Spiritual Giving

Spiritual Giving 1Chronicles 29: 1-17 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO

Giving is a very spiritual aspect of our salvation.  This passage contains some of the major components of giving.  In giving there is:

Affection – v.3-5a – David had affection to the “house of my God” and so he gave – 2 Cor 8:7-8 – love is at the root of spiritual giving – Jn 3:16 – Col 3:2 – Matt 6:21 – “You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving”

Willingness – v.5b-7 – the people offered willingly – they did so for the tabernacle as well Ex 35:21-22 – 2 Cor 8:11-12 – the folks in the wilderness were so willing that they ended up giving too much Ex 36:5-7 – Adrian Rogers said, “What you do not freely give, God neither needs nor wants” – it is for this reason that I do not like coercion – one preacher preached to his church about giving and challenged any who would give $100.00 to stand up during the invitation hymn which happened to be the Star Spangled Banner.

Joy – 1 Chr 29:9 – the people rejoiced – David rejoiced with great joy – 2 Cor 9:7 – God loveth a cheerful giver – love is the root and joy is the fruit of spiritual giving – Heb 12:2 looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross – a father gave his son a quarter and a penny before church and told him to give whichever one he wanted to give; he gave the penny because he said that the preacher stressed God loveth a cheerful giver and he knew that he could give the penny a lot more cheerfully than he could the quarter.

Glory – v. 10-12 – God is glorified in loving, willing, joyful giving – you think you’ll rejoice more in getting than in giving, but not so – “it is more blessed to give than it is to receive” – and God is glorified in this kind of giving – in giving we demonstrate that God is the most deserving of our praise and honor – so we lavish him with praise – a little girl was given 10 bright, new, shiny quarters by her parents and she immediately began to divvy them up – she said, “This first one is for Jesus” “This second one is for …” and so forth until she got to the tenth and then she said, “This one is for Jesus” – her mother stopped her and said, “You’ve already given one to Jesus” – she replied, “No, the first one belonged to him; this one is a present!”

Gratitude – v.13 – along with his glory we demonstrate our thanksgiving to him – 2 Cor 9:11-12 – for one thing we thank him for all of his provision – you may not realize how truly grateful you are until you don’t have it anymore – a fellow was visiting former church members and one fellow rebuffed him – he said, “The church always wants me to give, my time, my money, my Sundays, you name it” – the visitor replied, “ My son was born about 25 years ago and I had to feed him, shelter him, doctor him, clothe him, educate him … he died during his last year of college and you know what, ever since then he hasn’t cost me one dime or one minute of my time.”

Humility – v.14-16 – this is one of the greatest characteristics of true giving – giving as an alumnus or as a charitable donor often involves recognition and distinction – but to God it involves humility because it all comes from him, not from us – 2 Cor 9:8-10 – Mk 12:41-44 – the widow with two mites was not recognized by men here but God recognized her – in her humility she was able to do something that the rich young ruler was not able to do Mk 10:17-22.

Perfection – v.9, 17 – he gave with a perfect heart and in the uprightness of his heart – Matt 19:21 – that’s what Jesus did 2 Cor 8:9 – therefore we should be like Jesus Lk 6:40 – Adrian Rogers said, “Give God what’s right, not what’s left!”