As We Are Able
As we are Able • Sermon • Submitted
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Changing the Narrative
Changing the Narrative
I want to start by saying that I enjoy preaching. I enjoy the study process, I enjoy putting together the sermon, digging into original language, finding something that I didn’t realize was there. I like look for context and meaning. I like when I can see a principle that has been or needs to be a part of my life. I don’t like when I am studying scripture and I read of one of the people that are there and I find myself relating to their struggle or their sin. We know that the word of God points to God, in it we find truth and life, we find the plan that God put together, we find the narrative of redemption through Christ. But we also find ourselves as we read the struggle the joy the sadness the fight all of it is there and as humans reading about other humans we can not help but see ourselves when we look at a Mosses, or an Aaron, or a Miriam, or a Saul, or a Pharisee, or a Disciple…You get the idea. Scripture is Gods word to us. It is the Story of Jesus but in that story we find ourselves, if we fail to do so, we also fail to find the need to come to Jesus, to cry out to him to put ourselves along with all our baggage and sin in the palm of his hand, asking him to change us, to clean us, to make us more like him. To justify us.
Just as scripture is the story of Jesus, it is our story in that when we recognize our need for him, when we come to the realization that He saves us it then gives us the way to live and move and have our being in Christ.
For in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’
We are going to be digging into that verse and several others in an upcoming series myFAITH 101…
What I want to briefly touch on here is the important truth. We are supposed to become more like Christ and the way to do so is found in the truth that Is Scripture. Which brings me to what I mean by Changing the narrative.
Pastors in general have things that they like to preach about and things that they don’t like to preach about. It’s fun to preach about Grace, or Mercy, or Joy. We like to preach from some of the great stories of the Old and New Testament. Preaching about Jesus Death and Resurrection while not a barrel of fun always is meaningful and ends with victory so it too is an enjoyable preaching experience. The things that are hard to preach the things that we don’t look forward to usually center around calling people out on the acceptable sins that have permeated the church as a whole (expound a bit) It’s also not fun when we have to call people out for lack of service, lack of devotion, lack of understanding. Those are all very personal things. Calling people to a higher level in anything can be daunting and this is especially true in Faith issues. Perhaps no issue is harder to speak on than the issue of Giving and so pastors many times relegate that sermon to once a year or once every two years or well you get the idea. But just like all those other issues that we find ourselves called to preach about and that we like to avoid, giving is one of those issues that has to be not just addressed but taught. Which is why we need to change the narrative. If we want to be followers of Christ if we want to become more and more like him, then we have to realize that the Bible tells us how and even the things that are not really all that fun to hear about or preach about need to be talked about.
So today we are going to change the narrative. We are going to talk about Giving for the next four weeks. Starting today we are going to dig into this important part of our faith, we are going to answer some questions about it, and we are going to be given opportunities to give in new and different ways. Each weak we are going to hear from more than just me regarding the importance of giving and how it has effected others lives. I hope you will hang in there with me for the next few weeks. I hope that instead of putting on your steel toed boots, you will be able to see your way to taking them off and perhaps hearing what God is attempting to speak to all of us through this vessel of clay. With all that being said lets start on that first question when it comes to giving that we are going to answer.
Who Do We Give To
Who Do We Give To
Have you ever been in this situation. (person at the gas station looking down on their luck) (Person standing at the on ramp with a sign and their thumb out) (kid knocking on your door to sell stuff) (across your social media of choice comes a plea for help) in each of those instances we make judgments on what we are going to do based on any number of metrics when we are asked to give. From smiling and handing over a couple of dollars, to avoiding eye contact, to locking the car door and telling everyone in the car that you don’t pick up strangers, we are not always into giving to someone unless we really know who they are, why they want us to give them anything usually money and and what they are going to do with that Money or time or food in the end. So in order to make it easier for us to give, we are going to answer this question today and we are going to do it by looking at what David said when he was introducing Solomon as the next king of Israel.
Then David praised the Lord in the sight of all the assembly. David said,
May You be praised, Lord God of our father Israel, from eternity to eternity.
We Give to the God of Eternity.
