I. Introduction
I know ladders are not uncommon or awe inspiring. They are simply an everyday tool that we use to reach heights that we would otherwise be unable to reach. So, there is nothing really mind blowing about that. However, because they are so common and because most of you have used a ladder at some point in your life it would seem that it would be unnecessary to talk about ladder lessons. But then this . . .
I won't tell you who did this, but I will tell you that his name starts with an An and ends in a Drew. Pastor Andrew has been grounded for life . . . literally. He has been grounded by me and more importantly by Jess. 7 days before a wedding. It is a blessing from God that Drew is as tall as he is because if he wasn't, then he would never be able to reach anything because he is not allowed to even look at a ladder longingly! We have learned 3 ladder lessons so far. Let's jump into ladder lesson 4.
Ladder Lesson 4: To go up, you have to move up.
This sounds fundamental and obvious. But how many people do you know that want the benefits that are found only at higher levels who will never make any move to go up to get to the higher levels. This applies in so many areas of our spiritual walk. We want the benefits of a more powerful relationship with God but make no moves up. No more time spent in devotions. No more time spent in His Word. We want the benefits of a healthy body, but we make no moves up. No more exercise. No more diligence in eating habits. Want the benefits of being applauded but make no move up. We won't practice an extra 15 minutes a day. We won't take advantage of opportunities for coaching. So, I know this sounds basic, but I have discovered that too many of us want to stand on the bottom rung of our devotional life, our physical health, our talent and long for the upper levels and yet we refuse to move up. To go up you have to move up!
I told you last week I was trying to measure and test your level of spiritual maturity so let's get into this and see if you can make this leap with me. Because the one area I see this ladder lesson more glaringly true than any other area is in the area of our finances. I watch as people quote and claim all the passages of Scripture in hopes and belief that they are going to obtain the highest level of blessings even though they never move off of the lowest rung of obedience and sacrifice in their giving. We are quoting and claiming top level scriptures from low level places. Increase is linked to increase. Sowing and reaping still applies today!
Let me see if I can help you today. My goal is to get you to this level of blessing. However, you can't get this level of blessing from down here!
Paul encouraged the church in Corinthians in this area as well. Listen to what he says . . .
Text: 2 Corinthians 8:7 (TPT)
You do well and excel in every respect—in unstoppable faith, in powerful preaching, in revelation knowledge, in your passionate devotion, and in sharing the love we have shown to you. So make sure that you also excel in grace-filled generosity.
In another version he says . . . I want you to excel also in this gracious act of giving.
He says this group of people has excelled in faith, preaching revelation, knowledge, devotion and in love Now, he is literally pushing them to climb in their giving. To graduate to a level of generosity that they haven't yet obtained.
He recognized that in order to be blessed at the highest levels. To get the best that God has for us we must be a people that are moving upward in generosity.
Paul addressed this in Philemon's life. He said to him . . . Philemon 1:6 - "And I am praying that you will put into action the generosity that comes from your faith as you understand and experience all the good things we have in Christ."
In other words, Paul is literally telling Philemon that when we stay on the bottom rungs of generosity, we reveal lack of faith. We are in essence saying we don't trust God to produce higher levels of blessings and so we aren't sure He will take care of us if we climb higher.
So, let me help you start the climb.
I believe there are three level on this ladder that we need to see and also evaluate where we are. We need to ask ourselves honestly are we excelling in generosity?
Tipper = Lowest rung
The tipper is the lowest level of giving. It is when we treat God like a good waiter or waitress so as He does something for us, we give. It is random and sporadic. Usually there is no real sacrifice here. We just dip into excess and give a token of appreciation. You can stay here but let me remind you that you will never get the blessings reserved for higher levels of giving. You can quote that God will open up the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing that I can't contain all you want, but that level of blessing is reserved for those on the next level of giving. Some of you need to climb! You have been stuck at tipper level for a long time.
