August 12th, 2012
I Chronicles 29:1-20
“Worship Perspective”
Bible Memory Verse for the Week: Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all.— 1 Chronicles 29:11-12?
Background Information:
- There were other things the Chronicler could have written about, other “details of [David’s] reign and power” (v. 30) he might have given. But his intent never had been to write about everything David did. His desire was to present David’s life as God saw it, under grace, as an example and foreshadowing of the Righteous King who was yet to come. (Paul O. Wendland, The People’s Bible, 1 Chr, 312)
- The exemplary nature of this passage is evident. On the one hand, it presented a model of enthusiasm for the temple. At several stages, the post-exilic returnees were hesitant to give to the support of the temple (see Hg 1:3-6; Mal 3:8-12). The Chronicler offered this record to his readers to inspire them toward willing and wholehearted devotion to the temple in their day. (Richard L. Pratt, 1 & 2 Chr, A Mentor Commentary, 197)
- David followed Moses’ example in asking for contributions to the temple project (Ex 25:1-8; 35:4-9, 20-29). These directions would have reminded the exiles returned from Babylon of the importance of continuing contributions to the new temple (Hag 1:2-211; Mal 3:8-10). (The New Geneva Study Bible, 597)
- (v.1) The word translated “palatial structure” (birah, 29:1) is used to describe a citadel or a fortress elsewhere in the OT (e.g., Neh 2:8; Est 1:2). Only the Chronicler uses the expression as a synonym for the temple (1 Chr 29:1, 19). The word is an apt reminder to Solomon and the people that the kingdom belongs to God and that he is the one enthroned over Israel. (Andrew E. Hill, The NIV Application Commentary: 1 & 2 Chr, 328)
- (v.7) The daric was a Persian coin in use at the time of the Chronicler’s writing. The use of anachronism was an intentional practice at times on the part of ancient historians. This literary device allows the writer to bring greater clarity to a report by updating a later audience with contemporary equivalents. (Andrew E. Hill, The NIV Application Commentary: 1 & 2 Chr, 330)
- (v.10ff) This magnificent prayer demonstrates beyond contradiction that Chronicles’ priority is with the heart of worship rather than its form. (Martin J. Selman, TOTC 10a 1 Chronicles, 259)
- (v.22) The Chronicler noted that the assembly also acknowledged…Zadok to be priest (29:22). Kings reports that Zadok anointed Solomon (see 1 Kgs 1:39). Zadok’s special status was especially important to the Chronicler and his readers. The Zadokite priest, Joshua, joined Zerubbabel in the rebuilding of the temple in the early days of the restoration (see 6:1-81; Ez 2:2; Hag 2:2-4). Like Zechariah, the Chronicler insisted that Israel’s restoration depended on two figures: the Davidic king and the Zadokite high priest (see Zec 1-4). (Richard L. Pratt, 1 & 2 Chr, A Mentor Commentary, 202)
The questions to be answered are . . . What perspective does David have as the Chronicler communicates David’s last acts while alive on planet earth? Why should I care?
Answers: David knows that everything comes from God. Everything! Power, wealth, health, knowledge, resources, peace, joy, love, etc. all come from God. The quicker we can get our prideful, stubborn, and depraved hearts and minds to truly believe this, the sooner we will become more generous, more content, more at peace, and experience more love and more joy than we ever believed possible.
The Word for the Day is . . . perspective
The kingdom of God always appears upside down to the human perspective. We think it’s strange to die in order to live, or to give in order to receive, or to serve in order to lead. Solomon captures the perpetual enigma of our looking-glass values just as Jesus describes them in the Sermon on the Mount. He insists we should embrace sorrow over laughter, rebukes over praise, the long way instead of the short, and today instead of yesterday.
The truth is that it’s not the kingdom of God that is upside down–it’s the world. It’s not the Word of God that turns life inside out–it’s the world that has reversed all the equations that God designed for our lives. (David Jeremiah, Searching for Heaven on Earth, 189)
What perspective does David have as the Chronicler communicates David’s last acts while alive on planet earth?:
I. God establishes those in authority for His purposes (1 Chr 29:1, 20; see also: 1 Sm chps 9-10, 16; 1 Chr 22:2-5; Dn 2:17-23; ch 4; Rom 13:1-7)(See also: 1-15-12 HFM message)
Ps 75:6-7 reads, “For promotion and power come from nowhere on earth, but only from God” (LB). As much as it may surprise you, your boss is not the one who controls whether or not you will be promoted. When you understand this, you will work with a different attitude. It should have a tremendous impact on the way you perform as an employee. (Howard Dayton, Your Money Counts, 88)
II. God is great and deserves our best (1 Chr 29:1-5; see also: Mal 1:4-2:9; Rom 11:36; 1 Cor 10:31; Col 3:17, 21; 1 Tm 1:17; Rv 5:12-13)
Men are always in difficulty with their faith because their God is too small. If they can once see the true God, and get the perspective that sees Him as filling all in all, then the difficulties of life will rapidly diminish to their proper proportions. (Donald Grey Barnhouse, God’s Remedy, 340)
The identification of the gold given by David as “gold of Ophir” (29:4) probably refers as much to the quality of the gold as to its source of origin (note the parallelism with “refined silver”). As with the tabernacle, only the best of natural and human resources are to be given for the construction of Yahweh’s earthly sanctuary. (Andrew E. Hill, The NIV Application Commentary: 1 & 2 Chr, 328)
All is God’s (1 Chr 29:11)
God is sovereign (1 Chr 29:11-12)
Wealth and honor come from God (1 Chr 29:12)
Strength and power come from God (1 Chr 29:12)
The Self-made man worships his maker. — Rick Warren
I. God makes men great by bestowing upon them distinguished genius and talents.
II. God makes men great by an education, and by events in the life suited to discover, to excite, to encourage, to improve, and to direct their talents.
