If there is one type of sermon that really bugs people more then any other, one sermon topic that really bends people out of shape it’s when the preacher talks about money,
That’s right good old filthy lucre. He can talk about adultery, not a problem, stealing, murder, lust s’alright. When he preaches on cigarettes and whiskey and wild, wild women we cheer him on. But let him talk about money and well, he’s gone from preaching to meddling.
It’s great to watch people when you talk about money because they frown, cross their arms look disgusted and hold unto their wallets all at the same time.
I don’t know if it’s because it makes us feel guilty, or if we think the church shouldn’t dabble in such worldly things as money or what. Maybe it’s the scandals that happened with the TV evangelist back in the late eighties. When one of those fellows was photographed with a hooker I don’t know what upset people more, the fact that he was with a prostitute or that he was driving a Jaguar.
And I don’t like men of God begging for money any more then you do, but fourteen chapters into the bible the tithe is introduced when Abraham gave Melchizedek that mysterious king and priest of God, ten percent of all he owned.
So God introduces the tithe in the first book of the bible and it’s there again in Malachi, the last book in the Old Testament. And Jesus spoke more about our money and how we use it then he did about prayer, bible study, or heaven and hell.
When the tabernacle was built God asked his people for money, and when the temple was built God asked his people for money, and when the temple was rebuilt God asked his people for money
And because the Christian’s financial responsibility to the church is biblical based, I would be irresponsible if I failed to preach on it. So prepare yourself for Denn to meddle and for you to get bent out of shape.
But be thankful because I only preach on money once in a while, and I never try to sell you a brick, or a blessed cross, or a prayer cloth or offer you a free book for your gift of twenty dollars or more.
It’s the giving of God’s people which allows the church to exist. It’s the tithes of God’s people that provides outreach into the community and allows us to support missionaries overseas. And I’m hopeful that this message will reveal the privilege we have of being able to return a portion of the gifts that God gives to us, to him.
How many people here have ever taken their kid’s to MacDonald’s. Ok you’ve taken the fruit of your loins to the golden arches, you’ve forked over some of your hard earned wealth, received your dinner and now you have retired to one of the tables to indulge yourself in these culinary delights.
You begin this experience of excess when you realize that you’ve only ordered one large fries, now if there is only one thing that MacDonald’s does extremely well it is their fries, and so you reach over to junior’s side of the table and help yourself to one of the fries. When suddenly his hand is upon yours he looks deep into your eyes and says, “Don’t eat my fries”. His fries? His fries? Who earned the money for the meal? Who drove the car to get to the golden arches? Who ordered the meal? Who paid for the meal? His fries?
Been there, done that? Sure you have. His fries! But how often do we refuse to give God some of our fries? After all isn’t he the great provider of all our french fries?
God provides for his church through people who he has provided for. It has been said that God’s multiplication begins with our subtraction. And I believe that. Matthew 25:23 The master said, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together! ’
The scripture that Larry read this morning illustrates this truth. 1 Kings 17:8-9 Then the LORD said to Elijah, “Go and live in the village of Zarephath, near the city of Sidon. There is a widow there who will feed you. I have given her my instructions.”
1) Her opportunity This widow had been chosen specifically to provide for Elijah. Too often we view giving as an obligation, don’t we? Let’s be honest. We see our tithes and offerings as one of the prices we have to pay for eternal life. The cost of passage on our celestial journey to heaven. You know the thought, “salvation is free but you’re going to have to pay if you want to keep it.
It is really a shame when we see men, called of God to preach the gospel who use cheap theatrical stunts to put guilt trips on Christians. Trying to make them feel obligated to give. Giving is an opportunity not an obligation. You can give out of legalism or you can give out of liberty. When we are forced to give it is sometimes hard to do it cheerfully. Let’s give a pop quiz. How many people hum a happy tune when you are writing out a cheque to revenue Canada? No? why not? Because we don’t have a choice. It’s like when you have a job that you hate, but you are afraid you won’t be able to find another one, but you really loathe the one you have. Talk about wanting to get up in the morning, what a joy to get out of bed.
But giving is different when it’s something that you want to do. When you give out of love whether it’s to your child or your spouse, or a friend or your church then it becomes a joy, not a hassle. It is so true that you make a living by what you get, but you make a life by what you give.
