Ex 25:2, "Tell the sons of Israel to raise a contribution for Me; from every man whose heart moves him you shall raise My contribution. 
We are in the process of considering the reality that God does not force us to bring our freewill contributions and offerings unto Him. We are looking at those passages of scripture dealing with the building of the temple and the necessary bringing of the funds and precious materials to the Lord because those who donated did so in order to give back of what the Lord had provided for them. They chose to willingly and freely offer up the choicest of their riches to so bless the Lord. 
This is a key truth that we need to take to heart in the manner in which we bring our offerings and contributions to the Lord. If we do it because we feel impelled to do so, we are off base and not honoring God with the sharing of His provision for the sake of His glory. In the gathering of the precious materials as well as the skills needed to build both the tent of meeting and the temple in Jerusalem, God only wanted the offerings of those who were so moved in their hearts to give unto Him for His sake Alone. He did not want there to be any compunction or force or requirement placed on the people. His dwellings on earth were to be built because the people wanted God to be there in the midst of the nation. As well, because their hearts moved them, they wanted God to have the very best that could be constructed in order to be holy and honoring. 
	We pick up our reading this morning in the efforts to repair the temple after a myriad of years of neglect and abuse during the reigns of the wicked kings who did not reverence the Lord God Almighty. Please turn in your Bibles to 2 Kings 12:4-16, where we will find the record of the efforts to bring back honor to God in the repair and the maintenance of the Lord’s Temple. 
2 Kings 12:4-16, Then Jehoash said to the priests, "All the money of the sacred things which is brought into the house of the Lord, in current money, both the money of each man's assessment and all the money which any man's heart prompts him to bring into the house of the Lord, let the priests take it for themselves, each from his acquaintance; and they shall repair the damages of the house wherever any damage may be found. But it came about that in the twenty-third year of King Jehoash the priests had not repaired the damages of the house. Then King Jehoash called for Jehoiada the priest, and for the other priests and said to them, "Why do you not repair the damages of the house? Now therefore take no more money from your acquaintances, but pay it for the damages of the house." So the priests agreed that they should take no more money from the people, nor repair the damages of the house. But Jehoiada the priest took a chest and bored a hole in its lid, and put it beside the altar, on the right side as one comes into the house of the Lord; and the priests who guarded the threshold put in it all the money which was brought into the house of the Lord. And when they saw that there was much money in the chest, the king's scribe and the high priest came up and tied it in bags and counted the money which was found in the house of the Lord. And they gave the money which was weighed out into the hands of those who did the work, who had the oversight of the house of the Lord; and they paid it out to the carpenters and the builders, who worked on the house of the Lord; and to the masons and the stonecutters, and for buying timber and hewn stone to repair the damages to the house of the Lord, and for all that was laid out for the house to repair it. But there were not made for the house of the Lord silver cups, snuffers, bowls, trumpets, any vessels of gold, or vessels of silver from the money which was brought into the house of the Lord; for they gave that to those who did the work, and with it they repaired the house of the Lord. Moreover, they did not require an accounting from the men into whose hand they gave the money to pay to those who did the work, for they dealt faithfully. The money from the guilt offerings and the money from the sin offerings, was not brought into the house of the Lord; it was for the priests. 
	The people, as poor as they were, wanted the Temple of the Lord to be repaired so they offered freely and willingly by putting their contributions into the box. They were not forced to do so. They were not impelled to bring this money unto God. They chose to bring it year after year, even when they did not see any progress for many years. This was the case because they were so moved in their hearts to honor God and to give back to Him from whatever they had. 
	And notice, the priests did not make the workers doing the repairs give an account for what they were paid because the workers were faithfully doing the work as unto the Lord. They were accurate and truthful in their dealings with all that was needed to be repaired. As well note that the sin offerings, those offerings that were required from the people, were kept separated from those funds freely given for the repair of the temple building.