III. It is God who implants dispositions, and excites to conduct, which enable men to improve their natural abilities, and providential opportunities and advantages for becoming great.
IV. God makes men great by bringing them into difficult and trying situations, which exercise and manifest the greatness of their disposition and talents.
V. God makes men great by rendering the exercise of their talents acceptable and useful.
VI. It is God who assigns to the great the sphere of their greatness.
VII. In the hand of God it is to limit the duration of human greatness. (Joseph S. Exell, The Biblical Illustrator, 1 Chronicles, 112)
The Greatness of God: God is great (Dt 7:21; Neh 4:14; Ps 48:1; 86:10; 95:3; 145:3; Dn 9:4), greater than we can grasp. Theology states this truth by describing Him as “incomprehensible”–not that He is irrational or illogical, so as to prevent us from following His thoughts at all, but that our minds cannot contain Him, because He is infinite and we are finite. Scripture portrays God not only as dwelling in thick and impenetrable darkness, but also as dwelling in unapproachable light (Ps 97:2; 1 Tm 6:16). These two images express the same thought: our Creator is above us, and it is beyond our power to take His measure.
God tells us in the Bible that creation, providence, the Trinity, the incarnation, the regenerating work of the Spirit, union with Christ in His death and resurrection, and the inspiration of Scripture–to go no further–are facts, and we accept them on the strength of His word, without knowing how they can be. As creatures, we are unable fully to comprehend either the being or the actions of the Creator.
As it would be wrong, however, to suppose ourselves to know everything about God (and so in effect to imprison Him in the box of our own limited notion of Him), so it would be wrong to doubt that our concept of God constitutes real knowledge of Him. One of the consequences of being made in God’s image is that we are able both to know about Him and to know Him relationally, in a true if limited way. Calvin speaks of God as condescending to our weakness and accommodating Himself to our incapacity, both in the inspiration of the Scriptures and the incarnation of the Son, in order to give us genuine understanding of Himself. By analogy, the form and substance of a parent’s baby-talk bears no comparison with the full contents of the parent’s mind, which might be expressed in conversation with another adult; but still the child receives true information about the parent from the baby-talk, and responds with growing love and trust.
This is why the Creator presents Himself to us anthropomorphically, as having a face (Ex 33:11), ears (Neh 1:6), and eyes (Job 28:10); or as having feet (Nah 1:3), sitting on a throne (1 Kgs 22:19), flying on the wind (Ps 18:10), or fighting in battle (2 Chr 32:8; Is 63:1-6). These are not descriptions of what God is in Himself, but of what He is to us: the transcendent Lord who relates to His people as Father and Friend. God comes to us in this way to draw us out in love and trust, even though in a way we are always like little children who understand only in part (1 Cor 13:12).
We should never forget that the purpose of theology is doxology; we study in order to praise. The truest expression of trust in God will always be worship, and it will always be proper worship to praise God for being greater than we know. (Luder Whitlock, Jr., New Geneva Study Bible, NKJV, 599)
Any human greatness which fancies that it is self-existent, underived, is a delusion and an offence to God. The spirit that is challenged here, moreover, is not confined to ancient monarchs. Who can deny that it exactly describes 20th century self-regarding obsession with achievement and progress? (J. G. McConville, The Daily Study Bible Series, 1 & 2 Chr, 105)
III. Those that give to a ministry can be just as consecrated to the work as those who do the ministry (1 Chr 29:5-9; see also: 1 Sm 30:9-25; Mt 20:1-16; 1 Cor 12-14; 3 Jn 1:5-8)
The phrase CONSECRATING HIMSELF is literally “filling his hand,” a technical expression used for the ordination or consecration of priests, as in Ex 28:41, where the phrase is translated “ordain them,” and stands alongside terms for “anoint” and “consecrate” or “sanctify.” If this is what the phrase means here, then there is an extension of its meaning to suggest that the willingness of the people’s offering constitutes an act of consecration of themselves to God. It is not just the gift that is dedicated, but the giver. But it may be that the phrase is here used in a non-technical manner simply in the sense of “being willing to fill one’s hand,” i.e. to give with total generosity. (Peter R. Ackroyd, 1 & 2 Chr, Ezra, Neh, 93)
It is not simply the gift that is consecrated to God but the giver. As one bids the gift farewell, one takes on a new role before God, a role of consecration to the service of God. We are accustomed to speaking of the ordination of the minister who puts his or her hand to God’s service. In the light of 29:5 we might speak of the ordination of those who give financial sponsorship, for they declare themselves radically involved in the work of the ministry and committed to its success. (Leslie Allen, Mastering the OT, 1, 2 Chr, 189)