And when you offer your time and talent up to the Lord, not because it’s written down some where that you have to but out of love, then it’s no longer a burden, instead it’s a privilege. Because you can give without loving but you can’t love without giving.
Luke 4:25-26 “ Certainly there were many widows in Israel who needed help in Elijah’s time, when there was no rain for three and a half years and hunger stalked the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them. He was sent instead to a widow of Zarephath—a foreigner in the land of Sidon.
The task of providing for Elijah was not given to an anybody; it was given to a somebody. God does not want just anybody to provide for his church. Instead he wants somebody’s. Somebody to give, somebody to teach, somebody to serve. Giving to God’s work ought to be an opportunity, and it will become the world’s greatest pleasure, when we do it out of love.
1 Kings 17:10-12 So he went to Zarephath. As he arrived at the gates of the village, he saw a widow gathering sticks, and he asked her, “Would you please bring me a cup of water?” As she was going to get it, he called to her, “Bring me a bite of bread, too.”
But she said, “I swear by the LORD your God that I don’t have a single piece of bread in the house. And I have only a handful of flour left in the jar and a little cooking oil in the bottom of the jug. I was just gathering a few sticks to cook this last meal, and then my son and I will die.”
The second thing we need to see is 2) The Widow’s Openness. She was honest in her evaluations of her financial situation. And that is something that is uncommon today. We either under estimate our resources or overestimate them. And because of that we either live well beyond our means or we poor mouth.
I’m like the fellow who said “We could get ahead if our neighbours would quit buying things that we can’t afford.” The cult of materialism is preached across the breadth and width of our land. “You should have the very best!” And Christians fall down and worship the almighty dollar along with every one else.
You have to have the biggest car, the best house and the nicest clothes. Reminds me of the bumper sticker that says, “The man with the most toys when he dies wins.” my Daddy used to joke and say, “Just because you’re poor doesn’t mean you have to act poor.” At least I think he was joking.
And then you hear the preachers, “God wants you to be a success, God wants you to be rich.” And then our wealth and our success becomes a spiritual barometer, Christians who are poor must be having spiritual problems, but God is blessing those who are wealthy.
On the other hand are those who underestimate their wealth, the people who poor mouth. I don’t mean people who are poor, I mean the people who want us to know just how poor they are. And some of the worst offenders are preachers. You know the line, “oh, what a martyr am I, oh the things I’ve given up for the ministry, look at the sacrifices I make.”
Man I’m convinced that if you have it that bad then you have one of three options, 1) accept it, 2) change it 3) leave it.
This woman was honest in what she had, and honest in what she could give. And remember the lesson of Ananias and Sappahria, don’t lie to God, or you might die.
The next thing that we learn in our scripture is this, duty comes before opportunity. In the Middle East you did not refuse to get a traveller a cup of water, that principle is shown in John 4 in the story of the woman of Samaria, remember John 4:7 Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “ Please give me a drink. “
Now before Elijah gave the widow the opportunity she had to prove herself by doing her duty. She was going to do her duty when he called her to do more then her duty. And we discover two really neat things, the first is this a) God Uses Unlikely People. If you were God and Elijah was your prophet, and you had to provide for him, would you send him to a widow who only had a hand full of grain and a little oil in a jar. Noooooo. I would send him to a land owner, somebody who was independently wealthy. After all Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe said “Giving is the business of the rich.”
But then again maybe that wouldn’t work, a survey in the U.S. done by the Gallup organization showed that almost one half of charitable contributions come from households with incomes of less then $30,000.00, and I would suspect that that hold true in Canada as well.
Never say, “I have too little for God to ever use me.”
b) God Holds Us Accountable For What We Have. God will never expect more from us then what he’ll give us. God will never hold me responsible for the people at the Rock Church, or Metro Wesleyan Church or Grace Chapel. But I will be responsible for the church he has given me.
In the same way I don’t have to be accountable for the million dollars I haven’t got, but God will want an accounting of what I did with the resources that he has entrusted to me.
Elijah didn’t expect the widow to produce a filet mignon, or a lobster out of a magic hat, but what he asked for she had the resources to provide. Just a piece of bread.
3) Her Obligation first we saw her opportunity, she was chosen, then we looked at her openness she was honest, and here is her obligation.
