Sermon: Offering God Something That Cost me Nothing

11/1/09 Offering God Something that Cost me Nothing
2 Samuel 24:18-24 – On that day Gad went to David and said to him, "Go up and build an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite." So David went up, as the LORD had commanded through Gad. When Araunah looked and saw the king and his men coming toward him, he went out and bowed down before the king with his face to the ground. Araunah said, "Why has my lord the king come to his servant?" "To buy your threshing floor," David answered, "so I can build an altar to the LORD, that the plague on the people may be stopped." Araunah said to David, "Let my lord the king take whatever pleases him and offer it up. Here are oxen for the burnt offering, and here are threshing sledges and ox yokes for the wood. O king, Araunah gives all this to the king." Araunah also said to him, "May the LORD your God accept you." But the king replied to Araunah, "No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing." So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen and paid fifty shekels of silver for them.
• Rather than living by faith, David was living on sight
• Repentance: Is to change directions
• David repented because of God’s mercy

How do we respond when God offers us an opportunity to get in on His work and the opportunity comes with a cost?

We see from the life of David how he handled one of these opportunities. He was instructed by his seer or Prophet Gad to purchase a threshing floor to build an altar.

The seer Gad came to David to tell him what he should do as a result of his repentance and God’s mercy.

Go up and build an altar. The altar was not built simply to please God but to serve as a reminder to David and the Israelites of the presence of God.

Because of David’s sin, the people were suffering.

When david made his proposal to Araunah, Araunah quickly asked to give the land to David. But David, recognizing his stewardship before God, said, “No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God Burnt offerings that cost me nothing.”
(Araunah felt there were things David wouldn’t give up)

The truth is something that costs you nothing is worth nothing. To offer something which costs one nothing would contradict the essential idea of sacrifice. It is like serving God on the cheap.

The word “sacrifice” means to “make sacred”. If we do give up something as a sacrifice, it is only so that we may take it back in a new transfigured way.

• What are we tied to?
• What would we not even give up to God?
• What are you not willing to sacrifice?
• God’s opportunities come at a cost
• The altar is a reminder of the presence of God
• In the message of the bible for the Scriptures here: to offer sacrifices that aren’t sacrifices
• 2 Chronicles 3:1 – Then Solomon began to build the temple of the LORD in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to his father David. It was on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite, the place provided by David.
• We have sinned, and we continue to sin every day
• Romans 6:23 – For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
• 1 John 1:10 – If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.
• We are given the opportunity to repent
• John 1:12-13 – Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God.
• We are children of God, and Stewards
• Every thing is a gift from God
• Psalm 24:1 – The earth is the LORD's, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it;
• 2 Corinthians 8:1-5 – And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints. And they did not do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God's will.
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• We are living in Thanksgiving not obligation
• Now as children of God, everything is the stewardship of God
• 2 Corinthians 8:8-9
• What cost us nothing is worth nothing
• When we sacrifice, we are willing to live a balanced life and understand the obligation to God
• Do in the service to the Lord

I. Sacrifice honors what Jesus Christ has done for us
• You obey God because you love Him
• 2 Corinthians 8:8-9 – I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.
• Philippians 2:5-8 - Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross!
• Sacrifice in our society is like swimming upstream
• Its difficult for people

II. Sacrifice reveals what is important to us
• The question is: How much do we keep? And not what we give
• Reveals what is important to us
• Matthew 19:21-22 – Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
 Jesus Christ only told him that because this man could not live by faith, but by sight
• Luke 21:1-4 – As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. "I tell you the truth," he said, "this poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on."
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• Our sacrifices reveal what is important
• Luke 7:44-47 – Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little."
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• When people love what God has done
• When they understand that Jesus Christ said that He is preparing a room for us, that He gives us life, then you love much!
• A high price is paid

III. Sacrifice promotes spiritual growth
Matthew 16:24-26 – Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?
What does that mean?
Grace is free, discipleship is costly
The best time to learn to grow, is when you think you cant

IV. Sacrifice brings God
Luke 6:38 – Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."
Applies to all that we do in life
When we’re givers, our hands are open
Acts 20:35 – In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'
Giving spirit results in living longer and healthier
2 Corinthians 9:6-11 – Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. As it is written: "He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his righteousness endures forever." Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.
Give away what God has given to you
Give freely
God always provides ability to give something
David understood that his sacrifice had to cost something

Every day God gives us opportunity to get in on His work and the opportunity always comes with a cost. We should never entertain the thought that we as believers can offer God something that costs us nothing. To offer God something which costs one nothing contradicts the essential idea of sacrifice.

How can I avoid offering God something that cost me nothing?
• Pray the Scriptures concerning giving and sacrifice
• Plan how to be a giver, saver, and spender
• Put your prayers and plan into action

~ Dr. Phil Lineberger