J. Douglas Dortch, Jr., Ph.D.
First Baptist Church, Tallahassee, FL
“How Does God Prompt You ? ”
Scripture: Exodus 25:1-9
April 13 , 2008
This week I came across the story of two old friends who met one day after many years. One had attended college and now was very successful. The other had not attended college, never had much ambition, yet he still seemed to be doing well. Curious as to how his less ambitious friend could have fared so well in life, the college graduate asked, "So, how has everything been going with you?" The less-educated, less ambitious man replied, "Well, one day, I opened my Bible at random and dropped my finger on a page. The word under my finger was ‘oil.’ So, I invested in oil, and boy, did the oil wells gush. I did so well that I tried it again, and the next time my finger stopped on the word ‘gold.’ So, I invested in gold, and those mines really produced. And now, I'm as rich as Rockefeller." The college graduate was so impressed by his old friend’s story that he rushed home, grabbed his favorite Bible, flipped it open, closed his eyes, and dropped his finger on a page. When he opened his eyes, he saw that his finger rested on these words: "Chapter Eleven."
It’s amazing, isn’t it, how all of us keep looking for an edge in life. It’s amazing how we are so quick to acknowledge that our perspective on things is so limited that we would be wise to be open to any bit of advice or direction that someone around us might offer.
And that practice in and of itself is not necessarily a bad thing. Think for a moment about some of the choice nuggets of counsel you have heard over the years and how that counsel has prompted you to pursue a direction that turned out to be in your best interest: a rare investment, an unpublished job opening, an unknown professor, a new and exciting recipe. Left to yourself you might never have ventured out of your comfortable rut, but with the help of those around you, some whose counsel you sought out and some whose counsel you simply overheard, you were prompted to pursue something that on your own you would have never considered.
That’s why this morning I want to invite you to consider how God might be prompting you to participate in our upcoming “Here…for Life!” capital campaign. In just three weeks, on May 4, each of us will have the opportunity to make a financial pledge toward the renovation of our facilities and the construction of a new connector building that we believe will become the central gathering point in our church. Normally, such times aren’t the most fun moments in the life of a church, if for no other reason than for how the campaigns are often conducted with heavy doses of arm-twisting and guilt.
We’re not going to do that with this campaign. Neither I nor any member of our church is going to goad you into giving. What we will be doing is making you aware of the need that is before us and of the God who has all that is necessary to enable us to meet it.
We’re going to go about this emphasis like Moses did with the children of Israel, as they faced their need of constructing a tabernacle where they could meet God and be mindful of His Presence with them on their journey toward the land of Canaan.
Their story is told in the book of Exodus. Moses and the people have just confirmed the covenant God had made with them at Mount Sinai. It was a promise between God and His people for God to care for them and for the people to worship Him.
But there was no place where the people could gather to worship God. So, for that reason God instructed Moses to instruct the people to gather an offering for the purpose of constructing a place where God could be worshiped.
What strikes me about the instruction is what God says to Moses in verse 2. “You are to receive the offering for me from each man whose heart prompts him to give.” In other words, don’t harass the people. Don’t harp on them and harangue them over what they ought to be giving. Just tell them what they’re to do and then trust them to be prompted to give of what they have: gold, silver, bronze, yarn, linen, spices, incense, and stones.
I look at that list and wonder to myself, “Now, where are a bunch of former slaves going to come up with a treasure trove of resources like that?” And then I remember what happened back in chapter 3 of Exodus. As Moses was receiving God’s marching orders for their exodus from Egypt, God promised that His people would not leave the land empty-handed. “Every woman is to ask her neighbor and any woman living in her house for articles of silver and gold and for clothing, which you will put on your sons and daughters. And so you will plunder the Egyptians” (Exodus 3:22).
God knew exactly what would be necessary for His people to accomplish His will. And God provided for His people so that when the time came for them to give, they would look back on all that God had done for them, and how God had delivered them from a life of back-breaking brick-making, and they would be prompted in their hearts to give back to God a portion of the plunder with which they had been blessed.
This morning I would just ask you the question, “How has God begun prompting you?” “What has God been doing in your life to awaken within you a desire to offer a gift that will be to His glory?” “What favor has God sent into your life from which He is calling you to make a gift?” “What blessing has God bestowed upon you?”
I know that there would be many who would argue, “Now, Doug, that’s not enough.” “You’ve got to be more strategic than that. You’ve got to figure out how much we need to raise and how much each person needs to give.” And I guess that if I were trying to raise money for a school or a civic club or for some other worthwhile charity, that’s probably how I would go about it. But the more I’ve thought and prayed about this present challenge, the more I have come to see that what we’re about is not really about raising money or even raising a building; it’s about raising people to be able to experience the inexpressible joy of offering to God that which God prompts them to give.
Someone might say, “Well, you’ll never raise enough that way.” And my response is, “We’ll raise exactly what God prompts us to raise.” And in the grand scheme of things whatever that is, because it’s prompted by God, will be more than enough.
I say that (and believe that) on the basis of how this story in Exodus concludes. Moses goes before his people and shares with them what God has said. He presents the need and he lays out God’s plan. For another ten chapters Moses lays out both need and plan. And in chapter 35, the people begin giving. Listen to how the people responded: “Then the whole Israelite community withdrew from Moses’ presence, and everyone who was willing whose heart moved him came and brought an offering to the LORD for the work on the Tent of Meeting.” And then it continues. “And all who were willing brought gold…yarn…fine linen, silver or bronze, stones…and spices. All...who were willing brought freewill offerings for all the work the LORD through Moses had commanded them to do” (Exodus 35:20-29).
In fact, as the next chapter shows us, the people continued to bring offerings “morning after morning” until the people who were in charge of the Tabernacle’s construction said to Moses, “The people are bringing more than enough for doing the work that the LORD commanded them to do” (Exodus 36:5). And as the Bible explains, the people gave so much that Moses had to tell them to quit giving. Imagine that, a campaign where the leaders have to tell the people not to give anymore.
I don’t know if my faith is strong enough to believe God for a campaign like that. But I do know that it’s strong enough to trust this present effort to Him and to believe that He will do the prompting so that what we will give on May 4 will be all that He tells us we’ll need. All that remains for us to do in the meantime is simply to pray for our eyes to be awakened to the manifold blessings that God has poured out in each of our lives and then to be prepared to give out of that storehouse as God leads each of us to do.
My model is the widow I read about who was moved to give a sizeable gift of hundreds of thousands of dollars to a Baptist institution of higher education in Texas. The administration was beside itself at her gift and wanted to make sure that they handled her gift to her exact specifications. So, they called and asked how she wanted her gift to be designated. She really didn’t understand what they were asking, and so they further explained that she could make her donation in the name of a loved one. For a moment she said nothing. Then finally she answered, “Well then, I’d like to give it in the name and for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ.” As the old hymn puts it, she was grateful for the “wondrous change” that was brought about in her life “since Jesus had come into her heart.”
This morning I’m asking you to take your hands and point them toward the heavens. I’m asking you to consider for a moment the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ from whom all blessings flow.
Then take your finger and point it to your heart from whence all emotions flow. And simply give as your heart directs you and as God prompts you. And whatever that turns out to be, because it comes from God, I am believing and am asking you to join me in believing, it will surely be enough.