Next, as we will read in Ezra 1:2-11, it was not just those of the nation of Israel who were so moved to honor God in freewill offerings unto Him. The temple was destroyed during the occupation by King Nebuchadnezzar, when Judah was taken into captivity. King Cyrus, at the end of the time of exile, freely gave of the treasury of Persia to rebuild the temple. He also encouraged those in his kingdom who would be so moved to give freewill offerings to do so for the rebuilding of the temple of God in Jerusalem. This, again, was only to be done by those who were so desirous to contribute to the rebuilding effort. It was not a forced giving. 
Please turn in your Bibles to Ezra 1:2-11, and follow along with me. Ezra 1:2-11, "Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, 'The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and He has appointed me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. 'Whoever there is among you of all His people, may his God be with him! Let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah, and rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel; He is the God who is in Jerusalem. 'And every survivor, at whatever place he may live, let the men of that place support him with silver and gold, with goods and cattle, together with a freewill offering for the house of God which is in Jerusalem.'" Then the heads of fathers' households of Judah and Benjamin and the priests and the Levites arose, even everyone whose spirit God had stirred to go up and rebuild the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem. And all those about them encouraged them with articles of silver, with gold, with goods, with cattle, and with valuables, aside from all that was given as a freewill offering. Also King Cyrus brought out the articles of the house of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and put in the house of his gods; and Cyrus, king of Persia, had them brought out by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and he counted them out to Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah. Now this was their number: 30 gold dishes, 1,000 silver dishes, 29 duplicates; 30 gold bowls, 410 silver bowls of a second kind, and 1,000 other articles. All the articles of gold and silver numbered 5,400. Sheshbazzar brought them all up with the exiles who went up from Babylon to Jerusalem. 
	As Ezra recounts, in Ezra 2:68+69, once the exiles arrived back in Jerusalem, there was even more freely and willingly given for the rebuilding of the splendor of the temple as the dwelling place of God. Ezra 2:68+69, And some of the heads of fathers' households, when they arrived at the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem, offered willingly for the house of God to restore it on its foundation. According to their ability they gave to the treasury for the work 61,000 gold drachmas, and 5,000 silver minas, and 100 priestly garments. 
	Then in Ezra 7:11-23, we have a detailed decree given by King Artaxerxes to Ezra to not only rebuild the temple, but to be given all the supplies necessary for the operation of the temple sacrifices unto The Lord God Almighty. There is a mixture in this decree which is quite interesting. The King mentions all the free-will offerings made by the people and even by himself. Then, he orders his treasurers to supply whatever else is needed from the treasury of his kingdom, again above and beyond what he had already offered. He tried to make every provision to bring back to Jerusalem the service unto the God of Heaven that would bring honor and glory to the Lord, even though he was not of God’s Chosen Nation. 
	Ezra 7:11-23, Now this is the copy of the decree which King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest, the scribe, learned in the words of the commandments of the Lord  and His statutes to Israel: "Artaxerxes, king of kings, to Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, perfect peace. And now I have issued a decree that any of the people of Israel and their priests and the Levites in my kingdom who are willing to go to Jerusalem, may go with you. Forasmuch as you are sent by the king and his seven counselors to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem according to the law of your God which is in your hand, and to bring the silver and gold, which the king and his counselors have freely offered to the God of Israel, whose dwelling is in Jerusalem, with all the silver and gold which you shall find in the whole province of Babylon, along with the freewill offering of the people and of the priests, who offered willingly for the house of their God which is in Jerusalem; with this money, therefore, you shall diligently buy bulls, rams, and lambs, with their grain offerings and their libations and offer them on the altar of the house of your God which is in Jerusalem. And whatever seems good to you and to your brothers to do with the rest of the silver and gold, you may do according to the will of your God. Also the utensils which are given to you for the service of the house of your God, deliver in full before the God of Jerusalem. And the rest of the needs for the house of your God, for which you may have occasion to provide, provide for it from the royal treasury. And I, even I King Artaxerxes, issue a decree to all the treasurers who are in the provinces beyond the River, that whatever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, may require of you, it shall be done diligently, even up to 100 talents of silver, 100 kors of wheat, 100 baths of wine, 100 baths of oil, and salt as needed. Whatever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be done with zeal for the house of the God of heaven, lest there be wrath against the kingdom of the king and his sons. 
