Rock Solid Finances: Part 1 “Live Simply”
Preached by Jimmy Seibert
4/18/2010
Let’s pray.
Lord Jesus, Thank you for your great love for us, thank you for your mercy, and thank you for your abundance. The abundance in the Word of God, abundance for your favor on our lives. Lord, would you take these simple words and would you multiply them for your glory, and for your kingdom. Would you capture our hearts we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Again, this is the third part of our series, Rock Solid. We’ve been talking about in some ways stepping out of the American dream and into God’s dream. God’s dream of freedom in every area of our lives. As I shared at the beginning of our series, for Laura and I, and specifically me individually, college was such a turning point as we began to read the scriptures and then respond to the scriptures. The commitment of my heart was if Jesus is saying to do it, then I want to do it. Early on there were several passages that kind of laid the groundwork.
Matthew 5:42 says “Give to him who asks of you and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you.” In Matthew 6:19-21, “Do not store up for yourselves treasure on earth where moth and rust destroy, where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in Heaven where neither moth and rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart is also.” Last passage, one to make note of here in the beginning, Matthew 6: 33, “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you.”
Early on, all these passages are talking about God’s heart for us to be our provider and God’s heart for us to be a part of who He is, to also be a giver. And again, with that commitment, I kind of launched into this new experience where I said ok, now everything that I’m earning, and actually that summer as I’m reading through the passages I’m making more money than I ever made in my life. And I said ok, we’re going to start with just setting aside 10%. Now I hadn’t really grown up in a church experience that talked about that, but I said ok 10% at least the tithe of my income I’m going to trust God with and I’m going to start giving.
And also as I would see things, there were places of need, I would give to them following that scripture. And I remember I had seen a little program about kids in Africa that had a need and sponsoring a child. I started sponsoring a child. You know the fun thing about that, I was sponsoring that child for about 15 years and finally realized that kid was about 30 years old and had four kids. But anyway, committed to it, I jumped into it. Also, if I saw somebody in need, I would just say ok God, how do I give? This began to be a fun experience and a joyful experience. Then in the upcoming days as I came back to return to school I had a lot of personal needs and spent some of the money on what I needed and the rest I continued to give away. One of my practices was anytime I was in a church service and they passed the plate, I would just empty my wallet of everything I had. Because they were asking, so I was giving.
Those were unique experiences where I began to experience not just giving by obedience, but the joy of giving and I began to see God work on my behalf. By the end of that second semester, we planned on going on a trip to Papua New Guinea as a part of God leading us and didn’t know how we were going to come up with the money and I’m basically broke with two weeks left and this need before us. And so, it was April and actually I had $1 left and I remember going to a Wednesday night service and a friend of mine came up and said, “Hey Jimmy, I owe you $20, here it is.” But he gave it to me before they passed the plate. Oh bummer. So, now I had $21 and I knew what was coming. They passed the plate and I threw the $21 in and said, “Well, thank you Jesus.” You know and praise God for the meal plan at Baylor that my parents had given me.
I threw my 21 bucks in, yeah some of you students need to thank the Lord for your parents giving you that meal plan. So I threw the money in and then that Sunday afternoon, my mom calls me and she says, “Hey I want you to know, you were $54 short on a rent payment,” somehow she had gotten notice of $54 short on this bigger check and I couldn’t figure out how, but she said I’m an unbeliever. You talk about God and how He provides for you, but buddy you better take care of business. And I said Mom, I don’t know what to do, but God will provide and I’ll trust Him with my life. And so I go to church really down that Sunday night and I’m sitting in the back and the pastor at the time, it comes to the end of the service and says, “I really feel like God is saying He wants to give to people that have needs this evening.” So he said, what we’re going to do is we’ve already taken the offering, but we’re going to pass the plate again and if you feel like you want to give to people’s needs put money in the plate and then the associate pastor will distribute needs after the service. If anybody has a need please talk to the associate pastor after the service and he’ll distribute the money that we have.
