Giving
Series: Spiritual Practices: Developing Life with God
October 31, 2021
Welcome...each of you here...and online... so thankful for this time.
We don’t go to church... we are the church... what we do is gather...and grow...and go.
Not just to gather together... but to grow together.
Grow spiritually... a central goal ...is that we become increasingly centered and satisfied in God.
Growing doesn’t just happen... growing comes from sowing... from the rocess and patterns we practice.
This series.... Spiritual Practices: Developing Life with God
One of the lives ... Dallas Willard...
Try to do live out the great ideals of Jesus...without the patterns of life.
> This series is about recognizing and renewing the patterns that are a part of developing our life with God... developing God-centered life.
When the Apostle Paul was writing to the one of the leaders he helped develop, he wrote in the NT Biblical writings...
Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. - 1 Timothy 4:7-8 (ESV)
What’s he saying?
He’s saying...you don’t actually grow by chasing after some hidden secret ... silly myth.
Rather train yourself in the patterns that will transform your spiritual nature... your inner person.
“The nature of practicing something ...is the relationship between the exercising of that which we desire to form in our nature. Spiritual practices are simply foundational to spiritual formation.”
Last week… worship. The significance of developing a regular practice of bringing the goodness and greatness of God before our minds and souls. It forms our sense of what deserves to be given worth.
Today... we are engaging the spiritual practice of giving... particularly giving our material resources to honor and serve God.
The whole nature of giving...of even talking about money and material resources can be scary.
So I thought the day marked as Halloween would be a fitting day to confront those fears..
I believe that we need to confront our fear of talking about money... and we need to dispel the fear
Giving is too often a trick that should be a treat.
In the Scriptures, we find this affirmation from the Apostle Paul...
"Just as you excel in everything else.., in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness.., see that you also excel in the grace of giving." 2 Cor. 8:7
Paul describes the GRACE of giving. Take those words in. We usually don’t think of giving as a grace... a gift.
In the Bible, we are reminded that
“the Lord Jesus himself said, 'There is more happiness in giving than in receiving.'" (Acts 20:35, GNT)
Think about that... there is something that speaks deeply ...something our souls affirm... and yet we don’t easily connect with this grace...this happiness.
I think we can tend to detach from giving by thinking it’s a gift for rich people to do. And rich people usually refer to people with much more than we have. Similarly...we might think we’d love to give when we win the lottery.
But the truth of what Jesus said ... Paul said... is for each of us.
“See that you excel”... that you grow... become strong.
How? By practicing. Spiritual practice….
I believe this raises another reason that we miss the grace... the happiness... and that is that lose a connection between the practice and the purpose.... between what we are doing and why we are doing it.
Like someone taking musical lessons... if the practicing becomes disconnected from gift that music can bring... it becomes a duty without desire... it becomes an empty obligation.
So for some people... the problem is that we never actually practice….and for others... it’s that we practice but become disconnected from why... to the very meaning and purpose at hand..
So the most important question... is what is it we need to develop ...that we develop when we give?
What is it I need to develop ...that I develop when I give?
The practice of giving provides a means to ….
1. Exercise my role as a manager... rather than owner... of life’s provisions.
Our entire relationship to money and life’s possessions is one of being managers of what has been extended to us to care for.
Genesis 2:15
The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
Here God is revealing our true position in relationship to all of life’s resources. He is saying: “I have created a world full of goodness…and provision. I have created you with capacity to help manage these resources.
Our entire relationship to money and life’s possessions is one of being managers of what is not fundamentally ours. [1]
Psalm 24:1
The earth and everything in it, the world and its inhabitants, belong to the Lord.
We are managers. That is what the older word “steward” or stewardship refers to. It means managers. This is the fundamental truth that defines every other aspect of managing money.
Jesus describes how we are managers… given a responsibility…and in every story… the owner is coming back. [2]
When I give...I am defining my relationship to all of the material world. I am not the ultimate owner.
A steward is someone who manages or administers the property or affairs of someone else as an agent. The message of the Old and New Testaments is that human beings act as stewards of God for creation.
