It has been said ironically by opponents of the Gospel that there is one point on which every warring sect agrees, which is contained in the words of Scripture, “Now concerning the collection” (1 Cor. 16:1). The irony bites because the appeals on behalf of Christian work are so frequent. If, however, each Christian were to give to the Lord and not merely to a cause, there would be no difficulty in getting the wherewithal needed to carry on the work of the Lord. The most appealing collection plate, we ever heard of, took the form of a pierced hand. It was a mute suggestion that the money placed there was offered to the Lord. If He were present, and noted the coins put on the plate, we imagine there would be few coppers, or threepenny pieces.
But there was one case where the Lord saw the rich throwing their wealth into the treasury of the Temple at Jerusalem. Of that He would not have said anything, but that it stood in contrast to a widow woman putting in two mites. He weighed these coins in the scales of the sanctuary. On the one scale were the offerings of the wealthy, on the other scale were the widow’s two tiny mites. The Lord adjusted the scales and lo! the two mites weighed down the offerings of the wealthy. Why was this? It was because it was her all. It is interesting to note that the farthing was made up of two mites, so it was possible for her to have put one mite in the treasury, and retain the other meagre coin for her own necessities. She put in both coins, and the Lord declared that she had put in more than all the others.
Never were coins so wrongly spoken about as these two mites. A rich man rolling in his thousands is asked to subscribe to some good cause. He draws a cheque for £5, and says with an easy smile to the applicant, “Well, here is the widow’s mite.” Is that so? The widow did not give the one mite, but the two, and that was all she had. The widow’s mite would represent the half of the rich man’s fortune; the two mites, all that he possessed. However, the Lord’s commendation of the deed of this poor widow is very cheering to those who can spare but little. The Lord appreciates such wholehearted giving.
But if this is the last record in Scripture of a gift to the Temple Treasury, it stands in vivid contrast to the first gift. We know that King David had it in his heart to build a house to the Lord, but was divinely told this was not to be, for he was a man of blood, and that the Temple would be built by his son, Solomon (1 Chr. 22:8-11).
However, David “in his trouble” prepared the materials wherewith to build the Temple to the Lord. We read that he gave 100,000 talents of gold, 1,300,000 talents of silver, besides brass and iron in abundance and timber and stone (see 1 Chr. 22:14). We have heard of millionaires, even of multi-millionaires, but it looks as if King David’s gift makes the great money kings of the United States appear small beside such princely giving. The value of a talent of gold reckoned at £4 per ounce, was £5475. The silver talent, silver reckoned at 5/- per ounce, was worth ~£342. 100,000 of the former and 1,000,000 of the latter comes to the colossal sum of nearly £890,000,000 [in 1947]. Add to this brass and iron in abundance, and timber and stone, and the value of what King David gave to the Lord reached to an astronomical figure. Palestine is a little country, and yet it furnished the two most generous givers the world has ever known. The widow gave her all. David gave magnificently and royally. Is there any key to unlock the secret of such actions? We think so.
We turn to the New Testament for an answer. The Apostle writes charmingly of the churches of Macedonia, poor in wealth but rich in faith and affection for the Lord. He speaks of how in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded to the riches of their liberality, that beyond their power they were eager to help the poor brethren in Jerusalem. Not only so, but with much entreaty they pressed their bounty on the Apostle, as their agent in taking it to its destination.
And what was the secret of this outburst of generous giving, of their considering it a privilege to care for their needy brethren? The secret was that, before they gave of their money and kind, they first gave themselves to the Lord. When they gave themselves to the Lord everything else went with this consecration of themselves.
And what was the secret of their giving themselves to the Lord? It was the deep appreciation of the Lord giving Himself for their salvation. “Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich” (2 Cor. 8:9).
How simple all administration would be, if there were the giving of ourselves to the Lord. There would be no need to put the collection box jingling before our eyes again and again, much as a rider puts spurs to a jaded horse. “God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Chr. 9:7).