Who is Giving to Whom, Part 2

Today on Summit Life with JD Greer God doesn't need you and the weight of saving the world is not on your shoulders but you offer yourself to God and then do what he tells you to do.

That means you don't have to feel guilty all the time. God never laid all the priorities of heaven on my shoulders but when I know and I present my life to God and say God what do you want me to do he shows me what to do and then how I can pour my life out for others. Welcome back to Summit Life with Pastor JD Greer.

As always I'm your host Molly Vitovich. So have you ever wondered about how much you have to give to please God? Is an hour of your Sunday morning enough or 10% of your income?

What if you went into full-time missions would that be enough? Today Pastor JD looks at a time when King David tried to earn God's favor by building a temple and will discover that it's not about what we do for God but what God has ultimately done and continues to do for us. For additional resources designed to help you learn more be sure to visit jdgreer.com but for now let's pick up our study in 2nd Samuel. Pastor JD titled this message who is giving to whom. How much is enough? How often do I need to come to church? How much do I have to give for God to be happy with me?

What's the cutoff line? How much is enough? That question shows you don't get the gospel. Salvation is a gift that you receive it cost him not you.

You say how much is enough? Jesus has done enough and he gives it as a gift to all who will receive it. Christianity is not about you living a good life and then giving your record to God.

It is about Jesus living the perfect life and then giving his record to you as a gift. He lived the life you were supposed to have lived and then he died to death you were condemned to die and gave you that as a gift if you would receive it. The grace principle. Next on top of that built on top of that and flowing out of it is what we'll call the giving principle. The giving principle basically has three parts to it. If you're going to write these down, I would just do these A, B, and C, the giving principle.

Here's A. God doesn't need us. And it's pretty simple, but hang with me. God does not need us. That's anchor one of the giving principle. God says this is not a house you're building for me. This is a house I'm building for you. Salvation from start to finish is from God and he does not need it. He does not need anything in the process from us. Salvation from start to finish is from God.

And there's a little sign on the door that says no help wanted. Jesus went to the cross alone. The cross was not a team effort. Everybody abandoned him, all the disciples, all of us, all of his friends. None of us went to the cross with him. He suffered and died alone like David. He ran onto that field alone to face the giant of our sin while we all stood in unfaithfulness and cowardice on the sidelines. When Jesus was raised from the dead, it was by his power with no help from us. The disciples were not beside Jesus with their crash cards going, come on, one more time. Pump his chest one more time.

Give him some mouth to mouth. God could have done it that way if he don't want to do. But no, he chose to raise Jesus all by himself, right?

I mean, you see, remember seeing a princess bride where they're blowing air into the dead guy? That's not how Jesus was raised from the dead, right? The father brought Jesus back from the dead all by himself. When Jesus establishes his eternal kingdom on earth one day in the future, it's something he does alone. The book of Revelation says that John saw the eternal kingdom, the new Jerusalem coming down from heaven to earth prepared by God. It's not something that we built up from the earth to the point that God's like, man, that's a really awesome place now.

I'd like to rule there and I'd like to live there and come down and live in it. It's something that's prepared by God and brought by himself. And the same way right now, get this, in the present, it is God alone who builds his kingdom. When Jesus sent his disciples out, he said, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Not you will build my church and I'll be around to assist you if you need some help. I've told you that one of my favorite scenes in Acts is after laying on the disciples the Great Commission, which basically was something like this. Every person in every country in the world needs to hear about Jesus and that's the only way they can be saved and you're the only ones that they can hear it from.

After laying on them the Great Commission, I've told you one of the most unbelievably surprising things is what comes next out of his mouth. And what I want you to do with that for right now is nothing. I want you to go wait.

I want you to go sit in a room for 10 days by yourself and wait. Now you can imagine the type A people and the disciples, oh, wait a minute, wait a minute. We got no time to be taking a 10-day vacation. Ain't nobody in the world knows about Jesus but us and they all got to hear about him through us.

What are you talking about? Take 10 days and just sit in a room and do nothing. And they sat there for 10 days and just sat there and prayed and waited. And God sends the Holy Spirit.

