Lessons In Glorious Giving

> This morning I want to invite you into a picture that’s captured my heart over the past year or two…it’s a moment in O.T. history in which the people of God… our spiritual fore parents... took up a similar season in their lives to provide for a place of worship and ministry. It was the original temple of God after Israel had entered the Promised Land. It’s described in 1 Chronicles 29 and it describes the way they GAVE toward that end.

If you’re a visitor… newcomer… we don’t talk much about money in this fellowship… to a fault.

• If this isn’t your church, you shouldn’t give unless the Spirit of God leads you to. Can we agree on that? Just enjoy an opportunity to learn more of what God teaches us about giving.

If you are a part of this fellowship… and might wonder… ‘Does this building endeavor mean we’re going to be talking about giving for months to come?’

> I have no sense that I’ll talk about giving again. My point this morning is to help us capture the right approach from the start.

For many the topic of giving is a bit new… don’t teach as much as we might because of the natural misconceptions…

• In all my years of serving as a spiritual leader… I can’t think of any one dynamic that has opened up a tangible change in people’s relationship with God more than that of decisions related to giving.

• This week I was approached by a young woman wanting to know how to sense God’s direction in regards to making a special offering to the Lord in this endeavor. I smiled because I knew a new level of faith was at hand… that an encounter with the living God would unfold. I didn’t have any interest in defining the amount she should give but simply in describing the attitude … the approach she could have. And that my heart this morning.

Acts 20:35 (Good News) "Remember the words the Lord Jesus Himself said, `There is more happiness in giving than in receiving.’" Do you really believe that? …that there’s more happiness in giving than in receiving? Happiness is based on living generously.

2 Cor. 8:7 “But just as you excel in everything--… see that you also excel in this grace of giving.”

We are by most accounts a generous nation…but a fact that has challenged me the past few years is the change through the generations. Most of what’s been built to provide for the spiritual and social needs of communities is the result of the generation which precedes most of us who are baby boomers or baby busters… the BUILDERS generation. The generosity … sacrifice… of that generation has waned. I believe it’s the result of both materialism… and manipulation… and our tendency towards sensationalism (= only grand generosity counts.)

> We’ve lost the glory of giving. We don’t often equate giving as something glorious… perhaps feel grumbling about.. guilty about… good about… but I want to walk us through a picture God gives us of GLORIOUS GIVING.

Several lessons God has for us…

[29:1] Then King David said to the whole assembly: "My son Solomon, the one whom God has chosen, is young and inexperienced.

To appreciate these words… we have to understand all that lies behind them. (1 Chron. 17:4-12 tells story). This had been David’s vision…. God had now called David to turn it over to his son Solomon. David had made a significant decision at this point… a decision to give beyond himself.

Our first lesson in glorious giving…

1. Give beyond ourselves. (An investing heart) – v. 1a

David not only “served his own generation” (Acts 13:36), which every child of God should do, but he also served generations to come. He provided the materials to build the temple; he organized the temple ministry; he wrote songs for the temple singers; and he even designed musical instruments for the Levites to play.

Dr. Tony Campolo tells about a sociological study in which fifty people over the age of ninety-five were asked one question: "If you could live your life over again, what would you do differently?" It was an open-ended question, and a multiplicity of answers came from these eldest of senior citizens. However, three answers constantly reemerged and dominated the results of the study. These three answers were:

. If I had it to do over again, I would reflect more.

. If I had it to do over again, I would risk more.

. If I had it to do over again, I would do more things that would live on after I am dead.

> Those who best understand what’s truly meaningful at the end of life tell us it’s about what we give beyond ourselves… towards that which will outlive us.