When a person knows the Lord, he wants to serve him. It is as simple as that. For this reason, David simply assumed that the princes of Israel would demonstrate the consecration of their hearts in a concrete way by freely offering gifts for the building of the temple. The expression David employed for “consecrate himself” (v. 5) is a significant one. Literally it means “to fill his hand.” It is used in Scripture for the way a priest is formally inducted into the priesthood as one who is willing to offer his life in service of God (Ex 28:41; 32:29). David understood that offering gifts to God was one way of offering one’s life in priestly service. (Paul O. Wendland, The People’s Bible, 1 Chr, 301)
The repetition of the verbal root meaning “to offer voluntarily” (ndb) introduces a key theme in the entire chapter (cf. 29:5, 6, 9, 14, 17). The word often denotes freewill gifts and offerings, giving that is not required but prompted by a willing heart of spirit (e.g., Ex 25:2, 35:21). Here in David’s speech, the idea of a voluntary offering is applied to the giver as an act of devotion and consecration to God–not the gift (1 Chr 29:5). Much after the pattern of the OT priesthood, David calls for the whole assembly, leaders and people alike, to freely offer themselves to God (cf. Ex 28:41; 29:9). The issue is not the amassing of glittering jewels and precious metals, but the pouring of themselves as God’s people into building the temple as a symbol of the wholehearted worship that will soon take place in that sanctuary. (Andrew E. Hill, The NIV Application Commentary: 1 & 2 Chr, 329)
The king’s appeal for each giver to “consecrate himself” reads literally “to fill his hand.” This was a technical phrase used to describe ordination to the priesthood; and Scripture, significantly, places the act of giving on this same level of devotion. (Frank E. Gæbelein, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Vol. 4, 437)
IV. God owns everything. We give only what has been given to us (1 Chr 29:14-16; Job 41:11; Mal 3:6-15; Jas 1:17)
Not only did the wealth itself come from God (v. 16), but also the eager heart that wants to give (vv. 14, 18). Not only the means, but also the motive–all is God’s gift to us. In the end, grace serves to frame a believer’s entire life. When we understand it fully, we realize that we never truly give to God. We only receive. For even when we offer our service to God, our money to God, our worship to God, we are only returning to him what he has first given to us. So we worship God as God–the giver; we confess ourselves to be beggars who depend on his mercy for every good thing. (Paul O. Wendland, The People’s Bible, 1 Chr, 307)
They say that the final words Luther wrote before his death were these, “Wir sind bettler. Das ist wahr!–We are beggars, that is true.” After all the great reformer had accomplished and in spite of all the works he could have laid claim to, that remained his final confession. “All is from you, O Lord, and from you we have received whatever we have done.” Long before Luther, David arrived at the same conclusion, “Everything is from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand.” What united both hearts across the millennia–and unites them still–is a heartfelt appreciation for God’s amazing grace to us poor sinners. (Paul O. Wendland, The People’s Bible, 1 Chr, 308)
Is not the very notion of giving to God, the giver of all, an absurdity? C.S. Lewis verbalized this problem well: “It is like a small child going to its father and saying, ‘Daddy, give me sixpence to buy you a birthday present.’ Of course, the father does and is pleased with the child’s present. It is all very nice and proper, but only an idiot would think that the father is sixpence to the good in the transaction.” We cannot give God anything that is not in a sense His already. Paul asked a humbling question in 1 Cor 4:7: “What do you have that you did not receive?” (Leslie Allen, Mastering the OT, 1, 2 Chr, 191)
No point in theology requires to be oftener stated, or more carefully established, than the impossibility that a creature should merit at the hands of the Creator. Each one of us, if he have ever probed his own heart, will confess himself prone to the persuasion, that the creature can lay the Creator under obligation. If one being merit of another, it must perform some action which it was not obliged to perform, and by which that other is advantaged. If either of these conditions fail, merit must vanish. (Joseph S. Exell, The Biblical Illustrator, 1 Chronicles, 113)
All belongs to God:–There is no portion of time that is our time, and the rest of God’s; there is no portion of money that is our money, and the rest God’s money. It is all His; He owns it all, gives it all, and He has simply trusted it to us for His service. A servant has two purses, the master’s and his own; but we have only one. (Joseph S. Exell, The Biblical Illustrator, 1 Chronicles, 113)
V. The earth is hopelessly lost but it is not our home. We are simply aliens and strangers here. (1 Chr 29:15; see also: Lv 25:23; Job 14:2; Ps 39:12; 103:14-16; Heb 11:13-40; 1 Pt 1:17)
