LEFTOVERS
1 SAMUEL 15:7-25
#tithing
OPENING SERMON ILLUSTRATION / INTRODUCTION… (p)
[Prepare beforehand 3 small bags with 10 chocolate candy bar minis in each bag. Some candies need to be mashed or melted or messed up packaging and some perfectly fine. A small table would also be helpful.]
I need a few volunteers this morning to help me as we begin the sermon time. If you are in fifth grade or below, I need three helpers. Who can help me?
I have here three bags, one for each of you. Go ahead and look in the bag or dump them out if you would like here on the table. In these bags, are 10 pieces of chocolate. You have earned these chocolates by volunteering to help me with the sermon today. Good job! I would like to teach you about the word “tithe” today. Most of the time when you hear that word it is in church and it is used for the money we give to God. I am not sure the word “tithe” is used anywhere else besides church. “Tithing” is important because it is a huge way we worship and show God how thankful we are for His blessings. I know you all don’t have jobs, but it is important to get this right in our minds and hearts well before we get jobs!
Now, you earned 10 chocolates from me today… awesome… but I need 1 back for a tithe. The word “tithe” means “tenth.” So when we tithe, we give 10% of what we have back. We keep 90% and God gets 10%. I made it easy for us today. You have 10 candies. A tenth is 1. You keep 9 and I need 1 candy back. By giving me 1 back, you are showing me how thankful you are for the 10 candies. When we tithe to God, we are showing how thankful we are.
Take a look at the candies before you and pick the 1 you want to give me. Actually, you don’t have to… you can keep all 10… but I’d like you to tithe. It can be any of them. Seriously. Pick any of the candies you want to give back to me. Now, I do realize that not all of them are perfect, but again, all I need is 1. You pick the 1 you give me and you can have the other 9. You are going to tithe to me if you want.
Go ahead. [see what happens!]
[Why did you choose to keep all the candies?]
[Why did you choose to give me 1 that was perfectly fine?]
[Why did you choose to give me 1 that was melted and weird?]
Thank you so much for helping me today. The one thing I want you to remember from our time today is that the word “tithe” means “tenth.” As you get older and wiser and get jobs and stuff, tithing will become an important part of your walk with Jesus. But for now, just remember that “tithe” means “tenth.” Thank you for helping me!
BIBLE BACKGROUND
So we will be talking about tithing today and as I told the kids, the word “tithe” means “tenth.” The Bible has several passages that speak about giving back to God a portion of what He has given us as a way of worshipping in thanks.
READ Genesis 14:20 (ESV)
“And blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!” And Abram gave him a tenth of everything.”
READ Leviticus 27:30 (ESV)
“Every tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees, is the Lord's; it is holy to the Lord.”
READ Numbers 18:21 (ESV)
“To the Levites I have given every tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service that they do, their service in the tent of meeting.”
READ Deuteronomy 14:22 (ESV)
“You shall tithe all the yield of your seed that comes from the field year by year.”
READ Malachi 3:8-10 (ESV)
“Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing Me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed You?’ In your tithes and contributions. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing Me, the whole nation of you. Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house. And thereby put Me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.”
Now, some of you will say, oh, but tithing is Old Testament and we do not have to tithe. Some of you might say that tithing is not commanded in the New Testament. You are half right. Tithing is not commanded in the New Testament, but “giving” is. And “giving” is more than a tenth. Tithing is the minimum. “Giving” is how we are commanded to obey.
READ Matthew 6:21 (ESV)
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
READ Mark 12:41-44 (ESV)
“And He sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. And He called His disciples to Him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”
READ Luke 6:38 (ESV)
“Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”
READ 1 Corinthians 16:2 (ESV)
“On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come.”
READ 2 Corinthians 9:6-7 (ESV)
“The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
Again, today we are talking all about tithing. Tithing is a spiritual discipline for believers in Jesus Christ. When we thinking of “tithing,” we think of the practice of giving our income back to God for His Kingdom. The minimum is a tenth. We can give as much as we like in worship and thanks to God.
The past few weeks, you all know that I had COVID-19. I was blessed in that the virus did not send me to the hospital or threaten my health in any way. I had a persistent headache, a bad attitude, and sleeplessness. Those were my symptoms. Anyway, one night as I laid in bed not sleeping and trying to get to sleep, I put in earphones and let the YouVersion Bible app read the Bible to me. I often do this as I go to sleep. That is a normal thing for me.
I clicked on 1 Samuel 1 and let it play and an hour and 3 minutes in I came to chapter 15.
