Second Hand Worship

Second Hand Worship

II Samuel 24: 22-25 Amplified Bible

22 And Araunah said to David, Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him. Behold, here are oxen for burnt sacrifice, and threshing instruments and the yokes of the oxen for wood.

23 All this, O king, Araunah gives to the king. And Araunah said to the king, The Lord your God accept you.

24 But King David said to Araunah, No, but I will buy it of you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God of that which costs me nothing. So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

25 David built there an altar to the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the Lord heeded the prayers for the land, and Israel's plague was stayed.

   There is an old joke about sacrificing to God that goes like this:  A farmer owned a cow that gave birth to twin calves.  He swore he would give one of the calves to God, but he didn't decide which one to give until one day one of the calves died.  He went to the house and said to his wife, “Honey, guess what? God's calf died today!"

   OK, not really funny, but it does illustrate the attitude towards giving to God that many of us have.  We feel we can give God whatever we have left over and it’ll be OK because we gave God something and the idea is really the important thing, right? 

   Well, no, not really.  The intent is the important thing, not the idea.  Obedience is the important thing, not going through the motions to make it look good.  To really understand how God feels about giving, we need to re-read His instructions about sacrificing.  When we offer something to God, what does He say is the acceptable way to do so? 

   The biggest no-no is trying to give something to Him that’s not your best.  In the days of animal sacrifices it was the person who brought a lame or deformed animal to be sacrificed.  You wouldn’t breed it because you wouldn’t want to pass on defective traits.  So why not take it to the Temple and sacrifice it?  You could fulfill your obligation of offering a sacrifice and not lose a valuable breeding animal. 

   What is wrong with this way of thinking is that you’re bringing to God something that has little or no real value to you.  God asks you for your best - He wants the pick of the litter, so to speak.  He wants you to give something of value, and the highest value at that.  So why does God want your best for Himself?  Is He some greedy monarch gouging you for extra taxes?  No, God is love and His heart has only love towards you.  One reason He’s asking for your best is that He is trying to help you grow.  By learning to give your best to Him you will learn to give your best to help others. 

   God wants us to learn to love so He instructs us to do things that teach us to obey willingly.  When we learn to give to God willingly and from love for Him we will learn to give of ourselves to others willingly and from love in our hearts.  David illustrated the idea behind this commandment went he refused to accept the threshing floor of Araunah, which was going to be given to the Lord as the place to build the temple, as a gift.  David said he would not give to God that which cost him nothing.  He wanted his gift to God to have real meaning.  He was doing this during a time of crisis in his kingdom and people were dying and David really needed God’s blessing on his people.  He did not to be seen as making an empty gesture to God.

   David had served God for many years through many good times and triumphs and through many hard times and defeats.  His love for God was learned over many years and through many lessons.  His love was genuine and it was natural for him to make a sacrifice that was from his heart and not an easy fix sacrifice from his excess. 

   This concept carries over into our lives in many ways.  We want to help out at our local church but not if it takes too much time or the commitment will last too long.  We want to pray but not during March Madness or during a favorite TV show.  We want to give to missions but we’re already giving 10% to the church.  We want to study God’s Word but not for more than 15 minutes a day (or a week.) 

   Going up on my soapbox here:  I personally feel that if you can’t give something to God from love, then don’t give.  Learn to love Gods first and giving will come later.  (Putting the soapbox away now.)    

   The last point I want to make here is that giving is not really about you.  The whole prosperity gospel lie was that if I give to God I’ll be blessed and get something back in abundance.  If that’s all you understand about giving you’re so wrong.  When I give it’s out of obedience to God’s Word and for the benefit of God’s Kingdom.  Giving is about God and my love for Him. 

Stephen Cram                    February 12, 2012                                 Colossians 2:8

Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ.  Colossians 2:8