The second part of v. 14, so aptly used at the dedication of church offerings, guards against any feeling of self-congratulation in the act of giving. Not only do we not possess anything independently of God, but we have no natural right to do so. David’s rhetorical question, in the first half of v. 14, expresses his feeling of unworthiness to be in the successful position he is in. It is a mark of his right perspective on wealth that his possession of it drives him to his knees in humility rather than kindling pride in his eminence. The use of the terms “strangers” and “sojourners” emphasizes this lack of entitlement to the wealth of which he disposes. The word translated “stranger” (ger) is widely used in the OT precisely to distinguish from Israelites, heirs to the promised land, those non-Israelites who were inhabitants. The application of the term to Israelites, therefore, is pointed. In the history of Israel which yet lay ahead of David it was to be one of her chronic faults to take for granted as of right those things which were in reality the marks of God’s unmerited goodness (land, Temple, even the law; Jer 7:4; 8:8). David’s prayer that they would recognize who was their true King and the source of all they had, by honest devotion to him (v. 17), applies to the modern Church as much as to those who first heard his words. (J. G. McConville, The Daily Study Bible Series, 1 & 2 Chr, 105)
It is plain that however circumstances may alter, the Chronicler sees no need for such joy ever to become a thing of the past, if only God’s people will learn to count their blessings, to learn in whatever state they are, to be content, and to recognize in every day’s events the bountiful goodness of the covenant-keeping God of their fathers. He underlines the point by reminding us how transient were even the glorious days of the early monarchy: “We are strangers before thee,” says David, “and sojourners, as all our fathers were; our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no abiding” (29:15). (Michael Wilcock, The Message of Chr, 116)
This terminology usually applied to those who were homeless or traveling and who depended entirely on the goodness of others for their sustenance (see Dt 10:18). Although David and his people had inherited the land of promise by this time, he still considered himself in utter dependence on God. This dependence was not on other people for David was a stranger “in your [the Lord’s] sight.” Despite the security David experienced in the land of Israel, he and his people still depended on God just as much as their forefathers, those who first wandered through the land (29:15, see Gn 12:1-3; Dt 26:5). (Richard L. Pratt, 1 & 2 Chr, A Mentor Commentary, 199)
The terms “aliens and tenants” usually refer to non-Israelites who lived in the land. Having no land of their own, they were dependent upon the Israelites for their livelihood, often working as bondservants or slaves. As these people were dependent upon Israel, so Israel was dependent upon the Lord. The Israelites did not own the land, any more than the tenant farmers who tilled the soil for their Israelite masters owned the land.
Similarly, David declares that he and his people are “aliens and transients,” without home or hope apart from God’s grace. To the Chronicler’s community, for whom the exile was still a recent memory, these words would have had particular resonance. (Steven S. Tuell, Interpretation: 1 & 2 Chr, 111)
If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world. If none of my earthly pleasures satisfy it, that does not prove that the universe is a fraud. Probably earthly pleasures were never meant to satisfy it, but only to arouse it, to suggest the real thing. If that is so, I must take care, on the one hand, never to despise, or be unthankful for, these earthly blessings, and on the other, never to mistake them for the something else of which they are only a kind of copy, or echo, or mirage. I must keep alive in myself the desire for my true country, which I shall not find till after death; I must never let it get snowed under or turned aside; I must make it the main object of life to press on to that other country and to help others do the same. (C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, 119)
VI. God provides us with resources so we may be tested and given the opportunity to look at the condition of our soul (1 Chr 29:17; see also: Gn 22; Ex 16:4; 20:20; Dt 8:1-30; Prv 3:5-10; Job 23:10; Ps 26:2; 66:10; 139:23; 27:21; Eccl 2:1; Jer 12:3; Lk 8:13; 1 Cor 3:13; 1 Cor ch 4; 2 Cor 2:9; 13:5-7; Gal 6:4; 1 Thes 5:21; Jas 1:12)
David leads the way in the act of self-dedication, offering a “treasure of his own” (v. 3). The word is segullah, better known in its use to describe the people of Israel as God’s “own possession” (Ex 19:5). A segullah was a treasure of special importance to an ancient eastern monarch because it was a kind of personal security against times of political hardship or disaster. (J. G. McConville, The Daily Study Bible Series, 1 & 2 Chr, 103)
It amounts to a forfeit of an important visible guarantee of his personal security. In an age when many people channel large proportions of their substance into safeguarding their future David’s example here is salutary. Jesus too took up the theme of voluntary vulnerability in a number of his sayings (Mt 8:20-22; 16:24-26), and in his Incarnation left us with the supreme example of faithfulness to the challenge. The gospel calls into jeopardy not only the “fringe benefits” or the “little luxuries” of life, but its center and substance. Often the extent to which we are prepared to put at risk our material well-being is a measure of the seriousness with which we take our discipleship. (J. G. McConville, The Daily Study Bible Series, 1 & 2 Chr, 103)
. . . our checkbooks tell us more about our priorities than does anything else.
