CHEERFUL GIVERS
II Corinthians 9:6-15
CHCC: January 25, 2009
INTRODUCTION:
So far in this series we have addressed the issues of worshipping together, studying the Bible together, and serving together. The assumption is that if “I’m in” as a member of CHCC these are the things I will do on a regular basis.
Today we’re talking about GIVING… now, you knew we would arrive at this topic sooner or later. I’ll do my best to make this message as painless as possible while staying true to scriptural admonitions.
And I know people’s minds are on football, since the Super-bowl is only a week away. We want to help you really “get” today’s message … So we’re going to try to put today’s topic of “church giving” in football terms.
VIDEO: Bluefish TV Sports Sunday – “The Ushers”
We want all our members at CHCC to excel in GIVING … but more than that to be CHEERFUL GIVERS! Notice what the apostle Paul had to say about this topic.
1. Give with Cheerfulness!
II Corinthains 9:6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7 Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
God doesn’t want you giving to His Church out of mere obligation or duty … any more than you’d want someone tossing a gift at you with a sneer: “You always give me stuff, so I know if I don’t give you something you’ll be mad at me. So here’s your stupid birthday present. I hope you’re satisfied!”
Notice verse 7 says, Each man should give what he has decided in his heart. We don’t wait until the plate gets to our row to reach in our pocket and see what we pull out. God asks us to give REGULARLY and PROPORTIONATELY. We give as an act of worship, and we give in proportion to our income.
How do we decide what amount to give? How much would God consider to be a generous gift? Think of it this way. Let’s say you take a group of your friends out to your favorite restaurant to celebrate some special occasion. (Maybe your team won the Super-bowl.) You ask for your favorite table and your favorite waiter. You see the fine print of the menu where it says, “A gratuity of 15% will be automatically added for parties of 8 or more.” But when the bill comes, the tip hasn’t been added in.
You realize that the waiter knows you well enough that he’s trusting you to give him a generous tip on your own without him having to charge you the standard 15%. Maybe you’re like me. When a Waiter gives good service and DOESN’T add the gratuity to the bill, I ENJOY giving him or her MORE than the minimum!
Back on Mount Sinai, God gave the Jewish people this LAW: “A tithe (that’s 10%) of everything from the land … whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees… 10% of everything belongs to the Lord.” (Leviticus 27:30) But we are no longer under the law. We live under GRACE. We have been given so much more. We’ve been given forgiveness and eternal life in Christ. The Holy Spirit lives in our hearts. We have the guidance of Scripture and the fellowship of the church and the privilege of living and worshiping in a free country.
Because of His RELATIONSHIP with us, God no longer tells us what we MUST give back to Him by LAW. He trusts us to give generously … and CHEERFULLY as he as prospered us. It’s a JOY to give a tithe back to God … and when we can give even ABOVE the 10% of the LAW, that’s when giving REALLY starts to be FUN.
A few times someone has told me, “I want to tithe regularly, but my wife (or my husband) doesn’t agree. What should I do?” Here’s what I think makes sense. Give the amount you BOTH can agree to give regularly … and give it CHEERFULLY. Don’t allow giving to become a point of contention in your home. Chances are, when you experience giving regularly and cheerfully, you will find yourself WANTING to increase your giving in the future.
And part of the reason I feel sure about that is because of what God promises in the next verses of II Corinthians 9: 8, And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 9 As it is written:
"He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor;
his righteousness endures forever." 10 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. 11 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.
You see? you can GIVE WITH CONFIDENCE because you can never out-give GOD! While I’m not a proponent of the health and wealth gospel I find verses 8-11 to be nothing short of amazing in terms of a Biblical promise. How else would you interpret words like these? “You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion.” With a promise like that how could you not be a generous and cheerful giver?
It’s like turning on a water faucet at home. I’m never afraid that the water will run out because I know that my faucet is hooked up to the whole Edwards Aquifer. That’s billions of gallons of drinkable water behind my faucet. The only limit is my ability to pay my water bill.
And being generous in giving amounts to being hooked up to the reservoir of a more generous Father than I could even think or imagine. I don’t have to be stingy or miserly knowing that my Father in Heaven has promised to make me rich in every way so that I can be generous on every occasion. The only limit is the limit of my ability to trust God to keep it coming. Knowing this we not only have the capacity for joyful giving, but also for confident giving.
2. Give with Confidence!
If you’ve been watching the Stock Market for the last few months, you know our country is suffering from a crisis of confidence. I hope you’re not letting the news from wall street get you down. I thought it might cheer you up if I shared a stock report that hasn’t made the news: (get out your pens and papers, cause this is a hot stock tip right off the wire: As of the end of the trading day last Friday…
Helium was up.
Feathers were down.
Paper was stationary.
Knives were up sharply.
Pencils lost a few points.
Elevators rose, while escalators continued their slow decline.
