Stairway to Heaven

When I was a teen if you gave a kid a guitar eventually they would learn to play Stairway to Heaven.  Not always well, but it was like the chopsticks of the guitar. That and Smoke on the Water and Cat Scratch Fever.  I’m not sure that either the stairway or the heaven that inspired Led Zepplin has anything to do with us today. 

However when I began to read through 2 Peter and came to the scripture that was read to us earlier the immediate thought that came to my mind was: it’s like a stairway to heaven.   We’ve spoken before of the journey of Christianity, the voyage, the trip.  That Christianity is not a static religion, it does not start and end at the same place.  And it’s not a matter of it starting here and finishing here, you need to move to a higher plane on the journey and not just move from point A. to point B. but actually become a better person on the journey. 

Paul talks about our Christian life being a race, with a starting point and a finishing point.  John speaks of us walking in the light, Christ tells us to follow him and Peter speaks of each facet of the Christian life leading to the next.  And while most of us would acknowledge the journey metaphor, sometimes we become focused on the destination, heaven, and miss out on the journey.  If’n God only saved you so you could go to heaven you would think it would be easier if he just took you to heaven when you became a Christians.  But he left us here for a time and presumably he knew what he was doing.

William Golding puts it this way, “Consider a man riding a bicycle. Whoever he is, we can say three things about him. We know he got on the bicycle and started to move. We know that at some point he will stop and get off. Most important of all, we know that if at any point between the beginning and the end of his journey he stops moving and does not get off the bicycle he will fall off it. That is a metaphor for the journey through life of any living thing, and I think of any society of living things.” I don’t think it would do injustice to William Golding or the scriptures to say that his metaphor applies as well to our Christian walk. 

Have you ever become so caught up in reaching your destination that you miss the excitement and joy of the journey itself?   A number of year ago when I was writing freelance I was given an assignment of doing a story on Chester Race week.  It was beautiful weather and so I thought; cool I’ll take my motorcycle down on the old road, it’ll be a gorgeous trip. 

Well. . ., first I underestimated the extra time the old road would take, then I underestimated the number of old people who would be driving under the speed limit, the amount of construction that might be happening and the possibility of a garbage trucks picking up trash.  Now if you know me at all you realize that I’m just a little anal about time and suddenly my nice relaxing trip disappeared as I focused on when I was actually going to make it to Chester.  The journey was no longer a consideration only arriving mattered and I missed the trip I was looking forward to.

I know that heaven is going to be a wonderful place, I believe that it has been promised to me, I am looking forward to walking those streets of gold, of seeing my Lord and meeting my God.  I’m thrilled at the thought of no more sorrows and tears and no more aches and pains, but I want to enjoy the trip this side of eternity as well. 

And Peter’s second letter gives us some instructions for enjoying the journey and making the most of it.  The Peter who wrote this letter was of course Simon Peter, one of the 12 apostles and one of Christ’s closest friends.  The letter was written to believers scattered across the Roman province of Asia which is now modern Turkey.

The letter was written to warn believers about false teachers.  And as a part of his instruction we discover the eight verses that were read for us earlier.  And this is how it begins. 

2 Peter 1:3-4 By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.

There is the promise.  Did you catch it?  That is God’s promise for our Christian walk.  Right now, today, May 5^th, 2013.  Let’s hear it again.  2 Peter 1:3-4 By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires.

Did you catch it?  Let me speak slowly and break it down into three components.  1. By His divine Power.  2. God gives us everything we need for living a godly life. 1. Through his great and precious promises 

Now if that don’t light your fire your wood is wet?   Think about it, isn’t it wonderful to know that everything we need to live a godly life has been provided for us through Jesus’ divine power, not our power but Jesus’ power?

And that he doesn’t give us half or three quarters of what we need and expect us to come up with the rest but he gives us everything.  And then Peter goes on to tells us that we will be able to escape the corruption all around us through that same power and then he gives us the road map so we can discover where we are to go to obtain that promise. 

And so after the promise that Jesus through his divine power will give us what we need to live a godly life, Peter then spells out what that will look like, and he begins by telling us

2 Peter 1:5 In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises.   In view of all what?  In view of the two verses that came before that, in view of the promise that God has given us all that we need.  But it is a two way street, Peter is telling us that because we have the promise we need to make every effort to respond to those promises.   And so It Starts with God’s Promise and our Responsibility  God’s word tells us that God will do his part if we are willing to do our part.  Too often we want God to do it all, we want him to take away our desire to sin and rebel, we want him to make us have self-control that he should make us want to desire to pray more and spend more time reading our bibles.  And if he did that then was would never grow or mature.  And he wouldn’t be God he would simply be the great enabler.

When our kids are little there comes a time when it’s not enough that we can tie their shoes, they need to learn to tie their shoes, it’s not enough that we can read to them, they need to learn to read.  We would do our children no favours if we carried them everywhere they needed to go and never allowed them to learn to walk.

So in light of the fact that God loves us and cares for us and promises to give us what we need he expects us to respond to that.  He isn’t going to simply zap us to heaven, but neither is he going to leave us to our own devices as we endeavour to get there.  Instead he expects us to use the resources that he gives us to get there.

God provides the stairs we provide the energy and determination.  Without the stairs the journey would be difficult if not impossible.  But they are stairs not an escalator. 

When our kids were little whenever we were on an escalator I would tell them “I don’t like escalators, once I was on one and it broke down and I had to wait three hours for the repairman before I could get off”  and they would groan and say “Oh Dad, you are so lame.”  And then one day I had Deborah and several of her friends over to Mic Mac and before they ditched me completely I heard Deborah say as they got on the escalator  “I don’t like escalators, once I was on one and it broke down . . .” And it was then that I knew my job as a father was complete.

So let’s start at the beginning, because the beginning is usually a good place to start.  

2 Peter 1:5 In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, . . .

Our Journey Begins at the Bottom of the Stairs  On any journey you have to start at the beginning.  If you are planning on running in the Blue Nose Marathon then you will need to start at the starting line, see I wouldn’t mind running a Marathon if I could start thirty or forty feet from the finish line, but that’s not the way it works. 

This is where you start, you can’t jump to the top, you have to begin at the beginning, and it’s the same for everyone.   Some people try, they want to start halfway up or at the top but you can’t.

And so the starting place in our Christian walk is Faith, the faith to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, the faith to believe he has the power to forgive our sins, the faith to believe that he can make us a new creation.   The word of God tells us in  Hebrews 11:6 And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that he rewards those who sincerely seek him. That is landing at the bottom of the stairs that is where your journey has to begin,  by believing.  Paul tells us in the book of Ephesians 2:8 God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.  The New International Version says it this way Ephesians 2:8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.

But faith doesn’t exempt us from having to do our part.  It is by faith that we start the journey, but if all we have is faith and we don’t exercise it or use it we will stay on the bottom landing. 

William Barclay wrote in the Daily Study Bible “In the Christian life the supreme effort of man must cooperate with the grace of God.”   It is the grace of God that allows us to begin the journey of being a Christian.  Without our faith and God’s grace we could never get to that part, and he promises to be with us on the journey, but we have to take the first step.

That passage goes on to say 2 Peter 1:5 In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence. . .  The phrase moral excellence is interesting, it has been translated as virtue, goodness or courage.  Once commentator says that the word would be used to indicate that ground was fertile and good for planting.  Others say that it is the courage to do the right thing, in this case the right thing is to grow and a mature as a Christian. 

