Commitment To The Church #6 Series

Series Subject: Commitment to the Church

Topic: Serving God Through Giving Pt.3

Text: 1 Chronicles 29:1-6

Introduction

A. Welcome to another Sunday of Commitment to the Church Emphasis. We are still on the subject of “Serving God Through Giving” as part of our series on commitment. We are studying the important biblical principles that will guide us to become a fully committed follower of Jesus. I do hope that you would gladly bear with me this morning since I will again speak on giving. I know this might make some of us here uncomfortable; but God is leading me to speak His Word about giving.

B. One Sunday morning as the preacher was dragging on and on with his sermon, a little girl who became restless leaned over to her mother and whispered: “Mom, if we give him the money now, will he let us go?”

C. Like that little girl, many thought that all that the preacher wanted and sought after was their money. They don’t understand that giving is serving God, and it’s not actually about their money. Giving to the church is not about how thick your wallet is; it is about how deep is your understanding on God’s graciousness and how deep is your love and devotion to God.

D. In our passage we find that King David had been preparing everything needed for the building of the temple he promised to build for the Lord. He was preparing the people to accept, prepare, and do the task of building the temple of God when his son Solomon assumes the throne of Israel. He encouraged them to give sacrificially until the temple of God would be completed. Then we find that the people responded to David’s request and gave for the building of the temple willingly. This incident of this particular passage laid important principles on giving. I encourage everyone of us that our giving must be done in light of these principles.

Giving must be in:

I. THE RIGHT PURPOSE (v.1)

Verse 1 tells us that King David told the entire assembly of Israel about the project of building the temple of God. He said that “this palace is not for man, but for the LORD God.” I understand here that David did not want his people to give sacrificially for the building of the temple in obedience to his word as their king. He wanted them to give with the purpose of bringing honor and pleasure to God.

Our whole purpose in giving to the church and to its ministries is not to please men or to receive honor from men. People might praise you or even flatter you of your generosity. But, do we have to mind what the people are or might be saying on our giving? I would say “no.” Our whole purpose in giving for the building of God’s kingdom is to please the Lord and to bring honor to His Name, not to heap the praise of sweet-talking men.

Colossians 3:23 says, “And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men.” I believe Paul wants us to apply the principle he is saying here in this verse in our giving. This principle will dispel the possible troubles that come with giving out of selfish motives. Giving for the recognition of men breeds disappointments, confusions, misunderstandings, and misconceptions.

One day a certain member was in trouble with his pastor about church management. He decided to leave and withdraw his membership from the church. The trouble was, he took everything he had donated to the church.

Now, do you think he’s giving with the right purpose? Is your giving done in the right purpose of giving? This church is God’s. It is His church, not of anybody here. When you give for the work, for the ministry, for the building of this church of the Lord, you are giving, not for the pleasure of any person or even for yourself. I know there is pleasure in giving, but our motive must not center on ourselves. Giving must be for the glory of God.

II. THE RIGHT DEGREE

In verse 2 David said: “I have prepared with all my might for the house of my God.” The key phrase here is “with all my might.” David did prepare the materials for the building of God’s temple in the best way he could, and the people too. Verse 6 tells us that they gave willingly according to their ability. Giving must be done that way. It must be done in the best way we can.

Don’t misunderstand me please. I’m not trying to demand a set amount of giving here because the Bible itself does not teach us that way. On the contrary, right giving is not about the size of the gift; it’s about the sacrifice behind it. In giving, the question is not “How much,” but “Is it all I can? Is it my best?” Our Heavenly Father has given us the grandest gift of His Son, are we not ashamed to give Him anything that costs us nothing?