In 1 Chronicles 29, King David models a robust theology of giving. It is based in the idea that everything we have and everything we are is a gift from God. If you think about it, it's the opposite of what we learn in the game of Monopoly, but in this sermon Pastor Beth shares that it's exactly what was originally intended by the game's inventor, Lizzie Magie.
Sermon by Rev. Beth Demme
For more information, visit www.graymumc.org
In 1 Chronicles 29, King David models a robust theology of giving. It is based in the idea that everything we have and everything we are is a gift from God. If you think about it, it's the opposite of what we learn in the game of Monopoly, but in this sermon Pastor Beth shares that it's exactly what was originally intended by the game's inventor, Lizzie Magie.
Sermon by Rev. Beth Demme
For more information, visit www.graymumc.org
[Kim] Let us pray. Lord, open our hearts and minds by the power of your Holy Spirit, that, as the Scriptures are read and your Word proclaimed, we may hear with joy what you say to us today. Amen.
Today's reading is from first Chronicles chapter 29 verses 1 thru 22.
King David said to the whole assembly, “My son Solomon, whom alone God has chosen, is young and inexperienced, and the work is great, for the temple will not be for mortals but for the Lord God. So I have provided for the house of my God, so far as I was able, the gold for the things of gold, the silver for the things of silver, and the bronze for the things of bronze, the iron for the things of iron, and wood for the things of wood, besides great quantities of onyx and stones for setting, antimony, colored stones, all sorts of precious stones, and marble in abundance. Moreover, in addition to all that I have provided for the holy house, I have a treasure of my own of gold and silver, and because of my devotion to the house of my God I give it to the house of my God: three thousand talents of gold, of the gold of Ophir, and seven thousand talents of refined silver, for overlaying the walls of the house, and for all the work to be done by artisans, gold for the things of gold and silver for the things of silver. Who then will offer willingly, consecrating themselves today to the Lord?”
Then the leaders of ancestral houses made their freewill offerings, as did also the leaders of the tribes of Israel, the commanders of the thousands and of the hundreds, and the officers over the king’s work. They gave for the service of the house of God five thousand talents and ten thousand darics of gold, ten thousand talents of silver, eighteen thousand talents of bronze, and one hundred thousand talents of iron. Whoever had precious stones gave them to the treasury of the house of the Lord, into the care of Jehiel the Gershonite. Then the people rejoiced because these had given willingly, for with single mind they had offered freely to the Lord; King David also rejoiced greatly.
Then David blessed the Lord in the presence of all the assembly; David said, “Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of our ancestor Israel, forever and ever. Yours, O Lord, are the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and on the earth is yours; yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. Riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and it is in your hand to make great and to give strength to all. And now, our God, we give thanks to you and praise your glorious name.
“But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to make this freewill offering? For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you. For we are aliens and transients before you, as were all our ancestors; our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no hope. O Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided for building you a house for your holy name comes from your hand and is all your own. I know, my God, that you search the heart and take pleasure in uprightness; in the uprightness of my heart I have freely offered all these things, and now I have seen your people who are present here offering freely and joyously to you. O Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, our ancestors, keep forever such purposes and thoughts in the hearts of your people, and direct their hearts toward you. Grant to my son Solomon that with single mind he may keep your commandments, your decrees, and your statutes, performing all of them, and that he may build the temple for which I have made provision.”
Then David said to the whole assembly, “Bless the Lord your God.” And all the assembly blessed the Lord, the God of their ancestors, and bowed their heads and prostrated themselves before the Lord and the king. On the next day they offered sacrifices and burnt offerings to the Lord, a thousand bulls, a thousand rams, and a thousand lambs, with their libations, and sacrifices in abundance for all Israel, and they ate and drank before the Lord on that day with great joy.
They made David’s son Solomon king a second time; they anointed him as the Lord’s prince and Zadok as priest.
