OPEN: (I went up on podium with t-shirt and tie that my two children had bought me for my birthday)
A week ago last Wednesday was my birthday.
My daughter bought me this tie (with Jesus on a blue background), and my son picked out this t-shirt (with a lion and Jesus and the message: "King of Kings"). These are nice gifts. My kids were proud to pick out special things to give me for my birthday and I was proud to wear them to JAM (our mid-week elementary school youth program) and to church.
But now - was it the gift that pleased me so much?
Did I REALLY need another tie? Heavens no. I have 20 or 30 in my closet at home - and I can only wear one at a time.
And t-shirts… I’ve got all kinds of t-shirts. T-shirts with a message on it like this one and t-shirts with paint on them.
And don’t you think that I could have gone out and bought these for myself? Well, yeah. In fact, truth be told… where do you think they got the money from to buy these gifts?
But… my children got me these gifts to please me… they wanted to make me smile.
My point is this: It wasn’t the gifts that gave me pleasure… (I didn’t really need them) it was – the attitude of their hearts. And, because their heart was right… the gift gave me pleasure.
The others sermons in this series are:
1. Irreplaceable - Genesis 1:24-31
2. Shaped to be a Servant - Ephesians 2:3-10
3. Making God Smile - Psalm 51:15-19
4. Formed to be Friends of God - John 15:9-16
5. Adopted for a Purpose - Ephesians 1:3-14
6. A Purpose Filled Love - 1 Corinthians 13:1-13
7. Purpose Driven Worship - Romans 12:1-8
8. Purpose Driven Strength - 2 Corinthians 12:1-10
APPLY: Psalm 51 introduces us to a similar idea
People (in that day) bro’t gifts to God …burnt offerings and various kinds of sacrifices to the altar. They would do this to bring pleasure to God they wanted to make God happy!
I. But the psalmist is saying something rather peculiar here…
He’s telling us that God does “not delight in sacrifice… (or) take pleasure in burnt offerings.” Ps. 51:16
But now wait a minute… didn’t God ask for these kinds of gifts to be given to Him? Well yeah. It was part of the Law. It was required by God. It you loved God then you offered up these sacrifices and offerings.
So, if their sacrifices and their gifts reflected their love for God… why was the psalmist telling them that God does “not DELIGHT in sacrifice… (or) take PLEASURE in burnt offerings”?
I believe what he’s trying to say that God didn’t need their gifts.. AND that it was NOT the sacrifices that delighted God or gave Him pleasure. I mean… do you really think that God needed a burnt offering? Did God need cows and sheep and goats to be offered up like some kind of celestial religious barbeque?
In Psalm 50, God tells His people: I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills... If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it… Psalms 50:9,10 & 12-13
Do you remember my telling you that I didn’t need these gifts from my kids. I have all the ties and t-shirts I could possibly need, and if I needed more… I can go out and buy them myself
That’s what God was saying. He was saying "I own the cattle on a 1000 hills – I don’t need your sacrifices." He was saying this so that they’d begin to understand that it wasn’t sacrifices that brought Him pleasure/ delight.
It wasn’t the gift…It was the heart of the giver that mattered to God.
That’s why in Ps. 51: 17 we’re told: "The sacrifices of God (the things He really does want) are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart."
In order to please God our heart must be right… but once the Spirit/heart of the giver is right… then the gift WILL give God pleasure. That’s why Psalms 51:19 goes on to say that once our hearts are right "Then there will be righteous sacrifices, whole burnt offerings to DELIGHT you; then bulls will be offered on your altar."
The gift is pleasing to GOD when our hearts are pleasing to Him
II. That brings us to our sermon series: “Purpose Driven Life”
We’ve talked (over the past 2 weeks) about how special we are. We’ve been created in the image of God. And, we have learned that God has not only created us, but He has prepared good things for us do.
We’ve been given us a purpose…a reason to live… we’ve been given things to do that can make a difference in our world and in our families and in our lives. These “good things” that we can do for God are like GIFTS to Him. We do our good deeds/ good works because we want to please Him.
And God CAN be pleased with our gifts… if we don’t confuse the gifts with WHAT REALLY PLEASES HIM: the proper condition of our hearts.
(pause…)
III. But… how could someone (who is offering a gift to God) ever have the wrong kind of heart condition? I mean… when I give a gift, it’s because I really do like them and want to please them. So how could anyone give God a gift and have the wrong attitude in their hearts.
Well, there are couple of ways that come to my mind.
1st – unresolved/ unrepented sin
ILLUS: Some time back I heard about a man who was preaching on weekends in small congregations around his area. Now… that sounds like a good thing to do – doesn’t it? I mean preaching God’s Word in churches that can’t afford a full time preacher. You’d think that would be pleasing to God.
But the only problem was – this part time preacher was living with his girlfriend at the time.
Now… do you think that his gift of preaching honored God? Of course not
But there are people who are wrapped up in various forms of sin. Who believe that if they just give enough…
· Money
· Time
· Talents
· Whatever…
They believe that if they do enough of it - God will smile on them. They believe they can buy His pleasure if they just do enough.
