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TAKING RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE HOUSE OF GOD!
If you will take out your checkbooks, I would like to examine
them. Of course, I’m not interested in whether you bank at Bank One, First Interstate,
or Bank of America. Nor am I interested in the design of your checks. What
I’m interested in, what I wish to be rather nosey about, is how you spend
your money.
For if I can see how you spend your money, I can tell you something about your
faith. You might object to such a tactic and argue that if I want to see your
faith, I simply need to go inside your home. There I will see the Bible on
the coffee table, the religious books in the study, the plagues with verses
on the wall, the sign of the fish on the front door, and the bumper sticker
on the car that ask, “Got Jesus?”
Or perhaps you object on the basis of the unwritten rule that “all giving
shall be anonymous at Any Church.” Here at Any Church the ushers are
cautioned not to look too closely as they collect the offering, the elders
have taken an oath to never peek into the giving records, the nominating committee
has been told by the senior pastor to shy away from asking potential elders
about their giving habits, teachers have been instructed to never meddle in
such matters, and the one person who does know, besides you, the one who makes
out the deposit slip on Monday morning, is paid to keep their mouth shut.
As to the latter objection, the first four verses of Luke 21 make it clear
that our giving is never really anonymous. After an unscheduled speaking engagement,
from our viewpoint, Jesus sat down and took a fifteen minute break. As he sat
on the park bench, he noticed something that grabbed his attention. We read:
As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury.
He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. “I tell
you the truth,” he said, “this widow has put in more than all the
others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out
of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”
As Jesus sat on the park bench he observed the rich bringing their gifts to
the temple treasury. While this may have impressed us, it evidently did not
impress Jesus. But, before too long he saw a sight that brought him to his
feet. A widow appeared on the scene, a widow who lived in abject poverty. As
he watched her, she slipped two small coins into the treasury. In seeing what
she did, Jesus summoned his disciples so as to rivet their attention on something
very special.
To appreciate what took place on this day we need to put this scene in the
context of the Old Testament. For this day was essentially one of those days.
In Old Testament days it was clear that worship involved giving. You came to
the Tabernacle or Temple with your offering in your hand or in your arms. You
may have been leading it or lugging it. It was often an unblemished sheep,
goat, or a young bull. Or it may have been wheat or oil. Worship and giving
blurred and blended together. In fact, in Exodus 34:20 as well as Deuteronomy
16:16 - 17, God told the Israelites:
“ No one is to appear before me empty-handed.”
Furthermore, sick sheep, lame bulls, and injured goats were not considered
worthy expressions of worship. After all, you were going to get rid of those
animals any way. You were to bring something before the Lord that you would
have liked to have kept for yourself. You see, originally giving was truly
meant to be sacrificial!
Returning to the widow that Jesus observed on that day, it would have been
easy for her to rationalize away her bent toward giving. That is, she could
have easily argued herself out of giving.
I can think of at least three good arguments that this lady may have come up
with for deciding to keep the money herself. First, she could have argued that
she needed that money to pay a few bills or to even put food on the table.
It wasn’t as if she was giving out of her surplus. Unlike the wealthy,
she needed that money to just make ends meet.
Second, she could have reasoned that her offering would probably be squandered
by those overseeing the temple. There were always rumors that the money going
into the treasury was being misused or that invoices submitted by local contractors
weren’t being scrutinized closely enough, so much so that overpayment
was all too common.
Third, she could have argued that her two small coins were so insignificant
that for all practical purposes she may as well not give them. She could see
that the Temple was magnificent. What would two small coins contribute to such
a structure? They wouldn’t even buy the thread needed to repair the curtains.
So what good would it do to deny herself her daily bread to support such an
ornate structure?
The woman had two small coins and she had to make a choice. She had to decide
whether to give up giving to God or give up her bite of bread or morsel of
honey for that day. Courageously, she chose to worship God. She chose to give
when she had needs of her own. Her courage and her giving heart prompted Jesus
to jump to his feet and point her out to the disciples.
So I’ll say it again: Show me your checkbook, and I will tell you something
about your faith. Well, I really don’t want to see your checkbook. I
just want you to see that your giving-record is an accurate gauge of your maturity
in Christ. As we grow in our faith, both our hearts and our wallets are opened
up before God.
