INTRO.- ILL.- The story is told of a very wealthy man who, on the occasion of his daughter’s marriage, sent a check for $5,000 to the bridegroom as a wedding present. He sent it by the hand of the bride’s sister and when she returned, the man eagerly asked: “What did your new brother-in-law say when you gave the check?” The girl replied. “He didn’t say anything, but when he looked at it he began to cry.”
“And how long did he cry?” was the question. And she replied, “Oh, I imagine for about a minute.”
“Only a minute?” roared the giver, “Why, I cried for an hour after I had signed the check!”
Does giving make you cry?
How can we not think about giving when it’s Christmas? That’s the thing to do, is it not? The Christmas spirit is the giving spirit.
- ANNE FRANK: No one has ever become poor by giving.
- WINSTON CHURCHILL: We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.
Giving is a part of life. God so loved the world that He gave. If we love others, how can we not give in some form or another?
ILL.- A preacher wrote a wealthy and influential businessman, asking for a gift for a certain mission project. He promptly received a curt refusal which ended by saying, “As far as I can see, this Christian business is just one continuous give, give, give.”
After a short time the preacher wrote back: “I wish to thank you for the best definition of the Christian life that I ever heard.”
ILL.- The Baptist preacher just finished his sermon for the day and proceeded toward the back of the church for his usual greetings and handshaking as the congregation left the church. After shaking a few adult hands he came upon the seven year old son of one of the Deacons of the church.
"Good morning, Jonathan," the preacher said as he reached out to shake Joanthan’s hand.
As he was doing do he felt something in the palm of Jonathan’s hand. "What’s this?" the preacher asked.
"Money," said Jonathan with a big smile on his face, "It’s for you!"
"I don’t want to take your money, Jonathan," the preacher answered.
"I want you to have it," said Jonathan. After a short pause Jonathan continued, "My daddy says you’re the poorest preacher we ever had and I want to help you."
The way I look at it is this: EVERYONE NEEDS SOME HELP! It may not be money, but they need something. And everyone is poor in certain ways. No matter how much we have materially speaking, we all are still poor. Poor because of sin. Poor because of our need for the Lord.
But we are rich because we know Him and have Him in our lives and yet, we are poor, because we still need more of Him. We are poor because we will never have enough of Him while on earth. But some day we will be the richest of the rich! We will be with Him in the next life.
As we head toward Christmas and heaven, we need to think about giving.
PROP.- Two basic thoughts about giving.
1- Giving to God
2- Giving to man
I. GIVING TO GOD
ILL.- Minister to his congregation: “This morning we will worship the Lord in silent prayer, followed by a silent offering. It will fall even more silently if you fold it.”
Remember the days when it was coins and not bills or checks?
ILL.- A special offering was being taken in a church for missions. A man was approached and asked, “How much will you give, brother?” He replied, “I guess I can give $10 and not feel it.” The other man said, “Why not make it twenty and feel it?!”
Could it be that we don’t give to the point where we really feel it? Meaning, we really haven’t given sacrificially. We only give out of our overflow, our extra. Many will go in debt to purchase something they want but they won’t go beyond in giving!
ILL.- Recently, I had someone ask me, “Don’t I owe the Lord 10 percent?” Well, yes and no. It depends on how you look at scripture and your own faith.
Many Christians go by the principle of Malachi 3:8-10 "Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. "But you ask, ’How do we rob you?’ "In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me. 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.”
Do people truly rob God? Yes, in many ways. Probably the biggest way is robbing God of glory and praise. Any time we are blessed with something good, He deserves the glory and the praise. And many people don’t give God any praise at all. Why? Because many of them don’t believe in Him.
Many people think the good stuff they have in life (job, house, cars, money, etc.) is because they worked for it and God had nothing to do with it. WRONG! God has everything to do with it!
ILL.- Bill Gates and Warren Buffett are the two richest men in the world. Bill Gates is the 54 year old Chairman of Microsoft and is worth $50 billion. Warren Buffett is 79 years old and is the Chairman & CEO, Berkshire Hathaway and is worth $37 billion.
Whether these men know it or not, they wouldn’t have it or be shrewd enough to make that money without God’s blessing. They may not acknowledge God at all, but we should! WE SHOULD KNOW BETTER AND COUNT OUR BLESSINGS EVERY DAY AND PRAISE HIM!
Do people rob God in their giving? Yes, because God says so. If we acknowledge God as God and Him being the giver of every good gift, then He also asks of us to give back Him. If we don’t, WE ROB HIM.
Why give back to God when He owns everything and doesn’t need money like humans do? Because wants us to learn the lesson of giving. And He wants us to give back to His cause on planet earth. It takes money to preach the gospel around the world and reach people for Christ! It also takes money to feed starving people and that’s a part of His work.
“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.”
The idea in scripture about giving is that it’s good for us. It shows that God has touched our hearts and that we are becoming like Him. God is the greatest giver there is and we should want to be like Him or imitate Him.
God has also promised to bless us as we bless Him in giving.
ILL.- The doctor sent a note to his minister, “Sorry that I haven’t tithed for three months, but, you know, there’s a lot of that going around.” Yeah, there’s a lot of non-Christian stuff going around! Lack of giving, lack of love, etc.
