SET APART FOR GOD

Nehemiah 10

Well good evening Christ covenant it's great to be back with you again we know that you're tuning in
so to speak at home on your laptops and televisions and phones we trust that somewhere nearby a
Bible is with you whether electronically or in print if that's the case go ahead and turn there with me
we're in the book of Nehemiah. Tonight as many of you probably know chapter 10 is the place we'll
be spending our time now for those of you that have been with us for the last chunk of time you know
that we're working our way through the book of Nehemiah and we're actually not that far from being
done just a few more chapters 13 in total and as you're still making your way to chapter 10 let me just
remind you of the scene here in the book. The exiles have returned with Nehemiah as their leader the
first half of the book has been occupied with what we might call spiritual renewal or sorry physical
renewal the rebuilding of the walls and the city of Jerusalem and then starting in about chapter 7 it's
shifted really to spiritual matters and so it is still here in chapter 10 as we turn our attention to this
passage because God is going to call his people to make a promise really to make an oath to follow
him in three key areas and so let's listen to that tonight now as you look down at that passage you'll
notice really long and in fact the first 27 verses are a list of names we're not going to try to read each
of those names those are the ones that signed this oath this promise to keep God's law but we'll pick
up in verse 28 and read through the remainder of this passage so look down with me and follow along
as we read God's Word together:

Nehemías 10
10 Los que firmaron fueron: Nehemías el gobernador, hijo de Hacalías, y
Sedequías, 2 Seraías, Azarías, Jeremías, 3 Pasur, Amarías, Malquías, 4 Hatús, Sebanías,
Maluc, 5 Harim, Meremot, Obadías, 6 Daniel, Ginetón, Baruc, 7 Mesulam, Abías,
Mijamín, 8 Maazías, Bilgai y Semaías; estos eran sacerdotes. 9 Y los levitas: Jesúa hijo
de Azanías, Binúi de los hijos de Henadad, Cadmiel, 10 y sus hermanos Sebanías,
Hodías, Kelita, Pelaías, Hanán, 11 Micaía, Rehob, Hasabías, 12 Zacur, Serebías,
Sebanías, 13 Hodías, Bani y Beninu. 14 Los cabezas del pueblo: Paros, Pahat-moab,
Elam, Zatu, Bani, 15 Buni, Azgad, Bebai, 16 Adonías, Bigvai, Adín, 17 Ater, Ezequías,
Azur, 18 Hodías, Hasum, Bezai, 19 Harif, Anatot, Nebai, 20 Magpías, Mesulam,
Hezir, 21 Mesezabeel, Sadoc, Jadúa, 22 Pelatías, Hanán, Anaías, 23 Oseas, Hananías,
Hasub, 24 Halohes, Pilha, Sobec, 25 Rehum, Hasabna, Maasías, 26 Ahías, Hanán,
Anán, 27 Maluc, Harim y Baana.

