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.

DEVELOPING A GIVING HEART (1 Kings 10:14 – 11:13; Matthew 6:19-21)

DEVELOPING A GIVING HEART

Lesson prepared by: krisha of Solomon Wisdom FB page

Lesson taken from: https://bible.org/seriespage/5-developing-giving-heart

Scheduled Teacher: Sis. Liza Biado

INTRODUCTION:

Being a Christian for so many years, have you experienced wherein you have difficulty giving something when asked about pledges in the church?  Or have you felt conditioning your mind and heart before giving something? These are normal feelings because giving is a matter of the heart.

There’s an old story about a dad who gave his son two quarters as he heads for Sunday School. He told the boy that he should give one quarter in the offering and he could keep the other to get an ice cream cone. (I guess that price for an ice cream cone proves how old the story is). As the boy walked down the street he accidentally dropped one of the quarters which then rolled into a storm drain and disappeared. The boy looked for a moment down the drain and then slowly looked toward the sky, sighed and said, Well God, there goes your quarter.

The very idea of giving sets off an internal war in us. Whose money is it? In the last several studies, we have been seeking to understand financial stewardship from the Bible. It’s a very personal subject. And the biblical concept of stewardship is that God own everything – both quarters. (this story is taken from: JW player blog)

Stewardship means that as believers we are each assigned different amounts of material things to manage for God. And that really is a test from God. But because material things do have our name on them, it creates a tension. Who really determines where our money goes? Will I really use my financial and material things exactly how God wants me to?

What we see in this study and the next about giving won’t make any sense unless we understand that we are stewards managing God’s money. This study will focus on what the Bible often calls our “heart.” The heart, in Bible usage, is often a metaphor of our will. It’s where we make up our mind if we will do what God wants. We can only understand what God says about financial giving if we align our heart with his.

We want to contrast today a wealthy man in Jerusalem with a selfish heart in 1000 BC (Solomon) and some believers with a willing heart in 100 AD who lived in Macedonia (modern Greece).

Our attitude toward material things is a window to the condition of our heart.

    LESSON OUTLINE:

1)  GETTING HEART

It’s pretty obvious that King Solomon of Israel was incredibly wealthy. (1 Kings 10:14-16) "Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred three score and six talents of gold ( 666 talents), {15} Beside that he had  of the merchantmen, and of traffick of the spice merchants, and all of the kings of Arabia and of the governors of the country. {16} And King Solomon made two hundred targets of beaten gold: six hundred shekels of gold went to one target."

In case you are curious, 666 talents of gold = about 800,000 ounces. At today’s price of about $800/oz, that’s $640 million (about $ 2/3 billion). That was just yearly revenue in gold, not counting taxes and tariffs from all kinds of people and governments

Solomon also had a nice place to sit. (1 Kings 10:18-20) "Moreover the king made a great throne of  ivory and overlaid it with the best gold. {19} The throne had six steps, and top of the throne was round behind…. {20} Twelve lions stood on the six steps, one at either end of each step. Nothing like it had ever been made for any other kingdom."

-        God had blessed Solomon due to his priorities and godly prayer request in the early days of his kingdom asking for wisdom instead of riches. So God promised him, "And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches and honor: so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days.” (1 Kings 3:13) As a result, "So King Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth for riches and for wisdom." (1 Kings 10:23). Solomon’s riches clearly came from God. Solomon wasn’t an owner either. He was a steward like you and me.

         a)   Never Enough

But there was something about material possessions that were never enough for Solomon. (1 Kings 10:22-27) "For the king had set a navy of Tharshish with the navy of Hiram: once in three years came the navy of Tharshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes and peacocks. {23} So King Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth for riches and for wisdom. {24} And all the earth sought to Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart. {25} And they brought every man his present, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and garments, and armour,and spices,horses and mules, a rate year by year. {26} And Solomon gathered together chariots and horsemen: and he had a thousand and four hundred chariots, twelve thousand horsemen, whom he bestowed in the cities for chariots, and with the king in Jerusalem {27} And the king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars made he to be as the sycamore trees that are in the vale, for abundance.."

What could Solomon had been thinking when he sent his ships to Egypt for more horses? Yes, I know I have 10,000 horses and 1000 chariots. That was my old goal. Go get another 2,000 horses and 200 chariots. That’s my new goal. Yes, get more gold, more apes and baboons. Build more cages. I love my zoo. Yes, Yes, Yes.

 It’s like Solomon had little buttons inside his heart. One was labeled “Enough.” The other was called, “More.” Solomon seems to have set a golden brick on the “More” button and just let it run.

But money and horses are not all Solomon was accumulating during what seemed to be his “glory days.” He also accumulated 700 wives and 300 concubines (1 Kings 11:1-4). We can’t even try to understand the idea of 1000 women in his life. He married for many political and personal selfish reasons, but the result was that in his effort to please many of them, he built them places of pagan worship and they indeed turned his heart away from the Lord.