That’s why Jesus talked so much about money. Sixteen of the 38 parables were concerned with how to handle money and possessions. Indeed, Jesus Christ said more about money than about almost any other subject. The Bible offers 500 verses on prayer, fewer than 500 verses on faith, but more than 2,350 verses on money and possessions. (Howard Dayton, Your Money Counts, 8)
Richard Halverson said it precisely: “Jesus Christ said more about money than any other single thing because money is of first importance when it comes to a person’s real nature. Money is an exact index to our true character. Throughout Scripture we find an intimate correlation between the development of a person’s character and how he or she handles money.” (Howard Dayton, Your Money Counts, 30)
The difference between the Christian and the non-Christian is a trust in God for material provision. “Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously…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.” (2 Cor 9:6, 8-9). (Timothy J. Keller, Ministries of Mercy, 71-72)
VII. God gives you the desires of your heart (1 Chr 29:18-19; see also: Ps 37:4; Rom 8:1-14)
David’s prayer (29:18-19) is that the people and new king Solomon not lose sight of the centrality of a pure heart as they plan and build this magnificent Temple. The secret of David’s leadership was not power and wealth, but trust in a God to whom belongs all power and wealth. (John Sailhamer, Everyman’s Bible Commentary: 1 & 2 Chr, 63-64)
The praise thus showered upon Yahweh was not an empty gesture, because what David said about his beneficence was demonstrated before the eyes of all at that very moment. They could not have responded as they did without the material goods that came from God’s hand. Yet he did not do it directly, but rather through the willingness of his people. God, who knows what is in the heart of man, is aware of the spontaneity of the offerings of king and people and David prays that the desire for such disposition may remain with the people of Israel forever. (Jacob M. Myers, 1 Chronicles, a New Translation, 197)
“When you get what you want you don’t always want what you get.” (Robert Moore Jumonville)
If the highest good is personal pleasure, one’s divine duty is to fixate on personal needs and wants. Pop singer Whitney Houston echoed this theme in “The Greatest Love,” which struck a platinum vein in the American sensibility. The greatest love, it turns out, is to be found in the mirror. It seems to matter little that self-centered people tend to be miserable. Once a vice, and even a mortal sin, self-worship is now a cultivated skill. (Robert H. Knight; The Age of Consent, xix)
CONCLUSION/APPLICATION: What questions can I ask myself that may challenge me to rethink reality and my perspective on life and worship?:
1- Why vote if God establishes leaders? (See 7-8-12 HFM message)
2- Why does God need us to give or volunteer if there are so many others who are richer or more talented? (Mk 12:41-44; 1 Cor chps 12-14; Rom 12:3-9)
3- Why would God give equal rewards to unequal contributions for a particular ministry effort?
4- If you understand that everything is the Lord’s what real rights do you have to anything?
A person who knows the grace of God knows that he is not entitled to any possession by personal right. Call it a loan, call it trust, call it a gift. Do not treat it as your due, something owed you for services rendered. (Paul O. Wendland, The People’s Bible, 1 Chr, 307)
He who owns all has a right–1. To bestow on any creature whatever He pleases. 2. To withdraw from any creature in any way or at any time whatever He thinks best. “The Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away.” (Joseph S. Exell, The Biblical Illustrator, 1 Chronicles, 111)
Rights sound so righteous. But the new rights aren’t rights at all: They are blunt powers masquerading under the name of rights. They have nothing to do with rights. The rights our forefathers died for are a shield—government can’t tell me what to do or say—to preserve our freedom from others ordering us around. The new rights are a sword. They are hailed under the flag of freedom. But no one doing the saluting is looking at how these rights impinge on what others consider to be their own freedoms. The coinage of the new rights regime has a flip side; it is called coercion. (Philip K. Howard; The Death of Common Sense, p. 167)
We are all called to recognize our creaturely status as men and women made by God and called to his service. That recognition will naturally impel us to ask, “What do I owe in return?” rather than “What more can I claim?”; “What are my duties?” rather than “What are my rights?’ (Harry Blamires; The Post Christian Mind, 28)
To think in terms of bargains and rights in the Kingdom of God. That is absolutely fatal. There is nothing so wrong as the spirit which argues that because I do this, or because I have done that, I have a right to except something else in return. (D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones; Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Cure, 129)
Every right I claim imposes an obligation on someone else. If patients have a right to medical treatment, then doctors have an obligation to administer it. If criminals have a right to a lawyer, then the state has an obligation to supply one. If people have a right to financial security, then the government has an obligation to dole out welfare benefits. For each new right that is created, a whole network of laws and regulations is written to enforce the corresponding obligations. And if people feel that’s not enough, they can resort to another form of government power–the courts. Private contracts, private conversations, the most intimate details of our lives have become fair game for scrutiny by the courts.
Notice the irony here. The old concept of rights was designed to limit state power–to define areas free from government interference. But the new concept of rights expands state power. It asks government to regulate all sorts of areas that were once private. (Charles Colson, A Dangerous Grace, 300)
5- How should regarding yourself as an alien or stranger on planet earth change the way you plan, build, invest and relate?
6- How does knowing that God may distribute material resources as a “stress test” for your soul influence the way you cherish, maintain, distribute and manage things?