So, I’m sitting in the back and then he says this, “But there’s specifically, I feel like there’s somebody here with a rent payment of about $50. And he said that’s really odd because I know rent costs more than that, but I’ll leave that with the Lord.” So after the service we were to meet with the pastor and talk about our needs for going to Papua New Guinea. And we meet with the pastor and we’re talking with him and I had grown up all my life never receiving from people, actually I started working when I was five, so I had never taken money from people and never received money other than working. So I feel really awkward about communicating my need and all that and I’m sitting there sweating in his office because I’m thinking I’ve got to say this, I gotta say this, so I said, “Hey, I don’t want to, I know there’s uh, I don’t want to take money away from anybody else, but that rent payment you mentioned, my have a need about around there” and he said well let me call over to the associate pastor and let me see if somebody picked up on that word or came with that word. And so he called and the guy said, well I’ll be there in just a minute. So the guy walks in, the associate pastor walks in and he says I prayed about it and he said nobody came for that word on the rent payment , but he said I prayed about it and God told me that the rent payment need was $54. But He said to give you $21 more. Here’s $75 dollars. Isn’t that good? That’s encouraging, isn’t it? So I said, “Wow!” God knows where I live, man. He knows the exact address that down to the detail.
Well, those next two weeks were times where God just moved in so many different ways, reviving for this particular trip, but we don’t have time for that today. But I just want to share one other thing that happened. So we come to the end of the line, you know the last day and they were supposed to communicate about our needs to the congregation and we get up there that day and Nate Saint’s wife, one of the guys who was martyred among the Auca Indians, his wife speaks and they have a big offering and some other missionary spoke and they took up a big offering and they forgot about us. So at the end of the service, the pastor says Oh yeah, I forgot, hey there are three college students going to Papua New Guinea if anyone wants to help they can. Everybody is dismissed. And so people came and they started giving money to this and it was wonderful. It was a lot of fun to see God’s provision. But I had my Bible right next to me and I didn’t see anybody pick it up and I picked it up and as we’re walking out of the service back to meet the college pastor to talk about our journey and where we were financially, I open up my Bible to look for a verse and I see two crisp $100 bills. And immediately, I felt like the Holy Spirit said, that’s for you. You see what had happened before that service is I had gotten out of my car and had sold my books and had a quarter tank of gas and had $14 dollars left to my name. I was going down, Laura and I had started dating and I was going down to visit her in Houston for a few days before we flew out of Houston to go overseas.
And I thought, I have $14 bucks and a quarter tank of gas and I thought God here I am and I’m walking away from my car and I felt like God say, grab your wallet. And I said, “no, no I know what’s coming…they’re going to pass the plate, they’re going to pass the plate.” I get the wallet, I go there, they pass the plate, I throw in my last $14 dollars and I stand up worshipping Jesus and everybody around me thought, “isn’t that sweet, that young man just loves worshipping the Lord” No, I was absolutely desperate. God, God! Why are you killing me? Why are you killing me Lord? And I’m thinking in my mind, I see myself in College Station in the middle of the night, out of gas, walking to Houston. And so, anyway, fast forward to the end of the night, so we’re walking back after we met with them and I tell the guys, well, God provided a couple hundred dollars and I remember Susan was with us, she said “No, the Spirit of God spoke to me and said that’s for you. God said that you have given abundantly and He is giving back to take care of any need that you have.” And I just knew it was right, it was God. God had somehow, whether it was through a person or through some angelic intervention, He had provided all my needs because I had risked it all.
Right? So there is a place where God is at work always but you know, many times we say that I want stories like that, but what I like to say is it this way.
Everyone wants a miracle, they just don’t want to be in a position to have to have one.
You know? I was in a position to have to have one and therefore God is faithful. Well twenty three years later, we have had many, many opportunities , thousands of opportunities to believe God to be part of the giving end to be part of the receiving end and to see the work of God in our midst.
A key phrase first for us as a family and for us as a church has been II Corinthians 9:6-8 , “Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly , he who sews bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion. For God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in everything you may have an abundance for every good deed.” We have been talking about living simply, working diligently and today is about giving generously. Remember there’s three parts to this Biblical journey. We simply live within our means, we’re not extending ourselves out of wrong desires, we’re not going beyond that which God has provided. We’re working diligently, with a work ethic that is right and righteous and holy before God. We’re creating environments for God to provide. And then we are giving generously, not simply because there is a need, but also to be a part of God’s heart for the world around us.
