OFFERING AS AN ACT OF WORSHIP

“When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, Jesus went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. As she stood behind Him at His feet weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.”  (Luke 7:36-38 NIV)

In Luke’s Gospel, we read the story of a woman who brought to Jesus a jar of expensive perfume which she broke open and poured out on Him… as an offering. She did not have to give it, but she made a choice. She did not give from obligation, but an open heart. She did not come for an hour, put her offering in a basket, and immediately leave to go back to her daily activities. She stopped. She wasn’t too busy or distracted by the world to surrender her thanksgiving and linger with her Savior as an act of worship. This outpouring of her time cost her, but it would be repaid by an outpouring of mercy and peace from Jesus.

There are many contrasts in the passage. The Pharisees were religious and educated. The woman was sinful and wasn’t allowed to study. The Pharisees were there to question Jesus. The woman was there to worship Jesus. The Pharisees were prideful. The woman was humble. The Pharisees shunned the sinful woman. Jesus showed her mercy. Because the woman was willing to come before Jesus with her broken offering, she received wholeness and redemption. What a moment. 

-- Excerpted from “Altar’d: The Transforming Power of Surrender” by Susan O. Kent

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VIVIAN'S BLESSINGS

“Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents. Calling His disciples to Him, Jesus said, ‘Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything -- all she had to live on.’”  (Mark 12:41-44 NIV)

At the time I became her pastor, Vivian was surviving on food stamps and a small S.S.I. stipend.  She had never married and never worked outside the home, but had taken care of her aging mother and father, a pastor in the old Swedish Methodist church.  In those days pensions only covered pastors and their spouses, so when her parents died, the pension money stopped.  Whenever I visited, Vivian insisted on feeding me.  The fare was usually baloney or peanut butter and jelly, but she delighted to share her table and it was always a joyful feast.

Vivian had a Blessing Box, into which she put a penny every time God blessed her.  Twice a year she would put a big bag of pennies in the offering plate.  Vivian also tithed what little money she had.  After I had been at the church a few months, some church members asked me to speak to her about not tithing because she couldn't afford it.  I was embarrassed, but finally approached her with the church's loving concern.  She received the words as words of love, but her reply really surprised me.  "Why should I be denied the joy of giving just because I'm poor?"

In worldly goods, Vivian was poorer than anyone else in our church.  In spite of that, she felt herself to be the most blessed!  From Vivian, I learned that abundance has nothing to do with having money, but everything to do with being full of the joy of the Lord. 

-- Rev. Ed Wilder in “Alive Now,” May/June 2002, published by The Upper Room, Nashville, TN.   Used with permission. 

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A THANK-YOU GIFT TO GOD

“Since God has shown us great mercy, I beg you to offer your lives as a living sacrifice to Him. Your offering must be only for God and pleasing to Him, which is the spiritual way of worship.”  (Romans 12:1 NCV)

When it comes to worship, who you are matters more than what you do. If you are someone who deeply loves God and wants to live a life that gives Him joy, everything you do can be a form of worship. From singing songs of praise to washing dishes or helping a friend, every moment of your life becomes a thank-you gift to God.

Giving these simple gifts or offerings comes naturally when you give God one big gift each day -- the gift of your life. In the Old Testament, people gave God their first fruits. This was a thank-you gift given to God in return for all He’d given them. They’d give the first and best portion of produce they’d harvested, riches they’d received, or the best animals from their flocks. After Jesus sacrificed His life for others, God asked people to follow His Son’s example by presenting Him with the gift of themselves.

You don’t have to die to give this gift. All you have to do is ask God to help you devote your body, mind, and heart to becoming who He wants you to be. That’s how you turn an ordinary life into a dynamic living sacrifice. 

-- From “100 Favorite Bible Verses”

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A PLEASING AROMA

“For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.”  (2 Corinthians 2:15)

I hadn’t seen Brad for a year. He’d been battling cancer, so when he arrived at our home, I was very happy to see him. The dark circles under his eyes were evidence of his recent radiation and chemo treatments. But he gave me a wide grin when I asked how he was doing.

He said…, “God has been so faithful to me. He’s brought me to the point where I can work again. He’s put my cancer in remission. He’s even giving me my next breath!”

When Brad left that day, the fragrance of his life filled my house. The experience reminded me of Exodus 29:18, which says the priests consecrated their sacrifice as an “offering to the Lord, a please aroma, an offering made to the Lord by fire.”

