Last week, in part one, we learned three very important things and I'd like to review those for you. Number one, we learned that as followers of Christ, we are managers and not owners. Everything we have down here, our talents, our skills, our money, everything, we learned that it all belongs to God. And all God has done is given it to us, entrusted it to us while we're here on earth to manage.
And then, well, when we get to heaven, He's going to hold us accountable for how we managed it. Number two, we learned last week that God loves cheerful givers. God loves people who, like these Israelites here at Exodus 35, got a bang out of giving to God.
In fact, Paul says that in the New Testament, 2 Corinthians 9, 7, he says God loves a cheerful giver. And finally, number three, we learned last week that cheerful giving to God is based on two fundamental biblical truths. Truth number one, the fact that giving to God is an act of worship. And truth number two, the fact that giving to God is a form of spiritual investment. And we said last week that when we really understand these two truths and we really believe these two truths, that being a cheerful giver to God becomes easy. Now, last week we talked about truth number two. That is the fact that giving to God is a form of spiritual investment.
And if you missed that message, I encourage you to get the tape or the CD in our bookstore or go online and download it. But today we're going to talk about truth number one, and that is the fact that giving to God is an act of worship. And you say, well, Lon, if you're going to do it in this order, why didn't you number the one last week number one and the one this week number two? And the answer is, I don't know. I don't know.
It just, who knows? Anyway, this is what we're doing. And so let's talk about this, that giving to God is an act of worship. Let's go all the way back to the birth of Christ. Matthew chapter 2, and the three wise men came to see Jesus. You remember the story, and the Bible says, when they saw the child with his mother Mary, they bowed down and they worshiped Christ. Now, how did they do it? Did they do it by singing how great thou art on their knees in front of the Lord there in the manger or wherever?
No. The Bible says this is how they worshiped Him. They opened their treasures and they presented Jesus with gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh. Now, let's move on into the life of Jesus, Mark chapter 14, where the Bible says, While Jesus was in Bethany, eating at the home of a man known as Simon the leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume. And she broke the neck of the jar and poured the perfume on Jesus' head. And some of those present indignantly said, why is she wasting this perfume like this? It could have been sold for more than a year's wages and the money given to the poor, and they scolded her harshly. Then Jesus said to them, leave her alone.
Why are you bothering her? For she has done a beautiful thing to me. The disciples and others who were there said, why is this woman wasting this valuable perfume?
And what did Jesus say? Jesus said, fellas, you don't get it. She's not wasting, she's worshiping. By giving to me, certainly, what is the most valuable object here on earth she owns, and by giving it to me, she's telling me that I'm number one in her life, not this perfume.
She's worshiping, leave her alone. The apostle Paul, finally, echoes this same perspective on giving to God. Namely, that giving to God can be an act of worship, Philippians chapter 4. Paul says, but I have received the gift that you sent. Now remember, here in Philippians chapter 4, the apostle Paul is in jail in Rome, and the Philippians have sent him a monetary offering to be used towards serving his missionary efforts.
Okay. He goes on to say, your gift is a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice that is pleasing to God. Now you might wonder why the apostle Paul used this kind of language to describe their offering, a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice well pleasing to God.
Well, he's drawing on imagery that comes out of the Old Testament sacrificial system, and to really appreciate the beauty and the power of this imagery, we need to take just a moment and go back and understand a little bit about the Old Testament sacrificial system. Folks, in the Old Testament, the Bible said there were two categories of offerings that you could bring to the temple in Jerusalem. Category number one were sacrifices that dealt with the issue of sin.
When a person did something wrong, they offended God in some way, and as a result, their relationship with God, there was a breach that came into that relationship. What they would do is they would bring an animal to the temple in Jerusalem, and the priest would take that animal, he would kill the animal, take the animal's blood, present it on the altar there before God, and as a response, God promised that he would forgive the sin of the offerer, and he would reconcile himself to that offerer in spite of the sin the man or the woman had committed. Now today in the New Testament, there's no longer any need for these kind of sacrifices, sacrifices for sin. Hebrews chapter 10 in the New Testament says, He, Jesus, offered one sacrifice for sin for all time.
Where? On the cross, that's right. And by his one sacrifice, he, Jesus, has made perfect forever those of us who put our trust in him.
