Giving God His Due

Introduction

Good morning. If you will, please open your Bibles with me to Psalm 116, the 116th Psalm. This morning, many of you are dressed as if you have recognized that today is a recognized holiday. I’m very thankful for a holiday that includes family and friends and brings loved ones to, and even allowing us to sometimes visit friends and loved ones. What a blessing to have family, to have friends. And most of all, what a blessing to have family that we can worship our God with. Amen. That is certainly what is most important. While it’s likely that it is unlikely, excuse me, at best, that Jesus was actually born on December 25th, and while it is certain that this was not a holiday started through the words of God from the inspired Bible message.

It is clear that this is a time in this country in which we share a unique opportunity. And it’s a unique opportunity to talk to others whose minds are already on God. I hope that we take advantage of, and rather than just slander the type of opportunity that’s there and say how it’s wrong, but rather show how Jesus is right. How being with God is what is most important. It’s not a matter of right or wrong or this day or that day, but of devoting our whole selves to our loving God. When it comes to Christmas, though, many of us give gifts. We either go out and try to find something that is befitting the person to whom we are giving the gift. It might be that that person has a Christmas list, and we look at that list, we see what we want to, or what we can give them, or what the store has available to give them, and we want to give the right gift because gifts show love.

In fact, one of the five love languages that are that is so common to our vernacular is that of gift giving. But this morning, rather than focusing on the best gift that has ever been received, and that is God sending Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. I want to focus on the gift that we give God. And it’s not a gift that comes necessarily from the bottom of our heart, and it’s us just giving it to God, and He’s thankful because we we just want to, and we’re just kind of giving Him what we have, but because we give God the gift of our life because it’s due to Him. When we realize our life is due to God, it changes the way we live.

Yes, we will, with our free will, choose to honor and glorify Him as the Creator God. We will take advantage of the blessings that He has offered us, but we need to remember, as Psalm 116 indicates in verse 12, that we owe a great debt to God, and being a servant of His means that we will give God His due. And so this morning we’re going to go through three points. We’re gonna see what is God due based upon who is God. We’re gonna see what does God expect of us, what can I give to God? And third, we’re gonna challenge the idea of are we giving enough. I hope your Bible is open to the 116th Psalm, and I hope you begin reading with me in verse 1.

I love the Lord because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy, because he has inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live. The snares of death encompassed me. The pangs of Sheol laid hold on me. I suffered distress and anguish. Then I called on the name of the Lord. O Lord, I pray, deliver my soul. Gracious is the Lord and righteous our God is merciful. The Lord preserves the simple. When I was brought low, he saved me. Return, O my soul, to your rest, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you. For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling. I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.

I believed, even when I spoke, I am greatly afflicted. I said in my alarm, all mankind are liars. What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. O Lord, I am your servant, I am your servant, the son of your maidservant, you have loosed my bonds. I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people in the courts of the house of the Lord in your midst, O Jerusalem, praise the Lord.

1. Know Who God Is: What He Is Due

I hope you see in Psalm the 116th chapter, the 116th Psalm, that God has done a lot for us. That our God is a mighty God who deserves our worship. The God we are giving to, the God that we are considering giving to, the God that we should be devoting ourselves to is first and foremost outside of this chapter, the creator of all things. If you look at Genesis chapter 1, look there with me, and look at verse 1. I want you to see an extraordinary claim. It is an extraordinary claim. In Genesis chapter 1 and verse 1, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. There is an extraordinary claim that speaks of and claims to have an extraordinary God. In Genesis chapter 1 and verse 1, when it says, God created the world.

When we see from Genesis chapter 1, that God spoke, and everything that we know and understand to be this earth came into existence. That is a powerful God. We need to be moved by that. And it needs to not just be common reading. And it doesn’t just need to be something that we know is true, some sort of trivia fact, that the big bang theory is wrong, that evolution in the terms of men coming from monkeys is not true, and that God made us, but to know the God we serve, the God we are worshiping, the God we pray to, the God we sing to, is the God who spoke. And rather than just creating words, he created the world. That is a powerful, mighty God.