It was exactly what God had warned about in the law, a copy of which must have lain somewhere in the great temple Solomon had built earlier in his reign. "But he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he should multiply horses: forasmuch as the Lord hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way." {17} Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold. (Deuteronomy 17:16-19

         b)  Not fully devoted to God

Solomon blew it on each detail of God’s warning. And thus he “followed after other gods.” It was an awful downward spiral. Why? His heart was turned. His heart not fully devoted to God.

Now God had promised early on to bless Solomon with wealth, so it wasn’t necessarily wrong that Solomon was wealthy, but somewhere he crossed the line that God warned about here of “accumulating” large amounts of it. That was a heart issue!

But Solomon simply did what most people and many Christians would do if we had the capability. Solomon just bought everything his heart desired that he could afford. It’s just that he could just afford more than we can. But the warning is that what we can afford can actually turn our hearts astray from being devoted to the Lord.

2) GIVING HEART (MATTHEW 6:19-21)

In contrast to Solomon, Jesus told us to store up treasures in heaven as an expression of a devoted heart. “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through nor steal. {20} But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. {21} For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." (Matthew 6:19-21)

Jesus was greatly concerned about our heart. Our heart will naturally attach to physical things that moths destroy – speaking of valued cloth and clothes – or things that rust destroys or corrodes or anything valuable that thieves take.

As if to prove Jesus’ point about the temporary nature of material things, we can think back to realize that most of Solomon’s vast treasury of wealth disappeared just 5 years after his son Rehoboam ascended his throne (1 Kings 14:25). The king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem and carried off the treasures of the temple and the palace. Rehoboam had to replace those gold shields with bronze shields. And what treasures remained was stolen over the coming generations by more invaders or used as tribute buy off attacking kingdoms.

Money sure gets away easily, doesn’t it? (Proverbs 23:5) "Wilt thou set thine eyes which is not? for riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven.” In contrast, Jesus urges us to store up treasures in heaven. Jesus is calling us to think differently about treasure. Attach your heart to things that last forever, Jesus says.

We’ve all heard the expressions, You can’t take it with you, or, You don’t see a hearse pulling a U-haul. But Jesus is saying something different in Matthew 6: 20. He is saying that you can’t take treasures with you, but you can, however, send treasures on ahead! If we invest our lives in things that are eternal instead of material and financial, then treasures will be waiting for us in some sense when we get to heaven.

          a)   TREASURES IN HEAVEN

Treasure in heaven is permanent and yet it is personal! Jesus said to lay up treasures for yourselves. There is some kind of real and personal way in which our investment in eternal things is really “ours!” They will have our name on them somehow. There is some kind of eternal reward or enjoyment by which, when we get to heaven, we will arrive and receive our treasure! We can keep them eternally!

The real issue is that where our treasure is, our heart is. Period. This passage is not specifically talking about giving money to God or ministry, but it is teaching us something crucial about a decision we must make prior to any giving. Where is our heart? Which do we value – financial or eternal treasure?

Giving or tithing is going to be meaningless at best if we think like some who teach that giving is a way to have financial success, or a way to impress God, or impress people, or a way to feel good about ourselves. Then our goal – our heart – is still on ourselves and not on eternity.

Jesus’ main point was to ask us which we want. Which one do we value – earth’s treasure or heaven’s? We might pretend that we want a diversified portfolio – earthly and heavenly treasure. I want it all, we might say. But we can’t. Jesus makes sure we understand that.

In the next two verses (Matthew 6:22-23) Jesus tells a little parable about how our eyes are either blind or seeing on this subject. Some people are blind to heavenly treasure. How great is that darkness, Jesus says.

Some people – some Christians even – won’t get it. They will never switch from material goals to eternal goals. And Jesus makes it clear we must choose. "No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” (Matthew 6:24)

We can serve God or money, but not both! We can only have one heart, one devotion. Some areas of life must be single-minded. Can we be devoted to more than one woman as a husband? Don’t even think about it. And Jesus is simply telling us that we can’t be devoted to both God and money. We all will have some money. As stewards we will be given different amounts. But is money or the hope of having more of it our “devotion” – our treasure?

Is God perhaps working in our hearts in some way – maybe though some financial struggle – to turn and focus our heart’s goals on eternity? If we are believers, we know that the Holy Spirit tugs us to live in a new way with new goals. We feel his pull to please Him and worship Him. We feel the desire to serve and help people hear the gospel and grow in their faith. And we will feel him pull hard on our financial thoughts.

God wants our whole life, not just our money, but God uses our money – particularly our giving – as a key indicator and even a method by which to transform our heart.

          b)   THE MACEDONIAN’S “GIVING” HEART

A generous heart can develop in us if we have been saved by God’s grace. In fact, generosity develops in us as we align our hearts with God’s and imitate His grace.

2 Corinthians 8 tells us about a remarkable group of believers – in fact whole churches in the first century – who got it. The light turned on and they had eternal treasure on their minds. Their generous new way of thinking was so amazing that Paul called it God’s gift (grace) to them.

"Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonian. {2} How that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality. {3} For their power, I bear record, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves; {4} Praying us with much intreaty that we would receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints" (2 Corinthians 8:1-4)

These people are not normal, are they – pleading with Paul for the privilege of giving even though they were poor? This is not the normal way.

