David Heath-Whyte
NB: This is what I planned to say - listen to the audio version for the genuine article...
Intro - Excuses!
There were once 2 men who were shipwrecked on an island.
The first man started screaming: "We're doomed, we're going to die, we've got no food, and no-one will ever find us"
The second man just sat there, cool as a cucumber - which made the first mad madder:
"Don't you realise, we're going to die"The second man said: "Don't you realise, I'm a Christian, and in my job, I make £100,000 a week"
"So - what difference can that make, we're stuck here on a desert island?!"
"Don't you understand? I make £100,000 a week, and every week, I give a tenth of that to my church - my Vicar WILL find me!"
Well - a big apology if you're here as a visitor today: we're going to be looking at the subject of giving. And if you're not used to church, you might already think: all they ever want is your money!
In fact, the Lord Jesus Christ makes a bigger challenge than that: he calls us to hand our lives over to him, so that we can receive from him his infinitely valuable gift - that's worth millions of times more than your salary or your life savings: his gift of eternal life.
So let me assure you right at the start: if you are just looking in on us today - we don't want your money: what we want for you is for you to think about the Lord Jesus Christ - about who he is, and what he's done for you; and for you to think like we do: "Jesus is great, I want Him in my life"
But listen in - because hearing about giving will help you to see something of what it means to live for Jesus.
Now, If you are a believer: then let me assure you right at the start: we do want your money!
And we're very grateful to God for all the giving that goes on here at Holy Trinity. We more or less cover our ministry costs every year, and we give around 10 thousand pounds to mission.
But here's the challenge: do we want to grow the Gospel ministry of this church? Do we want to grow Gospel ministry in the world?
Wouldn't it be fantastic if we could increase our giving - wouldn't it be great if our mission giving went up from 10 to 20 thousand pounds a year?
Wouldn't it be great if we could afford another church worker for some particular ministry here?
Let's look again at Exodus, and let's see what encouragement we can get from God's people the Israelites, rescued from Egypt, about being giving people.
Exodus Example
Turn with me again to that passage we heard earlier - Exodus 35, page 94.
They've been saved!
We've been looking at the book Exodus over the last few weeks: We've seen God saving the Israelites from slavery in Egypt - the story of Moses, the burning bush, the plagues on the Egyptians, the Passover, and the dividing of the Red Sea.
And now the Israelites are safe: at the foot of Mount Sinai, with Pharaoh's army having been defeated by God.
God declares that he will be their God, and they will be his people (despite the fact that they moan and rebel occasionally!)
Tent of Meeting: Sign of God's presence
And God gives Moses plans to make a special Tent of Meeting - the Tabernacle - it's going to be the place where Moses meets with God, and where the people can bring their sacrifices to God, to give thanks and receive his forgiveness.
The Tent of Meeting will be the sign that the Holy Perfect God is there, and that they (unholy and imperfect as they are) can be forgiven, and his people.
And here's their chance to shine: Exodus 35:4 Moses said to the whole Israelite community, "This is what the Lord has commanded: 5 From what you have, take an offering for the LORD. Everyone who is willing is to bring to the LORD an offering of gold, silver and bronze; 6 blue, purple and scarlet yarn...." and so on.
And they do shine: 35:29 All the Israelite men and women who were willing brought to the Lord freewill offerings for all the work the LORD through Moses had commanded them to do.
In fact - they bring too much - and in the end Moses has to issue a command: 36:6 "No man or woman is to make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary." " And so the people were restrained from bringing more.
This is one of their real highs: at last they respond to God's great goodness towards them; and they provide, from the best that they have got, everything that's needed for God's work.
And in their response, we can see three important characteristics of giving.
Give to Build
First of all: They give to build.
Exodus - building tents
Have a look at Exodus 35:20-21 "Then the whole Israelite community withdrew from Moses' presence, 21 and everyone who was willing and whose heart moved him came and brought an offering to the LORD for the work on the Tent of Meeting, for all its service, and for the sacred garments."
There's a purpose in their giving: They give so that this Tent of Meeting (also called the Tabernacle) can be made, and everything that goes with it. They give to build - the tabernacle.
Temple transformation
And when we give, we give to build - the church - but not the church as buildings, no: the church as people.
The Tabernacle was later replaced by the Temple made of stone, but when Jesus arrives, he is not interested in tents or buildings any more, he's interested in people.
The temple was a place of sacrifice - but Jesus has made the one true sacrifice that was needed: his own death on the cross.
People went to the temple to worship and to receive forgiveness: but we go to Jesus alone for forgiveness; and we can worship him everywhere, in spirit and in truth.
We don't need temples, or rituals.
But Jesus calls us to build the church - that is, to help non-believers believe in Jesus, and to help believers to grow in Jesus.
And you can read about this happening in the New Testament: for example, Paul wrote to the church in Philippi: Philippians 4:14 "...it was good of you to share in my troubles. ... when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only; for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid again and again when I was in need."
In Exodus they give to build the tabernacle - now we give to build people - the church.
NT - building believers
A young boy was moaning to his Dad: do we have to go to church? the songs are so dull and the preacher is so boring? His little sister piped up - what do you expect? it only costs you 20p!
Our giving has as purpose: not to provide entertainment on a Sunday morning, but to help people hear about Jesus, and to grow in their faith in Jesus, which is what we do on a Sunday morning, and with all the things that happen throughout the week.
Do we want to see God's work continuing and increasing?
Then we need to be giving to build, to build people.
We're very fortunate here to have some trust funds - and those help pay for our Apprentice post, for Derek, and for our new screen to help us as we explain the Bible.
But our trust funds can't support all the ministry here. We need to give to build.
And that includes the Missions Account - so that we can support Gospel work elsewhere as well.
poor?
Now you might want to ask: What about giving to help the poor?