We Give to the God of Eternity.
God has always been. We get stuck when we think of that. We look at scripture and we read the story of creation and even though we know that God is eternal. Even though we read things like this...
Lord, You have been our refuge
in every generation.
Before the mountains were born,
before You gave birth to the earth and the world,
from eternity to eternity, You are God.
Check out what Isaiah has to say
Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
Yahweh is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the whole earth.
He never grows faint or weary;
there is no limit to His understanding.
There are two words here that give us an idea of exactly what this whole eternity thing means Eternity and Everlasting respectively the root used is the Hebrew word OLAM and you can see what it means in the different contexts and places in scripture. So when we look at who we give to we have to realize we give to the one who was is and will always be. When we give we are giving to the God of Eternity. But there is more.
We Give to the creator of all
We Give to the creator of all
But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? For everything comes from You, and we have given You only what comes from Your own hand.
Looking at what David says here gives us a clear picture of who we give to. We give to the one who created and continues to do so. IN fact we learn that all we have and all that is belongs to God. The beauty of Davids statement is it gives us more than just a little bit of what’s going on and even can see a bit of the why we give, something we are gong to get into next week. We give to the creator and sustainer of life, we give to the one from whom all things come. There is something more to understand though. WE give because God provides.
And Abraham named that place The Lord Will Provide, so today it is said: “It will be provided on the Lord’s mountain.”
In this story we find the familiar (briefly talk about Abraham and Issac God provided the sacrifice that was to be made to himself, dig into that a bit)
Does God Take Debit?
Does God Take Debit?
This is the part of who we give to that has the potential to make people uncomfortable. In fact this is the part that makes Pastors uncomfortable and people angry but we must push on…
When asking who we give to the answer is we give to God through the church. If we look again at what is happening in Second Chronicles we realize why the people are giving. They are giving to build the Temple, to build the house of the Lord, and wow did they come through.
Yahweh our God, all this wealth that we’ve provided for building You a house for Your holy name comes from Your hand; everything belongs to You. I know, my God, that You test the heart and that You are pleased with what is right. I have willingly given all these things with an upright heart, and now I have seen Your people who are present here giving joyfully and willingly to You.
As we move through this study we are going to get into the how and the why and all that but it’s important to have the knowledge of who we are giving to. We Give to God through the church.
Abraham gives to God through Melchizedek the high priest and king of Salem commonly understood as Jerusalem.
Jesus watches people giving to God outside the Temple when we read the story of the Widow who gave all.
Jesus holds up a coin telling the Pharisees to give to Cesar what is Caesars and to God what is God’s.
He instructs Peter to Pay the Temple Tax by tossing a line into the water pulling out a fish and taking the money found there to pay it. The temple tax was money paid by any Jewish man 20 and over and was used for the upkeep of the temple.
Paul speaks regularly about gifts gathered from the churches that he is visiting or that he will be visiting to be used in ministry in Jerusalem, the then known center of the Church.
Giving is an important part of our relationship to God. Yes we give things like our time, we give our talents and abilities but we also give our money, understanding that in doing so we are enabling ministry to happen, ministry that flows out of the local body of Christ.
To the one that brings the teaching as Paul is talking about in...
And you Philippians know that in the early days of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving except you alone. For even in Thessalonica you sent gifts for my need several times. Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the profit that is increasing to your account. But I have received everything in full, and I have an abundance. I am fully supplied, having received from Epaphroditus what you provided—a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God.
And to others that have need within the Body of Christ.
Now all the believers were together and held all things in common. They sold their possessions and property and distributed the proceeds to all, as anyone had a need.
One final thing.
When we Give to God through the Local Church, in this case Niles Christian Assembly, we enable the mission and vision for this community given to this church to happen.
Next week we will be taking another step in being Able to give as we talk about Why We Give.
This Week’s Challenge
This Week’s Challenge
Take time to process what you are feeling right now regarding the start of our giving series. Are you happy, angry, frustrated, sad. As you lean into what you are feeling ask God to begin to work in your life to show you why you feel that way. If you are angry and frustrated write down why.