28
Y el resto del pueblo, los sacerdotes, levitas, porteros y cantores, los sirvientes del
templo, y todos los que se habían apartado de los pueblos de las tierras a la ley de
Dios, con sus mujeres, sus hijos e hijas, todo el que tenía comprensión y
discernimiento, 29 se reunieron con sus hermanos y sus principales, PARA
PROTESTAR Y JURAR QUE ANDARÍAN EN LA LEY DE DIOS, que fue dada por
Moisés siervo de Dios, y que guardarían y cumplirían todos los mandamientos,
decretos y estatutos de Jehová nuestro Señor. 30 Y que no daríamos nuestras hijas a
los pueblos de la tierra, ni tomaríamos sus hijas para nuestros hijos. 31 Asimismo, que
si los pueblos de la tierra trajesen a vender mercaderías y comestibles en día de
reposo,[a] nada tomaríamos de ellos en ese día ni en otro día santificado; y que el año
séptimo dejaríamos descansar la tierra, y remitiríamos toda deuda. 32 Nos impusimos
además por ley, el cargo de contribuir cada año con la tercera parte de un siclo para
la obra de la casa de nuestro Dios; 33 para el pan de la proposición y para la ofrenda
continua, para el holocausto continuo, los días de reposo,[b] las nuevas lunas, las
festividades, y para las cosas santificadas y los sacrificios de expiación por el pecado
34
de Israel, y para todo el servicio de la casa de nuestro Dios. Echamos también
suertes los sacerdotes, los levitas y el pueblo, acerca de la ofrenda de la leña, para
traerla a la casa de nuestro Dios, según las casas de nuestros padres, en los tiempos
determinados cada año, para quemar sobre el altar de Jehová nuestro Dios, como
está escrito en la ley. 35 Y que cada año traeríamos a la casa de Jehová las primicias
de nuestra tierra, y las primicias del fruto de todo árbol. 36 Asimismo los primogénitos
de nuestros hijos y de nuestros ganados, como está escrito en la ley; y que traeríamos
los primogénitos de nuestras vacas y de nuestras ovejas a LA CASA DE NUESTRO
DIOS, a los sacerdotes que ministran en la casa de nuestro Dios; 37 que traeríamos
también las primicias de nuestras masas, y nuestras ofrendas, y del fruto de todo
árbol, y del vino y del aceite, para los sacerdotes, a las cámaras de LA CASA DE
NUESTRO DIOS, y el diezmo de nuestra tierra para los levitas; y que los levitas
recibirían las décimas de nuestras labores en todas las ciudades; 38 y que estaría el
 sacerdote hijo de Aarón con los levitas, cuando los levitas recibiesen el diezmo; y que
los levitas llevarían el diezmo del diezmo a LA CASA DE NUESTRO DIOS, a las
cámaras de la casa del tesoro. 39 Porque a las cámaras del tesoro han de llevar los
hijos de Israel y los hijos de Leví la ofrenda del grano, del vino y del aceite; y allí
estarán los utensilios del santuario, y los sacerdotes que ministran, los porteros y los
cantores; Y NO ABANDONAREMOS LA CASA DE NUESTRO DIOS.

We will pay attention particularly this last statement “and we will not neglect the house of our

God” let's pray and ask God to bless his word let's pray. Oh Lord we do thank you for your word we
thank you for its richness and depth and tonight Lord we ask particularly that you'd bless us as we
consider the three areas you'd want us to grow in as your people to set us apart unto you from the
rest of the world. we pray this in Christ's name, Amen.

I want to begin tonight with a number, thirty million. I just want to set that number in your head for
just a moment, thirty million. That number is actually, the number that most historians think is the
number of Christians that lived in the fourth century now the fourth century. This is the time as you
know of Constantine in the Council of Nicaea and our best guess is at that point thirty million people
claim the name of Jesus. Now I know that number may not mean much to you and it's hard to know
what context to put it in but put it in this context for a moment. How many people started out with the
Christian movement? if we go back to the first century to the very beginning of the Christian
movement, arguably things started with a group of twelve so just imagine this for a moment in just
three hundred years the early Christian movement, movement went from 12 people to approximately
30 million people now I can assure you that that has amazed and baffled historians for generations.
They have looked at stats like that and marvel. How is it possible that a bunch of backwater Galilee
and fishermen could start a movement that in 300 years went from 12 people to 30 million people
nearly. All of the known modern world at the time seemed to be at least in those numbers Christian.
How the world does that happen? well certainly as believers we would chock it up to the work of God
right the work of the holy spirit and certainly that's true it was a spiritual thing and God was certain
active in making sure Christianity spread but also on a human level historians have noticed that there
is actually an explanation for what made Christianity so successful in fact even secular historians
have observed this one of the things that make Christianity so successful in its journey through the
Roman world at this time was simply this: HOW VERY DIFFERENT CHRISTIANS LIVED THEIR LIVES.
