TALK ABOUT MONEY AND YOU CANT WIN
Run after money and you are materialistic.
Don’t get it and you are looked on as a loser.
Get it and keep it and you are a miser.
Don’t try to get it and you lack ambition.
Get money and spend it and you are a spendthrift.
Still have it at the end of your life and you are a fool;
you never had any fun with it.
Yes, when you talk about money, you can’t win. Especially if you preach a series of sermons about our stewardship of money. At least, that’s what some people think.
I, for one, disagree. I believe that in preaching on giving and
stewardship I am in good company. Nearly 60% of the Bible speaks to the question of how one should exercise stewardship over his money and property. Jesus taught that one’s attitude toward God is reflected by his attitude toward giving and stewardship. Therefore, if one who is right with God is forgiven, forgiving toward others, and for giving to God’s work!
In this series of messages we are taking a ‘Dragnet” approach to the subject of giving, looking at the “facts on giving,” the “what,” the “how,” and the “why” of giving. Last time, we considered the “What of giving, and said that every believer should give themselves to God; give their substance to God’s control, and give their support to God’s work. Now today, we will consider what the Bible tells us about “how” we are to give. With God, that which one is blessed for is not so much the amount given as the attitude with which it is given.
“God loves it when the giver delights in the giving.” - 2 Corinthians 9:7 (The Message)
There’s the story of the old tight wad who tossed a $100 bill into the collection plate thinking it was a dollar. When he saw his mistake he asked to have it back. The usher refused, to which the tight wad replied, “Oh well, I guess I’ll get credit for it in heaven.” The wise usher responded “No you won’t. You’ll only get credit for the dollar.”
How should I give? Well, I want us to think along the lines of the song writer, who wrote, “Give as ‘twas given to you in your need; Love as the Master loved you.” As we look to our text for today, let’s consider how God has given to us.
(READ TEXT)
How should I give? From the example of our heavenly Father here in John 3:16, we find that we should give . . .
1. Lovingly - “For God so loved the world that he gave”
Even as God gave out of a heart of love for us, we should give out of a heart of love for God. Paul said, in 2 Corinthians 9:7 that we should not give reluctantly or our of compulsion, cheerfully, out of a heart of love.
A pastor encountered a little boy standing in the hall during Sunday School crying. When he asked what was wrong, the boy pointed back inside the classroom and said, “That teacher took my nickel!”
Sometimes we give to God with much the same attitude—as if God was taking something away that belongs to us. But the truth is, all we have belongs to Him. What is amazing is that He allows us to use so much of it for ourselves and asks so little in return!
Out of a heart of love, we should give to the support of God’s work through our church, realizing that what I give to my church, I am
giving to God.
Years ago it was customary for people to bring their offering to the front of the sanctuary. In one church one Sunday, when the time came for the offering to be received, a young lady with a handicap hobbled along at the end of the line. Pulling a ring from her finger, she placed it in the offering and made her way back to her seat.
After the service an usher was sent to bring her to the pastor’s study. The preacher said, “My dear, I saw what you did. It was beautiful. But the response of the people to the offering today has been so generous that we don’t feel right about keeping your treasured ring, so we have decided to give it back to you.”
To his surprise the young lady vigorously shook her head in refusal. “You don’t understand,” she said. “I didn’t give my ring to you, I gave it to God!”
Give as you would if an angel awaited your gift at the door,
Give as you would if tomorrow found you where giving is o’er;
Give as you would to the Master if you met His loving look.
Give as you would of your substance if His hand the offering took.
We should give lovingly, out of a heart of love for God, realizing that what I give to my church, I give to Him.
2. Generously - “he gave his one and only Son”
Someone has said, “God cared enough to give the very best.” Indeed, God gave His best for us and we should give our best for Him.
“Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, ‘I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.’” - Mark 12:41-44 (NIV)
What made the poor widow do such a seemingly foolish thing? She needed the money badly - yet she gave it away! In direct contrast was the case of the rich young man whom Jesus met elsewhere (Matthew 19:16-22). He didn’t need all his money, yet he couldn’t bear to think of being without it. The difference, you see, is that the widow had already given herself to God, so her money, which one could argue she would do well not to part with, was easily and freely given, while the rich young man had not given himself to God, which is why his money, which he had plenty of and could afford to without, was something he could not part with.
Because the widow had given her all to God, she also gave her best to Him! Because the rich young man had not given himself to God, he didn’t give at all to Him. God gave generously for our sakes and we should give generously for His sake.
3. Purposefully - “that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
God gave with a purpose in mind - a redemptive purpose. Even so, we should give with a redemptive purpose in mind. What we give to God’s work is used to reach people for Jesus Christ; and if that is a purpose we say we believe in, then we should give to support God’s work.
You see, giving is not a matter of funds, it is a matter of faith.
Do you really believe the world is lost and in need of Christ. Then prove it by giving to the support of God’s work through your church. Put your money where your mouth is.
