The Sermon on the Amount | A Sermon on Mark 12:41-44

Introduction
The title of my message today is:  “The Sermon on the Amount.”  You can probably guess the subject of the message from the title.  This sermon answers a question people often ask:  “How much money should I give at church?” 

Money is a sensitive subject—especially when a preacher is the one talking about it. 
But I hope you will listen closely, because this is important.   

Jesus talked about money a lot, because He understood how people handle money is one of the main things that reveals the inward and unseen state of their hearts. 
Since Jesus cares deeply about us and how we handle money, we should too.

The Tithe
In the Old Testament, the guideline for giving was called the tithe.  A tithe is a tenth of a person’s income.  The tradition of giving 10% of your income to God through the church goes all the way back to the patriarch Abraham in Genesis 14.  

Abraham gave God 10% of all the assets he recovered from a battle with an invading army.  Abraham knew God was the one who gave him victory in battle. 
The tithe was a way for Abraham to honor God for the victory.

Abraham’s grandson, Jacob, also practiced tithing.  God promised in a dream to bless Jacob with land and many descendants.  In gratitude, Jacob promised in Gen. 28:22, “I will give God a tenth of everything he gives me.”

The tithe became the standard for giving throughout the Old Testament and was codified in Jewish law.  Leviticus 27:30 – “A tenth of the produce of the land, whether grain or fruit, belongs to the Lord and must be set apart to him as holy.”  And verse 32 – “The Lord also owns every tenth animal counted off from your herds and flocks. They are set apart to him as holy.”

Besides showing gratitude to God, the tithe was also a way to support people who had no other means of support—priests, refugees, widows, and orphans (see Deuteronomy 14:28-29).  The Bible says tithing also teaches people to trust and revere God (see Deuteronomy 14:23).

Average Annual Income and the Tithe
Tithing continued in the New Testament and is still the standard for giving in churches today.  So, to the question: “What amount should I give the church?” the answer for many Christians is: “10% of your income.”  The average annual income for Butts County, GA is about $48,000 per year.  So, for example, a person who earns $48,000 per year would give $4,800 per year to the church (or about $92 per week).

Now, I could spend the next 10 minutes trying to convince you why you should give a full tithe to the church; I could quote Bible verses and speak of my own personal experience with tithing and what a blessing it’s been.  And such a sermon would be challenging, because most people in the church don’t tithe and it’s not easy to give away 10% of your income. 

 The truth is, a message about giving 10% to the church wouldn’t be challenging enough.  God has an even greater challenge for you this morning.  So, I want to read to you from the Gospel of Mark 12:41-44.

Mark 12:41-44
⁴¹ Jesus sat down near the collection box in the Temple and watched as the crowds dropped in their money. Many rich people put in large amounts. ⁴² Then a poor widow came and dropped in two small coins.

⁴³ Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has given more than all the others who are making contributions. ⁴⁴ For they gave a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she had to live on.”

The Collection Box in the Temple
In the Temple in Jesus day, the collection boxes kind of looked like a trumpet on top of a box.  The “horn” was made of brass.  So, as you dropped coins into it, the metal coins would rattle against the brass horn as they went into the box (and back then all money was coins; there was no paper money).  So as people entered the Temple, it was all designed to show off how much money people gave (and by implication, how wealthy and important they were). 

You can imagine the scene:  Maybe one person drops a small bag of coins into the collection box and you can hear the sound of numerous coins rattling down the horn.  And everyone hears it and thinks: “Hmmm…”  Then, a wealthier person empties a larger bag of coins into the box and it really makes a lot of noise.  And people think, “Wow!”  And the family that dropped that money in can stand a little taller—proud of their wealth and the fact that everyone knows it.  And the Bible says Jesus was sitting there near the collection box watching people drop in their money.  That’s an interesting thought.  Jesus was interested in what people did with their money. 

In our day, we are very private about what we give to the church.  We are very careful at Stark to keep your financial giving confidential.  But Jesus knows what you give.  Jesus knows not only what you give, but what you can give and why you do or don’t give.  Jesus knows your heart.  Just as Jesus watched as the crowds giving their money to the Temple, Jesus watches as people give money to the church today.

