Introduction:
A. One Sunday a preacher told his congregation that the church needed some extra money and asked the people to prayerfully consider giving a little extra in the offering plate that morning.
1. He said that whoever gave the most would be able to pick out three hymns.
2. After the offering plates were passed, the preacher glanced down and noticed that someone had placed a $1,000 check in offering.
3. He was so excited that he immediately shared his joy with his congregation and said he’d like to personally thank the person who gave so generously.
4. Rosie was sitting way in the back, but the preacher invited her to come to the front.
5. As she came, he expressed his appreciation, and reminded her that she could pick out three hymns.
6. When she arrived at the front she turned and looked over the congregation, pointed to the three most handsome men in the building, and said, “I’ll take him and him and him!”
B. Unfortunately, over the years, many preachers and churches have used unspiritual and manipulative methods to induce people to give.
1. I know that God is not pleased when that occurs.
2. Preachers have promised health and wealth and all kinds of other things, if people will just send in the cash.
3. There are actually documented cases of televangelists encouraging people to give large amounts of money from their credit cards, with the promise that God will send them all the money they need to get out of their credit card debt.
4. They tell them, “Get some Jesus on that credit card!”
5. But none of this abuse and manipulation, nullifies the true, God-given principles and promises about giving that we want to talk about today.
C. We are in the fourth and last lesson in our short series called Spiritual Dollars and Sense.
1. In first lesson we talked about where our money comes from and how to have the right perspective about money.
2. In the second lesson we talked about how to control our spending through contentment and containment – learning to live on a budget.
3. Last week we talked about borrowing and saving.
a. We learned that we should be cautious about borrowing, and that some debt is better than other debt.
b. And we learned that the wise person is the one who saves.
4. If you missed any of the sermons, I would encourage you to get a copy or listen to them at our website on line.
D. Today we want to talk about Giving – With What Kind of Giver Is God Pleased?
1. Why should we give?
2. What does the Bible really say about giving?
3. What does God expect from each of us with regard to giving?
4. How much of my income does God really expect me to give?
5. These are all very good questions, and I hope to answer them in this lesson.
6. Let’s look at several principles of giving that come right out of our Scripture Reading for today.
I. Principle #1 - Give Whole-heartedly
A. As a backdrop for our study today I want us to look at Paul’s correspondence with the Corinthian church about giving.
1. There was a severe famine occurring in Judea, and Paul was encouraging the Christians from other regions to provide relief for their brothers and sisters being affected by the famine.
2. So Paul wrote to the Corinthian church and told them about the positive example of the Macedonian believers and how they rose to the occasion and helped their brethren.
3. 2 Cor. 8:1-5, “And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints. And they did not do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God’s will.”
B. The important principle that I want to address first, because it is the foundation for everything else, is that God is ultimately interested in us, not in our money.
1. God wants us to have a relationship with Him, one that is based on our whole-hearted devotion.
2. So the Macedonians gave themselves first to the Lord.
3. If we are not whole-heartedly devoted to God, then the money we give to God has little meaning.
4. If we receive a gift from someone, but we know that they really don’t care about us, or that they are doing it just to pacify us or manipulate us, then it has little meaning.
5. But on the other hand, if we know that the person loves us with all their heart, then whether the gift is large or small doesn’t matter, the love behind it is what makes the difference.
6. And the same is true with God.
7. We must give ourselves first to God, and then God is pleased with our giving.
II. Principle #2 - Give Generously
A. As we move to chapter 9 of 2 Corinthians, Paul continues his discussion about the collection for the relief effort.
1. He reminds the Corinthians about the principle of generosity.
2. 2 Cor. 9:6, “Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.”
3. And then a few verses later in verses 10 and 11, he writes, “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.”
B. This is one of the promises we have in the Word of God – the greater the generosity, the greater the blessing.
1. Jesus taught something about this in Luke 6:38, “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
2. Proverbs 11:24,25 has a similar promise, “One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.”
3. I can’t explain how all of this works, but I know that it works.
4. God is faithful to His promises.
5. Conventional wisdom says that if you want to have a lot, then keep it for yourself.
6. God’s wisdom says that the more generous we are, the greater will be our blessing, and then we will be able to be even more generous.
7. That’s why Jesus taught it is more blessed to give than to receive. (Acts. 20:35)
8. I have often said, and others have testified, you cannot out-give God!
C. So, It pleases God when we give whole-heartedly and generously.
III. Principle #3 – Give Cheerfully
A. Look again at verse 7 from the Scripture reading, “Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
1. This is why I have never taught that a person has to tithe – which means to give 10%.
2. The Apostle Paul was not telling the Corinthians that they must give 10% - He was telling them that they should give what they have decided to give.
3. God doesn’t want coersed giving, nor reluctant giving.
4. God doesn’t want our attitude to be – I wish I didn’t have to give 10%, but I have to.
B. What God does want is for us to give from our hearts.
1. He wants us to give generously and cheerfully.
2. With faith and love and joy, we should give what we have decided to give.
C. Is there anything wrong with giving 10% - not if is it given whole-heartedly, generously, and cheerfully.
1. All things considered, for some, 10% might be too much, for others it might be far too little.
2. Which leads to the final principle.
IV. Principle #4 – Give Regularly and Proportionally.
A. It was in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians that he first brought up the collection for this relief effort.
1. In chapter 16, he wrote, “Now about the collection for God’s people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made. Then, when I arrive, I will give letters of introduction to the men you approve and send them with your gift to Jerusalem.” (1 Cor. 16:1-3)
2. It is from these verses that we learn about the need to give regularly and proportionally.
3. The regularity has to do with “the first day of every week.”
4. The proportionality has to do with “in keeping with his income.”
B. Anytime we have income, we should be setting aside some of it to give to the Lord.
1. That’s why budgeting is so important, and why we should begin the budgeting process with deciding what percentage of our income we will give.