This is exactly what happened in the days of Nehemiah. After the wall was rebuilt,
the people began studying the Word of God. Ezra preached while the Levites
interpreted for him and gave the sense of what he was saying to the people.
The Spirit then took their words and used them to open up the hearts of those
who listened. Before too long, these same people opened up their wallets. For
in Nehemiah 10:32 - 39 we read:
“ We assume the responsibility for carrying out the commands to give a
third of a shekel each year for the service of the house of our God: 33 for the
bread
set out on the table; for the regular grain offerings and burnt offerings;
for the offerings on the Sabbaths, New Moon festivals and appointed feasts;
for the holy offerings; for sin offerings to make atonement for Israel; and
for all the duties of the house of our God.
34 “We – the priests, the Levites and the people – have cast
lots to determine when each of our families is to bring to the house of our
God at set times each year a contribution of wood to burn on the altar of the
Lord our God, as it is written in the Law.
35 “We also assume responsibility for the bringing to the house of the
Lord each year the firstfruits of our crops and of every fruit tree.
36 “ As it is also written in the Law, we will bring the firstborn of
our sons and of our cattle, of our herds and of our flocks to the house of
our God, to the priests ministering there.
37 “Moreover, we will bring to the storerooms of the house of our God,
to the priests, the first of our ground meal, of our grain offerings, of the
fruit of all our trees and of our new wine and oil. And we will bring a tithe
of our crops to the Levites, for it is the Levites who collect the tithes in
all the towns where we work. 38 A priest descended from Aaron is to accompany
the Levites when they receive the tithes, and the Levites are to bring a tenth
of the tithes up to the house of our God, to the storerooms of the treasury.
39 The people of Israel, including the Levites, are to bring their contributions
of grain, new wine and oil to the storerooms where the articles for the sanctuary
are kept and where the ministering priests, the gatekeepers and the singers
stay.
“ We will not neglect the house of our God.”
With the financial backing and blessing of Persia, the temple, such as it was,
had been rebuilt. It was completed in 516 B. C., exactly 70 years after the
final deportation that took place in 586 B.C. That was way back then and this
is now 445 B.C., so you can guess that the temple was in need of some attention.
But it wasn’t just a matter of giving the temple a face-lift, it was
restoring the temple as a place of worship.
In regards to the temple tax there is a technical problem. In Exodus 30:11
- 16 the tax had been set at a half-shekel but here in Nehemiah it is a third
of a shekel. Some maintain that the half shekel was meant as a one-time atonement
offering and has no bearing on this situation. Others say that the half-shekel
was collected only when a census was taken whereas the one-third shekel was
collected annually. Still others say that the Jerusalem and Babylonian shekels
varied in value so that one-half of the former was equal to one-third of the
latter. Or maybe, the current economic conditions dictated the amount of the
tax.
Either way, it was important to those who had returned that the temple be restored
as a place of worship. They recognized the need for having a place where they
could come and present their offerings to God in a public manner. Yes, they
could and did worship in the privacy of their own homes. But the temple provided
a place for corporate worship, a place where people could openly declare their
commitment to God.
It is also to be noted that lots were cast to determine when each of the families
would bring a contribution of wood to burn on the altar. Again there is a technical
problem, the Mosaic law made no provision for a wood offering. However, Leviticus
6:12 - 13 states that the fire on the altar must be kept burning; it must not
go out. So it only makes sense that a continuous supply of wood was needed.
This reminds us that while we normally think of giving in terms of money, money
is just one aspect of our giving. The gathering of wood required time and effort,
both of which are precious commodities. We give when we take time to pray,
to visit others in the hospital, to make coffee or bring goodies to an Adult
Community, to prepare a devotion, to clean up after the morning worship service,
to prepare communion, to collect the offering, or spend time planning a special
event.
In the giving of our time and effort there are several questions that need
to be addressed in the prayer closet of our lives. Why are we doing it? What
is our motivation? Are we simply using God to promote ourselves or are we truly
serving others? Also, are we giving our best? Or, do we simply give him our
leftover time and energy at the end of the day?
So what does this passage tell us about this issue of commitment? It tells
us that when the Lord’s people get right individually, when they commit
themselves to doing God’s work in God’s way, then that which is
corporate will flourish and never lack for needed provisions.
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