GOD’S GUARANTEE
II Corinthians 9:6-7
S: Finances
Th: Supporting Kingdom work
Pr: God rewards our giving.
?: Why?
KW: Reasons
TS: We will find in our study of Scripture three reasons why God rewards our giving.
The _____ reason why God rewards our giving is…
I. HE WANTS TO BE FIRST.
II. HE WANTS US TO BE LIKE HIM.
III. HE WANTS US TO BE PARTNERS IN THE KINGDOM.
RMBC 5/20/01 AM
INTRODUCTION:
ILL Notebook: Money (Betsy & Billy)
A teacher says to Billy, “If you have two dollars, and you ask your father for four dollars, how many dollars will you have.” Billy’s answer, “Two dollars.” The teacher said, “Billy, you don’t know your math.” To which he responded, “You don’t know my father.”
Well, apparently like this father…
1. We have a hard time letting go of money, don’t we?
Well, I admit that I do.
It just seems that the more that I have, the more I need.
Have you ever noticed that?
So when someone asks for some, it is a crisis in decision making…
ILL “The End”
This is well illustrated by Burt Reynolds who starred in an old film entitled “The End.” In the film he decides to commit suicide by swimming out as far as he can until he is exhausted and then just go under. But after going under he is looking at the surface from the underside and decides not to go through with it. As he breaks the surface of the water he screams: "I want to live! I want to live!" He then begins to try to swim to shore, but it is a very long way off. As he begins to swim he talks to God. He promises to obey all of the Ten Commandments, and then realizes he doesn’t know what all of them are so he promises to learn them. Then in his panic he says, "Lord, if you get me out of this, I will give you 80% of everything I have." But time passes and he is still going strong, and besides he can just begin to see the shoreline. But as he continues to swim he feels his strength holding out and says, "Lord, if you help me to get to shore alive I will give you 10% of all my earnings." And, finally, he struggles to the place where he sees that he is just going to be able to make it to land and says, "Well, Lord, let’s just forget about what I said before. I think I can make it from here on my own.”
So…
2. Have you ever made a promise to God that you did not keep?
I think this happens a lot with our giving.
A lot of us have great intentions when it comes to our giving to the Lord, but somewhere in the midst of our living and lifestyle and comfort level, it gets lost.
TRANSITION:
If you are new to our church family, I want you to know that we are not beggars here.
We do keep you up to date on our finances as best we can because we are a family here.
But at the same time, we need to be reminded from time to time regarding what the Lord says about money.
We need to be challenged on this.
I need to be challenged by it and respond to it.
This is for all of us, including me.
1. Two weeks ago, we were challenged about what our hearts are for (Matthew 6:21).
We gave attention to what Jesus is recorded as saying in Matthew…
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
The interesting thing that we noted in this verse is that our heart follows what we treasure, and not vice versa.
This is a remarkable principle.
For example, as I mentioned two weeks ago, if we buy a new sports car, we’ll be cleaning it and waxing it all the time.
And if we buy stock in some new “.com” company, we’ll start watching how the company is doing everyday in the paper.
You see, our hearts follow the treasure.
So, if we store up treasure here, our hearts will be focused on things here.
But the opposite is also true, if we store up treasure in heaven, our hearts will seek God.
We will be passionate about Him.
We will be excited about His kingdom.
So, if we are going to have hearts for God, we are going to have to be deliberate and intentional about the money and possessions that we are stewards of.
God has not given them to us to hold on to for ourselves.
He has given them to us to invest in His kingdom.
But let’s admit it, we don’t always have this kind of passion and excitement.
ILL Notebook: Giving (disperse crowd)
There was once a young pastor, fresh out of the seminary, and he thought it would help him in his career if he first took a job as a policeman for several months. He passed the physical examination and then took the oral examination to ascertain his alertness of mind and his ability to act quickly and wisely in an emergency. Among other questions, he was asked, "What would you do to disperse a frenzied crowd?" He thought for a moment and then said, “I would take up a collection.”
Though we do tend to scatter at such a prospect, we need to face this important truth, that is…
2. God wants us to give big (Matthew 12:41-44).
Note this story in Matthew…
(41) Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. (42) But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny. (43) Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. (44) They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on."
This story struck me anew this week.
For the point Jesus is making is not how great her small gift was, but how big it was.
And this struck me hard this week.
She gave big.
Though she had little, she had trusted God and found Him worthy.
She was trusting God then.
And so, by comparison, what the wealthy gave was small.
Perhaps an unexpected principle in this matter of giving is that God gives us a guarantee.
