Giving That Prompts Greatness
Eric A. Snyder, Minister
Farwell Church of Christ
October 21, 2001
A wealthy older gentleman had just recently married a lovely young lady, and was beginning to wonder whether she might have married him for his money. So he asked her, "Tell me the truth: if I lost all my money, would you still love me?" She said reassuringly, "Oh honey, don’t be silly. Of course I would still love you. And I’d miss you terribly."
Money can change your attitude and who you are as a person
I heard about a farmer who called the office of Wayne Smith asking to see “The Head Hog at the trough.”
The receptionist said, “Sir, if you’re talking about our Minster, you may call him Evangelist or Minister, but I don’t think it would be proper to refer to him as the “head Hog at the trough.’”
“Well, all right,” the farmer said. “I just sold a few sows and was going to donate ten thousand dollars to the building fund, so I was hopping to catch him.”
“Oh, just a minute, sir.” The receptionist said, “I think the big pig just walked in!”
There is a story about a guy who came to church with his family. As they were driving home afterwards he was complaining about everything. He said, “The music was too loud. The sermon was too long. The announcements were unclear. The building was hot. The people were unfriendly.” He went on & on, complaining about virtually everything. Finally, his very observant son said, “Dad, you’ve got to admit it wasn’t a bad show for just a dollar.”
Average annual income in India is $1000 a year
Average annual income in Afghanistan. $800 a year
Wealthiest nation on earth
Americans are taken care of.
1/2% of our population controls 40% of our nation’s wealth.
Why does God bless Christians? The same reason He blessed the Jews, part of the promise was that all nations would look to you and see that you are taken care of very nicely. Is it because they share the wealth.
So the question this morning is: Does your giving reflect greatness?
- A Barna research study back in April 2000 found that only 8% of Christians give 10% of their income or more.
According to statistics, in American Churches the breakdown of giving looks like this:
20% of members Give 80% of all funds
30% of members Give the other 20%
50% of members Give nothing – ever!
I don’t know if that’s true here I doubt it, and I hope it isn’t
John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church, said, “Get all you can, save all you can, give all you can.” We say “Get all you can, can all you get, and sit on the lid.”
Martin Luther said, I have tried to keep things in my hands and lost them all, but what I have given into God’s hands I still possess.
The roof of the church hall of a little Swiss church, at the turn of the 20th century, was falling down. So the members of the church held regular prayer meetings in the hall after the service to pray for funds to repair the roof .
There was an old man, known to be very tight with his money, who used to attend and sit near the back of the hall. He could sneak out just before the collection plate came round at the end of the prayer meeting.
One Sunday, he was held up on his way to the prayer meeting in the Hall by the vicar and could only find a seat at the front of the church.
During the prayer meeting, a piece of the roof fell and hit him on the head. Feeling spoke to by the Lord, he stood up and said "Lord, I’ll give $1000"
A voice at the back of the church was heard to say " Hit him again, Lord"!
God is a gentleman and He isn’t going to beat you or cause misfortune if you don’t give, but He patiently reminds us that He has asked us to give to Him
How should I give
1. Give out of your Poverty
Luke 21:1-4 1 As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. 2 He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. 3 "I tell you the truth," he said, "this poor widow has put in more than all the others. 4 all these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on."
People who give sacrificially know where their money came from.
Jimmy Stewart in the movie Shanendoah plays a farmer who has a bunch of sons. The Boys are of fighting age and the father will not let them go off to fight. The family gets the reputation of sitting out the war. There is a scene where they are all around the dinner table and they bow their heads for prayer. Jimmy Stewart says “Lord we planted this seed, we watered the plants, we picked the food and we cooked it, we did it all ourselves, we worked dog bone hard for this but we thank you just the same amen”
People who give sacrificially know that they worked hard for what they take home, but they also know that God blessed them and provided for them.
When you give sacrificially you are saying “Lord I want you to be God of my whole life, and my giving needs to reflect that.”
People who give sacrificially trust in God to provide
They are not only socially secure in Jesus they are spiritually secure in Jesus as well.