This is a journey, this is what God talks about. He communicates over and over again that He will provide all of our needs. So why do we give? First of all, we give because we love God and because we love others. Jesus said all the commands in the scriptures are wrapped up in this simple phrase, Mark 12:30-31, “You shall love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” We give because of love, God gave because of love. God created Adam and Eve because His heart was overflowing to share the experience that they were having in Heaven and He poured it out and He created mankind. He created us out of His love for us and seeing us in our brokenness and our sin and our waywardness He sent His son Jesus to walk the Earth not only to demonstrate the love of God and show us who God was, but ultimately to give His life for us. God literally loved us so much that Jesus allowed Himself to be murdered. To be killed on a cross that we might experience grace and liberty and freedom, how much does God give? He gives everything. He has given us everything. He’s given us creation, He’s given us salvation, he’s given us provision for everything that we have. You would not be able to live or be alive if it were not for the initiative of the hand of the living God. We can not make it. I love what the writers of Acts said, “In Him we live and move and have our very being.” Thank you, Jesus, He has given everything and we are made in His image and we not only receive love, but give love in His name there is grace for everyone and everything.
What I find is that we tend to give to what is precious to us to what to whom we love. And the scripture again, over and over calls to a heart connected to God, it’s not about stuff it’s about our heart connected to God. Let me try to put this in an illustration.
You know, when I realized that Laura was the one for me, I wanted to marry her, I realized that a lot earlier than she did by the way. And I needed to plan early because I wanted to ask her to marry me so that she would take summer school and get out of school early so we could marry early. Right? Ok. Story of our life…let’s do it quicker, faster, earlier, right all better. So I realized, ok, I don’t have any money. I worked during the summer to take care of my needs for college. And so at Christmastime I could work at the oil refinery for three weeks and I could get home at a certain time and I could get three full weeks of work in. So at Christmas, I worked three weeks, everyday, I only took Christmas off. And you know what? When I was working all those hours after studying and doing school, I wasn’t saying man this was sacrifice, she better appreciate this, I’m busting my tail. I can’t believe I’m out here. Poor me, if I just had a rich parent, I’d be better…
No, it was Praise God, He’s provided a job. I’m excited about what I’m earning every day because it’s getting me closer to my goal! And I want to get the best ring, to make her feel like the princess of the earth, I want exactly what she has looked at, dreamed about. I want this to be a dream ring and I’m going to do it right! So I’m working every day, excited to go to work the next day because I know what’s coming.
Right? But I get back to school and after paying for a few things and everything else, I don’t have enough. A buddy had given me a great deal and it was the exact ring I wanted to give her and everything but I was still a couple hundred bucks short and I thought ok, what can I do? This is the ring, this is the one I want to give her because I love her and I thought, I’ll see what I have. I thought, I’ve got my shotgun. OOOh, talk about precious! I mean, depending on where you’re… it was the only gun I had. And it was my first gun and it was my shot gun and it was my recreation, it was…anyway so, my precious, precious shot gun. So, I took it to the Pawn store or wherever I did, sold it for a couple hundred bucks and I had enough and I went and got the ring and I was so excited. I was going to wait, but I was so excited the day I got the ring that I had to ask her that day. I was so excited. Had to ask her that day.
Honey, it would have been more elaborate if I was a more patient person. Sorry. But anyway, I made a big deal about it. Gave her the strength that I was so excited and when she got the ring, “Oh that was exactly the kind I wanted,” and when we did all that you know, I’m just “Yes, this is awesome!” and everything else but I didn’t say “well let me tell you what I did. I busted my tail. I sacrificed all of Christmas. And I gave away my shotgun because I love you.” That wasn’t the deal.
I love you, I would have sold everything I had because you’re worth everything to me. Right? Hopefully there’s nothing of material possession that is that important to you that it’s not willing to be given for Him.
He’s worth everything! There’s nothing too much or too little. We do it because we loved Him and because He loved us. When people feel loved, giving is the natural response. You remember Zaccheus in the Bible, you know the wee little man and the wee little man was he? Right, In the tree? Jesus is walking down the road and He sees Zaccheus in the tree, calls him down and Zaccheus is overwhelmed that Jesus, the perfect one, the Holy man, has called him, an unrighteous man, a desperate, what Jesus saw in his heart was a desperate man. I need help. Jesus said, I’m coming to your house. And when Jesus said I’m coming to your house, that’s not just a physical building, that’s I’m coming to you baby. I am coming to your house, you are going to be free, you are going to be forgiven. And here is Zaccheus’ natural response in Luke 19:8-9.