Weights were up in heavy trading.
Light switches were off.
Diapers remain unchanged.
And the market for raisins dried up.
Coca Cola fizzled.
Caterpillar inched up a bit.
Balloon prices were inflated.
And lastly, Fruit of the Loom has reached new bottoms.
Generous giving is one way to remind ourselves that life is more than the current status of our 401 K. Giving is a tangible reminder that our life isn’t measured by THINGS. It reminds us that life is more than the house you live in, the clothes you wear, the vacations you take, the cars you own and the toys you play with.
Recently I heard an idea that sounds interesting to me. It’s a sort of “matching gifts program.” See if you would want to take this challenge in 2009: For every dollar you spend on a “luxury” … invest the same amount in your Heavenly bank account. If you buy a new ipod for $250.00, would you give that much to someone in need? If you get that second TV - a flat-screen plasma of course … for $1,500, could you give that same amount to a missionary? If you spend $4,000 on a cruise, could you consider giving a gift of that amount to your church?
Lest you think that is unheard of, I remember reading a biography of the life of Watchman Nee, a Christian leader in China just before the Communists took over. His custom was always to buy two of what ever he needed so he could use one and give one away. When he bought a suit of clothes, he bought two and found a poorer brother who had no suit so he could give the second one to him. This isn’t a new idea. Other Christians have lived it out before.
Speaking of the way we give, this is probably a good time to explain how the money you give here at CHCC is used: What ever comes our way is proportionally doled out to missions at a rate of about 20% of gross receipts ($90K). In other words, this Church gives a double tithe of its income to missions. Add to that the amount you as individuals give to missions through the church and the percentage rises to almost 40% ($180K)of what comes our way going out to others.
Some people like to give directly to people in need or to missions, but you can also give your gifts THROUGH the church and designate how it will be used…
God PROMISES you the world’s only legitimate “enrichment” program. When you give generously, you benefit from a promise that You will be made rich in every way… That INCLUDES making sure you physical needs are met … but it’s so much more than just financial benefit. God gives to us in so many ways. His blessings poured over us enrich us physically, emotionally, spiritually, socially… in every conceivable way.
God makes us RICH in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God
3. Give with Thankfulness!
12 This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. 13 Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. 14 And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. 15 Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
Your giving sets off a never-ending cycle of THANKSGIVING to God. You give from an overflow of THANKS to God. In turn, the ones who benefit from your generosity lift their hearts in THANKS to God. They, in their turn, give because they are THANKFUL, and then more people benefit from their gifts and in turn, THEY give thanks and so on and so on.
We give out of love and appreciation for all God has given us. There is an old saying, “You can give without love, but you can’t love without giving.” I get a picture of how much Susan and I LOVE our 4 grandchildren when I look at what we spent on them this last Christmas. We can’t help ourselves. We love giving them gifts! And we can do that because we are the grandparents!
Paul Harvey once pointed out that marital love usually goes in 3 stages. First there’s ROMANCE … when the couple is infatuated and the electricity flows. (You know, when they are pretty much out of their minds)
But romance always fades, and then they suddenly see each other’s faults. That when the stage of TOLERENCE starts. They put up with each other as best they can.
And only after this stage are they ready to move to the 3rd stage of MATURE LOVE. That is when they have learned to look past the faults and to sacrifice for each other.
The trouble is that too many people jump ship in the TOLERENCE stage, and they never experience the JOY of Mature Love.
It occurs to me that many people go though those same 3 stages in their relationship to their church. When you first come to church you are swept off your feet. You think, “Wow, this is the most wonderful church ever. These people are so friendly! I love the music! That’s the greatest preacher I’ve ever heard!” (Well, you might say that…)
Then after a while you start seeing some faults. The greeter forgot your name. There’s a draft that hits right where you like to sit. Somebody took your parking space. The music is too loud/soft/fast/or slow (take your pick.) Of course, the preacher is still great … but nothing else is up to standard.
It’s only when you stick though the tough times and the disappointing experiences that eventually you can reach the mature stage of LOVING the church in spite of her faults. That’s when you really find out how JESUS loves His Church --- not because we are perfect, but because we belong to HIM.
In our Pueblo (Bible study) groups, we are studying a book called, “I stopped dating the Church.” That book makes a good companion to this preaching series because it helps us get past the shallow, immature attitudes most people have towards the church to the more mature, self sacrificing motivations growing Christians develop towards their local congregation.
CONCLUSION:
This congregation is far from flawless in and of itself, but it is still part of the bride of Christ. Jesus died for her and has placed his Holy Spirit in her. He broods over her with his deep love, and blesses her with his grace. He placed you here to be a part of her. And he is knitting us together to be the body of Christ and the temple built of living stones to the praise of His glory. If you are going to be a CHCC member, be the best and most dedicated member you can be. What you get out of this church depends on what you put in to her.
