Worship is an Investment and a Sacrifice
On Sunday, I started a sermon series on different places of worship. The first place is at an altar where sacrifices are placed. The Old Testament outlines numerous types of offerings and Leviticus gives instructions for how those offerings are to be made. In the next three weeks I will look at how worship went from an outdoor, homemade altar, into a tent called the Tabernacle, then it went into a building called the Temple, and finally worship goes into our hearts. I plan to teach of the various styles of worship God’s people have demonstrated in the Old and New Testaments.
During Sunday’s sermon, I quoted a passage of scripture from 2 Samuel 24. It is the story of King David, near the end of his life, and a man named Gad spoke in a prophetic way telling him to go and build an altar to God and make a sacrifice upon it. When David does, learns he must purchase property and a building before he can make the proper sacrifice. The property owner, recognizing David as the King of Israel, offers to give it all to David and even provide animals for the sacrifice. David responds, “I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.”
I heard a story about a young man many years ago who was desperately in need of a job. He asked God to help him find employment, and when he found a job that paid $10 a week, the young man was so overjoyed that he promised God that he would always give 10 percent of his income to the church. He started by giving $1 a week, 10% of his $10 income.
As time passed, the young man moved on to a higher paying job. Now he was making $100 a week, and every Sunday he put $10 in the plate. Eventually, he earned $1,000 a week, and while he still put $100 in the plate, it had become a grudging duty.
Finally, he hit the big time -- earning $10,000 a week. He couldn’t bear the thought of putting $1,000 into the collection plate every Sunday, so he went to talk to the preacher. He said, "When I made that promise, I was only earning $10 a week. My promise made sense back then, but now things are different. $1000 is a lot of money. Is there some way that I can be released from my promise to give 10% of my income to the church?"
The preacher thought about it for awhile and then replied, "I can’t release you from a promise you made to God. But I’ll pray your income be reduced back to the original $10 a week so that you don’t have to give so much!" The more we have, the less willing we seem to be to sacrifice.
David’s personal testimony remains powerful in today’s culture. We are surrounded by numerous ways to spend our money as well as the basic cost of living that has increased with few increases in income. Yet, the thing that strikes me most isn’t the financial commitment of David—and yes there was a monetary cost—but the personal investment he makes in time to travel to a specific site and literally build an altar as to make his sacrifice. The King, the most powerful person in the land does not command others to do this. He does not mail a check and call it good. He goes to the place God has designated and he utilizes his own time and energy to worship.
Sometimes, the most important sacrifice we make is the one of our personal involvement and in-person participation. When David did that, the last sentence of that entire book of the Bible says this, “Then the Lord answered prayer on behalf of the land…” God moved once his people, in this case person, moved.
Be in church on Sunday and let us worship together at the God-moving place, Travis
