Our Sermons

Bible Passage: 1 Chronicles 29:1-20
Pastor: Pastor Berg
Sermon Date:  February 10, 2019

“No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” Any guesses who spoke those words? They come from King David. When King David purchased the threshing floor of Araunah, the future site of God’s Temple he insisted on paying for it. In other words, how would it be a sacrifice if it cost him nothing? Where would be the joy in that?

It’s easy to be generous when it costs us nothing. Have you ever dreamed about winning the lottery and thinking about what you would do with all the money?I think it would be so much fun, having been in one myself, to be able to use that money to start a new mission or give an endowment fund to Eastside or Lakeside or Martin Lutheran College or Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary? Just thinking about being so rich that you can just give the money away makes you feel good, doesn’t it? But is it joyful generosity if it costs us nothing?

When David made his gift for the building of God’s temple, a temple he would never see but which his son would build, he gave three thousand talents of gold and ten thousand talents of silver. That was 110 tons of gold and 260 tons of silver. That’s about five billion dollars. Some scholars say that David gave his entire personal treasury for the future building of the temple. What motivated David and his people to be so generous? Our lesson shows us that joyful generosity is gospel driven.

You can see what’s in David’s heart in his beautiful prayer. First, David acknowledges that he isn’t really giving something to the Lord. He is only giving something back. Everything he had belonged to the Lord. God made him king. God made him wealthy. God gave him 110 tons of gold and 260 tons of silver. God gave him all this wealth and said to David, “Here, go out and have some fun.” So , that’s what David did. Giving all this to build God’s house was more fun than building another palace on top of a mountain or a seaside resort.

Why was this so much fun for David? Because David’s heart was responding to God’s grace in his life. “But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand. We are aliens and strangers in your sight, as were our forefathers. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope. O LORD our God, as for all this abundance that we have provided for building you a temple for your Holy Name, it comes from your hand, and all of it belongs to you.” “Who am I?” David asks. Where would David be without the grace of God? He would still be a shepherd tending the flocks, because the youngest son in the family never really got to be his own boss. He just tended the sheep. Where would David be without the grace of God? He would still be the adulterer who stole Bathsheba from his faithful soldier and the murderer who put him on the front lines to be killed. Where would David be without the grace of God? Where would he be if God had not sent the prophet, Nathan, to bring him to repentance? We’ll let David tell you in his own words. “When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.” David would have lived his life in dark despair with no hope of heaven. He would have had nothing and he would have been nothing but for the grace of God in his life. He would have come to the end of his life with no future in sight.

Ask yourself this question: where would you be without the grace of God in your life? The answer is that you would be in the same place that millions of people around you are in right now. You would be living your life without any real purpose at all. You may not even realize it. You would go through life not knowing anything different. You’d alway realize that something was missing, but never quite know what it was. You would come to the end of your life, not knowing what’s coming next. Where would you be without God’s grace in your life?

Instead, God has called you to faith in Jesus and given you a hope you’ve never deserved. David had it all, didn’t he? Don’t you have it all as well? Jesus once said to his disciples,, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.” He has made you to be kings and priests in his kingdom. He has taken away your guilt and despair. He gives you the joy of being his children. He has redeemed you and made you his own. There is nothing he withholds from you. He has even filled your purses with silver and gold and says, “Here, go out and have some fun.”

Do you know What Jesus says right after he tells you not to be afraid because he has given you the kingdom? He says, “Sell your possessions and give to the poor.” For people like David and people like you, giving to help others is more fun than spending money on yourself. It’s more fun to donate to the food pantry than to buy a new dress. It’s more fun to provide a scholarship to a student than to drive a new car. It’s more fun to make sure that missionaries can go to China than it is to take a cruise in the Caribbean. Why? Because the generosity of God’s grace opens a well of generosity in our hearts that will never run dry. Joyful generosity responds to the generosity of God’s grace. “But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand.” Joyful generosity is a response to God’s generosity of grace, and it prioritizes the kingdom of God.

When it comes to Christian giving, motivation is the most important thing. It’s even more important that how much we give. In David’s prayer, he says, “I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity. All these things have I given willingly and with honest intent. And now I have seen with joy how willingly your people who are here have given to you. O LORD, God of our fathers Abraham, Issac, and Israel, keep this desire in the hearts of your people forever, and keep their hearts loyal to you.” Notice that David doesn’t talk about how much the people gave, but why they gave. They gave with integrity, with a single-minded devotion for the gospel. He thanks God for that and prays that God would always keep this desire in their hearts.

Many years later, Jesus would worship in a temple that King Herod built. This was the same Herod who wanted to kill the baby Jesus right after he was born, and who killed all the infants in Bethlehem to try and kill Jesus too. He built a magnificent temple that was one of the wonders of the world at that time. Why would he do this? Herod was a selfish man who only thought about himself and his kingdom, not God’s kingdom. Why would he build a temple to the Lord? Because he was an Edomite, a distant cousin of the Jews, and he wanted to gain favor with the Jewish people. There was not an ounce of integrity in his heart and his “generosity” was not pleasing to God at all.

David’s gifts for the temple along with the gifts of God’s people were given willingly and with honest intent. They were given with joy and not for personal gain. In fact, David would never reap the benefits of his generosity in his lifetime. He would never walk into this wonderful new temple, this house of God and gaze upon its beauty. If David was not going to get anything out of the gift, then what was he giving it for? David was providing for the future of his church. David knew that God’s house was going to be a place where the truth of the gospel would be proclaimed for future generations. He wanted this for his son, Solomon, and prayed that God would keep him fully devoted in his heart to God’s purposes and God’s mission. He wanted a place where people would come from distant lands to learn of the only true and living God. He wanted future generations to come to this temple and gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to find comfort in the promise of a Savior.

Isn’t that why you give to the Lord’s work as well? You see a purpose for your life and the wealth that God has given you that far surpasses self-gratification. Your gifts to our congregation have a kingdom focus. Your gifts support pastors that visit people when they are dying and comfort them with the gospel. You gifts support outreach to our community. Your gift support our school, where children are learning about Jesus and studying his Word so they can be strong in their faith. You support the mission efforts of our synod where over 300 people in different countries around the world who are asking our synod to train them to be pastors!

What could we accomplish together for God’s kingdom if this spirit of joyful generosity saturated our hearts, the way it did for David and his people? How many people could be reached with the gospel? Joyful generosity is gospel driven. It responds to the generosity of God’s grace and it prioritizes God’s kingdom. May God give each of us such a heart! Amen