Stewardship (BFM #21)
If You’re Happy and You Know it, Give a Tithe!
Text: 2nd Corinthians 8:9-15
By: Ken McKinley
(Read Text)
Today, we’re looking at article 13 of the BFM which is on Stewardship, so if you will take your BFM and follow along as I read article 13 to you we’ll go ahead and get started (Read). Now if you’ve never had the privilege to sit through a 2 hour sermon before, it will help you to be aware that I will be using a couple of different scriptures this morning, but I will repeatedly be coming back to our text… (Just Kidding… It’s not going to be 2 hours long. We may go a little over time today, but not by much).
Now I have to confess; that I really don’t like the majority of sermons I’ve heard on money. I don’t like to hear them, and I’m really not fond of preaching them. And that’s because there are so many sermons out there that are teaching the wrong things about it. I’m sure you’ve all seen various TV televangelists standing behind a massive pulpit in a multi-million dollar sanctuary, waving his Bible around telling you to claim your right to riches. “God wants a new Mercedes Benz and He wants me to drive it!” Or something similar. And that’s why I don’t like it. It turns my stomach. You see, anytime someone try’s to make God subservient to the whims and will of man, what they have done is exalted themselves to the position of God. It’s the same sin that caused Satan’s fall. “I will be like the Most High.” Well when you hear someone tell you that you have the power to manipulate God through a positive confession, or even positive thinking… it’s really no different. And so; I don’t like sermons on money, but the fact of the matter is that money is addressed in the Bible, just like a number of other things are, and if I’m going to preach the full counsel of God’s Word, I have to address these issues, and it is an important issue.
The Bible has a lot to say about money and material possessions, and about how we use them, and so today, I want us to look at several truths that the Bible lays out for us concerning our stewardship, concerning the gifts that God has given to us.
Now in our text; Paul is speaking to the Corinthians in a very practical situation. Some time before this; they had come together and made a decision to give financially to their Christian brothers and sisters in Palestine, but when the time came close, they started having second thoughts about it. You see they had made a commitment to give, but some of them were backing out on their commitments. So Paul had to remind them of a couple of things here.
So what he does is point them to Jesus, and to Jesus as their example in giving. Verse 9 – Jesus was rich, but He became poor, for your sake, so that you might become rich. Jesus gave up the glory of heaven, the splendor of heaven, the perfection of heaven and He became a man, born in a manger. He lived as a man in this sin infested world, and He died as a man, all for our sakes. He gave Himself. So Paul’s saying, “Hey if you want to understand Christian giving; if you want a concise theology of how Christians should give, look at Jesus.” We could go back to John 3:16 and look at God. The Almighty Maker of heaven and earth, giving His only begotten Son in order to redeem mankind. In other words, God the Father and God the Son saw humanities need. We all were in desperate need. We were sinful and hell bound, and in desperate need of a Savior.
So God gave.
But look what else Paul says, in verse 10 he says, “It’s to your advantage…” And in verses 13 and 14 he says, “Look, I’m not saying you should give so that these saints who are in need can kick back and live in luxury, while you all have to suffer because you gave away your possessions.” He’s not saying that. He’s saying, “You give to those saints in need, because THEY HAVE NEED. And don’t sweat it, because there will come a day when those saints are no longer in need, you might be the one who needs help.”
I recently heard about a church in Florida that just got a $30 check from Christians in Africa to help out with the Haiti relief fund. That’s a tremendous sacrifice for those African Christians; $30 is a huge amount of money. But they sent it to a church in Florida that is heavily involved in the Haiti relief efforts. I think that’s a perfect example of what Paul is talking about here. And don’t forget; it was the generosity of the Christians in Antioch that allowed Paul to come to Corinth and preach the Gospel and plant a church in the first place.
So keep all this in mind as we look at these truths that God has given to us in His Word about giving, and turn with me to Matthew chapter 6:1-4 (Read).
Truth Number One: Giving is an essential part of the Christian life.
Look at what Jesus just said to His disciples here in Matthew 6 – Notice that Jesus didn’t say, “If you do a charitable deed…” He says, “WHEN you do a charitable deed…” In other words, doing charitable deeds is expected… it’s implied. Jesus expected His disciples to be giving. And that’s because in our giving we are acknowledging that everything belongs to God. That’s what stewardship is. God owns it all, we are simply the stewards, and when we give back into His kingdom we are acknowledging that He is more important than anything else. That’s why the Bible says, “Where your treasure is, there your heart lies.” This is why giving is an essential part of the Christian life.
Truth Number Two: Giving must be done for the right reasons.