“Zaccheus stopped and said to the Lord, Behold Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give him back four times as much. And Jesus said to him, ‘Today, salvation has come to this house because he too is a son of Abraham.’” The blessing has come, buddy, because you got it right, you called out to me and I’m taking care of you. And Zaccheus’s natural response, “then everything is yours Lord! Whatever is needed!!” Right? That is our response, that’s how you know when you are giving from the right place, it’s because you’ve been given love, freely you received, so freely you give. We give because we love God we give because of love for others. You know, they often talk about the crucifixion as the “Passion of Christ.” The word “passion” means “to suffer.” When we talk about “I’m passionate about something” it is what you are willing to suffer for. It’s what you put late nights in for, it’s what you are willing to financially give to, whatever you are passionate about, it’s what you are willing to suffer for. The word “Compassion” means to “suffer with.” So I’m passionate about something and willing to do whatever it takes to see this thing realized and to be compassionate about something means I’m also willing to get into your struggles and to suffer with you.
We tend to give when we are attached to people, not just things. We tend to give as an overflow of compassion, it was the motivation of Jesus, He looked on the multitudes with compassion and cried out that laborers be sent into the harvest because he saw all the people were distressed and needy. Um, our oldest daughter Abby, when she had just turned 15, the tsunami hit Asia, Southeast Asia. And we had teams going out to Indonesia and Sri Lanka and Abby really wanted to go. Laura and I prayed about and actually felt like the Lord said that she could go. And we put her in the care of our leaders and friends and threatened their lives and then sent them out. So as she, (I’m reminded of the Old Testament and eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth), so I know, I’m kidding, totally kidding, they we totally trust them or we wouldn’t have sent her. So anyway, so we sent her with them and she loved it and she experienced the brokenness and experienced the grace of God in helping these lives. And so when her sixteenth birthday came up and we were raising money to build houses in this village for these people, her immediate response was “I don’t want a birthday party, a sixteenth birthday party to get a bunch of gifts, can I ask people to give money towards a house because that would be my delight. That would be more delightful than to just get some thing on my sixteenth birthday.” Now when people hear that story, they say, “Oh what a deep loving person” and she is that but you know what, the real thing was she literally touched a people and therefore compassion overcame her and then nothing else mattered. You see when you are in people’s lives, that’s when compassion kicks in. So to give from a distance, you will give little. But when you are involved in people’s lives, the natural flow is to give freely. She was not bemoaning in any way, not getting anything for her sixteenth birthday. She was getting what she wanted, the opportunity to pour back into people she had lived with and touched…right? So compassion means to “suffer with” and when we get into other people’s lives we tend to give to them. Can I just say this, you know, when you get involved in a person’s life and you hear their story, maybe they are serving somewhere around the world or supporting something that somebody is doing or even a new business venture, whatever you’re behind. When you hear somebody’s story and get involved in their life and you give to it, you will pray for them. If you do not give to them financially, my experience shows me that you will not pray for them. That’s just who we are as Americans. Unless you will put your money into something, you will not put your prayer and your love into it. It’s just who we are, by the way. Alright.
In our love for others, we also tend to give out of community as we talked about the closer you are to people the more that thing overflows, we recently had, and I just want to say again to the congregation what a giving loving people. I hear stories all the time so many of you guys doing above and beyond. At times, Laura and I are the recipients of your abundant grace and I just want to say by anybody’s standards that this is a loving giving congregation who should be even more thrilled about messages like this because it’s just affirming what God is leading us to do.
In Lifegroups we encourage people to look after one another’s needs. And we had a college Lifegroup led by Dagen and Avery. And Dagen and Avery are engaged to be married and isn’t that sweet, praise God and they’re going to get married soon and they with expenses for the wedding and other things it was doubtful as they began to look at their resources that they would be able to take a honeymoon. And so, friends got together and said this isn’t right, we’ve got to be able to rally around them and they have a great honeymoon. And so a college Lifegroup mainly of freshman and sophomores who are also raising money to go to India and China said we have got to take care of our friends. And so unbeknownst to them, they planned a shower and at the wedding shower it was an appropriate normal wedding shower where they gave gifts for your house and future and all that. And at the end they gave them a little card and the card said Acts 2:42-47 talking about the church being the church and they said we love you and hope you have a great honeymoon and there was a check for $3600. Isn’t that great?! Way to go, way to go church!! Way to go community!
