"Bring Me An Offering."

by J. DORRICOTT | Category: Plain Words On Giving | Dec 1953

It is only as our hearts are touched by considering God's rich and boundless mercy in what He has given us, that we shall respond truly in our giving to Him. Let us look back to the time when the love of God reached us and melted our hearts, and we became His own. We could sing in truth

The love of God it melts our hearts,

Like ice before the sun;

And fills our eyes with grateful tears,

Such wonders it has done."

In what power the words came to us,-

" For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son"! the sweet and precious truth that the aged apostle John loved to pen :"Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins" (1 John 4.10).

His love opened our hearts to Him like the sun's rays ;0pen and expand the flowers. Such was the effect upon us. "Christ also loved the Church and gave Himself up for it" (Ephesians 5. 25); and Christ also loved us, "and gave Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour" (5.2). Also,-"The Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself up for me" (Galatians 2.20). "The Church," "Us," "Me," the complete whole!

"Love so amazing, so divine,

Demands my heart, my life, my all."

And what shall we say of the Gift and the love of the Holy Spirit? It was love indeed for the Holy Spirit to come from heaven and to condescend to dwell with us, to be our Helper, Comforter, Teacher and Guide in our wilderness journey. Truly, day by day, the love and comfort of the Holy Spirit are known by us. There we have the love of the Triune God presented to us in the Holy Scriptures.

We have had such love bestowed upon us, and so very much given us. which should fill our hearts with loving gratitude and make us willing givers. It was out of a deep sense of what He had done for Israel in their redemption and deliverance from Egypt, and in view of the fact that they had since covenanted with Him to do all that He had spoken and to be obedient (Exodus 24.6-8) that God could appeal to them and say to Moses: "Speak unto the children of Israel that they take for Me an offering: of every man Whose heart maketh him willing, ye shall take My offering" (Exodus 25.2).

We notice that the object for this giving was regarded as for the LORD Himself. "Take for Me an offering." Note also this was to be real heart work, and it was to be from willing offerers. Such was the abundance of their gifts that they had to be restrained from giving (Exodus 36.5-7). This reality and willingness in giving should be the same with us to-day. Our giving should be unto the Lord, out of loving gratitude for what the Triune God has done for us, and should spring from real exercise of heart before the Lord. We should give willingly, not grudgingly, "for God loveth a cheerful giver "(2 Corinthians 9.7). We should bring our offerings on a Lord's Day morning with real joy of heart. Oh what a privilege it is to give unto Him, His portion out of that which the Lord has first given us! (according as the Lord hath prospered). When this is so, it will not be merely "something for the box," but a joyful giving unto Him according to what He has given to us. " For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according as a man hath, not according as he hath not "(2 Corinthians 8.12). At the same time let us remember:

"He that soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he that soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully" (2 Corinthians 9.6).

If we are niggardly with God, He will withhold His mercies from us. Let us solemnly remember that it is with God we have to do in regard to our giving, as we can see clearly from the verse just quoted. God has caused to be written for our learning and warning the words in Haggai 1.2-11, which please read. Here we see the LORD'S people in a back-sliding condition, away from Him in heart and ways, indifferent to His claims, thoroughly selfish and acting as though the LORD did not see everything. Their own comfort, ease and pleasure, and the beautifying of their own houses were their chief thought, and God's house and His interests did not concern them. How did God answer this? He knew it, for "all things are naked and laid open before the eyes of Him with whom we have to do" (Hebrews 4. 18.) "Thou God seest me," was as true then, as when it was spoken in Genesis, and is equally true to-day. God's answer was to withhold His blessing from what they did so as to bring them to repentance and to Himself. They took plenty of seed out to sow, but the harvest was poor and small. Their food and drink were not blessed to the nourishment of their bodies, they clothed themselves, but their bodies did not respond to give heat, and they earned wages, but they failed to supply what they needed, for God saw to it that, speaking figuratively, they put their wages into a bag with holes, what they wrought for just trickled away and became of little benefit to them. (See Haggai 1.) "The Lord shall judge His people "(Hebrews 10.80). Now let us bring this lesson home to our own hearts. How are we treating the Lord's interests and things ? Are matters pertaining to the Lord's Spiritual House, service and servants suffering because of our withholding what is the Lord's due? Remember the solemn word: "He that soweth sparingly, shall reap also sparingly."

"There is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth only to want" (Proverbs 11. 24).

Before we pass away from these words of warning, we would draw attention to a solemn question asked in Malachi, when the prophet earnestly sought backsliders to return to the LORD. He asks this question and answers it,

"WILL A MAN ROB GOD? YET YE ROB ME.

But ye say, wherein have we robbed Thee?

IN TITHES AND OFFERINGS" (Malachi 3.8). They robbed God by withholding what was justly due to Him. Turn again to Proverbs 11.24, and in the footnote you will see the words, What is justly due " as an alternate translation for the words "more than is meet." Just think of it! It is sadly possible to hold back from God what is justly due to Him. We will give an illustration of how this is possible apart from our ordinary giving to Him. Let us suppose that for some cause we are lawfully hindered from being present on a Lord's Day morning, or it may be for several weeks through illness, etc., and our income goes on as usual; it should follow, all other things being equal, that when we return we should give the Lord His due for the past week or weeks (unless we have sent it in the meantime), as well as the gift for the present, and that not grudgingly, but willingly. If we do not do so, it is a case of robbing God of what is justly due to Him, as in Malachi's day when they withheld His tithes and offerings and He had to say, "Ye have robbed Me." How solemn and searching these things are!

J. DORRICOTT | Dec 1953
Plain Words On Giving