What made Christianity stand out, what made it notable was not how similar it was to the greco-
roman world actually HOW DIFFERENT IT WAS, HOW RADICALLY DIFFERENT IN TERMS OF THE WAY
CHRISTIANS BEHAVE, THE ETHICS THEY FOLLOWED, HOW THEY LIVED in fact even the earliest
critiques of Christians have noticed this. We have a letter from a Roman governor complaining about
Christians and notice how he describes Christians in his complaint. He says this: “THEY ARE PEOPLE
THAT QUOTE BINDTHEMSELVES BY OATH NOT TO SOME CRIME, BUT NOT TO COMMIT FRAUD,
THEFT OR ADULTERY, NOT TO FALSIFY TRUST, NOR TO REFUSE TO RETURN A TRUST WHEN
CALLED UPON TO DO SO” In other words this Roman governor recognizes the thing that's so amazing
about Christians is how they act, how they behave it was so radically different than everybody else in
the greco-roman world. Now here is the point and it's a point that we see all throughout the Bible, GOD
CALLS HIS PEOPLE TO COME OUT AND BE DIFFERENT AND BE SEPARATE FROM THE REST OF THE
WORLD and it's actually that as counter intuitive as it seems that gets the world attention and allows
the faith to grow, In fact that's exactly what's going on in this passage we just read in the book of
Nehemiah. God is concerned as he looks at his people going back into the promised land and make
sure that they stay the course and are different from all of the nations around them and here's why:
when Israel returned back to the promised land under Nehemiah, it wasn't empty, it was filled with
people groups that were worshiping other gods and goddess, saying look I want you to take an oath
I want you to swear that in the midst of all this you'll be separate you be set apart and you'll follow my
law in fact I want you to look down in the passage and see how this theme is in the very opening
verses we read look at verse 28 with me for a moment says this the rest of the people the priests the
Levites the gatekeepers the singers the temple servants and listen to this next phrase and all who
have separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the law of God those are the ones that
God wants to swear an oath that they will keep his Commandments that they'll be different from all
the world around them now as soon as you realize that that that that passage and that this message
tonight is about being different and set apart from the world I know what's in most of our heads
because it's in my head too we look at passages like this and go oh so this is a passage about
obedience this is a passage about faithfulness to following God this is a passage about law
sometimes when we hear about passages about law we think I don't know if I want a passage about
law because I don't we Christians and isn't the gospel about grace and why are we talking about law
when really the gospel is about grace but actually this exemplifies one of the very big
misunderstandings out there in the world today is that those two somehow are antithetical to one
another as if because we're saved by grace we're now unconcerned about keeping God's law that’s
not true for Israel it's never been true for God's people even though yes we're saved by grace God
calls us tobe different by the power of that grace from the world around us not to earn our salvation
but to put on display what makes us different as God's people now if God is gonna say to his people
I want you to swear an oath that you're gonna be different from the nation's how does he want them
to be different well here's what's interesting in this passage God bores down into three main areas
that he wants his people to be different from all the surrounding nations and this is worth taking note
of because God could in one sense of picked any of his laws and Commandments but this passage
hones in on three particular areas and here's what they are God wants his people to be different in
terms of marriage in terms of Sabbath and in terms of tithing marriage Sabbath tithing or if we're
gonna put it into modern parlance or common vernacular God is concerned about three areas of our
lives sex time money sex time money now when you hear that you're thinking yourself well that's
amazing because those are the three big issues in our culture today and you realize that thousands
of years ago and this took place under Nehemiah's scenario that it looks like human nature hasn't
changed at all that people are still dealing with the same exact three areas and that's exactly what
God wants to say to us tonight he wants us as believers us as Christ's covenant to be different from
the world around us so what are the three errors he wants us to be different in many but he's gonna
mention three denied marriage Sabbath tithing how we view sexuality how we view our time and how
we view our money okay let's dive into those three together in our short time in this passage first is
marriage it's an Essene to note that the very first issue that God wants to get straight with his people
in the midst of their situation at a land surrounded by unbelieving people groups is this issue of purity
in marriage look down at the passage and notice verse 30 with me the people pledged this we will
not give our daughters to the peoples of the land or take their daughters for our sons the issue in play
