Generous Offerings
Exodus 35:20-29
November 8, 2026 Stewardship #3
Rev. Cynthia Cochran-Carney, First Presbyterian Church of San Rafael, CA
PDF of Sermon linked below
Then all the congregation of the Israelites withdrew from the presence of Moses. And they came, everyone whose heart was stirred, and everyone whose spirit was willing, and brought the Holy One’s offering to be used for the tent of meeting, and for all its service, and for the sacred vestments. So they came, both men and women; all who were of a willing heart brought brooches and earrings and signet rings and pendants, all sorts of gold objects, everyone bringing an offering of gold to God.
And everyone who possessed blue or purple or crimson yarn or fine linen or goats' hair or tanned rams' skins or fine leather, brought them. Everyone who could make an offering of silver or bronze brought it as God’s offering; and everyone who possessed acacia wood of any use in the work, brought it. All the skillful women spun with their hands, and brought what they had spun in blue and purple and crimson yarns and fine linen; all the women whose hearts moved them to use their skill spun the goats' hair.
And the leaders brought onyx stones and gems to be set in the ephod and the breastpiece, and spices and oil for the light, and for the anointing oil, and for the fragrant incense. All the Israelite men and women whose hearts made them willing to bring anything for the work that the Holy One had commanded by Moses to be done, brought it as a freewill offering to the God.
Today we find a story about an unbelievably generous offering. Moses has challenged the people of Israel to give to God out of their resources. He asks if anybody has a generous heart. Then he turns them loose.
Pretty soon, the people come running back. They are pushing wheelbarrows full of gold and silver. They bring fine linen and priceless jewels. All of it is given to God. As one Bible scholar says, “This story is a stewardship dream come true.”
I know our church’s stewardship committee is optimistic. They believe this can happen again, and today could be the day. Maybe we forgot to invite you to bring checkbooks and debit cards and pledge cards as well as stashes of purple yarn and fabric and jewelry and your grandmother’s silver tea set and some of that extra pure virgin olive oil from Whole Foods.
This Bible story offers up an extraordinary moment. The people give freely. Let’s put this story in context and look at the events that precede this scene in the book of Exodus. Moses is raised against all odds in Pharoah’s family (2:10). He discovers somehow he is a Jew, and murders an Egyptian who was beating up on a Jew (2:12). Running off to the desert, God finds him (3:4). Moses has his burning bush moment, when God sends him back to Egypt to lead his Jewish people out of slavery (3:12). It’s an amazing story. God gets the people out from under Pharoah’s thumb (14:30). Then God feeds them manna (16:13-14) and gives them fresh water (17:6). God protects them from enemies (17:9). Then God gives the greatest possible gift to a tribe of liberated people: God gives them ten Holy Words, 10 commandments, to guide them in their freedom (20:1-17). But freedom doesn’t begin so well. The people cash it in on a golden calf (32:3-6). Eventually God forgives them (32:14). This forgiveness is a gift that reveals God’s character: the Lord is “merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love” (34:6).
All of that leads us to this moment. The God who speaks with Moses is going to set up shop with them. God needs a human meeting place. So what our story reports is the very first Building Campaign for the people of God. It had to be a movable building, for the people will keep wandering in the desert for three and a half more books of scripture. But this tabernacle, this tent, will be the place where God meets them for worship, instruction, and identity. The way it works is this: the people assemble for worship, they learn about steadfast love, and they remember who they are.
This is the reason why the offering is so overwhelming on the Sabbath in our text. It’s a simple principle: we give our money freely to what gives us meaning, value, and purpose.
People give their money to just about anything that gives them meaning, value, and purpose. That’s why the Israelites were giving their money and valuables to God. They know the Source of their bread. They know that Pharoah no longer owns them. Israel knows that the wrong they have done has been forgiven. The people are free. The best expression of their freedom is their generosity.
In Bill Carter’s sermon on this passage, he offers three important insights that we can learn from this story.
The first is this: generosity is the name of the game. Generosity is the fruit of meaning, value, and purpose. Generosity is a good word. We tend to talk about stewardship. Take care of what you have. Be a good steward. “Generosity” means you give it away. You give it, not merely to the church, but to the world! And behind that, to the Maker of the world! When was the last time you made a really generous gift?
One of the awkward things about growing up in American culture is that our culture silently tells you to draw a circle around your life. The circle defines you. It confines you. It declares, “I will share this much, but I won’t give any more.” That’s it. No more. Maybe we fear there will not be enough.
