This is an adaptation of a preaching made at St Peter's Anglican Church in Lilongwe Malawi in October, 2011.
Readings: Deuteronomy 26:1-11
2 Corinthians 8:1-9
Matthew 5:21-26
When I was preparing this sermon, I found the scripture readings quite interesting when I related them to the theme, “The Offering of Life”. All of our readings have to do with people making material offerings to God. My initial expectation when told of the theme was that we would go through scriptures that talk about giving ourselves as sacrifices to God like Romans 12:1 where Paul urges us to give ourselves as living sacrifices to God or those in the Old Testament that tell us of those who dedicated themselves to serve God like Samuel, Samson or other Nazarites and to have a Gospel reading that highlights Jesus Christ as a living sacrifice for the atonement of our sins. Yet the lectionary gives us different readings altogether. So I asked myself, why this emphasis on giving material offerings to God? What is the relation between giving and offering up our lives to God? I pray that today and throughout this week we will each of us get an answer to these questions.
Let us go to the readings. To begin with we can distinguish two types of offering from the first and second readings: the first fruit offering in Deuteronomy and alms giving in 2 Corinthians.
Deuteronomy 26:1-11
In the first reading, we hear God’s instruction to the Israelites on what to do with the first produce of the land. God is asking them to give Him the first
fruits of all their produce.
Let me ask you to take some time to study on
this type of offering and see how it applies to the New Testament believer. To
begin with, let me first point out a few scriptures to you. Read Genesis
4:2-5, where we first hear of this type of offering and Exodus 13:1-16
where the Israelites are commanded to give this offering. I would like you to
bear these two portions of scripture in mind as most people usually think of
the first fruit offering as being part of the law. But these scriptures prove
that the offering was being made even before the law was in place. (Also
read Exodus 23:16 and Exodus 22:29,30)
Now back to the reading.
You will remember that during their 40 years of wandering, the Israelites relied on God’s supply for their food and He fed them with manna and quail . As a
result they did not plant anything during those 40 years. After all they did not spend enough time at one place for them to be able to plant and reap, even if they did, they were never sure of when the cloud would move and so would not even think of doing such. So upon entering the land flowing with milk and honey, their inheritance according to God’s promise, they now had to start working the land for their food and upkeep.
After working the land, the first thing God required of them was for them to give Him the first of their produce. You see from Exodus 13 He had told them
that the first of everything belongs to God. Why? According to one commentary,
the Israelites were commanded to offer the first fruits so that they might
confess that they themselves and all they had belonged to God. By the first fruits they testified that the land was
tributary to God, and that they were masters of it by no other title than as
tenants at the will of God, so that the direct sovereignty and property of it
remained with God alone.
By offering the first fruits, they were
acknowledging that all they had was due to God's providence. They were in
Canaan only by God’s grace, favor, goodness and provision. In verse 5 of our
reading, the Israelites were to recall from whence they came. So by the first
fruits they acknowledged that all they had was not down to their own strength
or ability but due to God. This is further strengthened by Deuteronomy
8:17,18 where the Israelites were told that the power to create wealth came
from God, and in 1 Chronicles 29:10-13, David says “wealth and honor
come from God.”
From
the scripture we get several things:
i. They
recounted where God had taken them from, in other words, they acknowledged Him as their redeemer (verse 5);
ii. They
acknowledged that God had brought them to this land where they prospered (verse
3, 9); and
iii. They
acknowledged that all they had was, therefore, given to them by God (verse
10,11).
Now mere confession of acknowledgement was/is not enough, they had to show it by their deeds.
Today we have been redeemed by the blood of
Jesus Christ[1]
and we too can acknowledge that He is the one who has brought us to where we
are and thus all we have has its source in God. So in response to God's
redemption and providence, we too are required to show our gratitude by giving
of the fruit of our labour to God.