Jesus wasn’t impressed by all the rich people giving their money.  He knew most of them had so much extra that they could give and it didn’t even hurt.  It might sound impressive to hear such a loud jingling as a sack full of money rattled down into the collection box, but Jesus knew it was money a rich man would never even miss. 

And Jesus knew their hearts.  Maybe Jesus wasn’t impressed because He knew many of the richest givers cared more about what people thought about them than what God thought.  Maybe Jesus knew the richest givers really didn’t care about the poor or the needy, they just wanted to be admired.  Jesus knew their hearts.

And then a poor widow came to the collection box.  She dropped in two small coins.  These coins were called Lepta.  They were the smallest Greek copper coin, about 1/128 of a laborer’s daily wage--insignificant to most people of the day.  We might think of them as a couple pennies. 

Yet Jesus admired the widow because He knew it was all she had. Jesus said:  “This poor widow has given more than everyone else. They only gave a tiny part of their great income; but she gave everything she had to live on, even though she is very poor.”  The law only required 10%, but the widow gave everything she had.

Psalm 24:1 says, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.  The world and all its people belong to him.”  God already owns everything.  (God is the only person in existence is truly “independently wealthy.”)  God doesn’t need your money or my money or anyone’s money. 

And He certainly doesn’t need a poor widow’s two cents.  But the widow’s gift is remarkable because it shows she is content with her life and she trusts God will take care of her.  She had incredible faith.  She trusted in God rather than her money.  And so, God had from her what He wanted most of all—her heart.

Now I want to be careful.  Jesus isn’t asking poor people to give the church their grocery money.  One verse before this story of the widow’s offering, in Mark 12:40, Jesus has condemned religious leaders for “shamelessly cheat[ing] widows out of their property and then pretend[ing] to be pious by making long prayers in public.”  And now here comes a widow who gives everything she has.  Jesus isn't praising a religious system that impoverishes vulnerable people.  He's watching a woman whose entire life is placed in God's hands.  He admires her faith, while simultaneously rebuking rich religious people for their hypocrisy.

It’s Better to Give Your Heart than Your Money
It is far better to give someone your heart than your money.  How much better off would we all be if we understood this principle?  It is better to give your heart than your money. 

 “How many marriages have deteriorated into empty emotions because the husbands do not hear the silent yearnings of the wife when she says, ‘I don’t want your money.  I want you.’  How many parents have lost their children because they failed to interpret the signs, ‘I don’t want your presents, [Mom and Dad].  I want you.’”[i]  Too often we try to buy people off—but no amount of money can substitute for your heart.

Most churchgoers know the number. Ten percent. In fact, a recent Lifeway study found that 77% of Protestant churchgoers believe tithing is still a biblical command.  But only about half say they actually give 10% or more to their church.  Barna found an even wider gap when looking at Christians more broadly:  only 21% of Christians said they give 10% or more of their income to their church.  Apparently, knowing the number and trusting God with the amount are two very different things.

Others may feel very proud they do give a full tithe on their income.  They’re giving at more than most others.  They may feel like they’ve done their duty and they aren’t challenged to do more.  “Why, look at me!  I’m a tither!”  Whether you do or don’t tithe, don’t miss the heart of Christ’s Gospel.  In Jesus Christ, God says, “I don’t want what you have; I want you.”[ii] 

God didn’t send His son to die on the cross of Calvary so that He could just have 10% of our income. He did it because He wants you—every part of you.  God doesn’t just want you 10% of the time; He wants you all the time and for all eternity.  God doesn’t want your money.  He wants you!  And where your heart is, there your treasure will be also.[iii] 

What’s more, Jesus didn’t just come to save you; he came to save the whole world.  And he appointed the Church as His Body to carry out His mission.  He said, “Go and make disciples of all the nations…”[iv]  We are nothing less than the Body of Christ.  His mission has become our mission. 
His passion has become our passion.  What an awesome responsibility! What an incredible honor—to spend ourselves and all we have for the souls of our brothers and sisters here in Butts County and to the ends of the earth. 

The Apostle Paul understood the full ramifications of this.  He said in all sincerity, “I will gladly spend myself and all I have for your spiritual good…” That is the attitude I pray for us to have.  How far are we willing to go for the spiritual good of the person sitting next to us today?  Are we willing to expend ourselves and all we have for the people in our community? 

