A young man went into a jewelry store. He poured out all the money he had and said “I’m looking to buy something special for my girlfriend for Valentine’s Day.” So they searched the store and then he saw a necklace with a heart-shaped pendant and said “That’s the one!” The clerk asked if he would like to add an inscription on the back of the pendant. Immediately, the young man replied, with a deep sigh reflecting the love in his heart, “Yes, put ‘To my one and only true love forever…” The clerk then asked for the name of his girlfriend, and he sighed again “Victoria”. So he began to inscribe Victoria’s name, when the young man said “Don’t put her name on it.” “Oh don’t worry, I’ll have enough room” said the clerk. Then the young man “No…That way if things don’t work out with Victoria, I can give it to someone else.” For love relationships to work, it takes making a commitment. But a lot of us don’t like to make these kinds of commitments. Sure, we like the closeness of the relationship, but we want outs, we want options, we want exceptions…just in case we change our minds. The same is true in our giving. Last week, we learned that God wants us to give to Him the very best we have. To hoard it and to keep it for ourselves shows we don’t trust Him or love Him more than ourselves. Last week, the main point was simply “give your best.” This week, the main point is “make a commitment.” The scriptures teach us that another critical part of our giving to God involves making a commitment. Let’s read from our scripture today. Nehemiah 10:30-38. Here’s the setting. The nation of Israel has been captured by the Babylonians. They’ve been taken from their homeland and forced to live in other parts of the world. Now, they’ve been allowed to go back and resettle. Nehemiah is led by God to go back and rebuild the wall. Ezra has done the same with rebuilding the temple. The work has been tough, but now everything is finished. And as part of the rededication of the wall and the temple, the people gather together. Listen to what they say (read scripture): Throughout the scriptures, we see times like this. Where all the people were gathered in one place and the law would be read or the prophet would speak the word of God. But the people wouldn’t just sit there or be silent. They would stand and then they would be asked “What will you do? What do you have to say?” And the people would stand and they would respond. Here, and in many times in scripture, the people made a commitment. First of all, the people made a public commitment to obey their laws. Look again at v. 30. “We promise not to give our daughters in marriage to the peoples around us or take their daughters for our sons. "When the neighboring peoples bring merchandise or grain to sell on the Sabbath, we will not buy from them on the Sabbath or on any holy day. Every seventh year we will forgo working the land and will cancel all debts.” Now these were not new laws. Every Jewish person standing there could tell you this is what their laws said. But every person standing there could also tell you that they had not been doing it. Before the Babylonians came to conquer them, the prophets warned them over and over “God is going to allow the Babylonians to come and destroy us and here’s why…because you are intermarrying with these other cultures, which is leading you astray…and you are not obeying the Sabbath.” If you keep doing these things, this is what’s going to happen. And it happened. So now, as they started over with a new wall and a new temple, they said, “We will do the things we have been commanded to do.” But I want us to notice something here. I want us to notice HOW they made this recommitment. There wasn’t an appeal for everyone to think about it and try their best. They didn’t send out a memo asking everyone to pray about it and do whatever they felt was right in their hearts. Instead, it was done publicly. The leaders challenged the people to make a commitment to obey their laws that God had given them. And they asked them to stand and speak in front of everyone and to make a commitment right then and there. Do you think this was a good idea? Why was it important to do it like this? And what about today? Should our commitments to God be made public? Why is this important? Let me give you two ideas that might be relevant. First of all, it’s a great example. The apostle Paul made a commitment to follow Christ. And as he followed Christ, he encouraged others to follow him. Listen to how he says it in I Corinthians 11:1 – “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” He’s not saying “look at me, I’m great, I’m perfect. Instead, He’s saying “I know where I’m going. I will follow the ways of Jesus, and I am so committed, that if you don’t know what to do, then follow me and I’ll take you to where Jesus is.” Would you say this to a new believer? Follow me? Most people don’t. We’re too modest, too humble, but we’ve made this too extreme. New believers need examples to follow. I don’t mind at all saying “Follow me”. Doesn’t mean I’m perfect or always right. Notice how Paul said it “Follow my example AS I FOLLOW THE EXAMPLE OF CHRIST.” In other words, the godly things you see in me, do