1 Kings 17:13 But Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid! Go ahead and cook that ‘last meal,’ but bake me a little loaf of bread first. Afterward there will still be enough food for you and your son.
The key to stewardship is that little word “first” do you remember the words of Christ in Matthew 6:33 and he will give you all you need from day to day if you live for him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern.
Matthew 6:33 (NKJV)But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
Too many of us practise residual religion, and that simply means that we give God the very best, of all our leftovers.
We give him our left over money that is if we have any left over at the end of the week when the bag goes by. We give him our leftover time, both in our service and the time we spend alone with God. We give him our leftover talents and our left over efforts. And even though we give God an after thought, he made us forethought when he sent his Son to die in our place. Listen up, if you wait until the end of everything, God will never get anything.
In a world that places as many demands on our time, talents and money as today’s world does, unless God gets his share first, he’s not likely to get it.
We become like the farmer who had two calves, and he told the preacher that when the time came to sell them, that he was going to give the proceeds from one of them to God. Well during the year a big storm came and after the storm the farmer came to church and said “preacher you know that big storm we had last week?” and the preacher said “yes” “well” replied the farmer “during that storm, God’s calf died.”
4) Then There Was The Offer 1 Kings 17:14 For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: There will always be plenty of flour and oil left in your containers until the time when the LORD sends rain and the crops grow again!”
Plain and simply what God is saying is “if you trust me then I’ll provide for you.” and that my friends is the same offer that God is making today. “if you will listen to me and trust me then I will reward you.” When you put God first then God puts you first. What would your reaction be, I mean all he asked for was everything that she had.
5) Her Obedience
The widow took God and Elijah at their word and did what she was asked. She obeyed after the promise, but before the production. And she gave out of her poverty not out of her plenty.
The promises of God are often dependent on our obedience to God. Abraham had to go out from his homeland before he could get to the Promised Land.
Moses had to stretch out his rod before the red sea would part. Joshua and his army had to march around Jericho for seven days before the walls fell down and the widow had to use up her last bit of flour and oil before God provided more.
Could it be that the reason God doesn’t give to you in abundance is because you haven’t trusted God with your obedience. I wonder what would have happened if the widow had of said, “Hey show me the trick with the magic oil and flour and then I’ll make your sandwich. Would God have provided?
By saying “I can’t afford to tithe” you are in effect saying to God, “I don’t trust you to take care of us on the 90% that’s left.” I mean isn’t that what you are saying? If your employer cut your salary by 10% tomorrow would you die? I mean would you starve to death? Would you lose your house? Your car? Just wondering.
But Paul tells us in Philippians 4:19 And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.
Now the question is this, whose riches is he going to use to provide for us? Ours, no his, but it will mean trusting him.
The last point is 6) Her Overflow 1 Kings 17:16 For no matter how much they used, there was always enough left in the containers, just as the LORD had promised through Elijah.
Wow, God came through, surprised of course not but then again you knew the story didn’t you? And God does that again and again and again. Preachers would never have to preach on Money if people would just understand that God will provide. God will provide when we trust him, and demonstrate that trust through obedience. Proverbs 11:24 It is possible to give freely and become more wealthy, but those who are stingy will lose everything.
Laurel Buckingham the pastor of the Moncton Wesleyan church, once told me “We don’t have a money problem, we have a giving problem.”
If Christians only tithed, just tithed, no building fund, no missions, no offering, just gave the ten percent that belonged to God the church would never ever have a need.
Old country preacher was met one day by a member of his congregation who asked, “Preacher if salvation is free, how come you’re always asking for money?” Good question, maybe one you’ve asked yourself. The preacher responded by saying “Salvation is free, as free as the water you drink, but if you want that water in your kitchen then somebody has to pay for the pump.”
Salvation is free, but even without a church building having a church isn’t. And as we subtract our rights of ownership to what we posses, then God has the opportunity to bless and multiple it for his purposes.
God doesn’t expect me to give like Larry, or Bruce, or Don, or Heather or Karen. But he does expect for me to give as he has provided for me. However when it comes to giving some people will stop at nothing.
God doesn’t just use millionaires; instead he uses thousandaires, hundredaires, tenaires and oneairs.
