Focal Point

Guest (Male): When it comes to giving, be sure that your heart is a good offering as well. God is not into doing penance. God is not into making things up. What he wants from you is an authentic heart. The heart and the gift need to be in sync. But when the gift is there, but the heart is not there, the problem is God sees that as a problem he can’t get past. That’s hypocrisy.

Dave Drew: After receiving socks or a vacuum cleaner as a present, you might hear someone say, "Well, it’s not the gift, but the thought that counts." Though we might scoff at that when it comes to giving to God, there’s a lot of truth to that saying.

Today on Focal Point, Pastor Mike Fabarez studies a hero in the Bible's Hall of Fame who provides a model for how we should offer our gifts to God. Pastor Mike calls the message "Trusting God Enough to Give Him Our Best."

Pastor Mike Fabarez: Mediocre Christianity and lukewarm faith just won’t cut it. It should be a non-option for us. God wants us to move on and to move forward and to embrace a kind of lifestyle that will, if we have ambitious faith, embrace this kind of zealous sacrifice for the good and the cause of Christ.

The first named example in Hebrews chapter 11 is a needed reminder of that kind of lifestyle. It is an inspiration, a motivation, a catalyst for us to say, "Now where are we in terms of serving Christ and giving our best for our great God?" And the first one named, if you have your Bibles, you'll see in verse number four is the Old Testament character named Abel. Talk about a person with a high view of God. Here he is.

Verse number four. The Bible says by faith he offered God a better sacrifice than Cain. Now you remember that was his brother and it didn't work out so well. And yet, God’s perspective, middle of verse four, he was commended as a righteous man when God spoke well of his offerings. And here’s the good news, not only with Abel, but for all these people in the book of Hebrews that are hailed as ambitious, faithful Christians. It says by faith he still speaks, even though he’s dead.

Now let's fill in a little bit of this historically and go back in our Bibles to where this all took place. Genesis chapter 4. Hebrews chapter 11 is just a reflection, a summation of the only thing we really know about Abel, and that was that he brought a great gift to God one day. But there are a few more facts to his life that might be helpful.

Genesis chapter 4, look at verse number one. This is about Adam and Eve. They have a child, his name is Cain, and later she gave birth to his brother named Abel. Two things we learn here about these two brothers. One is their occupation. Bottom of verse number two. Abel, he’s a shepherd, he keeps the flocks, and Cain, he’s a farmer, he works the soil.

To express to God their thanksgiving, it says in the course of time, verse three, Cain brought some of the fruit of the soil as an offering to Yahweh. Verse four, but Abel, he brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. Now the Lord looked with favor on Abel and his offering, and on Cain and his offering, he did not look with favor.

And so that kind of bummed out Cain. He was very angry and his face went into permanent frown mode. His face was downcast. One brings a mediocre gift and one brings the best of the first, and the other one is just bringing some. I mean, that's what we gather from this. So the point is, let's just jot this down.

If we're going to follow in the pattern of Abel, and I know it doesn't get to the root cause, but let's just start at the surface expression, then you and I need to do what Abel did. Abel was willing to risk giving God excellent gifts. Because as he brought his best, he looked at his brother and his brother didn't bring his best. His brother just brought some.

Turn to Malachi chapter one. Here’s the thing about giving God things. It is always a measuring stick of my view of his greatness. And we know that will affect everything in our lives as we seek to serve him and give our best to him. Look at verse number six. A son honors his father. Here’s God training the people saying, "Listen, you guys do that. You call me Lord. Well, a servant, he honors his master."

But he says this, bottom of verse six, "If I’m a father, then where’s the honor due me? And if I’m a master, where’s the respect due me?" says Yahweh Almighty, by the way, the prophet says. Verse number seven, he goes right to what they give. "You place defiled food on my altar. And you say, 'Well, how have we defiled you?' By saying the Lord’s table is contemptible." They’re going, "Well, we never said that." He defines it in verse eight.

When you bring blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice crippled or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Now underline the next six words. Here it comes. Try offering them to your governor. Would he accept you? Would he be pleased with you? I don't think so, God says.

If you knew how majestic, how powerful, how great I was, you wouldn’t be bringing me your second best. You wouldn’t be bringing your leftover stuff that you can’t sell at the marketplace. You’d be bringing me your best. It’s wrong, and your governor wouldn’t have it, and if you think your governor wouldn’t have it, I’m not going to have it.

