Support GBC Through Stewardship
Series: Get on the Ship
Chuck Sligh
January 13, 2013
TEXT: Turn with me to Matthew 6
INTRODUCTION
This is the second sermon in a series titled, “Get on the Ship” that focuses on important local church issues and our responses to them. We’re examining these important ways to “get on the ship” so to speak, in the local church: Partnering through Membership; Supporting through Stewardship, Participating through Ownership and Growing Deep through Fellowship.
Today we’re going to be talking about supporting Grace Baptist Church through stewardship. Actually, stewardship is a much bigger subject than my main focus here today, which is giving tithes and offerings through your local church. Stewardship is the concept that EVERYTHING we have belongs to God and is on loan from Him and that we are merely managers of these assets which we are to invest for eternity, and which we will give account for before God.
But today I want to restrict our study to one aspect of stewardship and answer the question, Why should I tithe and give offerings to my local church? Now sometimes people say, “Hey, I don’t want to hear preaching about money and giving; preach on something SPIRITUAL.” Well, I would suggest to you that money and giving to God and tithing to your local church are some of the most spiritual things we could talk about in church.
Let me give you a little quiz:
• Do you know in how many verses Jesus discusses faith? Roughly about 500 times.
• Do you know how many times he talks about prayer?—Again, about 500 times.
• How about money?—Well, Jesus talks about money over 2000 times in the four Gospels.
Apparently Jesus is very concerned about how you handle your money. In fact, let’s read our text in Matthew 6:19-21 – “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.”
You see, where your treasure is—what you spend your money on—reveals where your heart is, and that, dear friend, is intensely spiritual. Adrian Rogers said “A faith that hasn’t reached your wallet, probably hasn’t reached your heart.”
Illus. – One of my church members came up to me once after a sermon on giving and said, “Pastor, I’ll be honest with you; when you preached that sermon this morning, it HURT.” I said, “Jim when you go to a doctor for your annual check-up, he will often begin to poke, prod, and press various places, all the while asking, ‘Does this hurt? How about this? What about here?’”
If you cry out in pain, one of two things has happened: Either the doctor has pushed too hard, without the right sensitivity…or, more likely, there’s something wrong, and the doctor will say, “We’d better do some more tests. It’s not supposed to hurt there!”
So it is when pastors preach on money and giving and tithing to the local church. Certain members cry out in discomfort, criticizing the message and the messenger. Either the pastor has pushed too hard (and I don’t think that’s the case here since I only mention money once a year or so)…or perhaps there’s something wrong. If you’re right with God, it’s not supposed to hurt there. If it does, it’s a heart issue and heart issues are spiritual issues.
So let me answer this question: Why should we tithe and give offerings to our local church?
First, let’s define our terms. – What is the difference between the tithe and an offering?—
• A TITHE is ten percent of your income given to God.
It is an exact percentage and it never changes—exactly 10%—no more, no less. Although WHERE we give ABOVE the tithe is up to us, I firmly believe in “storehouse tithing”—the idea that the tithe itself belongs to the local church.
Also, contrary to what some teach, the tithe is not limited to the Old Testament Law:
> It was practiced by Abraham in Genesis 14:19-20 almost 2000 years before the Law was ever given.
> Long before the Law, it’s recorded in Genesis 28:18-22 that Jacob vowed a vow to always give God a tenth of all he had to God.
> In Leviticus 27:30-33 the tithe was codified as part of the Law of Moses.
> In the ministry of Jesus, in Matthew 23:23, Jesus said that the hypocrites and the Pharisees OUGHT to have tithed, and they certainly did, but not to have left weightier matters undone just because they had tithed.
> In 1 Corinthians 16:1-2, Paul, speaking to the local church in Corinth, laid down the principle of regular giving through the local church on a systematic basis, rather than haphazardly or on a whim.
All of these are persuasive proofs of the spiritual lineage of tithing all the way back to Abraham to the modern church.
• An OFFERING is a free-will gift of any amount ABOVE the tithe of ten percent.
It can be for whatever God lays on our hearts to any need at any time. Often churches encourage people to give an offering on top of their tithe of ten percent for missions, or special projects or special needs.
Let me share 4 reasons I believe you should give tithes through your local church:
I. FIRST BECAUSE TITHING IS GOD’S TEST OF YOUR STEWARDSHIP.
Leviticus 27:30 says, “And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the LORD’S: it is holy unto the LORD.”