The True Amount = Everything
You see, the real question is not: “What amount of money should I give to the church?”  In light of our purpose as Christians and the tremendous need around the world, the question is: “How much dare I spend on myself?”  The question is not: “Can I afford to give 10% of my income to the church?”  The question is, “Can I justify the lifestyle that consumes 90% of my income?” 

 We live in one of the most prosperous nations in the world, and a lot of good has come of it, but is it enough?  Have we done all we could do with the vast wealth God has given us?  Have I done all the good I can do with the wealth God has given me?

A lot of people would say the problem with the church today is not enough Christians actually tithe.  I disagree.  The problem isn’t whether or not we tithe.  The problem is we haven’t followed the example of the widow.  We haven’t given everything to God. 

---

[i] John Wilkerson, “I Seek Not What is Yours, but You”

[ii] 2 Corinthians 12:14

[iii] Mathew 6:21

[iv] Matthew 12:19

The Glory of the Temple | A Sermon on 1 Kings 6

Introduction
Last week, we learned about the Tabernacle—the place the ancient Hebrews worshiped God.  Since the Hebrew slaves who left Egypt lived in tents as they wandered through the wilderness, God chose to live in a tent too.  He Instructed the Israelites to build the Tabernacle Tent.  The Israelites worshipped God in the Tabernacle for 480 years.

However, after the Israelites established their kingdom in Israel and were all living in homes, God instructed King Solomon to build a house of worship, the Temple, in Jerusalem.  Today, I hope to express to you the glory of Solomon’s Temple, not to exalt the Temple, but to show how the glory of the Temple exalts the glory and holiness of God.  I want us to remember that the God we worship is the same holy and glorious God.  And I want us to reflect on how we honor God in our own worship space here at Pleasant Grove.

Have you ever had construction work done in your home or where you work?  A few years ago, we had a waterline break in our kitchen while we were out of town for Thanksgiving weekend.  We returned to a home in need of serious repair.  Our homeowner's insurance covered most of the cost.  However, it took several months to renovate all the damage.  In the meantime, our normally quite home was inundated with the sounds of dehumidifiers, hammers, drills, and all kinds of construction.  It was a very noisy affair.

You might imagine the construction of God’s Temple in Jerusalem was a noisy affair too.  But the Israelites revered God so much they even took care to build His Temple in a holy manner.  1 Kings 6:7 says, “The stones used in the construction of the Temple were finished at the quarry, so there was no sound of hammer, ax, or any other iron tool at the building site.”  This gives us a sense of how sacred the ancient Israelites treated the building of God’s Temple.

The Temple
Based on 1 Kings 6:1-10. it took 7 years for Solomon to build the Temple for the Lord.  The inner proportions were 90 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 45 feet high—about the size of a modern basketball court and as tall as a 9 story building.  It featured an entry room across the front, narrow recessed windows, and a three-story complex of rooms along the sides and rear.  The structure was built with finished stones and cedar beams and planks were used for the ceiling.

1 Kings 6:11-13
¹¹ Then the Lord gave this message to Solomon: ¹² “Concerning this Temple you are building, if you keep all my decrees and regulations and obey all my commands, I will fulfill through you the promise I made to your father, David.  ¹³ I will live among the Israelites and will never abandon my people Israel.”

The Interior
Based on 1 Kings 6:14-38, the interior of Solomon's Temple was a magnificent testament to divine glory and unparalleled expense, akin to a multi-billion-dollar construction today.  23 tons of gold were used in the Temple, (a cube of solid gold 4.5’x4.5’x4.5’), worth about $63 million.  The Temple was entirely paneled with the finest cedar wood, symbolizing life and vitality, while the floors were made of high-quality cypress, equivalent to using premium hardwood flooring throughout.  The Most Holy Place, a perfect cube 30 feet in each dimension, was overlaid with solid gold—comparable to millions of dollars in gold leaf—emphasizing the pure holiness of God’s presence.  The walls were adorned with intricate carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, all gilded with gold, evoking the lush imagery of the Garden of Eden, where God’s presence first dwelled in harmony with creation.  Inside the sanctuary, massive cherubim, each 15 feet tall with wings spanning 15 feet across, were covered in gold, reminiscent of the cherubim guarding Eden.  The lavish use of gold and symbols from the Garden of Eden underscored not only the Temple’s sacredness but also its role as a new Eden, a place where heaven and earth converged in divine splendor.  And of course, the Ark of the Covenant, gilded in gold and symbolizing the throne of God on earth, now resided in the Holy of Holies in the inner Temple.

