It seems strange to be talking about “Making Change” by using the Old Testament. We’re New Testament people, right, and Jesus and the power of His Holy Spirit are the change agents in our lives. So? What’s with this message series rooted in the writings of Solomon? Well, think about it. In his day, Solomon was not only considered the wisest man in the world, but he was also the richest man in the world. I’ve always believed if we want to be successful in life, we should watch successful people. If you want to be good at basketball, watch what Michael Jordon does (well, maybe Stephan Curry these days). We’ll probably never be Stephan Curry, but we can learn from the best to make ourselves better. If it works that way in other areas of life, why not with our money. Solomon used his wisdom and increased his wealth. We ought to learn from him, and Solomon, in his collected wisdom says:
Give freely and become more wealthy;
be stingy and lose everything.
25 The generous will prosper;
those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed.
Proverbs 11: 24 – 25 (NLT)
I suppose that’s Solomon’s way of saying what Jesus would later say. In Acts 20:35, the Apostle Paul, when he was meeting with the elders of the Ephesian church, was making the case for the way in which he supported his own ministry and the ministry of others. Paul reminded the elders of the words of Jesus that “It is more blessed to give than receive.” I try to live into that truth! Last week, Rev. Taylor and I went to lunch. We were at Subway and I was all prepared to buy lunch. We ordered and he said, “Why don’t you let me buy you lunch for your birthday?” Well, it wasn’t my birthday yet, but I just said, “Sure, I’ll let you bless me today.” Well, a lot of people would say, “Yeah, you’re just a tightwad,” but I didn’t want to rob him of his blessing. Here’s the thing, though. We were both blessed. That’s why Solomon could write that principle of life, and remember, the proverbs are principles to live by, not promises to hold God to.
So, the principle of biblical living is that good giving is good living, why aren’t we more generous? There are a couple of reasons that come to mind. First, many of us live with a scarcity mentality. What do I mean? A scarcity mentality says life only has so much…so much time, so much money, so much intelligence, so much of whatever resource you can name, and if you have more that means I will necessarily have less. So, if I give, I will have less, and there really isn’t enough to go around anyway. Because I believe there isn’t enough, I hold on to what I have…and even want more. You see, a scarcity mindset isn’t dependent upon how much we have. We’ll never see it as enough.
The contrasting mentality is obviously an abundance mentality. That’s God’s mindset. And, it’s the mentality Solomon is sharing in this proverb. We serve an abundant God, who gives abundantly of life and love and resources. God blesses us, and out of those blessings, God desires that we bless others. Because our God has enough, we have enough and we live generous lives out of that abundance. We are, literally, blessed to be a blessing.
A second reason we don’t live generously is because we’ve seen generosity abused. No, not by the give, but by the receiver. You know what I mean. We see it in some so-called non-profit agencies who solicit donations during and in the immediate aftermath of disasters. They rake in untold millions of dollars in aid, yet only a small portion ever makes it to victims. It’s taken up in “overhead” and “administrative fees.” There aren’t a lot of those, but we’ve all seen them. Most non-profits are legitimate and do great work in assisting victims of tragedy and disaster. I’ll be happy to let you know that 100% of the resources we raise as United Methodists for the United Methodist Committee on Relief goes directly to aid victims in their time of need. I’m proud of that, and I’m also blessed to say that every penny of the over $11,000 you gave for Harvey relief is being spent to directly aid those affected by the storm.
We also remember the abuses of the television evangelists of the past. You know the ones I mean. “Plant a seed gift today of $1,000 and watch God bless you ten-fold. We’ll be happy to send you this prayer cloth as a seed gift to you.” All the while they’re driving their luxury cars and jet setting it all over the world in their private jet. We also can’t forget the time we gave the guy on the street $5 only to see him in the liquor store later in the day. I remind us that their abuses don’t negate our blessing! God honors our generosity regardless of who we feel compelled to bless. That’s because generous living is a test of our faith, not a test of theirs!
So, I’m committed to living a more generous life because good giving equates to good living. Being generous leads to a better, richer, more fulfilled life. It brings joy and contentment. How can we all begin to live into this generosity mindset? Let me offer three ways.
