Get Your Checkbook Out - It's Sunday

1 CORINTHIANS 16:1-3 "GET YOUR CHECKBOOK OUT - IT’S SUNDAY"

A) Do you realize that the subject Jesus had the most to say about was our money?

* Jesus gave 38 parables and stewardship is the theme of 16 of those parables.

* One out of every six verses in Matthew, Mark, and Luke deals with a person and his money.

* Jesus had more to say about money than he did heaven or hell, or any other subject.

B) That tells me something, 1st, it tells me that Jesus is very much concerned about our giving,

* And therefore we ought to think about giving on a regular basis.

* If the Lord thinks so much about our giving, we ought to think much about our giving.

* In other words, we should take our giving very serious as a Christian.

* We ought to take very serious what we give, when we give, and why we give.

C) Secondly, when I realize that Jesus had more to say about money than any other subject,

* I come to the conclusion that we ought to talk about money on a regular basis.

* We should think seriously about money and talk seriously about money.

* Someone says, "All that preacher talks about is money."

* No, that’s not all the preacher talks about and that’s not all he should talk about in his preaching.

D) But following the Lord’s example, he should talk a lot about money!

* And if he doesn’t talk a lot about money he is taking lightly what Jesus took seriously.

* One preacher got up during the Church budget season and said that it was time for the Sermon

on the Amount. * Well, we do not want to take lightly what Jesus took seriously,

* So we want to think about our giving and talk about our giving.

* The Apostle Paul as he closed out his first letter to the Corinthians, gave us some guidelines

concerning our giving.

* If you want to learn about the proper way to give, this passage is second to none in the NT!

(1) THE DEMAND THAT IS STATED! * Notice v.1 "Now concerning the collection for ..."

* The first thing that should be settled in our hearts about the matter of giving is that we have been

commanded by God to give.

* Paul speaks of a divine mandate that had been given to the Churches of Galatia, and of which he

now gives to the Corinthian Church.

A) Giving Is An Act Of Obligation! * Paul said, "As I have given order ..."

* The word "order" speaks of that which has been "instituted, appointed."

* It is a word of command. * Giving is a biblical demand. * We ask the question "Why should we

give?" * First and foremost, we should give because God has ordered us to give.

B) We read in Malachi 3:10, "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse..."

* The tithe was that which God demanded. * God had instituted a standard of giving.

* He had commanded that a certain portion of their income be given to Him.

* The command was "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse."

* We read in Neh.10:38, "And the priest the son of Aaron shall be with the Levites, when the

Levites take tithes: and the Levites shall bring up the tithe of the tithes unto the house of our

God, to the chambers, into the treasure house."

C) The Levites were to "take tithes." * We often say that we are going to "take an offering."

* The ideal of taking is receiving that which is owed.

* The Levites were to collect that which was ordered by God! * Giving is an act of obligation.

D) Giving Is An Act Of Obedience! * Now I think you all would agree that if God tells us to do

something and we don’t do it that is disobedience.

* Then we must agree that if one is not giving to God they are living in disobedience.

* The failure to give is a sin! * All sin, any sin, even the sin of not giving,

* Needs to be confessed and corrected.

* There are people that sit on Church pews service after service, with unconfessed sin in their life.

* There are no doubt people that are members of every Church that have not given one red cent to

God this year. * You can excuse it anyway you want to, but none-the-less it is disobedience.

E) You say, "Preacher, I give, I gave 2%, 3%, 4%, of my income to God."

* The problem is you did not give God what He told you to give.