In
the last three verses of Exodus 24, they tell us that the glory cloud of God
rested on the mountain when Moses had gone up to meet with God. Then on the
seventh day, God called to him in the midst of the cloud. In Exodus 25, we see
that the first thing God told him to do was to collect an offering to build the
Tabernacle, a portable sanctuary. Two things come to mind. Firstly, this
instruction tells us how much God wants to be among His people. And secondly,
it tells us that God would graciously allow the people the privilege to
participate in the building of His dwelling place. So in these verses, He
instructed Moses to get the people to contribute to the project of building the
Tabernacle. Simply put, this first eight verses of Exodus 25
constitute a call to give.
In
these verses, we are given a lesson on giving which is a vital part of one’s
spiritual life. In fact, giving is an indicator of one’s spiritual health. A
growing believer is a giving believer. Giving shows one’s ability to steward
the resources God has given him or her. We must remember all that we are and
have come from God. Everything belongs to Him in the first place. We are only
stewards and not owners. When it comes to the subject of giving, being balanced
must be the key. There are some who are overly obsessed with money that they
will give a lengthy persuasive coercive talk about the need to give. But then,
there are others who feel embarrassed just talking about it. A healthy
perspective is to be balanced. We must not talk about money till the audience
feel that the Church is after their money. But we must never avoid talking
about it till believers are deprived of the privilege and opportunity to give
to the glorious works of God.
Exodus
25:1-8 provide us with a healthy perspective on giving to God. Firstly, notice
that the giving is to God. Here God instructed Moses to tell the people to
bring God an offering. What they would give was for God and not Moses or Aaron
or the priests. Giving is an act of worship we offer to God. Their giving was
for the glory of God. Giving is an act of gratitude to God’s gracious
overtures in our life. Secondly, the offering must be out of the free will. It
must be something that came out of their heart. Verse 2 says that the giving
must be “…from every man whose heart moves him you shall raise My
contribution.” God would rather that we give to Him willingly and
not feel coerced. Thirdly, the giving must be from our best. Verses 3-7
state the list God needs for the building of the Tabernacle and the breastplate
of the priest’s garment. They include “…gold, silver and bronze, blue,
purple and scarlet material, fine linen, goat hair, rams’ skins
dyed red, porpoise skins, acacia wood, oil for lighting, spices for
the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, onyx stones and setting
stones for the ephod and for the breast-piece.” Since these
items were needed to build God’s dwelling place, they had to be made of costly
material. This is by way of saying that we must offer to God our very best as
we are enabled. Here everyone could contribute according to what they had. Finally,
we give to God’s holy work. God wanted whatever was given to be used for His
work, to build the Tabernacle so that He could come and dwell among them.
What
are the sound instructions in giving? Bear in mind that when we give, we are
giving to God. Since it's giving to God, we bring our best willingly. Also bear
in mind that when we give, we give to help the work of God to progress, so that
others can be touched and experience Him as well. We must give cheerfully to God because
God loves a cheerful giver!
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