and joyfully given in response to God’s goodness and grace to his people.  What a joy it is for the Church when God’s people respond to the encouragement to keep him their priority!  Let’s keep the cheap wine and leftovers at home, and give God our best. Amen.

“For the freer confidence is from one’s own works, and the more exclusively it is directed toward Christ alone, so much better is the Christian it makes.” (Luther)