[Do you find that you are] in the fire? Then live your life as an offering, a pleasing aroma to God. 

-- Anne Graham Lotz in “Fixing My Eyes on Jesus”

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IS YOUR ALL ON THE ALTAR?

You have longed for sweet peace,

And for faith to increase,

And have earnestly, fervently prayed;

But you cannot have rest,

Or be perfectly blest,

Until all on the altar is laid.

 

Refrain:

Is your all on the altar of sacrifice laid?

Your heart does the Spirit control?

You can only be blest,

And have peace and sweet rest,

As you yield Him your body and soul.

 

Would you walk with the Lord,

In the light of His word,

And have peace and contentment alway?

You must do His sweet will,

To be free from all ill,

On the altar your all you must lay.

 

Oh, we never can know

What the Lord will bestow

Of the blessings for which we have prayed,

Till our body and soul

He doth fully control,

And our all on the altar is laid.

 

Who can tell all the love

He will send from above,

And how happy our hearts will be made;

Of the fellowship sweet

We shall share at His feet,

When our all on the altar is laid.

 

-- Elisha A. Hoffman, 1900

AN ACT OF WORSHIP

“But a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such as these to worship Him.”  (John 4:23)

One of the ways we get to worship God is through the giving of our tithes and offerings. We worship when we give our hearts back to God through singing His praises, when we surrender our will to God’s ultimate design for our lives through prayer, and when we offer our tithes to Him for His glory through giving. Through financial giving we praise God for the blessings of having the financial resources to offer back to Him that which He has already given us.

Think about the relationship this has to singing. God has given us voices that, when utilized through spirit and truth, we offer our praises back to Him through the voices that He has already bestowed upon us. In the same vein, God has already blessed us with financial resources to live our lives, and through giving the tithe back to God, we praise Him in an act of worship. The emphasis is not on the money. The emphasis is on our hearts in worship. 

-- Kim Arnold

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ALL TO JESUS I SURRENDER

All to Jesus, I surrender
All to Thee I freely give
I will ever love and trust You
In Your presence daily live
 
All to Jesus, I surrender
Lord, I give myself to Thee
Fill me with Your love and power
Let Your blessing fall on me
 
All to Jesus I surrender
Now I feel the sacred flame
O the joy of full salvation
Glory, glory, to Your name
 
I surrender all, I surrender all
All to Thee, my blessed Savior
I surrender all!
 
-- Robin Mark

#5024

PLEASING WORSHIP

Paul writes, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy [because of all that Jesus has done for us through the sacrifice of Himself on the cross], to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God -- this is your spiritual act of worship.”  (Romans 12:1, AMP).

It is a good thing for corporate worship to become part of the weekly routine of the Christian. However, the fact that worship becomes routine and regular tempts us to be distracted during worship and to go through the motions without putting much thought into it. Therefore, we must work as hard as we can to make sure that our hearts and minds are in our praise, that every aspect of worship is “a fragrant offering, pleasing to the Lord.” (Ephesians 5:2) Let us focus entirely on the Lord as we “worship Him in spirit and truth.”  (John 4:24) 

-- Adapted from Ligonier Ministries, the teaching fellowship of R. C. Sproul

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THE HEART OF WORSHIP

“Ascribe to the LORD the glory due His name; bring an offering and come into His courts. Worship the LORD in the splendor of His holiness; tremble before Him, all the earth. Say among the nations, ‘The LORD reigns.’”  (Psalm 96:8-10a NIV)

The worship to which we are called in our renewed state is far too important to be left to personal preferences, to whims, or to marketing strategies. It is the pleasing of God that is at the heart of worship. Therefore, our worship must be informed at every point by the Word of God as we seek God’s own instructions for worship that is pleasing to Him.

-- R.C. Sproul


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GIVING TO THE LORD’S WORK

“Honor the Lord with your wealth
and with the best part of everything you produce.
Then He will fill your barns with grain,
and your vats will overflow with good wine.”  (Proverbs 3:9,10 NLT)

The only investments I ever made which paid constantly increasing dividends are those I have given to the Lord's work. Pastors do their congregation a great service by helping those in the church understand God's truth about money, time and giving.

-- J. L. Kraft, Founder of Kraft Foods

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