Part One (This message is in two parts as the offering separates it.)
This morning I want to talk about, “Why Christians Are Different.” We are different in many ways from the rest of the American population but one of the ways we are different is in how we use our money. I want to call your attention to why you give or you don’t give for the next few moments.
I am bookended this morning by a Salvation Army bucket and a coke machine because… what you do with your money is important. You know this instinctually because whenever you lose your wallet or your purse, you panic.
“There is essentially three things you can do with money: give it, spend it, and save it” (Dave Ramsey).
I want to bring clarity to the offering we’re going to take it in just a moment. There are so many myths that have grown up about the church, money, and giving over the years.
Conditional Giving (Coke Machine)
This is giving only when I get something out of it. Conditional Giving is put something in, get something out. This is giving only when God is obligated to give back to me because I gave. Conditional Giving sees the blessing of giving as God repaying us with material stuff when we give to Him. Unfortunately, you see this type of thinking taught by TV preachers. Not every TV preachers says this but way too many. This is a heresy of America and God hates it.
Cause Giving (Salvation Army Bucket)
Billionaires Bill Gates and Warren Buffett placed money in the news over this past week as they persuaded eleven other billionaires to give away half of their wealth. These mega-rich gave to certain causes such as the Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (seeks to improve seeds and soil for African farmers) and the Rotary International (which seeks to eliminate polio).
Millennials (those born between 1983-2000) love cause giving. Six out of Ten Millennials give to some kind of cause. Cause giving is great in many ways but it is not the best practice. This is partly true. I love giving to causes. I love giving to missions. By the way, when you give to our church, you give partly to causes. Nearly $300,000 of our church’s budget and another projected $400,000 of the World Mission Offering goes to missions. This includes international work, work around the USA, and work here in NRH and the Metroplex.
Over 7% of our church’s budget is considered some form of missions. If we reach our World Missions Fund, this will be just under 17% of all we take in going to missions of some form. I love this. But Cause giving should be your springboard for Cross Giving.
Cross Giving (The Cross)
“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich” ( 2 Corinthians 8:9).
One New Testament expert called how Christians handle their possessions as “the most important test case of one’s profession of discipleship.” The Bible tells Christ-followers that Giving is to be regular… Giving is to be sacrificial… Giving is to be joyful… Our giving is sacrificial because we recognize His gift to us cost Him everything. We cannot love without giving. How can we withhold our love for Him? Seeing the power of the cross, how can we withhold sharing our love with Christ and those who He loves by refusing to give.
Earlier, I spoke of the Millennials where Six of Ten Millennials give to some kind of cause… Yet, only one in ten in this generation give to a local church. 20% of US Christians give nothing to their church. While many more American Christians give very little. Friend, how much you give does matter. Yet, how much you give is the branch. The trunk is why you give. Why you give matters. You should be motivated to give by the cross.
Pray. Take offering.
Part Two (This message is in two parts as the offering separates it.)
We are in a series of sermons called, The Seven Practices of a Healthy Christian We began this series by talking about the practice of worship. Last week we focused on the Christian practice of using the Bible as a backstop or foundation for our thinking in the critical areas of life. This week we’re focusing on “Why Christians are different” by examining our giving. I could have chosen a number of areas to focus illustrate why Christians are different. Yet, few things show the transformative power of God’s grace as our money. As we contemplate the best practices and habits for Christians, I want to revive an old concept – worldliness. Today, if you talk about worldliness, such as, “he is dressed worldly” or “that movie is worldly,” then people laugh at you. Worldliness is what our grandparents used to say. Worldliness is being uptight. I want to explore this by looking at how we think about our money.
1. Don’t Hate God
“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever” (1 John 2:15-17).
The Bible calls on Christians to be against the world. Our eyes… our focus… is not to be on the stuff of the world. Worldliness is the thought that the material world is all there is. Worldliness represents a system of thinking where the material world becomes the highest value. Worldliness is mental attitude where the material world is all there is. Worldliness is to act and think that the world all there is. So again, we are against the world. While we are against the world in one sense, we are very much for the world in another sense.
The same author, John, who wrote today’s verse also wrote: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16) The world itself is evil for the Bible says God made everything. And at the conclusion of every day of the seven days of creation the Bible says, “And God saw that it was good.” (Genesis 1:10, 12b, 18b, 21b, 25b, 31b) The Bible says the physical stuff of the universe is good. But the physical stuff is not ultimate. And that’s the bright line of distinction that marks worldliness. What makes the world bad is not the physical stuff of the universe… What makes the world bad is when you treat the physical stuff of the universe as the ultimate thing. “For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world” (1 John 2:16)
The word lust means “over desire.” It literally mean to over desire something that is good. There is nothing wrong with eating but to live to eat is wrong. There is nothing wrong with sex but to live for sex is worldliness. There is nothing wrong with money but to live for money is worldliness. A worldly person is not someone who loves the physical stuff of life but who love the physical stuff of life as ultimate.
A Christian is not an ascetic. We can enjoy good food… Christians can enjoy automobiles and a night out on the town. You don’t need to feel guilty by how much money you make or enjoying nice things. Yet, we must vigilant that nice things don’t own us.
2. Increase Your Love for God by Giving
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust5 destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, 23 but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!
24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money” (Matthew 6:19-24).
President Obama referenced money and giving at this year’s prayer breakfast (February 2, 2012) when he referenced Luke 12 – “To whom much is given, much is required…” It’s in a Christian’s nature to give. As water is wet and honey is sweet, so a Christian gives. Again, it’s in a Christian’s nature to give.
Giving is intrinsic to anyone who follows Christ. Christians give because we cannot help it. We give because God gives. There’s a family resemblance between our Father and us. Christians are givers because God is a giver.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:21)
Money follows your heart. Money is the trailer and the heart is the cab of the semi. Your Heart follows money. Money is a track where the train of love travels.
Generosity is the antidote for the virus called materialism. Giving causes us to break the gravity of a sickness called materialism. Giving causes us to break the gravity of a sickness called worldliness. The Bible tells Christ-followers that Giving is to be regular…
Giving is to be sacrificial…
Giving is to be joyful…
There are approximately 2,300 people who regularly attend NRHBC. The per capita income of each citizen in NRH averages $30,000 from 2006-2010. Putting that together, we have about $69,000,000 collectively passing through our hands this year. We it comes to money, we can spend it, save it, or give it away. As Randy Alcorn says, “You can’t take any of your money with you when you die, but you can send a lot of it on ahead of you.”
