Thought of the Week

Thought of the Week is taken each week from an edited transcription of the Citywide Family Hour message.

The Culture of Offering - Part 2

from Citywide Family Hour 29th August 2010 by Josh Mackay

Today, we will continue to look at the culture of offering. Offering is the fundamental culture of the Godhead – the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The scriptures state that God is love. The Three live by a perpetual offering towards the Other, which is the demonstration of that love. Offering is the way we join the culture of God and are accepted by Him. Offering is also to be the way that we relate toward one another. As we examine the culture of offering, we are going to draw examples from the children of Israel who first came out of Egypt and travelled through the wilderness before entering into the Promised Land. Each of these three phases contains cultural pitfalls that stop us from participating in the culture of offering that God has for us.

Last week, our focus was on the parallel of the children of Israel coming out of Egypt, which for us means coming out of the world. As we saw, the world does have a culture where giving generously is applauded, however, this does not make it offering. In Romans 12:2, Paul tells us that we are not to be conformed to the world, but to be transformed or we will not be accepted by God. Let us all realise that we all need to be transformed and not assume that we are immune because we have grown up in the church.

The key cultural issue that we have to avoid when wanting to live by a life of offering is first of all identifying that not all giving is offering. Generally speaking, in the world’s way of giving, the one who is giving is the superior one. They have the supply so they have all the power. The one receiving is the one with the need, so essentially they are at the mercy of the other and are grateful for whatever they may receive.

This is clearly in stark contrast to how God lives and what He requires of us. We are to make offering to Him. To suggest that we are superior, that we have the power, or that God is in need of what we are offering is unthinkable. However, any time we offer with a superior attitude, where we consider that we are the best person for the job or that they are lucky to have us around, we are giving according to the world. We are, in fact, saying we are superior to God. This is unacceptable. This is also completely opposed to the gospel, where without God we have nothing good or righteous and therefore nothing to give to God.

The key cultural understanding, that we need to be transformed about in our thinking, is that offering is not about us blessing God with our great things; it is about God allowing us to participate and join Him in His will and purpose. The interesting thing is that we don’t have anything to give to God until God Himself gives to us. Then we can give back to Him from that. These are the words of King David:

1 Chronicles 29:14

But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly as this? For all things come from You, and of Your own we have given You.

Clearly, God does not need what we have, because it was already His in the first place.

The next issue with the world’s culture of giving is where the one who gives does so to receive some form of benefit. This is not offering. This is trading, where we become benefactors by our giving.

The thing that separates true offering from worldly giving is the altar. Once we offer something, it is inspected and tested by fire on the altar. This ensures that all true offering, no matter what it is or for what it is used, is firstly for the Lord. Then, according to His will, it will also be toward others.

My final point concerning not being conformed to the world’s culture is that when we are offering it is about coming under a burden, not discharging a burden. Much of the world’s giving, particularly in regards to charities, is about discharging a burden. We see the horrific events of the various natural or man-made disasters, locally or abroad, and feel compelled or burdened to do something. Perhaps there is some guilt, knowing that things are much better for us, or perhaps it is just out of human compassion. Either way, upon giving, we can feel good about ourselves, knowing that we have “done our bit”. Now, I will stress that I am not being critical of people who do this or give in this way. It is fine to give to charity; it is just not offering.

When it comes to offering, once we have given and “done our bit”, it is not over. Offering is not just a phase in our life, something we have to get right before we can move on in our Christian walk. No, we will be offering in and for eternity. What you will find is that true offering does not discharge a burden; rather, it brings you under a burden. The ones who give the most don’t think that their job is done; instead, they are the ones who continue to care the most and feel the greatest burden towards something.

A burden is often perceived as a negative thing; we all want our lives to be easier, not harder, so why would we want any more burdens? However, we need a burden from the Lord. We need to pray to the Lord to give us a burden, because without a burden we are just left with whatever passion or emotion we can muster up. We all know that this is not sustainable. Passion fades and emotions wane, but God and His burden is unchanging.

There is an interesting verse that various translators have handled differently:

Psalms 68:19

Blessed be the Lord, Who daily loads us with benefits, the God of our salvation! Selah.

If you have a New King James Version, you will notice that the words “with benefits” are in italics; this means that in the original Hebrew those words are not there. The literal translation is, “Blessed be the Lord who daily loads or imposes a burden on us”. You can understand why the translators would have adjusted the verse, because it does not sound right, does it? Why would we be blessing God for imposing a burden upon us? Well, that is because we need to be transformed. The burden of the Lord is a blessing.

This cultural offering principle is actually our transition phase out of Egypt (or the world) and into the wilderness, because once we have taken hold of the burden of the Lord, we have come out of the world. Using the illustration of the children of Israel, they first raised an offering in the wilderness for the tabernacle. Right here, we see the principle of coming under the burden. Once the Israelites had raised the offering for the tabernacle, that was not the end; rather, that now meant that they had just signed up for an entire economy of offering. That initial offering built the tabernacle, which continued to be the centrepiece of their entire offering economy. It was only the first step, the beginning. So, as we are daily bringing our offering before the Lord, He daily loads us up more and more.

The symbol of the one who bears the burden is a pillar. In Solomon’s temple, there were two bronze pillars out the front, right at the doorway. They were bronze like the altar. They were symbolic of that person who is coming daily to the temple to present their offering.

Revelation 3:12

He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more.

This is an important point. Once we are ones who, by offering, have moved to carry a burden, we are being relied upon. If we pull out from under that burden, there are going to be consequences. Others are going to have to carry that weight or else it will fall over.