Y'all, if nothing else was being taught to the disciples during those 10 days, this was being taught. There's no way you can do this. I'm the one who does this. I'm going to use you in the process.

Yes, but this from start to finish is for me. And apart from me, you can do nothing. Now, some of you are like, Pastor, you are blowing my mind. God doesn't need me. Does that mean I just like, you know, spending all my money on myself, going about chasing, you know, the American dream and materialism? No, because we come to the second part of the giving principle and it's this, B, we should want to give back to God.

We should want to give back to God not because he needs it, but because our lives overflow with gratefulness for what he has done for us. David had the right attitude. He wanted to build.

I'll prove to you he had the right attitude. Second Chronicles. Told you first and second Chronicles are parallel books to first and second Samuel that are giving you like interpretation of first and second Samuel.

All right. Second Chronicles, God says to David, all right, interpreting this event, because it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart. In other words, this was a good emotion you had to build for me. I mean, after what God had done for David, how could David not overflow with gratefulness of what God had done for him? God had taken him from the pasture and made a king. God had given him an eternal kingdom. Of course, David would want to respond to God like this. In fact, I love what David did in response when God told him no to this request. Like God says, I don't want you to build.

First Chronicles explains what happens next. Look at this, verse 2, chapter 22, verse 2. David said stonecutters to prepare dress stones for building the house of God. David also provided great quantities of iron for nails, for the doors, for the gates, and for clamps, as well as bronze and quantities beyond weighing.

And cedar timbers, oh yeah, without number. For David said, Solomon, my son, is young and inexperienced. And the house that has to be built for the Lord must be exceedingly magnificent of fame and glory throughout all lands. Therefore, I'm going to make preparation for it.

I love that. I know Solomon is going to be like the wisest guy who ever lived in everything. But right now, he's kind of young. He's sort of ignorant. He's kind of disorganized.

He's not the spiciest burrito in the bag. So what I'm going to do is I'm going to lay out all the materials for him. I'm going to leave him instructions about exactly how to build it.

All right, I'm going to make this dummy proof. This is going to be like a Lego kit. He's just going to put together. I'm going to do all the preparation for it so that David provided materials in great quantity before his death. David's heart, you see, wanted to give back of itself to the God who had given so much to him.

And his heart overflowed with gratefulness. We should want to give back to the God who gave so much to us. Paul says in 2 Corinthians that we ought to give our lives for him who gave his life for us. We ought to say, God, as you poured yourself out for me, of course, I want to pour myself out for you. That's what you do when you love somebody. That's what you do when you're loved by somebody. If we understand the gospel, we would want to pour our lives back out for God.

That leads me to C, third part of the giving principle. We should offer ourselves to God and then do what he tells us to do. We ought to offer ourselves to God in grateful response.

Not because he needs us, because he doesn't. We should offer ourselves to God. He said, God, how can I pour my life out for you? Right?

You see what this looks like in Acts. When the Holy Spirit came down, they didn't, you know, they were also like, whoa, we were glad the Holy Spirit's here. Now you can get out, getting the world evangelization done, and we're going to go fishing and play with our toys.

Right? They're like, remember, they're like, here am I, send me. I want to give. I want to be used to bring grace to others. Holy Spirit, use me. Use me.

Use me. Paul would express this in Romans 10. Paul, after laying out a case, follow me, okay, a little deep. After laying out a case for why every person in the world needs to hear about Jesus in order to be saved, why we, the church, are the only ones that they can hear it from. Gives this famous missions, go into all the world verse, and here's how it reads. How will they call on him and whom they have not believed? And how will they believe in whom and whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? And how will they preach? Watch these next words. Unless we go?

No, unless they are sent. In other words, Paul recognizes that even though we are the only way anybody will ever hear about Jesus, our going doesn't do any good if the Holy Spirit doesn't do the sending. So what it leaves you with is this, I've got to be used by God. I want to be used by God to bring the salvation to others that God has given to me. But God's the only one who can do this, and so God, I need to be sent. I told you that when God called me into ministry, that's very similar to what it looked like. I didn't realize it at the time. But I was overwhelmed with 1.8 billion people that have never heard about Jesus, and I was like, God, it doesn't make sense for me to live my life as if this is all about me.

