An Offered Life 1981

The reason we never appeal for funds in this church is not because we think that giving is a minor thing. Our Lord makes clear that what we do with the unrighteous mammon is a sign to the father of whether or not we're ready to handle the true riches of his kingdom. And whatever portion of money comes to us, we give as an offering to God.

However, it has to be an offering and not something that's squeezed out of us by the stewardship committee or by anybody's pressure. And in order to let it be an offering, we try to step back and let it be entirely an offering. Also, where that offering is given, whether it goes on the plate or it goes to some other place, is a matter which is entirely between the believer and the Lord.

There's another reason why we are very careful never to, in any way, hint for funds. Almost to the point where we're pretty much in agreement as a flock that it would be better to nail the church doors shut and close up the operation better than that, than to ever beg for one penny. And the reason for this is that so many people who find their way to us have still been carrying around with them scars from where they were stung in the past by some religious financial appeal, ripped off, and are now really suspicious and cynical about churches and money with good reason.

But in our effort to avoid this area which, from the beginning of the church, has been one of such compromise and hypocrisy and evil many, many times, it may be that we've neglected to think through together an area of the life of faith which is essential. We need to think through together what it means to live our lives as an offering to God. From Malachi chapter 3, Behold, I send my messenger to prepare the way before me.

And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple, the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight. Behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming? And who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner's fire and like fuller soap.

He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver. And he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver till they present right offerings to the Lord. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord, as in the days of old, as in the former years.

Now, an offering is not just a lamb you bring to be sacrificed or some wheat you bring from your harvest or some money that you put on the plate. These things are the outward sign of the inward giving of your life. From Genesis, chapter 4. In the course of time, Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions.

And the Lord had regard for Abel in his offering, but for Cain in his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. The Lord said to Cain, Why are you angry? Why is your countenance falling? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is couching, lying at the door.

Its desire is for you, but you must master it. Now, how come God had regard for Abel's offering but not Cain's? Because Abel's was really an offering and Cain's was not. God saw their hearts, and God saw Abel giving himself with his offering.

And he saw Cain holding himself back, keeping himself for himself. There are two ways in which we can give ourselves to God. We can give ourselves to God as an offering, or we can give ourselves to God as an investment.

You give your life to God as an offering. When you're giving it to Him out of gratitude and praise and thanksgiving for who He is. You just give Him.

You're not looking for anything to come back. It's your joy to give this. This is your expression of thanksgiving to Him.

No strings attached. You give your life as an investment to God when you calculate. If I give my life to God, then God is going to start doing a few extra things for me.

I'm going to get a return on my investment. See, then you're not really giving your life. You're giving it, but you're holding on to it.

It's like money market certificates. You're going to get interest, and then in the end you're going to get your money back too, hopefully. We won't talk about the economy.

But I can still remember, back in high school days, I had a friend who complained at the end of a date with a girl he claimed to be in love with. After all the money I spent on her, and she didn't even give me a kiss! Now the money he spent on this girl was not a gift. It wasn't an offering.

It was an investment. And it was shaky. And he lost.

And yet how often, how often, the life we live for God, we think of ourselves as really spending ourselves for God. It's not truly a joyful abandoning of everything we are and have to Him, in thanksgiving and praise for who He is, how good He is. But rather, it's an investment.

And we're really looking for a return. And the proof that this life we say and feel we're living for God is actually an investment shows up when the return doesn't come like it should. And we begin to think, God is cheating me.

All these years I served you, never transgressed one of your commandments. You never gave me a kid that I might make married with my friends. But when this son of yours comes, who devoured your living with harvest, you killed for him a fatted calf.

So all those years of service and obedience to the Father were not an offering. They were an investment. I'll say it once again, an offering is a life that's given to God joyfully, no strings, expecting nothing back, just for Him.

An investment is a life that's given to God. But in our hearts, we're looking for that return. And when it doesn't come, we begin to say, it doesn't pay to follow Jesus.

What's the use of prayer? I'm tired of being good. And what we really mean is, I'm not getting a good enough return on my investment, so I'm going to pull out. Now, some of us pull out very suddenly.

And some of us take 15, 20 years, bit by bit, we pull out. One day we wake up and we find that we're out. For he is like a refiner's fire, like fuller soap.

He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver till they present right offerings to the Lord. What's a right offering? The leper, one out of 10, who, when he saw that he was cleansed, turned and with a loud voice began thanking and praising God and threw himself down at Jesus' feet giving him thanks. That was a right offering.

He was, in fact, giving Jesus his body, soul, spirit, his future, his everything. The woman who took that alabaster box of ointment worth a year's wages and lavished it on Jesus shortly before his crucifixion was presenting a right offering to the Lord. This wasn't an investment.

