Giving Back to God

Numbers 18:12

INTRO:
Good to see everybody here this evening.

This evening I would like to talk about a portion of our worship that some might even not recognize as actually being worship. When you think about worship what do you think about? We come together, and we praise God in song, in worship. We pray to God, in worship. We take the Lord's Supper, in worship, but there is another thing we did this morning that quite often people do not recognize as being part of worship and that is giving back to God.

We took a portion of time to give back to God a portion of what He's blessed us with.
I want us to recognize that is indeed a manifestation of worship. Let’s go back and define what we mean when we talk about worship. Worship is an expression of our personal relationship with God from our hearts. Again I'm going to say to you, worship is an expression to God, from your heart, about your relationship with Him. You are singing praises to God your Father. You are praying to God your Father, your partaking of the Lord supper from the heart remembering the death of the Son of God.
I want you to recognize that giving is also, from the heart, to God and it's an expression of your relationship with God. We talked about this aspect some this morning from Romans 12.

I. Giving Back to God in The Old Testament: We're going to begin our sermon this evening by going to the Old Testament. We're going to be studying the nature of the sacrifices of the giving to God from the Old Testament. The reason we're going to do this is because by understanding the nature of giving in the Old Testament I believe it will help us understand exactly what God expects from you and me today as we give to Him under the covenant of Jesus Christ.

A. We're going to begin here Numbers 18:12 – “All the best of the oil, all the best of the new wine and the grain, their firstfruits which they offer to the Lord, I have given them to you.” In the text we see the nature of the sacrifices that were given by the children of Israel under the Mosaic dispensation, when they were giving to God. They gave God the best.

1. This is key to understanding the basics of Old Testament giving and it is so important that we understand this—they gave God the best they had. They gave Him the first fruits they did not give God what was left over.
2. They didn't think of themselves first, they did not say OK; what can I give to God to satisfy him and then keep all I want for me. That was not in their thoughts. At least not initially though they did fall into this later. And by the way that same trap is still there. What was in their thoughts was, the very best I have, the first fruits of what I have, that's what I'm going to give to God as my sacrifice to Him.

B. You will find over in 2 Samuel where David makes an interesting statement about sacrifice; 2 Samuel 24:24 – “Then the king said to Araunah, [a-ra-nah] "No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price; nor will I offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God with that which costs me nothing.'' So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.” In the text David is trying to stop the plague that is coming upon the children of Israel because of his pride and numbering the children of Israel. He's trying to offer a sacrifice here on this threshing floor that belongs to this Canaanite. The Canaanite offers to give it to him. David makes a very interesting statement; “nor will I offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God with that which costs me nothing.” The thing David understood was that sacrifice costs you something. It is going to be from you, and it's going to put you out.

1. It is going to hurt. That's why you call it sacrifice. Yet, quite often I think whenever it comes down our thinking of giving today, it’s giving God what is left over. How little can I give to God to get Him off my back? How little can I give to God and keep Him pleased and keep everything else for me? I don't want to sacrifice anything. I don't want to put myself out.
2. In Malachi 1:18 you see this attitude among the children of Israel when it came to giving. It says; - “when you offer the blind as a sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? Offer it then to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you favorably?'' says the Lord of hosts.” Asked the question at the end there what is the answer? That answer is No.
3. The governor would not accept it if you came to him and you bought a blind, lame animal and you said look what I'm giving you. “You're just giving me your discards you're giving me your left over’s, you are giving me what you don't really want, but what you want you're keeping for yourself.”

C. Let’s tie all this together. You give God the best you've got. You don't give him what's left over after you take what you desire. You give to the point where it's a sacrifice, to where there's going to be some putting out of yourself and it is going to hurt to a certain degree because you are letting go of something that is important to you, that is valuable to you and yet you are freely, willingly giving all your best to God. That's the way they did it in the Old Testament.

II. Giving Back to God in The New Testament: The reason I want to look at this is because I think our understanding the nature of sacrificing and giving in the Old Testament can better help us understand exactly what it is God wants from you and me today, in our relationship and our worship when we give back to God. That being stated let’s go over to the New Testament and study giving to God in the New Testament.