It’s not what you’d do with a million
If riches should ever be your lot
But what you’re doing at present
With the dollar and quarter you’ve got!
Charles Spurgeon, the great English preacher, was once invited by a wealthy man to come to preach in a certain country church, to help the membership raise funds to pay off a debt. The man told Spurgeon he was free to use his country house, his town house, or his seaside home. Spurgeon wrote back and said, “Sell one of your homes and pay the debt yourself.”
“Go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these
new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you.”
- Matthew 28:19-20 (NLT)
This command was given by Jesus Christ to His followers. Because it is the command of Christ, we refer to it as the Great Commission, not the Great Suggestion; and there is only one institution in this world that is completely devoted to the fulfilling the task of the Great
Commission, and that is the local church.
If God has called you to be part of the life of this church, then He has also called you to support His work through this church, so He might use our church to reach people for Him.
Paul Harvey is not a preacher, but he is a Christian. One of his more
famous radio addresses was entitled, “SEND YOUR MONEY TO CHURCH.” It appears below:
“You who do not go to church, please send your money. Pastors plead with you to show up in person to save your soul; that’s their business. I’m urging you to send money if only to save your skin.
As is, you are locked behind doors and shuttered windows, and with
automatic night lights you try to hold back the door. While out there in the streets people are being killed, raped, beaten, robbed at a rate that’s increasing seven times faster than our population is increasing. You pay higher insurance premiums every day to try to shelter your wife, your life, your possessions, your property, your car. I ask for an investment at least equal to your car insurance.
The best care for drugs is the discipline imposed by religion. Why am I
coming to you? Because inside the church too many two dollar betters are reaping more than they’re sowing. So, please if you can’t or won’t go - send help! Inflation is escalating the cost of running a church, too.
The church down the street from you is hurting, and may be dying.
There is no church which could not give more young people more things better to do than mischief - except that many churches can’t keep up with heat and light bills. There’s never been a time you’ve walked down that street and not been silently thankful that the church is there. You don’t know what it looks like inside, but nonetheless - amidst so many dirty movies, taverns, and porno shops - the church makes your community look good. Your daily paper is all smeared with blood, corruption and busted commandments. Cops are handcuffed, school teachers can’t paddle and parents won’t. The church alone now seeks to catch the criminal before the crime. I’m asking you for money because somebody has to, and it’s unbecoming for church pastors to.
The high and mighty television clergy has no compunction about pleading for money with all sorts of gimmickry - thus such resources get sent
elsewhere, to the neglect of the neighborhood. You don’t have to be a
believer to be an underwriter. You have a stake in the strength or weakness of your corner church as surely as you have a stake in keeping traffic lights lit. You are also entitled to criticize the people inside the church who pray for and get a lot more blessings than they pay for.
We’ve got a lot of people singing “God Bless America” without giving Him any good reason why He should. I’ve heard you say that some of the best people don’t even go to church. Prove it. Thank you.”
If such a convincing appeal can be made to unbelievers, how much more should believers be persuaded to support the work of their local church?
It is the height of hypocrisy for a Christian to say he believes everyone needs Jesus and yet not support the work of the one institution whose sole purpose is to tell people about Him. Let’s not be hypocritical. Let’s demonstrate our commitment to god’s redemptive purpose by giving our support - financial and otherwise - to the work of his church.
Former seminary and pastor, George Gaston tells the following story that speaks to the value of attitude in giving.
"Years ago I pastored a church that decided to build a worship center. The old building had suffered a major fire. Even so, our decision to build a new facility didn’t come easily. For months we agonized over the thought of tearing down a building which had served as a place of worship for nearly fifty years. Some of the membership felt It best to simply remodel the old building, while others believed the time had come to start anew. After all the practical considerations were analyzed, we voted to construct a new place to meet God in worship. Some of our best church families had opposed the proposal to undertake new con struction.
On the Monday morning following the church’s vote to build, I was met at my office by a man who had spoken forcefully against building. He rehearsed with me again all the reasons why the church shouldn’t have decided to construct a new building. Then, with tears in his eyes, he looked at me and said, “but I love this church and I’m going to support it.” With that, he took out his checkbook and wrote a check for $1,000, making the first contribution to our building fund. He continued, “my wife and I have decided not to buy the new car we wanted - we’ll be giving all of that money for the new church. We can buy a car later on.”
That one family’s action was something of a catalyst for our church. They began to prompt others to give their best in expressing love for God and church. I was privileged in those days to share similar conversations with many others who discovered the joy of rearranging their priorities to declare a new commitment. As we all found the joy of cheerful, faith-filled giving, we saw our church experience a revival. During that time Sunday School attendance increased dramatically, as did our financial contributions to the church. We baptized more people during the days of our building program than we did during the rest of the time I served as pastor of that congregation."
Great things happen when God’s people give God’s way - lovingly, generously, and purposefully!
