P90X for the Soul
Giving
2 Corinthians 8:1-7
Intro
Slide
Well, we are continuing today in a series we have been calling P90X for your Soul, because P90X is an intense physical workout, and we are seeking to learn and implement some spiritual disciplines into our lives se we can put ourselves in a place to grow in godliness, to get stronger spiritually.
Over the past 4 weeks we have talked about many disciplines that are internal in nature: Bible study, fasting, prayer, and meditation.
Those disciplines are essential to preparing us for the external disciplines.
Today, we are going to be talking about the discipline of giving or sacrifice.
Slide
Now, I know that sometimes people think that pastors talk about giving all the time, especially the ones you see on TV. And quite frankly there are some that do talk about financial giving a lot saying that if you would just give financially, that you would be blessed financially.
I am certainly not of the health and wealth persuasion, meaning that if you become a Christian and are living as the Lord wants, that you will be rich and healthy.
The disciples were obedient to the Lords call in their life and they were not financially rich and nearly all of them died because they were being obedient to the Lord. Paul had some kind of thorn in his flesh that the Lord would not remove but was something that God used to help keep Paul humble and useful for the kingdom.
Now while these obedient followers of Christ did not get rich or necessarily stay healthy, they were used by the Lord and were provided for in their needs and experienced joy in the Lord here and are experiencing it in eternity.
We have got to remember that we are not living just for the 70 or 80 or 90 years we have here, but for the infinite number of years we have in eternity.
Transition
So, while we dont subscribe to give your money now to get rich here, we do believe that the Lord wants us to give and that he will provide for our needs and draw us into deep relationship with him as we rely on Him and not on other things.
And it is a topic that Jesus talked about often and that Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, talks about, so we are going to talk about it.
Turn with me to 2 Corinthians 8:1-7
Slide
This morning we are going to look at church that Paul used as an example to others because their giving was a model of sacrificial love and trust in the Lord, the same love and trust that the Lord wants us to have and to express.
So lets learn how we might honor the Lord in our giving.
Lets read.
2 Corinthians 8:1-7
8:1 And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. 2 Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. 3 For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, 4 they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints. 5 And they did not do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with Gods will. 6 So we urged Titus, since he had earlier made a beginning, to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part. 7 But just as you excel in everything-in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us-see that you also excel in this grace of giving.
Pray
Ok, Paul in the passage here is using the Macedonian church as a model for the Corinthians to encourage them to complete what they said they were going to do.
They had pledged help to the poor in Jerusalem and now Paul was going to be visiting them with some other men that would be going to Jerusalem with the gift and it would be embarrassing if they showed up and they had not prepared to give what they had promised.
So Paul writes to them ahead of his coming and encourages them to be true to their promise and encourages them with what the Macedonian churches did.
What examples of the Macedonian churches can we follow in our giving to honor God?
Well, to honor God in our giving,
We need to Give Sacrificially
Slide
The Macedonians gave sacrificially and we need to as well.
2 Corinthians 8:2-3 - Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. 3 For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability.
Wow, they gave beyond their ability. They did not give out of their abundance. In their giving, they felt it, it cost them. Their giving required them to go without something.
This reminds me of the poor widow who put only 2 small copper coins into the offering in the temple. Jesus said in
Luke 21:3-4 - "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put in more than all the others. 4 All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on."
We live in a very rich country even despite the economic downturn we have experienced. There are probably not too many that are as poor as the Macedonians. The point is not to put ourselves in poverty, but to use our resources to help others and to not just give out of our abundance, but give so it costs us something.
Giving out of our abundance is not sacrifice.
David
David, while he was king of Israel, knew that sacrifice to the Lord had to cost something.
When David sinned by counting the fighting men, putting his hope in his men instead of the Lord, God brought a plague on Israel, but then stopped as David humbled himself and repented.
In response David wanted to sacrifice to the Lord at the point of where the Lord withdrew His hand which was at the threshing floor of Araunah. Araunah offered to give it to David to offer in sacrifice to the Lord, but David said, "No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing." (2 Samuel 24:24)
It is not possible to sacrifice without feeling it in some way.
Ask yourself if you are giving so you dont feel it, or are you giving in such a way to the church and to those the Lord has placed in your life, in such a way that you are sacrificing?
We honor the Lord as we give sacrificially.
Now there may be some who hear this who are convicted and say to themselves, Fine, I know I need to give to the Lord sacrificially, but I am not happy about it.