The Holiness of God
The extravagance and detailed craftsmanship of the Temple furnishings reflect the holiness and majesty of God, who is worthy of the highest honor and reverence.  This is beautifully echoed in 1 Chronicles 29:11, where King David declares, "Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours."  The gold, precious stones, and intricate designs of the Temple were not merely for show; they were physical expressions of worship, meant to honor a God who is infinitely glorious.  Just as the Temple was adorned with the finest materials, so too are we called to offer our best—whether in our actions, our worship, or our devotion—recognizing that God is deserving of all we can give and more.  Is the way you worship God really your best? 

Dedication and Worship
The effort and resources dedicated to building and adorning the Temple demonstrate the importance of worshiping God with our best, symbolizing our deep respect and adoration for Him.  This principle is reflected in Malachi 1:8, where God reproves the Israelites for offering blemished sacrifices, asking, "When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong?  When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals, is that not wrong?  Try offering them to your governor!  Would he be pleased with you?  Would he accept you?"  Just as the Israelites were called to offer their best to God in their sacrifices, the lavish care and resources poured into the Temple’s construction highlight that worship should be marked by excellence and reverence.  Our offerings to God—whether in time, resources, or devotion—should reflect the highest honor, as they symbolize our profound respect and love for Him.  Are you really giving God your best?

Christian Believers Are Now God's Temple
Transitioning to the New Testament, passages like 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 and 1 Peter 2:4-5 emphasize that believers are now the temple of God, housing His Spirit and called to live holy lives.  In 1 Corinthians 3:16-17, Paul writes, "Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in your midst?  If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy that person; for God's temple is sacred, and you together are that temple."  Similarly, 1 Peter 2:4-5 calls believers "living stones" being built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.  These passages reveal the profound truth that, as the New Testament Temple, our lives must reflect the holiness and purity worthy of God's indwelling presence, with our actions and character being offerings of worship to Him.  Is the way you live for God really your best?

Worshipping God with a Shoestring Budget
The extravagant way the ancient Israelites built their Temple and then worshipped God convicts me, because I don’t feel like we honor God that way today.  We don’t really give God our best.
This is something that’s really convicted me lately. 
Today, we worship God on shoestring budget.

Let me tell you something about the way I grew up and how it molded my personality.  I grew up poor.  We didn’t have much and had to make do with what we had.  After my father left my mom alone to raise 4 kids on her own, things got even tighter.  There was a time my mom sent me into our backyard with an ax to chop up old furniture to use for firewood to heat our home, because that’s all the heat we had that winter.  And if something broke—like my bicycle—I would scrabble together parts from other old bikes that were laying around just to fix mine.  I knew my mom couldn’t but me a new bike or even buy parts to fix my broken bike.  So, all my upbringing, I learned to make do with what I had.  I learned to do things as cheap as possible and operate on a shoestring budget and to do all the work myself.

And that has served me well as a pastor in our world, because churches in our modern world always struggle to be fully and properly funded.  Churches don’t have what they really need.  So, for example, when the TV display unit hanging high up on our sanctuary wall stopped working back in 2017, we didn’t pay someone to come install a new one.  No, instead, I rented a scissor lift, and I borrowed a trailer from Tom Sosebee to go pick it up.  Then I enlisted my 18-year-old son, Gavin, to help me install a new TV.  By doing it all ourselves, we probably saved a few hundred bucks.  But I’ll be honest, it scared the crap out of me.  After finishing the job, TW said, “Chris, why didn’t you just pay someone to do it?”  To be honest, the thought never even crossed my mind.  This is the church.  We don’t have money to just “pay someone” to do stuff.  We always have to figure out what’s the absolute cheapest way we can do something.  At least that’s the way I’ve always thought about it.  And I suspect that’s the way most people in the church think about it.  And it effects everything about the way we do ministry.