those things. You see, me saying this publicly is good for me. It helps others to have an example, but it’s also helpful, because it keeps me accountable. That’s another great benefit to making our commitments public. Accountability! Being accountable helps me become stronger. Solomon put it this way in the Proverbs: “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” You see, on our own, we love our independence. No one tells me what to do. I do what I want when I want. But how many of us are strong enough to push ourselves to get better? What if, in order to be a better follower of Christ, I laid down that freedom, and instead chose to be accountable? Voluntarily said “I will give someone the right to ask me about my actions?” A lot of people like to surf the internet. Right? Can do what you want when you want. A lot of bad stuff out there. You can read things and view things that you know are inappropriate. What if you made a commitment to be pure? And you said “I’m tempted by this” but instead of trying to do it all on your own, you made a commitment and said “Okay, from now on, I won’t view things on those sites anymore.” And instead of just saying it to yourself and trying your best on your own, you shared that with an accountability partner AND to keep yourself strong, you subscribed to one of those services they have that automatically sends an email to your accountability partner of every website that you visit? You see, some of us look at that and say “Well, I don’t know about that…” and we think we should do these things on our own. But we don’t realize that there is a positive power in making our commitments publicly. On our own, we fail, we stray, we wander. But when we make our commitments publicly, we give ourselves boundaries, that can protect us and keep us strong. I value my independence. But I value my relationship with God even more and if it takes giving up a measure of my independence to stay true to God, then it’s worth it.
Wait a minute…I thought this was a series about giving. What does this have to do with giving? I want you to see this. The people not only made a public commitment to obeying their laws, but they also made a public commitment to bring their tithes. Look at vv. 37 and keep in mind, they are standing in front of everyone they know and before God and saying these things: “"Moreover, we will bring to the storerooms of the house of our God, to the priests, the first of our ground meal, of our grain offerings, of the fruit of all our trees and of our new wine and oil. And we will bring a tithe of our crops to the Levites…” As part of obeying their laws, the people made a public commitment to bring their tithes. Let me go ahead and give you what I believe is a good working definition of a tithe, according to the Bible. A tithe is simply the first tenth of what we receive. The Hebrew word means “tenth”, but where ever it is mentioned in the Bible, the context always refers to it being the “first” or “best” of what we have. Now during giving series, there are some who like to point out that the word “tithe” isn’t in the New Testament. This true, but the word “tenth” is, and even Jesus mentions it. But to me, the best verses about tithing are in Corinthians. Here, Paul praises the church for being so generous in giving. He tells them to GIVE as God has given to them. Listen to 2 Corinthians 9:7 – “Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” But we also need to keep in mind what Paul said in his first letter to the Corinthian people in I Corinthians 16:1-2 – “Now about the collection for God’s people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made.” Here’s a brief summary of what I believe the Bible teaches about tithing when it comes to the amount. I believe the Old Testament teaches give a tenth of what you make. Period. I believe the New Testament teaches to give a portion of your income that God directs you to give with a loving spirit. Personally, I think it begins with a tenth, that like other Old Testament laws where Jesus says “you’ve heard it said “Do this”, but I say to you “Do better!”, then I believe the tenth is the place to start. The real key here is to trust God in your giving. I think the tithe is also a way of trusting God. Probably the most popular verse about giving in sermon series on giving is Malachi 3:10 – “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.” To me, it’s not as much about the tenth as it is about the trust. Do you trust God? Then show it, prove it, make a commitment. Give him a tenth and see if He won’t honor His word and bless you. I’ve found several churches who are now doing a “tithe challenge guarantee” with their members. Their saying “make a commitment to God to actually tithe, give a tenth, for 3 months or 6 months, or whatever…and at the end of that time, if you don’t think God is blessing you, then you can ask for a refund, and the church will give you your money back.” What do you think? As a church, we can’t guarantee you, because we don’t know what you will count as a blessing or not. But you can count on God. I love this verse. It’s God saying “Will you please just trust me?” The answer isn’t hanging on to your money, it’s