Acts 2, just a portion of that, “ and all those who believed were together had all things in common and began selling their property and possessions and were sharing with all as anyone might have need.” Another recent Lifegroup story is the Heinbachs, Jeremy and Sarah, they lead a Lifegroup, they are doing a great job with their people, they personally have experienced and benefitted from the Financial Peace classes, they went through it, God led them to get out of debt and the immediately out of their enthusiasm invited the rest of their Lifegroup to do it. Most of their Lifegroup also did the class, the next season and began to experience incredible breakthroughs in just eradicating debt and a lot of it happened though by them giving to one another. And as they began to coach and try to help their Lifegroup through this financial situation there was another couple, Jonathan and Liz and they were about to have their second child and Liz’ desire was to stay home with their new baby instead of continuing to work. As they looked at their finances and their resources, they found out they were $600 a month short. So Jeremy and Sarah worked with them, talking it through getting a couple hundred bucks shaved off their bills and everything else, but really what it was coming down to was that there would have to be a sacrifice to be able to do this. They had a second car that they had a payment on and if they sold that car, it looked like they could make it and it would be a little challenging with just one vehicle, but if they would do this, then they could probably live within the budget.
So they said you know that’s what we need to do, we’ve committed to this value rather than the second car and as they began to make that decision, Jeremy and Sarah heard about another Lifegroup friend that was going to sell their car for some to pay for a medical bill for another friend in another Lifegroup. So we’ve got this other thing going on, they’re trying to sell a car in order to pay for a medical bill for somebody else in their Lifegroup. So they hear about them selling the car and what they do is they say, “Look our Lifegroup is going to get together and buy that car and you pay that medical bill and we’ll give that car to our friends.” You got it? Everybody tracking with me? So this Lifegroup is getting blessed with the medical bill being taken care of. This Lifegroup is being blessed with a car. So Jeremy and Sarah described it this way. As we gathered around and we got the car, we were like a bunch of little squealing teenagers with their first car. We all jumped in it and excitedly drove over to Jonathan and Liz’s and rejoiced they said, “ I never experienced more joy in my life.” Isn’t that beautiful? Joy, the joy, now here’s the deal…we’re running Financial Peace University to help us manage our finances to get our lives in order, it is right, it is righteous. The management of our finances brings peace to us.
But giving brings joy. Where’s our little diagram? We have a little diagram here. The management of our resources is right and righteous and brings peace, but it doesn’t bring the real joy. The real joy is in giving. So here’s what I want to say, just because you are getting your finances in order if you are not radically giving, you are missing the joy of the journey. And I just want to lovingly add a piece in to our financial peace journey. As we said, we’ve had about 230 people go through these classes. We have had 700,000 worth of debt eradicated. Isn’t that awesome? They’ve learned to save and they’ve saved over 430,000 dollars, these 230 people. But when it got to giving above and beyond, they only gave $4000. Now I want to say, “Praise God” for the debt eradication, “Praise God” for the managing your resources, but shouldn’t it be 400,000/400,000? Or remember the stories? Our story is not to get secure and to control. Our story is to find peace by righteous living and be free to give everything. That’s New Testament living! New Testament living is not about hoarding for the future, but is about giving for the future and living in the present and living out the joy. Again, there’s nothing wrong with saving, that’s not my point today, but my point is you have not entered in to the great adventure until you have learned to give freely! You’ve given above and beyond and not just give what you have but give even to the point of sacrifice. That is the New Testament model and we’ll talk about that in just a moment. Let me just try to put this into a “now” word. Laura Somerset, come on up. Laura, you have no idea what I’m going to do, right? Ok, we haven’t talked about anything previously. No, ok, great, great, great.
I’ve known Laura for many years and Laura, I have just always known you as a faithful woman. Faithful to God, faithful to others, committed, loving, caring, always willing to sacrifice for others and I know, as a single mom, it’s been difficult. And Laura has a gift making cakes, if you’ve been blessed, so she’s running a little business and we’ve let her use the church kitchen to run the business, but her desire has been to eventually start the business and as I was praying this morning, I don’t have a lot with me, I think I’ve got $60 bucks. I figured and in my mind, it would take about $6000 to get that business started. So what I want to do is I want to give $60 and challenge whoever is out there to make up the difference to empower her to take care of her family, because this is a faithful, consistent, diligent, God-honoring woman who has a reputation of faithfulness and it would be the best investment of your life. You know what, God is highlighting you today because He loves you like crazy and you are absolutely awesome. We love you, we’re for you. [clapping]
So, let me just ask, are you blessed? Laura: Yes. This has been what I have been praying for and believing daily in faith that God would provide beyond anything I could ask. Jimmy: Amen. So be it. Do it Lord. Bless you, bless you. Alright!
