AN OFFERED LIFE

 

The reason we never appeal for funds in this flock is not
that we consider giving a minor thing.   Our Lord made
clear that what we do with the unrighteous mammon is proof
to the Father of whether or not we're ready to handle the
true riches of his kingdom. But whatever portion of our
money we're going to give as an offering to God has to be
an offering ... not something that was squeezed out of us
by the stewardship committee. And where to give that
offering is also a matter between the believer and the
Lord.

 

Another reason why we never appeal for funds---we're
pretty much in agreement that it would be better to nail
the door shut than to appeal for one penny---is because
many people who find their way here are still carrying
scars from when they were ripped off by some religious
money pitch in the past, and are now cynical and sus-
picious about churches and money...with good reason.

But in our efforts to avoid this area, where from the
beginning of the church there has been so much compromise
and dishonesty and hypocrisy, we may have neglected to
think through together an aspect of the life of faith
which is essential: we need to think through what it
means to live our lives as an offering to God.

 

"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 fullers' 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 Jeru-
salem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days
of old and as in former years."

Malachi 3:1-4

 

...till they present right offerings to the Lord.

 

An offering is not just a lamb you bring to be sacrificed,

or some wheat from your harvest, or some money

you put on the plate these things are outward signs

of the real offering which is your life.

 

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 and his offering,
but for Cain and his offering he had no re-
gard.   So Cain was very angry, and his
countenance fell. The Lord said to Cain,

"Why are you angry, and why has your count-

enance fallen? If you do well, will you not be

accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is
couching at the door; its desire is for you,
but you must master it."

Genesis 4:3-7

 

Why did the Lord have regard for Abel's offering but
not Cain's? Because Abel's really was an offering
and Cain's was not. God was looking at their hearts
and God saw Abel giving himself in his offering, and
God 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 as an offering out of thanksgiving

and praise to God for who he is.

 

- He's been so good.
- He's done so much.

 

So you give yourself to him in gratitude, without

strings, without looking for a reward.

 

You give your life to God as an investment when you
calculate that, "If I give myself to God he's going to
start doing extra things for me. I'm going to get a
return on my investment."

 

In this case you haven't really given your life and let

go of it. You've given your life to God but still holding
on to it. Like a money market certificate it's going to
draw interest and in the end you'll get your money back
too.

 

I can still remember a friend in high school who complained

at the end of his date with a girl he claimed to be in love with,

 

"After all the money I spent on her and she
wouldn't even give me a kiss."

 

That money he spent on her was not a gift, it was an in
vestment ...a shaky one and he lost.

 

And so with most of us so much of the time, the life we
feel we're spending for God is not the joyful offering
up of all that we have and are to him in thanksgiving for
his unspeakable goodness ... it's an investment.   We're
looking for a return. And the proof that it's an invest-
ment shows up when the return is slow in coming. We

start to feel in our hearts that God has been cheating us.

 

"Lo, these many years I have served you, and I
never disobeyed your command; yet you never
gave me a kid, that I might make merry with my
friends. But when this son of yours came, who
has devoured your living with harlots, you
killed for him the fatted calf!"

                                                       Luke 15:29-31

 

Those many years of service and obedience were not an
offering, they were an investment.

 

An offering is when you give your life ... you just give
it, expecting nothing back. You give it in gratitude
for God's goodness which is already beyond deserving.
An investment is when you give your life, but deep in
your heart you expect something in return.   And when it

doesn't come you throw in the towel and say,

 
"It doesn't pay to follow Jesus!"
"What's the use of prayer?"

"I'm tired of being good!"

What we're really saying is,

"I'm not getting a decent return on my investment

  so I'm going to pull out.

 

"For he is like a refiner's fire and like
fullers' 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."   Malachi 3:2b-3

 

What is a right offering? A right offering is a life
given back to God in sheer gratitude for his goodness.
The one leper out of ten who, when he saw that he was
healed, turned back praising God with a loud voice and
fell at Jesus' feet giving him thanks, was presenting
a right offering. He was saying thank you with his
body, soul and spirit ... his father, his everything.

