OPEN: Ray Stedman shared the true story of a man who lived in Houston that received a letter from a large international radio broadcast seeking support from Christians for their broadcasting.
They sent out a letter - the kind that is double-spaced, every sentence is a paragraph, and they underline part of it, etc…
The appeal of the letter was that God cannot be out-given, that if you give to God, he will give back to you. They announced that they needed a certain tremendous sum of money to maintain their broadcast. They had figured the number of their listening audience and they said in the letter that, if every person who heard their broadcasts would send in $76, this need would be met. Furthermore, they would guarantee, on the principle that God cannot be out-given, that he would find a way to give that $76 back three times over.
This was, therefore, the appeal of the letter: Send us the $76 and God will give it back to you; just watch how he does it.
Well, this man in Houston said he wrote a letter back which said, "Sir, I believe what you have written; I believe it is true that God cannot be out-given; and I believe you have a tremendous need for funds. But I would like to suggest that you send me the $76 and God will give it back to you three times over. You can get rid of your debt a lot faster that way."
I’m told that they took him off their mailing list
APPLY: What that radio station did was to utilize something known as the “Health and Wealth” Doctrine. It’s a false teaching that’s often used as a way to manipulate Christians into giving more than they already do to certain ministries/ and churches. It’s an easy temptation to attempt to preach that false doctrine, especially when your church or ministry is in need of funds.
As with almost all false teachings, the “Health and Wealth” doctrine uses sound Bible passages and principles to accomplish their objective - which is to get more money out of you and me. This particular false doctrine is based on the teachings of II Corinthians 9 and much of what is taught in this doctrine is based on truth.
I. For example: It’s true. You cannot out-give God.
A couple of my favorite verses are
Romans 8:32 which says: “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all— how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?”
And 2 Chronicles 16:9 “For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him."
We serve a mighty God. He’s a God who owns the cattle on a 1000 hills. A God who has repeatedly shown us - in Scripture – and in our own lives that He loves us beyond anything we can possibly imagine. He loves us so much that He gave us His only begotten Son. As II Corinthians 9:15 says: Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
You can’t out-give God… it’s a Biblical truth.
And it’s also true that God expects His church & its ministries to be supported by free-will offerings.
· God didn’t design the church to be underwritten by government grants
· God didn’t design the church to be supported by wealthy individuals/ multi-millionaires
Not that there’s anything wrong with donations from rich folks…it’s just that – this isn’t what God wants us to count on. God has always spoken… to us who love Him… asking us to be the ones who make it happen with our offerings.
And Third – it’s true that in II Corinthians 9 we’re told that God gives to us abundantly in response to our gifts to Him. 2 Corinthians 9:10-11 says:
“Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.”
It’s a beautiful principle Paul talks about here. And every farmer and gardener knows the logic of it. When you plant a seed in the ground you’ll get back more than you put in.
And it works on the farm and in both the field
On the farm, you plant one seed of corn, you get a stalk with hundreds of seed.
Out in the field you put a single acorn in the ground, and you get an oak tree. And when that oak tree grows to maturity, it can drop over 50,000 acorns a year.
It’s a simple principle that God says works the same in the church as in the field.
ILLUS: God even gave us an example or 2 out of Scripture that shows how that works. One story in the Old Testament tells of the prophet Elijah needing food. God sends him to a widow in Zarephath and is told to ask her for a meal. Her problem is that she only has enough food for one last meal with her son… and then they expect to die.
1 Kings 17:13-14 tells us that
Elijah said to her, "Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small cake of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD gives rain on the land.’"
And sure enough… that’s exactly what happened. This widow gave food to Elijah.. and God gave food to her. The flour didn’t run out and the oil in the jug didn’t run dry.
So, let’s revue
1. We can’t out give God.
2. God expects His church and its ministries to be supported by our free-will offerings.
3. God will give to us in abundance, in response to our giving to Him.
II. Now, all that’s true - and that is what the Health and Wealth doctrine teaches.
So if those things are true, and that’s what the preachers who teach “Health & Wealth” get their information… what makes this a heresy? What makes it a false teaching?
What makes the Health and Wealth doctrine a heresy is that it makes this all about US.
** If WE send $76 then God will give US three times that amount. **
Thus – IF I use that doctrine as the reason I give my offering… what will become my motivation in giving?
i. Because I love God? (maybe)
ii. Because I want His kingdom to grow and prosper? (maybe)
iii. But more likely, my motivation will be so that my bank account will grow and prosper.
Now, there’s not a thing wrong with my bank account growing and prospering.
But we need to remember Jesus words on this topic:
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:21
If my giving is all about taking care of MY bank account… where’s my treasure?
It’s in my bank account.
If I use the “health and wealth” doctrine as the basis of my giving, I’ll merely be using God as another investment in my portfolio, and I will expect a return on that investment.
III. Scripture teaches an entirely different concept
1st – the Bible teaches us that our offering doesn’t belong to us… it belongs to Him.
