MATURING IN THE FAITH ---- DO YOU WANT TO BE GOD’S PRIZE?
Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com
2 Corinthians 9:6 But I this I say, HE WHICH SOWETH SPARINGLY SHALL REAP SPARINGLY ... and he which soweth bountifully shall reap bountifully.
7 Every man according as he purposed in his heart, so let him give; GRUDGINGLY, or of necessity: FOR GOD LOVETH A CHEERFUL GIVER.
Amplified
2 Cor. 9:7 Let each one give as he has made up his own mind and purposed in His heart, not reluctantly or sorrowfully or under compulsion, for God loves,
(that is God takes pleasure in, God prizes, and is unwilling to do without)a cheerful giver, (joyous, prompt-to-do-it) whose heart is in his giving.
Living Bible
2 Cor. 9:7 Everyone must make up his mind as to how much to give. Don’t force anyone to give more than he really wants to give, for cheerful givers are prizes to God.
Let me preface what I say by saying this, I do not count the moneys at church, I never at any point touch the money nor do I have the ability to get at the
church’s money. I do not count the money nor do I know who gave nor do I know who did not give. I take myself totally out of this loop.
By doing this I can never be accused of making favorites or being mad at non-givers. A select few at church have this knowledge, and they are bound
by confidence to not mention giving to anyone.
In my opinion giving, tithing should never be an issue of membership, this is my opinion. I do not think mandatory giving is proper. Besides, how could you
ever prove what a person does, or gives?
1. LIVING BENEATH MY PRIVILEDGE
I have heard from several sources that only 18 per cent of Christians give regularly? 82% of Christians are not faithful givers.
I will be very honest with you, I think many are living far beneath their
Christian privilege. God desires to bless His People!
God has established certain criteria for His Blessings.
IF my people --- who are called by my name shall...
So many deep things of God are conditional...
If you keep His commandments ... condition...
Giving and the motive of giving can become part of how much of the fulness of God we can receive. If we rob God, methinks, we rob ourselves?
What think ye?
What causes war? Greed!
Malachi 3:8 Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed me.
But you say, Wherein have we robbed God? In tithes and offerings.
9. Ye are cursed with a curse: for you have robbed God, even this whole nation.
10. Bring you ALL THE TITHES into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and PROVE ME, saith the Lord of Host,
IF I WILL OPEN THE WINDOWS OF HEAVEN AND POUR OUT A BLESSING, that you will not have room enough to receive it.
11. God will rebuke the devourer for your sakes ---
From the very lips of Jesus, he himself, spoke of tithes.
2. BATTLE OF THE MIND --- ATTITUDES
I would like to address the issue of the question:
DO I HAVE TO PAY TITHES?
Words that go along with this same attitude are
usually DO I HAVE TO PRAY AND READ MY BIBLE?
DO I HAVE TO ATTEND CHURCH FAITHFULLY?
My first point is that of attitude, all a Christian life is, is growing the proper Biblical attitudes, the battle is of the mind.
The problem of the heart is the heart of the problem.
We live in one of two basic attitudes about life.
The two attitudes are... HAVE TO vs. WANT TO...
Life is very sad and something is wrong if all I do is what "I have to..."
Do I go to church because I have to...? Or is it because I want to...?
Anyone can give, you don’t have to love to give, ----
but if you really love you want to give...
So one real issue is why doesn’t God’s people want to do those things that we should?
3. LACK OF OBEDIENCE...
We are at an all time low of the percentage of new converts following Jesus in the second command, to be water baptized?
So many of the new converts accept Jesus but they do not follow in water baptism? Why?
Well, seems there is an issue, DO I HAVE TO BAPTIZED IN WATER?
I am so thankful that Jesus went beyond what HE HAD TO DO...
I think our nature should be to reach beyond the attitude of have to...
Why don’t we want to commit to the deeper things of God?
4. WHERE DID TITHING START?
Did Abraham have to pay tithes to Melchizedek in Genesis 14?