Verse 10, now here’s an amazing commentary from God at a service of worship. He says this, "Oh, that one would shut the temple doors so that you might not light useless fires on my altar." Does this sound like the New Testament commentary on Laodicea? I mean, I’m not even there. I’m outside. I’ll be outside until I can become the preeminent thing in your life. God does not want a church full of people that are giving God their leftovers.

Look at the next thing he says, verse number 11. He says emphatically and declaratively, "My name will be great among the nations." And is this not the kind of implied threat we see throughout the scripture? If you won’t praise God, if you won’t give him the greatest, he’ll find somebody else to do it. Even Jesus said it at the triumphal entry when people are going, "Oh, this is a little over the top, a little zealous for me. Can you quiet everybody down, Jesus?"

What did he say? "I’ll find rocks if I have to." Because you know what, I’m going to be honored. I’m going to be respected. I’m going to be worshiped. Here’s the thing and just get over it, okay? God wants to be at the center of everything. And you know why? Because he’s God. Read his business card. You know, God, CEO of the universe, center of everything.

And when it’s about me, I’ll be there. But you know when it’s all about you, I’m not interested. God is not interested in that. He is looking for people whose hearts are fully his, who see God as great, great enough to bring him our best. Because it’s all about the greatness of God.

The Bible says would you start risking a little bit more of the excellence that should be given to an excellent God? Give him some excellent gifts. And do it because, letter A, if you’re taking some sub-notes, it affirms the greatness of God. Maybe that’s one reason you need to do it. It just affirms the greatness of God.

I can tell you how great you think God is. All I got to do is pull up your giving statement. All I got to do is look at your volunteerism in the church. All I got to do is see how many times you open your mouth about Christ during your work week. I can find out how great you think God is. So don’t give me your words about "Oh, I just think God is fabulous." Because actions speak louder than words. And when Abel came, guess what he gave? He brought the fat, plum, best of the firstborn. And God said, "That’s my guy."

God’s looking for people like that because they affirm the greatness of God. Number two, and I won’t make you turn there, but at least jot down Deuteronomy chapter eight. This is letter B. When we give excellent gifts, you do recognize that it deepens our trust in God. Just think that one through. When we give him excellent gifts, it deepens our trust in God. Deuteronomy 8, verses 10 through 18. What a great section. Deuteronomy 8, 10 through 18. And here’s what God in essence says.

He says to these people before they move into the promised land, "Listen, here’s the thing. You guys need to remember when everything’s going well for you, and you get your bonuses and you get your raises and you got your 2.3 kids and you’re living in the white picket fence house and you got your three car garage and everything’s fine and you got your 401k padded and you’re doing great, just remember this. I gave it all to you. You didn’t give it to yourself."

He said, "If I weren’t there holding your brain cells together, Mr. Smarty Pants, your brain would scramble like scrambled eggs. And you couldn’t do one thing at work this week, okay?" That’s what the Bible says in a Mike Fabarez paraphrase of Deuteronomy chapter eight.

And he says, "Remember this. When you do all those things and you sit back and cross your arms in your nice recliner and you say, 'Well, this is great.'" He says, "Here’s the problem. Prosperity brings lethargy, lethargy brings self-sufficiency, self-sufficiency brings a sense that God was really not a part of this and you will lose the connection that you had with God."

And you know what, you can look at this statistically. It’s true in just about every church in the country. Those that are the poorest in the church, those that are the neediest in the church, those that are often the sickest in the church, are the people that not only show they trust God the most, but they demonstrate the fact that they trust him, love him, and consider him to be the most excellent by the way they give him their lives and their paychecks and their time and their effort. They show it. They prove it.

And I could call up all the stats. I’ve done it from the platform before. The bottom line is it’s those of us who recognize in those times of need that we need God that we’re proving that by our gifts. Now think about the problem with Abel bringing the best of the firstborn. He doesn’t get to have it. That’s the problem with giving God something. You don’t get to keep it. You give it to God.