And it will take courage in your Christian walk, the courage to do the right thing, the courage to say the right thing the courage to say I am a Christ Follower and the courage to follow Christ.

In the movie 42, the story of Jackie Robinson we are told that Branch Rickey, the manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers needed someone who could turn the other cheek, as well as turn a double play.

In the movie Jackie Robinson states the challenge in blunt terms. “You want a man,” Robinson asks, “who doesn’t have the guts to fight back?”   Rickey replies: “I want a man who has the guts NOT to fight back.”  Jackie Robinson had Moral Excellence. 

And so the landing that the stairway begins on is the declaration of faith that you are going to follow Jesus, the faith to believe that he has forgiven your sins and made you a new creation, the faith to believe and accept the grace that Jesus has to offer.  And with that faith comes the desire to move forward, to actually begin the exercise of following Jesus.  I have met people who have taken the step of faith, but they can never seem to move on.  They like the concept that they have been forgiven, but they don’t want to give anything back.  They are quite happy to stay at the bottom of the stairs, occasionally casting longing glances upward but not willing to take the first step. 

2 Peter 1:11 Then God will give you a grand entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.   Our Journey Finishes at the Top of the Stairs  I like to  have a destination, not just to be going somewhere but to know where I am going.  I’m sure it’s a personality flaw but just going for a drive seems senseless to me.  When I had my motorcycle I would talk to other bikers who would tell me of going for a 200 km drive, just a drive.  When we had the speed boat folks would say “It must be nice to just take the boat out for a spin.”  Why?  What is the sense in that? 

But I digress, If the journey begins with a single step of faith we are told that it finishes with a grand entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.  That’s a fancy way of saying: heaven.  And the bible talks a lot about heaven and eternal rewards.  We are told what there will be and what they won’t be.  And we can no more comprehend what that life will be then an unborn child would be able to understand what this life would be like.  Imagine trying to describe rainbows and sunsets to the preborn, and giraffes, and arms that would hold and hug.

But we do know that it will be different than our life is now and that it will be better than our life is now, and it will be eternal.  And the bible describes in as having things we can understand, streets of gold, gates of pearls, wall of jewels; you understand that what is valuable for us here is simply building materials in God’s economy.  And it describes heaven in terms of what won’t be there, there will be no more suffering, no more tears, no more pain and nothing evil. 

And that is our ultimate destination as Christians.  But, again if that was the sole reason for Jesus coming and dying on a cross to save us, then the moment we accepted the grace and forgiveness that Jesus had to offer we would go to heaven.  But that isn’t the only reason that Jesus came and died and it’s not the only reason that we accept that grace and forgiveness that Jesus has to offer.

I’ve said it before, when you look at a grave stone it’s easy to focus on the numbers, you know what I mean.  It will  list the person’s name and then it will have two dates, perhaps it might say 1914-1998.  And it’s easy to look and say “Wow, they were born the year that World War 1 began.”  Or to say “If they had of lived for another two years they would have made it to the new Millennium”  But that wasn’t their life, when it started and when it ended those are just dates.  The important thing here is the dash, that represents the life they lived.  It’s in that dash that the story lies.

And sometimes as Christians we fixate on the date that we became a Christ follower, the bottom of the stairs and that’s important, there needs to be a beginning.  Or we will think about heaven and the rewards, the top of the stairs.  And that is awesome, especially for someone like me who needs a destination to make the trip worthwhile.  But what is really important is the dash, the steps that go from the bottom of the landing to the top of the stairs, the life we live as a Christian and the difference that we make in this life. 

At this end of this letter Peter closes with these words,  2 Peter 3:18 Rather, you must grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. All glory to him, both now and forever! Amen.  Did you catch the key word there?  Grow.  We don’t start our Christians walk as mature Christians.  We don’t start our journey at the end, there is a progression, there is a beginning and an end and a life that comes in between.

So our journey begins at the bottom of the stairs and our journey finishes at the top of the stairs, but for most of us There are the Steps in Between  If you have read through the New Testament you have discovered there are many lists, lists of things we should do and lists of things we shouldn’t do.  The reason of course is that books were rare and there were important things for Christians to learn, things that they should do and things that they shouldn’t do.  And those things couldn’t be carried around in an I-pad or a Playbook, as a matter of fact they couldn’t be carried around in a book.   They had to be carried around in a person’s head and so they were put into a form that was easier to remember. 

And that brings us back to where we started:  2 Peter 1:5-7 In view of all this, make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.  You don’t start with it all, you don’t become a Christ follower and you are immediately bestowed with knowledge, self-control, patient endurance, godliness, brotherly affection and love for everyone.  By the way if that list sounds familiar listen to the description of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!

And I suppose that I could spend an entire series explaining these things, but seriously how much explanation do they need?   Let’s read it again together, but let’s personalize it

 2 Peter 1:5-7 In view of all this, I will make every effort to respond to God’s promises. I will supplement my faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.  

And the result?  Listen to the next sentence that Peter writes: 2 Peter 1:8 The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And that is the dash in our Christian life, to be more productive and useful in our knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.    But remember from the very beginning we are told that it will require effort.  I don’t know where you are on the stairway to heaven?  But you do, and you know what the next step needs to be.  Maybe it’s the first step, the step of faith or maybe it is taking next step to be more like Jesus and to be faithful in following him.

Proudly Christian . . .Eh

I learned two things this week that I didn’t know before.  Even though I am not a sports fan I am aware that Jackie Robinson was the first African American to play professional baseball in the Major Leagues in the States.   And I even knew that before they started promoting the movie “42”.   What I didn’t know was that he played in Canada the year before without a problem or incident.  The fact that he was African American didn’t seem to be an issue. 

In 1946 Robinson played for the Montreal Royals, the affiliate team of the Brooklyn Dodgers, and Robinson said “The fans there were just fantastic and my wife and I have nothing but the greatest memories.” 

The other thing I discovered was that Robinson was not only hired by the Dodgers because of his skill on the field but because of his commitment to Christ. 

One biographer wrote “The reason, quite literally, (Branch) Rickey chose Jackie Robinson was his strong moral character and his Christian faith.”  Ricky knew if this was going to work they would have to have someone who would take the teaching of Christ about turning the other cheek seriously.  

 Kind of makes me proud to be a Christian and a Canadian.  Have a great week and remember: To see what is really possible, you will have to attempt the impossible.   

The Blessing of Faithfulness

Well here we are in week four of Money Month.  If you are visiting or new to Cornerstone this is an annual event.  A number of years ago I decided that instead of preaching on money when there was a need in the church that I would spend a month each year to teach the theology of giving.  The bible talks a lot about money and the believer’s responsibility with what God has given them.  And so I have an obligation as your pastor to let you know what that responsibility is. 

This year our theme has been “The Blessed Life”.  Week one we looked at the how and the who of the blessing.   That God is not a grumpy god but a loving God who wants to see his children blessed.  We find that in the first chapter of the first book of the bible, we find it in the last chapter of the last book of the bible and we find it throughout the bible. 

And according to the bible, God’s word, when we are faithful and give with pure motives some of those blessings are financial.  You may want to ignore it or try to rationalize it as spiritual blessings but that isn’t and wasn’t the context that those verses were written in.