No, I do not see a forced giving...
Melchizedek blessed Abraham, and out of this flowed a love and a desire to give out of respect to the priest of God.
Jacob follows the spiritual pattern established my Abraham, read Genesis 28:22
I have a great fear that within church and religion today, many give for one motive, to receive back more fold than they gave.
I know God blesses givers, but God knows man’s motives and God is to high to be bribed or bought!
5. DO I HAVE TO TAKE MEDICINE?
Let’s say you have high blood pressure and the doctor recommends some medicine. You take the medicine and your blood pressure drops into an acceptable norm. Then we might apply this question --- DO I HAVE
TO TAKE MY MEDICINE?
Of course not, you don’t have to, you can quit the medicine and have a stroke and loose the use of your arm and leg?
We return to the issue ... well, did I have to take medicine?
Naw, you don’t.
Will not taking your pills have an immediate effect/ affect?
Probably not, but in the long term the damage will become non-reversible.
With an attitude, I will take this medicine because I have to... and the doctor is forcing me, sooner or later you will miss doses, and quit taking them.
I might take the pills because I have to ... but the real reason is I want to improve my standard of living. I want to improve my quality and quantity of
life therefore I do some thing’s because I want the end product to be moved in wisdom.
6. NO TITLES AND NO DEEDS?
There was a terrible earthquake in California many years ago. Thousands of homes were destroyed and the state was in chaos.
Many people were claiming the homes they lived in as their own.
The courthouse and all the titles and deeds were destroyed completely.
The gas lines ran under the court house, and the flames were so consuming, not one record was found.
This couple had lived in this house 15 years and they went to the judge to declare the home theirs. Another individual came forward and claimed the home was theirs.
The judge did not know what to do, the people had lived there 15 years and brought people forward to back their claim.
The other people brought little stubs where the people had paid rent to them.
The judge asked to see the peoples signatures?
The judge asked, Is this your signature on these rent stubs?
The people said, YES!
The judge declared the other people the owners of the home, even though they did not live there.
May I suggest to you, that is sort of what paying tithes really is...
10% is a legal document that you believe Jesus is Savior and Lord, and that
God is the Creator. Your giving could be used in a court of law that you know who God really is.
Tithing acknowledges God as the true owner.
7. LOVE LOVES TO GIVE!
When I fell in love with my wife, I did something I had never done before.
I went to Kay Jewelers in Springfield, Illinois and I went in debt, I bought Linda an engagement ring. Did I have to...? NAW!
I wanted to give her something as a TOKEN of my love.
25 years later, Linda lost her wedding band and engagement ring, watch, and another ring. She grew careless and would often just hang her rings and watch on her purse strap.
Linda cried, and we searched for days ... we could not find my tokens of love for her.
Did I have to buy Linda a new engagement ring and wedding band?
It was her carelessness, not mine?
Naw, their was never an issue, I bought Linda a bigger and better set than she had.
Why? Did I have to...? Naw!
I loved my dear wife, we have been married 32 years, I want a token of my love on her hand?
I love her, I wish I could buy her a bigger one than she now has.
You know the issue if I so addressed it, was I don’t have to buy another...?
That is not the issue of if I have to.... I love her and thus I want to!!!
8. PRETEND WE ARE IN VIET NAM
Pretend with me, I am from the Viet Nam era.
Let’s say I was drafted and had to go to Viet Nam.
Let’s say Linda and I were married and I had to leave her in the states.
Let’s say after my term in Viet Nam, I wrote Linda a letter and said,
Honey I will be home by Christmas.
Let’s say, Linda writes me a return letter and asks me to volunteer for another year in the combat zone, and she wants me to go to the front lines and get killed so she could get the insurance money?
Well, one of two things happened--- she didn’t love me before I left; or she has found another while I was gone.
IF she loved me and had been faithful to me, she would have been praying for my soon return. as a full partner.