2. Give Prayerfully
Colossians 4:2 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.
Pray that your gift will be used in a great way
Thank God for what He has used your gifts for
3. Give Politely
Matthew 6:1-4 1 "Be careful not to do your ’acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2 "So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
You don’t need to tell everyone what the amount of your gift is. It a private matter.
There is an old story about a king that was coming to visit a certain land. The people in the land were so excited that a king would grace their little village with his presence. They wanted to find a way to honor him, and decided to do so by giving him the best of their wine. Every person was to bring one cup of their best wine from home and they would all put it in one big pot, and when the king came he would taste the best wine from all the people. One person thought if everyone else is bringing their best then I could bring water, it won’t make a bit of difference with hundreds of others bringing their best. When the king arrived and tasted the wine, he discovered that it was all water. The king was not honored.
I know that when I have prepared to give, Satan has said to me “you don’t have to give all that, nobody will notice if you don’t give.” But if we give only water that the king will not be honored
4. Give Pragmatically
In Malachi 3 God is angry. One of the things that has happened is that His people have not honored him with their money.
Malachi 3:10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.
Get real about what you give
Ann Landers had an interesting letter in her column. It was from a girl who was writing about her uncle & aunt. She said, "My uncle was the tightest man I’ve ever known. All his life, every time he got paid he took $20 out of his paycheck & put it under his mattress.
Then he got sick & was about to die. As he was dying, he said to his wife, "I want you to promise me one thing." "Promise what?" she asked. "I want you to promise me that when I’m dead you’ll take my money from under the mattress & put it in my casket so that I can take it all with me."
"He died, & his wife kept her promise. She went in & got all that money the day he died & went to the bank & deposited it, & wrote out a check & put it in his casket."
God wants us to be realistic about money.
He wants us to be realistic about what we give.
His desire is that we make a realistic responsible commitment to him.
Juan Carlos was a famous pirate he was notorious for his thievery and it was rumored that he had a very large amount of plunder buried.
One day he was in Mexico and a man came up to him and pushed him to the ground and said “Juan Carlos tell me where all your money is buried or I will shoot you right here” Juan Carlos didn’t speak a word of English and he knew that he knew he was going to need an interpreter so he found a boy. The boy relayed the message to Juan Carlos and fearing for his life Juan Carlos said “tell him that I don’t want to die and the money is located 30 paces north of the city water tower under a large rock”. So the boy turned to the man and said, “Juan Carlos says he is an honorable man and he will never tell you where the money is he says to kill him now.”
God’s desire is that you are honest about your finances as well.
Did you know Jesus talked about money more than he talked about heaven? In Matthew, Mark, and Luke: 1 out of every 6 verses deals with money. Of the 29 parables Christ told, 16 deal with a person and his money.
Why did Jesus talk about Money so much?
We understand things in terms of dollars.
Because He wants us to be realistic about money.
But God also promises to honor our gifts in this verse.
On the last day of school, children were bringing gifts to their teacher. The florist’s son brought the teacher a bouquet. The candy store owner’s son brought the teacher a pretty box of candy. Then the liquor store owner’s son brought a big, heavy box. The teacher lifted it up and noticed that it was leaking a little bit. She touched a drop of the liquid with her finger and tasted it. "Is it wine?" She guessed. "No," said the boy. She tasted another drop and asked, "Champagne?" "No," said the little boy. "It’s a puppy!"
Can you anticipate what God wants to give you, what kind of gift he has for you?
If you don’t give a tenth you should start.
Be realistic about what God is asking of you
J.L. Kraft, head of the Kraft Cheese Corporation, who had given approximately 25% of his enormous income to Christian causes for many years, said, "The only investment I ever made which has paid consistently increasing dividends is the money I have given to the Lord."
J.D. Rockefeller said, "I never would have been able to tithe the first million dollars I ever made if I had not tithed my first salary, which was $1.50 per week."
5. Give Plentifully
Luke 6:38 Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you."