In week two I spoke about First Things, how God required the Israelites to dedicate to him the First Born as an act of remembrance, to remember that they were once slaves and God had delivered them to freedom.  We give to remember that we too were slaves to sin and God delivered us.  We looked at how God required the first of all that was harvested to remind his people that all they had come from him.  And that is still true today.   And God required that the people bring the first tithe as an act of obedience.  He didn’t require their money, he is God, master and king of the universe, all of this is his.  But the act of giving is an act of worship, it is an act of obedience, it is us giving God a tangible tribute.

And then last Sunday we looked at the blessing that was attached to the Tithe, the ten percent that God asks us to return to him.  Remember we don’t give the tithe, because you can’t give someone what already belongs to them.  You can only bring it to them. 

This morning we are going to unpack a little more about this concept of the tenth. 

The first time the tenth is mentioned in the scriptures was referenced in the passage that was read for us earlier.  And it revolves around this mysterious figure Melchizedek.

We don’t know a whole lot about him, and what we do know is buried in mystery. We know that he was the King of Salem, we know that he was a priest of the Most High God, we know that he had a funny name and we know that Abraham thought enough of him that he made an offering of ten percent of everything he owned to him.

He is fairly obscure.  He’s first mentioned in Genesis 14 where he is given a total of three verses.  He’s not mentioned again until Psalm 110:4 where David makes reference to the coming Messiah and writes “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”

And then nothing, not in Proverbs, or Ecclesiastes, none of the prophets mention him.  Melchizedek’s name doesn’t come up in any of the gospels or the book of Acts. Paul doesn’t mention him in the Pauline Epistles or the Pastoral Epistles. Epistles are not the wives of the apostles; it’s simply a fancy name for letters. And then all of a sudden the author of the book of Hebrews writes 14 verses about this mystery king, drawing some interesting comparisons between Melchizedek and Jesus.  This is really interesting, Melchizedek was called the King of Salem which means King of Peace, we are told that there is no record of his father or mother or any ancestors, no beginning or end to his life that he was like the Son of God.  Interesting.  And then we are told in Hebrews 7:6 But Melchizedek, who was not a descendant of Levi, collected a tenth from Abraham. And Melchizedek placed a blessing upon Abraham, the one who had already received the promises of God.

So not only is this the first place in the scriptures where a tithe is mentioned but the tithe is associated with a blessing.  Abraham tithes and he is blessed.  In the story of King Hezekiah restoring the temple in 2 Chronicles the people began to tithe and they were blessed.  In Malachi we read last week that God told the people, through his prophet, that if they tithed he would open the windows of heaven and pour out blessings on them. 

But what we are interested in this morning is the fact that the story of Melchizedek and Abraham in Genesis is the first recorded instance of someone financially providing for God’s work.  Individual’s offerings had been given before but this is the first time that a representative of God is given a set portion of someone’s income.

One of the top three reasons given in an extensive survey of non-believers as to why they didn’t attend church was “because they are always asking for money.”  I don’t blame people, I guess probably churches are constantly asking for finances but I wonder why that is.  And besides people don’t stop attending the Lions Club or the rotary or the Kinsman and they are always asking for money. 

Every year we have door knock appeals from the Red Cross, and the Cancer Fund, and the Kidney Foundation and receive dozens of letters from other worthy causes and yet people don’t say; “Hey they are only interested in money.”

Maybe the reason the world feels negative about the church and finances is that they don’t feel like they are getting anything in return or that the church doesn’t contribute anything to the community.

 But then again the bible doesn’t tell us that we are a service organization, and the only thing that the scripture requires us to put back into society is better people and I guess when everything is said and done that’s a pretty important contribution. 

But God never expected the world to support the church.  From its very beginnings the church carried its own load.  You can hunt through the New Testament and you won’t find any reference to the early church having a bagel drive to raise funds or having a Saturday catacomb sale or a chariot wash.  But you will find instances like Acts 2:44-45 And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need.

And Acts 4:32 All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had.

Now that is a fairly radical concept of giving and a pretty radical concept of living.  And nobody can really say whether or not that communal concept extended beyond the first generation of believers in Jerusalem. 

But we know that the churches that sprung out of the initial movement continued to be generous.  Even the Corinthian church which was criticized for sexual immorality and theological error was commended for their generosity in giving to the work of the kingdom. 

In Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians he urged them to give, we can find that in 1 Corinthians 16:1-2 Now regarding your question about the money being collected for God’s people in Jerusalem. You should follow the same procedure I gave to the churches in Galatia. On the first day of each week, you should each put aside a portion of the money you have earned. Don’t wait until I get there and then try to collect it all at once.

And the result of that admonition is found in 2 Corinthians where Paul commended the Corinthians by saying: 2 Corinthians 8:10 Here is my advice: It would be good for you to finish what you started a year ago. Last year you were the first who wanted to give, and you were the first to begin doing it.

Wow, not only were they the first to give but they wanted to give.  Would kind of remind you of what Paul said about the Macedonian churches; listen to this,   2 Corinthians 8:2-4 They are being tested by many troubles, and they are very poor. But they are also filled with abundant joy, which has overflowed in rich generosity. For I can testify that they gave not only what they could afford, but far more. And they did it of their own free will. They begged us again and again for the privilege of sharing in the gift for the believers in Jerusalem.

Can’t you just hear them “Please Paul, we want to give more, we know we’ve already given a lot but please let us help more.” 

So let it be said that the biblical precedent is that 1) God’s people provide for God’s work.  We don’t expect the world to do it, we don’t expect the government to do it is to be done through the giving of the people of God.

But how much?  What are the people of God supposed to give?  It is inevitable that when we talk about the tithe or a tenth of our income people always say “but that is an Old Testament concept”.  And it’s true that it is an Old Testament concept, in fact it is first laid down in Leviticus 27:30 “One tenth of the produce of the land, whether grain from the fields or fruit from the trees, belongs to the LORD and must be set apart to him as holy.”

But then again “thou shalt not kill” is an Old Testament concept as well but we don’t write that off, do we?

And even though the tithe wasn’t commanded until Leviticus we actually have two instances where people gave ten percent of what they had to God before the law was laid down.  The first instance was in Genesis chapter 14 where Abraham gave a tenth of all he had to God.  I wonder why he decided to give a tenth? 

It wasn’t written down anywhere, there weren’t any meddling preachers, so why ten percent?  Then Jacob decides to make an offering to the lord and we read in Genesis 28:22 “And this memorial pillar I have set up will become a place for worshiping God, and I will present to God a tenth of everything he gives me.”

Now isn’t that strange, of all the choices that Jacob could make he decides on the very same amount that Abraham did.  No written instructions.  No law.  This was before the bible said “a tithe belongs to the lord” matter of fact it was before the bible.  He could have made a hundred choice, 1%, 2%, and 3%, all the way up to 100%.  Could it be that God told them?

So the tithe is mentioned in the law and it’s mentioned before the law.  But what about in the New Testament?  Take the case of the Pharisees, Jesus did not like these guys every time you see them together in the scriptures they are fighting; they mix like oil and water.  And Jesus condemned the Pharisees for a lot of things but there was one thing that he commended them for and that is found in Matthew 23:23 “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law—justice, mercy, and faith. You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things.

Jesus didn’t tell them to practice justice, mercy and faith instead of tithing; he told them to practice justice mercy and faithfulness while tithing.  He condemned them for hypocrisy, he condemned them for neglecting important things, he called them tombs full of dead men’s bones, he called them snakes, but he commended them for their tithing.

Remember back in 1 Corinthians 16:2 On the first day of each week, you should each put aside a portion of the money you have earned.