in verse 30 is this issue of intermarriage with other people groups that worship foreign gods and that
is a problem that is throughout the Old Testament it's actually a problem that will come up again and
again in the book of Nehemiah in fact we'll see this problem come up again in chapter 13 in just a few
weeks but it's a problem that God's people have always struggled with is that their people marry
people who worship other gods in fact the classic example of this is the story of Samson that you
know all too well Samson as you recall was one of the judges who was known for his great strength
and God raises insulin up to be one of the deliverers of Israel but the problem is and you know this
Samson had a weak spot when it came to Mary he told his parents don't marry an Israelite woman I
want to marry a Philistine woman apparently it spent some time in the Philistine areas and found the
women to be attractive his parents saying no don't do it marry an Israelite who worships the god of
Yahweh and they're like no I'm gonna worship or I'm gonna go and marry a Philistine that's exactly
what Samson does and asyou know it was the beginning of the end Nataly take a Philistine for a wife
but then ended up spending time with prostitutes and then after that was the whole story with Delilah
who herself seems to have been a Philistine and everything went down from there and it's a reminder
of why God cares so much here in this passage because a Nehemiah’s day apparently the same
danger was there that God's people could intermarry with folks who didn't worship Yahweh now make
no mistake about what's going on here some people read about this concern about inner marriage
and they think it has to do with some ethnic issue or it has to do with racial issue as if Israel's trying
to maintain racial purity that is not what's happening in this passage the issue is not about race or
ethnicity the issue here is not physical it's actually spiritual the concern about these other nations
was not their ethnicity but what they worshiped and they realized God realizes that the way you marry
and the way you protect your marriage has a big impact on the spiritual life of not just your family but
the body of Christ as a whole in fact if you think this whole issue of intermarriage goes away under
the church think again because Paul brings up this exact issue you know the passage well 2nd
Corinthians 6:14 Paul is actually making the same point that's made in Nehemiah and the same point
that was made in Sant with Sampson Paul says this and that passage do not be unequally yoked with
unbelievers for what partnership has righteousness with lawlessness or what Fellowship has light
with darkness then Paul actually quotes from Olivia vidiq as 27:12 which says this therefore go out
from their midst and be separate from them now don't misunderstand Paul here when he says be
separate from the world he's he's not saying go live in some Enclave somewhere like the Branch
Davidian or something where you're holed up and never see the world that's not what he's talking
about he's not saying you can never have a non-christian friend of course you're in the world though
not of the world his point is particularly as it pertains to marriage that God's people are to be yoked
with those who believe God's first point for the Israelites and the first point for us of how we're
different from the world is marriage now before you leave this first point there's so much that could
be said about this in terms of application to our modern day as soon as we bring up that a Christian
view of marriage is what separates us from the world all of us are just rolling over in our heads the
last five to ten years and the cultural conversations that seem so exhausting in our world where we're
bombarded every day with claims about marriage and sexuality and about how people can just make
up their own definitions of marriage or you should be able to marry whoever you want to marry and
you Christians seem very sort of uptight about this whole thing why can't you just let it go and just
adopt a whole different definition of what marriage is and we know that this is a battleground in our
world but God is not making a big deal of this for nothing he recognizes that the spiritual health of his
people is connected to it and of course you know that marriage is one of the very first institutions that
God made when he created man and woman one of the very first things he did is established marriage
between a man and a woman and the way we view marriage as Christians is one of the main ways
we're separate from and different from the world we make we've got to make sure we don't
compromise there but I want to suggest to you something else is going on here though God's concern
for marriage is not just because it's impact on the family or the church or the health of his people
there's a bigger issue of play God's concern for marriage is also due to the fact that marriage is a
reflection of the love for Christ from Christ for his church in other words marriage has a bigger end in
mind it's a picture of how there'll be a great wedding someday at the very end of the book of Revelation
and you know it when there's the the Bride of the New Jerusalem coming out of heaven if haven't