Tony Campolo tells a story of a homeless man who offered to share his coffee with Tony. Tony said the coffee must have been swimming with bacteria but he took a drink. Then he said “that’s very generous of you to share your coffee with me.” And the man said “I believe that when God gives you something extra special you should share it”.
Three boys in the school yard were bragging about who had the better father. The first boy says, "My Dad scribbles a few words on a piece of paper, he calls it a song, and they give him $500." The second boy says, "That’s nothing. My Dad scribbles a few words on a piece of paper, he calls it a brief, and they give him $1000." The third boy says, "My Dad is even better than that. He scribbles a few words on a piece of paper, calls it a sermon, and it takes six men just to collect all the money!"
Some of your money goes to pay the minister, but some of it goes to missions in fact an unprecedented amount of your giving goes to missions. You give almost 20% to missions. Some of it goes for building upkeep, and some goes to paying for curriculum. Every dollar that you give goes to an area of ministry. Ministry Costs Money, and the more generous you are the more ministry we can do.
Rick Stacy tells the people at Meridian Christian Church in Lansing that you shouldn’t give because you think you have to or God needs your money. Because that will always be true, The church that does ministry will always have expenses, And those expenses are going to keep growing. He says you should give because you love God and you want to invest in Him and the kingdom He has created. The more you give the more ministries that can be done.
If the Church today is going to be effective, it must take measurable progressive steps forward. These steps cannot be taken by one person alone, but rather they must be taken together as a group
This church is doing fine financially We are not in a rough spot.
Currently we average about $1600 a week in offering I would like to challenge you to increase that number to $2000 a week
Do you know how much more ministry we could do if we could make that increase?
There was some discussion last week about things we would like to do in the future, Such as adding staff for our youth. The more you give the more staff we can add. We were saying that another person could be added for $30,000 if we could increase our offerings by 400 per week we would add an additional $20,800 a year to the budget.
You say that’s interesting Eric but money is tight
6. Give Progressively
2 Corinthians 9:5 So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to visit you in advance and finish the arrangements for the generous gift you had promised. Then it will be ready as a generous gift, not as one grudgingly given.
I believe that God asks us to give a little more so he can bless us a little more.
So what I am asking you to do is this
If you don’t tithe Start
If you don’t give a tenth please start doing that
If you do tithe consider an increase.
If 20 families here could make a commitment to increase their giving for 18 months by 20 dollars a week we would have enough to sustain a new ministry.
You might be able to give more than $20 extra a week you might be able to give $25 or $30 or more because God has been good to you In which case I encourage you to give what you feel is right. There are probably a few of you who absolutely cannot find an extra $20 a week. Maybe you can only come up with an extra $10 or $15 and that’s fine too I really believe that if you make a commitment to go over and above that God will Honor your gift.
In keeping with this request I firmly believe in putting your money where your mouth is. So Tammie an I have discussed this and for the next 18 months our tithe will include an extra $20 per week.
I hope you will consider this as well
For most of us $20 dollars a week is a sacrifice. It may mean you have to cut back on cable. It may mean you have to eat out one less time a week. It could mean that you have to cut a bag of chips and a case of pop in your grocery bill. It might mean that you have to buy generic clothing. It may mean that you have to use a free Internet access provider. It may mean that you have to cut back on your cell phone , perhaps you will have to take call waiting and caller ID off of your phone. It might mean that you borrow movies to watch instead of renting them
7. Give Purposefully
Matthew 6:19-24 19 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, 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. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness! 24 "No one can serve two masters. 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 both God and Money.
In other words You should give to a heavenly cause, Well I have good news
The Church is God’s heavenly cause here and now. So when you give here you are putting a down payment on the future of this church.
A sailor was shipwrecked on a South Sea Island. He was seized by the natives, carried shoulder-high to throne, and proclaimed king. He learned that according to their custom the king ruled for a year.
The idea appealed to the sailor until he wondered what had happened to all the previous kings. Then he learned that when a king’s reign ended, he was banished to a lonely island to starve to death.
