A Life Worth Giving

A LIFE WORTH GIVING

I TIMOTHY 6: 17-19

January 2002

I want us to talk about something that is almost taboo in today’s churches. Giving. Giving is one of the least talked about subjects in churches today, especially Baptist churches. Why is that? Did you know that giving is mentioned 2,285 times in the Bible. That is more than faith, hope, and love are mentioned. Yet, those are the ones that we talk more about. I think that the reason for the lack of talking about giving is that we are afraid that God is going to make us do something that we don’t want to. We are afraid that He may make us start giving a tithe, or give something up that we don’t want to give up. Or, maybe we are afraid He will make us give an offering to missions.

Today as we look at what Paul had to tell to Timothy about this very thing, we can learn quite a bit from what he had to say. He is sending a word to the wealthy. That the wealthy should be willing and ready to give at the sign of a need. A few of you are looking relieved, thinking that this lets you off the hook because your not wealthy. Sorry, that is not true. The fact is that if we have Christ living in us, then we are wealthy. This call, or command is to all of us, not just the wealthy materially. There are some things that we can learn about giving. When we give, it does some things for us:

I. Makes us more like God.

I Chronicles 29:14 David was praising god and proclaimed that all things have come from you Lord. All things are from God. there is nothing that has been made that is not from the hand of God. Everything that we have is given by God. when we give back to God we follow His example.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

The fact is that God gives generously of what He has. God has given us the very best gift that He could. By giving we are imitating God. Eph. 5:1 tells us to be imitators of God. By giving that is exactly what we are doing.

God Gave his one and only Son so that you and I could have eternal life. God knows how to give good things. It would only be right for us to give as the Father has given to us.

This passage says Let those who are rich in this present age. That is those who are rich in Christ Jesus. We have the greatest wealth that there is. There is none that could compare.

It goes on to say, let them do goo, ready to give, willing to share. That means that we are to do good things because we are rich in Christ. That also means that we are to share in the wealth that we already have. If there is a need, we should be willing to meet it. No matter what. It does not matter who that person is, if we are presented a need as a Christian, we are to do all within our power to meet that need. It says willing to share. That is give of what we already have. That is to give to someone out of our abundance.

This goes beyond a physical need. This speaks of our giving to spiritual needs as well. No one is in so much need as the one who is spiritually lost. Our responsibility is to share in the wealth of the spirit. That means that we are supposed to witness. Tell others about Jesus. Why don’t we?

God would. We are to be like Him in all that we do. God would give, just as He did for us. By giving to others it makes us more like God.

II. It Draws us Closer to God.

How does giving draw us closer to God? If it makes us more like Him, then it is definitely drawing us closer to Him.

Mat. 6:1 tells us that where our treasure is there our heart will be also. If our treasure is in the things and the ways of God, then that is where our heart will be also. If our treasure lies in our material possessions, and our material wealth, then our hearts will be far from God.

It is time that Christians around the world took their eyes off of material things and put our focus back on God. We need to focus on God and not the material things of the world. Give back to God what is His. God has provided you with the things that you have. He has given you your job, and the income that you have. How are you using it to glorify Him?