Experience Grace Giving 2 Series

There was a very stingy member of a church. One day their church building needed funds for the repair of the ceiling. The finance committee sent a representative to this miser. But he got angry. “Do you know that my mother goes through dialysis every week? Do you know that I have a brother who could not send his kids to school? Do you know that I have a cousin who will be kicked out of her condo unit due to her failure to pay her rent?” The church representative apologized. “I’m sorry we didn’t know.” Then the man answered, “Kung sila nga hindi ko binibigyan, kayo pa?”[22]

The story does not end there. During the worship service, the pastor prayed with the congregation for the funds to repair the ceiling. While he was praying, a piece of the ceiling fell on the stingy person’s head with a loud noise. The man felt God was calling his attention. So he cried out, “Lord, I pledge P10,000!” The pastor then prayed, “Lord, hit him again!” I pray the Lord does not need to hit us on the head to give.

Giving is actually an indicator of your spiritual growth. That’s why verse seven encourages us: “But just as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us—see that you also excel in this grace of giving.” One translation goes like this: “You do everything better than anyone else. You have stronger faith. You speak better and know more. You are eager to give, and you love us better. Now you must give more generously than anyone else.”[23]

At times, we don’t actually have a money problem, only a faithfulness problem.[24] We are just like the person in a cartoon who refused to have his wallet baptized as well. One of the best ways of measuring a person’s character is through the way he handles money. Next week, our very own Dr. Andrew Liuson will speak on “Debt-free Lifestyle,” a two-part series on how to get out of debt and stay out of debt. Please invite your friends and relatives to attend.

Lastly, to give is to EMULATE or imitate the Lord Jesus. Verse nine says, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.” We give because God first gave. The Message goes like this: “You are familiar with the generosity of our Master, Jesus Christ. Rich as he was, he gave it all away for us—in one stroke he became poor and we became rich.” Christ did not withhold His best for us. In fact, He gave everything, even His life, for us. So, why should we keep our best from Him?

So we are to G-I-V-E.

G-ive generously

I-nvest in eternity

V-alidate your commitment

E-mulate the Lord Jesus.

After I preached the first part of “Experience Grace Giving” last week, someone asked me if our offering went up. Well, thankfully, it went up. I just pray it is not just a knee-jerk reaction. I hope we are not like the people in this cartoon. [Show cartoon of people leaving the church wearing boxer shorts only with one of them exclaiming, “Wow! That was the best sermon tithing that I’ve ever been to.”][25] I think the real measure that you really accepted the word of God is when you live a life of generosity. We claim we already gave our lives to God. But, if we can’t even give Him our money, we can’t really give our lives to Him. “If we belong to Christ, it’s logical that everything we have truly belongs to Him.”[26] Thus I challenge you to commit yourself to generous giving. “Honor GOD with everything you own; give him the first and the best.”[27]