Well, we also see here, that to honor the Lord in our giving,
We need to Give Joyfully
Slide
Look at verse 2 again. Not only did the Macedonian churches give sacrificially, but they did so with joy.
2 Corinthians 8:2 - Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.
They sacrificed joyfully.
They didnt sacrifice and complain that they gave away too much.
They didnt sacrifice and sulk that they didnt have anything.
They sacrificed and took joy in the fact that the Lord was using them to be a blessing to others and they in turn felt blessed.
The Lord does not want us giving begrudgingly or out of guilt.
2 Corinthians 9:7 - Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to givefor God loves a cheerful giver.
So, ask yourself, is my giving both sacrificial and joyful?
Internal Disciplines are important
This may seem impossible to us with where we are at in our spiritual walk with Christ. This is why it is so important to be practicing the internal disciplines we have talked about already. Those disciplines help draw us close to the Lord so we can sacrifice joyfully and grow in even deeper relationship with Him and trust Him even more.
Well, giving and sacrifice that honors the Lord is not only sacrificial and joyful, but it is also voluntary.
We need to give Voluntarily
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2 Corinthians 8:3-4
3 For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, 4 they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints. (from New International Version)
When is the last time you saw someone on the street corner begging?
If you work in the city, it has probably not been too long ago.
But when is the last time you saw someone begging to let them give you money and help you in your time of need?
That is what the Macedonian churches were doing.
They urgently pleaded with Paul for the privilege of sharing in this service.
Wow.
They were not being guilted into giving. They were volunteering to give and sacrifice.
I am not here today to guilt you are anyone else into giving.
However there is a difference between feeling guilt and feeling conviction.
We seek to satisfy guilt by appeasing another person. It is external to us. Fine, Ill give, are you happy now!
When we are feeling convicted by the Holy Spirit in something, we are seeking to satisfy something that is internal. We can give and nobody needs to know about it but you and God.
But our giving should not be compelled by others, though the Lord does use others to remind us to give and be sacrificial, just like Paul was doing with the Corinthians, reminding them to stay true to the Lord.
Our giving should be sacrificial, joyful and voluntary.
Wow, how can all of those be done together? I see that I can give sacrificially, but it may not be joyful. Or I can give joyfully and voluntarily, but it may not be sacrificial. How do we give in such a way that it encompasses all of these things that honor the Lord?
Well, to truly do that,
We need to give Ourselves
Slide
Look at 2 Corinthians 8:5 - And they did not do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord
Giving that is sacrificial, joyful and voluntary, is only possible when we are giving ourselves to the Lord wholeheartedly.
When we have given ourselves to the Lord, we recognize that we now have one that will care for us and be there for us far better than we can for ourselves.
Now there are 2 ways that we need to give ourselves to the Lord.
First, we need to give ourselves
Relationally
Slide
What this means is that you have to be in relationship with the Lord, you have to be his child to truly be able to give sacrificially, joyfully and voluntarily.
We become his child by receiving and believing in Jesus Christ as our Savior.
John 1:12 - Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God
Only by receiving Jesus as our Savior, believing that He is God in the flesh, that He died for your sins, and that He rose again, will you be able to be in relationship with the Father.
This is a one-time event. Once we have truly repented and received Christ as our Savior, we are in permanent family relationship with the Father.
And while it is impossible to give in a way that will honor the Lord without being his child, we also need to give ourselves to him
Sacrificially
Slide
Now where giving ourselves to the Lord relationally is a one time event, giving ourselves to the Lord sacrificially is a constant event.
Listen to what Paul writes to the Romans in
Romans 12:1
I urge you, brothers, in view of Gods mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God-this is your spiritual act of worship.
He says offer yourselves to God as living sacrifices.
The problem with a living sacrifice versus a dead sacrifice is that living sacrifices are constantly trying to crawl off the altar.
Giving ourselves to the Lord sacrificially and completely, is going to be a week by week, day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute, and moment by moment event.
That is because, if we are in a relationship with the Lord, we will constantly be battling
Serving the Lord and serving ourselves.
Sacrificing for the Lord or spending what we have on ourselves.
It is the battle between flesh and spirit.
It is the battle that Paul talks about in Romans 7.
Romans 7:21-25
21 So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in Gods law; 23 but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God-through Jesus Christ our Lord!