You see, Paul was raising funds to send from the new churches planted all around the Roman Empire to take back to the founding Jerusalem church. A famine there, as well as spiritual persecution, had left families jobless with empty flour bins and hungry stomachs.

But things evidently weren’t much better up in Macedonia the church Paul describes 500 miles NW of Jerusalem – which included the churches of Philippi and Thessalonica. These Christians were undergoing severe trial. We don’t know all they went through, but the Greek term Paul uses (severe or great trial) suggests that it lasted a long time.

Many reading this have probably had a financial trial that lasted a long time as well. But remarkably, in these exceptionally hard circumstances, the Macedonian believers had overflowing joy in their giving during that time of trial! “Overflowing joy” in financial trials is not possible unless we have adopted an “eternal treasure” mindset that God uses trials to produce something more valuable to me eternally.

Paul uses two pairs of words in verse two that are essentially an oxymoron. “Their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.” It’s like Paul is saying that you really can squeeze blood out of turnips. They gave in spite of their poverty. This is much like the widow we studied previously who gave her two tiny copper coins – all she had. But it wasn’t an emotional televangelist who manipulated these impoverished believers into giving; it was the Holy Spirit working within them.

Notice the phrases used to describe the work of God in their hearts about giving. They gave “even beyond their ability… entirely on their own… urgently pleaded…pleaded with us for the privilege.” How do you give more than you are able? How do we wrap our minds around that?

Something had happened in their hearts, hadn’t it? And whatever it was, that’s what God wants to happen in us. How do we get this deep down desire to give? Is it just a spiritual gift that they uniquely possessed? No. We see in verse 5 that they first gave themselves to God – and then to a financial need in Jerusalem.

The order is significant. Giving is just a meaningless duty or a guilt trip until we first give ourselves to God. When we give ourselves to God, it means that we begin to care about the same things God cares about. To give ourselves to God means to begin thinking like God. And that’s how we get a heart much like God’s (explanations taken from: JW player blog).

   CONCLUSION: (Optional)

Giving money was just one of the results, I think, of the Macedonian churches first giving themselves to God. Generosity must be a complete lifestyle and a ministry attitude, not a financial principle to benefit ourselves. Here is a test that I think the Macedonian churches would have passed because they gave themselves to God first.

The way we find out if we have a giving heart is to check areas of our life that require giving but that may have nothing to do with money. Are you ready for a difficult heart evaluation? Here we go:

1. Do we offer to help our spouse, or try to stay busy so we don’t need to?

2. Do we gladly let someone else in the family use the bath /shower /sink first when we both wanted it at the same time?

3. Do we willingly give up the last piece of the dessert?

4. Do we give up watching our show for someone else to watch what they want? Do we try to get the best seat in the room to watch TV?

5. Will we skip a lunch break to help a co-worker finish a project?

6. Do we clean up after others in the breakroom at work, offer to do dishes at home, or help clean up or put away chairs after a church potluck?

7. Do we seek out younger women or men in the church to mentor or encourage?

8. Do we try to say yes if we are needed in the nursery, to help someone move, do a car repair or give someone a ride to the doctor?

9. Do we look for opportunities to have people over for a meal?

10. Do we willingly loan our vehicles or other valuable things to others?

11. Do we take interest in children?

12. Do we offer help to someone older or disabled – when no one sees.

13. Do we ask questions and listen attentively in conversation, or do we impatiently wish they’d quit talking so we could make our comment or tell our story?

No money is transacted in any of these acts. You see, stewardship of money comes from that same heart that is a steward of time and ability and plain old kindness – putting others first.

If we sense true guilt about some of these questions, then we have to start at the bottom and first recommit to giving ourselves daily to the Lord. And then God will teach us generosity on the heart level. Now how does God do that? Admonition, exhortation and trying harder, right? Guilt always does the trick, right! Wrong. We will “become poor” for the benefit of others only if we are motivated by the grace of Jesus Christ who “became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich [spiritually]” (2 Corinthians 8:9-19).

Our memory verse, (2 Corinthians 8:12) today reminds us about giving with a willing mind. Willing mind means your heart is in there and you’re ready to give.  If there is a “readiness” ( προθυμίαprothumia), a disposition to give; if the heart is in it, then the offering will be acceptable to God, whether you be able to give much or little. A willing mind is the first consideration. No donation, however large, can be acceptable where that does not exist; none, however small, can be otherwise than acceptable where that is found. This had relation as used by Paul to the duty of almsgiving; but the principle is as applicable to everything in the way of duty. A willing mind is the first and main thing. it is that which God chiefly desires, and that without which everything else will be offensive, hypocritical, and vain (https://www.studylight.org/commentary/2-corinthians/8-12.html).

Biblical giving is driven by grace, not guilt. A giving heart only starts as we contemplate and comprehend how Jesus could trade heaven and its glorious perfection for this earth and a human existence and the pain of a crucifixion. Only as I appreciate God’s grace to me, will my heart be changed into a giving heart. Grace motivates giving that pleases God. God is honored by giving when we are imitating Him – the One who gave his only Son to die for us.