Give God More than a Token Offering

Main Point: We must give God more than a token offering of surrender to Him.  He wants us to give Him our sincere, total devotion rather than superficial gestures. This means giving our best, not our leftovers or only what we are willing to give up. God wants to see our sincere, wholehearted devotion rather than superficial gestures.

Illustration
A family is traveling to the temple & forget a lamb for sacrifice. The father returns home and selects a frail lamb that he is willing to get rid of instead of the best that he has.  What God saw and heard from the man was “I will give a token, but I won’t give my best.” God knew the man’s heart and intent of that offering to Him.

Scripture Connections

1. Mark 12:41-44:  The widow offering all that she had even though people saw it as only a few pennies. God saw her heart and knew it was the best she could give.
   • 41 Jesus sat near the Temple money box and watched the people put in their money. Many rich people gave large sums of money. 42 Then a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which were only worth a few cents.43 Calling his followers to him, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow gave more than all those rich people. 44 They gave only what they did not need. This woman is very poor, but she gave all she had; she gave all she had to live on.
2. 1 Samuel 1:10 – 11: Hannah offering her only child to the Lord.
   • 10 Hannah was so sad that she cried and prayed to the Lord. 11 She made a promise, saying, “Lord All-Powerful, see how sad I am. Remember me and don’t forget me. If you will give me a son, I will give him back to you all his life…”
3. 1 Samuel 1:24-28: God bless Hannah with a child, and she kept her promise because it was not just an empty prayer that she had cried; she was sincere and God knew her hear was sincere.
   • 24 When Samuel was old enough to eat, Hannah took him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh, along with a three-year-old bull, one-half bushel of flour, and a leather bag filled with wine. 25 After they had killed the bull for the sacrifice, Hannah brought Samuel to Eli. 26 She said to Eli, “As surely as you live, sir, I am the same woman who stood near you praying to the Lord. 27 I prayed for this child, and the Lord answered my prayer and gave him to me. 28 Now I give him back to the Lord. He will belong to the Lord all his life.” And he worshiped the Lord there.
4. Genesis 4: 3-7-- But let’s look now at someone like the father who choose the worst of his flock to give to God. Cain gave God a token offering instead of the very best he had.
   • 3 Later, Cain brought some food from the ground as a gift to God. 4 Abel brought the best parts from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord accepted Abel and his gift, 5 but he did not accept Cain and his gift. So Cain became very angry and felt rejected. 6 The Lord asked Cain, “Why are you angry? Why do you look so unhappy? 7 If you do things well, I will accept you, but if you do not do them well, sin is ready to attack you. Sin wants you, but you must rule over it.”

What had Cain done to upset God? Cain had brought an offering that was an empty gesture. Other ways to say this is that Cain’s offering was a…

• Symbolic gesture: A small action done for show rather than effect.
• Lip service: Insincere expression of support.
• Performative act: Action done for appearance, often in public.
• Superficial effort: Lacking depth or significance
• Empty gesture: A gesture lacking sincerity or substance.

Pastor Thoughts:

• God doesn’t want us to act in these ways; He wants to see our heart’s intent and that our offerings to Him are true and sincere.
• Trust God with your best because when we do, we are building a solid foundation and relationship with God that is true and can stand the storms of life.
  • Imagine a picture of a lighthouse
• This lighthouse must have an incredibly strong and deep foundation to be able to stand and not collapse during this violent storm.  We sometimes come to times in our lives that we go through storms like this because the devil doesn’t always come at us with a small hardship. He sometimes attacks us with a storm so dark that we can’t see beyond it.  
• We often feel God the closest to us when we are in the darkest storms. We can feel like the storm is literally going to overtake and destroy us. But we are not defeated and we see God through the storm guiding us and bringing a way through that we didn’t even imagine would be possible.

 
5.  Isaiah 43:2- Through the storms, God is with us and He will have the victory.  We will not be destroyed or drowned just as this scripture says...

• 2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you.
  When you cross rivers, you will not drown.

Closing
So, build your trust and faith through a complete offering of your whole life to God. Don’t hold back the best of who you are and what you have to give because God deserves our honor, praise, and very best. Give God More than a Token offering, give Him your best.
 
6. Matthew 22:37

• 37Jesus answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’