That message sinks in early, by the time we become little children. Here is Shel Silverstein’s “Prayer of a Selfish Child”
Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
And if I die before I wake, I pray the Lord my toys to break,
so none of the other kids can use ‘em. Amen.
But the generous person knows how to step over the line, to move outside the confining circle. Generosity is a learned habit, a practice, where we extend ourselves beyond all confinement. Israel discovered that generosity is the primary virtue of God. Rather than hold back in fear or strike back in punishment, God keeps giving and giving and giving.
And even in the desert, they decide they want to be like that! They will not be self-absorbed, self-contained, self-reliant, and ultimately self-centered. They will step over the invisible circle, and they will be generous. “Generosity” is the word.
The second thing is that generosity is a group activity. It is communal work. But sometimes we forget. A friend told me about a congregation where he served for five years. The number of people in the church has stayed fairly constant but the contributions keep going down. When you scratch below the surface, you might discover a few reasons why.
The congregation got started when a wealthy factory owner built the church for his workers. They didn’t have to do a thing. The factory owner didn’t ask them to pay for the preacher. He simply deducted some money from each worker’s paychecks and called it a “pledge.” Then they had another millionaire came to the church and set up a fund to pay all the electric bills. So the church members learned they did not need to contribute.
Instead take a lesson from the Hebrew people. There were no millionaires in the desert. The account from Exodus 35 is clear. Everybody participated. Everybody gave generously.
And everybody gave different gifts! For those with gold and silver, it was gold and silver. For those with fine jewelry, it was fine jewelry. For those with skill in spinning tapestry, they spun the tapestries. For those who could carve wood or work with metal, they carved the wood and worked with the metal. The point is everybody took part as they had the ability and the opportunity. Every gift was valuable and costly. Each gift contributed to the greater good. No one could do it alone; all of them could do it together.
Generosity is the name of the game. Generosity is a group activity.
And the third insight is generosity changes everybody who practices it. If we are generous as God is generous, God will change us, shape us, make something better of us. That is a promise that we cannot know unless we take the steps to grow in our generosity.
Over and over again, in our passage, there are descriptions of what was going on within the givers. “They came, everyone whose heart was stirred, and everyone whose spirit was willing, and brought God’s offering.” Those phrases are repeated: everyone whose heart was stirred, everyone whose spirit was willing. As they give, something beneficial happens to them. Giving is good for the givers, and it is good for us.
That is why we offer ourselves to God. In this season of Stewardship and all year along, we are taking part in the perpetual gift exchange that God establishes with the world. We receive, we give. That’s the flow of the thing. If we receive well, with thanks and gratitude, we give well – and we are changed in the motion.
Generosity is not a natural inclination. It is a learned behavior that counters our human fear. It is the opposite of greed. It is the opposite of grift.
I am grateful for the ways you as a congregation are generous. Like the parable of sowing seeds, there are many examples of your abundant seed sowing. Our church is in the seed sowing, hope growing business. We invite people to explore their deepest questions about life, Sacred, Holy Love we call God, Jesus, Bible, meditation, spiritual practices, prayer, justice, peace, truth, life, death, transformation. We invite people to develop friendships here. Engage hearts and minds. We serve the community through community partners who gather here all week. We seek to a be place of interfaith friendships and shared work for the common good, a place of welcome and community all people – LGBTQ, for neighbors, unhoused folks. Learning what it means to follow the ways of Jesus in this time and place.
Part of the way we can practice generosity is our annual pledges. The Stewardship Committee is asking you to make a financial pledge for the coming year. My hope is that everyone in our church family – members, active friends - will contribute something. Some are able contribute a bit more. Jeffrey and I talked about our pledge for the coming year and increasing it from last year.
How are we called to be generous? How do we share God’s love and our time, our skills, our interests, our spiritual practices, our compassion, and our money?
And they came, everyone whose heart was stirred, and everyone whose spirit was willing, and brought the Holy One’s offering to be used for the tent of meeting, and for all its services.
May we share in generous ways and then see how the Spirit will stir our hearts and continue to move in us and through us as we share Christ’s love and light. Amen.
Resource
Rev. Bill Carter, “What People Will Do For God,” 10.30.11
https://billcartersermons.blogspot.com/2011/10/what-people-will-do-for-god.html