[Pastor Beth] May God add a blessing to the reading, hearing, and understanding of this scripture. Amen.
Today’s scripture reading touches on something extremely important: a theology of giving.
If you’re reading along with us in The Bible Year, you’ll recognize this as the reading from this past Friday. I’m trying to choose one passage to focus on each week in worship.
Chronicles is a recap and review of what we’ve already read in Samuel and Kings, but it’s offered from a different perspective. The ancient church father, Jerome, said that while Samuel and Kings were from the perspective of the throne, Chronicles gives us the perspective from the altar. In other words, Chronicles offers more of a God’s eye view of things.
In our passage today, King David is in Jerusalem, standing before an assembly of all the leaders in his kingdom and he is explaining the plans for THE Temple of the Lord.
King David is Israel’s greatest king. He took the loose confederation of twelve Israelite tribes and forged them into a united monarchy and a regional powerhouse.
He took control of the land trade routes on the King’s Highway and the Via Maris. This is actually a map of 1st century Palestine—about 10 centuries after King David, but it gives us the idea. You can see the Dead Sea in the south and the Sea of Galilee in the north. Jerusalem is there on the west side of the Dead Sea (or the Salt Sea). These thick red lines are the ancient trade routes that would have been active during the time of King David. The Kings Highway is inland and the Via Maris (the way of the Sea) is the coastal road.
Just for a point of reference while we’re here, I added a dotted line. Everything to the West (the left) of that line is what we call the West Bank today. So when you hear on the news about conflict in the West Bank, this is the part of the world they are referring to. Gaza is down South. You can’t see it on this map, but it’s down on the coast. Jerusalem and Nazareth are both in the West Bank area, about 90 miles apart.
Back in the day, King David took control of these land trade routes (the King’s Highway and the Via Maris) and he made an alliance with Hiram the King of Tyre who controlled the sea routes. So, David controlled the land routes and had unfettered access to the sea routes. His kingdom was involved in all aspects of trade that ran through this part of the Mediterranean. Brilliant, right?
As we think about his success, it’s important to remember that David was an unlikely candidate to be king. He was literally the runt of his family. He had six or seven brothers, and he was the youngest and probably the smallest. Saul was the first king of Israel and David wasn’t part of his family. It was thought that one of Saul’s sons would take over, but instead, David—the youngest son of Jesse—rose to power. Why? Because that’s how God wanted it. God chose David.
David was a brilliant military strategist and he was also incredibly politically savvy. As he neared the end of his reign, and the end of his life, he had become a man after God’s own heart. For generations, the Israelites had used the portable tabernacle, but David wanted to honor God with a permanent structure, a permanent place of worship.
But where to put it? Well, David was from Bethlehem, so we might expect him to put the Temple there, but no. Instead of choosing Bethlehem as the capital, religious reasons compelled David to establish Jerusalem as his capital city.
He specifically captured Jerusalem from the Jebusites and then, according to 2 Samuel 24:18-25 and 1 Chronicles 21:18-3, he purchased Araunah’s threshing floor because it was on Mount Moriah—the place where Abraham nearly sacrificed Isaac. To this day, this is a sacred site. It’s now known as Temple Mount.
This is a modern-day picture of the Old City in Jerusalem. The golden domed building is The Dome of the Rock, the third holiest site in Islam. It is believed that the prophet Muhammed was taken up to heaven from this very spot. The building was built in the late 600’s. It was repurposed as a Christian church for a time and then returned to Muslim control.
The Dome of the Rock is built on: Temple Mount, the place where Solomon built the Temple designed by David—the Temple that David is talking about in our scripture reading today.
Solomon’s Temple was finished around 957 BCE and destroyed by the Babylonians 371 years later in 586 BCE. It was rebuilt during the time of Ezra and Nehemiah (that’s the Second Temple Period) and destroyed again by the Romans in the year 70.