We need to know who that God is if we are going to give him what he is due. When we consider this day, this Christmas day, what we give to God, we need to know that we owe him a great deal. And not just because he asked us to, but because he is worth it. Because our God is so much greater than our even conceptions of him, that we will give all to him, recognizing him as greater, mightier, and God in our sight. God is the creator God. In fact, it’s the creator God that Paul alludes to in Romans chapter 1, that the Gentiles should have known who God was. And in fact, they did not. But we see from Psalm 100, the 116th Psalm, I’m going to stutter over that so many times this morning.

What we see about God, and what I want us to focus on is some aspects of God that we see from this Psalm. And we see why should we give God this great sacrifice of our life? Because in verse 1, I love the Lord because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy. Brother J.R. this morning in his prayer mentioned that we are praying to God and he hears us. What a powerful blessing that God affords his people. That the God who created the heavens and the earth cares about what I think, what I am saying, what I am going through. Isn’t that amazing? Isn’t that comforting to know that my God cares about me? My God doesn’t just know me as some sort of ticket.

But our God knows the hairs on my head. He knows my life. And he cares about me. And yes, we know he cares about us to the point of sending Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. But when we call out in our distress, God will hear us. Is that not what we see in verse 4? I called on the name of the Lord. O Lord, I pray, deliver my soul. And is understood that, of course, the Lord answers these pleas. How many times in the Bible story is a character, a person who did not know God, who did not care about God, or even who had outright rejected God, humbled himself, or found himself humbled, calling out to God, whether as a last resort or as a final acknowledgement that I can’t do it, that there is one greater, and God blessed them.

Whether it be King Manasseh of Israel, of Judah, or whether it be King Nebuchadnezzar of the Gentile nation Babylon. God hears those who call out to him. That is a powerful blessing that I hope we never forgo. That we never skip out on. But that we understand the power of God is mighty and his love is everlasting and all enduring. But we see in verse 5 continually that God is described another way gracious is the Lord and righteous. Our God is merciful. Verse 6 says, He preserves the simple. When I was brought low, he saved me. Return, O my soul, to your rest. For the Lord has dealt bountifully with you. God is gracious and merciful. There’s a lot of examples of grace and mercy you can give, but there is none that is bigger, that is better than what the Bible story tells us.

It’s what Brother Rufus read this morning in Romans chapter 5. You see in verse 6, how are we described? Turn in your Bibles with me to Romans chapter 5. I want you to see three different terms of how we are described before God. When Jesus is coming to die on the cross for our sins, when God loved us so much to send Jesus the Christ, in verse 6, we’re described how? As weak and ungodly. In verse 8, we’re described as sinners. It was the time in which we were sinners that God showed his love towards us. In verse 10, the most outright of them all. For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son. Much more now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

We are ungodly, sinning. Enemies of God without his mercy, without his grace, without his love. It is a world that we cannot imagine. I can’t even imagine what it would be like to serve a God who would not forgive or who could not allow me to be made right. But our God is not like that. Our God not only hears our pleas, but he will respond in kind with grace and mercy. If I have sinned, if I have turned against him, I know I must know that if I come and turn my life over, he is gracious and he will show me grace. He is merciful and will show me mercy. He will deliver my soul. We see thirdly in this in this chapter of Psalm 116 that God will deliver our soul.

That’s a mighty promise. And something that I think if I’m not careful, I might trample on. Have you ever found yourself as a Christian just kind of expecting that God does that? Because that’s what God does. We read the Bible, God’s merciful, God’s gracious, God is loving, God hears our prayers, and that’s just the way it is. That is the way it is. But just like a parent, just like a friend who does something, just because it’s done over and over again doesn’t mean that thanks are not over. In fact, if you’re still in Romans, turn over to chapter 1, and you’ll see that those Gentiles who should have known God by His creation were failing in a very important exercise. In Romans chapter 1, beginning in verse 21, although they knew God, know what this has said.

They did not honor him. We know that as God. But this little phrase in between has a big meaning, and it’s powerful to me this morning. They did not give thanks to him. And in failing to honor God and give thanks to him, the verse continues, they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things. And then you see in verse 24, verse 26, and verse 28, God gave them up. This morning, if we’re going to give God his due, we will not only not be given up by our God because he loves us and will deliver our soul.

But we need to know that the God we are serving deserves to have be served with an attitude of thankfulness.

