How To Please God With Your Giving

How to give and please God

Luke 21:1-4

DBC

6/02/02

Gregg Griffin

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Congregational Scripture Reading: II Corinthians 9: 6-8

Now that you have all the moans and groans out of your system, having heard the sermon title. Lets take and honest look at what it takes to give and please God. My daddy was not a regular church attender. He kind of reminded of John Walton on the Waltons. He was not an atheist, but he was not a committed believer either. He said that every time he went to church, the pastor’s sermon was on tithing or giving. A lot of folks feel that way. They look at the church as a money hungry organization with big budgets and unnecessary gold and silver icons and adornments. And sadly enough, In some situations I would have to agree with them based on the evidence we see at times. But what I want to speak to this morning is not how your giving relates to the Church, but how it relates to God. Specifically, how to please God with your giving.

I. If you want to please God with your giving, give sacrificially.

A. When we give sacrificially, it is pleasing to God.

B. The widow gave all she had.

C. It is appreciated when we give anything.

D. It is especially pleasing when we give sacrificially.

1. What does sacrificially mean?

A. Give till it hurts.

B. Give till faith is involved.

C. In the case of the Ham and Egg Breakfast. The chicken contributed and the pig gave sacrificially.

Illustration: Imagine one of your children finding a 50 cents and buying a candy bar. The world would say finders keepers. Reap all the benefits. Fairness would say, share it equally among your brothers and sisters. Sacrificially would give more to others than they actually kept, even if it was not enough to satisfy.

E. I am not telling you to give all you have.

F. I am not telling you to give 10 Percent.

G. I am not telling you to give at all.

H. I am telling you that if you want to please God with your giving, learn to give sacrificially.

I. What you will find is that it out of necessity your sacrifice will become larger and larger, because God will honor it and continually bless you.

J. In our passage, the wealthy gave much more than the widow, in terms of the size of the gift. But God measured the intent of the heart, and she came out on top.

II. If you want to please God with your giving, give without expectations.

A. It is a wise thing to measure the return on your investment when it comes to your personal finances.

B. When it comes to giving to God, we should give without expectations of a return.

C. Rest assured, if you follow the outline, you will be blessed if your heart has the right attitude.

D. When giving to God, our motivation should be that of Love and obedience.

E. Not an expectation of a return.

F. Indeed, as a believer, you are already promised a return that money cannot buy.

G. You will walk on streets of pure gold one day.

H. Your reward is in heaven.

I. Do not look for your reward here on earth.

K. Do not give for the purpose of receiving a blessing.

L . You have already been blessed if you have something to give.

III. If you want to please God with your giving, give with a smile on your face.

A. II Corinthians 9:6-8

B. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks or if you will allow me the liberty, smiles.

C. If you use the excuse, " I cannot give cheerfully, so I do not give," be careful.

D. Have you ever told your child, " If you do not quit crying, I will give you something to cry about."

E. We have much to be thankful for.

F. We have a lot to smile about.

G. God says give cheerfully.

H. This is easy to do if you remember where what you have came from.

I. It is easy to do if you realize where it is going.

J. It is not going to me.

K. It is going toward growing God’s Kingdom here on earth and through eternity.

L. We pray "Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will be Done on Earth as it is in Heaven"

M. That is what your tithes and offerings are doing. Helping to fulfill the Great Commission.

N. If that doesn’t put a smile on your face, something’s wrong.

O. You may need to go back to square one and do some reevaluating of your relationship with Christ. Or some confessing and repenting or perhaps both.