I listened and when 1 Samuel 15 came to my ears, this sermon sprang to my mind.
This morning, I would like to read from 1 Samuel 15 and instead of reading it and then talking about it, I’d like to read it and as we go through the verses we will discuss what we find. We will be in 1 Samuel 15 if you would like to turn in your Bibles. We will cover 1 Samuel 15:7-25. In the Old Testament… Joshua, Judges, Ruth… then 1 Samuel.
READ 1 SAMUEL 15:7-10
And Saul defeated the Amalekites from Havilah as far as Shur, which is east of Egypt. 8 And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive and devoted to destruction all the people with the edge of the sword. 9 But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fattened calves and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them. All that was despised and worthless they devoted to destruction.
Newly minted King Saul was commanded by God to punish the enemies of God’s people and to bring God’s judgment on them. God commanded Saul to attack the Amalekites and “devote to destruction” everything and everyone. We learn from Joshua 6-7 that when God says “devote” something to Him that He wants it all dedicated to Him. It all belongs to Him. Basically, God is saying the Amalekites are judged and need to all go away in punishment.
Notice what Saul does.
Saul spared the king. Saul spared the best of the sheep and oxen and good stuff for himself and for the people. He kept plunder. If you remember Joshua 6-7, that is not good. We should not keep something for ourselves that is dedicated to God. Saul did “devote to destruction” some of what was there. He “devoted” and gave to God the leftovers which was the stuff that was “despised” and “worthless.” Saul gave God leftovers and kept the best for himself. That’s what happened.
ILLUSTRATION… Leftovers (p)
I do not usually like leftovers. I can’t help it. I’m not sure why that is true about me. I know growing up that my dad usually ate all the leftovers from dinner and took it with him to work, so perhaps I don’t like leftovers because he always ate them and I never had the opportunity to experience the gloriousness that is leftovers. Yet, even as an adult, I usually don’t eat any leftovers. I like food when it is fresh. I like it when it is hot on the plate and served the first time around. We all are weird in different ways, I guess this is a way in which I am weird. More often than not I will toss leftovers after a few days rather than eat them.
I recall one recipe that my mother made that involved leftovers that I really liked. After a holiday where we had a turkey, she would make cream turkey over biscuits. It is basically white sausage gravy, but instead of sausage it has turkey in it. Very good. I actually made it recently and it is still a classic favorite of mine. That recipe uses leftover turkey.
I do know one dish that I will eat leftover time and time again because it gets better the longer it sits. Most chili is that way. I will eat leftover chili all day long. Leftover chili usually does not last long in the house because it gets better with age. Kind of like me, I get finer with age.
Anyway, we are talking about the leftovers given to God and devoted to Him by King Saul. Let’s continue to read what happened.
READ 1 Samuel 15:10-16
10 The word of the LORD came to Samuel: 11 “I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following Me and has not performed My commandments.” And Samuel was angry, and he cried to the LORD all night. 12 And Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning. And it was told Samuel, “Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself and turned and passed on and went down to Gilgal.” 13 And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, “Blessed be you to the LORD. I have performed the commandment of the LORD.” 14 And Samuel said, “What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen that I hear?” 15 Saul said, “They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice to the LORD your God, and the rest we have devoted to destruction.” 16 Then Samuel said to Saul, “Stop! I will tell you what the LORD said to me this night.” And he said to him, “Speak.”
Does it surprise you that God has regrets? I am. It is not as though God didn’t know that Saul would completely disobey Him. He knew, but it still hurts. The regret comes even though He knows it is on its way. He is regretful because Saul chose to disregard the commands of God. Saul followed his own heart instead of being a man after God’s own heart. God wanted a king after His own heart. That wasn’t Saul unfortunately.
Samuel is wrecked because he thought Saul would be successful as king and yet he was disobedient, corrupt, and willfully sinful. Saul rejected God’s way of life. How do we know that? We know that Saul in verse 12 we see him setting up a monument to himself. Saul is saying: “Look at what I did!” Then in verse 13, Samuel arrives and Saul lies to his face about obeying the Lord. Then, to top it all off, in verse 15, Saul lies again claiming that they kept the best from the attack to offer to God. He neither obeyed God nor kept out the best for God. He disobeyed and kept the best for himself and even put up a monument celebrating himself.
I love how Samuel just says, “Stop.”
I imagine him saying, “Stop, talk to the hand the face don’t want to listen.”
What happened in this section of the passage?