The word holy means “set apart” or “consecrated” to God. God gives you all you have, and says to be a good steward of ALL of it, but one part of it—the first ten percent, belongs to Him and is to be given back to Him. It’s set apart only for the Lord’s use.
In fact, in Malachi 3:8 God said that the Israelites who were not tithing were robbing God because they kept for themselves what God said was set apart for Him. So He asks, “Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.” God said that those Israelites who kept the tithe to themselves were God-robbers.
Brethren, God blesses us with goodness and grace; He blesses us materially; He blesses us with good health to make a good living.
Your faithfulness to give back to God what He says belongs to Him is a test to see if you’re going to honor God by putting him first. – Proverbs 3:9-10 says, “Honor the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase.”
In that agricultural society, they tithed 10% of their crops and livestock. The firstfruits were the FIRST part of the crop, the part they brought in to God’s storehouse before all their other expenses and obligations were paid. The Lord is HONORED when you don’t pay your tithe at the end of the month IF there’s anything left over at the end, but when you pay your tithe FIRST, before anything else, making GOD the FIRST priority in your finances.
II. A SECOND REASON YOU SHOULD GIVE GOD TITHES AND OFFERINGS IS BECAUSE IT IS HOW GOD FINANCES THE LOCAL CHURCH.
God says in Malachi 3:10 – “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat [provision] in mine house…”
The needs of Temple were met by the tithes the Israelites brought to the storehouse. Because they were faithful to give, the priests were fed and able to minister freely; the costs of maintaining the Temple were financed; and the ministries they performed for God’s people were funded.
The same is true of the local church.
Illus. – A family sat down at the dinner table following church one Sunday and one of the kids said, “I thought the sermon was BORING today.”
His teen sister chimed in, “Yeah, and could you believe how the Brother Tom stumbled over the reading of the Scripture? I mean, what’s up with that?”
Mom put her two cents in with “And the worship team was HORRIBLE.”
Hearing enough, the father said, “Hush, you guys. Quit complaining. What did you expect for a quarter?”
Listen, this church is neither funded nor subsidized by any denomination or missions organization; and certainly not by the military. Every single ministry expense, the mortgage for this wonderful building; every building expense, the utilities, every building or property repair, the costs for all our supplies, all the teaching curricula and materials for our children, teens and adults, all benevolence…EVERYTHING is funded 100% by the faithful giving of the people of Grace Baptist Church. If you didn’t give, we couldn’t pay these bills and we’d cease to operate.
To give you an idea of some of our costs, here is the monthly expenses for February, May and November, the most expensive months in each year:
426€ Gas
247€ Electricity
146€ Water/Sewerage
1438€ Property Taxes
65€ Telephone
60€ Missions support for Mirci Pricop
1741€ Mortgage
4123€ TOTAL
This fluctuates from month to month, but the monthly average of regular bills, plus the variable expenses for supplies, repair and maintenance average about 3500€ per month. And that’s just the Euro expenses.
All the curricula, many of our supplies and all our missions support for about 15 missionaries, except for Mirci Pricop, are paid in dollars. As you can see, when you attend and are the recipients of the benefits of the ministries and services of Grace Baptist Church, they’re not just available for free. They cost money, and as my Momma used to remind me all the time, “Honey, money don’t grow on trees.” (SMILE)
III. A THIRD REASON TO GIVE TITHES THROUGH YOUR LOCAL CHURCH IS TO EXPERIENCE HIS GREAT BLESSINGS AND POWER IN YOUR LIFE.
There are many Scriptures in which God promises to bless us when we give to Him:
• 2 Corinthians 9:6 says, “…He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.”
• In Proverbs 3:9-10 we read, “Honor the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: 10 So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.”
• Proverbs 11:25 promises, “The liberal soul shall be made fat: and he that watereth shall be watered also himself.”
In all these verses, God makes the clear, unmistakable promise: “I will BLESS you if you obey me in this area of giving to Me.” Now let me ask you a question, Do you believe God? Do you REALLY believe His promises to bless you if you tithe? If you do, then tithe and give offerings to God and watch God BLESS you!
2 Chronicles 16:9 says “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.”
God is looking for people to show Himself powerful to, but He doesn’t find many takers. Most people would rather have the comfort of what they have—rather than step out by faith to see if God will do something great and powerful in their lives.