So, I didn’t premeditate that today. In every service I am doing something like that. I just say, God, who’s out here, what are you saying? That is the journey of adventure! I believe she is going to get everything she needs. I believe she is going to flourish in the grace of God and it’s going to be fun to hear the testimony of what God does. Won’t you jump in the adventure of giving? You know, a few years ago I spoke on giving and we did a little deal at the end where we gave to some people and I had money for the illustration, I was going to do an illustration and I had these $20 dollars in my pocket and I found someone in need and I just thought, man who cares about next service, I got to give him my last $20, so I gave my last $20 to this person and the service ends and everything else and I’m just rejoicing at the love of God and some lady comes up and says, “this is weird, but I was just sitting back there and God told me to give you $20.” I don’t know what it’s for and I said, “Hallelujah, it’s for the next service!” Somebody hearing God for another, keep the money moving, don’t keep it in your pocket man, keep the money moving. Let it bless as many people as possible along the way, right?
The grace of God. We give because we love God and we love others. We give because we trust God. Matthew 6:33 “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you.” You see, our hope is not in our paycheck. Though we should be diligent, we should work and our compensation rightly steward that. But our hope is not in our paycheck, our hope is not in the mailbox when the paycheck is not enough. Our hope is not in somebody or some thing, our hope is in God! And as we live in God’s ways, “Living Simply, Giving Generously, Working Diligently” we find that God does above and beyond, even when we don’t expect it. For Laura and I we have seen so many times, God provide in unique ways and I’ve shared this story before, but hopefully it will help somebody today. We have always had a desire for hospitality to love and to help others and to have people live with us and that kind of thing. Early on in our marriage, we had a guest that was coming over for dinner a guy named Philip Stanley and Phil is a man of God, 40 years in the ministry, we were looking forward to his council and input into our lives but through giving and other things, we actually had nothing. Laura was saying, “we don’t have anything” we literally food-wise had nothing to offer him and Laura said what are we going to do. And I said well, he’s a man of God, we have by faith given as God has spoken to us, let’s just trust God to do a miracle. We can’t explain it, we can’t add it up. She said ok, what’s the worst that’s going to happen, we tell him we gave it away and we don’t have anything, we love you, I mean, he’ll get over it. So, the guy shows up for dinner and he says “hey I hope you don’t mind, but I was praying earlier today and my mom lives here in Waco and I just had to put her in assisted living and bought her ten bags of groceries and she couldn’t use all of them and I said God what do I do and I felt like He told me to bring it to you guys.” He said I know that sounds a little awkward we never met before but I just felt like God told me to bring you these ten bags of groceries, would you receive those, is that ok?
I said, “Praise God, Phil! You just brought your dinner bro! This is awesome!” It’s things like that that remind you over and over again God knows where you live if you trust in Him. So what are the basics of trusting God in the ways we live, what are the basic rhythms? Let’s go to Malachi 3, there’s a little rebuke here, but you’ll get encouraged as we move on. “Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, how have we robbed you? In tithes and offerings, you have been cursed with a curse and you are robbing me, the whole nation of you.” This is God rebuking the nation of Israel, not us of course. “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse so that there may be food in my house and test me now on this says the Lord of hosts. If I will not open for you the windows of Heaven, pour out for you a blessing until it overflows then I will rebuke the Devourer for you so that it will not destroy the fruits of the ground nor will your vine in the field cast it’s grapes says the Lord of hosts.” So He’s saying listen, trust me with the first fruits of everything that comes your way so that I can bless you. I want to get my hand in the mix of what you’re doing. But if you won’t give me your first fruits, you are living under a curse, not because it’s my desire but because my desire is to bless but you won’t trust me, but you’re holding too tight to what you have. Now, the tithes, let’s just it’s an Old Testament consistency where they were to tithe, to honor God, to give offerings as a general rule up to 13% so they were giving 23% of their income just as a way to honor God. Now in the New Testament when it comes to tithing and all that stuff, you say, well I don’t find tithing in the New Testament. Exactly, you don’t. What you find in the New Testament is sell everything you have and give so that everyone might be provided for. So it moves from the law, that terrible law that binds you, to absolute freedom to give 100%.