When it comes to the staff of our church, we always say, “We can’t pay our staff what they’re worth, only what we can afford.”  That's just the reality of our situation with the budget we have.  And so we ask our staff to work for less than what they deserve to be paid.  And I’ve come to believe it’s a sin what we are doing.  Because it’s a lie.  We can afford to pay our staff a proper wage, but it would require everyone in our church to change and be fully committed to worship God with our very best, give God our very best, and live for God with our very best.

A Call to Honor God with Our Very Best
Brothers and sisters, we've walked through the history of the Temple, understanding the immense effort, resources, and reverence that went into its construction.  The ancient Israelites spared no expense, offering their very best to God because they understood that God is worthy of nothing less.  The Temple wasn't just a building; it was a symbol of their deep devotion, a reflection of their understanding that worshiping God required the utmost excellence and reverence.

But here’s the question we need to ask ourselves: Are we offering our very best to God today?

It’s easy to fall into the mindset that we must operate on a shoestring budget, that we must scrimp and save and do things as cheaply as possible.  But when we do that, we risk losing sight of something crucial: that our God is not a God of the leftovers.  He is a God of glory, majesty, and holiness, deserving of the highest honor.

In Malachi 1:8, God challenges the Israelites, saying, "When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong?  When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals, is that not wrong?”  This scripture hits home for us today.  Are we giving God the blind and the lame of our resources, our time, and our talents, or are we giving Him our very best?

Our church, this house of worship, is not just a building.  It’s the place where we come together as a community to honor God, to worship Him, to be in His presence.  It’s a reflection of our devotion, our love, and our respect for Him.  And if we truly believe that God is as holy and glorious as we say He is, then our actions, our service, and our giving should reflect that belief.

So, I challenge you to change today:  Let’s change our attitude about how we support the work of the church.  Let’s stop thinking of it in terms of what we can afford or what’s the cheapest way to get by.  Instead, let’s start thinking about what honors God the most.  Let’s commit to offering our very best in every aspect of our lives—our time, our talents, our resources.

Imagine what could happen if each of us gave God our best.  Imagine how our church could thrive, how our ministry could expand, how we could reach more people for Christ if we all committed to worshiping God with excellence.  It’s not just about money; it’s about the attitude of our hearts.  It’s about recognizing that everything we have comes from God and that He is worthy of our best.  Let’s honor God the way the ancient Israelites did—with reverence, with excellence, and with our very best.

Invitation
As we move toward rededicating our church as Holy Ground on August 25th, let this be a time of personal rededication as well.  Reflect on how you can give God your best—whether it's through your service, your giving, or your devotion.  If you’ve been holding back, now is the time to fully commit.  If you’ve been giving out of convenience rather than sacrifice, now is the time to change that.  Let’s pray together, asking God to help us honor Him with all that we are and all that we have.  And if you feel led to take a step of faith—whether it’s committing your life to Christ, dedicating your talents to His service, or simply choosing to live more fully for Him, I invite you to pray to God about it today and then talk to someone:  a pastor, a spiritual advisor, or a trust Christian friend.

Are You Acting Like a Hypocrite?

Introduction
I think it’s obvious to everyone who knows us, that my family loves dressing up for Halloween.  Although, if I’m being totally transparent, after so many years of doing it—and with the expectation every year that we must have a great costume because it’s expected—the pressure of having a great costume is a bit stressful every year.  And with 2 kids now grown and out of the house, and Abigail being a full-fledged teenager who may or may not want to be part of the family tradition, some of the joy we had in the past has gone out of

it.

Still, we do love to dress up.  The hardest part is coming up with an idea—something that’s new and different, that we haven’t seen overdone, but also something people will recognize.  And something that’s doable (because we like to make our own costumes as much as possible.

Once we find the right idea, we may even research the characters a little bit to understand them.
A few years ago when we dressed up as Popeye and Olive Oil, we spent several evenings together watching old cartoons of Popeye. And I got curious:  why did Popeye love spinach so much? I found out the original cartoon’s creator wanted to encourage kids to eat healthier.  So, he made spinach the miraculous source of Popeye's super-stregnth. It worked. Some data shows kids consumption of spinach increased by as ⅓ at the cartoon’s most popular period.

Of course, we all know the characters we dress up as during Halloween are just make-believe. No matter how much we delve into it, when we take off the masks we become ourselves again.
Halloween is just pretend.

