Title: Good News, Bad News
Text: Malachi 3:8-10,
Date: 1/06/08
Location: Sulphur Spring Baptist Church
Introduction: Well, I’ve got some good news and some bad news for you this morning. The bad news is that we still don’t have heat over in the fellowship Hall so we won’t be able to have Supper again Wednesday night. The good news is they are supposed to start putting in the new furnaces tomorrow and should have them installed by Friday so the two classes that meet in the fellowship hall should be able to meet in their regular rooms next week.
The bad news is these two furnaces aren’t cheep, they are going to cost us somewhere in the neighborhood of $10,000. But the good news is we have at least twice that much in the bank right now.
Despite the fact that we have money in the bank the bad news is that for the first time since I have been your pastor we fell short of reaching our budget goal, and so the stewardship committee was forced to make some cuts in next year’s budget.
The good news is we are having between 20-25 children and young people ride the van on Wednesday night to come to church. The bad news is we only have a 15 passenger van.
The good news is we have a wonderful audio / visual system and are enjoying its benefits, the bad news is we still owe about $15,000 on it.
All of this reminds me of a story Billy Jeff Cherry told me recently. He said ‘preacher did you here about the pastor who stood up one Sunday morning and said, “I’ve got some good news and some bad news. The good news is that we’ve got more than enough money to pay our bills and fund all of the programs and ministries of this church…The pastor paused for a minute to let that sink in and then he said… But the bad news is that it’s still in your wallets and purses.
This morning as we begin a New Budget Year I want to spend a few minutes talking to you about Christian Stewardship.
illustration: The pastor of a church that didn’t have a very good reputation for giving decided that it was time to do something drastic in order to help his congregation learn the importance of giving. He contacted an electrician and had all of the pews wired.
The next Sunday which was the first Sunday of the new year, the time when the church had traditionally taken up pledges from the people the Pastor stood up and made the following announcement. "From now on instead of turning your pledges in to the church office all pledges will be made publicly in the worship service." Then he said, so let’s get started. "All of you who will pledge to give ten dollars a week, please stand up." As soon as he said that he pushed a button that the electrician had installed in the pulpit and it sent a jolt of electricity through the wires and into the pews. Immediately about one half of the congregation jumped to their feet. The pastor reached down and adjusted the knob on the podium then said, "All you who will pledge to give twenty dollars a week please stand." A second stronger volt of electricity caused several more people to rise to their feet. This whole process was repeated several more times. Each time the pledge amount was raised along with the voltage. The ushers had to work fast just to record all of the names and pledges.
After the service the pastor and his staff were busy adding up the totals and congratulating themselves on the great success of the annual stewardship campaign—Their enthusiasm ended abruptly however, when one of the Deacons opened the door and announced that four church members had been electrocuted because they refused to stand up.
Now don’t worry, the Stewardship Committee and I didn’t wire the seats and I have no plans of doing anything like that. It’s none of my business whether you give $1 or $100, that’s between you and God. But as your Pastor it is my responsibility to tell you that what you give to the Lord every week is a reflection of your faith in God and your spiritual maturity. In other words, one of the best ways to monitor how you’re doing spiritually is to take a look at your giving.
Now according to my records I’ve only preached a couple of stewardship sermons in the 9 ½ years that I’ve been your pastor. I guess I just don’t want to be compared to the Televangelists who always seem to be asking for money.
But perhaps I need to change my thinking about this after all Jesus talked about money quite often. Sixteen of the thirty-eight parables that He told concerned how to handle money and material possessions. In the Gospels, one out of every ten verses (288 in all) deal directly with the subject of money. In the Bible there are 500 verses that talk about prayer, less than 500 verses that deal with faith. But there are 2,000 verses in the Bible that deal with money or material possessions. The Fact is Jesus talked more about money than He did about Heaven and Hell combined.
Why did Jesus put spend so much time teaching about money and material possessions? The truth is there’s a fundamental connection between our spiritual lives and how we think about, and how we handle money. Someone once said all you have to do to find out how important something is to someone is look in their checkbook and see how much they spend on it.
If you have your Bibles I want you to follow along as a read a few verses of Scripture. First of all, turn with me to Leviticus 27:30
LEV 27:30 " `A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the LORD; it is holy to the LORD.”
MAL 3:8 "Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. "But you ask, `How do we rob you?’ "In tithes and offerings.
MAL 3:9 You are under a curse--the whole nation of you--because you are robbing me.