In this picture, you can see the Western Wall, below the Dome of the Rock. This wall is the only thing still remaining from the Second Temple. It is a place where people go to pray and recite Psalms and even leave scraps of paper in the wall with prayers written on them. I was blessed to be there last February and it is a thin space—a place where heaven feels a little closer for some reason.
The Western Wall is the holiest site in Judaism because of its connection to Solomon’s Temple.
In 1 Chronicles 29, David gathers “all the officials of Israel, the officials of the tribes, the officers of the divisions that served the king, the commanders of the thousands, the commanders of the hundreds, the stewards of all the property and cattle of the king, and his sons, together with the palace officials, the mighty warriors, and all the warriors” (1 Chronicles 28:1) to tell them that Solomon will be king after him and that Solomon is going to build a Temple to God on this spot.
David explains that he’s already gathered all of the materials. He’s set aside gold, silver, bronze, wood, onyx, precious stones, marble, and more from the official treasury. In addition, he says, “because of my devotion to the house of my God, I [am giving from my personal account] 3,000 talents of gold, and 7,000 talents of refined silver.
For reference, a talent is about 1,000 ounces. So David gave 3,000,000 ounces of gold and 7,000,000 ounces of silver. I was really impressed last week that Naaman had gathered gold and silver worth about $6 million in today’s money. Pshah, that’s nothing compared to what David offered for the Temple out of his personal funds. He gave $193 million in silver AND $6.6 billion in gold.
David tells the leaders and officials, “I’m personally putting $6.8 billion in the offering plate today, what are you giving?.”
David has a healthy theology of giving. He personally gives to a future being built that is beyond himself and then he invites others to give.
The leaders all wanted to be part of what God was doing so they all gave. Collectively, they gave even more than David. They gave: $11.5 billion in gold, $270 million in silver, plus 18 thousand talents of bronze, and 100,000 talents of iron.
Chronicles says, “the people rejoiced because these had been given willingly, for with single mind they had offered freely to the Lord.”
It’s like we read in 2 Corinthians, in the New Testament, God loves a cheerful giver.
In a healthy theology of giving, our offering is a joyful response to the overflowing abundance of God’s grace.
David then says what we say all the time at Gray Memorial: everything we have and everything we are is a gift from God.
He says, “Yours, O Lord, are the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty” – by the way, that sounds an awful lot like the Lord’s Prayer, doesn’t it?
David says, “Yours, O Lord, are the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty, for ALL that is in the heavens and on the earth is YOURS; yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. Riches and honor come from YOU, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and it is in your hand to make great and to give strength to all. And now, our God, we give thanks to you and praise your glorious name.”
David’s theology of giving is rooted in the understanding that everything we have and everything we are is a gift from God.
David goes on: “But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to make this freewill offering? FOR ALL THINGS COME FROM YOU, and of your own we have given you. For we are aliens and transients before you, as were all our ancestors; our days on the earth are like a shadow.”
David says, we don’t own a thing, do we God? The earth and all that is in it are yours not ours. We are, at best, transient users of what you have entrusted to us.
Friends, what is your theology on this? How do you see yourself and your stuff in relation to God? Do you see yourself as someone who owns it all, or are you a steward, caring for something that God has entrusted to you? Is it all yours for all time, or do you see that your days on the earth are like a shadow?
One of the catchphrases that’s caught on in the last few years is the phrase “I OWN YOU.” There’s one movie in particular where a worker wants recognition from the boss and the boss says, basically, “I don’t have to give you recognition, I’m your boss, I own you.”
As Christians, when we think about ourselves as stewards, instead of looking at our stuff and thinking “I own you” we need to turn to God and say, “I owe you.”
That’s what David says in this Chronicles passage.
He says, “O Lord our God, all this abundance that we have—everything we have given for the building of the Temple—comes from YOUR hand and is all YOUR own.”
In other words: God, we’re just giving back a little of what you’ve given us, a little of what you’ve entrusted to us.
