The Stuff Is Enough

Introduction – One Offering

Picture this scene.

It’s Sabbath morning. The church board has just finished breakfast and gathers for a quick finance meeting. The pastor walks in with a smile and says:

“Friends, I have the new church-building plan God gave me. And here’s the budget strategy: we’ll finish it with one offering. Not a capital campaign, not a three-year pledge drive—just one, Spirit-filled offering.”

You can imagine the look on the treasurer’s face. One eyebrow up, calculator frozen mid-air.

One offering? Impossible.

But that’s the scene Moses lived.

Exodus 24:18 tells us he spent forty days and forty nights in the cloud on Sinai. Think about that: over a month alone with God. No e-mail, no phone, no committee deadlines. Just God.

And when he came down, God had given him detailed blueprints for a house of worship—a sanctuary for His presence.

Then came the command:

> “Speak to the children of Israel, that they bring Me an offering.” (Ex. 25:2)

Notice the word offering—singular.

God did not say “offerings,” plural.

One offering from willing hearts.

Now let’s pause.

How would your finance committee handle that?

Imagine your pastor standing up Sabbath morning and saying, “We’re going to build a church with one offering. Bring gold, silver, and bronze. We’ll build a house for God and then stop asking.”

Most of us would need smelling salts.

But that’s exactly how God set it up. And it worked—abundantly.

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Part 1 – God’s Dwelling: The Invitation of Presence

Why such a plan?

Because this story isn’t about fundraising. It’s about God’s desire to dwell with His people.

> “Let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.” (Ex. 25:8)

From Eden’s garden to the final New Jerusalem, God’s heart has always been to be with His people. The tabernacle is not first a project; it is a promise.

And He invites people to give so they can share in the joy of His presence.

When God calls, He calls for the best.

He listed gold, silver, bronze, blue, purple, scarlet yarn, fine linen, onyx stones, fragrant spices. Extravagant materials for a modest structure—just 15 by 45 feet.

Modern scholars estimate its value at more than thirteen million dollars. That’s for something smaller than many living rooms!

Why?

Because the worth of a house is determined by Who lives there.

Application: When our giving is centered on God’s presence, not on square footage or human recognition, generosity flows freely. Value is set by worship, not by market price.

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Part 2 – The Miracle of Willing Hearts

Turn to Exodus 36. Two Spirit-filled artisans, Bezalel and Oholiab, receive the offerings and begin the work.

Then a miracle of participation unfolds:

> “They brought freewill offerings every morning.” (Ex. 36:3)

Picture it. The sun is barely up. The camp is still stretching awake.

There’s a knock at Moses’ door. People line up, arms full of gold bracelets, linen, acacia wood. “Pastor, we’ve got more. Please take it.”

And it didn’t happen once. It happened morning after morning.

Soon Bezalel and Oholiab can’t keep up. They call an emergency board meeting.

> “The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work.” (v.5)

So Moses issues one of the rarest commands in church history:

> “Let neither man nor woman do anything more for the offering… So the people were restrained from bringing.” (v.6)

Imagine that: ushers with gentle smiles and maybe mock shields at the door—“Friends, please stop giving!”

The Bible adds the punch line:

> “For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it, and too much.” (v.7 KJV)

I love that word stuff.

God doesn’t only talk about treasure and talents. He calls the ordinary things we possess—our stuff—and says it is enough.

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Part 3 – The God Who Gives More Than Enough

This is the nature of our God.

He never stops at barely enough.

Manna fell daily until there was more than they could eat.

Oil flowed for the widow until every jar overflowed (2 Kings 4).

Five loaves and two fish fed five thousand with baskets left over (Mark 6).

Grace is given “pressed down, shaken together, and running over” (Luke 6:38).

And at the cross, Jesus did not give a portion; He gave all.

The tabernacle story points to Christ Himself.

> “The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us.” (John 1:14)

Jesus is the true meeting place between God and humanity.

Everything in Exodus—the gold-covered ark, the bread of the Presence, the ever-burning lampstand—whispers His name.

So when we give, we aren’t funding bricks and mortar. We are responding to a God who has already given Himself.

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Part 4 – Our Modern “Stuff”

You may think, “I don’t have gold or silver either.”