May I enlarge this, to say if you don’t love God, if you have been unfaithful, if you give 10% because it is forced, then there is a heart issue that you need to overcome.
Do I give because it is an issue of I HAVE TO...?
If I do, in my opinion, there is something wrong.
9. 10% IS REASONABLE AND FAIR
Secondly, 10% is an ability based load. It is not harder for one than for another.
I heard about this man in Arkansas that was very poor, but he was a faithful giver.
They found oil on his land and he was making $300,000.00 a month.
He commented to pastor, this $30,000.00 a month is to much, I can’t afford to give this
much. The pastor agreed this is a big problem. The pastor told the man, let’s pray and
agree together that your oil wells all dry up and that you go bankrupt, then you will
not have this problem of giving so much.
The oil man bowed his head and repented, for he took God’s blessings as a big burden. The man said, May I never again find giving as a burden.
10. YOU BECOME A PARTNER WITH GOD.
Another neat thing about tithing, YOU BECOME A PARTNER WITH GOD in ministry.
God trust us to share by our giving.
Every hour you work, every dollar you make --- you become a team member with God.
God trust you in this partnership as a full and trustworthy partner.
I knew a church in Cleveland, TN. that ran on the back of the bulletin each week who
had tithed the week before. Some people that had never tithed became faithful tithers because they never wanted anyone to know they didn’t give.
While I think this is a neat idea, I can’t agree with it. But if people that weren’t faithful, was publicly known, many unfaithful givers would become faithful.
May I make another suggestion?
I think God knows every dollar you ever made, I think God knows every dollar you have given.
11. TITHING IS REAL WORSHIP
Tithing is the ultimate PROGRAM OF WORSHIP.
Someone suggested to me once, don’t take up an offering, it will kill the spirit.
I replied, if giving kills the spirit, than that spirit needs to be killed.
Giving gives a release of praise and worship.
Singing is not necessarily a proof of worship, nor is quoting scriptures, the devil can
quote scriptures. Tithing is a GOOD WITNESS!
I saw a bumper sticker, tithe if you love Jesus; anyone can HONK!
I honestly think giving and prayer are often difficult because giving and prayer becomes a mirror, after real giving and real prayer we are totally exposed to
see our real nature. But your giving and prayer life help us see and correct the wrongful attitudes that can grow hidden in the shadows. This good giving
and good prayers not only expose problems, but a mirror reflects the light and reaches farther than just the light alone can reach.
12. TITHING SHOWS WHERE YOUR HEART TREASURE REALLY BELONG --- WHY IS GIVING SO HARD? Seems, what you love will tell?
Where YOUR treasure is, there will be your heart also... Matthew 6:21.
The average Christian in the USA pays more for Premium cable or satellite services than they give to missions? This does not count movies or movie rentals? Where is your treasure?
The average family pays more for pet care a year than they give to charity?
Where are our treasure?
The average woman in the USA spends more on fingernail polish, makeup, hair dye, shampoos, hair sprays, and personal care products, than they invest in regular church offerings? Where are our treasures?
Books and magazines are read many times more often than the Bible?
Where are we investing our treasures?
Why is giving to the Lord and the church so hard?
OUR TREASURES ARE IN THE CARNALITY’S OF LIFE, WE SEEK PLEASURE AND ENTERTAINMENT MORE THAN TO KNOW GOD.
The Spirituality of God’s people is anemic when we "HAVE TO GIVE...?";
VERSUS I LOVE GOD AND I DESIRE TO GIVE.
13. TITHING IS A PRIVILEDGE
If you have followed this lesson, you should be grasping this truth ---TITHING IS A PRIVILEGE NOT A BURDEN. Tithing is my peculiar benefit for
accepting God! This is my right or immunity!
Praise God, I get to give my tithes to God!
I am honored God choose me and let’s me invest in His Work and in His People!
The point of faithful tithing is not money, the point is not man, the point of faithful tithing is God!
