Godly Financial Management Part 2
Paying God Part 5
Scriptures: 2 Corinthians 9:7; 1 Timothy 6:18-19; 1 Corinthians 16:1-2
Introduction:
Previously I have shared with you that under the New Testament covenant you are not required to tithe and you will not bypass heaven and be sent straight to hell if you do no tithe. I have told you that under the new covenant you have a responsibility to give as you so desire in your heart. If you choose to tithe, great; but you must do it by choice and without being compelled or forced to do it. If you choose to give less or more, again that is between you and the God you call Father. I am not in a position to command you to give a certain amount, but I do have some guidance for you in this area. As a servant of the Most High God I am compelled to tell you to listen closely to the Spirit of God as He leads you in the area of how you use your finances for His benefit. You see if you agree with what you have heard previously then you know that all of the monies that come within our hands have the potential to be used for the good of the kingdom of God. So it is crucial that we maintain a listening ear and be guided by the Spirit. Let’s begin with 2 Corinthians 9:7.
I. Cheerful Giver
When I last stood before you I closed my message with the words Paul spoke to the Corinthians. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 9:7: “Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” The definition of the word cheerful from the Greek means “merry, hilarious, prompt and willing.” It also carries the understanding of atonement and making reconciliation – our giving acknowledges our atonement and reconciliation to God.
As you read this verse the first thing that stands out is that we are to give cheerfully and it is difficult to do if you’re being commanded to give. God wants us to give based on our hearts being so in tuned to Him that we desire to ensure that His work is fulfilled. In my last message I shared with you the difference between a required offering and a desired one. If you recall, I told you that by definition an offering cannot be required because an offering is something that is given by choice. A required offering is the same as a tax! The difference between desiring to give and being required to give is the motivation of the heart. A heart that has a desire to give is one that is more aligned to God versus someone paying a tax (required offering and/or tithe). As I’ve shared before, you are free to tithe to the God, but if it is mandated then it becomes a tax and not an offering in my opinion. God desires that our hearts are so aligned to Him that we have a desire to give even when it might not be feasibly possible. But because the desire is so strong we begin to find ways to ensure that we have money to give back to Him. Not out of compulsion, but out of a desire to give. We love the Lord and we want others to experience what we have. Therefore because of our love for Him, we cheerfully give whatever we can to make sure that His kingdom lasts. I want to give you a natural example of cheerful giving.
I want you to think about two men going out to buy a gift for their wives whom they love. As you know, when we have someone in our lives that we love dearly, we get to know them and the things that they enjoy. When a special day come around – like a birthday, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, etc; we spend time looking for that special gift that will make them happy. Sometimes it is candy; jewelry; a trip; clothes; fancy dinner; etc. The gift we choose is one that we spend time thinking about and preparing to give. We might have to make reservations; go to different stores looking for the right one; or even get on the internet to verify that it is available. Whatever the case, my point is that there is some thought that goes into what that special gift will be. So the first man thinks about what gift he wants his wife to have for her birthday. He considers it for days thinking about all of the previous conversations he has had with her as she expressed different things that she liked. He makes his decision about what he wants to give her and goes from store to store looking for the right gift. When he finds it he is happy and excited, hardly being able to contain himself as he must wait to give it to her. He is happy because he knows this gift is going to make her happy. He can see in his mind’s eye her smiling as she opens the box and realize that this man took special care in picking out this gift for her. What really impresses her is that he was so in tuned with her heart and desires that he was able to pick a gift that she would have picked for herself. This gift, as small as it is, tells her that his heart is aligned to hers.
Now let’s consider the other man. He forgets that it’s his wife’s birthday until he is on his way home from work. Realizing his mistake and that he cannot come home without a gift for her he quickly detours and goes to the mall to find something appropriate for her. As he enters one of the stores, he has the look of panic on his face which the saleswoman picks up on immediately. When she asks him what he is seeking he tells her that it’s his wife birthday and he needs to buy something for her. The saleswoman asks him what his wife likes and he says he does not know anything specific. Finally the lady recommends a nice piece of jewelry and some popular perfume. He quickly accepts it; pays for it; and gives a sigh of relief that he has something for her. When he gets home, he rushes in with the gifts and gives them to his wife wishing her a happy birthday. His wife graciously accepts the gifts while reminding her husband that her birthday was the week before. As she opens the boxes appreciating the thoughtfulness, she sees that he purchased the one perfume that she had told him two weeks previously while they were out shopping that she did not like. She did not want to humiliate him further so she hugged him, said thank you and planned to return the perfume to the store. He was happy that he did something even if he was a few days late. But consider what these “well intentioned” purchases said to his wife? First they told her that there were other things more important to him currently than her as he forgot her birthday. One of the gifts he gave her was a clear reminder that even when he was in her presence he was not fully engaged with her mentally as he brought her a gift that she had previously told him she did not like. The overall message that he gave her was that her birthday was an afterthought. Sometimes our giving to God or inability to do so is like this man’s gift to his wife – an afterthought. We spend time in God’s presence but we are not really there and therefore we do not really hear what He is telling us – just as the second man did not hear (or remember) that his wife did not like that particular perfume.