David says, “we offer this freely and joyously to you” (v. 17) because we love you.
That is how we should think about our giving.
David has a robust theology of giving and it is something we can all aspire to.
This takes work. It takes prayerful and intentional turning of our focus.
On our own, without God’s guidance, we tend to live life like a game of Monopoly.
We all know that the way to win Monopoly is to buy as much property as you can and avoid paying taxes or rent to anyone else, right?
I have spent hours days! of my life playing this game. It was my #1 favorite board game growing up. I loved playing as if I was someone who had enough money to buy property after property after property.
But guess what? That’s the opposite of what this game was originally meant to teach.
Monopoly was invented by a Quaker woman named Elizabeth “Lizzie” Magie in the early 1900’s. She got a patent on it 1903.
Lizzy Magie was an incredibly inspiring woman.
She was born in Illinois in 1866. When she was a teenager, her family moved to Washington, D.C. She finished school there and then worked as a stenographer and a typist.
Lizzie was extremely bright and very creative. The typewriter was all the rage in the 1880s. When Lizzy was 26 years old, she applied for and received her very first patent—an invention that made the rollers on the typewriter move more easily. At the time, fewer than 1% of all patents went to women inventors.
More than 99% of patents went to men and yet Lizzie had the audacity to believe that she was as capable as a man when it came to inventing and business and game design. She probably even thought women should be allowed to vote! Imagine it!
At a time when few women worked or pursued careers, Lizzy Magie wanted to live independently and support herself. In 1900, working as a stenographer she earned about $10/week—about half of what she actually needed to support herself. So, on December 3, 1900, she took the highly unusual step of taking out an ad in the newspaper. A want ad looking for a job. It said: WANTED—JOB WORK BY LIZZIE MAGIE, EXPERT TYPESETTER, STENOGRAPHER AND GRAPHOPHONE TRANSCRIBER.
This ad was so unusual that she was interviewed about it a few years later and the interview was published under the headline, “Rebellion Against Condition.” Lizzie said, “[That’s right!] I offered myself to the highest bidder for the purpose of meeting some person who could place me where I belong in the ranks of the world’s workers. What had my gender to do with that!?”
She went on to say, “I don’t want a husband. I don’t want a person who will interest himself in me for personal reasons.” In other words, this ad wasn’t her way of finding a husband. She said: “I admit I seek an ‘angel,’ but I seek a financial one. I ask for nothing more than a fair chance.”
They say money makes the world go ‘round and Lizzie Magie was keenly aware of that.
The interviewer concluded that Lizzie’s plan to “work her way upward as a young man of her age would” revealed—and I quote—“a hopeless lack of harmony with the absolute conditions of modern life.” In other words, the interviewer thought it was impossible for Lizzy to work her way up, to find success, as a man would.
As it turned out, the interviewer was right.
Lizzie continued to live life on her own terms and she continued to invent and innovate. BUT it wasn’t long before a man “borrowed” one of her ideas and made millions of dollars off it.
In 1903, Lizzie applied for and received a patent on a game she invented called “The Landlord’s Game.”
The point of the game was to show that when property ownership is concentrated in just one player, things don’t end well for others.
In the Monopoly we know and love today, the goal is to become the wealthiest player and, eventually, to own it all. When you’re playing as a family, your goal is to destroy your family members—reduce each of them to financial ruin. Bankrupt those suckers!
Not, I owe you, but I own you. Right?
In Lizzy’s version, there were actually two sets of rules. You were supposed to play it both ways to see how different tactics played out.
Under one set of rules, the monopolist crushes the opponents. That’s how we all play.
But Lizzy also set it up so that you could play so that all players were rewarded when wealth was created.
“Players tried to produce equity through a single land tax and that wealth was evenly distributed; winning the game was a collective achievement.” Lizzy wanted players to see that an economy rewarding individuals was better than an economy that allowed only one player to hold all the wealth.
