WHEN GIVING COST ME NOTHING (1 CHRONICLES 21; 2 SAMUEL 24)

 

WHEN GIVING COST ME NOTHING

BIBLE PASSAGE: 1 CHRONICLES 21; 2 SAMUEL 24

Picture taken from Google

Lesson Prepared by: Krisha of Solomon’s Wisdom FB page

Lesson ideas taken from: https://baptistlessons/https://www.sermoncentral.com/

 

JULY 10, 2022

KEY VERSE

And the king said unto Araunah, Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing. So David bought the threshingfloor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

2 SAMUEL 24:24

 INTRODUCTION:

What situations of life we can say that giving cost me nothing or how we can say that giving cost me nothing? (Allow responses in the audience)

It’s easy to give when we have an easy ability or an abundance of time and treasure. But when we feel drained, incapable, and cash flow is tight, what then?

Before, I thought giving offerings is only for those who can afford or capable but as we study God’s word, giving is not just for rich or can afford because we read many passages in the bible that despite their poor situation, still they give and one example for this is the members in Macedonia Church.

 

David said that he wouldn’t offer that cost him nothing. What does this mean to you? It’s a good attitude that we give offerings that affect us. A pastor said, “It’s not true giving, if it costs me nothing. Giving is only genuine when it becomes a sacrifice.” This is why the widow who gave so little was credited by Jesus. It cost her something because she gave out of her poverty, while others simply gave out of their abundance.

When David said that, what are the possible thoughts he had in mind? “When an offering that costs me nothing is given, I haven’t really given. When it truly costs me something, that’s when what I give is true giving.”

Giving that cost you something is sacrificial. A “sacrifice” is defined as “an offering made to God . . . as an acknowledgement of His power and provision. Many times, in life we will encounter situations in which we will feel that life is spinning out of control, and that we’ve lost our handle on things. In this lesson it encourages us that we have to let go – or rather, sacrifice - our control on life, and then acknowledge God’s power and His provision in order to prosper in the midst of life’s difficult circumstances.

In order to receive a spiritual breakthrough, we might have to make a sacrifice, but we often avoid sacrifice by any means necessary. We tend to pursue the path of least resistance and look for the easy way out of our circumstances; however, the easy way is not always the best way. What we will learn in this lesson is that if we desire a breakthrough, then we might have to make a sacrifice, and a sacrifice must cost us something; for we can’t cheat the Lord and expect Him to bless us for it.

Today we will see why David says, “Nay; but I will verily buy it for the full price: for I will not take that which is thine for the Lord, nor offer burnt offerings without cost.” (1 Chronicle 21:24)

 

LESSON OUTLINE:

1.  A SACRIFICE REQUIRES US TO PUT OUR FAITH IN GOD INSTEAD OF OURSELVES

David Was Asked to Make a Sacrifice (vv. 18-22)

¹⁸ And Gad came that day to David, and said unto him, Go up, rear an altar unto the Lord in the threshingfloor of Araunah the Jebusite. ¹⁹ And David, according to the saying of Gad, went up as the Lord commanded. ²⁰ And Araunah looked, and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him: and Araunah went out, and bowed himself before the king on his face upon the ground. ²¹ And Araunah said, Wherefore is my lord the king come to his servant? And David said, To buy the threshingfloor of thee, to build an altar unto the Lord, that the plague may be stayed from the people. ²² And Araunah said unto David, Let my lord the king take and offer up what seemeth good unto him: behold, here be oxen for burnt sacrifice, and threshing instruments and other instruments of the oxen for wood.

We read here that David was required to erect an altar to the Lord, meaning he was required to make a sacrifice; and we also see the mention of an angel. Why David was asked to sacrifice? Let’s see the background behind these verses, which can be found in the first seventeen verses of this chapter.

In 1 Chronicles 21, verses 1-6, we find that Satan had moved David to sin against the Lord by taking a census of the people and all the available fighting men in Israel.

¹Nais guluhin ni Satanas ang Israel kaya inudyukan nito si David na magsensus. ² Dahil dito, inutusan ng hari si Joab at ang mga pinuno ng hukbo na alamin ang bilang ng mga Israelita mula sa Beer-seba hanggang sa Dan, at iulat sa kanya.

Taking a census was a sin, why? In Exodus 30:12 says (Tagalog)

 “Pagkuha mo ng sensus ng mga Israelita, bawat isa'y hingan mo ng pantubos sa kanilang buhay. Ihahandog nila ito sa akin para walang kapahamakang umabot sa kanila habang ginagawa ang sensus.”