And the guarantee is…
3. GOD REWARDS OUR GIVING (Malachi 3:10; II Corinthians 9:6).
Note what God says in Malachi…
“Bring the whole tithe [which means tenth] 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.”
Then Paul says…
Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.
God’s statement is so bold.
“Test me in this.”
If you give, He will give more.
You see, God gives beyond worldly logic.
For if we have unreserved commitment to His matters, it will result in unrestrained blessing.
When you hold nothing back from God, He holds nothing back from you.
So if we do not withhold our material blessings, He will not withhold spiritual blessings.
But the danger for us who live in this materialistic society is that we value material things more than spiritual things.
This culture with all its technology and advertisements has us living very unsatisfied lives.
We are made to be discontent.
So, as a result, materialism blunts our spiritual desires.
We are kept so busy, we can’t possibly keep in touch with the deep spiritual longings that we are created for.
Paul reinforces this promise when He tells us that if we plant little, we will harvest little.
If we plant much, we will harvest much.
We always reap what we sow.
We often use this statement only in a negative way.
But it is also true in a positive way.
For we not only reap what we sow, we will reap more that what we sow.
And we will reap later than when we sowed, so patience is needed.
So God gives us a guarantee.
And…
4. We will find in our study of Scripture three reasons why God rewards our giving.
OUR STUDY:
I. The first reason why God rewards our giving is HE WANTS TO BE FIRST.
We all have the same concern, I believe.
Our concern is that if we give too much away, we won’t be able to make ends meet.
But the crazy thing about all of this is that in God’s mathematics, the best way to increase a sum is to subtract from it.
So we need the challenge to put God and his promises back into our finances.
And it works, for…
1. God can be trusted.
In God’s economy, He always provides.
He is faithful.
He cares about us more than we care for ourselves.
So this means that we can keep a loose grip on things, for we are merely stewards.
Everything about our life we can trust God with.
This includes our financial resources.
Since God can be trusted, when we give to Him, we establish His worthiness.
And we confirm that…
2. Giving is a matter of worship (Proverbs 3:9).
Solomon says…
Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops…
When we give to God’s work, it is an expression of gratitude to a faithful God for all His goodness to us.
Solomon tells us in Proverbs that we are to give the firstfruits.
This means that we give our best, not our leftovers.
Have you ever come to church and just given what was leftover from the week’s spending?
Our instruction from Scripture is different than that.
Giving to God’s work is to be purposeful and planned.
This means that we are to prioritize our spending.
After all, many of us prioritize to pay 30 years of regular house payments and 5 years of car payments.
But we don’t plan our giving to God.
Frankly, this is not right.
God wants to be first.
And when He is, He rewards it.
II. The second reason why God rewards our giving is HE WANTS US TO BE LIKE HIM.
1. Jesus lived the life of sacrifice.
He sacrificed the glory of heaven.
He left that perfect fellowship of the Trinity to come and be a sacrifice for us.
And in so doing, He set us an example.
He lived simply in order to reach others so that they might be a member of the kingdom of God.
He gave liberally and generously.
All that He had and was, He gave for our benefit.
So, in turn…
2. We are to offer ourselves as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1).
As Paul writes…
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.
When we offer ourselves as living sacrifices this will mean a rearrangement of priorities.
There is going to be a change in lifestyle.
Our priorities are going to change for when we give ourselves completely to the Lord, the view of our finances is going to change.
We are going to see ourselves as stewards of our possessions more than owners and we are going to want to use them in a way that will please God.
So when this prioritizing takes place, adjustments will be made.
Note this…
3. Our lives are to adjust to our giving, not to our living.
Can you imagine Jesus deciding the sacrifice was too costly?
That thought struck me this week.
What if He considered the cost was too much and that He wanted to do it differently?
You see, if He thought that the price was too high, we would be lost.
But He has set us an example.
He adjusted His living to His giving.
So we are to do the same.
And when we do, we will be like Jesus.
And He will reward us.
III. The third reason why God rewards our giving is HE WANTS US TO BE PARTNERS IN THE KINGDOM.
Because I don’t want to be misunderstood, let me say…
1. We don’t give to be blessed, but because we are blessed.
This may sound a bit confusing, but I also want to provide balance.
We don’t give to get richer materially.
We give so to be richer spiritually.
God chooses the way to bless.
It’s up to Him.
But let us recognize how blessed we already are.
Giving is nothing more than a natural response to the blessing of God.
So when we give…
2. We give to be a blessing.
Did you notice the quote from Billy Graham in the bulletin?
“God has given us two hands, one to receive with, and the other to give with. We are not cisterns made for hoarding; we are channels made for sharing.”