Acts 18 tells us that the Corinthian church was started by converted Jews, now remember that the law was pretty explicit about the tithe, if you were to tell a Jew that they should set aside a sum of money for God’s work in keeping with their income I wonder what amount would come to mind?  Throughout the gospels Jesus commended people for giving ten percent or more but he never commended anyone for giving less than ten percent.  On two occasions he even told people to give everything they had, and when he praised the widow in the temple it was because she had given everything that she had.

Where are we at?  Could Christ commend us for our giving?  We have many people in the church that tithe and some people who more than tithe and a good number of people who it would appear would rather die than tithe.    And if that is the case have you remembered God’s work in your will?  We have, 10% of our estate is to go the church that we are actively worshipping in at the time of our death.

One more than one occasion Jesus used a person’s handling of money as an indication of their spirituality.  The rich young ruler felt that he had done everything he needed to do to find favour in God’s eyes, and Jesus said “there’s one more thing that you have to do, you have to let go of the purse strings.” Why?  Because God’s blessing upon our lives will cost us everything that we value in life more than Jesus. 

If there is anything in your life that you value more than Jesus Christ then you are not a disciple.  As long as you have something in your life that is more important than God you are worshipping at the feet of a golden calf.  The bible tells us that the rich young ruler went away sorrowful.  Why?  Because he had discovered what he owned and what owned him.

James Moffat made this statement, “A man’s treatment of money is the most decisive test of his character, how he made it and how he spends it.”  Jesus said something very similar in Luke 16:11 And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven?

If you haven’t given God his due, does that make you untrustworthy with worldly wealth?  I don’t know, maybe Oswald J. Smith was right when he said, “I have learned that money is not the measure of a man, but it is often the means of finding out how small he is.”  You know I am convinced that some people will never be trusted with a pile because they weren’t true to God with the little bit that they did have.  Other’s I am convinced profited because they rendered unto God that which was God’s.

In saying that let’s say this, 2. God Expects us to be Faithful With What He’s Given Us.  One wit wrote these words, “It’s not what you’d do with a million, if riches should e’r be your lot, but what you are doing at present with the buck and a quarter you got.”  There are those who consistently tell you what they’ll do for God, when their ship comes in.  If they’re anything like me they’ll probably be at the airport when their ship comes in.  God isn’t interested in what you’d do if you had so and so’s money.  He’s a lot more interested in what you’re doing with what he gave you.

When God used Moses he used a simple staff, what would have happened if Moses had of said, “Hold it, let’s wait until I have a fancy rod, I could do a much better job with a prettier rod.”  No, he used what God had given him.  When David slew goliath it was with a simple sling.  You know it’s a whole lot easier to be faithful with a lot when you’ve already learned to be faithful with a little.  If children are taught to tithe it will be easier when they are adults to continue doing it.  J.D. Rockefeller Sr. One of the richest men in the world in his day said “If I had not tithed the first dollar I made I would not have tithed the first million dollars I made.  Tell your readers to train the children to tithe, and they will grow up to be faithful stewards of the lord.”

A pig and a cow were talking about what they gave that farmer, the cow said “well I give cream and butter and milk” “hah”  said the pig, “I give bacon, and pork chops and ham.”  “The difference” said the cow, “is that I give well I am still alive” Some give according to their means and others give according to their meanness, where are you?

God’s economy is not based on greed.  When I seek things with greed I get what I hadn’t expected.  It started way back at the beginning with Adam and Eve.  They didn’t eat the forbidden fruit because they were hungry; they ate it because they wanted to be like God.  Instead they got tossed out of the garden, literally ate their way out of house and home. 

In the book of Genesis we read the story of Abraham offering his nephew Lot the first choice of the lands they were settling and Lot took the very best, he was being like a kid. 

I remember seeing a Peanuts cartoon once where Lucy and Linus were taking the last two pieces of cake and Lucy took the biggest piece.  “Hey” said Linus “if I had of had first choice I would have taken the smallest piece.”  “So, what are you grumbling about” replied Lucy.  Lot took the biggest piece and eventually he ended up losing everything.

Why did David want Bathsheba?  He already had three wives.  The greed that David had put a gulf between him and God and eventually led to the ruin of his family.

Tithing is not an investment.  You don’t do it out of greed.  You don’t do it to multiply your riches.  And you don’t give to prove how good you are and you don’t give to gain control. 

The blessing comes when we give to honour God.   It’s not the blessed chequebook it is the blessed life, you don’t give to get you give to give. You give out of your love for God and out of your concern for ministry.

Even in saying that, let’s remember that God always repays when you give.  If your motive is pure. 

God doesn’t settle all his debts in this life but he is no man’s debtor.  Listen to what Jesus told his followers in Luke 14:14 Then at the resurrection of the righteous, God will reward you for inviting those who could not repay you.”

I don’t want to get into a deep theological discussion on rewards and crowns and levels of rewards in heaven, but I love the story of the man who got to heaven and Peter showed him to this little tiny shack and said “here it is.”   The man was flabbergasted and replied “This is it, what happened to my mansion”  “well” said Peter “this is all the building material you sent up”

God will take care of the reward.  And there is repayment in this life as well.  Mark 10:29-30 “Yes,” Jesus replied, “and I assure you that everyone who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or property, for my sake and for the Good News, will receive now in return a hundred times as many houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and property—along with persecution. And in the world to come that person will have eternal life.

People often ask how in the world can people tithe, I can’t make it on 100% let alone 90%.  But it’s amazing how far God can stretch that 90% when we believe that he can and will do it.  Have you ever looked at where your money goes?  Is God’s money paying for the needs or the wants? 

There is a great story in John 6:8-13 Then Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up. “There’s a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that with this huge crowd?” “Tell everyone to sit down,” Jesus said. So they all sat down on the grassy slopes. (The men alone numbered 5,000.) Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks to God, and distributed them to the people. Afterward he did the same with the fish. And they all ate as much as they wanted. After everyone was full, Jesus told his disciples, “Now gather the leftovers, so that nothing is wasted.” So they picked up the pieces and filled twelve baskets with scraps left by the people who had eaten from the five barley loaves. So the next thing we learn is 3. God’s Multiplication Often Begins With our Subtraction.

If the boy had of kept his five loaves and 2 fish he could have fed what five or six people?  Maybe.  But with his gift and God’s blessing he was able to feed five thousand.

The bottom line, nothing that I have said this morning has made one iota of difference in your attitude toward giving.  I have just fulfilled some people concept of the preacher that is always looking for money.  Somebody once told me during a building project that when I died they were going to inscribe Luke 16:22 on my headstone, you are familiar with Luke 16:22 “Finally, the poor beggar died.”

If you tithe you are thinking “good he really told them”  if you don’t tithe you’re thinking “why did I bother coming this morning”  I’m not trying to guilt people into giving.  Maybe I should get a pulpit that I can pound on and tell you that if you’re not tithing then you are going to hell. But I’m not sure that I really believe that.  But before we close let me run one more scripture and thought by you, alright.

Repeatedly the bible tells us not to test God. Old Testament and New Testament agree on that.  But there is one occasion that God says hey test me, try me on this one and see that I’m not fooling, ok.  That is found in Malachi 3:10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test!

This isn’t Denn Guptill, it’s not the Cornerstone church, this is God almighty, the creator of the universe challenging the people of God.  Challenging you saying if you tithe it’s not going to hurt financially, but you will have to trust me.