7- How would truly believing that real joy comes in devoting yourself to God and others change your priorities in life? (Phil 2:1-11; Heb 12:1-2)
People are closest to God-likeness in self-giving, and the nearer they approach God-likeness the more genuinely and rightly they become capable of rejoicing. Contrary to popular belief, the OT’s presentation of man’s relationship with God is above all in terms of joy. And it is always inseparable from affirmations that his truest interests lie in the way of whole-hearted acceptance of God’s lordship (cf. Neh 12:44-47; Ps 100:1f.). The search for true happiness cannot be along the path of self-gratification. That way lies, at best, momentary exhilaration followed by disappointment and a keen sense of the ephemeral character of pleasure as it is commonly understood. Joy and self-giving are inherently and invariably factors of each other. (J. G. McConville, The Daily Study Bible Series, 1 & 2 Chr, 103-04)
This spirit of rejoicing characterizes the major religious events reported in Chronicles (cf. 12:40). In fact, the Chronicler has spliced together three closely related themes that are somewhat paradigmatic of Israel’s relationship with God: a pure heart (cf. 28:9) that prompts generous giving, which in turn results in joy. (Andrew E. Hill, The NIV Application Commentary: 1 & 2 Chr, 330)
The undeserved goodness of God not only sparks gratitude but also prompts the emotive response of joy. Joy, permitted its complete work, issues in loyalty or continued obedience to God. The Chronicler’s “praise formula” may be diagramed something like this:
“Pilgrim” status → gratitude → joy → loyalty
This is not, however, a simplistic and mechanical cause-and-effect relationship between the Creator and his creatures. God cannot be manipulated in this way. Rather, it is the result of “wholehearted devotion” to God (29:19)–the mystery of a “synergistic” faith relationship between a people called to obey God and a God who keeps their hearts loyal to him (29:18). (Andrew E. Hill, The NIV Application Commentary: 1 & 2 Chr, 356)
In his discussion on “joy,” Wilcock discerned that “we live in a time in the church’s history which tends to value Christian experience more than the cause of that experience.” Or put another way, Christians today tend to value the circumstantial experience of joy more than the personal relationship with the God of joy. (Andrew E. Hill, The NIV Application Commentary: 1 & 2 Chr, 357)
C.S. Lewis made a similar discovery in his personal odyssey through atheism, theism, and pantheism to Christianity. Lewis came to understand that joy was a desire, but unlike pleasure, it is never experienced as a result of human power. Rather, as a desire joy “is turned not to itself but to its object.” Finally, Lewis realized that joy is something other, something that lies outside of himself. The ultimate question became not, “What is joy?” but, “Who is the desired?” Much to his surprise, Lewis perceived a direct connection between God and joy. Joy is not a place but a Person, the very person of God revealed once for all in Jesus Christ. Much like Job, who no longer needed an answer to the question of why the righteous suffer after his encounter with God, Lewis wrote that he lost all interest in the topic of joy when he became a Christian and met the “God of Joy.” (Andrew E. Hill, The NIV Application Commentary: 1 & 2 Chr, 359)
Someone asked the American Episcopal bishop Phillips Brooks what he would do to resurrect a dead church, and he replied, “I would take up a missionary offering.” Giving to others is one secret of staying alive and fresh in the Christian life. If all we do is receive, then we become reservoirs; and the water can become stale and polluted. But if we both receive and give, we become like channels; and in blessing others, we bless ourselves. American psychologist Dr. Karl Menninger said, “Money-giving is a good criterion of a person’s mental health. Generous people are rarely mentally ill people.” Someone wrote in Modern Maturity magazine, “The world is full of two kinds of people, the givers and the takers. The takers eat well—but the givers sleep well.” (Warren Wiersbe, Be Determined, 146-147)
8- How does knowing that God eventually confirms within you the desires of your heart cause you to use more caution in guarding your heart from destructive desires? (Ex 7:13-14, 22-23; 8:15, 19, 32; 9:12, 34-35; 10:1, 20, 27; 11:10; 14:4, 8, 17; Nm ch 11; 2 Chr 1:12; Prv 4:23; Jer 4:3; Hos 10:12; Mt 12:33-34; Lk 6:45; Rom 1:24; Gal 5:16-25; Eph 4:22-32; Col 3:5-10; 2 Tm 2:22-26; Jas 1:19-24; 4:1-10; 1 Pt 4:2)
Beware of the world. Meddle not with it more than needs must. Carry yourself amongst worldly objects and employments as though you were amongst cheats and thieves: they have the art to pick your hearts slyly. When your hearts are warmed with holy duties, you should be as cautious and wary how you venture into the world as you are of going into the frosty air when you are all in a sweat. (Joseph S. Exell, The Biblical Illustrator, 1 Chronicles, 120-21)
Until you can confidently state your values, every philosophy, every behavior and every desire known to humankind is a potential substitute. Your values become the filter through which you determine right from wrong, value from worthlessness and importance from insignificance. If you do not specifically identify your values, they will be defined for you by the whims and influences of the world. (George Barna; Turning Vision, 91)
George Fooshee, the author of the excellent book You Can Beat the Money Squeeze, so aptly states, “People buy things they do not need with money they do not have to impress people they do not even like.” (Howard Dayton, Your Money Counts, 144)
9- How should knowing that in reality you own nothing change the way you hoard, worry about, covet or pursue things? (Mt 6:19-34; Lk 12:13-21; 1 Tim 6:17)