Watch now. Now, where there is forgiveness like this, no further sacrifices for sin are needed. Folks, you see, as followers of Christ today in the New Testament, the reason that you and I don't have to take a goat and get on an airplane and fly to Jerusalem and go up on the Temple Mount and slaughter this goat and put its blood somewhere, the reason we don't have to do that is because our sin as followers of Christ has been paid in full once and for all forever by the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. Amen? Hallelujah, huh? Hallelujah. If you can't say hallelujah to that, I don't know what you'll ever say hallelujah to. And let me just say that if you're here today and you've never trusted Jesus in a real and personal way, this is important information for you to know that God doesn't accept sacrifices of any other kind than the sacrifice the Lord Jesus made on the cross.
That's it. That's the only currency of heaven when it comes to forgiving our sins. And if you've never trusted Christ, my friend, I'm here to urge you, don't waste your time trying to work up something else that you can bring to God that you think is going to work. Your own religious activity, your own good works, taking a goat to Jerusalem, none of that's going to work anymore. The only thing that works is the blood of the Lord Jesus. And so I urge you to forsake all that other stuff you've been trusting in and run and grab the one thing that will work when it comes to forgiving our sin, that is the blood of Christ shed on the cross. But remember that we said there were two kinds of animal sacrifices you could make at the temple.
That was the first kind. The second kind were sacrifices that were brought for worship. And in this case, an offerer, a person, would come and bring a goat or a lamb again. But the purpose this time was to worship God. And what the priest would do, the priest would take the animal, kill the animal, but instead of putting its blood on the altar, he would instead take the meat of this animal and he would burn it just like you would a barbecue. And the smoke of this animal's flesh roasting over the flame would ascend into heaven and would be, listen now, a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing in the nostrils of God because this offering was meant to tell God that you loved him, that you were devoted to him, that you were loyal to him, and he meant more in your life than anything else. Now 1 Peter chapter 2, Peter says that as followers of Christ today, we are to offer up to God spiritual sacrifices of worship. And that is what the apostle Paul's talking about here in Philippians chapter 4. That's what he's saying, the offering, the monetary offering that the Philippians sent him really is. It was a worship offering that was a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing in the nostrils of God. Giving to God is one of these spiritual worship sacrifices that you and I can still present as followers of Christ to God today.
And let me tell you why that is, friends. It's because all worship is, worship simply means our doing those things that tell God he's preeminent in our life. Worship means doing those things that communicate to God that he's numero uno in our life. And I can't think of any better way to do it than to take money, the thing that our world values the most, and when we give money away to God in God's work freely, and we give it away to him, no strings attached, and we give it away to him generously, we are telling God, God, you are worth more to me than money, or anything money can buy, and that's worship.
You see, that's what the three wise men did. They gave away to Jesus something that was valuable, and the Bible called it worship. That's what that woman at Simon the leper's house did, and Jesus called it worship.
That's what the Philippians did, and Paul called it worship. Now for many of us, this is a completely new slant on giving to God. Many of us were raised believing or seeing giving to God is the way we pay salaries at the church, and the way we pay the utility bill at the mission, and the way we send out missionaries, and the way we run programs, and when you see giving that way, my friends, it robs it of all its joy.
It takes all of the cheerfulness out of it. I mean, how in the world can you get excited about giving to the mortgage payment, or giving, you know, to run some program? When we give like that, our focus is on programs, and buildings, and people, instead of being on the living God himself. And you know what's interesting is here in Exodus 35, where Moses is taking up the offering for the tabernacle, six times in this chapter, Moses refers to that offering, but here's the interesting thing. Never once did he ever call it the offering for the tabernacle.
All six times, you know what he called it? He called it an offering for the Lord. Because you see friends in the Bible, this is the understanding of the Bible that when we're giving, it doesn't matter what organization we're giving it to, it doesn't matter what missionary we're giving it to, the real focus in our mind needs to be not that organization, and not that person, it needs to be on the fact that we are giving this to God.
The person or the organization is just the intermediary. But really, Lord, we're giving it to you as an act of worship, as a way of letting you know you mean more to me than anything in the world. Lord, accept this gift from me as an act of worship.
That's the perspective of the Bible. And you know what? When you give like that, there's joy in it.
