Tebow & John 3:16
Tim Tebow has been criticized for displaying his faith on the football field. While in college he once played with John 3:16 written on his face. More recently he has been the center of controversy in the NFL while playing for the Denver Bronco’s and “Tebowing” after a good play. Instead of dancing in the end zone and saying look at me he would kneel and give a prayer of praise to God.
In one of his last games this season he gained 316 yards. A lot of people connected that number with John 3:16 and it was a pretty big deal.
Whatever you think of the practice – whether it’s sincere or hypocrisy – it’s gotten a lot of attention. In fact, the google searches for John 3:16 spiked when Tebow wore the face paint and when he gained 316 yards.
I think that’s a good thing. I’m guessing that the majority of those who had to google John 3:16 didn’t know what it said and for the first time in their life they learned about the extravagant love of God for them.
It is this extravagant love that is the foundation for “Giving it Away.” The goal of this teaching series is simple. It is to challenge us to build a culture of generosity here at Meridian Christian Church. In other words, it is for each of us individually and for us as the Meridian Christian Church to be known for our extravagant love – which is expressed in the spirit and practice of generosity.
I believe that John 3:16 is the source of real generosity. Let’s look at this amazing verse.
God’s Extravagant Love
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
John 3:16
God gave… his only son. The Greek word here is a compilation of two words. “Mono” means one and “genes” which means genus or kind. There is only one like Jesus. He was God in the flesh. And he was sent to the cross by the Father God so that we could be saved from death. This is the extravagant love from the father God to us.
Can I be so bold to suggest something that is going to sound pretty radical? I think that the evidence God’s willingness to sacrifice his son on the altar of a Roman cross points to a simple fact – God worships you.
Now I don’t mean to suggest that God thinks that we are equal with him in anyway. What I mean to say is that God adores you – which is the meaning of worship – adoration.
In fact, God so adores you so much that he expressed this love in the extravagance of giving his life (through the incarnation of himself in the person of Jesus) as the ultimate substitute and sacrifice.
God allowed his son to die so that you can live. You don’t pay that kind of price unless you really adore somebody. With God that somebody is you.
This extravagant love cannot be dismissed and diminished. It demands our extravagant love in response. His extravagant love pleads for our extravagant love. The only remotely adequate response to his gift of life is your thanksgiving, adoration, and the presentation of your life.
This is worship. It’s not music and singing. That’s the expression of worship. Worship is the deeper, rooted response of your soul to the love of the Father, the sacrifice of the son, and the presence of the Spirit. It’s a burning flame deep in your soul that bursts into an explosion of adulation, admiration, gratitude, and praise. Music is just the vehicle that carries us along as we give ourselves wholly to God.
Giving life is the supreme act of worship and it is what we owe to our God. Giving is worship.
Last week we looked at the teaching that Paul gave to the Corinthian Church about what it takes to have joy (fun) in your giving.
Today we’re going to look at what Paul told them about the church up north in Macedonia – a poor church that somehow had learned to worship and adore God with great power.
A Wealth of Generosity
We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, 2 for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.
The grace of God – his extravagant love has overflowed in the lives of these people, in spite of their afflictions, in a wealth of generosity. Extravagant love results in extravagant giving.
But how did they do this? How did this happen in such a poor community. Not only was it poor – it had once been rich, which makes it even more amazing. Macedonia was a part of Greece where gold, silver, and copper had been mined in earlier times… but now the mines were played out.
Calumet in the UP was once a rich community with close to 400,000 people. They had their own opera house (which is still there) and the greatest singers in America came there to perform. It came within 2 votes of becoming the state capitol of Michigan. Today there is a population of less than 2000 and the much of the town looks like a bombed out city from WWII. The opera house sits alone and forlorn, a tourist stop for people who are driving to Copper Harbor.
Comparing Macedonia with Corinth would be like comparing Calumet and its Opera House with New York City and Carnegie Hall. Yet, Macedonia gave with great joy in great extravagance. Their generosity serves as an example for the church in Corinth and for us.
It’s no secret that Michigan has had a tough economy for the last several years and many of you have felt its effects. Some of you have been laid off. Others of you have seen your businesses slow down. We’ve seen our investments go down and our homes lose value. It’s been a tough time.
But God is still God and we and still experience His blessing. This morning I want to show you what the Macedonian believers did to become the church that Paul lifts up as an example of generosity and extravagant love.
What they did comes down to two simple practices that they did together.