10- If David was so passionate about building a temple that was a mere shadow of the reality that we now know has come in Jesus, how much more passionate should we be about building the temple that is the substance of the shadow? That is Jesus in us! (See 7-15-12 HFM message)
11- How does knowing that your generosity can inspire others to give affect your giving? (1 Chr 29:9; Mt 5:16; 2 Cor 9:2-7, 11-15)
He publicly declares what he is willing to offer to his God. He is not boasting, this is not vain-glory. In generosity born of faith, he wants to provide God’s people with the encouragement of his own example. More than this, as one whose eyes see true because they are filled with a vision of God’s grace, he can “see” the willingness of the leaders to offer their priestly service to God as well. Because of this, he does not hesitate to ask them also to “consecrate (themselves) today to the LORD.” (Paul O. Wendland, The People’s Bible, 1 Chr, 302)
Instead of this offering bringing grudging comments and mean-spirited remarks from the people, it gave them and their king great joy (v. 9), because they noted the freedom and enthusiasm with which their leaders gave. Joy begets joy, just as love begets love. The heart in which Christ rules is refreshed and encouraged when it sees the willing service our loving Lord inspires. In it, we see proof of the truth that we live in the presence of a God who “is able to make all grace abound to [us], so that in all things at all times, having all that [we] need, [we] will abound in every good work (2 Cor 9:8). (Paul O. Wendland, The People’s Bible, 1 Chr, 303-04)
God’s work is worth the investment of His people’s resources. No leader should ask his followers to do what he or she is not ready to do personally. Here David leads with his pocket, giving not public money but his own (29:3) and thus setting an example of generosity. (Leslie Allen, Mastering the OT, 1, 2 Chr, 188-89)
In a similar context Ex 35:21 speaks of the heart stirring, or moving, the person to give. Understandably the idea of willingness features also in the NT equivalent of this passage, 2 Cor 8-9. For both Paul and the Chronicler, willing giving was a measure of spirituality and fellowship. While in Chronicles David is the model, significantly in 2 Corinthians “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ” is the example (8:9). (Leslie Allen, Mastering the OT, 1, 2 Chr, 190)
It is a proven leadership principle that generosity needs an example (e.g., note how often the “matching gift” of a donor is used to spur philanthropic giving). The open-handed giving of Israelite leaders serves as an inducement for a similar response on the part of the people. Sadly, this kind of generosity is not always seen in later Hebrew kingship (e.g., Elijah rebuked King Ahab for his greed, 1 Kgs 21:18-19, Micah condemned leaders who rendered judgment for a bribe, Mic 3:11). (Andrew E. Hill, The NIV Application Commentary: 1 & 2 Chr, 329)
12- How important is it that you are a vital part of a God-honoring and vital church (Body of Christ) knowing that that church’s passions, convictions, teaching, and ministries can have a huge influence on you? (Ex 35:4-29; 1 Chr 29:9, 17; Mt 5:16; 1 Cor ch. 9; 15:33)
13- What indicators do you have that you at present truly believe this message?
14- Knowing that heaven is a perfect place for perfect people, what hope do you have of eternal life if you don’t do everything David is encouraging you to do? . . . let alone everything written in the Bible. (Rom 2:12-4:25; 6:15; 7:1-8:17; 9:30-10:13; Gal 2:15-5:6; Phil 3:1-9)
The Chronicler brings his first book to a close by drawing this lovely picture of God’s kingdom for us. Here is all Israel fully united under the glorious son of David and fully dedicated to the mission of building God’s house. He does not do so for nostalgia’s sake, simply to play a bit upon “the mystic chords of memory.” Ultimately this description is not so much a look backward at what God did, as it is a look forward to what God intends still to do for his people. “There will yet come the Child to rule on David’s throne,” the Chronicler reminds those beleaguered believers of his day. “Of the increase of his government and peace, there will be no end. He will reign…with justice and righteousness…forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this (Is 9:7). (Paul O. Wendland, The People’s Bible, 1 Chr, 310-11)
For the Christian reader the purposes of God have found an even sharper focus in the Lord Jesus Christ as the inaugurator of a final era of revelation. “A greater than Solomon is” now “here” (Lk 11:31). If Solomon was great David’s greater son (v. 25), He is the greatest. So precisely is He regarded as the mirror image of the Father that a prophetic promise of God’s world sovereignty (Is 45:23) is freely applied to Him in Phil 2:11. The principles of His kingdom were declared in His earthly teaching and affirm the Gospels. His right to the kingdom was established in His life, death, resurrection, and ascension. The One who has gone “to receive…a kingdom” is also “to return” to reign (Lk 19:12). (Leslie Allen, Mastering the OT, 1, 2 Chr, 196)
I got a letter last week accusing me of offering “cheap grace” through the ministry of Key Life. It ruined my day because I was ashamed to make something cheap that cost God so much. I say I was ashamed…but then I talked to Him.
“What kind of present did you think you would bring?” He asked.
“Well, I thought that maybe I would offer my righteousness.”
“You don’t have any.”
“How about total commitment?”
“You’ve got to be kidding!”
“I could tithe.”
“It’s already mine.”
“All of my worldly possessions?”
“Ditto. You see, child, if it weren’t ‘cheap grace’ you could not have afforded it. So, why don’t you just give up your efforts at bringing Me presents. It’s Christmas. Just remember the present I gave to you…My love, My forgiveness, My heart, My son…forever.”