When you give like that, you can be cheerful. Now, that's as far as we want to go in our theological treatment of this, because we want to stop now, and we want to ask our most important question, and you know what this is. So are we ready? We're ready. You ready back there? All right, nice and loud, here we go.
One, two, three. So what? Ah, how sweet it is, huh? You say, Lon, so what? All right, so this has been all right, and I mean, so I don't need to take a goat and go Jerusalem. I mean, what difference does this make to my life, really?
Well, let's see if I can help you with that. You know, a few years ago, I don't watch much daytime television, but a few years ago I was sick in bed, and so I laid there and I watched Bob Barker on The Price is Right. I love The Price is Right. I fantasize about being in the audience and hearing them say, Lon Solomon, come on down, you're the next contestant on The Price is Right. How cool would that be, huh?
I just think it'd be fun to be on the show, not with the new guy, but with Bob Barker it would have been fun. Well, anyway, I'm watching The Price is Right, and it's time to spin the big wheel. Now, you know how they, you know the rules of the big, well, okay, here's how you do it. You spin the wheel, and if you get exactly a dollar on one spin or a combination of two spins, then you win $1,000 and you get a chance to spin the wheel again. And when you spin it again, the bonus spin, when you spin it again, if it lands on a dollar, you get $10,000. So $11,000 altogether, and Bob Barker was asking, he had three contestants there, he was asking them, he said, now, before you spin, what would you do if you won $11,000? Well, the first contestant was a young lady, and she said, if I won $11,000, I would take a trip around the world.
All right? He asked the second contestant, who was a young man, he said, if I won $11,000, I'd go buy a new Corvette. Now, I hate to tell him this, but I don't think you can buy a new Corvette for $11,000. But anyway, he was happy. And finally, he asked the third contestant, a middle-aged lady, and she said, if I won $11,000, I would put it in a savings account for my children's education. And I thought, why isn't this curious, huh? That by telling us, these three people, by telling us how they would spend their money, they revealed a lot about who they were as people. The first two contestants told us that by spending the money the way they would, that their focus was completely on themselves, while the third lady made it clear that her focus in life, her priority in life, was not herself, but her children and her family. And that's the way it is, folks.
How we spend our money reveals our priorities in life. And that's not just true for non-believers. It's true for us as followers of Christ as well.
And this is why I say all the time, if you want to really see where a Christian's love affair with Jesus really stands, let me tell you what to look at. Don't look at the number of hymns they sing in church. Don't look at the number of prayers they pray. Don't look at how many church services a week they come to. Don't look at how many times a week they say, praise the Lord, praise the Lord, praise the Lord.
No, no, no. You want to see where their love relationship with Jesus really stands, look at how they spend their money. And look to see whether they use their money and consume it all on self, or whether God and God's work is a significant part of what they do with their money. You say, all right, Lon, I understand what you're saying. What you're saying is that as long as a follower of Christ, I give some money to God, then I'm worshiping God and it's all good. No, no, no.
I didn't say that. And the Bible doesn't say that either. The Bible doesn't say that just because we give some money to God, we automatically have crossed the threshold where God sees that giving is worship.
No, no, no. There is a threshold we have to get across in our giving before God will regard our giving as true worship. And you say, well, okay, then what is that? I mean, how much do I have to give in order to get across that worship threshold? Do I have to tithe and give ten percent? Do I have to give more? Do I have to give less?
How much exactly do I have to give to get across that threshold? Well, let's let Jesus answer that question, shall we? Mark chapter 12. One day Jesus sat down opposite the temple treasury and watched the crowd putting their money into the treasury and many rich people were coming and putting in large amounts. Now, how do you imagine in your mind this giving by all these big shots went?
Well, you know, the Bible actually reveals to us how it probably went. In Matthew chapter 6, Jesus said, so when you come to give to God, do not announce it with trumpets like the hypocrites do, so that they'll be honored by men. I think that all these big shot rabbis were coming in and they had them blowing trumpets before they made their gift. Rabbi so-and-so is here to make his gift to God.
I mean, that's what I think was going on there. And so all these big blowhard rabbis were coming in there making their gift and you know what? Jesus wasn't impressed with one of them. The chapter continues, but a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, two mites worth only a fraction of a penny and Jesus called his disciples to him and said, I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put in more to the treasury than all these other rich blowhards put in. Why? Why would you say that, Jesus?