What about giving a tithe or 10 percent? I think that’s a good amount of giving for some people. And many people really believe that we owe God a tithe as a minimum If that’s your faith then honor it.
II Cor. 9:6-8 6Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8And 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.
According to this scripture we are to give because we want to give. We are to give cheerfully. We are not to give reluctantly or because someone is putting pressure on us to give. I don’t like that kind of giving.
I’ve heard it said that God loves cheerful givers but He’ll also accept from a grouch! That could be but there will be no blessing in grouchy giving. WE MUST GIVE FROM THE HEART.
It’s good to give in order to meet a need, but if someone is trying to twist my arm, it won’t happen. I don’t respond to force or coercion nor do most people. You must personally decide what you’re going to give and you should do it out of faith, love and a cheerful heart.
ILL.- While a minister announced that a missionary offering would be taken, one man in the church said he would not give because he didn’t believe in missions. “All right then,” said the minister, “Take some of the offering for yourself because it’s for the heathen.”
Could it be that the Lord considers us somewhat heathen if we don’t care about the lost of this world, even in other countries?
ILL.- Someone said that God does not judge us on what we give but by what we keep for ourselves. OOH! OUCH!
This is quite a thought, is it not? Because we all keep more than we give. WE ALL DO.
ILL.- A group of businessmen, all with above average means, were praying that God provide $1,500 for a church need. Preacher Dwight L. Moody said, “Men, stop asking God to give you the needed money. Any one of you could write a check for this amount right now. Why not write the check and begin praising God?”
I think this is true for most needs in our church. We already have the money for various needs. We just don’t give it.
ILL.- J.L. Kraft, head of the Kraft Cheese Corporation, who had given approximately 25% of his enormous income to Christian causes for many years, said, "The only investment I ever made which has paid consistently increasing dividends is the money I have given to the Lord."
J. D. Rockefeller said, "I never would have been able to tithe the first million dollars I ever made if I had not tithed my first salary, which was $1.50 per week."
II. GIVING TO MAN
ILL.- The preacher was called for the reading of the will of a wealthy businessman in his church who had passed. It read, “Being of sound mind and body, I spent it all.”
This is the attitude and action of most people. They are not interested in giving money to anyone nor are they interested in leaving any money behind for others to use; even their own children. HOW SAD TO BE SO SELFISH!
Galatians 6:9-10 “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”
Doing good to all people would certainly include giving. If someone has a need and you can help with that need, you should give to them. I rather enjoy giving money to people and especially, in a time of need.
ILL.- The Perfect Gift. "Thanks for the electric guitar you gave me for Christmas," little Chris Cody said to his uncle the first time he saw him after the holidays. "It’s the best present I ever got."
"That’s great," said his uncle. "Do you know how to play it?"
"Oh, I don’t play it," the little fellow said. "My mom gives me a dollar a day not to play it during the day and my dad gives me five dollars a week not to play it at night."
Have you ever given the perfect gift to someone or what you thought was the perfect gift? That was nice of you. It’s always nice when you hit the nail on the head as far as gift-giving is concerned.
ILL.- Big-name stars? Definitely. But big givers? Apparently. Angelina Jolie, 34, and Brad Pitt, 45, gave a whopping $6.8 million to charities in 2008. That was the amount given to various groups through the philanthropically minded couple’s Jolie-Pitt Foundation, which donated about half of the $13 million it raised last year to nonprofits like Global Health, Human Rights Watch, the Armed Services YMCA, and Pitt’s own Make It Right Foundation, dedicated to rebuilding New Orleans.
Another $1 million went to various causes in Cambodia, home country for their son Maddox.
Now what do you think of that? I think the rich and famous should give some money to help others less fortunate than themselves. It won’t buy them a home in heaven, however!
ILL.- Basketball great Shaquille O’Neal paid for a 5-year-old North Carolina girl’s funeral after learning of the sad circumstances surrounding her death, according to ContactMusic. The little girl was murdered.
O’Neal’s spokesperson said he was so moved by the story that he contacted the girl’s father, Bradley Lockhart, and asked what he could do to help. O’Neal paid for the Nov. 22 funeral, which was attended by over 2,000 people.
"What happened to her was tragic. I wanted her to have a funeral that would be as beautiful as she was," O’Neal said in a statement.
Hooray for Shaquille O’Neal! And God be praised because He’s the one who has blessed with Shaq with everything good he has. Of course, with a salary of $21 million per year he can afford this without blinking an eye.
ILL.- Someone said: “If you have much, give of your wealth; If you have little, give of your heart.” We should always give of our hearts!
Giving to others doesn’t stop with giving money or material gifts. I think there are times when we can give ourselves, our time, etc. and it is perhaps the greater gift that we can give.
John Wesley had this for his rule of life:
Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
To all the people you can,
As long as ever you can.
CONCLUSION--------------------------------
John 3:16 How does it read? Can we quote it again?
For God so loved the world that He gave.
Shouldn’t this alone be enough incentive to give back to Him through His church and missions? And shouldn’t this verse and truth be enough to motivate us to give to others?
TIS THE SEASON TO GIVE!
