"What Will You Offer To The LORD?"
2 Samuel 23:8-17
INTRO.
The Apostle Paul exhorts the Christians at Rome in Romans 12:1, “I
beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present
your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your
reasonable service.” Paul realized, as we must, that the Christian’s
body no longer belongs to them to do as they will, but they are now
God's property, who must direct our lives now that we belong to Him!
Paul, again said in Galatians 2:20, "I am crucified with Christ:
nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I
now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me
and gave himself for me.” Paul said, "We have died to our old life and
now because Christ lives in us, we can live by Christ!" I want to title
the message, "What Will You Offer To The LORD?"
In 1 Peter 2:5, the Scripture tells us, "Ye also, as lively stones, are
built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual
sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." What does the apostle
Peter mean by "offering up spiritual sacrifices?" Well, it means we, as
Christians, must bring ourselves to God. We must offer our work
and our worship as expressions of our love and obedience to God, for
we now belong to Him!
In our text, 2 Samuel 23, we have the account of David, near the end
of his life, speaking in a poem about how God has blessed him and
helped him. Then in v5 to the end of the chapter, we have a list of
David's mighty men. David relays an incident which took place in
the lives of 3 of his mightiest men. While David was in the hold of
Adullam during harvest time, he had a strong desire for a drink of
water from the wells of Bethlehem. The three mightiest of his men
went to the well, retrieved the water, at jeopardy of their lives, and
brought it to David. But when David received it, he poured it out to
the Lord!
Seems like a meager offering to give unto the LORD! But it
symbolizes David's willingness to give unto God. Let's look at David's
Offering and compare it to our lives, which are NOW GOD'S!
DAVID'S OFFERING WAS A:
(1) COMMON THING
Text: 2 Samuel 23:15—“…The water of the well of Bethlehem, which
is by the gate!”
A. THE SEEMING INSIGNIFICANCE OF THE OFFERING. Notice David’s
offering to the Lord was “water”. Many look for the spectacular thing
they can offer to or do for the Lord to show their devotion to Him. They
seek the limelight. They want to be noticed. Carolyn Schultz said, “In
the kingdom of God there are no score sheets. Menial tasks rank as
high as glamorous ones. Things are measured by the spiritual way in
which they are done” (Albert M. Wells, Jr. Inspiring QuotationsContemporary & Classical. p. 184).
B. THE SUBSTANTIAL IMPORTANCE OF THE OFFERING. “Water” may
seem to us to be an insignificant offering to give unto God, but we need
not always look for something great to do in order to show our devotion
to God. Just each day give Him our BEST! David gave the best he had
at the time! What about us do we give our best unto God? David said
in Psalm 63:1-4—“O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my
soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land,
where no water is; To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee
in the sanctuary. Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips
shall praise thee. Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands
in thy name.” It is not so much the size of the offering or the
significance of the offering in the eyes of others, but the affection and
the submission of the heart which gives it! David “poured it out unto the
LORD.” (v16b). There’s the KEY: what motives us to give things and do
things in the service of the Lord? Is it for the glory of SELF? or Is it for
the glory of the Savior?
David’s offering was a COMMON THING but also note it was a…
(2) COSTLY THING
Text: 2 Samuel 23:17—“…Is not this the blood of the men that went
in the jeopardy of their lives?…”
A. IMPORTANCE IS BASED UPON THE PRECIOUSNESS OF AN ITEM.
“Water” is a common thing. But a common thing became precious
because purchased it was at great price! These mighty men of David
went to obtain this water “in jeopardy of their lives”. Think about Jesus,
God’s offering for man’s sin. There is nothing uncommon about any of
us. All are sinners and all have come short of God’s glory (Romans
3:23). But in God’s eyes we are precious and in His great love, Jesus,
God’s son shed His precious blood to redeem us (1 Peter 1:18-21).
David’s offering might not have seemed very important in the eyes of
this world, but in God’s eyes in was precious!