That's not true. She didn't put in more. She put in two little copper pennies worth in today's money less than one Lincoln cent. So how in the world, Jesus, could you make a statement like that?
Well, watch. Here's his reason. For, he says, they all gave out of their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, all she had to live on. This woman, Jesus said, doesn't even know where dinner's coming from. She put in all of her lunch money. But these big blowhard rabbis, it didn't cost them a thing to give what they gave. They didn't change their lifestyle one bit.
They stayed under the threshold of it costing them really anything. And friends, what this passage tells us is that when it comes to those gifts, that Jesus will regard His worship, the Bible tells us that God's method of accounting is radically different than ours. You see, as people, we're impressed by the outward amount that folks give. We hear somebody gave, you know, a lot of money here and a lot of money there and we go, whoo, did you see all that money they gave? That doesn't impress God in the least.
It's all His anyway. But God, let me tell you what impressed Him. He is impressed when He sees what it costs us to give what we're giving.
And this is what I don't want you to miss here. What distinguished the widow's offering from the offering of all these rich rabbis is that her gift reached a proportion. Her gift reached a threshold that the giving of all those rabbis never reached and that threshold, that proportion was that it cost her something to give. Now friends, when it comes to God deciding what gifts qualify as worship and what gifts don't, this is His measuring stick. His measuring stick is not how much we give, it's how much we give in light of how much we have, how much it costs us to give what we're giving. And let me tell you why that matters to God. It matters to God because only when we give God something that costs us, only when we give God something that costs us, are we really communicating to Him that He's worth more to us than money and stuff. As long as we stay under the threshold where it doesn't cost us anything, you know what we're really telling Him? What we're really telling Him is, Lord, I'll give you the scraps, but you know what? I'm not going to give you anything that really matters to me.
That's not worship, friends, and God doesn't regard it that way. You say, well then, Lon, remember that question I asked you? How much do I need to give to get across that threshold?
Well friends, I remember the question, but this is why I can't give you a definite answer. Because you see, for some people, we cross that threshold when we give two percent of our income. That costs us something. You take a single parent mom raising a child with disabilities, two percent of that lady's income could definitely cross that threshold of worship giving.
And then for some of us, others of us, friends, we've got to go a lot higher percentage-wise to get across that threshold. I don't know if you know who Fred Smith is. He owns Fred Smith Associates in Dallas, a very well-off individual financially, and a sincere follower of Christ. And here's what he said, I read an article one time, here's what he said, I think you'll find it interesting. He said, and I quote, I led a rather unusual seminar once in which the majority of those present were millionaires. Just for the fun of it, I described tithing as using an Old Testament teaching to help the rich get out of giving.
It was quite a shock to the participants, and they didn't seem to want to discuss it at any great length. I firmly believe, Mr. Smith says, that tithing for well-off people is an escape from true biblical giving. Frankly, he says, I'd be very happy if the Lord would tell me that I had fulfilled my responsibility if I gave ten percent. He said when I worked for six dollars a week and I dropped sixty cents in the offering plate, I believed that I was giving something that was pleasing to the Lord. But I'm not sure that the Lord is excited about my giving one tenth of a six or seven figure income, end of quote. You say, Lon, are you saying that even though I may be giving hundreds to God, thousands to God, tens of thousands of dollars to God, that He may not actually be regarding what I'm giving as true worship?
Folks, that's exactly what I'm saying, and the reason I'm saying it is because that's exactly what the Bible says. I'm saying that as followers of Christ, we need to draw a box entitled what it's costing me to give to God what I'm given, and then we need to examine it and make sure there's some things in the box, some things that matter to us. Maybe a new car, or new furniture, or new shoes, or new golf clubs, or a new pocketbook, or a new flat screen, or a new iPod, or a new computer, or something. There needs to be something in the box.
And if there isn't, then I'm telling you, you've not crossed the threshold yet that this widow crossed. We're just like the rich rabbis. We're giving to God, but we're staying comfortably under the threshold of it costing us a thing.