It’s very important that we know that God’s expectations for obedience are at the utmost percentage. We must do the will of God. That’s what Jesus says in Matthew chapter 7 and verse 21. To be saved, those who are saved are those who do the will of his Father in heaven. It’s not just claiming it, it’s not just saying that I’ve done some good things, but to be devoted solely to him. But we need to know that the God we serve is merciful, is gracious, and not just that he will do it, but that we should be thankful to our core that he has made that possible. May we never forget not only that Jesus was born, but that Jesus died on the cross for our sins, and that we could never compel him to do so.

2. What Shall I Render to the Lord

There’s nothing we could think, say, or do that would make God make salvation available to us. Praise God for his mercy and his grace. See, secondly, that what we owe to God is found in this chapter. I think the crux of this chapter is found in verse 12, it kind of changes. In verse 12, the question is posed, and perhaps you’ve wondered this question like myself, what shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits to me? What is it that I owe God besides complete obedience? Well, in verse 14, one specific is given, to pay my vows. In verse 14, the psalmist says, I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people. Vows in the time of the Old Testament were a little bit different than the way we think of things.

We say, Well, I promise you I’ll be there, or maybe even somebody says, I swear I’ll do that, or I’ll pinky promise. We have all these different arrangements. And while Jesus said our let our yes should be yes and our no should be no. A vow in the Old Testament was not something that should be rashly done, because when a vow is made, God expects it to be fulfilled just as vowed. When we make a promise before God, we need to not only not be rash in making a vow, but we need to remember what we’ve done and pay it in the presence of all who are looking. And while that sounds very basic, and that sounds like something that is something that all Christians should know.

If I consider myself a Christian, if I’ve been baptized in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus the Christ, I made a confession that God is number one. That my Lord is all that is worth following. That heaven is all that is worth living for, being with God. That is a vow we made. If I’m a Christian and I don’t act like it, or I only do it on Sundays and Wednesdays, or only when the holiday rolls around, I’m not paying my vow to the Lord. And not only is that not what he is due, not only is that not keeping a promise, but it’s not rewarding the God who has forgiven us of the unpayable debt. When we think about paying our vows, we need to remember that as Christians we have vowed to give ourselves entirely to God.

As the song that we just sang concluded, we need to say, All of self and none of thee. No. All of Jesus, none of self. We need to be different. We need to be better than the world. Don’t live for now. Live for God. Remember, God is our creator. God is gracious and merciful. God will deliver our soul. Secondly, you see in this chapter in verse 16, that God expects of us, God is due our servitude. In verse 16, he says, Oh Lord, I am your servant, I am your servant, the son of your maidservant. You have loosed my bonds. And while that’s true, I hope you’ll turn in your Bibles with me to Romans chapter 6. Well, while God has freed us from the wages of sin, which is death, he has taken us from the clutches of the evil one in which we were slaves to sin.

Note that we were bought at a price, not just the blood of Jesus, but we owe God something. We owe him our lives. In verse 15, in Romans chapter 6 and verse 15. What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means. Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and having been set free from sin have become slaves of righteousness. This morning, this day, this new year, we need to be slaves of righteousness.

We were bought. We should be better.

And too often it’s easy to backslide. It’s too easy to just kind of go through the motions. Perhaps like the Israelites, who we all too often view as laughable fools, that we would never emulate or imitate.

But they weren’t pleasing to God because their heart was far from them. Or at the same time as they were worshiping God the next day or even later that hour, they would go and serve other gods. And we say, You fool, but the truth is if I look, I do that too. Because I’m distracted by the here and now. We have to be better than that. Yes, it might mean confessing our sin and knowing that God will forgive us if we faithfully come to Him with repentance. But brothers and sisters, we need to be God’s servant. And that means giving my entire life over. Not just some, not just most, but all. As Paul writes in Romans 6, we are either slaves of sin or slaves of righteousness.

Who are you a slave to this morning? Third point in Psalm 116: we offer God a sacrifice of thanksgiving. A point we already referenced earlier, but a key difference between those who ignore God, who have their foolish hearts darkened, who God gives over to all sorts of debased minds and activities, is those who will give thanks to him and honor him as the God that he is. In verse 17 of the 116th Psalm, I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the Lord. We need to stop every day and say thank you to God, not just when it’s the season and not just when America puts Jesus at the forefront of our minds. As Christians, that should never be what the world has to do.