The Macedonians Gave According to Their Means
3 For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord…
2 Corinthians 8:3
No one person made the difference. Everyone participated and everyone enjoyed God’s favor. The focus is not on the amount of the gift but on the idea of participation. Each person gave according to their means. Those who had much… gave much and those who had less… gave less, but everyone gave something.
Generosity is not about the size of the gift. It’s about our response to the extravagant love of God. He gave so we give and everyone can give something.
RUSSELL HERMAN'S LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT
In 1994, a 67-year-old carpenter named Russell Herman died in Marion, Illinois. In his last will and testament he bequeathed the following:
• $2.4 billion to the town of Cave-In-Rock • $2.4 billion to the city of East St. Louis • $1.5 billion for projects in southeastern Illinois
And in a final act of unprecedented generosity, he left $6 trillion to the Federal Reserve to pay off the national debt (it would take a lot more today because the debt is now over $14 trillion). There was only one problem: at the time of his death, the only thing Mr. Herman actually owned was a 1983 Olds Toronado.
Russell Herman may not have left behind anything of monetary value, but he did leave us all with a good reminder: you can’t give away what you don’t possess.
The bottom line is that he did not have the resources to make any of this a reality. Not so with God. He has all the means to make good on all His
promises. Our big idea today is this: In a world of broken promises, God can be counted on. We need to be like God and to give what we can.
If you don’t know where to start you can learn! I was talking with a friend this past week and he shared with me how he learned to be a giver. He told me how that he went to a church and the minister gave a process that he could put into place that helped him grow in his generosity.
So let share with you briefly three ways to learn to be generous.
Begin When You Are Young
7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.
Deuteronomy 6:7
One of the best gifts that my parents gave me was that they taught me to tithe and to give.
I’m holding the jar that my folks gave me when I was 9 or 10 years old. Just having it here with me today brings back a lot of memories of my youth. Each week on Saturday my mother would put 50 cents in this jar – a quarter, two dimes and a nickel. Then she would explain that I was to take a nickel to church on Sunday and to save another nickel. The other 40 cents I could do with whatever I wanted. So on Saturday after my chores were done I’d run up town with my friends and buy some candy or go to the Saturday matinee (which cost a quarter).
On Sunday I’d take the nickel out of the jar and take it to church where I would place it in the offering plate. On special occasions when there was a special need I would bring an extra dime and put it in the offering. That’s the easy way to learn about giving. My folks taught me how to give… according to my means.
Now some of you are saying… Well this is too late for me! I’m too old. But there are two groups here that can apply this lesson.
First, if you have children and you want to teach them to give my advice is to start early. Give them an allowance or pay them for specific chores and then
teach them to tithe and give offerings. Teach them to save also. Those are great lessons to learn.
Second, if you are a young person and you haven’t yet started into the world of debt and credit now is the time to start being generous. Set aside the tithe every time you earn some money and return it to the Lord. If you start giving according to your means today – before you have a car payment and rent to pay – it will be a lot easier to develop the attitude of generosity and to enjoy the blessings of God.
Begin Today
10 Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.
Malachi 3:10
A forester teaching a class about trees asked when the best time was to plant a tree. The class was silent so he gave them the answer – 20 years ago. Then he asked them when the second best time to plant a tree was. Again they were silent. So he gave them the answer – today.
You can’t go back into the past and change your personal history but you can start to give today and change the future.
Let me give you some steps to take. I’m going to get real practical.
Planning for Generosity
Establish Your Goal
Some have decided that they have enough and they will give whatever is extra. They return the tithe to the church and give offerings to expand the work of God in special ways.
Perhaps as a result of this incident, in 1731, Wesley began to limit his expenses so that he would have more money to give to the poor. He records that one year his income was 30 pounds and his living expenses 28 pounds, so he had 2 pounds to give away. The next year his income doubled, but he still managed to live on 28 pounds, so he had 32 pounds to give to the poor. In the third year,
his income jumped to 90 pounds. Instead of letting his expenses rise with his income, he kept them to 28 pounds and gave away 62 pounds. In the fourth year, he received 120 pounds. As before, his expenses were 28 pounds, so his giving rose to 92 pounds.
Wesley felt that the Christian should not merely tithe but give away all extra income once the family and creditors were taken care of. He believed that with increasing income, what should rise is not the Christian’s standard of living but the standard of giving.
This practice, begun at Oxford, continued throughout his life. Even when his income rose into the thousands of pounds sterling, he lived simply and he quickly gave away his surplus money. One year his income was a little over 1400 pounds. He lived on 30 pounds and gave away nearly 1400 pounds.
