Series Title: Questions About the Church
Sermon Title: Why Do I Need to Give Money to the Church?
Scripture: 1 Chronicles 29: 10-19
10 David praised the Lord in the presence of the whole assembly, saying, "Praise be to you, O Lord, God of our father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. 11 Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. 12 Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all. 13 Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name. 14 "But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand. 15 We are aliens and strangers in your sight, as were all our forefathers. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope. 16 O Lord our God, as for all this abundance that we have provided for building you a temple for your Holy Name, it comes from your hand, and all of it belongs to you. 17 I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity. All these things have I given willingly and with honest intent. And now I have seen with joy how willingly your people who are here have given to you. 18 O Lord, God of our fathers Abraham, Isaac and Israel, keep this desire in the hearts of your people forever, and keep their hearts loyal to you.
Introduction
In the past few weeks, we’ve been trying to answer some questions about the church.
What exactly is the church?
Why do people in the church think differently from me?
How to get along better with people in the church?
How can the church help me WIN in life?
And today, we’re going to talk about the question: Why Do I Need to Give Money to the Church?
You know, there are some people who complain that every time they come to church, all the preacher ever talks about is money. Well, if there’s anybody here today that thinks that, that tells me at least two things about your spiritual life. 1) You must not come to church a lot, because I know what the sermons have been, so I know how often I’ve talked about money. 2) If all you ever hear about is money when you go to church, then money must be causing a problem for you spiritually, and God is trying to get your attention, and get through to you.
This passage from 1 Chronicles talks about money and other valuables that are given for the construction of the Temple. David wanted to build the Temple, but God did not allow him to do so. Instead, his son, Solomon, would build it. So, David has called the people to give money and things for Solomon to have what is needed for it.
Now, you’re sitting there thinking, “Here it comes. He just told us that David called all the people to give their money and stuff, so the Temple could be built. Now, he’s gonna tell us that we need to give our money because God needs it, so He can do His work in the world.
Well, I’m not going to tell you that. Instead, I’m going to tell you that...
1. God doesn’t NEED your money because everything belongs to Him already.
11a Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours...
He says it again in verse 12, Wealth and honor come from you...
Verse 16, O Lord our God, as for all this abundance that we have provided for building you a temple for your Holy Name, it comes from your hand, and all of it belongs to you.
Folks, God doesn’t need your money or my money because EVERYTHING already belongs to Him.
When we buy ice cream at the grocery store, sometimes we get possessive of a particular carton. One of the girls will claim one flavor, and the other will claim a different flavor. So when I want to get some ice cream, I will get some from a carton that has been claimed by someone else. Now, when the girls feel generous, they will sometimes offer to let me have some of their ice cream. What they don’t understand is that all of the ice cream belongs to me. And if I want some ice cream, I’m going to get it.
That’s the way it is with God. Everything belongs to God, even the things he has given to us. We can’t give something back to God that doesn’t already belong to him.
2. God doesn’t NEED your money because He can create anything He wants to.
Look at verse 11 with me.
11 Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours.
David refers to God’s greatness and power.
God clearly showed his power in creation. God is the almighty, all-powerful God, Who simply spoke some words and brought everything that there is into existence, and He didn’t even have to speak the words if He didn’t want to, and it still would have happened.
God is the one Who made all of the gold, and silver and diamonds and all of the other precious metals and stones and put them into the ground in the first place.
My God made all of the oil from which our fuel is made and put it into the ground, and He doesn’t need it anyway, because He is everywhere at all times.
Look down at verse 14, "But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand.
In verse 16 he says, O Lord our God, as for all this abundance that we have provided for building you a temple for your Holy Name, it comes from your hand, …
God doesn’t need our money, because God can create anything he wants to. He can make anything happen when He wants to. Just looking back at some of the miracles in the Bible reminds us of this. God revealed His creative power when He brought the plagues in Egypt, parted the Red Sea, stopped the Jordan River, brought down the walls of Jericho, made the sun to stop or to go back, or any number of miracles. The miracles of Jesus also show us that God even in human form has the power to create and change the natural way of things.
Do you remember when Jesus told Peter to go fishing one day? He told Peter to catch a fish, then, look into its mouth, and he would find some money there. He was to use the money to pay the temple tax for himself and Jesus. Jesus didn’t need any money. He could get money from a fish!