2. If we don’t put our giving first, then we may not having anything left over to give at the end.
3. But if we start with our giving, then we set the rest of the budget accordingly.
C. When we have very little, then 10% may be too big a sacrifice.
1. But as our income increases, 10% may be too small a sacrifice.
2. The person who makes $250 a week, gives $25 dollars a week, and keeps $225 will find it a lot harder to live on what is left over, than the person who makes $1000 a week, gives $100, and has $900 left over to live on.
3. And I think the person who makes a million dollars a year, and gives $100,000 to the Lord and has $900,000 left over to live on is somewhat self-deceived if he thinks he is being generous.
4. Do you see my point? We can’t think we are “off the hook” if everyone simply gives 10%.
5. C.S. Lewis put it well when he said, “I’m afraid biblical charity is more then merely giving away that which we could afford to do without anyway.”
Conclusion:
A. God is pleased with givers who give whole-heartedly, generously, cheerfully, regularly and proportionally.
1. But we will never be able to give freely and joyfully if we don’t keep money in the right perspective, and learn to keep it working for us, rather than against us.
2. But when we work hard, budget well, and get money working for us, then we will have even more to give, which will result in greater joy and blessing for us.
B. It is so exciting for us to be able to give generously to the things that we believe in.
1. Diana and I believe in the mission and ministry of this church, and so we love to give to support the work that we do together to glorify God.
2. We believe in the ministry of Camp Hunt, and so we love to give to support that good work.
3. We believe in missions, and we love to support our young people when they are going on mission trips.
4. We believe in helping the poor in other countries, and so since 2002 as a family we have sponsored a child through Compassion International.
a. Here’s a picture of Santos Joel Talavera Mendoza the young man we support.
b. Joel is two years older than our daughter, Abby.
c. He is from a family of 4 children, his father is a laborer and his mother is a home-maker.
d. Our support helps with his education, medical needs, and supplementary food.
e. We enjoy exchanging letters with him.
C. Here’s a picture of Anna, the young Chinese girl that our Sunday School childrens’ classes support through their contributions.
1. Her Chinese name is Luo Qun, and she was born in 1998.
2. Both of Anna’s parents are dead, and she lives with her sister who is two years her senior, and her 76 year-old grandmother.
3. Our contributions provide for many of her basic needs.
4. What a joy to know that we are making her life better and that we are giving her an opportunity to know the love of the Lord!
5. We would like to express our appreciation to all who contribute to this good cause.
D. I want to share a couple of examples of people who have learned the joy of giving.
1. The first is a billionaire the second is a retired laundry lady.
E. Someone from the congregation called me and told me about an interview they heard on the Glenn Beck Show with a man named Jon Huntsman.
1. Jon Huntsman, Sr.is an American businessman and philanthropist.
2. He is the founder of Huntsman Corporation and a member of the Forbes 400 and resides in the Salt Lake City, Utah area.
3. He grew up in poverty, graduated from the Wharton School, worked as a staff member in the Nixon administration, and finally worked for Dow Chemical Company before starting his own business in 1982.
4. That business grew into a multi-billion dollar company, Huntsman Chemical.
5. He’s more than just a billionaire--he’s a real American hero.
6. John Huntsman started the Huntsman Cancer Institute after going through cancer treatment himself and thinking ’I can do this better’.
7. The result of his vision is a truly out of the ordinary place for those suffering with cancer.
8. Although he has tons of money---Huntsman is not giving out of abundance, he’s giving because that’s who he is.
9. He once gave a family $50 a month to help make ends meet---while he was making just over $300 a month.
10. After seeing a very wealthy colleague who didn’t donate much money die, Huntsman had another thought occur to him: There wasn’t a dollar in the casket this guy could take with him.
11. From that moment on, he has vowed to die broke and give away every penny of his fortune before he passes on.
F.. Many would say that Oseola McCarty, a retired laundry lady, is the richest person in Hattiesburg, Miss.
1. She had saved $150,000 and she gave it away--to fund scholarships for black students at the University of Southern Mississippi, a school where 30 years ago they wouldn’t have been admitted.
2. “My only regret is that I didn’t have more to give,” says the tiny, 87-year-old McCarty.
3. She left school after the sixth grade to go to work.
4. “Fifty cents for a bundle of clothes before the war,” McCarty says. “After the war, ten, twenty dollars a bundle and like that.”
5. She never married, lived in the family home, always preferred black-and-white TV to color, always preferred her fan to air-conditioning, and the money piled up.
6. Now she gives others a chance she wishes she’d had: “I would have liked to have studied nursing. I like those stiff white aprons.”
7. During a recent interview by a reporter from People Magazine, McCarty was asked why she didn’t spend the money earned over a lifetime on herself. “I am spending it on myself,” she answered, smiling.
F. And how great is all of that!
1. How wonderful to know that we have made a difference with our giving.
2. How wonderful to know that long after we are dead and gone, our good gifts can continue to give.
3. If there is any money left over at the time of your death, I would encourage you to give the bulk of it to good works - including the church, Camp Hunt, colleges, missions, or relief agencies.
4. There’s nothing wrong with leaving a little to your kids, but if they have worked hard and been responsible, they shouldn’t need it, right?
G. Let’s remember some powerful truths from God’s Word:
1. Jesus said, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Mt. 6:19-21)
2. Paul wrote, “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.” (1 Tim. 6:17-19)
3. May God bless us with good Spiritual Dollars and Sense, so that we can become the kind of givers with whom He is pleased.
4. May He enlarge the harvest of our righteousness so that we might take hold of the life that is truly life.
