Well, it’s Gift Day. Thank you to all those who have given a gift or offered a loan or made a pledge – or who plan to, today or soon. I don’t know who any of you are, and never will, but God does. Our treasurer will thank you on behalf of the whole church but even if you got no acknowledgement in this life for the gift you have made, God knows your heart. The Bible says that our giving should be done in secret. “Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you” said Jesus.
But in this life we may feel like that poor postman working at the sorting office who found an unstamped, shakily hand-written envelope, addressed to God. He opened it and discovered it was from an elderly lady, distressed because all her pension for the month, £200, had been stolen. The letter said, “Dear Lord, without your divine intervention I will be cold and go hungry this month.” So he had a word with his colleagues at the sorting office. They dug deep and came up with a gift of £180 which they got to her by special delivery the next morning.
A week later, the same postman noticed the same handwriting on another unstamped envelope also addressed to God. So he opened it and found a note inside which said “Dear God, thank you for the £180 - life would have been unbearable without it. P.S. It was £20 short but that was probably those thieving workers at the Post Office.”
I’m sure they all had a good laugh. But that’s one of the things about anonymous giving; we don’t give so that people will make much of us and admire us. Giving should first of all glorify God. Jesus said, “When you give, don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.” Every church treasurer takes that to mean that your right hand puts a large wad of notes in the offering so quickly that the left hand doesn’t have a chance to say “No, not that much!”
Actually, the phrase probably traces its origin back to our passage in 2 Kings 12.9 where the collection chest was placed on the right hand side of the altar so that those putting money in would naturally use their right hand to do it. Some people were tempted to make a bit of a display of their gift, handling it with the left hand where everyone could see it.
Bishop Justin, in his New Year message was talking about three priorities this year, the first of which was to do with finances. This is what he said; “At a personal level, [let’s] live within our means after having given away ten pence in every pound to worthy causes. We always think of generosity as benefitting the receiver, but [Jesus] tells us that giving generously benefits the giver.”
That’s right. I have yet to meet anyone who said to me that, having tithed their income, they were dissatisfied with God’s provision, disappointed by God’s faithfulness or disenchanted by God’s blessing. One of the key indicators for me, of how healthy any church is, is how glad and open-handed the giving is.
The particular project we are focusing on this Gift Day is the plan to replace the roof that is over our heads as we sit here this morning. It is over 100 years old, it leaks (which adds damage to the walls as you can see behind me) and it is poorly insulated (as we noticed last Sunday when the heating was on full blast from 4:00am but was still inadequate to heat the church 6 hours later).
Our roof frequently loses tiles in high winds. Every time there’s a storm at night I lie awake wondering about how the roof will be coping. We have had to make emergency repairs over the last few years but every time the roofers go up there they find something else that needs serious attention. So the time has come to replace the roof and, as we do, to add a layer of high quality lagging to keep the heat in during the winter and reduce our fuel bills.
Of course, if you were to ask me what I would rather spend £80,000 on – a new roof or, for example, a children and youth evangelist it would be a no brainer. I want to say loud and clear that we want to focus on ministry and not maintenance. This building must never become an end in itself. Some churches become museums, even mausoleum. This one is a mission station.
But in order to facilitate the ministry here we need a building fit for purpose and essential structural repairs have to be done. When it’s finished the roof will no longer burn a hole in our budget every year so it will actually release us, and those who come after us for the next 100 years, to direct resources at building the church rather than the church building. When it’s our turn to pass on the baton to the next generation, we are not going to pass on to them a building with chronic structural issues that will weigh them down and burden them. Today we give to the Lord, but also we bless future generations of believers who will worship in this place. That’s a great legacy to pass on.
Joash’s Reforms
When it became clear to the Church Council last year that we were going to have to do this, I felt the Lord speak to me through 2 Kings 12 and the story of King Joash who lived around 800 B.C.
I need to tell you a little bit about the background – and I think you’ll see why in a moment.
When Joash was very young, possibly a babe in arms, there was a horrible and traumatic incident in his home. When his father King Ahaziah was brutally assassinated whilst on a foreign trip, Joash’s grandmother, Athaliah, went on the rampage and set about wiping out the whole royal family in a bid to seize the throne. There was a bloodbath and the nation descended into chaos, a bit like the reign of terror after the French Revolution if you’re familiar with the history.
But before the Queen Mother could kill her last grandson Joash, a quick-thinking aunt picked him up, ran away and hid him in the temple where he was secretly taken care of by a kindly old priest called Jehoiada.
Just think; if it were not for that intuitive saving act, Jesus could not have been the Messiah, and would not have been born - because if Joash had been killed, David’s line would have ended there and then. The prophets always said that the Christ must be descended from David’s royal lineage (which of course Jesus was). But God watches over his word to see that it is accomplished – he always has and he still does. God has invested promises into the future of our world that will shape future international events for God is faithful to ensure that his word comes to pass.
