EVERYONE Giving
2 Corinthians 9:6-15
Rev. Brian Bill
April 29-30, 2023
When a dad and his family came into church one weekend, the son saw his dad put a one-dollar bill in the offering box. As they were driving home after the service, the father started complaining: “I didn’t like the music, the sermon was too long, the room was cold, and the people were very unfriendly.” He went on and on, finding fault with virtually everything. His son, who was sitting in the backseat, was quiet for a moment and then spoke up, “Daddy, I thought it was a pretty good service for a buck!”
Last weekend we were reminded that spiritual growth is intentional, not automatic. Our main idea today is this: No one can give everything, but everyone can give something.
For many pastors, a sermon on giving ranks up there with having a kidney stone. While some get uncomfortable preaching sermons on stewardship, I don’t because stewardship is an essential part of our spirituality. I would have to apologize to God if I didn’t preach on the joy that comes from giving what God has given to us.
I’m not out to make anyone feel guilty or to coerce you to part with some of your shekels. Rest easy…we no longer take an offering because we have offering boxes available in both lobbies. On top of that, our giving has been very good this year so there’s no worries about keeping the lights on. This sermon is addressed primarily to those of us who consider Edgewood to be our church home. If you’re visiting, we’re thrilled that you’re here! Please don’t feel like we’re after your money, because we’re not.
1 Corinthians 4:1-2 lays the foundation for servanthood and stewardship: “This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful.”
• We are servants. The word for “servant” here stresses subordination to a superior. It literally means, “under or beneath.” It was used of the lowest, most menial, and most despised galley slaves, who rowed on the bottom tier of a ship. Even though Paul was an apostle, he saw himself as a servant.
• We are stewards. A steward served as the manager of a master’s entire household. He wasn’t the owner, but he was responsible to oversee and administrate what had been entrusted to him. The key expectation was that the steward be “found faithful” as an overseer of the affairs and possessions of another. We see this in Luke 12:42: “And the Lord said, ‘Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time?’”
Here’s a helpful definition of stewardship: The committed management of all God has given to us out of love for Him in order to grow His kingdom and bring glory to Him.
An example of a faithful servant-steward is Joseph, who functioned faithfully on Potiphar’s behalf according to Genesis 39:4-5: “So Joseph found favor in his sight and attended him, and he made him overseer of his house and put him in charge of all that he had. From the time that he made him overseer in his house and over all that he had, the LORD blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake.”
An example of an unfaithful steward is the manager who squandered his master’s possessions in Luke 16:12: “And if you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give you that which is your own?”
Stewardship is a major theme in the Bible because it affects every aspect of our relationship with God and ranges from the opening chapters of Genesis when God made the man and woman stewards of creation, to the closing chapters of Revelation when God will make His children stewards of the new creation. Stewardship touches our time, our talents, our treasures, our temple (body), and our testimony.
Are you doing what you can with what God has entrusted to you? Your responsibility is always tied to your ability. In Deuteronomy 16:17 we read, “Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD your God that he has given you.”
The word “generous” as used in the Bible means, “To show mercy or favor, to be freely gracious.” Someone with a generous heart is “ready to give with grace and liberality,” while a stingy-hearted person is often reluctant to give grace, or anything at all. God celebrates and rewards generosity according to Proverbs 22:9 in the NASB: “He who is generous will be blessed, for he gives some of his food to the poor.”
The Treasure Principle
One of the best books on generosity I’ve ever read is The Treasure Principle by Randy Alcorn. Here are a few of the main ideas.
1. God owns everything, and I am His money manager. Psalm 24:1: “The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein.” When I honor God with my wealth, I am declaring He owns me, and everything that I have. He has the rights, and I have the responsibility. He is the Master, and I am the manager. I am the servant; He is the sovereign. It might be helpful when you talk about money, instead of saying “my money,” to change the wording to, “God’s money.” Abraham Kuyper put it like this: “In the total expanse of human life there is not a single square inch of which Christ, who alone is sovereign, does not declare, ‘That is mine!’”