Why is this so? We are indebted to God for our
salvation. You see, if we say we have been redeemed by God as the Israelites
said concerning their redemption from Egypt then we owe Him. The Dictionary
defines redeem as “To purchase back; to ransom; to liberate or rescue
from captivity or bondage, or from any obligation or liability to suffer or to
be forfeited, by paying an equivalent”. The Bible severally tells us that we were once slaves to sin, we
were under its rule but Christ came and bought us from our sin master. He
purchased us back by the price of His blood (or His life, for life is in the
blood). And so He redeemed us. As redeemed people, we are indebted to the one
who has redeemed us and we are no longer our own. We cannot go about just doing
anything, we now belong to God. 1
Corinthians 6:19,20 says you are not your own, you were bought with a
price.
It is with this that whatever we do is no
longer for our own good or to satisfy our own pleasures. In 2 Corinthians 5:15 says, Christ died so
that those who live should no longer leave for themselves but for God and Romans 8 tells us that we have an
obligation to live not by what our flesh desires but by what God desires.
You see, by giving our material possessions to
God, we sow not only money but also our faith, time and service. Ravi Zacharias
says money is congealed work for you get money only as a result of the effort
you have put into some work. This might not necessarily be your own work, but
someone somewhere had to earn it. You pour out your life in your work, you give
of yourself when you are working by giving your abilities for instance.
In giving money or other material possessions
you are really giving your life. That is why the three main readings are
relevant to the topic of “The Offering of Life”. In giving money or material
possessions, you are giving your life; your time, effort and service.
Now
let us learn from the Macedonians by turning to 2 Corinthians 8:1-9
In
this portion of scripture Paul gives an example to the church in Corinth and to
us reading today of the conduct of the Macedonians. I encourage you to take
some time and read 2 Corinthians 8 & 9. However, from this
particular portion, I would like us to take note of 6 things:
i. Giving
is a response to God's grace as highlighted in verse 1. The Amplified version
says the grace of God was evident in the churches of Macedonia arousing in them
a desire to give alms;
ii. We
should give in proportion of our ability, but we should also be prepared to
give sacrificially (verse 3);
iii. We
should give willingly (verse 3);
iv. Giving
is a priviledge and an honour as it provides an opportunity for us to serve
others (verse 4); and
v. Giving
is a sign of our love for God.
2
Corinthians 8:5 gives us the key motivation for our giving
to God; hearts given to God. For your giving to be acceptable to God, you must
first offer yourself to God as a living sacrifice (see Romans 12:1). It
is only in this way that your giving will be effective and bear fruit in your
life. Do not just give for the sake of giving or in competition with someone,
give because you have first given yourself to God. If you do this, sacrificial
giving becomes easy because you know that you are not your own, all you have is not your own and God is able to
supply all your needs. This will also help you to give with gratitude.
So from the two readings we conclude this way. God is ultimately interested in our lives being offered to Him as a sacrifice as per Romans 12:1. But, we cannot just speak it with our mouths and say “I am a sacrifice to God” and God will be satisfied. We need to go a step further and truly show that we are sacrifices to Him by giving of ourselves, our material possessions and everything about us. Remember James who tells us that faith without works is dead. If our life is a sacrifice to God, i.e. we are living sacrifices then whatever we do is first and foremost for God. What we earn from our work, what we get from the fields, whatever fruit of our labor, it is all for God. And from the command in Exodus 22:29,30 this goes even for the fruit of the womb, the first born belongs to God.
The
readings are exhorting us to excel in the gift of giving as we recognize that
we are not our own and all we have, we have not accumulated out of our own
strength or wisdom. We are, therefore, duty bound to give back to God from whom
all good gifts come and who went to the extent of giving even Himself and
making Himself poor for our sake.
In
conclusion, I would like you to reflect on your own giving and take the
necessary steps in response to that reflection. The entrance of the word of God
gives light, what has that light revealed? The word of God judges the thoughts
and intentions of our hearts, what is it bringing out in your heart right now? Take
the necessary steps in responding to what the word of God has revealed. This
reflection should result in you making it a lifestyle to offer yourself and all
you have to God, giving Him your material possessions and money at His leading.
It is not about you giving in order to get, rather it is giving as an act of
gratitude and worship in response to all that God has done.
May
you grow in the grace of giving this year.
Grace
and peace.
[1] You will notice that the instruction given
in Exodus 13 comes right after the instruction on the preparation of the
passover lamb. The first fruit offering was, therefore, their response to God's
redemption.