The principle of Exodus 30:12 speaks to God’s ownership of His people. In the thinking of these ancient cultures, a man only had the right to count or number what belonged to him. Israel didn’t belong to David; Israel belonged to God. It was up to the LORD to command a counting, and if David counted he should only do it at God’s command and should receive ransom money to “atone” for the counting.

Another thing, there was a subtle but great sin behind this census. Counting the men betrayed the fact that David was not counting on God; David was placing his trust in the number of soldiers he had instead of placing his confidence in God’s power to fight for Israel; meaning that he trusted in people more than he trusted in God.  

Joab objected the census: (2 Chronicles 21:3)

³ Ngunit sinabi ni Joab, “Halimbawang ang mga tao'y paramihin ni Yahweh nang makasandaang beses, hindi ba't sila'y mga lingkod mo pa rin, at ikaw ang kanilang marangal na hari? Bakit pa ninyo kailangang gawin ito, Kamahalan? Bakit pa ninyo bibigyan ng dahilan upang magkasala ang Israel?”

2 Samuel 24:4 tells us that it wasn’t only Joab who tried to tell David not to do this – the captains of the army also warned David not to count the soldiers in Israel. But David did so anyway. 2 Samuel 24:5-9 indicates that it took almost 10 months to complete the census. David should have called off this foolish census during the ten months, but he didn’t. “So when they had gone through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days.” Joab didn’t include the two tribe in counting.

“But Levi and Benjamin counted he not among them: for the king's word was abominable to Joab.”

TAGALOG: “Ngunit hindi niya isinama sa sensus ang lipi nina Levi at Benjamin, sapagkat labag sa kanyang kalooban ang utos na ito ng hari.”

(1 Chronicles 21:6).

 

The Lord displeased with David and He would punish Israel for David’s sins. David responded by dressing in sackcloth and falling on his face in mourning over his sin, and for the disaster that he had brought on the people of Israel.

“Sinabi ni David sa Diyos, “Napakalaking kasalanan ang nagawa ko, Yahweh! Patawarin mo sana ako sa aking kahangalan.” (1 chronicles 21:8)

God let David choose the punishment. Three years famine. Three months of persecution from your enemies. Or three days of pestilence.

⁹ And the Lord spake unto Gad, David's seer, saying, ¹⁰ Go and tell David, saying, Thus saith the Lord, I offer thee three things: choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee. ¹¹ So Gad came to David, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Choose thee

David responded, “ And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand of the Lord; for his mercies are great: and let me not fall into the hand of man.” (2 Samuel 24:14).

TAGALOG: “Hirap na hirap ang aking kalooban sa nangyaring ito. Sapagkat mahabagin si Yahweh, ang pipiliin ko'y ang tuwirang parusa niya, kaysa ako'y mahulog pa sa kamay ng mga tao.”

In verse 14, God sent pestilence.  This plague was sent for David’s sin and killed seventy-thousand men. The reason why we see mention of an angel is because the Lord had sent an angel to destroy the entire city of Jerusalem; however, God changed His mind and stayed the angel’s hand, and the angel sat in wait over the threshing floor of Araunah until the Lord could see David’s response.

 

In verse 17, we read that he accepted responsibility for his sin.

Tumawag siya sa Diyos, “Ako po ang nag-utos na alamin ang bilang ng mga tao. Walang kasalanan ang mga taong-bayan. Kaya ako at ang aking angkan na lamang ang inyong parusahan. Huwag ninyong idamay sa salot ang mga tao.”

For restoration, the Lord commanded David to offer a sacrifice on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. In obedience, David asked to buy Araunah’s threshing floor, to build an altar on it. Araunah freely offered the land to the king. But David refused. He insisted on paying for the land, because he could not make an offering that cost him nothing.

From this, we could learn a valuable lesson concerning our faith in God. How many times have we taken a census, or numbered our resources, in a moment of crisis or in a time in which God was asking us to walk by faith? How many times have we trusted in, and relied on, human reasoning over God’s infinite wisdom? How many times have we sought advice from people instead of going to the Lord in prayer? Like David, we often trust in people more than we trust in God.