When I give him those hours, I don’t get them back. When I give away that stuff I could have spent it at Best Buy and I now I’ve given it in the offering plate. Well, that displaces our trust in what we have. And God loves that. He loves that because it shows that we’re trusting him and when we trust him he loves to give even more. The problem is our motives have got to make sure we’re not giving to get. We’ve got to make sure that our motives are right, more on that later.

But the idea is it is displacing our trust in the things that we bring. And when we like Cain just bring a little bit of the mediocre stuff, we’re not missing out that much and we’re realizing that our trust is really firmly planted on the things that we have, our resources. And I’m not just talking about money, I’m talking about everything else: our time, our effort, our talent and so forth. So give God a few excellent gifts this week. It’ll affirm God’s greatness, it’ll deepen your trust in God.

And thirdly, let me just say this based on Luke chapter seven. That one’s worth writing down, verses 36 through 47. Luke chapter seven, it’s the story you don’t need to turn there because you know it. It is number three or letter C, a measure of our gratitude.

And here’s the thing, people that are brain dead theologically in the church are not excellent givers. And I’m not just talking about money, I’m talking about the holistic picture of your Christian life because you are brain dead to what God has done for you. Are you tracking with this?

Do you know what happened in Luke chapter seven? There was a gal that the Bible says had a very sinful past. Jesus is there reclining at Simon, not Simon Peter, Simon the Pharisee’s house. And in comes sinful woman’s past, and she comes in with an alabaster jar of perfume.

And she walks in and the Pharisees wouldn’t so much as wash Jesus’s feet because they’re pal-ing around and sharing stories because they’re all equal colleagues, right? I mean, that’s all washing feet in the ancient world. It's like taking someone’s jacket and putting it in the back room. It was a basic act of hospitality.

And here comes this lady who’s not going to take a basin of throwaway water, she’s going to bring perfume that the Bible says was very expensive. And she comes to Jesus, sees his feet, his unwashed feet, and she pours perfume over his feet and doesn’t grab a rag. How does she wipe Jesus’s feet? Do you remember? With her hair.

And you know what happened right then. Pharisee: "What a waste. Crazy woman. Zealot. What’s she doing? Hey, that could have been sold for a lot of money. What is she doing?" And Jesus says, "Oh, you’re right, you’re a little over the top, lady. Get away from me." Is that what he says?

Jesus says, "Hey, guys, let me tell you a story." He said two guys owed their master a lot of money. One owed 50 denarii and one owed five and you know what, the master forgave them both. "Hey, Simon, the Pharisee, let me ask you a question. Who would love the master more?" Simon says, "Well, I suppose the one that was forgiven the most."

Jesus says, "You’ve answered wisely. That’s exactly right." Says, "And now you’re looking at this gal and you’re watching her show me this deep emotional, extravagant kind of offering and you’re rolling your eyes at that. Do you recognize that she understands what she’s been forgiven? And you guys haven’t even washed my feet?"

What’s the point? If there was no gratitude and no respect and no honor, these Pharisees didn’t even think they needed to be forgiven. And here was this gal tuned in to one basic truth: God has forgiven my sins through the Messiah. That’s what she knew. And because of that, she was grateful.

And she brought in her best, this expensive perfume that people were going, "Oh, what a waste. That could have been spent on something really good." And she’s going, "No." And Jesus said everyone will testify of this woman in generations to come. And here’s some preachers on a stage today talking about a woman, we don’t even know her name, who’s pouring the most expensive perfume on Jesus’s feet and Jesus is saying, "This is it. This is what it’s all about."

Have you given God any excellent gifts lately? Do you recognize that we have a great and excellent God? Do you see that mediocrity when it comes to our gifts is just not acceptable? It is not about the offering bag, he says. It’s about you recognizing my greatness. So let’s wake up to the fact that God has done great things for us and he deserves our best.

Now, back to Hebrews chapter 11, look at the middle of verse number four. It’s the second sentence in the verse in our English text, and it says by faith he, that is Abel, was commended as a righteous man. Now that’s an interesting thing. And it happened when God spoke well of his offerings.

Now in Genesis chapter four, look what happens. We have a statement from God which does what the middle of verse four in Hebrews does and that is it separates a distinction between the person and the gift. But they’re inseparably tied but they’re distinct issues.