But what we do during Halloween—pretending to be someone else for the night—is a great example of a mystery of human behavior Jesus warned about often.  Jesus warned His followers not to be like the hypocrites. 

You know what a hypocrite is.  It’s become a churchy word.  Sometimes we use it in the church and sometimes people outside the church like to call people who go to church hypocrites.  In Jesus day, hypocrite was a Greek word that came from the Greek culture.  In Greece, people loved to watch plays in the theater.  And the actors in the play were known as hypocrites.

The actors in the plays would put on costumes or masks and pretend to be character from Greek mythology.  And then the actors would act out the great mythological stories of Greece.  Hypocrites pretended to be other people in order to tell the story.  That’s fine if you are an actor in a play (or if you’re dressing up for Halloween), but we shouldn’t be like hypocrites in real life. 

This is a theme Jesus touches on again and again throughout the 6^th chapter of Matthew in His Sermon on the Mount.  Today, we read Matthew 6:1-4.

Matthew 6:1-4
¹ “Watch out! Don’t do your good deeds publicly, to be admired by others, for you will lose the reward from your Father in heaven. ² When you give to someone in need, don’t do as the hypocrites do—blowing trumpets in the synagogues and streets to call attention to their acts of charity! I tell you the truth, they have received all the reward they will ever get. ³ But when you give to someone in need, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. ⁴ Give your gifts in private, and your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.

When You Give...
The people of Jesus’ day, as do Christians today, inherently knew that righteous people do good deeds—including giving charity to people in need.  Throughout the Old Testament, God instructed people to give to help people in need. 

And it’s important to point out, Jesus assumed His followers would give to the needy.  Jesus didn’t say, “If you give to the needy…”  He said, “When you give to the needy…”

Tooting Your Own Horn
Important and wealthy people of Jesus day—both Romans and Jews in Israel—made big displays of when they gave money to the poor.  Roman officials would often erect monuments to commemorate their giving.  One Roman official I learned about recently had a record of all the money he had given and all good deeds he had done carved onto a wall in the city where he governed.  The record of his “righteousness” is still preserved in ancient ruins to this day.

Sometimes, wealthy religious leaders in Israel would stand on a street corner and have trumpets blown to get everyone’s attention while they handed our charity to the poor.  Everyone in the neighborhood would hear the trumpets and know that person was a righteous and generous person.

But Jesus said, “Don’t do your good deeds publicly, to be admired by others, for you will lose the reward from your Father in heaven.”  It feels good to be admired by others.  And a fact of life in our modern world is:  Sometimes you do have to toot your own horn.  In order to succeed as a business or and individual, you have to "market" yourself.

If you’ve ever made a resume in order to get a job, if you’ve ever gone to a job interview, you know you have to show your potential employer that you are worthy of the position.  You may be competing against other candidates and you have to show your next boss that you’re the best choice for the job.  So you sort of have to "toot your own horn" in some sense in some situations.  There's nothing wrong with that.  And Jesus also said, "Let your good deeds shine forth before people so they will glorify your Father in Heaven." (See Matthew 5:16).  

What Jesus is saying in Matthew chapter 6 is:  don’t pretend you’re someone you’re not.  Don’t pretend to be righteous and holy like the religious leaders on the street corners blowing horns so every one will look at them and think, “Now there is a truly godly, righteous person.  You know God them!  Look how good they are!”

You see the Pharisee and Sadducees, the religious leaders in Israel where Jesus lived, were hypocrites.  They pretended to be righteous.  They did such a good job of acting, they fooled everyone.  People believed they were truly holy and righteous.  They looked good on the outside, but they were rotten and evil on the inside.  They cared more about what people thought of them than what God thought.  Their charitable giving was done to win people’s favor.  This helped them stay in power and protected their positions of authority and their income.

In fact, when the Son of God, Jesus, came to the religious leaders of Israel, they rejected Him.  They didn’t care about God.  They didn’t care about the people. They only cared about themselves.

What was worse, not only did they lie to the people and make them believe they were holy, they also lied to themselves and believed their own lie.  They believed they were holy and God must love them more than anyone else.  They were so blind the didn't recognize when the Son of God Himself came to them.  They crucified Jesus.