There is no reason for us to think that God needs our money to do his work. We don’t give our money to the church because God needs our money. He doesn’t need your money. You know what? I’d even go so far as to say that God doesn’t WANT your money.
3. God wants YOU! .
You remember the old Uncle Sam posters with the slogan: Uncle Sam Wants You!
Well, God wants you!
And because God knows everything, He knows that you and I—all of mankind actually—because of our sinful nature, we will undoubtedly choose to rebel against Him.
Now, God doesn’t want to make us obey Him. He wants us to do so on our own. So to counter that rebellion, God chooses people to help us come back and focus on Him.
For the nation of Israel, it was the tribe of Levi. God said, from the tribe of Levi, the priests will come. Members of the tribe of Levi will be responsible for the Tabernacle—the tent itself, putting it up, taking it down, carrying it. And the furnishings—the altar, the bowl, the tables, everything. God laid out His plan for the tribe of Levi to do the work of providing spiritual leadership for the whole nation of Israel. And God said, “That’s a full time job! These folks are not going to be able to settle onto a piece of land when I bring them into the Promised Land, and farm it, and raise cattle and sheep. The Levites are taking care of the spiritual needs of the nation, so they can’t do that on top of trying to provide for their own families.”
So, here’s what God did when He established the Law:
Lev 27:30 And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is God’s: it is holy unto Jehovah.
Lev 27:32 And all the tithe of the herd or the flock, whatsoever passes under the rod, the tenth shall be holy unto the Lord.
Then, in Numbers He said that because they are not going to get an inheritance of land, here’s what He said,
Num 18:21 And unto the children of Levi, behold, I have given all the tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service which they serve, even the service of the tent of meeting.
God provided for their physical needs through the tithe, so that they could focus on the spiritual need of the people, because God knows that we need someone to help us focus on Him, or we will move farther and farther away from Him.
Well, we don’t have the tribe of Levi today in our Christian churches to do that. We organize into a church, and we have pastors, and other ministers from time to time. In our Baptist heritage, we have associations and state conventions and the national convention to help support the local ministry as well as help us carry out the Great Commission around the world.
The tithe pays the bills of the church, provides materials and supplies, supports the staff, and goes on to do missions locally and all over.
That one of the reasons why we give our money to God through the church-to provide for those who help us focus on God.
And really the second thing that I’ll mention about that comes out of the same thing.
When we lose focus on God, we forget that God wants us. That God wants our hearts. And one of the ways we rebel against Him is that we put more value on things that God has given us than we do on God Himself.
But in this passage in 1 Chronicles 29 (you thought I forgot about it, didn’t you?), we see the people of Israel, at least at this point in their history, they are right with God. Listen to these verses again and notice the humility, the praise, the focus on God.
11b ...Yours, O Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. 12 ... you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all. 13 Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name. 14 "But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand. 15 We are aliens and strangers in your sight, as were all our forefathers. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope. (Humility)
17 I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity. All these things have I given willingly and with honest intent. And now I have seen with joy how willingly your people who are here have given to you. 18 O Lord, God of our fathers Abraham, Isaac and Israel, keep this desire in the hearts of your people forever, and keep their hearts loyal to you.
Folks, we don’t give our money to the church because God needs it, or even wants it. God wants YOU! And part of the reason we need to give it. Is because when we don’t allow it to grab hold of us, and when we give it willingly, and with honest intent, and joyfully, we are really giving ourselves to God. And that’s what He wants.
Conclusion
Maybe you’re here this morning and there’s a lot of concern about money in your life. Maybe you’re one of those that has too much. And having too much can occupy your life and thoughts. Well, I’d like to help you with that problem.
Maybe you feel like you have too little, and you can’t help but think about it, because you feel like you need more. Either one of those can be true, and you can put more value on it than you give to God.
God wants YOU, and he wants you to be faithful and obedient to Him. He wants you to have a part in supporting His church that can help you spiritually to focus on Him, and teach you the Truth of His Word, and can give you a place to develop Christian friendships, and can provide opportunities of service and witness. God wants you to be a part of that. Through you giving and other involvement, you are.
Maybe you need to spend some time this morning talking to God, confessing that money has too tight of a grip on your life, and you’re ready to give yourself to God, to let Him be the most valuable one in your life.
Maybe you’ve never trusted in Jesus as your Savior and Lord. Today is the day to get right with Him—to give yourself to Him—and begin living for Him.