Tither = Middle Rung
This is the level where we embrace the concept of first fruits. Tithing is the Old Testament concept of bringing the first 10 percent of your income to God. It is, however, reinforced by Jesus in Matthew 23:23 when he said, “Don't neglect tithing.” However, if you don't want to be bound by Old Testament then follow the lead of the New Testament believers who sold everything they had and brought it to the local storehouse. This is middle rung. It is systematic, scheduled. It is a new higher level of faith fullness, generosity, and obedience than lower rungs. So, the result is that God tells us that He will open to you the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing that there isn't enough room to receive it. God gets in the mix as we force our money to bow down to Jesus and we climb not only in giving but in blessing.
This is where most of us lodge. We were either taught as children or when we first began a relationship with Jesus that we should do this and so we land here and lodge here because we think this is the highest level of generosity. However, this is just giving back to God what is already His. The first 10 percent isn't ours to begin with and although there is generosity here it is not the highest level.
Eugene Peterson said, "Many people don’t think they can live generously because they have never tried."
So, since the highest rung is either unknown or foreign to us, we remain at the lowest level of tipper or graduate to tither and think we have arrived. The end result is that from low levels of generosity we never taste God's best! There is another level that most of us have never heard, known or experienced.
It is the highest level. Come up higher!
Total - Highest Rung
This level is open handed living. It is the level where we recognize that everything we have has been given to us by God, therefore nothing is off limits to Him. We hold everything lightly. We take the stance of Job - the Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord. So, we move beyond just systematic, scheduled giving and we climb beyond just tithe to tithe and offerings. This is a level beyond tithing. It is a willingness to give when it hurts and when it doesn't. It is a place where we put our own desires and wants on the back burner and realize that God blesses us to expand and resource His kingdom. I believe the highest level of giving also has reserved for it the highest level of blessing. Go back and see the blessing Job receives because he learned to live at this level.
By the way . . . this level has nothing to do with amount. Rather it has everything to do with the level of sacrifice. I believe the widow who gave the 2 mites, in Mark 12), had climbed to the highest rungs of generosity. She gave everything she had!
Paul says we should excel in generosity. The word excel means - to be or do better than.
Where are you on the ladder? Are you excelling? Are you stuck? My prayer is this that God will bless you at higher levels. However, I also know that you probably aren't going to receive high level blessings at low level obedience and low-level faith!
So, to climb you have to start. I am not even sure it is even logical or wise to assume that someone who had never started to climb should be here. How do get to top rung? You traverse across the other rungs. Start somewhere! But then the other challenge is don’t stop climbing! If you quit climbing that is called stuck. Make a conscious decision to climb in small steps. Come to a conclusion and understanding that God is the source of it all and therefore in response you are going to start the climb.
I am reminded of Rick Warren's testimony. He wrote this book called the Purpose Driven Life and it became the best-selling book of all time next to the Bible. The last time I looked it had sold over 60 million copies worldwide. Needless to say, there were financial implications for him. When asked what he was going to do with the unbelievable levels of income that were at his disposal. His response was this. I am not going to change my lifestyle at all. I am going to start 2 foundations. One is to help hurting pastors. The second will help hurting children who have been orphaned by AIDS/HIV. He also paid back every penny of the salary he had received from his church over the last 20 years. And finally, he decided to become a reverse tither. What is that? He gives God 90% and lives on 10%. You might say well if I had that kind of income, then I would do that too. However, you don't start on the top rung. The fact is Rick Warren and his wife had been climbing in generosity from the first day of their marriage. So, the first year of their marriage they gave 11% of their income to God. The second year 12%. The third 13% and so on and so forth. They started climbing and so when they received an unthinkable blessing, they had already excelled in the grace of generosity so giving flowed naturally out of them! They were at the top level of blessing because they had climbed to the top level of generosity.
I challenge you to climb.
That is the concept of God's Guarantee. It is the concept of starting. Some of you just need to step onto the ladder. Others have done this before so you should possibly consider the challenge for 90 days but now at a step higher - 11% or perhaps 14%.
The point is to climb! Why? So the church can have more money? No, so that you can tap into higher levels of God's blessing and favor that is reserved for those who operate in higher levels of faith, sacrifice and generosity!
There is more in Him that can be tapped in to if we are willing to climb. To go up you have to move up.