actually thought about it the entire Bible is actually a book all about a wedding all about the final last
wedding in fact you could argue that the entire Bible is actually the greatest romance novel ever
written it's about God it's about Christ pursuing his bride loving his bride wooing his bride chasing his
bride Clare cleaning and cleansing his bride purifying his bride and finally at the end marrying his bride
in that great wedding why is God concerned so much about marriage and our purity of marriage
because it's a picture of the love that Christ has for his church it's one of the major ways we're
different from the world now wouldn't have time to get into it here but you should also know that in
early Christianity it was the Christian sexual ethic around marriage that also set Christians apart from
the pagan Greco run the world around them this has been true for generations and this is why this is
the very first starting point we as Christ Covenant Church and Christians in general need to make sure
that this is a place we're different from the world because so much hangs on it but God is not done
and this passage it's not just the area of marriage he's concerned about for the way we're different
from the world there's a second one in this passage and that is this issue of Sabbath an issue of
setting apart a time of rest one in 7th every week look down at your passage again and see where this
comes up verse 31 look at that with me just after talking about marriage this is what's next and if the
peoples of the land bring in goods or any grain on the Sabbath to sell we will not buy from them on
Sabbath we're on a holy day notice what's happening here God's people say well okay we pledge God
that we're gonna keep our marriages pure and secondly we pledge that we're gonna keep the Sabbath
day holy and you can imagine the context here the context here again is that they're living in the
promised land but there's all these nations around on the Sabbath day they're there in effect knocking
on the door of the Israelites saying let's do business and I'd imagine that it would have probably been
lucrative business it would have been very tempting for the Israelites to throw open their
Marketplace's on the Sabbath day and say hey let's go let's do all our exchanges of goods will put the
Sabbath thing aside so that we can make the money we need to make and God comes on the scene
it says hold on a second Sabbath rest is really important to me in another way the second way I want
you to be different and set apart from the rest of the world isn't it noteworthy now not only is marriage
one of the foundational institutions created by God but then also in Genesis Sabbath is one of the
foundational creation institutions laid out by God in the early chapters of the book of Genesis so in
other words in the very beginning God puts these two pillars in place in our life marriage on the one
hand Sabbath on the other in fact this is what sets Israel apart from the pagan nations for generations
is that they would set aside one day out of 7 for worship and rest for God Christian's did the same
thing for thousands of years that's what Christians have been doing all over the globe setting aside
Sunday as our Sabbath day and obviously with the resurrection of Christ on Sunday there's a shift
from Saturday to Sunday there's a larger conversation there we can't get into tonight but Christians
have also been setting aside one day out of 7 for thousands of years in fact in our early Christian
sources we see that this is exactly what Christians were doing from the very beginning is marking out
a day 1 out of 7 for God and for worship to him now for some of us as we hear this passage we might
be scratching our heads thinking ok can understand why marriage might be so important to God but
Sabbath so important to God what why why is he making this is number 2 at least in the order of this
passage in terms of things we need to remember what is it about the Sabbath what's it doing that's
so important before we leave the second point I just want to point out a few things about what we do
with the Sabbath or what we get from the Sabbath it reminds us of why God cares so much about it
in our lives let me just mention a few things first of course is worship what is the hallmark of the
Sabbath day it's time set aside to worship the Lord our God who was worthy above all others for our
Oshin and worship is that important for God's people absolutely the time where you sit aside to
worship to hear the word of God preached to have God work on your soul and on your heart having a
structure and a time once a week one out of seven or we set aside a day for that is incredibly essential
for the health of God's church I think most of us probably get that intuitively but there's also a second
thing about Sabbath that's so critical it's not just the worship Sabbath also gives us needed rest
needed rest God's vision for the Sabbath day is yes it's worship yes it's the preaching of the word it's
also rest from your worldly weekly Labor's and truth be told that is something that we really really
need in our world today I don't have an opportunity to enter into each of your living rooms tonight and
interview you about the way your work is going during the coronavirus but I imagine it's accentuated