The Blessing of the Tenth

So here we are, week three of Money Month 2013.  You having fun yet?  For those who are visiting with us or new to Cornerstone this is an annual event.  Each April I take the opportunity to teach the theology of stewardship, which is a fancy way of saying we look at what the Bible says about money, what got, how we get it and what we do with it after we get it.  Nice thing is that means I won’t ambush you about money throughout the year. 

And we culminate Money Month with an event we call Step Up Cornerstone which is next week.  And we will be talking more about that later in the service. 

This year our theme is “The Blessed Life” and we’ve been looking at the blessings that God has for his people.  Week one we looked at the premise that God wants to bless his people.  It is there in the first chapter of the first book of the Bible, it is there in the last chapter of the last book of the bible and it is there throughout the Bible.  God is not a vengeful God who wants us to suffer, God is a loving God who wants to bless his children.  And it would appear from the word of God that some of those blessings are financial.  This is not the prosperity Gospel, let’s get that straight, if you’ve been coming to Cornerstone for any length of time then you know I do not preach or condone a name it and claim it theology. 

But there is a reality to the fact that God wants to bless his children.  For years my objection to this was “What about Christians in developing countries?  They aren’t rich?”  And then I travelled to developing countries, and no Christ Followers in those countries aren’t rich, but they are blessed.  And even within their context they are blessed financially. 

But the blessed life is not about a blessed chequebook, it is about a blessed life.  You don’t give to get, you give to give.  As a by-product of that God blesses those who give to his work.  But that can’t be the motive and motives count.  Jesus’ brother James wrote in James 4:3 And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure. And Denn may never know your motives but God certainly does.

Last week we looked at the blessing of First Things and how the giving of the First Born was done to Remember.  To remember that we weren’t always free, that were slaves who had been delivered.  The giving of the First Fruit was done to recognize that all we have comes from God.  And the brining of the First Tithe was done in obedience to the commands of God.

So let’s jump into our scripture which is the “go to” scriptures for preachers and tithing. 

Malachi 3:10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test!

There are times that I think “God why did you have to put this scripture where you put it?  Just another page, just another 13 verses and it would have been in the New Testament and I wouldn’t have had to listen to people say ‘but that’s in the Old Testament that doesn’t count’”

And then I realize that I’m not God and he put it exactly where it belongs.  So what about the argument that it’s in the Old Testament and it doesn’t count, or the “I’m not under the law I’m under grace” statement?

Let’s go back to an illustration that I used last week.  Say Jason asked to borrow my Smart Car on a beautiful day so he and Marla could put the top down and go to Peggy’s Cove for a picnic, and I agreed.  The purpose of the story last week was to illustrate that we are told to bring our tithe not give our tithe, because you can’t give someone something that already belongs to them.  And so at the end of the day if Jason came back and said “Denn, Marla and I like you a lot and we’d like to bless you by giving you this car.”  I’d have to say “you’re not giving it to me, you are simply bringing it back, it already belongs to me.”

Let’s take it to the next step, at the end of the day Jason says “Denn, we really like your car so we are going to keep it.”  And I say “you can’t keep my car, that would be stealing.”  To which he might say “But ‘thou shalt not steal’ is an Old Testament thing and I’m under grace not under the law”

You see where I am going here?  And what recourse would I have?  I mean other than say choking the life out of him and taking my keys back because the entire “Thou shalt not kill” is an Old Testament thing and I’m not under the law I’m under grace.

What people fail to recognize with this argument is that grace always goes further than the law.  It’s throughout the Gospels.  The law says don’t murder, grace says don’t hate.  The law says don’t commit adultery, grace says don’t lust.  The law says love your neighbor, grace says love your enemy.  So why would Jesus change that with tithing? He wouldn’t and he didn’t.  In Luke chapter 11 Jesus confronts the Pharisees about the hypocrisy and he tells them: Luke 11:42 “What sorrow awaits you Pharisees! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore justice and the love of God.  They were tithing the smallest of things in their lives, they were tithing their winning Roll Up the Rim Cups, but they weren’t nice people.  But Jesus doesn’t tell them they should stop tithing.  Let’s keep reading, You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things.

 

So with that out of the way, let’s go back to where we started from Malachi 3:10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test!

In particular I want to look at the portion that says “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! This is the word of God, speaking to God’s people and it says that God will pour His blessings on His people.  And not just any blessing, this passage says He will pour out a blessing so great that we won’t be able to take it in.  Would you like to be blessed? Would you like your life to be characterized as being blessed of God?  Sure you would, so here’s the secret. 

It begins with one very small very important word, just two letters and yet this entire promise hinges on that word.  And the word is “if”.  God is waiting and willing to bless His people, but, there’s another small yet important word, the choice is always up to us if we want to be blessed.  In this case the word of God says “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,”  What will happen?  God will open the windows of heaven.

So the first question is Why will God bless You?  The short and simple answer here is that God promised to bless the Israelites if they paid their tithe.  So what is the tithe?  Tithe simply means tenth and throughout the word of God the concept is reiterated that all that we have comes from God but he requires a tenth of it back.  For the people of God this does not mean that we give God ten percent of what is ours, it means that He allows us to keep ninety percent of what is His.  And in this case God tells his people, “If you tithe, if you return to me ten percent of what I have given to you then I will bless you”  You see when we give to God, we are just taking our hands off what already belongs to Him.

And that is the short answer, and if that was the entire answer then we’d be finished.  We could sing a song to close and we could go home but you would have received only a portion of what you need in order to achieve God’s blessings today.

Here then is the long answer the answer that is contained in the short answer.

You Will Be Blessed If You Are Obedient.  The fact that the Israelites had not been paying their tithe was only evidence of a much great problem and that was their obedience or their disobedience in this case. The concept of the tithe goes back to Genesis, the first book in the Bible, when Abraham gave King Melchizedek, who was also a priest, ten percent of his belongings as an act of worship to God. 

The commandment to God’s people to return ten percent of what God had given them is first recorded in Leviticus 27:30 “One tenth of the produce of the land, whether grain from the fields or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord and must be set apart to him as holy.” It is also mentioned in Deuteronomy 14:22 “You must set aside a tithe of your crops—one-tenth of all the crops you harvest each year.  Throughout the Old Testament we see God’s people responding to the command of the Tithe, when they were living in obedience to God’s will and commandments. However when they were living in disobedience it is often evidenced by the fact that they are not giving to God’s work.

In fact God often uses our giving as a spiritual barometer, because if we are finding it difficult to give something as paltry as money how much more difficult will it be to give important things like our time, our will and our future?

So when we are obedient to God then he blesses us.  Now some of you might be thinking “That’s blackmail or bribery.” No, that is reality.  When our children are disobedient do we rush out immediately to buy them a gift or take them to a special restaurant?  “I am so glad that you wrote on the living room wall with crayons and didn’t do your homework, let me buy you something special.”  No, that happens when they do what we want them to do.

Tithing is only a small part of who and what we are as Christians, but is a part it can’t be ignored.  But neither can it be a bribe to excuse our disobedience in other areas.  If people could just pay their tithe and then do whatever they liked with immunity the church wouldn’t be able to spend the money they had.

God is still looking for our obedience to His word and He will bless us when we obey Him. 