A. Again, you’ll find in Romans Chapter 12:1 that we have laid down for us the degree of the sacrifice that God wants from you and me today. “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” In Christianity we need to recognize that in giving to God, what we give first—is ourselves. That's the starting point. Again please remember, what is worship? Worship is an expression of our personal relationship with God, it comes from the heart and whenever we are going to be giving to God, what we have to give first—is our self, completely as a living sacrifice.
B. Give God your all. Everything connected to you goes as a sacrifice to God. That means your family, your time, your money, and everything. Do not think in terms of your relationship with God; that I will give you this much of my life and then I'm going keep the majority of it for me. If that is the way you think about your relationship with God you've completely missed it. He doesn't want half of you. He doesn't want the majority of you. He wants all of you. That is what is meant by a living sacrifice.
C. Let us look at 2 Corinthians 8:5 – “And they exceeded our expectations: They gave themselves first of all to the Lord, and then by the will of God also to us.”[ para] What did they do first? They gave themselves to the Lord.

1. The idea of this in other words is they did not hold back for themselves or to give to someone else first. Remember what He said in Matthew 15:24? “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” That is what you do when you give yourself to the Lord, you deny yourself. What does that mean to “deny yourself”? What I want does not matter. It is what He wants that matters.
2. I have to deny my will, my desires and give myself over totally, completely, in service, to God as a living sacrifice. You give yourself first and you give yourself as a living sacrifice to God where God is at the very center of your life. All of your actions, everything you say and everything you do is structured around and built around your relationship with God.

i. There is not going to be a problem with giving God your time.
ii. Having your family built around God and giving back to God your finances.
iii. That's just going to be part of it because you've already given your whole self and your whole life and everything connected to you over to God.

III. Give According to What You Have: Having considered that lets go further. In 2 Corinthians 8:12 – “For if there is first a willing mind, it is accepted according to what one has, and not according to what he does not have.” Here we have another major principle laid down for us in relationship to our giving back to God. First of all what we see here, is He wants it to be with a willing mind. That is, “I want to do this, I want to give back to God.” It's a pleasure to give back to God because we recognize where all our blessings are coming from.

A. Stop and think about this for a moment. We're alive right now aren’t we? Who gives us this life, God does. The breakfast that we ate this morning, where did that food come from? God gave it to us. The job that we hold down, the income that we make, where does it come from? God makes it possible for us to do this.
B. Every good gift every perfect gift, all the blessings in our life comes from the Father of life with no variation or shifting shadow. He is daily loading us and showering us with all these wonderful physical blessings, our homes, our families, the food we eat, the clothing we wear, and all the riches He gives us. Recognize everything we have comes from Him, every single physical, and spiritual blessing is coming from God. We have the honor and the privilege to willingly give back to God who has given all these things to us.
C. He says, pertaining to our giving, it's accepted according to what one has and not according to what one does not have. Putting it another way you can't give what you do not have. My dad would say; a pint can't hold a quart—if it holds a pint it is doing all that can be expected of it.

1. The widow in Mark 12:42 did not have much. She couldn't give five talents. She had two mites and she couldn’t give 5 talents because she did not have 5 talents to give. What she did have, she gave. She gave it all. You are expected to give to God according to how God has given to you.
2. Then let’s look at this over in Luke 12:48 – “... For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.” This is a basic principle of our relationship with God and what God expects from us. To whom much is given from him much will be required.
3. You'll see this over in the parable of the talents. Look at this in Matthew 25:16-17 – “16. "Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. 17. "And likewise he who had received two gained two more also.”

i. The man who had been given five talents, how many more did he produce? Five.
ii. The man had been given two talents how many more did he produce? Two.
iii. Now think about the principle that is being laid down here. It's this, they produced 100 percent. They used it all. The man who had two talents was not expected to produce 5 talents. The man who was given one talent, how much was expected of him to produce and give back? One.