So the boy Joash, the rightful heir to the throne, was hidden away in the temple for about seven years before he was dramatically taken out of hiding and declared king at the age of 8. Wicked queen Athaliah was deposed and put to death.
The books of Kings and Chronicles record a verdict for every sovereign of Israel or Judah; either they did right in the eyes of the Lord, like David, or they did evil in the eyes of the Lord unlike David. What about Joash? He was neither good nor bad (or rather he was both good and bad – in that order).
He started well but I’m afraid he finished badly. Verse 2 says that as long as Jehoiada, the priest who had hid him away in the temple, was mentoring, nurturing and advising him from God’s word - he did well. But when Jehoiada died Joash drifted from God, he made unwise decisions and ended up assassinated by his own officials. Matthew Henry makes the telling remark that Joash “was not so illustrious at forty years old as he was at seven.”
It really doesn’t matter at the end of the day how enthusiastic or dramatic your conversion was. More importantly, will you walk with Christ in every experience in life, good or bad? And most important of all, will you still be hanging on to Christ when you breathe your last? It says about the long list of believers in Hebrews 11 that each one was still living by faith when they died. That’s what counts and sadly Joash wasn’t.
Parallels with Preston on Tees
Why do I feel that this story speaks with such resonance to our own situation?
Firstly, there is an interesting parallel between the age of the temple at the time of Joash’s repairs and the age of this building. Both are just over 100 years old at the time of the repairs being necessary. It’s just a small thing but it caught my attention.
Secondly, and this is where the historical background is important, this temple must have been a place that Joash had an emotional attachment to. This was the house he had spent his most tender years, hidden away from danger remember. He had learned to walk and talk there. But most importantly of all, it had been a refuge. I think that Joash had a heart to repair the temple because it had been a place of salvation for him – and now there was a chance for him to give something back. So I want to ask you, has All Saints’ been a place of salvation, a place of refuge in your life? I don’t want us to be unhealthily attached to a building but has God blessed you here? Do you have a heart to give something back?
Thirdly, I love the way the people gave personally and willingly to the project. I want to commend this as a model for us. We could put up cardboard thermometers outside the church and go on a fundraising frenzy holding jumble sales and so on - but that’s not biblical.
Verses 4-5 say this:
Joash said to the priests, “Collect all the money that is brought as sacred offerings to the temple of the Lord - the money collected in the census, the money received from personal vows and the money brought voluntarily to the temple. Let every priest receive the money from one of the treasurers, then use it to repair whatever damage is found in the temple.”
When we first started talking about the roof at the Church Council it was clear that there was an eagerness to get on with this. £80,000 a lot of money to find but we felt faith rising and that the time had come for us to stop talking and start to act.
We were reminded of Haggai’s prophecy four centuries after Joash when the temple was once again in need of extensive rebuilding. Haggai challenged the people of his day saying “How can you live in panelled houses when the house of the Lord lies in ruins?”
We thought, “Yes, we wouldn’t sit on our hands if there were leaks in our roofs at home. Why should our standard for God’s house be lower?”
In a time like ours, where there is a national economic squeeze, we might have been looking at reluctance and pessimism but it was just the opposite.
And finally, I was struck by the fact that Joash’s repairs were accompanied by a new era of spiritual renewal. I like that.
The early years of Joash’s reign, when he did right in the eyes of the Lord, were years of significant spiritual advance. 2 Kings 11 says that, following Joash’s coronation, they renewed the covenant, they recommitted themselves as God’s people, they tore down altars to Baal, they smashed their idols and did away with their priests.
Verse 15 of chapter 12 shows how far righteousness was re-established in the land; from being a nation blighted by idolatry and corruption it says that the people acted with complete transparency and honesty as they handled the money for the rebuilding.
I’ll be frank; there is no point in renewing this building if we, the people inside it, are not being renewed in our faith.
Our goal this year is to grow in our awareness of God’s presence, to increase in evangelistic effectiveness, to swell in numbers, to mature in unity and love and strengthen our knowledge of and commitment to truth.
Ending
So, as I close, may the Lord pour out upon us a spirit of glad generosity.
May this place be a house of prayer that glorifies God, that facilitates acceptable worship and encourages relevant preaching from the Word of God.
May we, his people here, grow in grace and increase in faith this year. May this be our highest prize. And so may we joyfully testify to the truth of these words: “Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”
Shall we stand to pray…
* The total given in this Gift Day was £58,000 in gifts and up to £42,000 in interest-free loans; a terrific response.
Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 22nd January 2012
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