Jesus tells us that unless we obey him we don’t really love him John 14:15 “If you love me, obey my commandments.  When we were children and we disobeyed our parents we felt guilty, and that wasn’t a fun feeling was it?  As believers when we do what we shouldn’t  do or we when we don’t do what we should we feel guilty as well, sometimes we call that conviction and that isn’t a great feeling is it?  By the way, when we stop feeling guilty about our disobedience it’s not that the action has become all right it’s that our hearts have become hardened.

You Will Be Blessed If You Are Faithful.  This goes back to the concept of all we have as coming from God, he has entrusted us with our material possessions to make an impact on this world.  And we can choose to do that or choose not to do that and that is entirely up to us.  But if we choose to spend what was meant for the sacred on the secular then God is not going to bless us.  The concept is laid out in Luke 16:10 When Jesus said “If you are faithful in little things, you will be faithful in large ones. But if you are dishonest in little things, you won’t be honest with greater responsibilities.

The New International Version says it this way Luke 16:10 Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with very much. 

If we go back into the Old Testament we discover that when Israel was faithful to God, then God blessed them.  When he could trust them with what they had then he was willing to trust them with even more, and the converse was also true.  When God’s people could not be trusted then the blessings of God were removed.

If your boss can’t trust you do you think you will be promoted?  If you’re spouse can’t trust you to be faithful with your love and your emotions do you think the relationship will grow.  I truly believe that God blesses us based on our past performance with his blessings.  When we aren’t faithful, when we can’t be trusted how do we feel?  Not good huh?

You Will Be Blessed If You Are Honest.  When you take something that doesn’t belong to you but belongs to somebody else it is called stealing.  When you take what doesn’t belong to you but belongs to God it’s still called stealing.  If we look back into the book of Malachi this is what God says Malachi 3:8 “Should people cheat God? Yet you have cheated me! “But you ask, ‘What do you mean? When did we ever cheat you?’ “You have cheated me of the tithes and offerings due to me.”  In other words you cheat God when you keep what is his. 

So it’s not just a matter of obedience and faithfulness it is a matter of honesty.  Many people who would never take a penny that belonged to somebody else have no problem taking and keeping what rightfully belongs to God.

But honesty doesn’t just have to do with money.  We can steal the affections of someone who isn’t our spouse, that’s called adultery, we can steal somebody’s good name that’s called slander, we can steal the honour that is due God and that is called idolatry.  To take something that doesn’t belong to us is a sin, by whatever name you call it.  And God will not bless us in our sin.

So if those are some of the reasons for God to bless you the next question has to be: How will God bless you?

Let’s start with the least important blessing, You Will be Blessed Monetarily   Throughout the scriptures this concept has been taught, if you are faithful to God with your finances then God will reward you.  The word “give” is used over 1100 times in the Bible and we see this concept taught, again and again.  Listen to Ecclesiastes 11:1 Give generously, for your gifts will return to you later.  Or Proverbs 11:24 Give freely and become more wealthy; be stingy and lose everything. You understand the concept, that if God provides for his work and his Kingdom through his people then it is in the best interest of His work and his Kingdom for those who are faithful to prosper.

If I was going away for a while and told some of my staff “Each month I’m going to send you $10,000.00 (remember this is only an illustration) and you can use that however you want but you need to give $1,000.00 a month to Angela.  It would seem like a pretty good deal right?  And say after four months Angela and I were talking and I asked her how she was doing financially and she said “you know staff person “A” send me a thousand dollars a month, every month I can expect it on the first day.  Staff person “B” has been sending me $2,000.00 a month, don’t know why, I was only expecting $1,000.00 but it is a blessing.  That’s cool, so I ask, “What about staff person “C”?”  “Well” she says “the first month I got $1000.00 the second month I got $700.00 and then $400.00 this month nothing.” 

What do you think I’m going to do?  I’m going to stop sending money to Staff person C and start sending it to Staff person B. 

Which is why Jesus tells us in Luke 19:26 “and to those who use well what they are given, even more will be given. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away.”

The bible tells us that the church is the bride of Christ and he provides for us so we can provide for his bride.

R.G. LeTourneau was an American Inventor and committed Christian.  What did he invent?  Heavy earth moving equipment, much of what they use in excavation and road work today was originally the brain child of Robert LeTourneau.  And he became very wealthy doing what he did, and as his income grew so did his giving but he wasn’t content with simply giving a tithe and by the end of his life he was giving back ninety percent and living on the other ten percent. And this is what R.G. LeTourneau said “I shovel money out, and God shovels it back ... but God has a bigger shovel”

Most of us have either read the book, seen the movie, watched the play or at least heard of The Diary of Anne Frank, and Anne Frank said “No one has ever become poor by giving.”

Came across a book entitled “The 10 Secrets Revenue Canada Doesn’t Want You to Know”  written by David M. Voth.  This is from chapter 6: Charitable Giving.  “Ask people who tithe faithfully and they will tell you of the ten, hundred and thousand times returns they have received by giving.  Universally, tithers will also tell you that if you tithe you’ll live better on the 90% than you ever did before on the 100%.  The prosperity benefits of tithing are so significant that it would be worth it even if it came without any tax benefits.  However, there are also tax benefits to tithing.” 

I came across a neat saying that kind of sums up this point, You should give according to your income, lest God make your income according to your giving.  So here’s a question, could you live on 10 times what you give to the church each week?

But the momentary blessings are the least important.  You Will be Blessed Emotionally When we aren’t doing what we are supposed to be doing we feel guilty or under conviction.  And I know some of you think that I’m the one that tries to make you feel guilty.  Not so, I simply present the word of God, if you are feeling guilty that’s your doing not mine.  If I did a poll right now, some of you would feel guilty and wish I would change my sermon right now to something pointed like Apple Pie, Motherhood and Lower Taxes while others wouldn’t be feeling the least bit convicted. 

If I were to preach on adultery or lust who would feel guilty?  If I was to preach on lying or stealing who would feel guilty? If I was to preach on unforgiveness who would feel guilty?  And guilt will tie you up in emotional knots.  Ask the person who is having an affair how they feel around their spouse, as the person who is stealing from the company how they feel around their boss, ask the person who cheats on their income tax how they feel when a letter arrives from the tax department.

And so the blessing of Obedience is emotional freedom, a clear conscience makes a soft pillow.  Listen to God’s word in Romans 4:7 “Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sins are put out of sight.

Have felt the Joy of knowing that your sins are forgiven?   Which lead us to the last point You Will be Blessed Spiritually.  When we are disobedient to God, in whatever area of our lives it puts up a road block between us and Him.  You see disobedience is simply a big word that describes a little word and that word is sin.  The bible, the word of God says in James 4:17 Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.

But when you are walking as you are supposed to be walking, talking as you are supposed to be talking and doing as you are supposed to be doing then you are in fellowship with God, the doors of communication are open and you are right where you are supposed to be with your God and creator.  Is that where you are this morning?  If not then it can be.  The blessing that God has in store for his believers are for those who are obedient in all areas of their lives.  For those who are walking in the light that he has given them.  If you are not a believer then those blessings aren’t even on the menu yet but they can be, and in either case the choice is yours, do you obey or do you disobey? 

The promise that is here for you is found in the last part of Malachi 3:10 . . .Try it! Put me to the test! Do you want to be blessed, then try it and let Him prove it to you.  

The Blessing of the First Things

The Blessing of First Things

(Many of the concepts in this message come from Robert Morris’s book “The Blessed Life”)

Well, here we are week two of Money Month.  If you are visiting or new to Cornerstone each year we take the month of April to teach the theology of giving.   Almost a dozen years ago I decided that instead of simply preaching in response to any given financial crisis in the church that I would take the time to teach those who call Cornerstone their church home why giving is a proper response to the love and Grace of God.  You understand, God doesn’t need you to give for His sake. God is God, the entire universe is his.  So if he doesn’t need us to give for his sake than it must be that he wants us to give for our sake.   Our giving shapes our response to God.

