A Generous Heart of Worship

INTRODUCTION

Exodus 25:1–9 ESV

1 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel, that they take for me a contribution. From every man whose heart moves him you shall receive the contribution for me. 3 And this is the contribution that you shall receive from them: gold, silver, and bronze, 4 blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen, goats’ hair, 5 tanned rams’ skins, goatskins, acacia wood, 6 oil for the lamps, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, 7 onyx stones, and stones for setting, for the ephod and for the breastpiece. 8 And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst. 9 Exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle, and of all its furniture, so you shall make it.

Exodus 35:20–29 (ESV)

20 Then all the congregation of the people of Israel departed from the presence of Moses. 21 And they came, everyone whose heart stirred him, and everyone whose spirit moved him, and brought the Lord’s contribution to be used for the tent of meeting, and for all its service, and for the holy garments. 22 So they came, both men and women. All who were of a willing heart brought brooches and earrings and signet rings and armlets, all sorts of gold objects, every man dedicating an offering of gold to the Lord. 23 And every one who possessed blue or purple or scarlet yarns or fine linen or goats’ hair or tanned rams’ skins or goatskins brought them. 24 Everyone who could make a contribution of silver or bronze brought it as the Lord’s contribution. And every one who possessed acacia wood of any use in the work brought it. 25 And every skillful woman spun with her hands, and they all brought what they had spun in blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen. 26 All the women whose hearts stirred them to use their skill spun the goats’ hair. 27 And the leaders brought onyx stones and stones to be set, for the ephod and for the breastpiece, 28 and spices and oil for the light, and for the anointing oil, and for the fragrant incense. 29 All the men and women, the people of Israel, whose heart moved them to bring anything for the work that the Lord had commanded by Moses to be done brought it as a freewill offering to the Lord.

Exodus 36:3–5 ESV

3 And they received from Moses all the contribution that the people of Israel had brought for doing the work on the sanctuary. They still kept bringing him freewill offerings every morning, 4 so that all the craftsmen who were doing every sort of task on the sanctuary came, each from the task that he was doing, 5 and said to Moses, “The people bring much more than enough for doing the work that the Lord has commanded us to do.”

1) God Blesses Us with the Desire to Give!

Exodus 25:2; 35:21, 29; 36:3

He provides the purpose

These offerings are different than the sacrifices for atonement and worship.

These offerings are purposeful for God’s provision of His presence among His people.

God provided the people the reason to give. It wasn’t their idea, it was His, for His purpose and for their blessing.

He provides the plans (Ex. 25-31)

God’s purposes are always carried out by His plans.

He gives the details of what to do, how to do it, and how to be involved with it.

We are not left totally in the dark. God will give us the plans we need as He desires to reveal them to us.

In this case He was very detailed in what He revealed, but this is not always the case for His plans and purpose for us.

Sometimes part of God’s plan and purpose is to work in us as He works through showing us what we need one step at a time and building trust and obedience into our lives.

He stirs our hearts to align with His heart

He had a purpose that He could have accomplished without them.

He didn’t need them nor their involvement, but it was for their benefit and blessing so He stirred their hearts to Him.

He stirred their hearts so they could experience His heart for them.

God is still at work in our world and in our lives today. He works primarily through His people in their local church.

If you are a member or a part of Pawhuska First and you are not stirred in your heart to primarily give to and serve in His Church here at Pawhuska First then either He is not working or your heart is out of alignment with His purposes.

If He is working (and He is) then He is stirring our hearts to align with His heart through giving and serving.

If your heart is not moved to give and serve, then ask the Lord why?

Have a heart check moment with your Lord and Savior and see if your heart is in proper alignment with His!

If after a genuine time of sincere prayer and seeking the Lord, if your heart is in alignment, then carry on. If it is not then ask the Lord what you are to do about it.

Because God blesses us with the desire to give and to align our hearts with His heart.

