John 14:9
Giving Matters
Woodlawn Baptist Church
September 16, 2007
For the past couple of Sundays I have brought up subjects that matter. Preaching Matters & Church Matters. Preaching matters because God has a message for humanity: a message that begins with the gospel: the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ for our salvation, then a message that calls us into holiness as we give our lives for the glory of God. Preaching matters because God has a message for us and He ordained that preaching be the instrument used to proclaim that message.
Last week I said that church may or may not matter, depending on your take on the church. If church is just a place you go to sit in class or a service for any number of reasons or if church is a place you go to make connections and hang out with your friends, irregardless of how old you are, then no, church doesn’t matter. But when we realize that a church is a group of disciples who have come together to be discipled and to make more disciples, then yes, church is absolutely fundamental to that disciple’s journey of faith.
Today’s sermon is Giving Matters. I have told you before that giving has not always been an easy thing to do in my house. It was hard when I first started tithing, and though it became easier through the years, it is still difficult today. From a purely human perspective, giving today is harder than it ever has been for me, especially since we bought the house. As I write my tithe check I have allowed myself to wonder whether my giving really matters.
Many of you at some point in your own journey of faith, in your own involvement in church, in your own giving, have asked whether giving matters. Maybe you can’t give much because you don’t make much. Does your little amount matter? Maybe you’re on a fixed income or a single parent or you’re a widow scraping by and it’s hard to give up that 10%. Most of us, irregardless of our income, have fixed our spending to match what’s coming in and leave too little room for giving. There will be plenty of other people who give. Surely the church won’t miss your giving. That’s another way of saying giving doesn’t matter. I remember one couple who got mad at their preacher and decided to withhold their tithes. In essence they were saying that their giving mattered, but they were confused about why it really mattered.
I asked several people earlier this week why giving matters. Here are some of the reasons you gave.
• Financial support of the church
• High cost of ministry
• Because God tells us to
• Because it feels good
• To help the less fortunate
• Because of your love for people
• Because it already belongs to God anyway
Those are all good reasons, reasons I have preached before and will preach again, but as I have studied in preparation for this message I believe there is a more significant reason giving matters, and it hinges on this question: What kind of giver is God? I want to take a minute to read several passages of Scripture as I answer that question. For the sake of time don’t try to turn to all these. Matthew 7:11 says,
“If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?”
This verse reminds me that God is a good giver. Matthew 11:28 says,
“Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
God does not have to help us, but He does, because He is a gracious giver. Matthew 14:15-16 says,
“And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, this is a desert place, and the time is now past; send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves victuals. But Jesus said to them, They need not depart; give ye them to eat.”
When the disciples were tired and ready for everyone to go home, Jesus insisted that they continue to serve the people and meet their needs. “Don’t send them away, give them something to eat.” Why? Because God gives out of concern for us. He is again a good and gracious giver. You can see it again in Matthew 20:28.
“…the Son of man came not to be ministered to, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.”
Turn with me to John and let’s read four verses of Scripture. I know you know them, but read them anyway. John 3:16 says,
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
John 4:14 says,
“But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”
John 6:51 says,
“I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
John 10:28 says,
“And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.”
Can we agree this morning that God is a good, gracious and generous giver? You bet He is! The Bible bears it out over and over and over! James 1:17 reminds us that…
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”
How do I know God is a good giver? Because He gives us what we need. When we were lost and without hope God gave a Savior. When we are weary and worn God gives us rest. When we are down and in despair God gives us hope. When we are alone and restless God gives us comfort. He is a good giver!
God is a generous giver. He doesn’t just give good things to me, He gives good gifts to us all! God gave to the rich and the poor, to the young and to the old, to the American and to the Mexican and to the African and to the Asian and everyone else! He loved the whole world!
God is a gracious giver. Who among us deserves the gift of eternal life? We are all sinners, offensive to God. But God gave anyway. When we sin and stray and live out of selfishness God continues to give forgiveness and mercy and life and breath and everything else we enjoy.