Last week I looked at the fact that God wants to bless us, thus the theme of this year “The Blessed Life.”  We saw how the concept of God’s blessing is seen in the first chapter of the first book of the bible, in the last chapter of the last book of the bible and scattered throughout the bible.

And that blessing comes when we are faithful with what God has given us and we are obedient to the commands of Christ.  And that shouldn’t surprise us.  And while the bible talks about the many blessings that God gives to his people it certainly doesn’t shy away from financial blessings.  But the blessed life doesn’t mean the blessed cheque book it means the blessed life, a life lived in obedience in the presence of God. 

This week I want to look at the Blessing of the First Things.  Which brings us to the scripture that was read for us today.

At first it seems like one of those weird Old Testament things.  You know the ones, they leave you scratching your head and thinking. . . huh?  And there are a few of those, things and stories we don’t understand lessons that were for people who lived in a different land and a different culture. 

And sometimes it’s hard for us to get our head around things that happened in a desert 3,000 years ago.   For that matter think back to the sixties and seventies and there are things that are difficult to understand from fifty years ago.

But if we actually take the time to work through this one, we get an explanation.

Exodus 13 begins with these words:  Exodus 13:1-2 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Dedicate to me every firstborn among the Israelites. The first offspring to be born, of both humans and animals, belongs to me.”  And then God explains to Moses why he requires the dedication of the first born.  As a part of that explanation God establishes the Passover Celebration so the people wouldn’t forget their deliverance.

This story in Exodus happens right after the Exodus, that is right after the people of Israel have been delivered by God from the slavery of Egypt.  It is here that he establishes the celebration of the Passover so that his people would never forget what He had done for them.  And the Passover is still celebrated around the world by Jews for the same reason that it was instituted 3000 years ago.

But after God gives Moses direction about the Passover Celebration He returns to the original theme.  That is the passage that was read for us this morning, Exodus 13:11-12 “This is what you must do when the LORD fulfills the promise he swore to you and to your ancestors. When he gives you the land where the Canaanites now live, you must present all firstborn sons and firstborn male animals to the LORD, for they belong to him.

It is here that God decrees that the first of all things born to his people belonged to him.  And so this was the law, if your first born was a son then he was dedicated to God and a sacrifice was made: not the child, just to make that clear.    The child was symbolically given back to the Lord, we kind of do that with baby dedications today.  And then the parent’s presented a sacrifice that was them purchasing the child back from God.  Remember from the Christmas story Luke 2:22-23 Then it was time for their purification offering, as required by the law of Moses after the birth of a child; so his parents took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. The law of the Lord says, “If a woman’s first child is a boy, he must be dedicated to the LORD.”

In the case of acceptable animals, that is those which could be eaten under Jewish law the first born was presented to the Priests for sacrifice, the idea of animal sacrifice seems weird to us today and somehow unbecoming but we aren’t talking about today it was 3000 years ago.  The animal was killed and a portion was offered to God and the remainder was used to care for the Priests and their families. 

In the case of an unclean animal, one that was not permitted to be eaten under the law, a clean animal was offered.  So, something unclean could be redeemed through the sacrifice of something that was clean, that’s the entire gospel message right there.

And so we are told in Exodus 13:13 A firstborn donkey may be bought back from the LORD by presenting a lamb or young goat in its place.  And then it goes on to say But if you do not buy it back, you must break its neck. However, you must buy back every firstborn son.

Did you catch that?  If you didn’t give the animal back to the Lord you were going to lose it anyway.  There is probably a full sermon there.  Personally I have never benefited from any of God’s money that I kept.  I discovered years ago if I didn’t give God what was his I gave it to someone.  A mechanic, carpenter but I certainly didn’t get to keep it. 

And maybe you are still wondering: Why?  And maybe that would have been the same question that the children of the Israelites would have asked.  Perhaps when the oldest child got to be old enough to understand what was happening around the farm he would have asked his father: Dad, I don’t understand, we are supposed to be in the farming business but every time one of our animals has their first offspring you give it away to be sacrificed.   Isn’t that counter intuitive? Aren’t we are giving away our profits?

And that would provide the opportunity for the father to tell his son;  Son we weren’t always farmers, there was a time that we were slaves. It’s spelled out in Exodus 13:14-15 “And in the future, your children will ask you, ‘What does all this mean?’ Then you will tell them, ‘With the power of his mighty hand, the LORD brought us out of Egypt, the place of our slavery. Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, so the LORD killed all the firstborn males throughout the land of Egypt, both people and animals. That is why I now sacrifice all the firstborn males to the LORD—except that the firstborn sons are always bought back.’

The First Born Was Given In Remembrance  And so when you write your cheque for your tithe, or put cash in your envelope, or look at your monthly bank statement and see your debit for Cornerstone it isn’t out of obligation, it isn’t because Denn guilted you into giving. 

You give because your remember that you weren’t always free that once you were a slave.  You give because you remember the grace and forgiveness that made you a new person.  You give because you remember that it wasn’t because of  anything you did and it was because of everything God did. And I think that everyone of us should let our kids know what we give and then use that as an opportunity to tell our children why we give, what our God has done for us.

But it wasn’t just the first born that God asked for.    

 Later in the book of Exodus we read Exodus 23:19 “As you harvest your crops, bring the very best of the first harvest to the house of the LORD your God.  In some translations this is referred to as the first fruit.  This was the very first portion of the harvest that was gathered.  The law didn’t require that you collect the entire harvest and then decide what you would give to God.  This was a statement of faith.

The first part of your harvest, the first grain that was cut the first fruit that was picked, the first vegetables that were harvested belonged to God. 

And remember there was no guarantee that there would be more.  The first harvest could be followed by a drought, or a flood.  But the giving of the first fruits was a statement of faith. 

The first story of giving is recorded very early in the bible.  It is the story of two of Adam and Eve’s children, Cain and Abel.  Maybe you remember the story.  It is recorded in Genesis chapter four.  It would appear that Cain was a farmer and Abel was a shepherd because the older brother we are told presented crops while the younger brother presented a lamb.  And the bible tells us that God accepted Abel’s offering and rejected Cain’s.  And some people say they don’t understand why one was acceptable and one wasn’t.   But we should figure it out, because if there are acceptable offering and unacceptable ones I want to give what is acceptable. 

The answer is in the original account of the story.  Genesis 4:3-4 When it was time for the harvest, Cain presented some of his crops as a gift to the LORD. Abel also brought a gift—the best of the firstborn lambs from his flock. Did you catch that?  “ain presented “some of his crops” and Abel gave “The best of the firstborn lambs” 

When we give to God, notice I didn’t say if we give to God.  When we give to God do we give him the first or the last?  When you get paid is the first cheque written, the first online transaction performed your offering to God? 

You see if giving the first born is a remembrance of all that God has done for us The First Fruit was given in recognition.  Recognition that all we have comes from God.  We talked about this last week, how easy it is to remove God from the equation, to say “I work hard for my Money”.  But who gives us the ability and opportunity to be able to earn that money?   

Are we afraid that if we give God the first part then there won’t be anything left for us?  That God will allow our children to starve because we are faithful to Him?  When we recognize that what we have isn’t ours it should make it easier to return it to the one it comes from.  