2) God Provides for Us the Means to Give!

Exodus 35:20-28; 3:21-22; Exodus 12:36

God provided the materials to and through His people.

Exodus 3:21–22 ESV

21 And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and when you go, you shall not go empty, 22 but each woman shall ask of her neighbor, and any woman who lives in her house, for silver and gold jewelry, and for clothing. You shall put them on your sons and on your daughters. So you shall plunder the Egyptians.”

Exodus 12:36 ESV

36 And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.

Israel was an enslaved people who had a mass exodus out of Egypt.

They weren’t used to having goods and freedoms.

They were journeying to a place where they would start new and be their own people. They would need goods and materials to start strong in a new land as a new people.

They had every reason in the world to hold on to what they had, yet they had every reason out of this world to place what they had into the hands of the One who provided for them then and would provide for them in their future.

What the people gave was not theirs to begin with, it was means with which God had provided to them.

God provided the skills and talents to and through His people.

Furthermore, God provided the skills and talents they would need to serve Him.

As slaves in Egypt, they had been taught various skills and been given various talents.

God had used their time in hardship to develop them for His purposes.

God had used their time in hardship to hone and develop the skills needed and required for serving His divine purposes.

When we give to the Lord and serve the Lord, we do so, not of our own means, but in what is His and He has provided to us.

There is nothing in our possession that is original with us.

Our goods are provided to us by God through the jobs He has blessed us with.

Our skills are provided to us and developed within us by God through the situations and circumstances He has used in our lives.

God is the one who stirs in our hearts to give, and He is the One who provides for us the means to give…Which is why…

3) Giving to God Generously is Not An Act of Generosity, But An Act of Obedience!

Exodus 35:29; 36:3

The people freely gave to fulfill the work God commanded to be done.

God’s commandments are for His purposes to be fulfilled. Our participation or lack of participation doesn’t effect God’s overall purposes outside of us, but it does affect our relationship and fellowship with Him.

To obey Him is to experience Him and the blessing of a relationship with Him.

To disobey doesn’t mess Him up, but it sure does mess us up.

Our participation is not throwing God a bone or showing God just how generous we can be.

That’s like taking someone to breakfast and then asking them if you can borrow $30 to pay the ticket.

Our participation and generosity is about aligning our hearts with His and being obedient to His purposes.

They didn’t just give with an attitude of, “well, I’ve done my part”. They kept giving and kept bringing as God stirred their hearts.

The people were consistently giving as God stirred their hearts and therefore were consistently obedient.

When the people turned their heart away from God was when things started going sideways for them.

The end result, God’s work was accomplished and all the skilled craftsmen came to Moses saying, “The people are bringing much more than enough for doing this work that the Lord has commanded us to do.”

When you give generously, you are blessed by being a blessing to others who are serving and obeying God.

You are also blessed by experiencing a closeness to God as you obey and set your heart and mind on Him.

The end result is the experienced presence of God leading our journey in this world.

The tabernacle work was about God’s presence among His people.

CLOSING

Many Christians hinder their own spiritual growth in the area of giving to the Lord’s work and serving His purposes.

Our hearts and thoughts toward giving and serving say a lot about how we view God’s role in our lives.

I saw a video on this subject not too long ago that I think helps to capture the sentiment of God’s Word and why we give:

It provides for God’s House

It tells God that I trust Him

It creates margin in my life for God to fill

It reminds me that I am not my source

It connects money to God’s kingdom purpose

It gives my job eternal significance

It It breaks greed and self-reliance off of my heart

It lets everything else in my life that God is first.

I get it, in this economy it is easy to pull back from or shut out giving and serving God.

In our world of consumerism and anti or marginal views of religion, it’s easy to not give or just give a little here or there.

But do not sell yourself short by failing to seek God’s will for all of your life and failing to obey what God stirs in your heart.

Money issues are not about money…they’re about issues with our hearts and if our hearts are aligned with God’s heart.