The difference between these two men is striking. The first man was a cheerful giver. He thought about what he wanted to do; prepared to do it; put a lot of thought into it; and then acted on his decision. The results were a gift that was received well because it was one that proved his heart was aligned to his wife. With the second man, he felt compelled to purchase something for his wife’s birthday not realizing that her birthday had already passed. The gifts he brought her were things that were recommended to him; not something he was sure she wanted or could use. Because he felt he had to give “something” the saleswoman recommendation was as good as any that he could think of on his own. The choice was not his but something recommended to him that he accepted.
Sometimes we are like that second man. We come to God and realizing that we need to give something we quickly reach into our pockets and/or purses and bring out whatever we find (as long as it is not too much) and give to Him to appease our guilt. Our giving becomes an afterthought. This is not the offering that God desires. God desires that we become like the first man; that man who knows the heart of his loved one; that man who listens to his loved one and knows what would be pleasing to her. This is what God desires of us – that we would know Him so well that whenever we give something to Him we know it would be something that pleases Him. If every Christian did this faithfully there would not be a Church in need because people would be running to give God their gifts. They would be fidgeting in their seats waiting for the opportunity to give their gifts to Him. Just like the child who yells to his mother – “Open mine first!” we would be in great anticipation of giving God our presents! Since we know we have what He would want we cannot wait to give it to Him because we know when He is pleased with us there is no better feeling in the world. Let me move one. So the first thing we must become as it relates to giving to God is cheerful – one who is giving out of a love for God versus out of fear of Him. As I shared with you previously, it is not about how much you earn; it is about what you do with it. God desires that our hearts are aligned to His heart so that His will can be done in our lives.
II. We Decide What To Give
Turn with me to 1 Timothy 6:18-19. Paul make the following statement in these verses: “Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed.” Paul wrote these words to Timothy, a pastor that Paul had left in charge of the church at Ephesus and Asia Minor. He was instructing Timothy on how to train his members to live in this life with the expectation of what they will receive later. He told Timothy to teach them to be rich in good works. In other words, their focus should be on helping others (good works). They were to be generous and always ready to share. The expectation was that this would be a way of life – and they would be happy to do so. In doing these two things, being generous; helping others and always being willing to share; they would in fact be storing up treasures for a good foundation. What Paul was saying is that if they put this in place now, they have the mentality of giving freely and doing good works now, it would become the foundation of which that Church would be established. Remember, this Church was a new Church and everything they were putting in place would be something that would be sustained in their future. Finally Paul said if they do this they would ultimately take hold of that which is life indeed – eternal life. If we allow Jesus to becomes our foundation we will stop allowing material wealth to be. If we build on the solid foundation of Jesus, we will freely give of our wealth to His cause because we do not need it as our foundation is established in Christ.
There is a song titled “The Solid Rock.” The first verse and chorus says the following: “My hope is built on nothing less, than Jesus’ blood and righteousness; I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus’ name. On Christ, the solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand; all other ground is sinking sand.” This song captures the heart of our giving. Our money cannot be our foundation. The material things we have been blessed with cannot be our foundation. If we make Christ our foundation then our mindset will begin to change as it relates to how we give; how much we give; and more important, why we give.
In 1 Corinthians 16:1-2 Paul makes this statement to the Corinthians: “Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you also. On the first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come.” In these verses we find it repeated again that the offering was of the choice of the people. Paul was asking for an offering for the poor saints in Jerusalem and he asked that they give proportionately as to how they have prospered. The point here is simple – if you prospered more, you gave more. It was understood that not everyone prospered the same way or had equally to give. The expectation was that their prosperity would not be used solely on their lifestyle but to help others. Have you ever thought about how we define prosperity? If we get a bonus what do we do? If we get a salary increase – what do we do? Often we make immediate plans for how we will use it. But if one of the first thoughts that enter our minds is “I can give God more this month/this year” then our hearts are being aligned to God. If our first thought is what we will be able to buy this year, then maybe there is more work that needs to be done. Yes I understand that we have to live and we must pay our bills, but if we approach giving to God on the front end before we create all of those bills we would be much better off, spiritually and financially.
The New Testament Scriptures makes it clear that God leaves it up to each of us what we choose to give back to Him. We should give proportionate to what we have – before we spend it all! You see, if we calculate what we have after we have created our debts, our calculations will never reflect our true prosperity. When we start walking and worshipping God in this manner we free ourselves up from all of the money making tactics that exist in Churches today. I will not need all of my “tithes” to come down first because I will have people that because of how their hearts are aligned to God they consistently give more than ten percent. When we begin to worship God with our finances in this manner we will not need to take up multiple offerings because the first offering was not enough. When we begin to worship God in this manner with our finances we will not need to beg our extended family members to give to our Church; we will not need to take pledges; sell fish dinners; sell tickets to events; have special services to raise money; etc. All of these things exists in the Churches today because we are not teaching people how to follow God with their giving. We are allowing them to remain in conflict with God and themselves as it relates to what they give. But there is hope. We can make a difference. We can come out of our bondage and walk in the freedom that God has called us to walk in. We will do that here!
From this day forward, our statement as it pertains to giving at New Light will be “Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” If we do this faithfully and with a clear conscience, God will direct our giving and this Church will meet its financial obligations.
As I close this morning, I want to prepare your hearts for next week. Next week we will shift our discussion to what our offering are supposed to be used for. Some of what I will share may surprise you, but again, we will move forward this year with a great understanding of how God desires for us to use our finances to His glory.
May God bless and keep you is my prayer.
