To mention King David is to invite many thoughts: man after God’s heart, psalmist, shepherd, warrior, man who made some pretty big mistakes. Without comment on any of those, let me suggest two more: man, who put his money where his mouth was; and man, who was not afraid to issue a challenge. The context—David’s desire to build a temple to the LORD.
Besides, in my devotion to the temple of my God I now give my personal treasures of gold and silver for the temple of my God, over and above everything I have provided for this holy temple: three thousand talents of gold (gold of Ophir) and seven thousand talents of refined silver, for the overlaying of the walls of the buildings, for the gold work and the silver work, and for all the work to be done by the craftsmen. Now, who is willing to consecrate themselves to the Lord today? (1 Chronicles 29:3-5).
Assuming the accounting here is accurate, and using around 70 lbs./talent, this means David gave 210,000 lbs. of gold and 490,000 lbs. of silver (at today’s rates around $5.8 billion in gold and $165 million in silver). I suppose one point we could make is you have to have it to give it. But having said that, not everyone who has it gives it. But I think you can agree, giving around $6 billion to a building project qualifies as putting your money where your mouth is. And even if one might quibble with the exact amounts, I think we can agree David gave more to this project than any of us ever have.
But as I mentioned, David also did not back down from challenging others. He ends verse 5 with the words, Now who is willing to consecrate themselves to the LORD today? This was the response:
Then the leaders of families, the officers of the tribes of Israel, the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, and the officials in charge of the king’s work gave willingly. They gave toward the work on the temple of God five thousand talents and ten thousand darics of gold, ten thousand talents of silver, eighteen thousand talents of bronze and a hundred thousand talents of iron. Anyone who had precious stones gave them to the treasury of the temple of the Lord in the custody of Jehiel the Gershonite (1 Chronicles 29:6-8).
By the same math, the leaders reportedly gave another $10 billion in gold and silver, not counting the bronze or the iron. I guess you could say they were inspired by David’s challenge.
I bet we could build something pretty awesome with $15 billion. Now, as I said before, you have to have it to give it. And I think it unlikely we in the RMC could give that much even if we all gave all we had. But I bet we could do more than we think we could. And you know what happens when we together give more than we think we could?
The people rejoiced at the willing response of their leaders, for they had given freely and wholeheartedly to the Lord. David the king also rejoiced greatly (1 Chronicles 29:9).
When everyone gives generously, it makes everyone happy.
Sometimes the people of God are called to do great projects together. And when everyone participates, great things get done, things that often surprise us, things we might have thought we could never do. David, in response to the generosity of the people praises God, and adds this comment that ought to give us pause:
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 (1 Chronicles 29:14).
From this, I believe we can derive a principle: the amount that God’s people give is supposed to be a reflection of how much God has blessed them. From this principle, we can derive a concerning question or two. If we are not giving generously, is it because God is not blessing us? Or is God actually blessing us to the extent of (or even beyond) our true needs, yet somehow our decisions and lifestyles have created a scenario where we perceive ourselves unable (or find ourselves unwilling) to be generous?
The situation described in 1 Chronicles is the one-time project-type scenario. But that is not the only situation scripture addresses. Yes, there is the need from time to time for the big project, but there is also the need for the consistent sustaining of the corporate work of God’s people, a type of giving known as systematic giving. It took massive one-time gifts to build the temple, but it would require systematic giving to sustain the priests and Levites who ministered in the temple.
2 Chronicles 31 relates the work of Hezekiah as he attempted to get the temple services re-established after the return from Babylon.
He ordered the people living in Jerusalem to give the portion due the priests and Levites so they could devote themselves to the Law of the Lord. As soon as the order went out, the Israelites generously gave the firstfruits of their grain, new wine, olive oil and honey and all that the fields produced. They brought a great amount, a tithe of everything. The people of Israel and Judah who lived in the towns of Judah also brought a tithe of their herds and flocks and a tithe of the holy things dedicated to the Lord their God, and they piled them in heaps (2 Chronicles 31:4-6).
When everyone acted according to the plan, there was not just enough, there was in fact heaps of excess piled up. And just as before, the experience of the people at the sight was the same:
When Hezekiah and his officials came and saw the heaps, they praised the Lord and blessed his people Israel. Hezekiah asked the priests and Levites about the heaps; and Azariah the chief priest, from the family of Zadok, answered, “Since the people began to bring their contributions to the temple of the Lord, we have had enough to eat and plenty to spare, because the Lord has blessed his people, and this great amount is left over” (2 Chronicles 31:8-10).
Now realize, this was not some special appeal, where everyone gave from the excess that the LORD had provided. This was just the tithe, faithfully given. And when everyone faithfully gave the tithe, there was more than enough. The heaps of overabundance were witness to the fact that God was continuously blessing His people, and continuously blessing them sufficiently that if they would simply give according to the plan there was guaranteed to be more than enough available to accomplish the LORD’s work.
So, what does this all mean for us now? If I were to draw straight lines from these Bible stories to our time, I think I would have to conclude there are only two possible reasons for us as a people bound together for the purpose of carrying the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the context of the Three Angels Messages to Colorado, Wyoming, and a tiny bit of New Mexico (as well as by extension our union, division, and the world) to ever be short of funding: either God isn’t blessing us sufficiently to give as much as we need, or we just aren’t giving. Which do you think it is?
To that end, let’s speak of the cooperative model we, as a church, have organized ourselves under. We have chosen, by vote, a system where we all commit to giving 10% of our income to our local conference as tithe. The wealthy are not to give more than 10% and the poor are not to give less. And if things happen for us like they did in the Bible stories, this will produce not just enough, but rather heaps of abundance. Once you have systematically given your 10%, you are done with tithe.
But in the event God has blessed you even beyond that, now you are invited to demonstrate your generosity by giving funds to the local church for its mission and operations. With local giving there are no minimums or maximums. The only limit is the extent to which you believe the Lord has blessed you.
So, has the Lord blessed you? Would I be able to tell by your giving?
I believe if we were all giving in a manner consistent with our level of blessing there would be more than enough resources at both the conference and the local church. But that is not the real reason I’m exhorting you today to be both a faithful and generous giver. Rather the reason is this: Giving people are happy people. I don’t fully understand why. They just are. It’s what Paul was getting at in 2 Corinthians:
Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work (2 Corinthians 9:6-8).
And remember how it made the people rejoice when everyone gave generously? The same holds true now:
Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you (2 Corinthians 9:13-14).
So, what are the gifts that come to the giver? Cheer in your heart, the blessings of God, and prayers on your behalf from those who are blessed by your gifts. Not too bad, right?
Giving is a gift. So, give. It will make you happy.
Geoff Patterson is lead pastor at Boulder Seventh-day Adventist Church. Email him at: [email protected]