There's 1.8 billion people that have never heard about you. God, I want to be used. I know I can't go anywhere until you send me. God, will you send me? Have you ever prayed that to God? Have you ever said, God, I want to pour my life out for you.

Show me how to do it. See, that's what it means to have a heart. That is like David's heart, who was a man of God's own heart, the right heart to giving Paul, David.

They want to build, they want to go, but they know they got to be sent. Church, the point is, listen, God doesn't need you. And the weight of saving the world is not on your shoulders. But you offer yourself to God and then do what he tells you to do. That means you don't have to feel guilty all the time. Because not everything that comes from heaven has your name on it.

God never laid all the priorities of heaven on my shoulders. We'll get back to our teaching here on Summit Life with JD Greer in just a moment. But first, let me tell you about our latest resource. It's a 25-day devotional guide specifically for the Advent season coming up called He Is Here. Each day, you can expect three elements. A short reading from scripture, many times a story from the Old Testament, an accompanying devotional for that day, and an application of prayer, reflection, or meditation. We're praying that this holiday guide would help you anticipate the King this Christmas so that you would not only understand, but also feel the thrill of hope that accompanies the name Manuel. God with us. And the beautiful part is you can return to this resource year after year as you prepare your heart for Christmas. Reserve your copy today by calling 866-335-5220 or visit us online at jdgreer.com. Thanks for being with us on Summit Life today.

Now let's return to today's message. Here's Pastor JD Greer. Not everything that comes from heaven has my name on it. But when I know and I present in my life to God and say, God, what do you want me to do?

He shows me what to do and then how I can pour my life out for others. You see how this works? You and I ever got this. I'm telling you, the potential in this is unlimited.

Limited. It gives you an unbelievable sense of freedom and then an unbelievable sense of power or an experience of power. Freedom because you're no longer feeling like the weight rests on you.

Power because God is able to take your meager life and do more through it than you ever dreamed. Example, the story of the five loaves and the two fish. 5,000 hungry men plus their families out there.

15,000 people. What's Jesus choose to take? He takes a little boy's lunch. Five loaves, two fish. Otherwise known, I've told you as a Hebrew happy meal, right? Would not have fed more than a 10 year old one boy. And God takes that five loaves, two fish and feeds everybody so that there's 12 baskets left over.

What is that trying to show you? The amount is inconsequential. Do you think Jesus needed the five loaves and two fish? You think if he only had three loaves and one fish, he could only fed like 2,000 people. He could have taken a fish eye and a poppy seed and fed the entire world, right?

Right? The amount was inconsequential. It was simply the fact that somebody had taken all of themselves and placed it in Jesus' hands. The amount was inconsequential.

It was the percentage. Here's another one. Jesus is watching the offering. Watching what people give in the offering, which some of you would think was rude, but he's the son of God.

He can do that. And he's watching what people put in the offering. Bill Gates comes along, slaps in a million dollars for the billing fund, right? Then a woman, old woman comes along behind him and puts in what the writer describes as two mites, which is an eighth of a penny. A quarter of a penny combined is what she puts in there. Jesus turns to disciples like, I want to put in more than Bill Gates did.

Why? Because God can do more with two mites that represent the full offering of herself to God than Bill Gates could do with a million dollars thrown into world poverty. You see, there are two mistakes that I see people make in giving.

The first mistake is they've never really offered themselves to God. They want to pay God off. They want to pay the 10% tax to God. Now I got to pay Uncle Sam whatever percentage. And then I got to pay God his 10%. And then I can go on using the rest of my money for me.

I can pour it out on me. It's like a tax or what you tip God. No, that shows you don't understand what God has done for you.

There's no way that you could have received how Jesus poured himself out. And then pay God 10% tax and go on living your life as if it's about you. You would say to God, God, here's what I have. I want to pour my life out for you the way you poured yours out for me. And so God, show me. Show me how to build your kingdom. And I'll do what you tell me to do.

Because I like you need this. It's like you're sitting in heaven and wringing your hands going, oh, gee, we'll just get rid of somebody's money. I could do all this stuff in the world.