D. You cannot give what you have not got. However, it is imperative that we recognize how much we do have. Recognize how much we have been given by God; recognize the abilities and the talents and the blessings that God has showered upon us. Then recognize that all these abilities, all these talents, all these blessings, are expected to be used for His glory as we talked about this morning. You have given yourself as a living sacrifice to God and all your talents, abilities and blessings are now expected to be used for His glory, His honor and the furtherance of His kingdom.
E. Look at this over in Romans again if you will. I know this is familiar to you. Romans 12:5-8 – “5. so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. 6. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them:” I want to stop right there, and look at the middle of verse 6. Here we are told that various gifts have been given us and Paul says let us use them.
F. Then he goes to the various different kinds of gifts that have been given to different individuals and he says; “ if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; 7. or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; Let me stop here for a moment. You know when we talk about giving what's the first thing that comes to our mind? Money, money is the first that comes to our mind. It’s right there.

1. We don’t want to think that way. That is just part of us; our money is just a part. When we are talking about our giving ourselves as a living sacrifice, we are talking about our life, our time, our effort. Our God, given abilities.
2. Abilities are amazing. Some folks have a gift for singing. They have this knack of making everything they do in song just so pleasant to the ear and by doing that they draw along us lesser gifted ones with their glorious voice.
3. Some of you have got ten talents. Being able to work and encourage people, who are discouraged and you're able to go and listen to them and comfort them. Recognize there are a multitude of talents that are given to individuals. Sometimes it is teaching, sometimes the leading singing, sometimes it is going and comforting others. Sometimes it's helping people carry their burdens. The abilities and talent you have been given whatever they may be, use them to the fullest to the glory of God. And recognize what they are, and give it all back. If we don’t think we have any gifts then we need to spend time and meditation in God’s word and the Holy Spirit will provide us gifts through our understanding.

G. Let's get to the rest of the text here in Romans 12 again. “8. he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.” We're getting down to finances. That's part of it. I'm asking, does anybody here categorize themselves this evening, as poor in the eyes of the world? I'm not saying that there aren’t people that are struggling. There are, I am certain of that. But we have food and clothing, someplace to live. We probably do not have dirt floors and we don’t have to walk barefoot to a stream for our water.

1. We have more then many and I think of Psalm 23 My cup runneth over. Our cup runs over. We have enough.
2. We are not to feel guilty about the blessings that God has given us. Please don't take that away. We just need to be conscious and aware—that God has liberally blessed us. He showered upon us wealth and according to the scripture the one who has been liberty given to is expected to give generously, ungrudgingly. We are familiar with the text that you give according as you prosper; well we need to be aware of how much we have prospered. Don't give God what's left over. That’s one of the traps people fall into. Be conscious and aware of what God has blessed you with and then, in turn, give back to God.

H. In Acts 11:29 – “Then the disciples, each according to his ability, determined to send relief to the brethren dwelling in Judea.” The whole point to get from this is that God does not expect more of you than you can do. The man who had been given five talents was expected to produce five talents more, 100 percent, and no more. The man who was given two talents was expected to produce 100 percent, no more.

1. We need to find out how many talents we've been given and face up to the reality of their existence, and then use them, 100 percent, to glory in the service of God. That's what a living sacrifice is all about—according to your ability. Not according to what you don't have, you can't give what you don’t have.
2. We need to be aware of what we do have. I believe God has given a us much and as a consequence of that He expects much from us.

IV. Give Cheerfully: Turn to 2 Corinthians 9:6-8 – “6. But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. 8. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, have an abundance for every good work.”

A. Let’s start with verse 6 which has the very interesting concept, that he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. Realize that this statement is made within the context of us giving to God. Putting it another way, how much harvest are you going to have in the work of the kingdom. It will be determined by how much seed you sow. We understand that don't we?

1. Your harvest is going to be directly proportional to the amount of seed you sow and the seed is the word of God. Letting your light shine, and going through open doors, and bearing one another's burdens, and being involved in the work of the Kingdom, and bringing in the harvest.
2. If you keep the seed in the storehouse don't expect to have much of a harvest. You're going to find that the growth of the kingdom and the growth in the kingdom are directly connected to our labor, and our effort is going to be directly connected to us using our abilities and our talents to the fullest.
3. As we use our abilities and our talents to the fullest we will bring in a harvest. There will be an impact on people in the world around us as we let our light shine, and actually become the salt of the earth. Having a great influence on the people we come in contact with.

B. It says here “God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, have an abundance for every good work.” I would tie this verse 8 back to verse 6 because this thought is directly connected here.