Now, that is the kind of giver God is. But I still haven’t answered why Giving Matters. Three more passages of Scripture, then we’re done. First is Matthew 10:24-25.
“The disciple is not above his teacher, nor the servant above his lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be like his teacher, and the servant like his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?”
Now this is of utmost importance, and you need to know why you’re here. So many people think Christianity and coming to church is about us becoming better people, but its not. Discipleship is about you and me becoming like Jesus Christ. Jesus said that it was enough, or we ought to find it fulfilling that we be identified with and become like our Lord Jesus Christ.
Finally in Romans 8:29, the Bible says,
“For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son…”
Don’t be confused for a second. Church and discipleship and Bible reading and the work God is doing in your life isn’t a glorified self-help program. It’s about you being conformed to the image of Christ.
The last passage I want you to turn to is John 14:7-9.
“If you had known me, you should have known my Father also: and from henceforth you know him, and have seen him. Philip said to Jesus, Lord, show us the Father, and it suffices us. We will be satisfied. Jesus said to him, Have I been so long with you, and yet have you not known me, Philip? He that has seen me has seen the Father; so how can you say, Show us the Father?”
Philip wanted to see the Father. Jesus said that they already knew the Father. They had spent three years seeing and hearing and getting to know Him through the life of Christ. To see and hear and know Christ was to see and hear and know God! There are a number of verses that say this. 2 Corinthians 4:4 says Jesus is the image of God. Colossians 1:15 says Jesus is the image of the invisible God. Hebrews 1:3 says,
“[Jesus], being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person…”
The Greek word express image means an engraving, an exact copy, a precise reproduction of something. In other words, to see Jesus was to see God. If you want to know what God was like: how He feels, how He thinks, how He acts…just look at Jesus!
So let’s tie all this together. Jesus said that by looking at Him we could know what God is like, right? If God is a good, gracious, generous giver, then what kind of giver is Jesus? He too is a good, gracious and generous giver. And as disciples of Jesus Christ, people that God is conforming to His image, can we agree that when people look at us they are supposed to be seeing Jesus? You and I are to be the express image of Christ in this world. If Jesus is a good, gracious and generous giver, then what kind of givers are you and I to be?
Do you know why giving really matters? Sure it matters for the support of the church, to help the needy, because God commanded it, but most importantly it matters because the way you give demonstrates the reality of Christ in your life. If you are stingy and selective in your giving people cannot see Christ in your life. They see you.
Every day, whether we like to admit it or not, people are asking us to show them the Father. Like Philip asked Jesus, the people around us want to know the reality of Christ. Is God real? Does He care about them? Does He know their needs and their hurts? Every day your husbands, wives, children, neighbors, coworkers, schoolmates, even the strangers you meet are saying to you in a thousand ways, “Show us the Father.” And like Christ, you ought to be able to say, “If you have seen me, then you have seen Him.”
Someone needed your time this past week. Were you gracious in giving it? Maybe you knew of a need that you could meet. Were you generous? It may have been someone that didn’t deserve it. Were you good anyway? Giving certainly involves your money, your offerings, your tithes, but it involves so much more too. And it matters because as disciples of Christ you and I have been called to be “Little Jesuses” to the world around us.
Do you know Jesus Christ as your Savior? I have already shown you that God in His goodness, generously gave you the greatest gift of all. He was gracious to you in sending His Son Jesus Christ that you might have eternal life. Will you accept that gift today and trust Christ to save you?
As a disciple of His, can you look at your life and your giving and say that people see Christ in you? Do you give like He did? Perhaps you do. Some of you demonstrate that reality in your life. Celebrate what God is doing in your life and continue to surrender yourself to Him. But if you do not, then repent of it and give your life to Christ. Come to Him today. Acknowledge that if the giver of all good gifts has been so good to you, that you want to be the same for others.