B. IMPORTANCE IS BASED UPON THE PURPOSE OF AN ITEM. David’s
offering was a common thing but it was an important thing because
David was willing to “pour it out unto the Lord”. God doesn’t want halfhearted service and devotion to Him from His people. But He wants us
to offer Him our BEST! Proverbs 3:9 says, “Honour the LORD with thy
substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase.” When we truly
love HIM we will give Him our BEST! Jesus said in Mark 12:30—“And
thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul,
and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first
commandment.” Christ redeemed us with His Precious blood, now He
desires us to render precious service to Him!
David’s offering was a COMMON THING and a COSTLY THING and also David’s
offering was a…
(3) DESIRABLE THING
Text: 2 Samuel 23:15—“And David longed, and said, Oh that would
would give me drink of the water of the well of
Bethlehem, which is by the gate!”
*David gave an offering for which his soul longed! It is usually easy to offer
that to God which means little to us, but that which we long for is much
harder! There are 3 HARD THINGS TO OFFER GOD:
A. OUR TIME (Psalm 90:12).
ILLUS: Someone wrote:
Just a tiny little minute
only sixty seconds in it
Forced upon me. Can't refuse it.
Didn't seek it, didn't choose it,
I must suffer if I loose it,
Give account if I abuse it.
Just a tiny little minute,
but eternity is in it.
-- Selected
We all offer to God as much time as we want Him to have.
B. OUR TALENTS (1 Peter 4:10). Peter in this verse says, “As every man
hath received the gift, even so minister the same…as good stewards of
the manifold grace of God.” Every believer has been entrusted by God
with a gift or talent which he or she should use to glorify God and
benefit the kingdom of God.
ILLUS: The Lord has given to each one of us at least one gift, and
probably many more than that. The most important thing in
life is to find what gifts we have; secondly, to recognize that
they are from God; thirdly, to be faithful and dependable in
using them. Anything that is not used doesn't develop. A
pianist said, "You know, I must practice every day. If I don't
practice one day I know the difference. If I don't practice two
days, those who hear me know the difference." (Bible Illustrator
for Windows).
C. OUR TESTIMONY (Psalm 107:2-3). These verses clearly tell us we are
to offer our testimony as witness to this world how God has changed
our lives! “Let the redeemed of the Lord say so!” Adam Clarke in his
commentary wrote: For they have had the fullest proof of this goodness,
in being saved by the continuing stream of his mercy. (Adam Clarke’s
Commentary on The Bible). So much so-called "testimony" today is
really autobiography and even sometimes thinly disguised selfadvertisement, that we need to regain a proper biblical perspective. All
true testimony is testimony to Jesus Christ, as he stands on trial before
the world. -- John Stott in Authentic Christianity. Christianity Today,
Vol. 40, no. 9.
David’s offering was a COMMON THING, a COSTLY THING, a DESIRABLE
THING and also a…
(4) CONSECRATED THING
Text: 2 Samuel 23:16—“David…poured it out unto the LORD."
A. CONSECRATION IS A MATTER OF THE WILL. David refused to use
it to gratify his own longings. This was something David desired as v15
tells us, “And David longed, and said, Oh that one would give me drink
of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate!” When they
were preparing to build Solomon’s temple in 1 Chronicles 29:5 we
read, “And who is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the
LORD?” Notice the words “who is willing…”. Friend, are you willing to
offer your BEST unto the Lord? What hinders you from giving Christ
your all? Throw it off. Reduce the things that weigh you down. F. B.
Meyer says, "Thousands of Christians are like water-logged vessels,
they cannot sink; yet, they are saturated with so many inconsistencies,
worldlinesses and little permitted evils that they can only be towed with
difficulty into the celestial port.
B. CONSECRATION IS A MATTER OF THE HEART. David asks in
Psalm 116:12—“What shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits
toward me?” God had been so good to David that David wanted to give
back to God. What about you? God’s love, mercy, and grace has given
us all that we possess. What will WE give to the Lord? Everything is
Holy that given unto the LORD! If we give it to God out of a heart of
love then God will be pleased with our offering. According to Romans
12:1 God asks each believer to, “by the mercies of God, that ye present
your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your
reasonable service.”