1. What you gave this morning who gave that to you? God did. Everything that was put in the plate this morning was given to all of us by God. Yes, sometimes I fear what people might think is; I can't give this to God I needed it. There's so many ways I can use it for... For what? For me and what I want and things I think I need or don't need but I really would like to have. Verse 8 is talking about that.

i. We need to recognize that when we give back to God and we give back to God properly, then God is just going to shower more blessing on us and make sure that we have what we need so that we can take care of our needs and even the needs of others in the world around us.
ii. God is warning us to learn to do what He has done for us. How much did Jesus give for you? 100 percent didn’t He, as a living sacrifice for all of us. It shouldn't surprise us that God is warning us to learn, as children of God, to give ourselves back to him 100 percent as a living sacrifice. Learn to do what our Savior Jesus Christ did for us.

2. Go back to verse 7. “So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.”

i. “Okay, okay, I got it, preacher you want me to give more OK. I really don’t want to do this. I could use that money.”
ii. If that's our attitude then we should just keep it because that's not what He wants. He doesn't want to present. “Is 10% ok? I’ll do it. Okay I'll do it to fulfill my obligation.”
iii. He wants us to be cheerfully, gladly, willingly giving back to Him. “Thank you. Appreciate it. I hope it’s used for your honor and glory thank you for all the blessings you've given me and my family in this past week. I'll be glad to share back with you a portion of that which you've blessed me with for the furtherance of your kingdom.”

C. We'll close with Philippians 4:17-18 – “17. Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account. 18. Indeed I have all and abound. I am full, having received from Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, a sweet-smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God.” I want us to see here in the context we're dealing again with their giving financially back to God and he says; first of all I seek the fruit that it may abound to your account. We need to recognize that the giving of our finances or any other gift, is for a purpose and it is for the furthering of the Kingdom of God. That is what it's all about. When we are told of bringing in two more talents or five more talents or bringing in a harvest what we are talking about is the growth of the Kingdom of God, that is souls for whom Christ died being brought to the Lord and ultimately making it to heaven with God.

1. That is what it is all about. I want to make it to heaven and our whole life as Children of God should be structured around and built around our desire for those in the world around us to find their way through the darkness, to the Light of the kingdom of Christ. To find the pathway that leads to heaven through Jesus.
2. Our talents what ever they may be, speaking or singing or exhortation or kindness, or mercy, or compassion, or helping, or comradeship, or hospitality or giving, are all toward this purpose. For the abounding of the fruit and the harvest.

CONCLUSION:
The last point I would like us to look at is that when we do give our portion of what God has given to us and we give cheerfully and we give freely and willingly and gladly and we've given our self first, God sees it. He doesn't look at the check and the number on it; He looks at our heart.

First and foremost and always He wants to know; are we giving ourselves or are we holding back; are we a living sacrifice. When He sees that we are a living sacrifice, giving because we love Him, it says it's a sweet smelling aroma, it's an acceptable sacrifice well pleasing to God. Folks, this is what worship is all about. We want to be well pleasing to God, not just going through the motions.

Motions—bow my head, say the words in the song, eat the bread, drink the grape juice, take my money put it in the plate, I’ve worshipped.... Have you? Have you worshipped? .
Or have you gone through the motions of worship in ritualistic fashion?

We need to examine ourselves folks and come to understand what worship really is.
Then when we do come together on the Lord’s Day our worshiping is actual, real worship in spirit and in truth from our heart to God. That is as the text says—well pleasing to God.

Real worship begins in our heart and it is an expression of our personal relationship with our God.

Maybe somebody here this evening is not a member of the body of Christ. If you believe Jesus is the Christ the son of the living God and you are willing to openly confess your faith and repent of your sins, we'll be glad to assist you and baptize you into the body of Christ for the remission of your sins. If you are a child of God and your relationship with God has grown weak and as a consequence of your faith and your love being weak, you found that you’re back in the world of sin. I would like to encourage you to come home.

Come back to the Father. We will pray for you. We will pray with you. We really will try to do the best we can to encourage you as your brothers and sisters in Christ. If you are subject to the Gospel call in any way we invite you to come while we stand and sing.

Invitation song: ???

Reference sermon: Wayne Fancher