So, knowing he was king for the year, this sailor began issuing orders. Carpenters were to make boats. Farmers were to go ahead to this island and plant crops. Builders were to erect a home. When his reign finished, he was exiled, not to a barren isle, but to a paradise of plenty.
Let me ask you; Do you view your contribution as paying for the past or financing the future?
You say what’s the difference, A church that’s paying for the past is struggling to meet the needs of yesterday. Finally paying for the ministry they did years ago.
A person who is paying for the past is giving so that the Glory days of old will return.
There is nothing wrong with memories, and recalling the good times
But we cant stay locked in that mindset. I firmly believe that God is calling us to finance the future.
A church that finances the future is a church that invests in the young people of today.
A church that finances the future is a church that looks at where God is currently and then joins him there
A church that finances the future is a church that anticipates where God is going and prepares to go there as well.
If we really believe that our older members need to start investing in our younger members we have to be willing to make a financial effort as well
If we seek to do more ministry and become younger we are going to have to start pouring money into the development of youth and children even if they are not here yet. Which was a sentiment many of you expressed in Last weeks annual meeting.
Last week in our annual meeting there were some measurable progressive steps forward. One of the things that arose was the desire for a youth minister. One sure step in financing the future.
Did you know that when you add another staff person to your church if that person does their job he will bring in enough families to pay for himself within 18 months.
Adding a youth minister would mean adding at least 6 families but I’ll bet in this area and with our location it would be even more. In my experience the number one reason that people leave the small church is because there is little or nothing consistent for their children.
The Jewish temple treasury in Jesus day had 13 places to give offering they were called trumpets because they looked like trumpets.
Underneath them they had a label that said what that certain fund was used for. Much like our designated funds are today
The people were used to giving with a purpose and I encourage you to give with purpose as well. So if you desire your gift to go to a specific area of ministry there in nothing wrong with that.
8. Give Positively
2 Corinthians 9:7 Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
An attitude of giving translates into an attitude of ministry
God you are going to do great things with this Church, and I am confident that you will do great things with my gift.
A man on vacation was strolling along outside his hotel in Acapulco, enjoying the sunny Mexican weather. He heard the screams of a woman kneeling in front of a child. The man knew enough Spanish to determine that the boy had swallowed a coin. Seizing the child by the heels, the man held him up, gave him a few shakes, and an American quarter dropped to the sidewalk. “Oh, thank you sir!” cried the woman. “You seemed to know just how to get it out of him. Are you a doctor?” “No, ma’am,” replied the man. “I’m with the United States Internal Revenue Service.”
God is a Gentleman and he isn’t going to make the building fall on you, He is not going to pick you up and shake you out, there will be no spiritual audit on your checkbook.
The Bible says that Giving is part of your act of worship.
So if it’s worth it to read your bible daily
If it’s worth it to have the security of Him hearing your prayer
If it’s worth it to come this place and worship
If it’s worth it to have friends that are grounded in His word
Shouldn’t it be worth it to honor Him financially as well?
Benefits of
1. Freedom from materialism, serve
2. Strengthens my faith, sign of spiritual maturity
3. Investment for eternity
4. The famous psychiatrist, Karl Menninger has stated that one sign of mental health is the ability to release money -- give it away. Think -- How many generous people do you know who exhibit mental instability? It is often the stingy, controlling person who is neurotic. God created us to be healthy. One way to contribute to your mental health is to practice generosity.
5. Investment strategy Marshal Wolowitz
People who are used to giving are generally more responsible with the rest of their finances.
A boy and his mother were in a drug store and there was candy on the counter and the owner spotted the boy looking at the candy, when the mother went up to pay the owner said to the boy “you want some of this candy”. The boy nodded, and the manager said well go “ahead and take some”. Well the boy just stood there, and again the owner said “go ahead and get a handful of candy”. The boy still stood there then the owner reached in the jar and pulled out some candy and gave it to the boy and the boy filled his pockets. When they got outside the mother said why didn’t you get a handful of candy the man told you it was O.K.. And the boy said, “because his hands were bigger than mine”.
Let me ask you whose hands do you want to live out of.