Don’t Lie to Yourself
We have to be very careful, because we want to believe we are good people who are holy.  We want to believe we deserve God’s blessings.  We should know better, because if we look inside our hearts, we can easily see we are often selfish and petty and sinful.  Even so, we want to believe we deserve some kind of divine reward because we’re so good.

When we believe our own lies, when we believe we are good, we are blinded to our desperate need of God’s salvation and merciful grace.  Jesus wants us to do good and give to the needy to glorify God, but Jesus doesn’t want these habits to be a way we lie to ourselves and others.

Be very careful, because when you make a big show of doing good or giving to the needy, you could become like an actor (a hypocrite) who is putting on a show, pretending to be good.  Impurity in your heart can sneak in and poison you’re motives to where you don’t even care about the person you’re helping.  You’re just show off for others to see—wearing a mask, pretending to be someone you’re not.

Protecting Yourself From Yourself
Since we are prone to believe our own lies that we are good and deserve God’s favor and people should look up to us, we need a way to protect ourselves from ourselves.  First of all, realize you are not good.  Realize you are sinner who desperately needs God’s grace.  You don’t deserve anything from God.  Every good blessing you have received is a gift given by God in spite of your sin.

Second, give anonymously sometimes.  Now, I’m not saying you always have to give anonymously.  It’s ok to get a receipt of your charitable giving.  It's even ok to get take credit for which you're eligible. But don’t make a habit of making a big show of your giving.  Make sure your giving for the right reasons—to help the needy, to show compassion, and to glorify God, not in order to show how awesome you are.  Do it for the glory of God and to help people in need.  And I challenge you to at least sometimes (maybe even often) to give absolutely anonymously.  As Jesus said, “don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.   

What is Consecration?

Introduction
Probably one of the best known verses of Scripture in the whole Bible—memorized by people all over the world—is John 3:16. Say it with me.

John 3:16 (NIV)
¹⁶ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Jesus Himself, the one and only Son of God, spoke these beautiful words that summarize His mission.  If there was one verse that could sum up the whole story of the Bible, John 3:16 would probably do it best.  But most don’t know the full historical context of this verse.  It is grounded in the whole story of Scripture, going all the way back through Genesis.

In the wild and disturbing story of Abraham and Isaac in Genesis 22, God commands Abraham to sacrifice his one and only son, Isaac, on Mount Mariah.  Then, as Abraham’s knife is poised to slaughter his son, God stops Abraham and provides a ram to take Isaac’s place. 

In Exodus, we find the Israelites living in slavery in Egypt.  God sends Moses to deliver them, but Pharaoh refuses to let them go.  So God sends 10 plagues to torture the Egyptians and convince them to let God’s people go.  The was blood and frogs and gnats and flies.  All of Egypt’s livestock died.  Then there was boils, hail, locusts, and darkness.  And do you remember the last plague?  It was the most terrible of all…  Every firstborn son not sheltered in a home marked by the blood of a Passover lamb died in a single night.  Every male offspring, from the livestock to the servants and all the way up to Pharoah’s own son, died in that single night.  It was a costly sacrifice brought on by the hard hearted, stubborn Pharoah who would not submit to the God of Israel and let the Israelites go free.

A Day to Remember
It was a day to remember forever.  God does not take death lightly--even the death of those who would be called His enemies.  Jesus said Our Heavenly Father knows and cares if even a single sparrow dies.  How much more when the entire nation of Egypt—every family—loses their first born sons.  It’s devastating.  But that was the cost of that nation’s sin and the cost of Israel’s freedom.

So God wanted His people in Israel to remember that day forever.  He gave them a special way to remember and honor God for saving them. We read about it in Exodus 13:1-5

Exodus 13:1-5
¹ Then the Lord said to Moses, ² “Dedicate to me every firstborn among the Israelites. The first offspring to be born, of both humans and animals, belongs to me.”

³ So Moses said to the people, “This is a day to remember forever—the day you left Egypt, the place of your slavery. Today the Lord has brought you out by the power of his mighty hand. (Remember, eat no food containing yeast.) ⁴ On this day in early spring, in the month of Abib, you have been set free. ⁵ You must celebrate this event in this month each year after the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites, and Jebusites. (He swore to your ancestors that he would give you this land—a land flowing with milk and honey.)