No. But when you put it in my hand and say, Jesus, I want to be used for others the way you're used for me. Suddenly you have the heart that I have. And I can take five loaves and two fish if that's all you got. And I can multiply it and bless it. And by the way, there's going to be 12 baskets left over.

And you're going to take one of those home and enjoy it yourself. Because I'm the God who, that little boy took home a basket. I'm sure of it. Doesn't say it, but how could he not have?

Right? That little boy's like, I mean, he walked home saying, you can't out give God. You cannot give him ever. You ought to have a heart that says, God, all that I have is yours. Second mistake people make in giving is they think that they're the savior of the world and this burden lies all on them. It does not. Offer yourself to God and do what he tells you.

Have you ever done that? Like, why am I supposed to know what God wants me to do? I don't have time to answer that question fully, but I'll give you an A and a B on this.

A, whatever's right in front of you. James 2 says, whatever need is right there in front of you that you can meet, that's God's intention for you to meet that need. All right?

So there's somebody poor. That's what our church does with our city. We see the needs around our city. And so we're going to ask God to help us meet those needs.

All right? The other thing I would say, B, is whatever dreams and passions are growing in your heart where you dream about seeing God's mercy come to other people. Fuel that dream. Dream great things for God like David did. God can tell you no if he needs to. But dream great things for God and say, God, here's what I want to see happen for you and let God begin to guide you. That's what this church is doing. That's your giving principle.

Real quick, I do this one fast. The disappointment principle. Disappointment principle. In this passage, David's got a dream. God tells him, no.

Does that ever happen to you? Ever happen to you where you feel like, God, you're like, I'd really like to do this for God. God says, no.

You know what this passage shows you? God sometimes has divine reasons for telling us, no. Sometimes it's because God wants to make sure that other people and us are making a bigger deal out of God than they do us. And sometimes our success can make us be really full of ourselves and make other people think we're the hero. And sometimes our failure can actually direct attention more to God than our successes could. You ever think that maybe God tells you no and lets you fall flat on your face so other people will know that he's the hero, not you? Because if everything you touch succeeded, if everything you did, you were always the hero, people would start to think that you were all that. But people thinking that you're all that, it's not going to do anybody any good.

It's just going to make them jealous and make them feel insecure and make them discouraged. God took it from David and gave it to Solomon because I don't want people saying, look what David did. I want to say that I told him no so that people would know that I was a big deal, not David. So God might ordain failure in your life to direct other people's attention toward God.

He might put you flat on your face so that nobody can really make a big deal out of you. And that's okay because it's all about bringing glory to God. That is the disappointment principle. That's like, I love how Paul said in Philippians 1, he's like, you know what, I might get humiliated, but me getting humiliated is fine if it directs your attention to God. I want to be able to say, God, if you got to make me fail and you got to humiliate me to bring glory to you, it's okay. Because people's hope needs to be in you, not me anyway. That's a disappointment principle.

Here's the last one. It's not a principle. It's a question. I call it the kingdom question. This passage brings up a question that each of you ought to ask because he asked it to David. David, every kingdom ever built is going to fall apart. Every one, whether political or personal, every king will fall apart. David's kingdom eventually fell apart.

Our personal kingdoms, all of them will fall apart given enough time. Your body is falling apart. I know some of you don't like to hear that, but your body's getting older.

Your hair's falling out no matter how much grease and formula you put in it. And your face is sagging no matter how much Botox you pump into it. And your body just don't look like it used to.

No matter how much you work out, it don't look like it used to look when you were 19 years old. Deal with it, okay? And it's just getting worse from here. Your kingdom's falling apart. Your business will fall apart, right? Your family, I mean, your family's great, right? And I hope that they're around you the day that you die, but in a very real sense, your family falls apart when you die, for you at least.

Here's what I mean by that. You're on your deathbed and they're about to take you in for emergency surgery and your loved ones come around and they lay their hand on your shoulder and they're like, honey, we're with you. We're gonna go with you in. And you know, and I know that's poetic, but it's not true.