2. My heart always goes where I put God’s money. We tend to think that our money follows our heart, but Jesus said it’s the other way around in Matthew 6:21: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Money leads and our hearts follow. By giving to God first and by giving him my best, I make sure my heart is focused on heavenly things. S. Truett Cathy, founder of Chick-fil-A, often said, “It’s OK to have wealth. But keep it in your hands, not in your heart.”
3. God prospers me not to raise my standard of living, but to raise my standard of giving. The church at Corinth experienced this in 2 Corinthians 9:11: “You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.” John Bunyan offered this insight: “A man there was, and they called him mad; the more he gave, the more he had.”
Generally, our preaching practice is to unpack one primary passage of Scripture, but today we’ll do a survey of several Scripture passages.
Giving in the Old Testament
Turn to the last chapter in the last book of the Old Testament and listen to Malachi 3:8: “Will a man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In your tithes and contributions.” The word “rob” means to “take forcibly.” How could they be stealing from God? They were taking what belonged to Him and kept it for themselves.
As a way to recognize God’s rightful rule and omnipotent ownership of all things, God’s people in the Old Testament were instructed to give tithes and offerings. This word literally means “a tenth,” or 10%. While some would say this teaching is based on the Law, Abraham voluntarily practiced tithing 400 years before the Law was even established.
When we grovel about giving or withhold what is His, we are robbing God of His right to use us to propel His purposes in the world. Look at the first part of verse 10: “Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house…” The storehouse was the chamber in the Temple where the tithes and offerings were kept. Here are some summary statements about the application of tithing for today.
• While we are no longer under the Law, tithing is a good benchmark for believers. In other words, it’s a good place to start, sort of like a “minimum guide” for giving. Tithing is God’s historical method to get us on the path of giving; it’s a gateway to the joy of grace giving.
• It’s easy to tithe and yet miss out on what’s really important. Jesus took the Pharisees to task not because they didn’t tithe, but because they had become so legalistic. They no longer cared about their love for God or for their neighbor (Luke 11:42).
• The practice of tithing is a good reminder of who’s in charge of my life. When I give at least 10%, it’s a way to be reminded that God owns 100% of what I have.
When we give at least 10% of our income to God, we’re saying that we trust Him to enable us to live on the other 90%.
Malachi 3:10 continues: “…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.” This is the only place in the Bible where God tells us to test Him. To “test” means to investigate or prove something as true.
God says He will open wide the river of heaven and will blow us away with His blessings. The word, “pour” means “to make empty.” When we trust God with our giving, He will empty His bucket of blessings on us. God is saying, “I dare you to try and exhaust me with your giving. Just try and outgive me.”
A story is told of a missionary who heard a knock on the front door of his hut. When he opened the door, he saw a young boy who was holding a large fish in his hands. The boy looked up at the man and said, “You taught us what tithing is, so here…I’ve brought my tithe.” As the missionary took the fish, he asked the young man where the other nine fish were. The boy flashed a radiant smile and said, “Oh, they’re still in the river. I’m going back to catch them now.” He caught the importance of first fruits…and first fish, didn’t he?
No one can give everything, but everyone can give something.
Giving in the New Testament
In Matthew 6:24, Jesus taught that money is not neutral but rather a force that seeks to consume and control us: “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.”
The word Jesus uses here for money is, “Mammon,” which is a proper noun, or a name. Ultimately, mammon described an idol of materialism. While the King James retains the term Mammon, other versions translate the Greek as “money,” “wealth,” or “riches.” Some scholars cite Mammon as the name of a Syrian god.
Jesus viewed money as a rival for preeminence. Attachment to money leads to a detachment from God. The Bible is clear about the venomous nature of loving money as a master. It fights for supremacy in our lives, and it has many of the characteristics of deity. It promises security, freedom, and power.
To be a committed Christ-follower requires service, sacrifice, and stewardship. This type of allegiance cannot be rendered to two parties. Whatever we devote ourselves to becomes our god. The tension many of us experience when we try to love both God and money will sooner or later show where our real loyalty lies. Only one master will win out.
