1 COR. 16:1-4 “THE BIBLICAL VIEW OF GIVING”
A) In 1 Cor. 15, Paul was talking to the Corinthians about the resurrection!
* He closed the chapter with the teaching that one day, our loved ones who have died in the Lord
will come forth victorious. * He said in v.55 “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where …”
* He closed chapter 15 by saying, “Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye …….”
B) They had to be on cloud nine about the time he got through talking to them about the
resurrection and he closed the chapter by encouraging them to be stedfast and unmoveable!
* But he brought them back down to earth when he started chapter 16, because in the first four
verses, he talked to them about giving. * Paul began by saying in v.1 “Now concerning the …”
C) We all know Christians who can be AMEN Christians until you start talking about giving!
* A preacher could preach on the resurrection every other Sunday and no one would ever spread
rumors that all that preacher ever talks about is the resurrection.
* Yet, if a preacher preaches on tithing every six months, rumors are that all that preacher ever
talks about is money.
D) There are a lot of people who don’t want you to preach about money …….
* Because they can put on a show in church how much they love Jesus until it comes to their
billfold and pocketbooks or their checkbooks!
* They don’t like preaching on giving because they’re afraid someone might notice how little they
give to the Lord each week …….
* And then they could never stand up and say or testify as to how much they love the Lord.
E) If you love Jesus, you will tithe … If you don’t love Jesus, you won’t tithe!
* True Christians can say with their mouths, their lives, and their billfolds that they love the Lord.
* We see very few churches today who are willing to give like the people in the early church did.
* They took up offerings to send missionaries to other lands with the Gospel …….
* To help the poor, the orphans and widows of the congregation … To help struggling churches …
* To help the poor and needy in other towns as we see in our text … But not today!
F) Today, many churches are harboring money up and not using it at all, or for selfishness!
* The early church had a heart, not only to build churches, but also had a heart to help each other.
* And Paul, in these verses, shows the Corinthians how they should give!
* Let’s look today at “The Biblical View Of Giving.”
(1) GIVING SHOULD BE PURPOSEFUL – V.1!
A) I get calls and visits a lot of times from people who never come to church, but they’re
always wanting financial assistance!
* In this day it has become the Christian thing to do to help every Tom, Dick and Harry who
comes along! * Is this what the Bible teaches? * ABSOLUTELY NOT!
B) There’s no way a church could afford to keep the doors open if they gave to all the hands that
reach out … God never intended for the church to support anything and everything!
* Listen … I’m not gonna help anybody who won’t help themselves!
* I’m not gonna ask our church to waste God’s money on people that are too sorry to work and
help themselves!
C) Notice when Paul is writing to the Corinthians, he says, “Now concerning …for the saints!”
* We should give for the specific purpose of helping God’s saints … Those who help themselves,
but still they come up short and are struggling.
* Only God knows the tithes and offerings each week that is wasted on people who will not work.
* And the Bible says in 2 Thes. 3:10 “… if any would not work, neither should he eat.”
* I’m saying, in our giving, we need to know for what purpose we are giving.
(2) GIVING SHOULD BE PERSONAL – V.2!
A) You ask, “Preacher, do you believe the Bible teaches tithing for today? * With all my heart!
* It not only teaches tithing, it teaches that we go farther than that!
* Notice the New Testament church met on the first day of the week which is the day we worship.
* The Jews always worshipped on Saturday, which was known as their Sabbath.
B) After Christ died and was resurrected on the first day of the week, we see that the New
Testament church began to meet on the first day of the week!
* As they worshipped on this particular day, they considered giving as part of their worship.
* So we worship God with our tithes and offerings!
C) Notice two things about giving … One: It includes all – v.2 …….
* Please notice the words “every one of you,” because it’s amazing the number of Christians who
feel that does not include them.
* They have the attitude, “Let everyone else pay the bills and I’ll just sit back and do the enjoying.”
* Paul makes giving personal … He says this is something that everyone should be doing!
D) One of the greatest sins in the church today is the fact that many are robbing God of that
which rightfully belongs to Him! * When you don’t tithe, you shirk a just debt!
* Actually, we’re not giving when we give 10%, for it belongs to Him already!
* Lev. 27:30 tells us that the “tithe is the LORD’S.” * IT DOESN’T BELONG TO YOU!
* And the next verse says if you borrow the tithe, you have to pay one fifth back … 20%.
E) It’s sad to say, but the only way you can get some to tithe is to trick them!
* They remind me of the story of a traveler who stopped to observe the curious behavior of a
farmer who was plowing his field with a single mule wearing blinders hitched to a plow.
* He noticed the farmer yelling, “Giddyap, Pete; Giddyap Herb; Giddyap Joe; Giddyap Bill …”
* After watching the farmer carry on like this for a while, the traveler asked, “Say Mister, how
many names does that mule have?” * The old farmer said, “Just one … His name is Pete.”
G) The traveler said, “Then why do you call out Herb, Joe, and Bill?”
* The old farmer said, “It’s like this … If old Pete knew that he was doing all this work alone, I
couldn’t get him to do a thing.”
* “But if he thinks he’s got three other mules working alongside of him, he does the whole job
by himself.”
* That’s the way it is for a lot of Christians when it comes to tithing and giving!
* The only way you can get them to carry their share of the load is to use trickery!
H) The second thing about giving is: It includes attractiveness!
* That is, God has blessed many people richly, and the only way they could give an offering that
would be attractive to Him would be to give as Paul said.
* Notice Paul didn’t say to limit giving to a tithe …….
* He told them to give as God hath prospered them!
I) Many place a tithe in the offering when it is no gift at all for them! * WHY?
* Because they could give twice as much and still not miss it! * Illustrate …….
* A man makes $500.00 … He tithes $50.00 and he still has $450.00 to live on.
* Another man makes $200.00 … He tithes $20.00 … He has $180.00 to live on.
* It’s easier to live on $450.00 than it is $180.00.
J) Jesus gives an illustration like this in Mark 12:41-44 …….
* Real giving is sacrificial giving … And here’s the point Jesus was making …….
* What she gave was a sacrifice … What the others gave was not a sacrifice.
* It didn’t cost them or hurt them … They still had plenty left, for they gave only what they could
spare … But not the widow … Her gift cost her!
K) It hurt to give, for she gave what she couldn’t spare!
* She gave what Christ called a sacrificial gift … She sacrificed …
* She gave up something else so she could give!
CLOSE
A) Our giving should be an attractive gift … And when we give God the leftovers, He knows if
that is all we have to give or if we just don’t love Him enough to give more!
* There is a great difference between giving what one can spare and giving sacrificially, actually
giving up something in order to give.
* Sacrificial giving costs something … Sacrificial giving is giving when it hurts.
* When a person has nothing left, nothing to spare … That’s sacrificial giving!
B) Look at 2 Cor. 9:7 … * Are you tithing … Or are you robbing God? * Mal. 3:8-10 …….
* Have you quit tithing? * Will you start or will you start back? * What would Jesus have you do?