In our Exodus passage, they weren't doing right then - but God did give them ways to help the poor, and Jesus encourages us to do the same.
And we can do that kind of giving in a way that builds the church - by giving to Christian organisations, like Tear Fund.
With the Tsunami appeal we had, we've sent the money to Tear Fund. They are part of the Disasters Emergency Committee - they'll be helping get aid to people all over the region. But we know that with them, they'll be looking to see how God wants the money used, with bible perspectives, and they'll be involving the local churches wherever they can.
It's giving to build.
In Exodus they give to build the tabernacle - we can give to build people, the church.
Give back to God.
Secondly, notice that in Exodus they give back to God.
Exodus
See what Moses asks of them in v.5: "From what you have, take an offering for the LORD"
"What they had", was lots of great things that the Egyptians had given them (on the night of the Passover) - remember 12:36 "The LORD had made the Egyptians favourably disposed towards the people, and they gave them what they asked for" - gold, silver and clothing.
So they're giving to God, what God has given them anyway.
Giving back
Many years later, when King David had put out an appeal so they could build a stone temple instead of the tent, here's what he prayed in thanksgiving: (1 Chronicles 29:14) "But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand."
They give back to God.
I wonder if you know how Bart Simpson says grace? "Dear God, we paid for all this stuff ourselves, so thanks for nothing."
What about us? As Jesus' followers - are we like Bart, or King David?!
We see the world as belonging to Jesus, with Jesus in control, sustaining the world and providing for all our needs (even when humanly we've paid for them)
So when we give - we're only giving back what has come from his hand.
Life itself
But it's not just that Jesus has given us our possessions: he has given us far more: he has given us LIFE - real life, alive-to-God life. He's cancelled our spiritual debts, he's made us right with God, and by the Holy Spirit's work he's with us every day.
In the week before his crucifixion, Jesus was having dinner at a man called Simon's house, in Bethany just outside Jerusalem, when a woman brought a jar of expensive perfume, and poured it all over Jesus head. It was a costly and extravagant thing that she did - she did it because she knew about Jesus' love and forgiveness for her - she thought Jesus was really special.
So - will it be with joy that we give from what we have, to help God's work?
In Exodus they give back to God; and that's what we can do - with joy, because we're rescued people too: our money and our life is all from Jesus in the first place.
Give with willing generosity
So: They Give to build, they Give back to God - and thirdly, in Exodus they Give with willing generosity.
This probably comes from the joy, the happiness that a rescued person has.
Exodus
Have a look at v.5: "From what you have, take an offering for the LORD. Everyone who is willing is to bring to the LORD an offering of gold, silver and bronze..."
And then 35:20-21 Then the whole Israelite community withdrew from Moses' presence, 21 and everyone who was willing and whose heart moved him came and brought an offering to the LORD for the work on the Tent of Meeting, for all its service, and for the sacred garments.
And the people were so generous, Moses had to ask them to stop.
Jesus
In the New Testament, Jesus commends the same kind of willing generosity.
There was an occasion when people were putting gifts in the temple collection plate - and a widow put in just a couple of coins. Mark 12:43-44 Jesus said: "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44 They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything -- all she had to live on."
It doesn't mean that we can get away with giving just a little. It does mean that Jesus knows our hearts as we give, he knows our circumstances - he knows about your pension, or your pocket money, or your family, or your mortgage, all of it.
And he loves to see his people being willing and generous, in proportion to what they can do..
But you might be thinking: how do I know if I'm willing, and how much is "generous"?
willing
We can see if we're willing by planning our giving.
That's what's happening in Exodus: they didn't just turn their pockets out when Moses made his appeal. v.20 - They went away and thought and presumably prayed about it, and came back with what they had decided it was right to give.
And we can do the same: we can sit down, and look at our income, and make a decision about how much we're going to dedicate to God's work.
And we can use a standing order, or envelopes, to help us to stick to it.
generous
What about generosity? What is generous? Do I have give everything?
The Israelites were generous in Exodus: when they gave, there was too much! That's one way of knowing.
Here's another: in the OT law, God's people were to do something called "tithing". That is, they were to give a tenth of their income to God's work at the tabernacle. A tenth of their grain, for example.
So maybe a generous person is a person who gives more than a tithe - because a tithe, a tenth, is just what is expected.
The story is told of some old money in a bag, being taken back to the Treasury to be recycled. And a twenty pound note was having a chat with a pound coin: "I went to nice stores, good restaurants, country clubs, and exotic places," said the £20 note. "How about you?" "All I ever did was go to church." replied the pound coin.
Let's be generous in our giving.
Now someone might be thinking: "But my other half doesn't believe in Jesus, and doesn't like me giving money to God's work" And that must be hard. Perhaps you could find some creative way of doing a deal with your other half - maybe balancing what they spend on a hobby, or make-up, or sport or fashion, with what you want to give. Or maybe (like all of us) you could cut back on something like that yourself, so that you can give.
Us?
In Exodus they give with willing generosity. Will we?
Conclusion
The story is told about a vicar who stood up in front of his congregation and said: "Ladies and Gentlemen, I have good news and bad news about the giving for our church outreach project. The good news is that we have more than enough money for all that we want to do. The bad news is that it's still in your pockets"
Well, thank God I don't have to do that!
But I wonder if the Israelites in Exodus 35 have inspired you?
Maybe you've been inspired to "Give to build": to provide the money it needs to bring people to Jesus, and to help us to grow with Jesus.
Perhaps you've been encouraged to "Give back to God" - joyfully, because he provides our material needs, and our new life through Jesus.
Maybe you just can't wait to be like them and to "Give with willing generosity"
My sermon ends here, but as always I hope your thinking won't. Take away and read these leaflets, pray about it, and do what you think God wants of you.