This is the original Landlord’s Game that she submitted with her patent application. It looks familiar, doesn’t it? You start on the top left corner and every time you pass that spot you get $100. Those are your wages. The next corner is the jail. The next corner—what we know as “Free Parking”—is “Central Park” and it’s a free spot. The next corner sends you to Jail, just like in the version we’ve all played. There were 4 railroads and Chance cards and a Luxury Tax.
In Lizzie’s rules, all of the property on the board was owned in common by all the players and rent was paid to the public treasury. Any player could build a house and the money spent on the house went into the public treasury for the purchase of things like The Electric Co.
Instead of “Park Place” Lizzie’s game had “Poverty Place.” Instead of Marvin Gardens she had “Lord Blueblood’s Estate.” Lord Blueblood’s Estate was reserved to be the site of a free public college. When there was enough money in the public treasury, players could build a college on Lord Blueblood’s Estate. Then, if you landed on the college, you got a card that earned you a $100 bonus at the end of the game.
People LOVED Lizzie’s game. It got passed around and around and around. The rules provided that if you owned, for example, all the railroads, you would have a monopoly and could charge players ten times what you could charge if you only owned 1 railroad. Under her rules, if you owned 3 railroads you could charge $20, but if you owned all 4—if you had a monopoly—you could jack the price up to $50! Similarly, if you owned all the properties between corners, you could raise the rent. Because of how having a monopoly changed the game, instead of calling it “The Landlord’s Game” people just referred to it as “Monopoly.”
In the early 1930’s, a man named Charles Darrow played Monopoly at a party and LOVED it. He had his friends type up the rules for him. He took those rules, created a homemade version of the gameboard that was round, instead of square, and changed the name of the properties to match places in Atlantic City.
After a few false starts, he eventually made the board square again, sold it to Parker Brothers and … became a millionaire. He was the first game inventor to earn that kind of money. To this day, at the corner of Boardwalk and Park Place in Atlantic City there is a commemorative plaque in his honor, crediting him with inventing the game Monopoly.
In 1935, Parker Brothers—which had been on the brink of bankruptcy—sold a whopping 278,000 Monopoly games. The next year? They sold almost 2 million of them! To date, close to three hundred million copies have been sold. On average, they sell 3 million copies of this board game every year.
When Parker Brothers realized that Darrow had “borrowed” the idea for his game, they paid Lizzie just $500 and agreed to produce and market two other games she had invented. In fact, they released an edition of “The Landlord’s Game” and even put her picture on it.
The thing is, Lizzie Magie’s objective in creating the game Monopoly was the opposite of what we think of today. We think the point of Monopoly is to own everything, BUY IT ALL! But Lizzy Magie’s concept is rooted in a very different idea. She believed we are only stewards of what we “own.”
To Lizzy Magie, a Quaker, God owns everything and the most we can ever do is rent it. It's the same idea we see in King David’s speeches in today’s scripture reading.
David has a healthy theology of giving. He gives to a future being built that is beyond himself. As a leader he gives first, then invites others to give. And David acknowledges that anything they give back to God was already God’s in the first place; the best they can do is give out of the abundance God has bestowed upon them.
Friends, what is your theology on this? How do you see yourself and your stuff in relation to God? Do you see yourself as a monopolist who owns it all, or are you a steward, caring for something that God has entrusted to you?
Instead of looking at the world and thinking “I OWN YOU,” can you turn to God and say “I OWE YOU”?
This is at the heart of a healthy theology of giving.
Sometimes in church we think, and we’ve been taught, “I need to give to keep the lights on.” Or “I need to give so my church can be active in our community.” Or, “I need to give to help pay the pastor’s salary.” Yes, thank you for that.
But actually, the need you should try to meet when you give is your own need, as a disciple, to give back to the God who loves you and provides for you.
Give back joyfully with appreciation for all that God has given you and done for you.
Amen.