letting go!” But this verse, as well as our main passage today also teach us another reason we are called to make a public commitment to give: The people made a public commitment to support their church. Malachi 3:10 makes it clear. It’s not only to build a stronger relationship between you and God. But it’s also so the house of God is provided for. So there would be food to help the poor. Provisions so that worship could take place. The goods needed would be available to help the ministers. Look at it again in Nehemiah 10, vv. 32 and 33 – “"We assume the responsibility for carrying out the commands to give a third of a shekel each year for the service of the house of our God: for the bread set out on the table; for the regular grain offerings and burnt offerings; for the offerings on the Sabbaths, New Moon festivals and appointed feasts; for the holy offerings; for sin offerings to make atonement for Israel; and for all the duties of the house of our God.” And again, listen to the resolve, the public commitment of all the people in front of everyone in summary in v. 39 – “…We will not neglect the house of our God." The people made a pledge that day. We will obey our laws. We will bring our tithes. And we will support our church. They knew that one of the reasons they were commanded to give was so that their church would be provided for. No longer did they want to neglect the house of God. There are a lot of ways to destroy something. You know one of the easiest ways? Neglect it. How do you destroy a garden that was once productive and thriving. What do you do? Nothing! Just neglect it! Don’t water, don’t fertilize, just let the weeds come in and take over. What about your car? It’s running great and looking good…how could you ruin it? Do nothing! Just neglect it! don’t change the oil or the filters, leave out in the sun and the rain and the rust and corrosion will take over. And what about a church? A church that loves God and loves people, that tells people about Jesus? How could it die? The same way. Do nothing! Neglect it. Don’t pray for it, don’t invite people, don’t volunteer, and…don’t give anything. And after time, it will happen. The paint will fade, the wood will crack, the elements will take over…and people will drive by and say “What happened over there? It used to be a great church? What did they do?” And the answer will be….nothing. They didn’t do anything.
Well, the people in Nehemiah’s time decided they had been down that road and they didn’t want to do it again. So they made a commitment, they stood and they made a pledge “we will not let this happen again”. In essence, each one of them made a public commitment, saying “I will not neglect the house of my God” and I will not neglect the people of my church.” They pledged then and there that they would give their portion and that they would see to do it that the house was provided for and the people would support each other.
What if we did that here today? Made a pledge? A public commitment? If everyone today, right here, signed on the dotted line. Is that scary to you? Is it really such a bad idea? You make pledges in other areas right? When you buy a house or a car, if you don’t have all the money, you make a commitment, you sign it, yes I will do this. Well, that’s different, that’s private. Okay. What about public pledges? You do those don’t you? What about the pledge of allegiance? Do you believe in this? Of course we do, we’re Americans! Saying the pledge is a great moment as an American. It reminds us of the way our country was founded. Do you remember this part of the Declaration of Independence? Toward the end, when they have listed all the reasons and that we stated that we were now free, listen to what they said – “And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.” Did you catch that? They made the pledge not only toward England, but to each other? That may be something we’re missing here. Have you made a public commitment, an outspoken pledge to your church? We do this for our country, and I’m proud when we do it…what about to your church? You might say “We don’t have one”…maybe we should. Here’s my first crack at it. A pledge…: “I pledge allegiance to my church, the First Baptist Church of Mauldin. And I publicly commit today, before God and my fellow brothers and sisters, to act in a Christ-like spirit, to give my portion, to serve with my talents, and to love God and others with all my heart, soul, mind and strength. And I pledge this in the name of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior. Amen.” What do you think? Could you do this? Should we? I know we’d have to form a committee and work on it for 8 years, but think about this part…would it be powerful if each of us would stand publicly and say something like this, before God and everyone in our church “I will not neglect the house of my God, I will not neglect the people of my church and I will support it with all my heart.”? Who here would say that?
God has made this kind of commitment to you. In the most famous verse in the Bible, God says that he “loved the world so much, that He gave His only son, that whosoever would believe in Him would not perish, but have everlasting life…”