Friends, that's not worship, and God doesn't see it as such. This is why King David said, 1 Chronicles chapter 21, I will not sacrifice to the Lord an offering that costs me nothing. You say, well, Lon, you know, I grew up going to church, and I grew up here and pastors say that we're supposed to tithe, we're supposed to give ten percent. In fact, Lon, I've never even heard of a pastor who told people they didn't have to tithe.
I mean, what's wrong with you? Your income, you better get ready for your income to go way down up there, pal. How can you get up there and tell people don't tithe? Well, because tithing is not a New Testament instruction to the church. That's why I'm telling you that. I could get up here and tell you to give ten percent, but friends, that's not biblical.
It's not right. We're told in the New Testament that we are to give in proportion to how the Lord has blessed us, which puts far more responsibility on us than just giving to a flat ten percent. And remember, the tithe was not worship giving anyway. The tithe was income tax. The tribe of Levi who ran the temple didn't have any income. They lived off the tithe, the ten percent that the rest of the nation paid. If you wanted to worship God, you had to go over and above the tithe. The tithe was not worship. It was taxes. Oh, would be to God we could have ten percent tax in America. Wouldn't that be wonderful?
Well, that's what they had. Anyway, the point I'm trying to make to you here is at McLean Bible Church, we found that actually the more we have taught people to give biblically, the more we have freed people from giving out of duty and obligation and compulsion, and we've taught them the biblical principle of giving out of love and devotion and cheerful joy to God, the more that we've helped people understand that giving to God is worship and that God loves to receive it and He loves to reward it, the more we have found our income went up. Why? Because once people learn the joy that comes from giving to God properly, giving to God biblically out of cheerful hearts, you know what? People love to give to it.
So let's conclude. The Bible declares God wants us to be a cheerful giver, and the Bible tells us if we're going to be cheerful givers, we're going to have to learn to base our giving on biblical truth. And two of them in particular, number one, that giving to God is an act of worship if we do it right. And giving to God, number two, is an investment, a spiritual investment upon which God pays enormous dividends. And friends, when we understand this and we believe it and we give in light of it, I want to tell you there is a joy that comes into our life in giving such as you've never seen before, a joy that makes us cheerful givers, a joy that makes us like the Israelites who want to give more and more and more till Moses had to say, stop, that's enough. This is my heart for you and me and all of us that we would learn to give to God properly. So how much should you give to God?
Friend, I can't answer that question for you. I can only answer that question for me. But that's a question I would urge you to sit down and really think about in light of these last two weeks and evaluate what you're giving and why you're giving it and to whom you're giving it and make sure whatever you're giving, that you're giving enough to cross the worship threshold. And whatever you're giving, that you're giving it with joy, in faith, knowing what God has promised you when you give. This is how God wants us. He wants us to enjoy giving and see it as a real encouraging part of the Christian experience. And let me just say in closing, that's why we've had lots of people say, you know what, we need to take the offering out of the church service. We need to just have boxes in the back and just let people drop it in boxes or just let them send it in over the Internet. What difference does it make? But, you know, as sensitive as money is with the church, it would just be inappropriate for us to keep taking up an offering in church.
Friends, we reject that because if what we've studied is true, if giving to God is an act of worship, then nothing belongs more in the worship service than the offering. And now you understand why I say that. All right. We're done. We're done. You don't have to be afraid to bring your friends next week.
We're not going to talk about money. But, friends, we need to be educated and so this was a good time to do it. Let's pray together. Lord Jesus, thank you so much for instructing us in the Word of God about everything that we need for life and godliness, as Peter says.
And certainly that includes instructing us on how to handle money. And, Father, the fact that some people down through the ages and even today take that and twist it and distort it for their own personal and own sinful advantage, that doesn't change the fact that we still need to teach the Word of God the way it is. And so, Father, use these last two weeks to really cause every one of us here to examine how we give and why we give, to whom we give, how much we give. And, Lord Jesus, however much every one of us before Christ decides to give, Lord, may it be given with biblical knowledge, biblical information, biblical awareness of what we're doing so that at least if we're going to give, we're giving properly and biblically. Lord, change our very giving habits because we were here these last two weeks and we studied your Word. And, Lord, continue to use us as a church family in this town to make an impact for Christ.
Thank you for providing the resources you give us every year. Help us use them for your glory and your glory alone. And we pray this in Jesus' name. And God's people said, Amen. Hey, thanks for being here. Have a great week. Amen.