For the Christian, achievement is not measured by how much one makes or how much one has. The measure of a Christian is how well possessions have been used with respect to their owner… God. [3]
We can lose sight.
Deuteronomy 8:17-18
You may say to yourself, "My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me." 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 forefathers, as it is today.
We say “My money”... “my stuff”.... “my my my”….and God says “My my my….how far from the reality you are trying to live.”
If we step back...we realize that we have never ultimately produce ANYTHING. We may work hard... with great thought and creativity ...but everything we develop comes from what has been provided ...the resources... human capacity... our physical nature.
It’s reflected in giving from the very first of the provisions we gain.
[Will share some portion of this longer explanation of how giving developed]
Tithing is a term commonly used today to mean setting aside a certain amount of one’s income for God. The tithe refers to the first tenth of what one refers to a tenth of one’s income because the word literally means “tenth” but it is often generalized to mean any amount of money set aside for God. This money is traditionally given to the local church. The roots of tithing are found in the Bible.
In the Beginning….
The concept of setting aside any portion of one’s income begins within the first book of the Bible. In Genesis, Adam and Eve’s children, Cain and Abel brought “portions” of their flocks and crops before the Lord. The idea was to set aside a portion of the first crop of the season to thank God for a successful harvest. This general practice continued with the Israelites as they grew and even as they were enslaved in Egypt.
Instructions for God’s People
After God freed the Israelites from Egyptian captivity ... He gives him laws... liberating deflations.
In a world in which every nation had been oppressed by their fear of capricious gods... and what such fear would lead to... And so it is formed as part of what sets the people apart… the commands were by nature that which formed a people free from the powers of this world... they were liberating. Rooted in our love of God and neighbor….
The concept of offering “first fruits” grew into offering God a “tithe” or a tenth of one’s income.
In Old Testament times the tithe was the king's portion. After a king conquered and subjugated the people, the people would render to him a tithe (a tenth of the produce of their land). Because Israel was conquered by God's love and care, Israel became obligated to render to the Lord a tithe. Tithes were used for several purposes: the maintenance and support for the priesthood (Num. 18:21-24); tithes were paid to the poor (Deut. 14:28-29); and a sacred tithe was given that would be associated with a fellowship meal (Deut. 14:22-27).
The tithe represents God’s covenant relationship with us… declaring who He is to us… and who we are to Him.
“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.” —Leviticus 27:30
These gifts were a reminder that everything belonged to God and a portion was given back to God to thank him for what they had received.
Set forth as a law for the people... it was part of a covenant with God.
God is the true king... the protector and provider... This is what the nature of giving was always about.
Giving is a part of living in covenant with God... restoring my relationship as “manager” of all the earth (i.e., stewards and caretakers).
The whole nature of what Jesus brought forth in how we are to live... in how we live in relationship to God and one another.... involved revealing the heart of God that was at the root of the law of God.
In other words... the law of God... what we refer to as the commands of God... were merely a behavioral expression of how we should live.
The Apostle Paul... would come to refer to the law as a tutor... it could only show us how wrong our human hearts are. We aren’t going to be united with God by some sort of perfecting of our nature... we need God to come and rescue us and begin to change or nature from within.
So when Jesus speaks about what righteousness is... which simply means right living.... he confronts the mere outward behavior...and speaks to what the true nature beneath the behavior.
Murder... adultery... and I believe this is what Jesus sees in how we relate to how we manage what we are entrusted with....and how we give.
Why is Jesus raising up a boys lunch with thanks to God… praising a women’s last coins…. Because it is all from God. The tithe was never meant to tell me I own 90%... but rather that I understand everything is His.
I am not accountable for what I do with ten percent... but how I manage it all. Ten percent is what I recognize as a fitting symbol of the larger reality.
So when I give I am not to practice merely the math... but the rather management.
God instructed Old Testament believers to give a tithe, or a tenth because this ten percent represented the first, most important portion of all they had.
The New Testament does not suggest a certain percentage for giving, but simply says for each to give "in keeping with his income."
I am a manager, not an ultimate owner.