Passover
This passage is the institution of the Passover Feast.  These instructions were given to the Israelites over 3,000 years ago and they have been celebrated by the Hebrew people every year since then as a way to honor God and thank Him for delivering them from slavery in Egypt.  It was a costly deliverance—the death of every Egyptian first born son.  In recognition, the Hebrew people were to eat a special Passover meal and dedicate back to God the first-born male of every Israelite family—both humans and animals.

The Pagan cultures all around Israel were known to practice human sacrifice.  Whereas God stopped Abraham and would not allow Abraham to actually sacrifice his son, Isaac, other non-Israelite people often did sacrifice their first-born sons (as well as other children).  Child/human sacrifice is one of the reasons the Bible says God drove other nations out of the Promised Land and gave it to the Israelites instead.  Those other nations sacrificed their children, thinking it would please and manipulate their gods into helping them.  But the one true God of the Bible abhors human sacrifice. He forbids anyone to do it.  And if you think how people made these evil sacrifice thinking they could manipulate their gods with them, you get an even deeper sense of how evil they are.  They do not trust God and think they should and can perform some type of magic to control their gods.  But the one true God is sovereign and we cannot and should not try to control Him--especially by taking the life of a child or any other person.

So God didn’t ask the Israelites to actually place their children on the Temple altar and sacrifice them.  Rather, God instructed them to “dedicate” or consecrate them to God.  Since God had purchased the Israelites at the cost of every first born son of Egypt, now the Israelites honored God by consecrating to Him their firstborn sons.

Consecrate
Consecrate is a special word for a special action.  To consecrate means to make or declare something sacred—dedicated formally to a religious or divine purpose.

When something is consecrated, it is dedicated for a holy purpose.  For instance, our altar is consecrated for use in religious services in our church.  It would be out of place to use this altar for just any old purpose.  Right?  We wouldn’t take it home and use it as a breakfast table in our house.  That would be disrespectful and sacrilegious.  That’s not what it was made for; it has been dedicated to be used for Christian worship services.  The only meal we place upon this table is a sacred meal—Holy Communion—dedicated to remember Jesus.  That is what it means to consecrate something.  It is to set it apart for God’s divine purpsoses.

We are here today on Consecration Sunday.  It is a day set aside to consecrate ourselves and our gifts to God for the coming year.  I have asked each of you to complete a Stewardship Survey and to indicate how you will serve God with your prayers, your presence, your gifts, your service, and your witness.  You have had time to prayerfully consider what you will dedicate to the Lord.  We have not required you to dedicate any certain amount.  I’ve instructed you over the last several weeks about the biblical standards, but what you choose to give is a matter of prayer between you and God.  And today you have a chance to consecrate what you have chosen to give. 

In a moment, I will ask each of you to come forward and lay your survey upon the altar.  What you lay upon the altar, you consecrate to God.  It is set apart as holy for the Lord.  Therefore, it should only be used for His glory.  You shouldn’t take it back to use however you please.  It is for God.

John 3:16
But now we come back to John 3:16—that verse we love so much because it makes God’s Word in the Bible so simple.  “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

Who is it who gave?  It is God.

What did He give?  Jesus, His one and only son.

Who did God give Jesus for?  For the whole world.  That includes you and me.

Why did God give us Jesus? 
So that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Just like the Israelites in Exodus, we have been delivered from slavery.
But our slavery wasn’t to a Pharoah in Egypt.  Our slavery was to sin and death.
Our sin separates us from God and corrupts our whole world.  We are spiritually dead.
But, praise God, through Jesus we can be delivered from our slavery.
When we repent of our sin and trust Jesus to save, He does and we have freedom and eternal life.

Won’t you repent and turn to Jesus today?  Ask Jesus to forgive you.  Trust Him to save you.
Dedicate your life to serve Him as Lord.  Please join me in the Wesley Covenant Prayer as a way to consecrate ourselves to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Closing – Wesley Covenant Prayer
“I am no longer my own, but thine.
Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed by thee or laid aside for thee,
exalted for thee or brought low for thee.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things
to thy pleasure and disposal.
And now, O glorious and blessed God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
thou art mine, and I am thine. So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth,
let it be ratified in heaven. Amen.”