First, begin with the tithe. Tithing is Generosity 101 for those who follow Jesus Christ. What did I say a moment ago? “Generous living is a test of our faith, not a test of theirs.” We learn to trust God when we tithe. What is the tithe? The Hebrew word it comes from means “one-tenth,” so a tithe is one-tenth (or 10%) of whatever we receive. Yes, it’s an Old Testament idea. Leviticus 27: 30 says: “One-tenth of the produce of the land, whether grain from the fields or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord and must be set apart to him as holy.” That means if I get $100, the first 10% isn’t mine. It belongs to the Lord. I return it to him as an act of worship and as an act of trust.
The OT prophet Malachi makes and even stronger argument. Malachi 3: 7-10, the prophet speaking to the nation of Israel says:
7 Ever since the days of your ancestors, you have scorned my decrees and failed to obey them. Now return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
“But you ask, ‘How can we return when we have never gone away?’
8 “Should people cheat God? Yet you have cheated me!
“But you ask, ‘What do you mean? When did we ever cheat you?’
“You have cheated me of the tithes and offerings due to me. 9 You are under a curse, for your whole nation has been cheating me. 10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple (this is an Old Testament picture of the church here). If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test!
This is the only place in all scripture where the people are invited to test God. Of course, to tithe means we’d have to rearrange some things in our lives, but that’s exactly why it’s important. Our tithe, as an act of worship, sets our priority of life. It’s our acknowledgment that God is first, that God is the giver of every good and perfect gift, that we are, in fact, blessed.
“But, preacher,” you say, “that’s Old Testament stuff. We’re no longer under the law.” Apparently we choose not to read Matthew 23: 23 where Jesus says not only should we tithe, but we should also not neglect other important things. See, the tithe was Jesus’ minimum expectation for his disciples. That was the starting place. No, none of us are condemned for not tithing. We’re only missing out on the greater blessing that comes from living generously.
I heard a story of a missionary in Africa who received a knock on the door of his hut one afternoon. Answering, the missionary found a native boy holding a large fish in his hands. The boy said, “Reverend, you taught us what tithing is, so here. I've brought you my tithe.” As the missionary gratefully took the fish, he questioned the boy. “If this is your tithe, where are the other nine fish?” At this, the boy beamed and said, “Oh, they're still back in the river. I'm going back to catch them now.” Begin to live generously by offering the tithe.
Second, we live generously by planning for it. Generous living comes by developing a strategy. We plan our shopping lists. We plan our retirement. We plan our vacation. Most people plan their career path, or plan for reaching their educational goals. We plan business growth. We plan church growth. We plan almost every area of our lives. Why would we not plan on our generosity? We can rest assured if we’re not planning to be generous, it will limit our opportunity to be generous.
Pastor Craig Groeschel tells the story of a couple in his church who started with the tithe but then decided to take and extra $20 a month and set it aside and plan to be a blessing to somebody else. The couple actually kept a journal to keep track of how God would use them so they could recount all the fun stories of how God used them to be a blessing. The first month they said the tornadoes hit in a certain part of the country and they felt led to give to help people in need. The next month, there was a mom in the grocery store that came up short to pay for her groceries. The couple was prepared and said, “Here, let us pay for it and keep the rest.” They ended up inviting her to church. She came and brought people with her and they wrote that down in the journal. One kid couldn't afford a uniform on their kid's team, they bought him a uniform. The stories went on and on. They planned to be generous. The couple’s generosity grew from that initial $20 a month to over $200 a month because they planned to be generous. For years, they’ve recounted the blessings.
Finally, we have to start today. We can’t wait until we’re out of debt. We can’t wait until we get a raise. We can’t wait until the kids graduate. If we wait, it’s only because we’re making excuses. Of course, if we’re looking for excuses, any excuse will do. We’re blessed to be a blessing today. We only have one response to the One who gave himself for us, and that is to give ourselves back to Him. God doesn’t just own the 10%, He owns it all. We start generous living through our generous giving, and we start today.
Good giving that leads to good living begins with the tithe as an act of faith, must be intentionally planned and must start today. We’ll be blessed and we’ll be a blessing. Now, that’s a promise that derives from the principle Solomon teaches us.
