Whatever it Takes to Give Sacrificially

How much is too much to give to Jesus? (Correct answer: there is no limit)

How much is too much to give on Sunday? (Whoa! slow down)

While at the temple:

Luke 21:1–4 (ESV)

1 Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, 2 and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. 3 And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. 4 For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”

How did the widow put in “more” than all the rich?

Why did the widow put in all she had?

The widow showed the definition of sacrificial giving.

as opposed to easy giving

as opposed to obligatory giving

Easy giving requires giving what is not needed or strongly desired

Obligatory giving requires a strong sense of duty or fear if one doesn’t give

Sacrificial giving requires a heart of worship that sees Jesus as worth more and able to provide more than anything I possess.

Following a time of sin, David went to repent and worship God:

2 Samuel 24:18–25 (ESV)

18 And Gad came that day to David and said to him, “Go up, raise an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” 19 So David went up at Gad’s word, as the Lord commanded. 20 And when Araunah looked down, he saw the king and his servants coming on toward him. And Araunah went out and paid homage to the king with his face to the ground. 21 And Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” David said, “To buy the threshing floor from you, in order to build an altar to the Lord, that the plague may be averted from the people.” 22 Then Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him. Here are the oxen for the burnt offering and the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood. 23 All this, O king, Araunah gives to the king.” And Araunah said to the king, “May the Lord your God accept you.” 24 But the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. 25 And David built there an altar to the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the Lord responded to the plea for the land, and the plague was averted from Israel.

How do we develop a heart that would say, like David, “Whatever it takes to give sacrificially?”

We do not understand what it means to really sacrifice.

Imagine if we were still in a sacrificial system.

You need to bring a lamb with you to worship.

You need to stand here while we slit it’s throat and drain it’s blood.

What would have been a solid meal is burned up on the altar.

(modern equivalent: bring some cash - there’s an ATM in the back - and bring it forward into this metal pan (have one ready?) and we’ll burn it up)

Don’t we usually gauge what / how much we give based on how much we can “afford” to give or to what good cause it goes toward?

Jesus sees what you give

This will surely strike a nerve

Your sacrifice is for God but benefits you

God does not need your sacrifice - he owns the cattle on a thousand hills

Psalm 50:10 (ESV)

10 For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.

The Church does not need your money - we have the provision of the God who owns the cattle on a thousand hills

Sacrifice was (is) never about providing for God; it’s about reminding our hearts that God is the Provider.

filling God’s coffer - It is always about tempering our hearts

The value of the gift (sacrifice) is not found in its physical cost but in its spiritual significance

it is not based on its cost at the market but its weight of the heart (significance in God’s kingdom)

Luke: An Introduction and Commentary G. The Widow’s Gift (21:1–4)

Commentators often say that worshippers were not allowed to make gifts of less than two lepta, so that this was the minimum offering

It was the minimum allowed in the Temple but the maximum offered in the Kingdom

Kingdom values are not determined by the market

OR even your perception of what it may provide (it was ALL she had - she “should” have kept it)