The woman who took the alabaster box of ointment
worth a year's wages and lavished it on Jesus before
his crucifixion was presenting a right offering...it
was no investment. She wasn't looking for anything
to come back. She was just so grateful for the new
life Jesus had given her!

 

Or when Saul of Tarsus turned in his tracks after
meeting Jesus and spent the rest of his life just
pouring himself out ... that was a right offering. Paul
was giving himself back to Jesus in thanksgiving and
praise every day.   He knew he couldn't repay the Lord
in a million years for his death on the cross, but it
was Paul's joy to offer himself day-after-day.

 

What shall I render unto the Lord for all
his benefits toward 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.

Psalm 116:12-14

 

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, 0
Jerusalem. Praise ye the Lord.

Psalm 116:17-19

 
An offering begins with the question,

 

"What shall I render to the Lord for all his
benefits to me?"

 

Before we're saved, it's legitimate to ask,

 

"What shall I do to be saved? What shall I do

to stay out of hell or to get out of this hell

I'm in and get into the kingdom of God?"

 

But once the blood of the Lamb has brought peace to our

sin sick heart, once the Spirit of the Lord has brought

the life of God into our body, soul and spirit, then the

only question that makes any sense is,

 

"What shall I render to the Lord for all his

benefits to me? What can I do to show him

my thanks?"

 

- I will take the cup of salvation and call on
the name of the Lord.

 

- I will receive the salvation God has given me
and start living in his presence.

 

How do you live in his presence? .... by calling on his
name, speaking to him,

praising him,
communing with him.

 

Very good...you’re going to live in the presence of the

Lord. You're going to call on his name,

                                 walk with him,

                                 talk with him.... 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
now, right here, in the congregation."

 

"Lord, thank you for your salvation.

- I receive it.

- I enter into it.

- I call on your name.

- I commit myself to you afresh and my
       brothers and sisters are my witnesses."

 

So now I've received the cup of salvation,

I've entered into the presence of the Lord.

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 upon the name of the Lord."

 

What's a sacrifice of thanksgiving? 

 

- A life spent thanking God...thanking God with
a mouth, of course, but also thanking God
with deeds of mercy.

 

Deeds of mercy ... when I do something for someone as an
offering to God.   And the person for whom I did this
thing never says thank you...no problem ... it was an
offering not an investment.   If that person never does
anything in return, praise God!   It was an offering
not an investment!

 

What a difference it makes when the things we do for

people are done as an offering instead of an investment.

 

- The prayers we pray.
- The visits we make.
- The letters we write.

- The meals we cook.

    - The gifts we give.

    - The time we spend listening, serving.

 

What a joy when we can do these things as an offering
to God!

 

"I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanks-
giving 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 will do what I said I would do now right here in
the congregation."

 

I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the
mercies of God, to present your bodies as a
living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God,
which is your spiritual worship.

Romans 12:1

 

Spiritual worship ... not a deal, not "I'll give you my
life, Lord, if you give me a reserved seat in heaven."

You already have a reserved seat in heaven. You already

have the Spirit of heaven upon you at this moment. What

investment could ever bring you such a return?

True, Jesus talked to his disciples about spiritual
investments when their hearts were still hard and they
didn't understand what an offering was.

 

"Sell what you have and give alms.   Provide
yourselves with purses that do not grow old,
with a treasure in the heavens that does not
fail. "

 

"Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth,
but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven."

 

But once the glory of his cross broke upon their sin-
darkened minds ... once the Holy Spirit came as a gift
from the Father's throne their whole life became an
offering.

 

May God help us,

        - to turn our invested lives into offered lives,

 

- to present our bodies as a living sacrifice,
holy and acceptable to God, which is our
spiritual worship.

 

   What shall I render unto the Lord for all his
benefits toward  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.

Psalm 116:12-14

 

I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanks-
giving, 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, 0 Jerusalem.   Praise ye the Lord.