I think that gets the point across very well.
All that we have…all that we have been given possession of…has not been given to us to keep, but to share.
We are to be a conduit of God’s blessings.
We have kingdom work to do.
And God has called us to be His partners in the midst of it.
But not just partners…
3. We are asked to be consistent partners in kingdom work (I Corinthians 16:2).
Note how Paul describes our partnership…
On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up, so that when I come no collections will have to be made.
Paul calls for the giving of the church to be regular and consistent.
Every first day of the week, which apparently became the day of focused worship, was the time that the church family brought their gifts to the Lord to see kingdom work accomplished.
Each one was called on to be regular and systematic in their giving and not sporadic or occasional.
Each one had a part.
ILL Notebook: Teamwork (747)
Craig Barnes, a Presbyterian pastor in Washington DC was asked to conduct the funeral for a man who had helped develop the famous Boeing 747 aircraft. After the service, he spoke with the widow and commented on how remarkable it was that her late husband had helped build that marvelous machine. She said, "The truth is, he worked on one little switchbox smaller than a loaf of bread. That’s all he worked on for 15 years. But when that 747 lifted off the ground for the first time, it was the happiest day of his life."
He worked on one small switchbox for more than a decade. Yet the huge plane couldn’t have lifted off without this man’s contribution.
Often we see only our seemingly small efforts and feel we aren’t very important. But when the great Kingdom of God "lifts off," we’ll be thrilled to find out that all of our efforts were essential.
We need to do what we are supposed to do.
Whatever God has called us to do, we need to be faithful in accomplishing it.
And when we are faithful together, each one of us, and we share in the responsibility of this kingdom work, we will see this place take off.
Now…
4. Can you imagine how greater God would be glorified if the kingdom of Christ quadruples its resources?
I say this because in the typical evangelical church, people average in their giving to the church 2.5% of their gross salary.
If you multiplied that by four, ministry would have the opportunity to virtually explode.
The statistics about the evangelical church continue to be startling.
For 20% of the people in the church do 80% of the giving.
And 30% of the people do 20% of the giving.
The other 50% give nothing of record.
The other interesting trend is that the lower incomes give away a higher percentage of their income than those with higher incomes.
It ought to be the other way around.
But it does reveal the hold that money and possessions have on us.
The more we have, the less we let go.
Now, though I have given you these statistics, I want you to know that I do not know the giving habits of anyone in this church.
So if you were getting worried about this, you can relax.
But do know this…God does know.
Hold on to that thought for a moment, as we will come back to it.
APPLICATION:
But first let me say that…
1. Giving is not showtime (Matthew 6:1-2).
(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.
It has been suggested to me that when the ushers come down for the offering that I should bring mine down here to the front.
But because of these verses, I refuse to do it.
Now I know why the suggestion was made.
People want to see me as an example of giving.
I understand that.
But giving is not showtime.
My purpose is to please God, not to be seen.
The same must be true for all of us.
We do corporate offerings as an opportunity to worship, but we also do it in such a way so not to bring attention to the self.
Second…
2. Giving is a personal matter (II Corinthians 9:7a).
Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion…
Again, each one of us needs to do what God wants us to do.
And what we give is between God and us.
This is why I won’t tell you how much to give, because I probably won’t tell you enough.
But what I will tell you is that you are to give prayerfully and you are to give what God lays on your heart.
Each one of us needs to ask God how much His work needs and what our responsible share is.
It is the responsibility of each one of us.
So this means that I am not going around to check to see if you are giving 2.5% or 5% or 10% or 27%.
But, as your shepherd, I am concerned that you are giving what God wants you to give.
What has He told your heart to give…
Finally…
3. God wants us to enjoy this (II Corinthians 9:7b).
…for God loves a cheerful giver.
I was reminded by someone here in the church yesterday as we were talking about today’s topic that you can’t outgive God.
He said it with a huge smile on his face.
There is real joy in this, for when we trust God in all of this and then see Him at work—it’s fun.
We begin to realize that we are a part of something bigger that God is doing.
So give, and enjoy the pleasure of God on your life.
BENEDICTION: [Counselors are ]
Give to kingdom work…because we honor God with our giving, for when we establish our priorities in giving, our heart follows our treasure and God is first as He ought to be.
Give to kingdom work…because when we give, we are so like our Savior; may we humble ourselves in like fashion and give of ourselves.
Give to kingdom work…because He desires us a partners in all that He desires to do, here and across the world; there is good news to be communicated; so let’s do all that we can to see it accomplished.
"The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace." Amen.