You know, you were just bound by 23% in the Old Testament, now you’re really free and everything is the Lord’s and how you distribute that rightly and righteously is either God-honoring or not and is a blessing or not. But still there’s principles that are at work here. And for Laura and I, our commitment has always been 10% to the local church period. And anything that comes through our midst 10% no question because I want the blessing of the Lord! Let alone I want to bless somebody else! I don’t want any money in my house that is not tithed on. And you know some people say well I’m in debt, I can’t afford to at least tithe. And can I just say, you can’t afford not to. You got in debt relying on your own resources, you think you’re going to get yourself out of it, you’re mistaken. It’s going to be the hand of God, the grace of God, the leadership of God, and you got to get the God-element right. Several years ago a friend of mine was $40,000 in debt and I talked to him about their finances and he said well we haven’t been tithing the last two years, we have just gotten deeper and deeper in debt and you know last year we looked at it and we’d given away 2 or 3 percent. And I said, Look man, and I can say this to all of you, we don’t need money today, I’m not raising money for anything, Antioch, the budget, we’re doing great, praise God. But that’s not the issue, the issue is was him, there was something God was doing in he and his wife. And I said look man, you need to start tithing in order to get God’s hand back into the mix. And yes, manage and figure out those debts but if you don’t start tithing, there’s no hope in even managing this thing. So he started tithing immediately. Within three months, he calls me back and says all $40,000 in debt is gone. We’re not only tithing now, we’re looking for opportunities to give, we’re getting excited about where to give, right? Because the hand of God was now being mixed in somebody that was trusting God and not themselves. Right? Tithing is training wheels. They’re just little things. Do I have to tithe? No. You get to, but I would say if you don’t you are literally just cursing what you got. Alright, that’s true. Alright, let’s go, so…
The other thing, on the offering side is that Laura and I are also committed to giving above and beyond, not just to tithe, but how can we give above and beyond.
For us that means consistent giving, where it’s measurable, where it’s consistent, investing in people’s lives consistently so that a good amount/percentage of our income week by week is going out so that we don’t become to attached to what we have and also we are able to invest in what God is doing. When you invest in somebody’s life, who is working in North Korea, you are investing in a move of God that is on its way. You are investing in a movement in Mongolia, when you are investing in people’s lives that are working around the world, city or whatever, you’re investing in the work of God and it’s an incredible exciting thing, but you’re also staying free personally. So that the materialism of this world does not choke you. The New Testament as we said was a wild adventure of giving abundantly and extravagantly even out of your own need. Somebody says well my need is greater than somebody else’s, so shouldn’t they be giving to me. And I want to say, if you go there, you are going to sink. What is important is you and God. Do you remember the story of the widow? It says she gave out of what she needed. She even gave out of her daily bread. The other wealthier person is just kind of like well I’ve got some extra money, I’m just going to throw that in. She gave even out of her need. The New Testament sacrifice is I’m giving even to the point that it hurts but with joy and expectation that God is at work. 2 Corinthians 8:1-5, my favorite people in the New Testament, the Macedonians, “Now brother, we wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been given to the church in Macedonia which has been in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality.”
Those words don’t make sense! C’mon! Their deep need was in their liberality “…for I testify according to their ability and beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord, begging us with much urging for the favor of participation and the support of the saints and this, not as we expected, but they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us, by the will of God.” They are saying, please we long to be a part of God’s great adventure on the Earth. We don’t have much, but won’t you please take what we have and use it for the glory of God. I have shared this story before, but when our house was broken into a couple of years ago and literally ransacked from top to bottom, a friend in the neighborhood, a guy that one of our staff guys had led to the Lord and loved and cared for his family. I knew he didn’t have much at all, that they had been struggling and people had been giving to them, trying to help them, he just was getting a job and getting his feet underneath him. He comes to my door and he says, “Hey man, I heard you got broken into, I checked around the neighborhood and it’s nobody in the neighborhood. I guarantee that.” I said, “are you sure?” He said, “Trust me. I know the guys who are robbing in the neighborhood and they told me they didn’t do it.” He said, “But I came by to give you $40 dollars, it’s what I have and that’s all we have, I wish we could give you more, but I really wanted to give this money to you.” And my response was “no, thank you man, I know your need, I’ll be fine, bro. We’re fine.” And he said, “I have to.” In tears, he said, “IF I can’t give, then what am I left with? What am I left with if I can’t give? You need to receive this.” I said “Amen.” And was holding $40. Out of his deep poverty, he wanted to participate in the need of another friend. That’s the joy of giving!