ILLUS: David Livingstone wrote in his journal on one occasion
concerning his "selfless" life: People talk of the sacrifice I have
made in spending so much of my life in Africa. Can that be
called a sacrifice which is simply paying back a small part of
the great debt owing to our God, which we can never repay? Is
that a sacrifice which brings its own blest reward in healthful
activity, the consciousness of doing good, peace of mind and a
bright hope of glorious destiny hereafter? Away with the word
in such a view and with such a thought! It is emphatically no
sacrifice. Say rather it is a privilege. --Samuel Young
David’s offering was a COMMON THING, a COSTLY THING, a DESIRABLE
THING, a CONSECRATED THING and finally an…
(5) IRREVOCABLE THING
Text: 2 Sam. 23:16b—“Nevertheless he would not drink thereof, but
poured it out unto the LORD."
A. WE BELONG TO THE LORD. 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 reminds us,
“What! Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which
is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are
bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit,
which are God’s.” WE ARE HIS! Once we give our lives to Him nothing
can change that! WHAT IS GIVEN TO GOD, IS GOD'S FOREVER! Once
David offered this water to the Lord, by pouring it out to Him, it could
not be gathered up again.
ILLUS: In the heart of Africa, it is related by an Englishman that a
slave procession passed by, and the king called out a poor
slave who displeased him in some little way, ordered his men to
put their arrows to their bowstrings and avenge the offense
with his blood. He went up to the native chief and begged for
the poor slave's life, offered him a great deal of money and
costly bribes, but the chief turned to him and said: "I don't
want ivory, or slaves, or gold; I can go against yonder tribe and
capture their stores and their villages; I want no favors from
the white man; all I want is blood." Then he ordered one of his
men to pull his bow-string and discharge an arrow at the heart
of the poor slave. The young man, with the instinct of a
moment threw himself in front and held up his arm, and the
next moment the arrow was quivering in the flesh of his own
arm. The black man was astonished. Then he pulled the arrow
from his arm, and the blood flowed, and he said to the chief:
"Here is blood; here is my blood; I give it for this poor slave,
and I claim his life." The native had never seen such a
spectacle before, and he was completely overcome by it. He
gave the slave to the white man. He said: "Yes, white man has
bought him with his blood, and he shall be his." In a moment
the poor slave threw himself at the feet of his deliverer, tears
flowing down his face, and said: "O, white man, you have
bought Lebe with your blood; Lebe" (for that was his name)
"shall be your slave forever and ever," and ever after he could
not make him take his liberty; wherever he went poor Lebe was
beside him; no drudgery was too hard, no task too hopeless. He
was bound by the mercy of his deliverer as his consecrated
servant. O, friends, if a poor savage heart can thus be bound
by the wound of a stranger's arm, what should you and I say
for those deeper wounds in those two living hands and feet and
the heart that was opened by the spear? If we believe that we
are redeemed, how can we but be consecrated to him. -- J. W.
C-- From "Present Day Parables" by J. Wilbur Chapman
David poured the water out as an offering unto the Lord. And once
poured out it could not be gathered up again so it was an irrevocable
thing.
B. WE ARE BOUND BY LOVE. 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 tells us, “For the
love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for
all, then were all dead. And that he died for all, that they which live
should not live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and
rose again.” Notice the words there, “For the love of Christ constraineth
us.” It should be the power which motivates us in all our conduct!
Christ’s great love bestowed to us in his willingness to die for our sins
should motivate each of us who are truly born again to offer ourselves
as living sacrifices to His will! The meaning of sacrifice is the deliberate
giving of the best I have to God that He may make it His and mine for
ever: if I cling to it, I lose it, and so does God. -- Oswald Chambers,
Christianity Today, Vol. 37, no. 11.
CLOSING: God has given to mankind the GREATEST SACRIFICE OF ALL, His
Son for our sins on the Cross! All He asks from us, His Dear
Children, is that we offer “spiritual sacrifices" unto Him by Christ
Jesus.
We have been saved to serve Him, and if we TRULY LOVE him, we
will serve Him with OUR WHOLE HEART!
I ask you, "What will you offer unto the LORD?" The LORD has
given us our life. We are a NEW CREATURE IN CHRIST JESUS.
What will you offer to the Lord?