Well, we have reached the last message in this Faith and Family series. Over the past six weeks, we’ve talked about some sticky subjects. We’ve talked about submission. We’ve talked about sacrifice. We’ve talked about the covenant nature of marriage. We’ve talked about sex. We’ve talked about divorce and discipline and responsibility and forgiveness. We’ve covered some tough topics. This morning is no different. As a matter of fact, the subject of this morning’s passage has the potential to make more people mad than any of them. Because this morning, we’re talking about money. Now, why is that? Out of all the subjects we talk about in church, why does money seem to be the most sensitive? Maybe because it’s an indication of where our treasure really lies? Maybe it tells us what’s really important to us? Is money important to us? Of course it is. Should it be? Of course it should be. Money is what we use to provide for our families. And the Bible says that a person who doesn’t provide for the needs of his family is worse than an infidel. A large majority of our lives are spent either earning or spending money. And when you spend that much time on something, it has to be pretty important to you. When we work hard for something, we want to keep it. We look at it as OUR money because we’ve worked hard for it. And when something is ours, we want to hold on to it or use it for something that we want. But here’s the bottom line—it isn’t yours. Just like everything you are, and everything you have—it all belongs to the one who created it in the first place. You have no right or claim to anything you have. All you have is stuff that you have been given temporary custody of. And with that temporary custody comes the responsibility that goes along with it. The responsibility to use it wisely. The responsibility to use it according to God’s purposes for it. The responsibility to be a good steward of the good gifts that God has provided you with. Where does that all start? It starts in the home. It starts in your family. Does your family know where their money comes from? Does your family know where their material resources come from? My kids have never been raised on a farm. All their lives, they grew up in housing developments in military towns or in base housing. Because of that, when they see hamburger meat, they think it came from the grocery store. When they see milk, they think it came from a carton. When they see those things, they don’t even think about those things coming from a cow. So, how will they know unless I teach them? The same thing happens when we talk about money. Where does your money come from? Does it come from a paycheck from your job? Does it come from the bank? Does it come from the checkbook or credit cards? Is that all your family sees? Or do they know that it all comes from God? How will they know unless you teach them? That brings up the next question—how do you teach them? Do you teach them by telling them? Or do you teach them by showing them? You can tell them that it all belongs to God all day long—and you should. But is that teaching them? No—teaching them is showing them. And you show them by the way you let it go. You show them by the way you freely give of what the Lord has seen fit to give you temporary custody of. This passage isn’t written in the specific context of the family. But the family is where we deal with our finances most. It is the place where we set our financial priorities and where we pass those priorities on to our children. It is the place where our stewardship is most evident. So, understanding that, we’re going to look at this passage and ask it three questions. We’re going to ask it: How should our family give? What should our family give? And why should our family give? The first question we’re going to let this passage answer is, How should our family give?
Now, before we get too far, we need to clear some things up. This is probably one of the most abused passages in all of Scripture. There is a whole movement that has grown up out of the abuse of this passage, called the “seed-faith” movement. Here’s the principle—if you send us X number of dollars in faith, you will get a whole lot more money back. And then they parade all these people in front of the TV who got lots of money from God because they sent Him $20. Anytime someone tries to manipulate you into giving money by appealing to your greed, it’s wrong. It’s wrong, it’s contrary to Scripture and it offends God. It would be more biblical to tell you to sell everything you have and give it to the poor with no thought about what you were going to get out of it. That would be more biblical, but Jesus would only ask you to do that if your money was what was standing between you and a relationship with Him. That’s what He did with the rich young ruler. No—most of the time, Jesus will not ask you to give everything you have. And He will never ask you to give with the expectation that you will get something in return. He isn’t running a lottery. He isn’t running an investment house. It is all His in the first place. And He requires you to give so that you will be reminded of that. So that brings us back to the question: How do our families need to give?
