Developing a culture of generosity doesn’t happen overnight. It happens over the long haul with consistent attention toward growing through faith which requires commitment and discipline. One way we can grow is through our giving. The generous life is something God desires for us. Giving is God’s nature but not ours. We have to be taught, coached and need living examples of generosity.
Deuteronomy 8:18 says: “But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.”
People who are growing and maturing in their faith will grow and mature in their giving. They will recognize the transforming effects of Jesus Christ in every facet of their life. As Christians, our financial decisions are to be made with a different set of guiding principles. For example: We often confuse what God wants for us with what God wants from us.
The Old Testament law prescribed what God wanted from his people. It all began when Abraham in Genesis 14 brought Melchizedek 10% as recognition of what God had done for him. From that moment forward, people have recognized God's provision and responded accordingly. Unfortunately, The problem was that over time our selfishness and pride crept in. Some believed they were responsible for their good fortune and refused to give God tribute. Hence, the Law which required the gift out of ritual perverting the idea and opening the law to interpretation. As a result, even the priests' caved in on the command requirements to bring the best first fruits to God. Hence, the reason the law itself convicts of sin. If you have to go to the rule book, your heart is already not in the right place.
There is a wonderful piece of scripture from Malachi or as I like to call him Malachi (the Italian prophet), not really but it’s fun to say. It’s a scripture that speaks to this falling short of the original principle. It happens when Malachi steps forward in Nehemiah’s absence and begins to speak to people about their spiritual slippage.
Let's listen in on Malachi tell the story in chapter 1 verse 6-8
6 “A son honors his father, and a slave his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?” says the Lord Almighty. “It is you priests who show contempt for my name. “But you ask, ‘How have we shown contempt for your name?’ 7 “By offering defiled food on my altar. “But you ask, ‘How have we defiled you?’ “By saying that the Lord’s table is contemptible. 8 When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?” says the Lord Almighty.
Let’s stop for a moment and explain a bit. In that day much of the goods and services were bartered rather than using currency or dollars. You might trade livestock for grain and so forth. The law required the first of your born of your livestock and all that was produced to be given to the lord. It was to be the good stock not the damaged materials. It couldn’t be junk for God. But the priests had caved into the requests (or whining) about the hardship this produced so they allowed the people to give refuse, leftover or diseased instead of the first and best.
Let’s continue:
“Now plead with God to be gracious to us. With such offerings from your hands, will he accept you?”—says the Lord Almighty.
After doing this, they were now clamoring for God to bless them. It’s the slacker at work wanting a raise or the child wanting his allowance without doing any work, so the prophet replies for God,
When you bring injured, lame or diseased animals and offer them as sacrifices, should I accept them from your hands?” says the Lord. 14 “Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord. For I am a great king,” says the Lord Almighty, “and my name is to be feared among the nations.
The system had been broken for some time. The sacrifices had become a duty not an honor. They were a “have to” versus a “get to.” A “Have to” tells everyone I don’t want to but I am required to but a "get to" is description a joyful activity, a life giving opportunity. In seeing the people’s heart, understanding that try as we may we will always default to our own best interest versus defaulting to the thought that God wants something for us. So God decided to make a huge statement by sending his one and only son to be a sacrifice for us. Jesus is the tangible example of God's love. Through Jesus God gives us grace and truth. He provides us and assured victory over our selfish and sinful nature.
1 Corinthians 15:57 says: But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
God wants for you to celebrate and know victory in this life. Victory which brings freedom. Jesus repeats
Isaiah’s words (58th chapter):
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
From this freedom comes a peace that passes all understanding. As Jesus said, Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. (John 14:27)
Paul echo’s these sentiments in 2 Corinthians 3:17 - Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom and again in a letter to the Galatians 5:1 - It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
• It is essential to spiritual growth for people to hear the message that God wants something for them. God wants his people to be free. He desires freedom for all people.
• People can often find themselves in slavery when it comes to their finances.
• People who are growing and maturing in their faith will grow and mature in their giving.
