Thanks Leads to Giving

Anthony Stephens

Thanks and Giving • Sermon • Submitted 5 years ago

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This week, we will celebrate the holiday known as Thanksgiving in our country. We may gather around the table for some good food. We may gather around the TV to watch a parade or football game. We may just sit around a living room with family or friends and enjoy some good times together. I hope that whatever the case may be, you have a wonderful time this week.

Sermon Title: Thanks Leads to Giving

Sermon Series: Thanks and Giving

Sermon Text:

Today, we are going to finish our series that we’ve been calling “Thanks and Giving.” I hope that during this season you have been reminded the reason why we have a break at the end of this week. It is not just to get away from the office or the classroom; it is to pause and thank the LORD for the many blessings that He has given to us.

This morning, as we quickly approach the Thanksgiving holiday, I want to share a sermon with you that I have titled, “Thanks Leads to Giving.” We will be looking in for this sermon, so I invite you to join me at looking at this passage.

READ

Exodus 35:4–10 CSB

Then Moses said to the entire Israelite community, “This is what the Lord has commanded: Take up an offering among you for the Lord. Let everyone whose heart is willing bring this as the Lord’s offering: gold, silver, and bronze; blue, purple, and scarlet yarn; fine linen and goat hair; ram skins dyed red and fine leather; acacia wood; oil for the light; spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense; and onyx with gemstones to mount on the ephod and breastpiece. “Let all the skilled artisans among you come and make everything that the Lord has commanded:

As we jump into this passage, we find ourselves looking in on a unique moment in the life of the Israelites. They are on the journey from Egypt towards the Promised Land. God is working to set some things up within His people so that when they get to the Promised Land, they will be ready to represent Him to the whole world.

In this passage, we see that the people of God are called to not just express thanks with their mouths and words, but they are to demonstrate their thankfulness through generosity with what God has blessed them with.

The LORD calls for an offering from His people.

Exodus 35:4–5 CSB

Moses shares with the people the command that the LORD had given him back in . This was not something that was thought up on the spot. This had been part of God’s plan for some time now.

This offering was for the Tabernacle. We see this in that this building was to represent God’s presence with His people. God didn’t need a house. This was more for the people to remember that the God that they worshipped and served was one that was not far off and distant, but that He was near and even in the camp.

God has always wanted to be close to us. The problem is that sin has come in and messed that all up. Since God is perfect and holy, He cannot have sin near Him. Since we have sin, we cannot be close to God… unless something is done to remove that sin. That is exactly what God did through His Son, Jesus Christ.

This offering was specific. There were specific items that were called for in verses 5-9. The Israelites could not just bring what they thought would suffice. The LORD had specifics in mind and required that.

When we come before the LORD in worship, we are not to just bring whatever we feel like bringing Him. We are to go before the LORD and find out what does He want to hear… what does He want from us… this is what we are to bring to the LORD in worship.

This was an offering that belonged to the LORD. In verse 5, there is the phrase, “the LORD’s offering”, that we might just blow past without a second thought. If we do this, then we are missing something big. This offering/contribution that the LORD was calling for might have been coming from the hands of the people but it was the LORD’s.

It does not sit well with us when we receive a paycheck that is significantly short for the work that we have put in on our job. We go to those who distribute and complain. We try to find out what the mistake is. It especially doesn’t set well when we are told that “we thought you didn’t deserve that much…” or “we’d like to use those funds for something else.” It doesn’t set well because those were ours.

Verse 5 of our passage today reminds us that it all belongs to the LORD. says, “The earth and everything in it, the world and its inhabitants, belong to the LORD”. As much as we would like to call things ours, the truth is that it all belongs to the LORD.

Psalm 24:1 CSB

The earth and everything in it, the world and its inhabitants, belong to the Lord;

The people respond with generosity.

Exodus 35:20–21 CSB

Then the entire Israelite community left Moses’s presence. Everyone whose heart was moved and whose spirit prompted him came and brought an offering to the Lord for the work on the tent of meeting, for all its services, and for the holy garments.

We see that as the call went out from the LORD, His people responded with generosity. They came with their resources and made them available for the use that the LORD had for them.

It wasn’t just the resources that were brought though. In verses 25-26, we see ladies using their talents and abilities for the LORD’s work as well. In , we see skilled people bringing their talents to the LORD to be used in the construction of the Tabernacle.

Exodus 36:2–3 CSB

So Moses summoned Bezalel, Oholiab, and every skilled person in whose heart the Lord had placed wisdom, all whose hearts moved them, to come to the work and do it. They took from Moses’s presence all the contributions that the Israelites had brought for the task of making the sanctuary. Meanwhile, the people continued to bring freewill offerings morning after morning.

Many times when we think about giving, we think about money. Yes, money is needed to purchase resources and materials many times. There is also a need for skills and abilities as well. If you have certain skills, are you allowing them to be used by the LORD as He wants? He is the one that gave you those skills/abilities.

Conclusion

As we think about Thanksgiving, we need to guard against thinking about this as a holiday. It may be on the calendar as such, but for those who are Christ-followers, this should be our way of life. We should be daily coming before the LORD giving thanks for His goodness. We should be bringing the skills/abilities that He has loaned us to Him and asking Him how they should be used.

The children of Israel saw this and put it into practice. God used their gifts and skills to construct a place where man could meet with God. God wants to be near us. He wants us to be near Him. He is inviting us to come and bring our thanks in many ways before Him and know Him more intimately.

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