We need to give bountifully. The word that’s translated into the word “bountifully” in verse 6 is the same word we get the word “eulogy” from. Think about what a person does when they give a eulogy at a funeral. They heap praise on the person who has died. That is the way we are supposed to give. Well, I’m only going to say 10% worth of nice things about you in this eulogy. That’s what I’m required to say and that’s all I’m going to say. That’s not what happens, is it? Think of all the people that lined up to eulogize Michael Jackson at his funeral. It went on for hours. And there wasn’t that much nice about him. But they heaped praise on him anyway. That’s the way our giving is supposed to be. It is supposed to be bountiful. Even if we don’t have that much to give in the first place—heap it up! Not only is our giving supposed to be bountiful, it’s is supposed to be personal. Verse 7 says that we are to give as we purpose in our HEART. What you give isn’t to be a matter of public discussion. I don’t know what one single person in here gives except me. And I shouldn’t. The only reason that the church keeps records of who gives is for tax purposes. And I don’t want to know. I don’t need to know, and nobody else does. Your giving is between you and God. God gives you a certain amount of resources in order to test your faithfulness. Whether you pass or fail that test is between you and Him. Give bountifully, give personally, also give free of control. Verse 7 goes on to say, “so let him give, not grudgingly.” The word “grudgingly” carries the idea of compulsion. We like to think of that as only meaning that we shouldn’t give because we feel we have to or that we’re forced to. Well, we certainly aren’t forced to give. But we should feel like we have to. Because giving is a requirement. We are obligated to return to the Lord a portion of what’s His in the first place. But the idea of compulsion has another side to it. Compulsion also means that we don’t give as a way to compel others to do what we want them to. In other words, we are not to give our money with strings attached. When we give, we give to the Lord. We are entrusting those He’s given the responsibility to, to spend the money in accordance with His will. When we give, it’s not our responsibility to compel them to spend it the way we want them to. When a person says that they are only going to give money to a certain ministry of the church, they are using their money as a way to control things in the church. By the same token, when a person stops giving because they don’t like something that’s going on in the church, they’re trying to control things with their money. God doesn’t give us money in order that we should use it as a tool to get our way. He doesn’t give it to us so that we should give it grudgingly—so that we should give it with strings attached. He gives it to us so that we should give it back to Him, in His body, the local church. If the people that He has entrusted to spend that money, spend it wrongly—He will deal with us. Harshly. If you want to see a case study in that, read about Eli’s sons in 1 Samuel 2. Samuel told them that the way they were abusing their position as priests and the way that they were wasting the offerings of the people were more than offenses against the people. They were direct sins against God. And God ended up taking their lives because of it. You don’t have to try to exercise control over the money you give. You don’t need to give grudgingly. Leave the control up to God. He’s a whole lot better at it than you are anyway. Give bountifully, personally and free of control. Verse 7 continues by saying that we are not to give out of necessity. This is where we can get into trouble with tithing. I give because the Bible requires me to give 10%. Well, if that is your attitude, then you are acting as if you are still under the law. If Jesus has saved you, you aren’t. The Bible says that the letter of the Law kills, but the spirit of the Law gives life. Give your tithes and offerings, not because it’s a requirement. Give them because it is your desire. Giving is not an exercise in box checking. It’s not only a way to fill a particular need you see. It is free and loving and in recognition of Whose it is in the first place. The last thing that verse 7 says is that God loves a cheerful giver. The word that’s translated “cheerful” is the word that we get our word “hilarious” from. When was the last time you heard someone laughing hilariously when they put money into the offering plate? When was the last time you even smiled when you put money in? What kind of a lesson to you think it would teach your family if they saw you genuinely, hilariously happy to give money to the Body of Christ called the local church? That’s how this passage tells us that you need to give. How should our families give? Give bountifully, personally, free of control, not in order to check a box or only to fill a particular need, and most of all hilariously. That answers the question of how. Which brings us to the second question. What should our families give?
