sermonette: Do We See God In This Picture?
Offeratory
John W. Ritenbaugh
Given 07-Sep-02; Sermon #575As; 21 minutes
Oh, good morning to you all. That was a rousing beginning to this day, very joyful day. One that has a great deal of meaning for every one of us. We're going to begin in a place that we are very familiar with in regard to taking up an offering, Deuteronomy 16 and verses 16 and 17.
Deuteronomy 16:16 and 17, where it says that 3 times in a year shall all your males appear before the Lord your
God in the place which he shall choose in the
Feast of Unleavened Bread, in the feast of weeks, and in the
feast of Tabernacles, and they shall not appear before the Lord empty. The Feast of
Feast of Trumpets is not mentioned, but it is included within the Context there of the Feast of Tabernacles, meaning that season. And the word empty means empty handed and it is implying an offering. Verse 17 confirms that every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the Lord your God, which he has given you. More modern translations translate that last verse in proportion to the way the Lord our God has blessed. He is implying a comparative part or share of what it is that we have been blessed with. Now, it does not say that we should give according to what we can safely afford. No, although that must be considered because one cannot give what one does not have. So before one can give $5.01 must have $5 to give. But the important thing here is the evaluation of our resources must be made. So what we are dealing with here is going to be a matter of emphasis, and this is because for every person who would overgive, it's more likely that human nature would want to force us to undergive. Now some Might be in this undergiving category because of fearfulness. Others because of a natural self-centeredness. And then there is a 3rd group. And I think that this is the one that God is aiming at. And it includes all those who fail to honestly consider God's blessings. The directive that God gives here. is in the context of what one has already received. So to evaluate what one has already received requires some thoughtful meditation. It requires the disciplining of one's mind to honestly and thoroughly reflect. Now this we should do anyway. Because as Proverbs 27 and verse 23 admonishes us that we should always know the state of our flocks. It's just plain good business. To do that and That is not something that we do only occasionally, but something fairly often. And so part of the implication of what God is saying here is that it is good business for us even to consider offerings at times of the year in which there is no offering being taken up. Now the difficulties in doing this fall into 4 areas. And one is to just thoughtlessly accept things as though they came only because of the natural order of things. This is probably one of the most common. circumstances Number 2 is To vainly think that we deserved the blessings anyway. Number 3 is To fail to honestly consider. That we are not managing our money well. That is being proportioned too much to the wrong things throughout the year. And the 4th 1 It is because we passively forget. And it's the last one that I want to concentrate on because I think this is what God concentrates on as well. People that God spoke this to. were the covenant makers. Israel, see with God. And they had a great deal of trouble remembering. And if one doesn't remember, Then one is going to have a very difficult time connecting God with virtually anything in his life. Now the Bible goes so far to say, so far as to say in Psalm 78 that Israel forgot the Holy One of God. They remembered not his hand, that is the hand with which he gives blessings, nor the day that he delivered them from their enemy. I think in modern terminology we would say that they were
afflicted with with the what have you done for me lately syndrome. And as long as he was doing something spectacular, they remembered him and they worshiped him. But if he seemed to be off somewhere, having forgotten about them, they forgot about him, but he hadn't forgotten about them. Now if one does not relate and remember, I can tell you this from my own experience that one's giving back to God is going to be insignificant because that one can find no reason why he should give. Now let's go to Exodus 35. Exodus 35 and verse 20. Where it says, and all the congregation of the children of Israel departed from the presence of
Moses. Now that sets the stage for something. And we are going to go now to chapter 36. And verse Verses 5 through 7. And they spake unto Moses, saying that people bring much more than enough for the service of the work which the Lord commanded to make. And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary, so the people were restrained from bringing, for the stuff that they had was sufficient for all the work to make it and too much. Now this hasn't occurred very often in the history of mankind where people gave too much, and I think that's one reason why it was recorded. God says, Man, this is really significant, and we are going to write this down as an example. It was a tremendous offering. Now we have to consider something here. Where did that offering come from? Where did it have its beginning? Now we are going to consider here a basic fact of spiritual life. It was very obvious for anybody that knows. That the offering that they gave came from God. That it was part of the spoils that he made available to them as they came out of Egypt. They were a slave people and they had little more than their own lives. They had nothing to give back to him until he first gave them something that they might give back to him in thanksgiving. Now there is a principle here. God blessed his people. The blessing was not a matter of circumstance, and it was not because they deserved it. He blessed his people, at least partly for the sake of his work, he had the building of the tabernacle in mind. And in this case, It then prepared them to make an appropriate offering. Now the tabernacle was a type of the spiritual tabernacle, that is the church. Let's go back to Deuteronomy. Pick up another piece here. This kind is going to be in Deuteronomy 8. We're going to read from verses 10 through 19. God knows human nature better than anybody. He said, when you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the Lord your God, for the good land which he has given you. What to think? I want you to think about this. How in