Now look at our text again. It says in verse number three, Cain brought some of the first fruits of the soil as an offering to God. Verse four, but Abel brought fat portions of some of the firstborn of his flock. And the Lord, now notice this carefully, looked with favor on Abel and his offering. Do you see that? Looked with favor on Abel and his offering. Keep reading. But on Cain and his offering, that’s important, he didn’t look with favor.

So Cain was angry, his face was downcast. Yahweh says to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be," and I can add, "your offering be accepted?" See, the difference is there’s something wrong in Cain’s life. The difference in the gift was not the gift itself, but that the quality of the gift reflected the heart of the person. And the heart of Abel apparently was right, and the heart of Cain was apparently wrong.

Because the Bible goes on to say in the middle of verse seven, "If you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door, it’s only going to get worse, it desires to completely have you, but you must master it, fight this temptation." I don't know what Cain’s problem was. It certainly was in part later an angry, envious, self-absorbed, hostile heart, but apparently there were problems in his life. He was bringing this gift but his heart wasn’t right.

Abel brought a gift and his gift reflected his heart, but his heart was right. He was commended as a person and his offering was commended. Cain was not commended as a person and his offering wasn’t accepted either. And the point is that the heart and the gift need to be in sync. When the heart and the gift aren’t in sync and you’ll often see it, it's subtle but you’ll see it reflected in the gift, but when the gift is there but the heart is not there, the problem is God sees that as a problem he can’t get past.

It is called, by the way, in the Bible, here’s the Bible word for it: hypocrisy. And the problem is you cannot use giving as some kind of mask to do good with God but have this problem in your life that Cain had. And his problem was interesting and it was varied on several levels, but he had an issue in his heart but put up this giving thing, "I’m going to give to God." That’s hypocrisy.

Number two, when it comes to giving, and this is a real fear I have in preaching a message like this because they are, "Okay, well I’ll do something excellent for God." Hey, be sure that when you do, that your heart is a good offering as well. I put it this way: don't be a hypocrite. It’s really simple. Just don’t be a hypocrite.

What God is looking for is an excellent gift and he wants your life to be in tune with that gift. And the problem is some people bring gifts and it’s nothing but a facade. Hypocrisy. I’ve used this before and if this is redundant I’m sorry, just bear with me, take a little mental vacation, but the concept of hypocrisy, it comes from a little compound word in Greek. Hupo, which is the Greek preposition under, and krino. Hupo-krino, hypocrite in the English.

Hupo is under, krino is to judge or to surmise or to make an evaluation. The problem with hypocrisy is that I have something up that makes you look at me a certain way, but underneath, that’s the hupo part, you judge me and perceive me differently. The reality underneath is different than what you perceive.

Cain was bringing an offering but the problem was underneath he was battling sin and he wasn’t ready to be obedient. He had a problem in his heart. His life wasn’t an offering, he was just bringing an offering. That is a great picture of that is the mask. He put on the mask of giving and he’s now trying to be right with God simply by doing something.

What does God want from us? He wants our heart to be right. Here’s a good passage to jot down: Romans chapter 12, verses one and two. Do you remember that verse from Sunday school? That because of the mercies of God, that we should present ourselves as living sacrifices. Present yourselves and your bodies as living sacrifices that’s holy and acceptable to God.

What is? My gift? Well, my gift in that case is myself. He says do that without being conformed to the world. And if you do, and if that’s holy and blameless an offering to God, then you’ll know what is good and acceptable and then you’ll know what to do, then you’ll know what to give, then you’ll know how to serve, then you’ll know how to think, how to praise, how to offer these things to God. It comes down to you and I saying, "I’m not going to give a gift unless I’m giving my heart to God first."

I’m not going to try to make some kind of deal with God by what I offer him in service or in money if in my life my life isn’t where it needs to be. That’s hypocrisy. Cain was a hypocrite. He had a problem. Let me prove it to you. Go to Jude.

Jude’s concern was that in the church there were false teachers and false prophets. They were going around saying things and it wasn’t true and they were just using their ministry and their religiosity as a cover for their own wicked and evil motives. And in the case of the false prophets in verse number 11 of Jude, he’s trying to show that one of their problems is greed.

And he uses two people as an example for this. One is our friend Cain. Look at verse 11 talking about the false teachers. "Woe to them, the false teachers. They have taken the way of Cain." Now that doesn’t tell us much, because they’re out there, they’re preaching, they’re in pulpits, they’re pastors and all that. Here’s the problem: they’ve rushed in for profit. They’ve rushed in for profit into Balaam’s error.