what you already know which is because we live in a digital world we cannot escape hard work used
to be you go to work you come home and be done with or go in a digital world you can be reached all
the time you feel like you're always at work if you have a phone or a laptop nearby work can get at you
all the time there doesn't seem to be a chance to rest from work to stop work we're a people that
desperately needs rest in fact the other day I was coming across this article in Forbes magazine this
was the title that caught my eye the title of this article was this America the sleep deprived America
the sleep deprived this this particular article highlighted the fact that the sleep problem in America is
becoming a near epidemic problem with nearly 40 percent of the u.s. population getting less than six
hours a night fact as I say that some of you at home are thinking yeah that's me I guess less than six
hours a night and they they compared it to a century ago in the early nineteen hundred's where people
were at average about nine and a half hours per night and this article laid out the fact that this is
actually more devastating than we realize to not be resting it has health implications high blood
pressure diabetes and beyond and join that with the fact that we can never escape our work now your
lies a Sabbath rest is more necessary than we ever realized what an amazing blessing the God allows
us to take us a day and set it aside to stop our worldly work just to be with him but you know there's
a third thing about the Sabbath though that makes it so important not just that we get to worship and
work we get to enjoy community and this is the category that I think sometimes we don't give enough
attention to part of the Sabbath vision is that you are with other believers in community you're together
and by together I don't mean just socially together although that's important too but I mean together
to do ministry to love one another care for one another serve one another the Sabbath to put it in
other language is a day of ministry you may never thought of it that way you may think well the people
who do ministry on the Sabbath or the pastors that's what they're paid to do but no Sabbath is a day
for all of us to be engaged in community for ministry now of course I know that rings a little hollow
right now in the coronavirus because we can't be together in community but that's what that's exactly
why we're we're so longing to return because we know there's something about Sunday's where we
belong together now if you think about those three things worship rest and community that's what
the Sabbath was made for right and that's why God cares so much about it you know there's another
place in your life someday that you'll get those three things worship resting community you'll get them
in heaven you'll get them in heaven you may not realize it but the whole import of the Sabbath is
actually a little foretaste of glory it's a little foretaste of heaven what are you gonna do in heaven
you're gonna worship what are you doing heaven you're kind of rest what are you gonna do in heaven
you're gonna be in fellowship with God's people the Sabbath day in one sense is a little prototype it's
a little downpayment of the great glory that awaits now you may think about your typical Sunday and
say well it doesn't seem much like heaven to me and that may be true and we live in a fallen version
of things now to be sure and sometimes Sunday's don't seem at all like Evan but they are meant to
be sort of a wedding of the APICS if you will so that great thing that awaits us in the end so God cares
about how his people spend their time so let me ask you this question how are you spending your
Sundays these days of course in the coronavirus era it's a little easier to keep the Sabbath right but
even back before that how are you setting aside you were Sundays there's so much we could talk
about there that we don't have a chance to probe in tonight but I'll tell you this one of the most
common comments I get from people all the time that they say to me is you know what I wish I just
had more time to read good Christian books and I wish I had more time to study theology and really
learn the kind of things I'm excited about learning I just don't ever have the time to do it and one of
the first questions I always ask people when they say that and I can ask you tonight the same thing
is what are you doing with your Sundays if you don't have time to read Christian literature during the
week that's understandable but on Sundays should be exactly what that day is for there's so much
blessing that awaits us there I trust that we can see why God cares so much about this day but he's
not done the Lord has a third thing for us tonight in this passage how we think about sexual purity in
marriage was the first second how we think about our time and Sabbath day is the second and then
thirdly is this issue of tithing how we think about our money and again as we said at the beginning
you can do nothing but marvel about how insightful the scripture is that the human nature can it
seems not get past these three categories right these are always the three and money is a fitting way