Doesn’t work that way. You can’t buy God’s pleasure.
In fact, Psalm 51 is a unique Psalm BECAUSE… that’s what had happened to David. Look with me at the 1st verse of Psalm 51… what has happened in David’s life (David had just committed sin with Bathsheba).
David had tried to hide his sin. I suspect he thought that if he could keep it quiet enough… and if he did enough "good things" to balance out the bad he’d committed, then perhaps he could still get God to smile upon him…
But in Psalms 32David acknowledges: "When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer." Psalm 32:3-4
He couldn’t get God to smile on him as long as he tried to pretend that his sin didn’t exist. It didn’t matter how many good deeds he might do… he couldn’t earn back God’s favor.
So… how do fix a problem like that? How could David ever regain God’s favor and pleasure?
Remember that David had told God day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer"?. Psalm 32:4
Well in the next verse he says: "Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, ’I will confess my transgressions to the LORD’— and you forgave the guilt of my sin." Psalms 32:5
You can’t hide your sin and expect God to take pleasure your service and ministry for Him. You can’t use your service or ministry as a way to buy His favor. The only way to bring pleasure to God is to humble yourself in His presence and confess your sins.
That’s part of the purpose of our time of communion. Paul says that when we take communion we should examine ourselves before we partake. This is our place to acknowledge our sin before God and repent of it… to confess our guilt so that we can receive forgiveness. AND THEN our gifts can bring pleasure to God.
So… the first type of heart condition that can make our gifts unacceptable to God would be an attempt to use our gifts to God to BUY God’s smile.
The 2nd type of heart condition (that) is more subtle. This heart condition almost seems religious. This type of person use their gifts to God as if they were a BADGE that says “God smiles on me.” It’s almost as if they are saying: "I do these good things for God… therefore I am special and I should have special rights."
ILLUS: My mother told me about a problem that happened in a church up her way. There was a group of worshippers in that church that were deeply there. They gave heavily to missions, they sang in the choir, they helped out in Youth Group. In other words… they did “good things” for the church. And they offered up their service to the church as a gift to God
(pause…)
BUT… when things didn’t go the way they liked in the church and they threatened to leave. When they left the church, they left a big hole. Their gifts HAD made a significant impact in that church: After they left both the choir and youth outreach folded and the mission giving had to be cut in half.
And when they left… they told someone there “we’ll be back, you just watch, you’ll see.”
What did they mean by that? They meant that their gifts were indispensable to God, and because they felt they were indispensable to God, they felt justified in using whatever means necessary to get their way.
And, for the next few months they sent out nasty e-mails and made angry phone calls to the people who stayed.
So tell me… did their gifts bring pleasure to God? No… Would God really delight in what they would offer after this?
You see, they saw their "good deeds" as a badge of righteousness. They used their "righteous gifts" to hurt others… to get their own way. People who behave this way have caused immeasurable damage in God’s Kingdom… they’ve
· split churches
· ruined ministries
· and have used their "special status" to justify destroying the reputations of other Christians.
It’s often defended as being “righteous indignation”/ “holy anger” … but it’s nothing of the sort. It’s just sin all dressed up in Sunday-go-to-meeting clothing.
Jesus tells us that if we offend our brother in Christ… no matter what our gift to God may be- don’t bother offering it because God won’t accept them.
In Matthew5, Jesus said: "…if you are offering your GIFT at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift. Matthew 5:23-24
IV. God has said that the sacrifices He really wants "are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart" Psalm 51:17
How do I know if I have that kind of sacrifice/ gift to offer God?
1. I’ll know when I examine my heart every Sunday at communion. When I confess my sins to Him and am brutally honest with myself and with Him… & when I refuse to accept sin as being normal and acceptable in my life.
2. And I’ll know if my heart and spirit are broken and contrite when I refuse to believe
that my service and gifts to Him have bought me a special place of honor in the church
Jesus was asked His followers: "Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’?
Would he not rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink’?
Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do?
So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’" (Luke 17:7-10)
That should be our attitude as well. We regard our service and ministry - our gifts to God - as something a loving servant would give to His gracious Master… not as tools to buy God’s affection or claim special honors.
No matter how great or insignificant we may think our gifts might be, God is honored most of all by the contrite Spirit of humble servant.
CLOSE: England was once ruled by a Danish king named Canute. King Canute tired of hearing his retainers flatter him with extravagant praises of his greatness, power and invincibility. He ordered his chair to be set down on the seashore, where he commanded the waves not to come in and wet him. No matter how forcefully he ordered the tide not to come in, however, his order was not obeyed. Soon the waves lapped around his chair.
One historian tells us that from that on, he never wore his crown again, but hung it on a statue of the crucified Christ.
This Danish King understood his kingship to be a gift to Jesus. And he understood that his gift was only acceptable if his heart was humble.
So also, it’s only when our hearts are right that our gifts become acceptable to God.
And no matter what gift we might give to God - if our hearts are right… then we will give God pleasure and delight. And God will smile.