Now there’s a connection between Balaam and Cain. If you know the story of Balaam, Balaam was kind of the rent-a-pastor. He was pastor for hire, right? "You want me to say something? Great. Okay, let’s put the money on the table. We’ll talk about my sermon." And that was basically what it came to.

He had his high moments and his internal conflicts and I know Balaam was a conflicted character, but in the end he was willing to take money to go out there and say whatever the person that rented him wanted him to say. He was a sellout for money. And Cain here is put in the same kind of category.

And the problem with those false teachers in Jude’s day is they were doing religious things for personal gain. Why is Cain come up in all of this? See, what’s the big problem with giving? What’s the big problem with offering ourselves, our time, or our money? If I give it to God, I don’t have it for myself. That’s the problem.

If I want it for myself more than I want to express the greatness of God or demonstrate my faith in God, then I’m going to hang on to that. That selfishness, that’s greed, we call it materialism today. And the Bible is saying Cain’s got that issue. He didn’t want to give the best of the produce. Why? Because he wanted the best of the produce.

So one problem I know he had was his wanting the stuff that he didn’t want to give up for God. And really it comes down to who’s going to be the God of your life? I mean, that’s what it always comes down to. Who’s going to be the God of your life? Is it going to be you or is it going to be God? And God’s the only one who really has the credentials to be the God of your life and it’s really not about you.

Second Corinthians 5:15 quoted all the time, that we are people that are called to live for him, not for ourselves. And you’ve got to get to the point where you recognize that everything you have and everything that you are is really all about God. And therefore when it’s time to go the extra mile, stay the extra hour, or spend the extra dollar, I’m going to do it because God is the God of my life and it’s not about keeping those things for myself.

That time is not my time. The money is not my money. My talents aren’t my talents. This is God’s stuff. That’s a whole different perspective. Don’t be a hypocrite. Don’t try and give God some kind of token gift. We’ve already seen he’s not interested in that.

Dave Drew: When it comes to finding motivation for living an extraordinary life, we’ll benefit from a few godly examples. This is Focal Point, and you’re listening to one portion from a study in Hebrews chapter 11 with Pastor Mike Fabarez. It’s a series called "Ambitious Faith."

You won’t want to miss any of the sermons in this study. In fact, there’s an easy way to never miss a broadcast by signing up for the free Focal Point podcast. Subscribe and get these programs sent straight to your device, or pull up the free Focal Point app for even more content wherever you go.

Now before we go, we want to put a resource in your hands. It’s our new featured book, The Journals of Jim Elliot, edited by his wife Elisabeth Elliot. These aren’t polished reflections written for an audience. They’re private, unguarded, and utterly real: the written record of a man who treated nearness to God as the whole point.

If you’ve ever wondered what whole-life surrender actually looks like from the inside, Jim Elliot’s own words show you. The Journals of Jim Elliot is waiting for you, and it’s yours when you make a donation to Focal Point, or sign up as a monthly Focal Point partner. Either way, your support keeps this teaching on the air. Reach out by phone at 888-320-5885 or give online at focalpointradio.org.

You can also reach out through the mail by writing to us at Focal Point, Post Office Box 2850, Laguna Hills, California 92654. And if this is your first time reaching out, we have something for you at no charge: Pastor Mike’s brand new booklet called Offering Our Best. It cuts right to the heart of what full devotion to God actually demands. Not a long read, but a challenging one.

Reach out today and we’ll send your copy of Offering Our Best at no cost. Just call 888-320-5885 or get in touch online at focalpointradio.org. Well, I’m Dave Drew, inviting you back for the final part of Pastor Mike’s message, "Trusting God Enough to Give Him Our Best," Tuesday on Focal Point with Pastor Mike Fabarez.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: Hi, Pastor Mike here. God’s Word promises it’ll never return void, so I wonder, how is God’s Word moving in your heart right now? Drop us a line, let us know. We’d love to hear from you. We’d love to be praying for you here. Just go to focalpointradio.org. And then be sure to join us again tomorrow right here as we continue to explore the depths of scripture. We’ll see you then.

Dave Drew: Today’s program was produced and sponsored by Focal Point Ministries.