30th Mar 26 | 13:54
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Luke 21 1-4 THE WIDOW HAS PUT IN MORE THAN ALL 04 Luke 21 1-4 The joy of giving
📖 Luke 21:1-4
26Apr2021 - *The joy of giving* - _Luke 21:1-4_ - THE WIDOW HAS PUT IN MORE THAN ALL (4) – Bible reading: _I Chronicles 29:1-9_
Giving is always before the eyes of God and God sees and He knows our motives and intentions for our giving. There, at the level of our motives, our giving needs to be pleasing in God’s sight.
Giving, as we have begun to understand, is a crucial and weighty matter before God. We, therefore, need to come to God and pray, “Lord, please teach me to release the money that is in my hand for the building of your kingdom. Lord, guide my motives and intentions, for I seek to please you, in my heart, in my giving”.
_Luke 21:1-4 And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury, (2) and He saw also a certain poor widow putting in two mites. (3) So He said, "Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all; (4) for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had."_
We are yet to reach the chief principle of giving that is in this incident of how *the poor widow gave more than all*. We will soon come to this main teaching in this passage, but let us continue to look at giving being intentional, deliberate and public.
King David made a public declaration of his giving for the temple construction.
_I Chronicles 29:1 Furthermore *King David said to all the assembly*: "My son Solomon, whom alone God has chosen, is young and inexperienced; and the work is great, because the temple is not for man but for the LORD God._
King David saw the enormity and gravity of the work that had to be done. He also saw that Solomon was young and inexperienced and had need of his support, in the task of building the temple.
Then King David goes into details of his giving, to the hearing of the people.
_I Chronicles 29:2-9 Now *for the house of my God I have prepared with all my might*: gold for things to be made of gold, silver for things of silver, bronze for things of bronze, iron for things of iron, wood for things of wood, onyx stones, stones to be set, glistening stones of various colors, all kinds of precious stones, and marble slabs in abundance. (3) Moreover, *because I have set my affection on the house of my God*, I have given to the house of my God, over and above all that I have prepared for the holy house, my own special treasure of gold and silver: (4) three thousand talents of gold, of the gold of Ophir, and seven thousand talents of refined silver, to overlay the walls of the houses; (5) the gold for things of gold and the silver for things of silver, and for all kinds of work to be done by the hands of craftsmen. *Who then is willing to consecrate himself this day to the LORD?*"_
David made known his giving, to the work of God, in much details to the people.
There are nuggets of precious truths about giving, in this passage. David prepared to give for the house of God *with all his might*. Is that how you and I prepare ourselves to give for the work of His kingdom?
David had set his affection on the house of his God. David’s giving came from an affection/warmth for the work of God. Our giving for the work of God must come out of a personal fondness and closeness that we have established with the particular initiative or ministry in which we are investing.
David then explains the reason why he was making the details of his giving, known to the public. *Who then is willing to consecrate himself this day to the LORD?* His intention was to motivate the people to get into the wonderful ministry of giving. David’s statement also confirms for us, once again, that giving is a measurement of our consecration and dedication to the Lord.
All of these tell us the various dimensions of giving and the cascading effects that giving produces.
We then see the response of the people to give for the work of the Lord. Again, *this giving of the people was in public*.
_(6) *Then the leaders of the fathers' houses, leaders of the tribes of Israel, the captains of thousands and of hundreds, with the officers over the king's work, offered willingly*. (7) They gave for the work of the house of God five thousand talents and ten thousand darics of gold, ten thousand talents of silver, eighteen thousand talents of bronze, and one hundred thousand talents of iron. (8) And whoever had precious stones gave them to the treasury of the house of the LORD, into the hand of Jehiel the Gershonite. (9) *Then the people rejoiced*, for they had offered willingly, because with a loyal heart they had offered willingly to the LORD; and *King David also rejoiced greatly*._
Friends note the joy of the entire community that they were able to give for the work of God. This is the outcome of giving. Giving produces and opens the heart of others to give. Giving also produces great joy in the community, much more than the joy of receiving. When we receive, we are glad and happy but *the joy of giving far outweighs and outruns the joy of receiving*.
King David’s prayer to the Lord after the giving was done is deep. Giving produces within us a deep connection with God. David was able to pray this deep prayer for this prayer came from a life that had given to the work of God.
*Many of us are still shallow in our relationship with God for we have never really learnt to give*. *Deep giving produces deep spirituality*.
_I Chronicles 29:14-16 But who am I, and who are my people, That we should be able to offer so willingly as this? *For all things come from You, And of Your own we have given You*. (15) For we are aliens and pilgrims before You, As were all our fathers; Our days on earth are as a shadow, And without hope. (16) "O LORD our God, all this abundance that we have prepared to build You a house for Your holy name is from Your hand, and is all Your own._
We will look at this prayer for there are a few lessons of giving that we must learn from this prayer.
*Thought to ponder*
```Are you delighted in the Lord because you have opened your purse and you have given for the work of His kingdom?```