In fact, even if you didn’t give it… it would still be His.
When Israel had fallen into the false thinking that they could somehow engage in sin and still offer their sacrifices to Him, God told them:
“I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, and the creatures of the field are mine. If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it.” Psalm 50:9-12
This is critical for us, because otherwise – we look at as our offering as our money.
ILLUS: A U.S. Congressman named Bob McCune, told the story of the time when he took his kids out to eat at a local fast-food restaurant. As he they sat down to eat, Bob smelled the fries in front of one of his sons - and reached over to get one.
To his surprise, the young boy grabbed his dad’s hand, pushed it back, and exclaimed, "Dad, Dad, don’t take my fries!" McCune was stunned. He sat in front of his son in silence and wondered, "What happened?"
Then the meaning of this "teachable moment" hit him. He thought, "My son doesn’t know where those fries came from. He doesn’t realize that about five minutes ago I went to the counter, put my hand in my pocket, pulled out the money and bought those fries for him. I am the source of those fries.
My son doesn’t understand that, if I wanted to, I could take those fries away from him.
He doesn’t know that I don’t even need his fries; if I wanted to, I could go over to the counter and buy my own.
He doesn’t realize that, if I wanted to, I could go over to the counter and buy a dozen orders and cover him with fries.
What I really wanted from my son was his willingness to share w/ me what I’d already given him
SO 1st, God owns my offering.
It isn’t my investment in Him - it’s His investment in me.
2ndly Scripture teaches us that God has asked us to partner with Him.
Look again at 2 Corinthians 9:8
“And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.”
Did you catch that…
“God makes His grace abound to you SO THAT … you will abound in every good work.”
In other words
1. We can’t out give God
2. God expects His church and its ministries to be supported by our free-will offerings
3. God will give to us in abundance, in response to our giving to Him
And God teaches us those three things so that we’ll know that He will supply the resources we’ll need to be able to do ministry.
He gives us seed, so that we can plant it.
ILLUS: They say that John Wesley took this real seriously. Apparently, he set a certain amount that he believed he could live on… and he gave the rest away. Whenever he had a raise – he’d give that extra money to missions and ministry.
One person compared it to the concept of a pipeline.
Water will flow through a pipeline as long as there’s nothing blocking the way.
If you block up the pipe – water will stop flowing.
And that’s what II Corinthians is teaching us. God wants to use us as the pipeline
As long as the resources flow THROUGH US, the flow will continue. But if we stop up the pipe – if we sit on what God has given us - we end up blocking the blessings God wants to give us.
ILLUS: I read a parable once about man in China who was bequeathed a rice field.
The first season the irrigation water ran through his field and made it productive and fruitful but it overflowed into the neighbor’s field and gave him blessings as well.
When the next season arrived, the rice farmer said to himself, ’Why should I permit all the waters to flow through my field into his? Water is wealth, and I need to keep it for myself.’
So he built a dam – he kept the waters on his field alone but the problem was, the waters great stagnant, and made his field into a swamp. It killed his crop because the water was only valuable to him as long as it was fresh.
ILLUS: You can see the same principle illustrated in the land of Israel.
In the north of the country, there’s a body of water called the Sea of Galilee. Water flows into that sea… and it flows out by way of the Jordan river.
It teams with life - and it’s the source of great prosperity for those nearby.
But down in the south part of Israel the Jordan river flows into another sea.
Does anybody know what that body of water is called? (Dead Sea)
You know why it’s called the Dead Sea? It’s called the Dead Sea because nothing lives there.It is literally a “dead” sea.
And it’s a dead sea because water flows in … but it doesn’t flow out.
That is the concept of the pipeline. And that’s what God teaches us to be in II Corinthians 9.
ILLUS: A preacher friend of mine shared what he learned about this.
Apparently, he’d hit a pretty rough time in his life and - for a period of about 6 months he stopped giving his weekly offering to God. He said – it was amazing, things only got worse.
Now, he’s part of the preacher group with me, and we all work on our sermons together. Once a year, we preach a month-long series on stewardship and giving. So, in preparation for that series he read a book about stewardship. It so convicted him that he decided that from that day forward, he’d give his offering no matter what.
That went well for about 4 weeks - then one week, he was paying the bills, and he realized he’d forgotten to set aside his tithe. He and his wife talked it over, and decided they’d make it up the next week.
Well, the next week came and, according to his calculator, he didn’t have enough money to pay all the bills and still give God his offering for both weeks. He debated whether he should give the offering in segments but then he decided – no, I said I’d pay it all this week – that’s what I’m going to do!
So he wrote out his gift to God to first… and then paid the rest of the bills. He told me, he didn’t know where the money came from… but when he was all done, there was money for the rest of his bills.
Did he just enter the figures into his calculator wrong?
Or had God tested him to see if he’d keep his word?
He later shared that experience with his church… and woman came up after the sermon and told him that the very same thing had happened to her not long before that.