Every time I give...I have an opportunity to exercise my true relationship to everything I have.
Every time I give I go through a process of letting go.
It’s interesting that when I want to develop my forearm...I learn to close my fist ...but when I give...I am learning to loosen my grip.
The practice of giving provides a means to ….
2. Exercise my dependency on God... as the ultimate provider.
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him... Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing." Proverbs 3:5-6, 9-10
This book of wisdom from the Bible is telling is telling us to honor God by giving...because it it is part of TRUSTING God.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart ...; in all your ways acknowledge him...
HOW
Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops;
First fruits – trust...
If we live by just thinking... well if there’s anything left over...I might give that...we will never give...and we will never show trust.
It’s been said, “Show me how someone uses their money, and I will tell you about their god.”
The Scriptures understand that money is not evil… but simply a means of trust and control.
Money is naturally so bound to our security that how we relate to money can be the most formative part of our transformation into life with God. [4]
Recall when God spoke re building…. Most exhilarating … and
When other expenses arise
Not by rule…. But by faith
The practice of giving provides a means to ….
3. Exercise my relationship to community... my responsibility to others.
God speaks through the prophet Malachi saying to His people...
“Bring the full tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.” - Malachi 3:10
The people had a communal responsibility. They provided for the communal need together.
The giving which God calls forth is highly communal, that is, it is offered as part of a community. Regular giving was to provide for those set apart to serve the Lord’s ministry-at-large among and through the people (priests in Old Testament times and later pastor-shepherds), and those in need among the people (widows, orphans, etc.), as well as to maintain the means of worship and ministry (i.e., temple).
When we practice giving... we tend to think of it through our very individualistic American mindset. We think of what we do with what we as a very private matter. [5]
The truth is that giving was never a purely private matter…. That’s our American culture.
The privacy disconnects the communal connection.
As we have been shaped to experience ourselves as consumers... we have lost our sense of belonging. We have become mere transients... wanderers.
I am part of a community - I am responsible for with others
We want to pray that somehow God will provide … when he has already and we are the means.
When I give ...it is an exercising that I belong to others...I am part of meeting the needs of my community.
The practice of giving provides a means to ….
4. Exercise my participation with God’s generous nature.
Those of you who are parents, do you enjoy watching your kids when they are unselfish? Sure. You like to see your kids be generous. You like to see your kids share their toys. You like them to be giving and generous.
So does God. When God watches you being generous, and he sees you sharing what He gave you in the first place, this pleases him.
Nobody is more generous than God is.
We do what our Father does by which we show ourselves to be His,
God is a giver.
Every time I practice giving...I am acting like my Father...my Creator.
The practice of giving provides a means to ….
5. Exercise my connection to the more ultimate life to come.
Jesus warned us...
Matthew 6:19-21 (NLT)
“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.
Jesus isn’t telling us that we shouldn’t be good managers of the current state of the world we live in...and all the stuff we have. [6]
He is telling us that making this world our primary investment... is crazy. He is telling us that if we think what we can get and store up here is going to last...we’re crazy.
He says if this is where we are storing our treasures... this is where our hearts will be.
"Where your treasure is, there your heart is also.”
His point is that giving to what honors and serves God... will become the place my heart will be.
The truth is that I am not home. Neither are you.
How should I practice giving?
Giving as a “spiritual practice” ... involved developing a life pattern that shapes life with God.
A life pattern is the way a person structures his or her life. A pattern is built or drawn from the values that a person develops over time. These values come from many different sources including family, friends, culture, and God.
A new life pattern which fully reflects the reality of God does not fully develop at the moment an individual first begins a relationship with Christ. Our old values have created certain habits and ways of thinking. When a person becomes a follower of Jesus they are discovering and entering a whole new understanding of reality. Maturity involves a process of confronting old attitudes and actions that are deeply ingrained in us.
Certainly for all of us, one of the basic values that is confronted when we become a follower of Christ concerns our view of giving. Very simply, most of the world treats giving as a social obligation which can easily be resented or relegated as a luxury for the rich. Yet when we come to God’s Word we see something very different.
