An old man won a million pounds on the lottery. His children were afraid to tell him of his fortune lest he got overexcited and had a heart attack. So they asked the vicar to be the one to inform their father because they thought he would have more wisdom and tact.

The vicar agreed and went to see the old man. “Suppose you had just won one million pounds in the sweepstakes, what would you do with the money?”

The old man replied, “I would give the money to the church.” The vicar had a heart attack.

I remember when I was a young Christian, I used to say to God that if he let me win a million pounds, I would happily give him half of it. I don’t think now that I was being selfless and Christian. I really wanted half a million and was bargaining for it with God. It doesn’t work!

When we look at our world today, there are a number of drivers for people, but a key driver of people’s lives is money. The desire to "keep up with the Jones'" has been a driving force for those who are bent on trying to keep to the pace of the seemingly "higher class." Apparently there is a prevailing theory that the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.

These feelings of dissatisfaction run rampant in our society and generate a desire to constantly outdo our neighbours. We want to have the latest and greatest, the biggest and fastest, and the most superior possessions available to us.

But this is not how things should be and it’s not a new trend either. When God was revealing to Moses how the people of Israel should live in the Promised Land, he laid out some clear instructions. Israel of course gladly accepted them and promptly, well nearly promptly, forgot them.

Of the many which we struggle with today as Christians, never mind non-believers, it is the power of money and the pursuit of money that so overwhelms us. And God knew this would be so.

For Israel, by the time we get to the later prophets of Isaiah, Amos, Micah and Malachi, we are constantly bombarded with the message that the rich get richer, the poor get poorer and there is no generosity towards one’s neighbour, whom one sees day by day, never mind God, whom one doesn’t see or bring to mind much.

Yes, we find we can be holy in all sorts of ways. We do pray regularly, we do read and study our Bibles, we do worship God Sunday by Sunday, we do care for those around us, we do write to our MP about things we don’t like, we do live Christian lives. Or so we think we do.

Deut 14 is about half-way through Moses’ main sermon. Preceding these verses, Moses had called upon Israel to get their faith right in the realm of their worship (Deut 12), their possible idolatry (Deut 13), the way they must stand out from the nations around them (Deut 14:1-21). Now he calls upon them to get their money sorted, their stewardship organised, their wealth working for God’s purposes and reflecting God’s ways.

However, I want to start with what God wants to do. In this extraordinary passage, please note something that doesn’t at first sight seem obvious. There are lots of commands to do things, but we will return to them later. What we can see is the answer to everyone’s dream of happiness.

It’s written throughout this passage in small but important ways. Just look at vs. 14:29, 15:4, 6, 10. What little phrase do you see there? God wants to richly bless his people.

Now keeping a full understanding of Scripture is vital at this point or we will go seriously off the rails. It is all too easy for Christians to take such words and to translate them into material hope for today. Just as our world is pursuing wealth all the time, so this to some Christians gives us the right to seek wealth as well. The Bible allows no such understanding.

God’s blessing is not a secret phrase for ‘God will make you financially rich’. This is not, to quote a phrase, a prosperity gospel.

Ever since the dawn of creation, God has wanted to bless his people. He wanted to bless Adam and Eve and they blew it. He wanted to bless Noah, he did and Noah blew it. He wanted to bless Abraham and Abraham got it partly wrong. The story goes on.

God loves his creation, he loves the people of this world, he loves you and me so much that he wants to bless us and the greatest blessing he can offer is his living daily presence, enriching our lives, enhancing our days, enlivening our spirit.

Israel in this passage is offered that rich blessing, not just once but four times (14:29, 15:4, 6, 10). What a generous God we have!

But, there is a part we are called upon to play, a part to fulfill our side of the covenant which God offers us. Just as God is generous towards us, or wanting to be if we will let him, so he asks that we learn to be generous in return.

Here in our passage tonight, we see the constant refrain of give, give, give:-
14:22 – set aside a tenth
14:27 – do not neglect the Levites
14:28-29 – do not forget the vulnerable
15:1 – cancel debts every 7 years
15:8 – be openhanded
15:10 – give generously

It’s simple, isn’t it? A £1 coin met a £5 note and said, “Hey! Where have you been? I haven’t seen you around here much.”

The £5 note replied, “I’ve been to the bingo, done the lottery a few times, had a Chinese takeaway, gone to a couple of football matches, a bit of shopping, holidays abroad, that kind of stuff. How about you?”

The £1 coin sighed and said, “Oh, you know. Same old stuff – church, church, church.”

That’s the problem that Israel faced, and that we face too. As someone once said, a Christian is not truly converted until their wallet or purse is converted. When we freely and generously and openhandedly give to God’s work, we show care for the poor, gladness for what we have and resources for those serving God.

And for all that, God is willing to bless us, in fact richly bless us.

Why does God do that? What is his motive? God loves you. Yes, God loves you. And he wants to free you from anything and everything that will prevent or restrict or curtail our response of love back to him.

Have you noticed that when you are truly in love with someone there are two responses to that person that you offer? One is to remove any obstacle that will come between you and them; second is to give all you can to that person. How beautiful it is that the promises in the marriage service state, “all that I am I give to you, all that I have I share with you.” Nothing is held back.

That is how it should be with God and our relationship with him so that his blessing can be poured out upon us. God is saying that he is willing to give us everything (his blessing) and to share with us all that he is (his Spirit). And just like a marriage service, it is both parties that promise to give and share – not one, but both.

So when we learn and put into practice this generosity spoken of in Deuteronomy, three things happen:-

1. We reflect the true image of God within us, which means we find within ourselves a real sense of personal satisfaction and happiness.
2. We fulfill our side of the covenant God makes with his people, by being obedient to his commands to be generous.
3. We receive God’s blessing day by day, his presence, his love, his protection.

What do most of us do? We close our Bibles, we close our ears and we close our wallets. No thank you, God.

Make a difference tonight; make a difference for yourself, make a difference for your relationship with God and make a difference for the eternal purposes of God. This is the bottom line. Let me show you a short video clip that brings this point out graphically.

A rejected opportunity to give is a missed opportunity to receive.