Sermon Tone Analysis

Giving: an Outflow of Worship

Stewardship Sunday

November 24, 1996

 

Scripture:  2 Chronicles 28-31

 

Prayer:

 

Introduction:

 

*Ahaz*

 

          In last week’s message we saw the wonder of worship, and that it is the chief end of man to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.

In today’s message, with our emphasis on stewardship, we shall see that giving is a natural outflow of our worship of God.

Perhaps the best place we can see this portrayed is in the account of King Hezekiah beginning in 2 Chron.

29.

This account begins with his act of reopening the doors of the temple, which he did very early in his reign (the first month of the first year).

But what closed these doors on God’s temple?

To understand this, let us look to the previous king, King Ahaz, who had a pretty wicked record.

His reign was characterized by false worship.

He did such things as making cast idols and sacrificing his sons to them by fire, and offering sacrifice and incense at the high places and in every other place except the temple of God.

So God handed him over to the Arameans, the Israelites, the Edomites and the Philistines.

In his rebellion against this retribution for his sins, he sought the king of Assyria to help him.

Isaiah tried to tell him that it was further sin not to trust God by turning to Assyria, but Ahaz would not listen to the advice of Isaiah who said, “If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.”

The king of Assyria proved to be more trouble than help and took the country further into idolatry as Ahaz tried to appease him.

\\            Ahaz gave him the treasures of the temple and Assyria complied by attacking Damascus.

Ahaz went to Damascus to meet the king of Assyria and became attracted to a pagan altar there, either of a god of the Arameans or of the Assyrians.

He sent home plans for the construction of this new altar which was to displace God’s altar in the temple.

Not only did Ahaz offer pagan sacrifice on a pagan altar larger than God’s altar in God’s temple, he sought pagan divination on the displaced altar of God.

He eventually removed the furnishings of the temple and shut the doors of the temple to appease the king of Assyria from whom he sought help instead of seeking God.

After the temple was closed, he set up altars at every street corner, set up high places in every town, and thoroughly provoked God.

Ahaz did not stand firm in his faith, and instead of giving to God, he took from God (he robbed the temple) and gave to idols.

Because Ahaz did not worship God, the temple closed.

Do we take from God and give to idols?

Will our churches close?

If there was ever an idol in America it is the television.

This idol is set up on every street corner and in every home in every city.

It has become the high place for many of our people.

It constantly cries out for money through advertising commercials.

It feeds our materialism and it feeds on our materialism.

It creates artificial needs and false desire.

It takes from God both our money and our time.

It diminishes our morality to anarchy.

“Whatever works for you is what you’ve got to do,” is the byline it teaches.

Many churches have closed.

Have they closed because no one cares enough to come or to give?  Have they closed because no one any longer believes in moral absolutes?

Is the church just an albatross around our necks as a dead weight upon our conscience?

We have lost a whole generation to the glass god of gullibility.

Instead of sacrificing our sons to the fire of ancient pagans, we sacrifice them to the fire of our modern culture.

It is closing in on us to consume us as we become subservient to it instead of to God.

Just like Ahaz sought Assyria to become enslaved by her, we seek Babylon (Rev.

18) to become enslaved by the false salvation of her luxuries and immoralities.

Babylon represents the world system and her little household gods are the television sets.

If you are not strong enough to serve God instead of your household idol (it depends on how you use it) then I urge you to seek God on what He would have you do with it.

If you can’t take it from the high place and put it in the low place, I suggest you give it no place.

In the experience of Howard Hendricks, “My wife Jeanne and I once dined with a rich man from a blueblood Boston family, and I asked him, ‘How in the world did you grow up in the midst of such wealth and not be consumed by materialism?’"

His answer:  "My parents taught us that everything in our home was either an idol or a tool."

So how do you view your possessions, or your TV?

 

Whatever a man seeks, honors, or exalts more than God, is idolatry.

William Bernard Ullanthorne (1806–1889)

 

*Illustrations*

 

A missionary tells of a woman in India holding in her arms a weak, whining infant, while at her side stood a beautiful, healthy child.

The man of God saw her walk to the banks of the Ganges River and throw the robust youngster to the crocodiles as an offering, and then turn toward home again still clutching the sickly child to her bosom.

Tears were running down her cheeks when he stopped to question her concerning her shocking actions; however, she proudly replied in defense of her conduct, "O sir, we always give our gods the best!"

 

/Do we sacrifice the best of our time, money, and energy to a false god and get left with only the sickly child?

Should we not give the Almighty God the best of ourselves, our possessions, and our talents?/

/Do you believe you are strong enough to resist the subtle, sin searching scenes on TV?

We become what we put into our minds.

If we memorize Scripture to put God’s Word into our souls, do we not undo the good of it when we purposefully put images contrary to His Word into our souls?

Here is what you get from the people who produce TV.

If we don’t want to believe as they do, then why watch it?/

Hollywood really is different from the rest of the country.

A survey of 104 top television writers and executives found that their attitudes toward moral and religious questions aren't shared by their audience.

Believe adultery is wrong

   Hollywood 49% Everyone else 85%

 

   Have no religious affiliation

   Hollywood 45% Everyone else 4%

 

   Believe homosexual acts are wrong

   Hollywood 20% Everyone else 76%

 

   Believe in a woman's right to an abortion

   Hollywood 97% Everyone else 59%

   -- Newsweek, 7-20-92, p. 55.

That was then:  Scenes from Prime-Time TV---

          On The Brady Bunch, Greg feared telling the folks he wrecked the car.

On The Beverly Hillbillies, the pill was Mr. Drysdale’s leave-nothing-                         to-chance secretary, Miss Hathaway.

On Little House on the Prairie, Laura and Nellie, both eager to satisfy                         their hunger for sweets, fought over the last cookie.

This is now:  Scenes from Prime-Time TV---

          On Mad About You, Paul’s sister fears telling the folks she’s a lesbian.

On Roseanne, the pill is older daughter Becky’s leave-nothing -to-                     chance method of birth control.

On Friends, Monica and Rachel, both eager to satisfy their hunger for                        sex with their boyfriends, fight over the last condom.

/They say that TV doesn’t effect anyone, but their own words expose the lie./

They've supported the fight against AIDS, drug abuse, apartheid and the war in El Salvador.

Now, with a crowded agenda of educational and media events, Hollywood activists are sinking roots into long-fallow soil -- the environment.

The message is urgent: Unless concerted global action is taken in the next decade, the catastrophic legacy of ozone depletion, global warming, toxic wastes and other crises could be irreversible.

And Hollywood feels it has an obligation to respond.

Bonnie Reiss, executive director of the Earth Communications Office says, "Our job is to target the few thousand people in this industry who affect a few hundred million -- one mention on the Cosby show could have enormous impact.

This is the same Hollywood which says that watching sex, violence and profanity has no effect on anyone."

-- The Hollywood Reporter, June 13, 1989

 

A.W. Tozer gives us seven areas that reveal our true values and commitments:

          1.

What we want most.

2.

What we think about most.

3.

How we use our money.

4.

What we do with our leisure time.

5.

The company we enjoy.

6.

Whom and what we admire.

7.

What we laugh at.