MAL 3:10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.
Okay so what are these two passages of scripture talking about? What is a tithe? Unfortunately many people today, especially those who haven’t grown up in a Baptist Church have no idea what a tithe is.
Illustration: They are like the little boy who was getting ready for church one Sunday morning and when his dad said it was time to go, he came out of his room carrying all of his neck ties. His mother stopped him and said, son what are you doing? Why are you taking all of you ties to church? The little boy responded by saying, “Because the preacher told us to put our ties in the offering.”
I. Simply put a tithe is 10%. The Old Testament principle was that since God had blessed them with an abundant harvest or with bountiful flocks that they should be thankful and give Him 10% of it.
I want to give you a little quiz this morning to see how well you understand the Biblical principle of tithing.
I want to ask you the following true / false questions, and let’s see how you do.
1. The Tithe is an Old Testament principle that no longer applies to us today? F
2. Giving a tithe to the Lord is only one part of being a good Christian Steward. T
3. Tithing, (Giving 10% of your income) is a substitute for Christian service? F
4. The Tithe belongs to God but the rest is mine? F
5. God rewards those who tithe by making them rich? F
6. If you tithe you won’t get sick and nothing bad will happen to you? F
7. Tithing is a way for you to express your love and gratitude to God? T
8. Giving a tithe is the maximum goal for those of us who are Chrisitans? F
(1) The Tithe is an Old Testament principle that no longer applies to us today? False
In April 2000, George Barna did a survey of those of us who claim to be born again Christians. That survey revealed that only 8% of born again Christians give 10% or more of their income.
The Tithe began when Abraham gave a tithe to the High Priest Melchizedek. Later it became a requirement under the Law of Moses. Then Christ came and fulfilled the Law, so as Christians today we are no longer bound to the law. So what does that mean as far as the ‘tithe’ is concerned? It means that the tithe has once again become a way for us to express our gratitude to God for the way he has blessed us, just as Abraham did. So while it is true that the tithe is an Old Testament principle, I believe it still applies to us today.
2. Giving a tithe to the Lord is only one part of being a good Christian Steward. (True)
Not only should we be willing to give the Lord 10% of our money, but we should also be good stewards with our time, our talents, and yes even our lives. In fact the Apostle Paul describes this in Romans 12:1, when he says,
“Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God--this is your spiritual act of worship.”
3. Tithing, (Giving 10% of your income) is a substitute for Christian service? False.
It doesn’t matter how much money you give, that doesn’t release you from your obligation to serve God faithfully and be obedient to Him in every area of your life.
4. The Tithe belongs to God but the rest is mine? False
No in fact, Jesus taught His disciples that we don’t own anything, that everything we have has been given to us by God, and He is simply allowing us to use it for a while.
5. God rewards those who tithe by making them rich? False
But wait just a minute, didn’t that verse of scripture over in Malachi say something about God pouring out his blessings on us if we would tithe. Yes, but those blessings may be spiritual in nature rather than material. And more importantly, our reason for giving to the Lord should be because we love Him and we want to thank Him for blessing us rather than to receive more.
6. If you tithe you won’t get sick and nothing bad will happen to you? False
You don’t have to look any further than the story of Job to realize this. God said that Job was the most righteous man on earth, so obviously He must have been given his tithe. But all kinds of bad things happened to Him. This attitude toward the tithe is similar to ‘protection money’ that shop owners were forced to pay the Maffia years ago to keep their businesses from being robbed.
7. Tithing is a way for you to express your love and gratitude to God? True
We’ve already discussed this.
8. Giving a tithe is the maximum goal for those of us who are Christians?
False
The tithe should be our minimum goal. Our desire should be to give more to God in the form of offerings. My understanding has always been that the tithe should be given to the church with ‘no strings attached’ and ‘no stipulations.’
If someone wants to ‘designate some money’ to the “Lottie Moon Christmas offering” the Youth fund, the Audio visual fund, or The shoebox ministry that that should be over and above their tithe.
Conclusion: In April 2000, George Barna conducted a survey among those of us who claim to be born again Christians. His research revealed that only 8% of born again Christians give 10% or more of their income to the church. Now I don’t have any idea how many of you tithe. But I do know this, if we would simply make a commitment to God and to one another to tithe, we would have more than enough money to pay our bills, pay off the sound system, by 2-3 more furnaces, and even by another van so we could bring more children and young people to church. So if you are not presently giving 10 percent, I hope you will consider giving it a try this year!