We should put Jesus there. There’s over 200 of us here this morning. If we all talked about Jesus all the time, it wouldn’t have to be about one day a year or two days a year that we give thanks or that we think of Jesus in his life. We should be better than that. And as Christians around the world, we have a high calling, not just to understand who God is, but to be moved by that. If I know that God is the creator, I will pay my vows because I owe it to God, because he’s done everything for me. I will be his servant because that is what God is due from me. I will continually give God praise, glory, honor, and thanksgiving because he deserves it, not just because the book says to.

If we’re going to make it through this life, please hear me carefully. If we’re going to make it through committed to God, yes, doing exactly what God says is important, just for the sake of God saying it, but we will not make it if we don’t understand who God is. If we don’t obey God from the right heart, from the right mindset that says, This is what God is due, this is my purpose. We not only will fail, we will not be pleasing to God, even if we get through with it. We need to know who God is. We need to pay him what he owes. If I know that there’s an Almighty God who will hear me, who knows me, who sent Jesus to die on the cross for me, it won’t be a problem to pay my vows, because God’s worth it all.

3. Do I Give My All?

I won’t hesitate to be a servant because I know I was bought with an incredible price. And I certainly will not hesitate to be on my knees or speaking to friends and giving thanksgiving to my great, powerful creator God. It’s just the way it goes. We see finally I want to ask the question, do I give my all? Or I want to consider two different questions. Do I give God my leftovers? My second best? If you’ll turn with me to Malachi chapter one, the last book of our Old Testament, as many of them are constructed in Malachi chapter one. If you know what has happened after the people of Israel have already been taken into captivity, and the people of Judah have been taken into captivity, and they have returned from that bondage, exactly as God had promised would happen to them if they disobeyed him, if they did not keep his covenant.

They were back. And yet they fell away again. They were missing the boat. In Malachi chapter 1 and verse 6, the Son honors his father and a servant is master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the Lord of hosts to you, O priest who despise my name. But you say, How have we despised your name? By offering polluted food upon my altar. But you say, How have we polluted you? By saying that the Lord’s table may be despised. When you offer blind animals and sacrifice, is that not evil? And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not evil? Present that to your governor. Will he accept you or show you favor?

says the Lord of hosts. And now entreat the favor of God that he may be gracious to us. With such a gift from your hand, will he show favor to any of you? says the Lord of hosts. Oh, that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain. I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of hosts. When you look at Malachi chapter one, it pops off the page in verse six that God expects honor. God expects this because it is due him. Do I give God the honor that he deserves, that he demands? But as you continue in the reading, you see the problem was specifically with offerings. And they say at the end of verse 6, How have we despised your name?

How is the honor lacking? We’re giving you what you want. We’re doing as you have commanded. And now you see some of that heart problem taking root. God answers them by offering polluted food upon my altar. They say, How have we done that? He goes into detail in verse 8. See this again. When you offer blind animals in sacrifice, is that not evil? Yes it is. And when you offer those that are lame or sick, is that not evil? Of course it is. In fact, the argument goes flawlessly. Present that to your governor. Will he accept you or show you favor? Of course not. They knew better. They offered God their leftovers, their second best, that which didn’t cost them much. I have to ask myself, if I know who God is, and I know that God has given me what he expects, do I actually give God of my first fruits?

Do I put God first and fill in the rest while I’m here? Or do I do what I’m doing well here and throw in God in the cracks? You see, one of those ways is right, and one of those ways is what the Israelites did at the time of Malachi, when God’s people had turned their backs on him, not only just with foreign gods, but that they were going through the motions of what he had commanded, we see that God was still not pleased. He did not delight in them in the end of verse 10, I have no pleasure in you, and it finishes, I will not accept an offering from your hand. This is a strong moment of self-evaluation for me that this text demands.

Do I offer God that which he will reject? Or am I offering him true, heartfelt service? It’s easy to say thank you, God, when things are well. But do I thank God for all that I have when things are not? It’s easy to be a Christian on Sunday morning, but am I a Christian in the workplace on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday? It’s easy to be a Christian in a nation that doesn’t come after them in a physical way. But if they did, if this world turned on all Christians in a way that was more hostile than with just words, will I be there to stand? Or will I just try to get by? There are all sorts of ways we can compromise our faith.