This is going to be a quick point. It’ll be quick, because we’re dealing with something that’s not explicit in the text. It’s not explicit, but it is obviously implicit, not just in our passage, but in the whole context of the passage. Paul started this section back at the beginning of chapter 8 when he was talking about the overwhelming giving by the extremely poor churches of Macedonia. A lot of times when we talk about giving, we try to soften the blow a bit. We talk about all of the different ways that we can give. We talk about giving our time. We talk about giving our talents. We talk about giving the use of the spiritual gifts God has given us. Those are all good things. We need to give freely of those things. But there is no way around it. This passage is talking specifically about giving money. Back in chapter 8, Paul was bragging on the impoverished Macedonians for the amount of money they had collected. And he was using that as sort of a challenge to the church at Corinth. And he didn’t offer them any substitutes. What was the money to be used for? It was to be used for their version of the Cooperative Program. Paul was going to pool the money that was given in Macedonia and the money that was given in Corinth and send it to Jerusalem. The church in Jerusalem was going through some tough times because of persecution, so the money was going to help provide some of their needs. Those particular needs could not be met with people’s time. They could not be met with people’s talents. Money was what was needed. And up until the Lord returns for His church, money will always be needed. Money is needed to cover costs for buildings and facilities and materials. Money is needed to take care of ministers and ministries. Money is needed to provide for missionaries and their expenses. Now, can the Lord accomplish those things without money? He certainly can. But He has given each of us financial means in order that our giving might be the way that He will accomplish those things. So, what do we need to give as a family? We certainly need to give of our time and talents and gifts. But we also need to give money. We know how our families should give. We also know what our families should give. Now, the question is, why? Why should our families give?
The first reason our families should give is to increase our joy. Wait a minute—if I can barely pay the bills and we’re living paycheck to paycheck, how will giving more increase my joy? Won’t that just increase my stress? What does our passage say? It uses words like “abound” and “having all sufficiency in all things”. Once again we see the word “bountifulness” in verse 11. We see “abundant” and “exceeding”. Those are joyous words. They’re not stressful words. They’re not worrying words. Many times God likes to use paradoxes. He says things like, “If you really try to hold on to your life, you’ll lose it. And if you are willing to lose your life, you’ll gain it.” The same thing holds true with your finances. The sooner you realize that it’s all God’s in the first place, the more joy you will begin to feel when you sacrificially and bountifully pour it back to Him. We need to give because it increases our joy. It also increases God’s grace. Verse 8 says that when we hilariously give our money back to God, He is able to make all grace abound to us. The more we pour out His resources back to Him, the more He will pour out His supplying grace back to us. But not only that, He will use our gifts to minister grace to others. Verses 12 and 13 talk about how God’s grace is shown to others when their gift is given to them. When you give to this church and the money is distributed, think of all the ways God’s grace is shown. It’s shown to me and my family. It’s shown to all the local churches who are helped through our association. It’s shown to all of the churches that have been planted and missions that have been started. It’s shown to all of the North American missionaries and International missionaries that have been sent. God’s grace abounds because of your giving. It abounds to you and it abounds to others. When our families give, it increases our joy, it increases God’s grace, and you will be personally enriched. Wow, that’ll get you attention, won’t it? That’s what verse 11 says. You will be enriched in everything to all bountifulness. Now, like I said earlier, that’s not talking about financial riches. The Lord is faithful to supply the financial needs of hilarious givers. Psalm 37:25 says, “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.” The Lord supplies materially. He doesn’t necessarily enrich materially. But He does enrich in righteousness. When your family gives hilariously, the Lord will pour out His love and mercy and grace on you in ways you can never imagine. When your families give, it also increases thankfulness. It does that in two directions. Your thankfulness will increase when you realize that your security is not in money. Your help doesn’t come from money—it comes from the Lord. He is your provider, not your paycheck. But thankfulness to God is increased in others. When the money you give is used by God to feed someone, or share the Gospel with someone, or open the Bible to someone at Brushfork Elementary School—those people will thank God. You might not ever know about it. But God knows. And He will receive glory by the thanksgiving offered up to Him. Finally, our families need to give to show us where our true treasure is. Verse 15 says, “Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift.” What is that gift He’s talking about? Is it money? No—He’s talking about the unspeakable gift of Christ. In Matthew 13:44 Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.” Jesus is that treasure. He is that gift that is so extravagantly precious that words can’t even begin to express His value and worth. If you were to add up all of the possessions you have ever had or ever will have, Jesus is worth infinitely more. The looser your grip on your worldly possessions, you can show your family how tightly you cling to Jesus as your true treasure. Is Jesus your treasure this morning? Or are you clinging tightly to your stuff? If I was to ask them, what would your family say? What would your checkbook register say? Where is your treasure? Do you need to take a step back this morning? Do you need to confess to Jesus that you haven’t been living with Him as your treasure? Do you need to align your bank statement with your faith statement this morning? Jesus’ gift to you is unspeakably indescribable. He gave His life for you. Make Him your treasure this morning.