• Consistent spiritual practices are the best way to grow and mature people into fully devoted followers of Christ.
Our deep question this morning is: Do I believe God wants something for me? Or am I stuck thinking God wants something from me?
I remember someone sharing a story about a gentleman who had a profound change in his life. He had met Jesus and decided to try to make all of his past mistakes right. He felt he could not go forward with God and be a hypocrite with a life of hurt behind him so he went around to friends and family to amend his relationships. At one point he was traveling with a good friend and they came upon a toll booth. He threw his money in and then began to complain about all the family, friends and institutions he was having to pay back with the money he was now earning. The passenger after listening for to the diatribe for a while said, “I think you may have it wrong. They don’t want your hard earned money. They just want their money back. I thought you were committed to honoring your new life with God through loving others enough to make restitution for harms done. I thought you wanted to grow into a new kind of person.”
The apostle Paul writes:
6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7 Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 9 As it is written: “They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor; their righteousness endures forever.”10 Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. 12 This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. 13 Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. 14 And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. 15 Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!
These words from Paul remind use the everyday metaphor planting and growing to teach us and remind us about God’s creative nature. It also makes it clear that our God is creative and if fact that is His nature. Let’s face it, no one in this room can make a seed grow or without God. Sometimes we limit God by not accepting this fact. In so doing, the analogy of the seed helps us to understand that the spiritual discipline of giving encourages us to give in all circumstances. All giving builds trust between us and God. So today, if you like as you leave there are some seeds and some dirt in the lobby for you to plant as a reminder of God's plan for growth begins with a small seed.
Like our history with planting and growing, our giving patterns also tell us a lot about our relationship with God.
Each year we suggest you look at your previous years giving it reveals where you are in your faith walk. To be specific, we are not talking about amounts but intention as well as degrees of change.
There are five different levels of giving: initial giver or occasional giver, the consistent giver, the intentional giver, the sacrificial giver and the legacy giver.
1. Initial Giver: occasional giver
a) Unclear what it means to combine faith and finances.
b) Don’t really connect my financial situation with my belief in Jesus.
c) I give but I don't really know Christ or what he did for me.
2. Consistent Giver:
a) A developed a habit of giving.
b) Abiding in Christ--learning more to be like him allows me to consistently give because I have consistently received (grace, forgiveness, presence, peace, etc) from him.
c) I am beginning to understand Jesus and his significance to my life.
d) I am growing in my spiritual habits (disciplines) and excel in grace.
e) I give irrespective of my life situation, attendance or percentage.
3. Intentional Giver:
a) My giving to church is my priority.
b) Jesus Christ has become my priority.
c) I think about my giving in relation to my other expenditures.
d) What I give to God is a response to my intimate relationship with him.
e) My giving in not a percentage but a priority that has affected the way I live.
4. Sacrificial Giver:
a) Giving governs my life.
b) I will live in a sacrificial way for a season so that I can give more.
c) I make decisions based on my understanding of Christ's life-giving sacrifice:
1. Cap my personal expenses so that I can give more.
2. I drive an old car with no payment so that I can give more.
3. I sacrifice certain luxuries (cable, clothing, food choices) so we give more.
d) Giving has changed me and continues to change me.
5. Legacy Giver:
a) Thinks about the long-term effects of giving.
b) Makes a lifetime giving goal:
By the time I am ____(age); I want to give this much $______(amount)
c) All decisions are based on my long-term lifetime giving goal.
d) A long-term financial plan is developed to meet financial needs.
e) I am a mature Christ follower, experienced in all spiritual disciplines, committed to the practice generous living, fully devoted to Christ.
f) I recognize all we have belongs to God and we are managers of His resources.
g) Trusted with much because they are faithful with a little.
h) They invest in the Next generation and demonstrate the mature life of faith.
Now please hear me. The process of moving from one category to another is a commitment and takes time. I’ve had my moments. However, I know transformed hearts flow with generosity but more importantly with a willingness to trust in the Lord!
https://communitycenter.life/rev-robert-butler-info