The Israelites found many. And I’m sure if we were honest, many in this room, if we all wrote down the list in which we cheated God of that which is due to him, that list would be extensive as well. I need to know what type of effort, what type of sacrifice and service am I offering God? If I am to be his servant, am I the type of servant that any master would want? Or am I the type of servant that kind of just gives what I can and lives as if I don’t have a master with the rest of the time? God is our creating God. God is the one who hears us, who cares about us, who knows every thought and intent of the heart.

Let’s dedicate ourselves to God, knowing that that is what is due Him. Finally, I want to know if I maybe feel self-assured. It might be that you say, I absolutely do. I give everything to God. I am the best at what I do. In fact, I’m here when no one else is. I come here even times when we’re not even having a study because I just want to read more. I want to learn more. I want to pray more. I give thanks all the time. I’ve got this all down. I need to be careful that I don’t swing too far the other way. Look in Luke chapter 18. You wouldn’t believe that this was a real story if it wasn’t for the mouth of Christ. In Luke chapter 18, note the incredible length that this Pharisee has gone to.

The poor Pharisees in the Bible narrative. In Luke chapter 18 and verse 9, Jesus exposes them. He told this parable in some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt. Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee standing by himself prayed thus.

Extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get. But the tax collector standing far off would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, God be merciful to me, a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted. In this parable, Jesus talks about this Pharisee that again we could not even think would have any basis in reality. That the story would be so far fetched if it wasn’t from the mouth of Christ. Here you have the Pharisee who’s described in verse 11 as standing by himself saying, God, I thank you that I’m not like all those other sinning fools.

I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I get. I am a servant of God. And yet it’s not he who received the commendation from Jesus, but the condemnation. The one who received the commendation, the example for us is the tax collector of all people in verse 13. Standing far off. He would not even lift up his eyes to heaven. Standing afar off, not even looking up, beating his breast, saying, Be merciful to me. A sinner. We have a couple of ways that we can fall away from God, other than just outright turning on him. It might be that we try to give get away with just giving as little as possible. But on the other end of the scale, on the other end of the spectrum, it might be that we have become too much like this picture of a Pharisee in this parable that Jesus told, who says, I do this, I do that, I’m always there, I always give, I’ve always believed.

When that’s not who God wants, or who God has outlined will be with him forever. It is the one who realizes his need for God, the tax collector who says, Be merciful to me, a sinner. And now when I ask that question of, Where am I this morning? Where are you this morning? Is it where we should be? Trusting in God alone. Or is it somewhere where we kind of follow God, but not really? Or are we saying, no, I got this under control. I have trained myself, I am good, I can do it, I’ve done all that God has said, I deserve it. See, that key is in that word deserve. God has outlined what he expects of his servants, and the faithful servant of his will submit to his will.

Conclusion

What keeps me from giving my all? Is it too much of the world? That I just want to have things, I just want to have time, I just want to enjoy here and now. Or is it perhaps an arrogant spirit that says, I got this. I want to conclude the lesson with just a minute of just frank talk for a moment. On a day like Christmas, when we spend hours upon hours reaching its culminating point where we’re with family, we’re with friends, we’re with loved ones. We’ve done all the decorations, perhaps, we’ve done all the gifts, we’ve done all the travel, and we’re together. It’s a wonderful thing. But if we want this more than we want to be with God forever, we have missed the boat.

We have missed it all. I can’t speak for where your heart is. I only have to stand up for myself, and I assure you that’s a heavy task. But God is going to answer to all of us. He’s going to say, Enter in, thy good and faithful servant. And he’ll say, I know you not. Where will you be for all of eternity? If God is the creating God who hears us, who loves us, who is gracious and merciful, and he is due our complete servitude. If you’re not offering it, where does that leave you? Make things right. Call on his mercy. Call on his love. Have a spirit of thanksgiving, understanding that God can, will, and has delivered on his promises to reward those who trust only in him.

Choose God today. If we can help you in any way, come forward as we stand and sing the invitation song.