The joy of giving! Oh I’m having so much fun that I could talk all day if you guys want me to go on. Ok, so let me make my last point. We don’t only give out of love and trust for God and we don’t only get into the wild adventures God has for us, but we also give to our future. We give to secure…not to secure, salvation by grace is free, but we give to set up for our future in Heaven. Jesus used this as motivation in Matthew 6:19-21, He says, “Store up for yourselves treasures (Matthew 6), do not store up for yourselves treasures on Earth where moth and rust destroy and thieves break in and steal but store up for yourselves treasures in Heaven where neither moth nor rust destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” There’s this understanding that when I go to Heaven and I’ll be there forever and ever and the only things that I’ll send forward are the ways that I served and lived and gave of my life and resources in this life. Listen, salvation is absolutely free, we are saved by grace and we are not working our way to Heaven or working our way to acceptance. You are accepted by the grace of God, but our work here on Earth provides for our future home and all that God has for us. And you say, well what is that? I don’t know but it’s good and it’s big and it matters, ok? In light of what’s happening before us, then we give in this life knowing it is not a waste. Even if you give and you say, well nothing ever came back to me, in this life, I guarantee you it will be rewarded in the next life. You will carry it forever and ever.
Lisa Welchel tells a story of after being successful on a TV series called “The Facts of Life” in the 1980s, she as an 18 yr old was doing quite well. Had made over a million dollars and was living in the abundance that she had. She was a believer and went and heard a man speak about needs in Haiti and particularly the need for orphans and just for basic needs of food and healthcare. She said her heart was so stirred, she said the whole service God was just on her she was weeping and realizing she had all this abundance and wasn’t passing it on to the needs that were around her. And so she went up at the end of the service and took her Rolex watch off and her diamond and emerald ring and put it in the pocket of the guy who was speaking and she said take this, sell it, use this for the needs of these precious people. And she went back home and said I sought God and said God what are you saying to me? And she said I began to just review my life and said I didn’t need a brand new 2-story condominium with three bedrooms, I was an 18 yr old single person. She said, I didn’t need my Porsche Carrera, I could drive another vehicle and be just fine. She said that would free up resources and she began to evaluate the counsel around her that her invest this that and the other and she said I’d like to just pare it all down to where I can just live within my means here and give this extra away because I so believe in what God wants to do in Haiti and in other places around the world. She got excited about it and then went to talk to those who counseled her. Other believers. And they said, you know you are just feeling guilty for what you have. You need to plan for the future, etc. She said it wasn’t that it wasn’t wise counsel, it wasn’t the word of the Lord to me. I knew God was speaking to me and it wasn’t out of guilt, it was out of love and out of desire and thanksgiving for what God had done. She said, slowly but surely, I listened to those counselors and eventually I gave nothing more. She said, well, the show was cancelled eventually and she said in the next ten years, here’s what happened. My investments in high rises in Pittsburgh went belly-up with one recession. She said my investment in land in Texas where they were originally going to find oil dried up. We sold the condominium when I got married and moved into California and the inflated housing market after three years, we were bankrupt and they foreclosed on our house. She said “here I am ten years later, more of a heart for God than ever before, but with more regret over the decisions I made in my younger days. Here’s what she said, God was trying to get me to invest my money in Heaven where it would be safe. But I thought it was too risky to take Him at His word.” The greatest investment in this life is the Kingdom of God. I have never wasted a dollar that I gave to something or someone for God’s glory and for their benefit. Because you see here it’s 100% return. I told you today if I had an investment that is guaranteed 20% return, I’d have a line out the door because that would be great, it would be a great investment. But you know what, in Heaven it’s at least 100% return. You have never wasted a dollar that you have invested in somebody’s life in the name of Jesus.
John Rockefeller, his death, he was one of the wealthiest men in the world. Someone came to his accountant who was a believer and said, “How much money did he really have? How much did he leave?” The accountant looked at this person and said, “he left it all. He left it all. He didn’t take anything with him.” He said, “the only thing he took with him is what he invested in other people.” That’s what goes forward with you.
You know giving is about joy, it’s about freedom, it’s about compassion, it’s about God’s way to provide for you actually. But more than anything it’s about investing in things that are eternal and not things that are temporal. This world is passing away and also it’s lusts, but those who do the will of God, the Bible says abides forever.
You’ll never regret giving freely and liberally. You never will. It will go with you forever. Amen.