 

We sometimes feel that human beings have the intelligence and reasoning ability to solve their own problems apart from God; and this is a prideful spirit. Whenever we become proud then we have a difficult time in being obedient to the Lord and walking in submission to His will and His authority. If we possess this kind of self-sufficient attitude then the Lord will ask us to repent, and He could even ask us to make a sacrifice.

2.  SACRIFICE REVEALS OUR INNER-MOST HEART ATTITUDE BEFORE GOD

David was asked to make a sacrifice, and here he was being given an exit or the easy way out of his commitment to God. Ornan (Araunah) wished to give away his threshing floor to David, and not just the land, but also the elements of the sacrifice, such as the oxen, implements, wood, and the wheat and grain. Ornan (Araunah) likely did this out of respect for David’s position as the king, for we read in verse 23 where he stated, “Let my lord the king do what is good in his eyes.” He was indeed the king, and he could have used his position to take advantage of the situation, but David instead chose to do the right thing.

 

When Ornan (Araunah) offered the sacrificial elements to David free of charge, David replied, “No, but I will surely buy it for the full price, for I will not take what is yours for the Lord, nor offer burnt offerings with that which costs me nothing.” A sacrifice really isn’t a sacrifice until it costs us something. If it didn’t cost David, or if he decided to take the easy way out, then the Lord would have observed that David was not sincere in his remorse and repentance for his sin; and then he would have brought about the destruction of Jerusalem.

The purpose of a sacrifice is to reveal our inner-most heart attitude before God. Making a sacrifice shows submission and obedience to the Lord, whereas refusing to sacrifice reveals pride, arrogance, and self-sufficiency. Have you ever before made a promise to offer a sacrifice to the Lord, or did He ask something from you? What did you promise to God, and then you wound up taking the easy way out? I will leave these questions in your minds for you to answer.  May this 2^nd point reminds us to sacrifice with a genuine heart.

God Honored David’s Genuine Sacrifice (vv. 25-27)

²⁵ So David gave Ornan six hundred shekels of gold by weight for the place. ²⁶ And David built there an altar to the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called on the Lord; and He answered him from heaven by fire on the altar of burnt offering. ²⁷ So the Lord commanded the angel, and he returned his sword to its sheath.

We see here that David actually paid for the sacrifice, revealing his sincere heart before God; and the Lord honored his sincerity and caused the angel to return His sword back into His sheath. What He honored was David’s submission and his willingness to trust God with the situation.

The Lord searches our heart to see if we are sincere before Him. In Jeremiah 17:10, God declared, “I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.” In 2 Chronicles 16:9 we read, “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him...”

The Lord wants to show that He is strong and faithful on behalf of those whose heart is sincere and trusting, and He will do so if we submit to Him. In James 4:10 we are told, “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.” If we live a life of submission and sacrifice before the Lord, and put all our hopes and dreams in His hands, and place all our burdens on Him (Psalm 55:22; 1 Peter 5:6) instead of bearing them ourselves, then the Lord will provide for us. Whenever we let go of the controls and turn them over to God, then the Lord receives all the glory for our spiritual victories, and that is what He desires – full glory – for He is a jealous God who wants to be praised above all others (Exodus 20:4).

 

CONCLUSION:

On the threshing floor of Araunah is where David made his sacrifice and submitted himself to the Lord. The location where this event took place actually symbolizes sacrifice? In 2 Chronicles 3:1, we read, “Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem in mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshingfloor of Araunah the Jebusite..” The threshing floor of Araunah is also known as Mount Moriah, and this was the site of the first temple; and the temple was where the priests would make animal sacrifices unto God and prostrate themselves in humble submission before Him.

This site is better known for Abraham’s faith and submission before the Lord. In Genesis chapter 22, we read where God asked him to sacrifice his son Isaac, the very son of promise, on Mount Moriah (Genesis 22:2), and he willingly proceeded to do as He asked. The Lord stopped him at the very last second as he was getting ready to plunge the knife into Isaac, and God provided another sacrifice instead, which was a ram caught in a thicket. This is the location where Abraham experienced the Lord as his Provider, or Jehovah Jireh, in direct response to his obedience and submission.

Mount Moriah represents submission before the Lord, and whenever God requires a sacrifice from us, He is seeking our submission unto Him. The Lord wants us to acknowledge that we can’t provide for our own needs, and He wants us to place our faith and trust in Him as our Provider, or our Jehovah Jireh.

What we give unto the Lord? Time, service, body, and money? This addresses anything we do for the Lord. We should follow David’s example and never offer to God something that cost us nothing.