Money is not just a neutral medium of exchange, but a “power” with a life of its own which seeks to control, and even consume us. The goal of this Money Master is total domination of your value system, without you even being aware of it.
If you’re serving the Money Master, Jesus says you will be unable to fully serve God. He doesn’t say, “you better not” or “it would be unwise to serve both,” He says, “you cannot serve God and money.” As such, how we handle our money has a lot to do with how serious we are about obeying God.
The words of Jesus are unsettling. If you love money, you will end up hating God. If you are devoted to the pursuit of possessions and the making of money, you will find yourself despising the things of God. You will never be able to fully love God if you are in love with money and all that money can buy. Loving God and loving money are mutually exclusive.
In general, the New Testament heightens, rather than lessens the teachings of the Old Testament. Let’s consider 1 Corinthians 16:2: “On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper…” We see four things about giving here.
• Punctual. We’re to give on a regular basis: “On the first day of every week.”
• Personal. Giving is between you and God. At the same time, the Bible makes it clear that every believer is to give: “each of you.”
• Planned. We’re to “put something aside” ahead of time.
• Proportional. We’re to give according to how God has blessed us. The believer is to set aside “as he may prosper...” Proportional giving means the more God blesses us, the more we’re able to give, which may involve more than 10%. The emphasis is on liberality, not limitation. According to Malachi, the more you give, the more you are blessed. 1 Corinthians teaches that the more you’re blessed, the more you can give. Someone put it this way: “Give according to your income, lest God make your income according to your giving.”
Now, let’s turn to 2 Corinthians 9:6-8: “The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.”
Here we read what we sow, we will reap. In Luke 6:38, Jesus says, “Give and it will be given to you.” Our giving should be done “cheerfully,” which comes from the Greek word hilaros, from which we get the word “hilarious.” God wants us to be hilarious in our giving. I’m convinced one of the reasons Edgewood is such a joyful church is because you are ecstatic about giving! When we give hilariously, we experience the love of God in a new and fresh way.
God blesses when we give. Notice all the “all’s” in this verse,
• “make all grace abound...”
• “all sufficiency...”
• “in all things…”
• “at all times…”
All these “all’s” are followed by, “you may abound in every good work.”
I don’t know about you, but I want to give to the Lord because of how much He has given to me. Here are some different ways we can do that at Edgewood:
• Through a check in one of the offering boxes.
• Through cash (we do accept dollar bills). We have offering envelopes in the seatback and resource kiosks.
• Stocks or bonds.
• Gifts in kind.
• By including Edgewood in your will.
• You can mail your offering to the church office.
• You could set up an Automatic Funds Transfer or ACH with your bank.
• You can use our secure online giving feature at edgewoodbaptist.net or give through our mobile app.
• We can participate in various “over and above” giving opportunities, like the Baby Bottle Project for Pregnancy Resources which will launch Mother’s Day weekend.
Next Steps
Here are some action steps to help each of us be involved in stewardship.
1. We want to see everyone serving in a ministry. Colossians 4:7 says, “See that you fulfill the ministry that you received in the Lord.” Are you ready to use the time and talents God has entrusted to you? Will you serve God and others for His glory? One benchmark to shoot for would be to tithe your time by taking the average workweek of 40 hours and devoting 4 hours a week to serving. You could indicate your interest in serving on one of the cards in front of you.
Youth Hope, one of our Go Team partners, is having a Spring Clean-up Day at Camp Summit on Saturday, May 20. Some of our needs in EdgeKids include volunteers for VBS, preschool substitute helpers, and summer Sunday School teachers for 1st-6th grades. Other ways you could serve would be driving a van or serving a meal for Celebrate Recovery, visit shut-ins, or serving on Guest Services.
2. Everyone give 1% more this year. This past November, after hearing a sermon in which we were challenged to be convictional and compassionate in dealing with the confusion in our culture, a married couple came up and said, “Because our church isn’t afraid to tackle controversial topics, we have decided to increase our giving. Should we give to help pay down the mortgage or should we direct our giving to the general budget needs?”