Regularly
1 Corinthians 16:2 (GNT)
Every Sunday each of you must put aside some money, in proportion to what you have earned, and save it up, so that there will be no need to collect money when I come.
Thoughtfully... from the first
Every call to give regularly ... speaks of planning... which means giving thoughtfully.
Proportionately
God has always emphasized that we should all give in proportion to what we receive.... what we manage.
This is so significant....because we live in a culture that thinks that people like Bill Gate are the biggest givers. They’re not. The biggest givers are those who choose to be the most sacrificial.
Freely
If God desires a person’s heart, then the heart with which a person gives matters. Paul again writes,
“ Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” - 2 Cor. 9:7
Paul notes that giving should not be done so “reluctantly” or “under compulsion”. Another version of the text says, “grudgingly”. Instead, the follower of Jesus should joyfully engage in giving.
God wants us to know that giving is not a trick... it’s a treat.
Giving is liberating…
Jesus was not a wealthy man, yet He was a man who had tremendous financial security and peace.
Chance to exercise...
Hard...so to help you... in a moment...ask us to stand...and then I want you to reach out and take the wallet out of the pocket or purse of the person in front of you. (If at home... from a family member or roommate) ....and then give like you have always wanted to give.
Wouldn’t that be fun?
The truth of course...is that nobody can give what you manage except you.
Prayer:
We have been shaped by this world to believe that we are shoppers… restore us as those who are the stewards…. .not primarily consumers but managers.
We have been shaped by this world to believe that we are the entitled… restore us as those who are the entrusted.
Notes:
1. Such a position in life is also reflected in
Riches and honor come from You, and You are the ruler of everything. – 1 Chronicles 29:12
“Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” - Job 1:21
2. Consider Matt 25:14-20 “Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them.”
3. The role of fulfilling a rule to “tithe” .... to give ten percent to God... should not be applied to the Christian life in the same manner. This was strictly a practice for the nation of Israel under the Old Covenant which has been fulfilled by Jesus Christ in the New Covenant. The practice of tithing is Biblical in terms of being a part of the life of those united as a theocracy in the nation of Israel, but Christian do not live in such a relationship to the laws of Israel. There is not one passage of Scripture telling any Jew or Christian to give 10% of their money to a religious institution.
However, what any life who truly seeks to follow in the way of Jesus must grasp, is that the Law of God actually reflected something that was unchanging... about righteousness... about living in right relationship with God. Jesus was very clear that the transformation of how we live in relationship to the Law of God was not that of simply being free from the “rules”...but of being free from the covenant requirements which we could never fulfil... and then embracing the deeper goodness that such rules could only represent. Jesus brought forth the heart of God that was at the root of the law of God. So he says that while the Law spoke against murder... we are actually guilty if we have contempt for another person. While the Law spoke against adultery... we are actually guilty if we have lust for another person.
Freedom from the Law was freedom from the Laws power to indict us...nit freedom to lower the unchanging nature of what is good. In fact Jesus always raised the standard. In relationship to how I manage money, I am not accountable for what I do with ten percent... but how I manage it all. Ten percent is what I recognize as a fitting symbol of the larger reality.
So when I give I am not to practice merely the math... but the rather management of everything.
For the Christian, achievement is not measured by how much one makes or how much one has. The measure of a Christian is how well possessions have been used with respect to honoring and serving God... who is their ultimate owner.
4. The Apostle Paul also spoke of how giving reflects the reality of our faith and trust.
“Now I want you to be leaders also in the spirit of cheerful giving…This is one way to prove that your love is real, that it goes beyond mere words.” 2 Corinthians 8:7-8
“your very giving proves the reality of your faith...” - 2 Corinthians 9:13 (Phillips)
5. It’s notable that Jesus... was in the temple...and he saw a women with so little means...give her last coins.
6. Similarly, we read: "... Give happily to those in need, and always be ready to share whatever God has given you. By doing this, you will be storing up real treasure for yourselves in heaven - it is the only safe investment for eternity. - 1 Tim. 6:18-19 (LB)
