How & Why To Sacrificially Serve, Give & Witness…
The LORD calls & saves & makes new & transforms His people to
grow closer to the LORD (knowing Him),
grow closer to other Christians (fellowship/discipleship),
grow in sharing the Gospel with non-Christians (evangelism/witnessing).
That’s the “what” taught by the LORD–it is throughout the Bible…
The LORD also teaches the “why” & the “how” throughout the Bible!
1 Chronicles 22:17-19, 14-16:
17Then David ordered all the leaders of Israel to help his son Solomon
[build the Temple of the LORD.
But WHY should they help, why should they act & obey? How?
Building the Temple would be a lot of work…
Same three reasons as us today.]
18 He said to them, “Is not the Lord your God with you?
[1. Presence of God—He is with His people!]
& has he not granted you rest on every side?
[2.Presents of God—spiritual rest in the finished work of Christ on the cross. We are now reconciled to God the Father through repentance & faith in the death & resurrection of His Son Jesus Christ: we are no longer under the wrath of God but are now under & on the wings of God! This is a soul-rest, true peace, that nothing in the world can offer/provide, that no tropical vacation can give us.]
For he has given the inhabitants of the land into my hands,
and the land is subject to the Lord and to his people.
19 Now devote your heart & soul to seeking the Lord your God.
[Most important—even more than helping to build Temple!
Knowing the LORD is more important than serving Him
(though the more we know Him the more we will serve Him)]
Begin to build the sanctuary of the Lord God,
so that you may bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord
and the sacred articles belonging to God
into the temple that will be built for the Name of the Lord.”
[Begin to build! Be a tool as God builds His Kingdom! Don’t spectate—participate!]
3.God has given us everything we need
to be part of advancing His Kingdom—no excuses!]
14“I [David] have taken great pains to provide for the temple of the Lord a hundred thousand talents of gold, a million talents of silver, quantities of bronze and iron too great to be weighed, and wood and stone. And you may add to them. 15You have many workers: stonecutters, masons and carpenters, as well as those skilled in every kind of work 16 in gold and silver, bronze and iron—craftsmen beyond number.
Now begin the work, and the Lord be with you.”
[Talent: approximately 70 lbs (app. 1,100 ounces).
Talent of gold today = $1.6 million.
100k talents of gold = $165 billion today.
Large amount of money that God provided through David…
God also provided through David both the materials (bronze, iron, etc.)
and the muscle (workers) for building the Temple
(and we are called to add to them & make our contribution!).
God provides then and now for us to do what He has commanded!
“It’s not what you will do with the $1 million in your pocket tomorrow,
but what you do with the $10 in your pocket now.” (Crown Financial)
It’s not what you will do once you mature in Christ tomorrow,
but what you do to help you mature in Christ today.
If you are a reborn Christian thru faith alone in Christ alone,
the same Holy Spirit lives in you
both to will and to do God’s good pleasure! (Philippians 2)
We have everything we need to follow Him—no excuses!
2 Peter 1:3: 3 His divine power has given us everything we need
for a godly life
thru our knowledge of him
who called us
by his own glory & goodness.
No time? Our Father CREATED time…
No energy? He gives strength to the weary (Psalm 68:9; Isaiah 40:29)…
End of your rope? That’s the only place to really know the LORD—
now you can only cling to Him…
Too young/inexperienced? “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young
but set an example for the believers in life, love, faith, speech, purity” (1 Timothy 4).
Too old? “Even youths grow tired & weary,
but those who wait upon the LORD
shall renew their strength” (Isaiah 40:30-31).
No desire? “It is GOD Who works in you
both to will [desire] & to do His good purpose” (Philippians 2:13).
God’s spiritual rest for His people
through new birth/faith/repentance in Jesus Christ
means we do less in our power but MORE in His power!
Though we must “cease striving & know that He is God”—Psalm 46:10—the rest from the LORD means that we dont stay in the harbor (safe/easy) but follow Him out to sea (dangerous/hard).
- Sailboats go farther & faster than rowboats—heaven (not earth!) is our Harbor: here we are to go out & build up Christians to maturity & fish for non-Christians.
Thus 1 Chronicles 22 connects with Romans 12—Old & New Testaments!—how do we take up our cross & follow the Lord Jesus sacrificially with the time, talents & money He gives us?
“In view of God’s mercy
[fix your eyes on the Cross!],
offer your bodies as living sacrifices,
wholly & pleasing to God—
[not in part–in whole–as the Lord Jesus didn’t offer part of Himself,
but all of Himself, for us…!]
this is your spiritual act of worship.”
Not because I say, but because the LORD says:
may He use these Bible promises to strengthen
those who are sacrificially
- giving financially,
- serving in the building,
- part of a Bible study and
- spreading the Gospel outside of the church building
to continue to do so…
And may He use these Bible promises strengthen those who aren’t sacrificially
- giving financially,
- serving in the building,
- part of a Bible study and
- spreading the Gospel outside of the church building
to start to do so, all for the glory & fame of the LORD…