I know it’s weird I empty my pockets before I preach.  And seriously I don’t know why.  It’s just something I do, I take my keys and wallet out before I leave my office, I know it’s just weird.

  Now suppose I got as far as the sound booth and realized that I still had my wallet with me and so I gave it to Mike to hold for me.  You still with me?  After the service I would expect Mike to give me back my wallet, and he shouldn’t be resentful, after all it isn’t his wallet it is my wallet, he was just holding it for me.

Last week we looked at the parable of the talents and talked about how everything we have, our talents, our abilities our resources have been given to us by God and he expects us to use them wisely and faithfully.   And we talked about how you would never be held accountable for what God had given me and I would never be accountable for what God has given you.   In the same way you should be willing to do your part, return to God the first fruit and be willing to believe that he will honour that and that you won’t be in need because of  your faithfulness.  Solomon wrote in Proverbs 3:9-10 Honour the LORD with your wealth and with the best part of everything you produce. Then he will fill your barns with grain, and your vats will overflow with good wine.

So what do we have, We are to give the first born in remembrance of what God has done for us.  And we are to give the first fruit in recognition of the fact that all we have comes from God.  But it doesn’t finish there. 

There is a cool story in the book of 2 Chronicles.  It involves a King by the name of Hezekiah.  Now I would assume that not everyone here is familiar with Hezekiah.  Remember after Solomon died Israel split into a Northern Kingdom and a Southern Kingdom?  And each kingdom had its own King.  Some were good but most were bad.  Goes back to the old adage that first coined by Lord Acton, the British historian, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

Hezekiah was one of the good Kings. We are told this about him in 2 Chronicles 29:2 He did what was pleasing in the LORD’s sight, just as his ancestor David had done.

Part of what he did was to reject the false gods that were being worshipped in the Kingdom and led the people back to worshiping the true God and restored the temple. 

And Hezekiah knew if that was going to happen that it would require sacrifice.   And so let’s pick up the story.  In 2 Chronicles chapter 31 we see the initial process of re-instituting the temple worship in Jerusalem.  2 Chronicles 31:2-3 Hezekiah then organized the priests and Levites into divisions to offer the burnt offerings and peace offerings, and to worship and give thanks and praise to the LORD at the gates of the Temple. The king also made a personal contribution of animals for the daily morning and evening burnt offerings, the weekly Sabbath festivals, the monthly new moon festivals, and the annual festivals as prescribed in the Law of the LORD.

The very first part of his plan involved equipping and empowering the priests and Levites.  These were the men who did what had to be done on a daily basis to keep the temple running and making sure that everything was in place for the people to offer sacrifices and worship.  And Hezekiah knew that this wasn’t only a spiritual exercise it was also a practical exercise. 

He knew that if this was going to become a reality that it would involve giving.  In verse three it tells us that “The king also made a personal contribution. . .”   So the giving started at the very top but that isn’t where it ended, so let’s move into Verse 4

2 Chronicles 31:4 In addition, he required the people in Jerusalem to bring a portion of their goods to the priests and Levites, so they could devote themselves fully to the Law of the LORD.

The next verse records the response of the people.  2 Chronicles 31:5 The people of Israel responded immediately and generously by bringing the first of their crops and grain, new wine, olive oil, honey, and all the produce of their fields. They brought a large quantity—a tithe of all they produced.   Did you catch the last part of that verse They brought a large quantity ----- a tithe of all they produced.  Tithe is just a spiritual term for a tenth.  The people were required to bring a portion and the portion they brought was ten percent, we’ll talk more about that next week. 

So what was the tithe required for here?  The King was under no illusion that resuming worship in the temple would be free or even cheap.  And He knew that if he simply assumed that people would give, they probably wouldn’t or wouldn’t give enough. 

Because my sermon preparation involves spending a fair amount of time with the people of the past I am continually amazed at how little people have changed through the years. People’s passions, motives and thought process were very much the same three thousand years ago as they are today.  

And so I would suspect that Hezekiah was probably well aware of the potential for people to either underestimate what it costs for the temple or overestimate how much others would give to support the temple and things haven’t changed.  Through the years I continue to be amazed that   people either underestimate what it costs for the church or overestimate how much others will give to support the church.

In the first case I don’t think it is a matter of neglect as much as a matter of ignorance.  People either don’t think about it at all or they don’t do the math. 

I didn’t.  Until I started pastoring it never crossed my mind.  The church was there when I arrived to worship, it was warm, the lights were on, the building was clean, the pastor was there and he preached the water was turned on and never once did it cross my mind:  “I wonder how they pay for this?”  and if that thought had of crossed my mind I’m not sure that I would have been bright enough to have connected the dots and figured out how much it cost. 

And Hezekiah knew that if the people of God were going to resume worship in the temple than there were expenses that would be involved. 

So if the first born was given in remembrance and the first fruit was given in recognition, then The First Tithe Was Brought In Obedience   I need you to notice something here, the tithe was not given, it was brought.  And maybe you are thinking “What’s the difference?”  the difference is you can’t give someone what already belongs to them.   

Imagine if it was a beautiful spring day, I said you would have to use your imagination here, and Pastor Jason came to me and asked if he could use my Smart Car for the day so he could put down the roof and he and Marla could drive out to Peggy’s cove and have a picnic.  And I said “yes”, remember this in only an illustration.

At the end of the day if Pastor Jason came to me and said “Denn, Marla and I would like to bless you by giving you this Smart Car convertible”   I would say, in love “You are an idiot!  You can’t give me what already belongs to me, you are simply bringing it to me.” 

You can’t give what doesn’t belong to you and so you can’t give your tithe to God, you can only bring it to Him.  Nowhere in the Bible does it tell us to give our tithe to God, it always tells us to bring our tithe to God’s house.  In the Old Testament that was the temple, in the New Testament it was the local church, not a university, not the United Way not a Television Ministry, the local church. 

No listen to how this story ends.  2 Chronicles 31:5-7 The people of Israel responded immediately and generously by bringing the first of their crops and grain, new wine, olive oil, honey, and all the produce of their fields. They brought a large quantity—a tithe of all they produced. The people who had moved to Judah from Israel, and the people of Judah themselves, brought in the tithes of their cattle, sheep, and goats and a tithe of the things that had been dedicated to the LORD their God, and they piled them up in great heaps. They began piling them up in late spring, and the heaps continued to grow until early autumn. Heaps is the technical term.

Well the King came to see how things were going and saw the heaps of stuff that had been brought to the temple.  And he was a little concerned that he had been misunderstood and that people were giving more than they needed to or perhaps more than they could afford and so he asked the priests “where did all this come from?”  and they response is recorded in 2 Chronicles 31:10 And Azariah the high priest, from the family of Zadok, replied, “Since the people began bringing their gifts to the LORD’s Temple, we have had enough to eat and plenty to spare. The LORD has blessed his people, and all this is left over.”

They brought what they were required to bring and the Lord blessed them.  You gotta love that. 

So what do you do with the first of everything you get?

You realize of course that you honour who give to first.  Is it God?  Or is it the cable company, or visa or dinner out?   When asked about the tithe people are usually told that it is 10% of what they make, the reality according to scripture is that it is the first 10% of what we make.  If you make a thousand dollars a week, the tithe is the first hundred dollars that you spend of that thousand.  So the question is who’s getting the tithe?

Let’s pray.