That’s what this passage in Matthew is telling us. Are you doing it for the praises of men? Do you do what you do so that people will say, “Wow, so and so is a great Christian. They are so spiritual.” Our reasons for giving should never be so that we can earn the praises of men. But there are other “wrong” reasons to give as well. When the televangelist tells you “If you have a need then sow a seed.” And he uses all kinds of Scripture completely out of context, and you give thinking that God is somehow obligated into “paying you back” then that is the wrong motivation. In-fact it’s one of the most wrong motivations a person can have. That’s giving out of selfish desire. And it’s a complete misunderstanding of God. We can’t bribe God. If you’re a Christian then God’s already given you the greatest gift possible. God’s Word teaches that we give back to Him, out of the blessings that He has blessed us with. We give proportionately to what He has given to us. And we don’t trick Him, or manipulate Him into giving us more by doing this. Now I do think there is a Biblical principle that God blesses us when we give, but we don’t give in order to get. We give because we want to, we give because we want to further the cause of Christ, because we want to help those less fortunate in charitable giving, we want to spread the Gospel throughout the world, and to keep the local ministry intact. Never so that we can become rich or prosperous in material things. I could say a lot about this, but we need to move on.
Truth Number Three: Christian giving is an act of Worship.
This actually goes all the way back to Cain and Abel. They were to give as an act of worship. In 1st Corinthians 16:2 the apostle Paul instructs the Corinthians to set aside their offerings on Sunday. It was a part of the worship service. You see; all of Christian life is about glorifying God and one of the most important ways we do that is through worship. The Church is to come together on a certain day, and we follow the Apostles tradition of that day being Sunday, and when we come together we are to worship the Lord. We do that through singing, through the preaching of the Word, through the sacraments of Baptism and Communion, and through our giving. Again this is saying that God is more important to us than anything.
Truth Number Four: Our giving must be out of a willing heart
Second Corinthians 9:7 says, “So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.” This goes along with number 2 “Giving For the Right Reasons.”
Turn with me to Luke chapter 7:36-50 (Read). See it’s interesting that in the example that Jesus gives He brings it around to issues of money. See the Pharisees were thinking to themselves, “If Jesus really knew what kind of woman that was; He wouldn’t be letting her do that. If He was really the Messiah, or a prophet, then He would rebuke her.” But Jesus knew exactly what kind of woman she was. He knew her sin, He knew her lifestyle. So here was this woman, a sinner, but there was something else. She was a sinner who had placed her trust in Jesus, and He saved her. And out of loving gratitude she took her most valuable possession and gave it back to the Lord. So then Jesus uses the situation as a teachable moment, and He uses an example of two men who got into debt… Jesus brings it to the point of money and possessions. That tells me that these Pharisees were probably not only concerned that the woman was a well known sinner, but they saw her act of worship as an act of wastefulness. And Jesus says, “He who is forgiven much loves much, but he who is forgiven little, loves little.” In other words, the Pharisees obviously didn’t think they needed to be forgiven, and so they weren’t showing love in the same way this woman was. This sinful, vile woman had more love in her heart for the Lord than the religious, pious, Pharisees.
What this woman did was her way of saying thank you to Jesus. It was pure worship motivated by love and gratitude.
Now I told ya’ll that we would be coming back to our text in 2nd Corinthians 8 so lets turn there really quickly and look at verse 12 (Read). Do you see what Paul’s saying here? Look at it again… IF IT’S OF A WILLING MIND IT WILL BE ACCEPTED. Again, this goes all the way back to Cain and Abel. God doesn’t want your money if you’re not willing to part with it. And God doesn’t want you leftovers, because you see your first fruits as too valuable to let go. In 2nd Corinthians 9:7 – we just read it, Paul said, “Let each one give as he has purposed in his heart…” God wants our giving to be authentic. If you ever feel coerced, don’t give. If you ever feel grudgingly about giving then keep your money.
God doesn’t need our money. He can build His kingdom with or without us. The kingdom doesn’t hang in the balance based on our support and giving. If you look at the statistics, some of the most poverty stricken nations in the world have some of the most thriving churches.
So if you’re like me then your thinking to yourself, so what’s the point of giving at all then? Well the point is that God has privileged us to be fellow workers. We are His workmanship and we are to be fellow workers in His kingdom. The point is that we are blessed with so much and God has ordained our giving as a way to show our gratitude, that our giving be an act of worship, that our giving shows us where our hearts lie, and again that we, as sinful as we are, as helpless as we are, as foolish as we are, that we can be a part in what God is doing on this earth.
It is an incredible privilege to give into the kingdom. And God understands that at times we may not be able to give what we would like, and God understands that at times we may not even be able to give. God will get by just fine. Give when you’re able; out of a willing heart, be a cheerful giver, and do it as an act of worship, praise and thanksgiving.
Prayer and Closing