“I never thought of it that way.”
“I did. A long time before you were ever born.” (Steve Brown, Key Life newsletter, 12/96)
Worship point: When we begin to understand the sovereignty of God and His commitment to lead us into a life in all of its abundance; we will worship Him more fully as we see His purposes in our discipline, trials, victories, failures, health, sickness, abundance and poverty.
Faith is willing to abandon all earthly guarantees and rely solely on God. (Paul O. Wendland, The People’s Bible, 1 Chr, 300)
Spiritual Challenge: I challenge you to think long and hard about your presuppositions (the things you accept as true). What is preventing you from seeing that you are not your own, that your things are not really your things, and that God is sovereign over all? As part of this challenge consider what obstacles there may be in your life and thinking that are preventing your heart and mind from being renewed and transformed so that you may begin to think and act on the basis of God’s reality and not the world’s.
We live in a time in the church’s history which tends to value Christian experience more than the cause of that experience. So it is important to grasp that the believer’s joy, which is a responsive emotion, can be an abiding thing only because God’s bounty, which gives rise to it, is itself an abiding thing. (Michael Wilcock, The Message of Chr, 115)
As I’m figuring my tax liability, I wince at every source of income and rejoice with every tithe and offering check–more income means more taxes, but every offering and tithe means fewer taxes. Everything is turned upside down, or perhaps more appropriately, rightside up.
I suspect Judgment Day will be like that. Those things that bother us now, that force us out of our schedules–taking time out to encourage or help someone, for instance–will be the very things we deem most important. We may not remember the movie we skipped to paint the invalid’s house or the meeting we missed to visit that prisoner or sick person, but in eternity we will remember those acts of kindness and love and we’ll be glad we took the time to do them. (Gary L. Thomas, Seeking the Face of God, pp. 151-52)
Quotes to Note:
Grace defined David. Grace had enabled David to become great and to do great things. Now we see how God’s grace to David overflowed also to his people. Grace enabled David’s people to follow their anointed king, to be great in God’s eyes, and to do great things also. When beggars like us catch a glimpse of the depth of God’s love, we can only say, “Amazing! Who am I or what have I ever done to be worthy of such a wealth of compassion?” (Paul O. Wendland, The People’s Bible, 1 Chr, 306)
There as here there is an emphasis on the fact that the greatness of Israel does not lie within, but rather is granted by God. Particularly striking is David’s use of the terms “stranger” and “sojourner” (v. 15), invoking the analogy of the patriarchs, who had never possessed the land as future generations would. The prayers of chs. 16 and 29, therefore, mark two of the great events of David’s reign, the bringing of the ark and the commissioning of Solomon to carry out his plans for the Temple. More importantly, perhaps, this prayer serves as a prelude to Solomon’s reign. That reign was to be the most magnificent in Israel’s history, and the temptations of its grandeur and wealth would weigh heavily upon Solomon. (J. G. McConville, The Daily Study Bible Series, 1 & 2 Chr, 104)
Part of this sacrifice was burnt on the altar as an offering to God, and part was consumed by the worshipers who then “ate and drank…in the presence of the LORD” (v. 22). This intimate “table fellowship” with God was marked by joy, a precursor of that joy we will all experience in that great Messianic banquet to come. Then “people will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God” (Lk 13:29). What a happy day that will be! (Paul O. Wendland, The People’s Bible, 1 Chr, 310)
Jehiel (29:8) is a Levite of the clan of Gershon (23:8), whose family is linked to the temple treasuries (26:21). The significance of this reference to the temple treasurer should not be overlooked. The gift of administrative oversight, especially financial management, is an important service to the ongoing work of God–whether the temple in ancient Israel or the church in contemporary North America. The role requires scrupulous attention to detail and demands uncompromising integrity. (Andrew E. Hill, The NIV Application Commentary: 1 & 2 Chr, 330)
The separation of the emotion of joy from the God of joy has led us to pawn satisfaction for gratification. The rise of the insidious contemporary idolatry of technology further demeans our humanness in the swapping of an abundant life lived in time and space for a virtual reality logged in cyberspace. Social critics have observed that the American right to “pursue happiness” in the form of instant emotional “fixes” has created a society addicted to fun but bereft of joy.
Interestingly, the thematic structure of the psalm of lament speaks to this dichotomy in that the lament typically concludes with a “vow of praise.” The vow of praise, according to Anderson, is a vote of confidence in Yahweh as the God who hears and answers the prayers of the needy. It is testimony both to the sovereignty of God in human circumstance (i.e., affirmation of Yahweh’s ability to change the situation if he wills to intervene) and to the goodness of God’s character (i.e., the recognition that God is good whether or not he chooses to intervene and remedy a situation). This helps explain the Chronicler’s report that the people of Israel “ate and drank with great joy in the presence of the LORD” at the coronation of King Solomon (29:22). He apprehends the theological truth that joy is connected to the person and presence of God (cf. 16:27). (Andrew E. Hill, The NIV Application Commentary: 1 & 2 Chr, 358-59)
Christ:
The new perspective
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