According to a Lifeway Study released this past week, more than 3 out of 4 say tithing (giving 10%) is a biblical command that applies today. Yet, studies show only 5-25% of churchgoers actually tithe. Tithing (10%) is a good place to start. This guideline will help us move toward grace-giving as taught in the New Testament. Here’s a good question to ponder: Does my giving reflect the grace of God in my life as I offer to Him what belongs to Him anyway?
When I was discussing the sermon with Marie Guyton, our office manager, she commented, “If you can’t trust God by giving 10%, how can you trust God with your life if it was demanded of you?”
I wonder what would happen if each of us gave 1% more this year than we did last year? Can you imagine the ministry that could take place and how our global impact would multiply? Parents, make sure you’re teaching your kids the importance of giving 10 cents of every dollar they have through allowance or gifts.
3. Everyone engaged with at least one missionary. We have been praying for God to raise up new missionaries at Edgewood, and He’s doing that! I want to challenge each of us individually to partner with at least one missionary. As we’ve been learning, there are only three options when it comes to obeying the Great Commission – go yourself, send others, or disobey!
I’m thrilled God has been raising up those willing to go, but I’m concerned that those who want to go don’t have enough senders to help them go. While we support missionaries out of our church budget at a significant level, our new missionaries especially need more people to support them.
Our two Go Team members who are in the Middle East have spent time with our preschoolers and now they take an offering in class to support missions. You can see they use the globe as bank for their coins. This is teaching them the importance of giving and in the process, growing within them a heart for global missions.
In order to help us learn more about our Go Team partners, we’re in the process of putting together a Go Team partner directory. This will help us learn about, and pray for, our missionaries. This will be available soon.
4. Let’s pay-off our facility expansion mortgage by the end of 2024.
If you’re new to Edgewood, we call this generosity initiative Grow Time. You can learn more about it on our website. Any giving directed to Grow Time goes toward paying down our principal, thus saving significant money in interest. Like many others, Beth and I include an additional amount in our giving designated for Grow Time. Would you consider doing the same? We’d love to see God pay off the entire mortgage before our interest rate goes up in October of 2025.
Let’s buck the trend of only throwing a buck in the offering. Let’s give God our all…because He deserves it.
The key is not just giving from our livelihood, but the giving of our very lives to Jesus. In 2 Corinthians 8:5, Paul describes it this way: “And this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us.” 1 Corinthians 6:20 says we don’t own ourselves: “For you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”
One Saturday night several years ago, I met a brand-new couple in the lobby before the service. I was excited to connect with them until I remembered I would be preaching on the topic of giving. Earlier I mentioned I don’t get nervous speaking about stewardship to believers, but I do get a bit concerned when the first sermon a new person hears is on tithing.
This couple had never been to church before and had their guard up. They came in the worship center, walked all the way down the center aisle, and sat in the second row from the front. I looked at them several times during the sermon and noticed the wife was quite fidgety.
She wanted to meet with me after the service and now my guard was up. She told me as she listened to the sermon, she started calculating what 10% would look like in their budget and suddenly realized that she hadn’t given even 1% of herself to the Lord. I asked her to put it in her own words: “I was stressing about the fact that I was not ‘paying God back’ for all He had done for me when really, I hadn’t even given my life to Him...I knew in my heart…that Jesus had already paid the price for my sins and that faith in Him was the only way to salvation.”
I had the joy of witnessing Jesus save her that night as she gave 100% of herself to the Lord. Will you repent and receive Him as your Lord and Savior right now? Will you give your all to the One who gave His all for you? The ultimate demonstration of stewardship is to surrender yourself to Him, with no conditions attached.
Or maybe you’re already saved and you’re ready to become a member by committing to gather, grow, give, and go with the gospel, all for the glory of God. We have a Next Steps group gathering on April 20-21.
Let me tell you about Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody. There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody’s job. Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have.
No one can give everything, but everyone can give something.