When they put that mask on your face and they take that knife out, you are all by yourself. And unless you are a part of God's eternal kingdom at that point, no family, no body, no career, nothing matters because all of it's gone. God's is the only kingdom that lasts forever and what's awesome about this passage is he offers for you to be a part of that kingdom. An invitation, he says, come, I'll make you a part of this kingdom.

I've already paid the price for your sin. I've built the house. All you gotta do is receive it and come live in it. Have you ever received that invitation and become a part of Jesus' eternal kingdom?

Here's what else is awesome to me. After you become a part of that kingdom, he actually lets you become a part of doing things in his kingdom that have eternal value. And I don't have anything that God needs, but God has allowed me for the last few years to use my life in the kingdom of God. And I have done things that have eternal value and that means a lot to me, right? You know, in our church, in the community, among unreachable groups and my own family, God has been able to use me to do things of eternal value. And when I die, my life is not gonna have nothing to show for it. I'm gonna have built into Jesus' kingdom.

Are you doing that? For some of you, listen, God is only like an assistant to you. That's all he is. He's there to, you know, you call on him when you need him to help your kingdom work. God's not your assistant and your life is gonna fall apart. I've told you the problem with some of you, your prayers, it's not that they're too big. You're not asking too much from God.

You're asking too little because you're asking God to do things for you when he wants you to ask him to do huge things for his namesake. That's what David learns. That's why verse 26 says, your name will be magnified in the earth. And now I can ask God for great and incredible things, not for my kingdom, but for his. We have told you the story of Alexander before and I say this and I'll close. Alexander the Great, one of the world's obviously great leaders at the time, he was the richest man in the world, Greece, third, fourth century BC, right? Alexander the great head of general who'd served with him for many years came to Alexander and said, I got a son. I'd like for you to pay for my son's wedding.

Alexander thought, you know, you've been a loyal general for years. Sure, I'll pay for your wedding. So this guy goes to Alexander's treasurer and turns in a bill for the most exorbitant wedding anybody had ever heard of. I mean, we're talking way over the top and the treasurer walks up to Alexander and is like, you're not gonna believe this guy. You graciously told him that you would help him with his wedding and he has turned in a bill for the most expensive wedding Greece has ever seen.

The impudence and disrespect that shows you need to punish this guy. Alexander looked over the bill and laughed and he said, give it to him. Give all of it to him.

And the treasurer's like, why? He's obviously taking advantage of you. He said, because he paid me two compliments with that exorbitant request. Number one, he thinks I'm actually rich enough that I could pay for that. Number two, he actually thinks I'm willing to do it, which means that he has complimented both my riches and my generosity.

And I like those compliments. So give him what he asked because he has complimented me as he asks it. God loves to be asked for huge things that show off his power and his generosity. Generosity, things in his kingdom, not ours. And if you are a part of his kingdom, you can ask for things that show off his generosity and power and God will give them. That's the reason God didn't answer some of your prayers because it's always about your little kingdom.

Ask him for God's kingdom and you'll watch it start to blow your mind. Turning away from our own little kingdoms and plans and looking instead for how we can join in God's plans. That's the challenge today on Summit Life with Pastor JD Greer. Summit Life is here for you every day on the radio, podcast, and online to help you dive deeper into the glorious truth of the gospel message.

But as a nonprofit ministry, we're dependent on your support, which means that the cost for airing these daily broadcasts is covered by your generosity. So as you've come to rely on Pastor JD's relevant gospel-centered teaching, you can join the team that makes it all possible and donate today. When you do, we'll say thanks by sending you a copy of a 25-day Advent Devotional by Dr. Chris Papalardo called He Is Here.

It's a great resource for the whole family or the whole church really to work through the story of scripture together throughout the month of December. So give today and remember to ask for your copy of the book titled He Is Here. Call 866-335-5220. That's 866-335-5220. Or give and request the book online at JDGreer.com. I'm Molly Biddovich, encouraging you to join us for a relevant message about the importance of fleeing from sexual sin on Thursday. We're finding that even though David was a man after God's own heart, he still messed up big time. Join us Thursday for Summit Life with JD Greer. Today's program was produced and sponsored by JD Greer Ministries.