	As we have seen, the dwelling place of God with man was ever to be freely built and desired. This comes to its full fruition when we consider the free gift of God which has ushered in the perfect indwelling relationship that has been created by God. John 3:16, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. 
Our salvation and the indwelling of God in our lives is freely given by God and to be freely received by man. There is no force used, there is no demand made. Jesus Christ was freely given and is to be freely received. 
	The Apostle Paul, in our last readings, highlights how this is to be manifested in us as the living temple of Christ on this earth. As Christ indwells His people, so are we to offer to Him our everything. Nothing is to bee considered as ours to hoard and possess. It all comes form Him and is to be freely returned unto Him with joy and with thanksgiving in our hearts. 
	In 2 Cor 8:1-15, the Apostle describes how the free gift of Jesus Christ was manifested in the free will offering of the saints of Macedonia for the support of their fellow believers who were in even greater poverty. 2 Cor 8:1-15, Now, brethren, we wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia, that in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality. For I testify that according to their ability, and beyond their ability they gave of their own accord, begging us with much entreaty for the favor of participation in the support of the saints, and this, not as we had expected, but they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God. Consequently we urged Titus that as he had previously made a beginning, so he would also complete in you this gracious work as well. But just as you abound in everything, in faith and utterance and knowledge and in all earnestness and in the love we inspired in you, see that you abound in this gracious work also. I am not speaking this as a command, but as proving through the earnestness of others the sincerity of your love also. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich. And I give my opinion in this matter, for this is to your advantage, who were the first to begin a year ago not only to do this, but also to desire to do it. But now finish doing it also; that just as there was the readiness to desire it, so there may be also the completion of it by your ability. For if the readiness is present, it is acceptable according to what a man has, not according to what he does not have. For this is not for the ease of others and for your affliction, but by way of equality — at this present time your abundance being a supply for their want, that their abundance also may become a supply for your want, that there may be equality; as it is written, "He who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little had no lack." 
	And the Apostle concludes our discussion, in 2 Cor 9:5-15, with some of the most remarkable realities of why we are to give God honor and praise and adoration in our freely giving back to Him from all that which He provides for us. 2 Cor 9:5-15, So I thought it necessary to urge the brethren that they would go on ahead to you and arrange beforehand your previously promised bountiful gift, that the same might be ready as a bountiful gift, and not affected by covetousness. Now this I say, he who sows sparingly shall also reap sparingly; and he who sows bountifully shall also reap bountifully. Let each one do just as he has purposed in his heart; not grudgingly or under compulsion; for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed; as it is written, "He scattered abroad, he gave to the poor, His righteousness abides forever." Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food, will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness; you will be enriched in everything for all liberality, which through us is producing thanksgiving to God. For the ministry of this service is not only fully supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing through many thanksgivings to God. Because of the proof given by this ministry they will glorify God for your obedience to your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for the liberality of your contribution to them and to all, while they also, by prayer on your behalf, yearn for you because of the surpassing grace of God in you. Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!
The indescribable gift of Jesus Christ is our example of freely offering to God all that we are, all that we have, and all that we can do. As our hearts move us to so honor and bless Him, so will others see that the life we live is only by the gift of His so great love! They will have to acknowledge that we are visibly and joyously showing that we desire God to be our all in all! So be it!
"Tell the sons of Israel to raise a contribution for Me; from every man whose heart moves him you shall raise My contribution. Amen!

This morning’s benediction is 2 Cor 3:18. But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. Amen.