Because he had no family to care for, he had no need for savings. He was afraid of laying up treasures on earth, so the money went out in charity as quickly as it came in. He reports that he never had 100 pounds at any one time.
John Wesley had three rules about money. 1) Gain as much as you can; 2) Save as much as you can; and 3) Give as much as you can.
Determine Where to Begin
Some will start with the tithe. Some will not. Start with something.
Set aside 10% or 5% or 2% or $100, or $50… whatever it is set it aside first. In that way you are giving the first fruits and God is honored.
Set Up Your System and Begin
Use the envelope system. Set up a budget. Sign up for Mvelopes online. Put together a spreadsheet. Set up automatic billpay with your bank account so that you give the first fruits every time you have income.
Lucifer is going to do everything he can to distract you and to keep you from honoring God. To experience God’s blessings start and stick with it.
Add to Your Giving as God Prospers You
If you get a raise immediately don’t immediately go out and blow the money on a new car payment. Instead set aside the tithe on the increase in your income and then add to it so you can grow toward the tithe. Save a portion and use the rest for your family.
If a bill should happen to go down or if you should pay off some debt – set aside some toward increasing your giving and then use the rest to get rid of the rest of your debt.
When you have a windfall… tithe it from the beginning.
BTW: There is still time to sign up for and to join the Good Samaritan Project that begins tomorrow night!
The Macedonians Bought the Vision
4 begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints—
2 Corinthians 8:4
It wasn’t just about giving. It’s not just the mechanics and the logistics.
It was about what the giving would do. They had some saints that needed help so the collected offerings and sent the money with Paul. They pleaded to be able to participate. They bought the vision!
I told you a little earlier about the giving of John Wesley. He became a generous person because of a particular incident.
In his early years John seems to have enjoyed his relative prosperity. He spent his money on playing cards, tobacco and brandy.
It was during time teaching at Oxford that something happened to change his perspective on money. He had just finished paying for some pictures for his room when one of the chambermaids came to his door. It was a cold winter day, and he noticed that she had nothing to protect her except a thin linen gown.
He reached into his pocket to give her some money to buy a coat but found he had too little left. Immediately, the thought struck him that the Lord was not pleased with the way he had spent his money. This one event changed his way of looking at the world.
He stopped focusing on himself and started to think about others.
Let me ask you a question today. Do You Buy the Vision of Meridian Christian Church?
Helping People Find The Way Home
20 Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
Ephesians 3:20-21
This describes our method, our purpose and our goal.
Do you get the core values we subscribe to?
Welcoming: every person who comes through the door
Worshiping: returning to God the adoration he deserves from us as his kids.
Growing: studying, learning and encouraging one another
Serving: the body… especially our kid and the children in the community.
Reaching:
Pink Slip – not just helping people find jobs. It’s about building relationships with job seekers and those we partner with so we can introduce them to Jesus and help them find the way home.
Kids Kamp – not just about helping out working and single parents. It’s about building relationships with those families and helping them find the way home.
Help Build Hope – is not just about building a house in the parking lot. It’s about making partnerships with people in our community who will help us. We’re going to save a number of slots for people who aren’t part of the church family. We want to build relationships with them so we can help them find the way home.
GLCC Learning Center – is not just about build a new library. It’s about training young men and women and sending them out into the world as servant leaders who will help them find the way home.
Our Extravagant Love
5 and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us.
2 Corinthians 8:5
The Macedonians gave themselves, first, to God. They gave themselves, second, to their apostles and elders.
The results are really amazing.
I believe that this year is going to be a great year at MCC with your commitment to God and your support of our leaders.
We’re going to build a strong church where we are welcoming, worshiping, growing, serving, and reaching the lost.
I want to challenge you to step up and become part of the effort here at MCC. Buy in. Plant your roots here. Make this your home and place to serve the Lord. Become part of the family!
Don’t look at the church as a consumer… what is it doing for me. Look at the church family as a team that is working together to reflect God’s extravagant love to our community – and you get to be part of it!
It’s a great year and there is no limit to what God can do here at MCC in fact we need to give him the glory for what he is going to do this year and what he’s doing today.
Today our entire offering is going to three projects! It’s just plain exciting. Here some actions steps for today!
Action Steps
* Give Yourself to God - First
* Give Your Offering Today
* Start Teaching Your Children to Give
* Set Your Goal and Start to Grow
* Help with Kids Kamp