King Saul was disobedient by not giving to God that which God said was His. Saul claimed to love God and yet disobeyed. Saul claimed to be part of God’s people and yet put himself before the commands of God. Saul loved himself before he loved God. The way Saul dealt with this money and wealth showed his heart.
Let’s continue to read.
READ 1 Samuel 15:17-21
17 And Samuel said, “Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? The LORD anointed you king over Israel. 18 And the LORD sent you on a mission and said, ‘Go, devote to destruction the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’ 19 Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD? Why did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the LORD?” 20 And Saul said to Samuel, “I have obeyed the voice of the LORD. I have gone on the mission on which the LORD sent me. I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction. 21 But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the LORD your God in Gilgal.”
Saul piles excuses and blame on top of his lies. He claims to obey, but did not. He then blames the people for taking the spoils of the battle as if he were not in charge. He’s the king. He’s the big cheese. He tells all the little cheeses what to do and where to go and how to do it. This is squarely on his shoulders and yet all he has in response to his disobedience is lies, rationalizations, blame, and excuses. Blame and excuses and rationalizations are powerful.
ILLUSTRATION… http://www.sermonillustrations.com/a-z/b/blame.htm
There is a story about a manager of a minor league baseball team who was so disgusted with his center fielder's performance that he ordered him to the dugout and assumed the position himself. The first ball that came into center field took a bad hop and hit the manager in the mouth. The next one was a high fly ball, which he lost in the glare of the sun--until it bounced off his forehead. The third was a hard line drive that he charged with outstretched arms; unfortunately, it flew between is hands and smacked his eye. Furious, he ran back to the dugout, grabbed the center fielder by the uniform, and shouted. 'You idiot! You've got center field so messed up that even I can't do a thing with it!'.
Let’s keep reading from 1 Samuel 15.
READ 1 Samuel 15:22-25
22 And Samuel said, “Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has also rejected you from being king.” 24 Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. 25 Now therefore, please pardon my sin and return with me that I may bow before the LORD.”
Samuel communicates to King Saul the heart of God. What does God want? God wants obedience. He wants us to obey His Word. He wants us to listen to the Spirit. He wants us to obey Him and push rebellion and sin out of our hearts. For people who claim to be part of God’s people, we get rid of the idol of money and keep it in its proper place.
Saul finally admits his wrongdoing. Saul says “I have sinned.” Saul says, “I have transgressed.” Saul understands that he put himself before God and his desires and the desires of the people around him in front of obedience to God. Finally, after all the excuses and blame and self-important thoughts, King Saul finds his way to admitting that he sinned and wants help from the Prophet Samuel bowing before God in worship.
APPLICATION
So… what does this passage have to do with us? What is the point of 1 Samuel 15? What truth does this Old Testament passage say to us? How does it apply?
Tithing is giving God a tenth of what He gives to us and it is His. That 10% is God’s. Giving back to God is part of our worship and obedience and keeping God as priority number 1 in our lives.
* If we keep back any of our tithe, any of it, we are doing exactly what Saul did.
* Giving to God after we pay all our other bills and we see what is left to give is doing exactly what Saul did.
* Slipping God a $20 in the offering plate as an afterthought is doing exactly what Saul did.
READ John 14:15 (ESV)
“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”
READ Matthew 6:24 (ESV)
“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
The purpose of this passage is to show us that somethings belong to God. They are His. At minimum, 10% of what God gives to us should be returned to Him in thanks and as part of our worship. We give to say to God we are thankful for being a God who gives good gifts to His children. You are great! You are the Provider! Because of that, I give back to You.
* May our tithe and gifts be the first thing we pay from our paychecks and not the last thing.
* May we seek to give according to our thankfulness to our Heavenly Father.
* May we give a minimum of the tithe for the work of the Kingdom.
* May we keep the sneaky idol of money in its proper place.
* May we see excuses and blame and lies in our lives when it comes to tithing.
God doesn’t want your leftovers.
GOSPEL PRESENTATION
I know we have talked about money and such today, but I do not want to finish our time in the Word without mentioning the Gospel. A moment ago, I read from Matthew 6:24. Jesus Christ said we cannot serve two masters. Everybody has a master. It is completely possible to be our own master. That leads to disaster. It is completely possible to have something like money or success be our master. That leads to emptiness. It is completely possible to accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and make Him our Master. That leads to forgiveness, life, and purpose. Have you chosen your master? Please come forward today if you would like to know more about Jesus and making Him the Master of your life.
PRAYER
