Giving to Be Free

December 15: Giving to be Free

2 Samuel 24:18-25 (HCSB)
18 Gad came to David that day and said to him, “Go up and set up an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.”
19 David went up in obedience to Gad’s command, just as the Lord had commanded.
20 Araunah looked down and saw the king and his servants coming toward him, so he went out and bowed to the king with his face to the ground.
21 Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” David replied, “To buy the threshing floor from you in order to build an altar to the Lord, so the plague on the people may be halted.”
22 Araunah said to David, “My lord the king may take whatever he wants and offer it. Here are the oxen for a burnt offering and the threshing sledges and ox yokes for the wood.
23 ⌊My⌋ king, Araunah gives everything here to the king.” Then he said to the king, “May the Lord your God accept you.”
24 The king answered Araunah, “No, I insist on buying it from you for a price, for I will not offer to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost ⌊me⌋ nothing.” David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for 20 ounces of silver.
25 He built an altar to the Lord there and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then the Lord answered prayer on behalf of the land, and the plague on Israel ended.
In this day of easy believism and portable loyalties the tendency of the church is to downplay the cost of discipleship and emphasize the benefits of belonging to the Church. “Come to our worship service and we will make you feel good. Our messages are contemporary and upbeat and we never ask for money. We may even throw in some nice appealing drama or humorous skits to help the service be more entertaining for you and your children. We do not want you to feel bad . Our aim is make you feel good.”

Thinking this is the way to reach the culture and build disciples better many churches have succumbed to this type of thinking and as a result have grown shallow disciples who cannot stomach the hard choices of being a true follower of Christ.

It is necessary for us to be reminded by King David’s words in II Samuel. He was offered to obtain the land and the sacrifices he was to make to God for free. Araunah was already to offer him the supplies he needed and there would not be any cost to him at all. King David knew something about his own heart and he also understood that anything obtained to cheaply would be esteemed too lightly..

Are you looking for a renewed experience with God? Do you desire to see your walk with God deepened in this coming year? Why not follow David’s example and take the high road of sacrifice and offering. Let us not be those who offer to the Lord that which costs us northing.

Consider next what the end of David’s sacrifice and offering was. The plague on the nation was stopped. When God’s people esteem God to be worth more than their stuff things begin to happen. When stuff begins to lose its stranglehold on us we will find that we have more room for God in our lives, we will have money left over to offer to the cause of Christ, more missionaries will be able to be sent to the fields, and we will be lighter and freer.

I pray for us that we will be like King David in this respect that we will not offer to the Lord that which costs us nothing. Our gifts to missions ought to cost us something. There should be something that we could have purchased that we could no longer buy because our money has already been claimed by missions. The question for you and your family to consider prayerfully this December is what part of your pocketbook has been claimed for missions so that you can no longer make the purchases you once did?

As we give this Christmas to our International Mission offering may the cost we incur be the opening of the gospel in foreign lands so the curse of sin might be restrained by the preaching of the gospel in those lands.

Dear God, move us to give so the curse of sin in other lands may be stilled for the sake of your glory.

Experiencing the cost of living a missional life,

Pastor phil