God told the Israelites to TEST him in this area of giving and see if He wouldn’t bless them beyond their imagination. Listen to His words in Malachi 3:10: “Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.”
I’ve heard Christians all my life get up and give testimonies saying, “I put God to the test and I found out by experience that you can’t out-give God.” Then they’d tell stories that seemed too good to be true. They’d describe amazing blessings of God in return for their trusting Him to bless them if they’d just honor God and give Him their firstfruits of what is rightfully His and even to give offerings over and above the tithe.
Illus. – Susan and I are one of those couples who can testify to God’s blessings and power He has bestowed on us for our faithfulness in tithing. We’ve tithed and given offerings since the second year of our marriage, but I remember when we started out on deputation to raise support to go to the mission field to work in military churches, we were poor as church mice. I mean—we didn’t have two pennies to rub together most of the month. But we made two decisions when we started on deputation with NO salary coming in whatsoever in the beginning. First, we’d pay our tithe each month, even if we didn’t have money for food. Second, we determined that we would also pay the remaining 9 months of a monthly Faith Promise Missions commitment we’d made at our church.
Now the tithe was not so big a problem. A tithe is proportional—10% of our income—so if we had zero income for one month, 10% of zero is zero—no problem with that.
But our Faith Promise for missions was what really required faith. We’d promised a SPECIFIC amount every month for missions in our church and to us a promise is a promise—but a promise to GOD is especially important to fulfill!
So at the first of each month—before paying any other bills—we wrote a check for our faith promise and then paid 10% on all income we received. Let me tell you something—we saw miracle after miracle after miracle! We received money from unexpected sources. We have so many stories of God’s miraculous working in our lives during that time that we’d be here all day if you got me started! God was looking for someone through which to show Himself powerful and He showed His powers in miraculous ways when we trusted God by faith! And in all these years of tithing, God’s never failed us yet; we’ve never missed a bill or a meal; we’ve been blessed more than we deserve and God’s been true to His Word.
IV. FINALLY, YOU SHOULD GIVE TITHES AND OFFERINGS TO GOD BECAUSE IT’S THE ONLY WAY WE CAN TAKE ANYTHING FROM THIS LIFE TO THE NEXT.
1 Timothy 6:6-7 – “But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.”
You’ve heard the old saying, “You can’t take it with you when you go”? That’s what Paul’s saying here.
But I want you to see something in our sermon’s text this morning: Matthew 6:19-20 – “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.”
It’s true, you can’t take it with you when you go, but this passage teaches YOU CAN SEND IT ON AHEAD!
Illus. – Dr. George W. Truett, the great mid-20th century Baptist preacher, was entertained on one occasion in the home of a wealthy oil man in Texas. After dinner the man took him up to his balcony and pointed out huge fields of oil derricks and said, “Dr. Truett, that’s all mine. I came twenty-five years ago penniless, and now I own everything as far as you can see in that direction.” He turned to the opposite direction and pointed to fields of grain and said, “That’s all mine too. I own everything as far as you can see in that direction.” Then he turned to the east, and pointed to huge herds of cattle and said again, “It’s all mine. Twenty-five years ago I was penniless, but I worked hard and saved, and today I own everything as far as you can see in this direction.”
He paused for the expected praise, but to his astonishment it didn’t come. Dr. Truett laid a hand lovingly on his shoulder, pointed upward and said, “My friend, how much do you own in that direction?” The man dropped his head in shame and said, “I never thought of that.”
CONCLUSION
Have you thought of that? I’d like to end today’s sermon with a challenge: If you’ve never given a regular 10% tithe of your income to God through your church, I challenge you to prove God—to take up God’s challenge to test Him—for one year and see if He won’t do what he promised to do…to “open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.”
I challenge you to step out by faith and honor God by giving him the FIRSTfruits of your income; not the leftovers at the end of the month.
I invite you to help fund your part of the ministries of Grace Baptist Church by regularly, systematically, faithfully, liberally giving your tithes and offerings, and thereby ensure…
• that God’s Word can go forth from this church without hindrance;
• that missionaries can continue to be supported so they can do their work on the field;
• that we can continue our children’s ministries and our teen ministries and our adult ministries;
• that people can be helped, taught, encouraged, strengthened, edified, built up in the faith.
I challenge you to not focus on laying up treasure on this earth, but to lay up treasure in heaven.
I challenge you to test God for one year; to tithe without fail by faith for one year—and watch God show Himself strong in your behalf and BLESS you.
