1 Chronicles 29: David Pursues God with his Wealth

In the later years of King David’s life, he came to realize that all his earthly pursuits were in vain. The only thing or person worth pursuing is God. After chasing hard after the heart of God, David is so overwhelmed with the glory of God that he decides to build a house of worship and prayer.

David contributes all the temple wealth to the project. Realizing that this act cost him nothing, he makes his next move.

... in my devotion to the temple of my God I now give my personal treasures of gold and silver for the temple of my God, over and above everything I have provided for this holy temple.

-1 Chronicles 29:3

David went to his bank account and emptied it out. Why would he do that?

I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.

-2 Sam. 24:24

David’s act sparks a contagious kind of generosity.

Then the leaders of families, the officers of the tribes of Israel, the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, and the officials in charge of the king’s work gave willingly.

-1 Chronicles 29:6

The people rejoiced at the willing response of their leaders, for they had given freely and wholeheartedly to the LORD.

-1 Chronicles 29:9

David realizes that all that he has given to God belonged to God anyway.

But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand.

-1 Chronicles 29:14

We are foreigners and strangers in your sight, as were all our ancestors. Our days on earth are like a shadow, without hope. Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided for building you a temple for your Holy Name comes from your hand, and all of it belongs to you.

-1 Chronicles 29:15-16

When God gets your heart, really gets your heart, your greatest joy comes when you give yourself to God and His purposes in the world.

David acknowledges that God tests everyone’s heart.

I know, my God, that you test the heart and are pleased with integrity.

-1 Chronicles 29:17

Integrity: Hebrew word for Pragmatic straightness.

Your words match your actions.

Do you believe everything you have belongs to God?

If you do, you will position your life in such a way as to use your stuff to glorify God. God gets the very best of your stuff.

Then David said to the whole assembly, 'Praise the LORD your God.' So they all praised the LORD, the God of their fathers; they bowed down, prostrating themselves before the LORD and the king.

-1 Chronicles 29:20

Prostrating: The people worshipped God. Worship comes from the idea of “worth.” To what or whom do you give ultimate worth?

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

-Matthew 6:21

What or who gets the very best of you?

The Six Most Common Reasons Christ-followers don’t give:

1. It’s all mine anyway. 

2. I give elsewhere.

3. Tithing is not New Testament.

4. I will tithe when I can afford it.

5. I’m afraid to.

'Test me in this,' says the Lord Almighty, 'and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.'

-Malachi 3:10

6. I give God my time in service.

No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

-Matthew 6:24

And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home.

-Luke 6:19

Money that is submitted to God and His purposes has the spirit of God upon it.

Money used as a substitute for God has the spirit of mammon on it.

Use money to bring people who are far from God near to God and they will be your welcoming committee into an everlasting home.

When God gets your heart, really gets your heart, your greatest joy comes when you give yourself to God and His purposes in the world.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

-Matthew 6:21

Your most precious possessions will go to the thing you love the most.

The worldly man treats certain people kindly because he likes them: The Christian, trying to treat every one kindly, finds himself liking more and more people as he goes on - including people he could not even imagine himself liking at the beginning. This same spiritual law works terribly in the opposite direction. The Germans, perhaps, at first ill-treated the Jews because they hated them: afterwards they hated them much more because they had ill-treated them.

-C.S. Lewis

Good and evil both increase at compound interest. That is why the little decisions you and I make every day are of such infinite importance. The smallest good act today is the capture of a strategic point from which, a few months later, you may be able to go on to victories you never dreamed of. An apparently trivial indulgence in lust or anger today is the loss of a ridge or railway line or bridgehead from which the enemy may launch an attack otherwise impossible.

-C..S. Lewis

Maybe one problem underlying the scandals of Christian superstars is that we distort the kingdom of God by training our spotlight not on the servants, but on the stars. As Henri Nouwen said, 'Keep your eyes on the one who refused to turn stones into bread, jump from great heights or rule with great temporal power. Keep your eyes on the one who says, "Blessed are the poor, the gentle, those who mourn and those who hunger and thirst for righteousness; blessed are the merciful, the peacemakers and those who are persecuted in the cause of uprightness." ... Keep your eyes on the one who is poor with the poor, weak with the weak and rejected with the rejected. That one is the source of all peace.' In other words, keep your eyes on the servant, not the star. The Gospels repeat one saying of Jesus more than any other: 'Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.' Truly the way up is down.

-Philip Yancey

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