the world can we bless God? But yet that's what he's saying here. Beware that you forget not the Lord your God in not keeping His commandments and his judgments and his statutes, which I command you to stay, lest when you have eaten and are full and have built with the houses and dwelt therein, and when your herds and your flocks multiply and your silver and your gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied. Then your heart be lifted up and you forget the Lord your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage, who led you through that great and terrible wilderness wherein were fiery serpents and scorpions and drought, where there was no water, who brought you forth water out of the rock of of Flint, who fed you in the wilderness with manna which your fathers knew not, that he might humble you, that he might prove you to do you good at your latter end. And you say in your heart, my power and the might of my hand has gotten me this wealth, but you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he that gives you power to get wealth, that he may establish His covenant, which he swear unto your fathers, as it is this day, and it shall be. If you do at all forget the Lord your God and walk after other gods and serve them and worship them. I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish. To favor or to bless, pardon me, means to favor. It means to do
kindness toward. It means to pay respect to. So when God says you are to bless me, it means that you're to be kind back to me. You're to show me favor, and you are to pay respect to me, because after all, he's reminding them it was I who made it possible for you to have this. And if I did not do this, you wouldn't be able to bless me at all. Now it's very clear in the
Old Testament that one of the major causes of Israel's problem. was that they did not relate what was happening in their lives to their relationship with God. And they forgot. Now the result of this. Was that the lessons that normally would have been learned through cause and effect and all the experiences of life were not. They were not relating what was happening to them and others within their fellowship. On a day to day basis. to God They were just things that were happening. And God was not in the picture. Now, does this apply to us in the end time? Well, it is interesting that at least 2 of the messages to the 7 churches in Revelation mention this very thing. In Revelation 2 and in verse 4, He says, nevertheless, I have somewhat against you because you have left your first
love. Remember, therefore, from whence you are fallen and
repent. Go back and do the first works. And in Revelation 3. And in verse 2, Be watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God. Remember, therefore, how you have received and heard and hold fast and repent. I think that if we did a thorough examination of those
seven letters, we would probably find other implications of a failure to remember. At the end time. That God is involved in our life day by day. So 7 times a year, God commands us to reflect upon what we've received and heard and attempt as best we can. To show appreciation and kindness and blessing back to him by placing a monetary value on it. David understood a principle very important to what we are involved in, and we are not going to turn to it, but
II Samuel 24:24, David said, I will offer nothing to God that costs me nothing. In other words, the principle of not just merely Showing kindness back to God, but actually, sacrificing in so doing. Oh, we are going to go though To an event in
Jesus' life in Mark the 10th chapter that I know that you all know and are familiar with. Because it's really instructive. In Mark 10 And in verse 28. So then Peter began to say unto him, Lo, we have left all and have followed you. And Jesus answered and said, Verily, I say unto you, there is no man that has left house or brethren or sister or father or mother or wife or children or lands for my sake and the gospels, but he shall receive a hundredfold now in this time. Houses and brethren and sisters and mothers and children and lands with persecutions and in the world to come, eternal life. Now you know this follows right on the heels of Jesus' encounter with the rich young man. Who wanted To follow Christ But he did not want to give anything. To do it, he wanted to follow Christ on his own terms. And so when Jesus said, Well, you're going to have to get rid of your money. Get rid of your wealth. He could not make that sacrifice. Now there is no indication. That this young man thought that all that he had was a result of God's beneficence to him. And that God made it possible in the first place. And he looked upon it as his. And that he owed God nothing for it. Therefore, he would keep it all. But we do not want to follow his examples because we have a tremendous promise that came out of that. That Instance About all that we are going to receive because we bless God back. We recognize him as a part of our life and that we come to the place where we are willing to sacrifice for it. Because we want others to have the same blessing. And so 7 times a year, God asked us to relate what is going on in our life. to what he has given. So how much Is the knowledge of God's plan worth? It's priceless. We can't put a dollar figure on it. But nonetheless, It's there How about the forgiveness of
sin? How about being able to watch world news with more understanding than the experts because the experts do not take God's plans in mind at all. What about
peace of mind? Regarding death. Protection Angels watching over you and over yours. How about healings that you may have experienced? How about the knowledge of how to have a happy marriage or how to rear your children, or knowing that the trials of life, which everybody has. But we have trials that can actually be a blessing because they are tied directly to the knowledge of God's plan. And they do not have to be merely a burden. But actually a means. To understanding and to growth. Now, these are things That can have a mighty impact on our lives. If we allow them to be used, how about the development of qualities in you? That would never have occurred had God not been a part of your life. How about something like this? All of the traveling that you have had made available to you because of going to the Feast of Tabernacles. I like the Israelite slaves, we would have nothing to offer back to God if we were not that he gave us these things in the first place. In an overflowing abundance as a part of his creative program. So have you honestly considered God's blessings? I will hazard a guess that there is a lot more there. than you would have ever believed. Enough that like the Israelites of old when they were beginning to build the tabernacle. We can make an overflowing offering on our own little level. So now we are going to, what did I do? I left it down there. Excuse me a second. Forgetful John. While the offering is being taken up, we are going to have offering music performed by Brian Wolf. The title of the piece is Watching at First Morning Light, and the composer is Brian Wolf.