It is only through constant and continual, moment by moment giving of ourselves to the Lord, like the Macedonians did, that we are going to be able to truly give and sacrifice like the Lord wants us to and experience the true closeness and reliance on Him that he desires and we crave, though we look to satisfy that crave elsewhere.
Transition
Ok, so you sit here today and you hear this message of giving, and believe it and are convicted by it, but how practically do we take steps to do it?
Practical steps to take
Slide
We may find ourselves today over burdened with debt, in a place where we just dont see how it is possible to truly give sacrificially when you feel you are barely making it as it is.
You need to realize being in relationship with the Lord is a journey like any relationship. We dont go from living for ourselves to living for the Lord completely overnight. The Lord grows us and He grows us by placing in front of us steps of faith.
No matter where you are on your spiritual walk, there are steps that the Lord wants you to take to draw into deeper relationship with Him.
This is why we are going through this series, to implement some disciplines in our life to help us discern and see what steps he wants us to take and reveal steps we havent taken.
Today we happen to be talking about financial giving. We will talk about other ways to give later, but I want to give you some practical steps of taking steps to trust the Lord with your finances.
First,
Give the Best
Slide
In the Bible, there is a concept called the first fruits.
By that, it was that you were supposed to give God the first and best part of what you receive.
So often we are giving back to God out of what we have left over.
We need to make a point of giving to Him the first and best part of what we get.
Listen to what the Lord says about those who are giving less than the best.
Malachi 1:6-8 - where is the respect due me?" says the LORD Almighty. "It is you, O priests, who show contempt for my name.
"But you ask, How have we shown contempt for your name?
7 "You place defiled food on my altar.
"But you ask, How have we defiled you?
"By saying that the LORDs table is contemptible. 8 When you bring blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice crippled or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?" says the LORD Almighty.
They were giving to the Lord the worst and what was left, not the first and the best.
Imagine inviting someone over for dinner and saying, let me and my family eat first and you can enjoy what is left.
When we say to the Lord, Lord, let me pay all of my bills and by my groceries and whatever else I need, then I will give to you we are basically saying, Lord, I dont trust that you will provide enough for me to live on.
When we sacrifice for the Lord, we need to give Him the first and best part of what we have and glorify Him by trusting Him to provide for you with the rest.
We should also
Give a Tithe
Slide
Malachi 3:8-10
8 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 cursethe whole nation of youbecause 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.
A tithe is 10% of what we earn.
Now if you are newer to Christianity, this may seem like crazy talk.
Ten percent! Are you nuts. I cant give 10 percent.
When I first heard this, I thought there is no way I can do that. But as I grew in my relationship with the Lord and understood that is more about trusting Him through my giving, I took steps that moved me closer to that.
If you are here today and this seems impossible and you are far from giving a tithe or 10%, take a step toward it.
If you are giving 1%, take a step to give 2% and increase that at the beginning of the year as you redo your budget.
If you are giving 10 bucks, give 15 a week, taking a step of trust and faith that the Lord will provide.
If you are giving $50 and you have an income of $1000 a week, a tithe for you would be $100 a week. Take a step to increase that and move toward the tithe.
So we want to give the best, give a tenth and finally we want to
Give regularly
Slide
1 Corinthians 16:1-2a
1 Now about the collection for Gods people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. 2 On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income,
You should give weekly or monthly according to what you have earned that week or month.
If you dont go to church one week, that doesnt mean that you shouldnt give that week.
If you are a member or regular attender of Hickory Creek, you should give regularly to the work of the church.
Conclusion
So we need to be giving back to the Lord as a sign of our trust and faith in Him and not our money and to be used by the Lord in mighty ways to help those in need. Your giving to the church helps people not only in physical need, but most importantly by meeting the need that everyone of us has or has had at one point, and that is the need of salvation through Jesus Christ.
We have to continue to proclaim that good news of Jesus Christ so that people will not be entering eternity apart from the Lord, eternally separated, and eternally in hell.
I want to close in the words of Paul to the Corinthians that we read earlier
1 Corinthians 8:7
7 But just as you excel in everything-in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us-see that you also excel in this grace of giving.
We are going to take up our offering and the worship team is going to come up and lead us in the Stand. Part of the lyrics and chorus go like this.
So what can I say
What can I do
But offer this heart O God
Completely to You
So Ill stand
With arms high and heart abandoned
In awe of the One who gave it all
So Ill stand
My soul Lord to You surrendered
All I am is Yours