to end it because the Lord knows that how we think about our money is such an indicator of where
our hearts lie now there's so much that our passage could say about money but it hones on a one
particular aspect of money and that is this idea of giving back to the community of Christ to do the
Lord's work this issue of tithing in fact all of verses 32 to 39 in one level or another are about this
theme of God's people supporting financially the work of the temple now there's a lot here in this large
section I'm not gonna unpack more detail than we can get to tonight but the principle is clear Ezra
and Nehemiah in this context wants to reestablish not just to rue salam but temple worship that's the
whole flow of the books of Ezra and Nehemiah and the question lingering in the background is when
we get the temple up and running again how we gonna support it right how are we gonna pay for it
God says well the way I've always done it God's people give back to the Israelites or sorry to the
Levites a tenth of all that they get to support the work of the church so to speak and that same
principle is laid out here now when you look down at verses 32 and 39 there's actually three different
types of financial ways that God's people support the ministry of the temple I'm not going to talk about
all these let us mention the first one here is this third of a shekel and verse 32 this goes back to the
book of Exodus and this is in one sense sort of like a temple tax this goes to all sorts of things to
support appointed feasts and sin offerings and grain offerings and so on and then starting in verse
34 there’s what’s called the wood offering which is another way God's people support the work of the
temple is they bring wood now you might think well Wyatt why would God care about people bringing
wood the temple well because there's a lot of burnt offerings when there's a lot of burnt offerings well
you can someone's got to bring all that wood up to the temple think about it every day you're burning
which means someone's got to bring the wood and so they actually cast lots to see when they would
bring wood to the temple but it's actually the third thing that I want to focus on which is starting in
verse 35 which is this idea of ty V or first fruits look at verse 35 with me again as the people swear
that this is what they say we obligate ourselves to bring the first fruits of our ground and the first fruits
of all the fruit of every tree year by year to the house of the Lord then verse 36 also to bring to the
house of our God to the priest to minister in the house of our God the firstborn of our sons and our
cattle as it is written in the law and the first one of our herds and of our flocks this is a long-established
principle in God's Word which is it because the Levites did not have a plot of land God people set
aside 10% of everything they made in order to give it for the work of the Lord why would they do that
well the very last sentence of our entire chapter is it captures the whole essence of this look at the
last sentence again at verse 39 the people say we will not neglect the house of our God the people
were committed financially to making sure God's house the temple operated the way it did now if
we're talking tonight about things that set us apart from the world the way we view marriage the way
of view Sabbath this third one is huge the way Christians spend their money is a huge indicator of
how we're different from the world in fact your non-christian friends if they know you tithe will probably
look at you like you're crazy 10% of your annual income his air you are you nuts don't you give enough
money already to the government do you have any idea how much that is in a year you imagine how
much they'll be over five years over ten years over a lifetime are you crazy factor some Christians you
might think that why would I ever do that why would I ever give up ten percent of what I earn in order
to support the work of the church well certainly the world will think it's nuts and it's one of the things
that sets us apart from the world as a way our spend our money but there's so much blessing in the
principle of tithe let me just point out a couple things about it that make it important first and this is
paradoxical we tithe certainly because it's good for the kingdom I'll get to that in a moment but we
also tie because it’s good for us it's good for our hearts why does God ask us to give back the first
fruits in our life not just to support the work of the church that's obvious but also because it does
something in us and for us it wings us off the idol of money that we're also easily gripped by it's good
for our souls every month to set aside something for God as an act of worship to declare to him I
know that you're in charge of my life this belongs to you it's not my own I know that all my provision
is dependent on you it's an act of worship to heed regularly is good for the heart that's the whole
concept of first-fruit by the way notice it's first fruit not last fruit right here's what tithing is not tithing
is not going to God saying hey look when the year is done and I have some money left over well I
promise Lord that whatever I have left over all I’ll give to the church and of course we know that