She wasn't looking for something to come back. She was just so grateful to Jesus for the new life he had given her. Or when Saul of Tarsus just turned in his tracks on meeting Jesus and began to live his life, pour out his life for God day after day, year after year, on and on, that was an offering, a right offering to the Lord.

Paul understood very well that in a million years he couldn't possibly repay Jesus for his death on the cross for him. But it was Paul's joy every day to get up in the morning and give himself and spend himself for his Lord. Psalm 116, starting at verse 12.

What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits to me? I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people. I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving and will call upon the name of the Lord.

I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all his people in the courts of the Lord's house, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem. Praise ye the Lord. An offering begins with a question.

What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits to me? Now, until we've experienced salvation, until we've received it, it's legitimate for us to ask, what must I do to be saved? What do I do to stay out of hell or to get out of the hell that I'm in or to get into the kingdom of God? But once the blood of the Lamb has brought peace to our hearts, once the Spirit of the Lord has brought the life of God right down into our body, soul, and spirit, the only question that makes any sense for us to ask is, what shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits to me? What shall I do to show him my gratitude? I will take the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord. I will receive the salvation he gives me and I will start living in his presence. And to live in the presence of the Lord is to be calling on his name, all the time calling on his name, praising him, worshiping him, communing with him.

Very good. You're going to receive salvation? You're going to live in the presence of the Lord? You're going to walk with him and talk with him? When? I will pay my vows unto the Lord now, in the presence of all his people. I'm going to do what I said I would do, here and now, in the congregation, in the midst of my brothers and sisters.

That's what the psalmist is saying. That's what David is saying. Lord, I thank you for your salvation.

Thank you. And now I receive it and I enter into it and I call upon your name and I renew my commitment to you and my brothers and sisters in the faith are my witnesses. So now, I've received salvation.

I've entered into God's presence. There's one more thing I'm going to do as an offering to God. I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving and will call on the name of the Lord.

What's a sacrifice of thanksgiving? Obviously, a life spent in thanking God. With the mouth, of course, but also with deeds of mercy. Deeds of mercy.

What a difference it makes when we begin to do what we do for people as an offering. If I do something for somebody as an offering to God and this person never says thank you, no problem. It wasn't an investment, it was an offering.

Let her go. I do something for somebody and they never pay me back. All I get for it is a kick in the feet.

No problem. I didn't do it for them, I did it for the Lord. It was an offering to Him.

Let her go. As praise and thanksgiving to Him. You know, and the evil that comes back to me for the good becomes a blessing in itself in ways that are beyond my comprehension.

What a difference it makes in our lives when we begin to do what we do for each other and for other people as an offering. The prayers we pray for people. The visits we make.

The letters we write. The meals we cook. The gifts we give.

The time we spend listening to people, serving people. What a joy when we begin to do these things as an offering to God out of praise and thanksgiving to Him and not looking for the return. I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving and will call on the name of the Lord.

When I will pay my vows to the Lord now in the presence of all His people. I'm going to do what I said I would do in the presence of the congregation. I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, Romans 12, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Spiritual worship, not some kind of deal with God. I'll give you my life, Lord, if you give me a seat in heaven. You've already got a seat in heaven.

You've already got the gift of the Spirit of God breathing upon your life. Such blessings could never possibly come as a return on any investment. Now, it's true.

Jesus did talk about spiritual investments to His disciples when their hearts were still hard, before they understood what an offering was. He says, sell what you have and give alms. Provide yourselves with bags, purses that don't grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail.

Don't lay up for yourselves treasures on earth. Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven. Those are investments.

But when the light of the cross began to dawn upon their sin-darkened minds, and when the Holy Spirit fell upon them from the Father, these men and women offered their lives and continued to offer their lives as long as they were around in thanksgiving and praise. And if they had any investments building up in heaven, that sure wasn't their motivation. May God help us to turn our invested lives into offered lives today.

To present our bodies as living sacrifices to God. Holy, acceptable to Him, which is our spiritual worship. What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits to me? I will take the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord.

I will pay my vows to the Lord now in the presence of all His people. I will offer the cup, I will offer Thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows now to the Lord in the presence of all His people in the courts of the Lord's house, in Israel, Jerusalem, and pray to the Lord.

Now as we go to prayer, may God help us to, to each of us do it in his or her own way, but God help us to just turn the investment into an offering. Let's, by God's grace, offer ourselves to Him, and if it helps to come up to the altar, whatever you want to do, feel free, but let's just spend some time offering ourselves to God. We'll begin with silence.

Lord, you know how much of the weariness and how much of the discouragement and how much of the self-pity that lodges in our hearts and may be lodging in them now is connected with our feeling that somehow we're not getting a fair shake from you. And we just pray that you'd help us this day to let go of all that and see what you've done for us and cause our service to you, Lord God, afresh now, to become a response to your goodness. Teach us what it means to offer ourselves to you.

Help us to do it. Help us to do it now in the presence of all your people.