doesn't work because we barely have anything left over but God says no I want you to do the first
fruits you don't give God what's left over you give God the very beginning of what you get and you do
that because it's a way of saying this God I will give you the first fruits because I'm gonna trust you
we'll take care of the rest I trust my own well-being into your hand for the rest of the year and that's
the act of worship and devotion to God and truth be told it keeps us from being that rich man that
Jesus talks about in the parable where he says the rich man had so much wealth he didn't know what
to do with it also what'd he do what did he do he just built bigger barns I just built bigger barns to hold
all my wealth and all my grain and I just ate drank and be merry and Jesus says don't don't be that
guy where all you think about what your wealth is how to keep it rather than giving it away there's a
sense here in which it's good for our souls to be tidy but of course it's not just that God calls us to
tithe that's also because it's good for the kingdom and this is what's obvious and all the verses we
read it takes funding and support to make the house of God operate and here at Christ's covenant it's
no different whether it's supporting our pastors the people in youth ministry or children's ministry or
administrators or our missionaries or the ministries we do in the city of Matthews or Charlotte or
around the world all of that takes support it takes the tithe of God's people to make that happen to be
the people where we say we are not going to neglect the work of the house of God now when you
think about tithing and I think about Christ's coven I just want to pause and commend you as a
congregation you know in the midst of the coronavirus churches have been worried about giving and
what we've been encouraged by here Christ's covenant to see already is it that you've not stopped
giving in fact in some some categories has even gone up and so I want to commend you as a
congregation already but so just to remind you going forward that this is a key part of what it means
to be different and set apart from the world and don't think about the tithe in a purely mechanical way
as if my only job is to sort of take out my calculator and run the ten percent number every year and
then I'm done no it's a heart issue not just a numbers issue you can give more than ten percent right
and there's things other than churches other ministries out there that need giving not just churches
but God wants us to be different and the way we think about our money so tonight as we pull this
together these three things are the first three things that God mentions when he says I want you to
be different from the world they're not the only ways that were different there's plenty of other ways
that we're different but the way you view marriage as Christians the way you view Sabbath is
Christian's the way you view our money and tie this Christian's makes us very very different from the
world but here's the danger as you leave this tonight I know the danger that's in all our minds it's
simply this we will leave the passage like this and we think to ourselves it well I guess it's just one of
those passages where I just got to do more I guess this is just one of those things right it's got to try
harder than the Christian life and you you can run the danger of leaving a passage like this thinking
that it's it's a picture of God weight wagging his finger at you upset with how far short you've fallen in
all these parts of your life I don't want you to take away that is the main point tonight yes God of
course is asking us to change what we do but that's not the heart of the passage the heart of the
passage is not just to change what we do the heart of the passage is to change what we believe to
change what we believe to believe that sexual purity and marriage matters to God to believe it really
is good for our health that we maintain the Christian definition of marriage to believe they even have
to have to lose a day of work every week for the Sabbath that God is still gonna provide and that it's
good for my spiritual to believe my money is not my own that we set it aside for him trusting the he'll
take care of us as an act of worship now make no mistake about it obedience flows from what we
believe it’s driven by and really only rightly ever driven by faith and the one who gave himself for us
so my challenge for us tonight the encouragement tonight from this passage change what we believe
about marriage Sabbath and money we may glorify God in these areas and be set apart for the world
from the world we pray all this in Christ's name Amen let's pray Lord we we thank you for this passage
we thank you for the way you've spoken to us through it to set us apart from the world and Lord we
pray that you would use it remind us of these three areas Lord that we would not give an inch Lord in
these three years that we would maintain our holiness and our distinctiveness in these three areas
and Lord use it to grow your church just like the original Christians that went from 12 people to 30
million but we know that you can use what makes us different to encourage the world around us that
you might be glorified in the church might grow we pray all this in Christ's name Amen