14. WHY SHOULD I TITHE?
God’s tithing plan is two fold:
1. Tithing provides a financial plan for operating the church!
If 100% of God’s people loved tithing and giving there would be no need unmet.
2. Tithing is a plan wherein God grows and develops His people.
Greed and selfishness are defeated, and God’s Good Plan for His people is released, and God is free to bless His people.
Tithing is a very fair and reasonable love gift to God. Tithing is not from the leftovers, scrapes, and junk --- tithing if given properly is the first fruits,
1/10 of the real value, not the last, the least, nor the remainder.
You will not hurt God by not being faithful to God’s giving plan, never... God doesn’t need our money, we need God’s full blessing.
Why cut the throat that carries the food to our inner most being?
15. WE NEED TO GIVE...
One time many years ago, after a funeral my oldest son had two dollars.
He wanted to give the $2.00 to the older widow lady.
The older widow lady was financially secure and did not need that $2.00.
I whispered to her, maybe you don’t need the $2.00, but my son needs to give the money, it is his token of love.
The little widow lady accepted the $2.00 and gave my son a big hug.
The big hug and the lesson of giving was worth more than $2.00 to my son.
I sit with this son in Sunday School class, I see him reach for a Tithing envelope and write his check and get it ready for worship service.
My heart is so thankful that my son has learned to give.
My son is a better man to the community and the church because he has learned the real beauty of giving.
See tithing is not a fundraising plan of man, though many see it that way.
Tithing is a GOD PLAN, a God made plan, that touches and opens the heart of God. The world will never understand tithing, carnal Christians can never understand tithing.
16. LOVE NOTES ARE PERSONAL AND NOT UNDERSTOOD BY ALL
Most know I play the guitar in church. As a teenager, my girlfriend would write me love notes. I would keep them to read later. I hid these love notes
in the back of my Epiphone amplifier.
One day we got to church and another teenager had found the love notes to me. He was reading them and laughing.
The love notes were funny to him, and serious to me? Why?
The love notes were written to me, not to him.
The world laughs at people that faithfully gives to missions and the church?
The reason, the love note is not to them, it is personal.
17. GIVING TELLS JUST LIKE NOT GIVING TELLS
Have you ever seen a hospital build by atheists?
Compare Madelyn O’Hare and Mother Teresa?
Madelyn and Mother Teresa show the differences between MAKE ME, and I would love to...
How about an atheists orphanage?
I think NOT! Why? Their treasures are of this world? If you closed all the Jewish and Christian and charitable hospitals the world would suffer!
I have bought several tons of rice for Haiti? Why? Because, I believe that God loves Haitians, and they deserve food too. I do this for the humans,
but I will tell you the real reason I have done this is my love for Jesus Christ, and it is my desire
18. LACKING AT CHURCH
I was raised in a parsonage. One day my shoes had a hole in the bottom, we didn’t have the money to buy new shoes. My Dad laid my shoes down on some card board, and cut a piece of cardboard and put them in my shoes.
My Dad cried like a baby. I asked Dad, WHY ARE YOU CRYING?
Dad said, Son, if people gave at church and if others would give to the local pastor instead of sending the big offerings to a TV preacher, I could buy you new shoes.
When it rained my feet would get wet, and I remembered my Dad crying.
I hated some of those TV Preachers and I blamed them.
It was not the TV Preacher, it was people not giving.
When I became a school teacher, I would buy my Dad shoes, and I would remember that selfish people, and HAVE TO ... GIVING hurt my home.
19. IS MONEY A SIN?
NAW!
1 Timothy 6:10 FOR THE LOVE OF MONEY IS THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL!
Money is neutral, it is neither good or bad of itself.
It is what you do with money?
Some men are good providers, they work so hard to make money?
But raising a good kid takes more than spending money, it is spending time.
I can get a big offering at church easier than I can get people to visit the widows and the orphans?
20. NOT MY JOB DESCRIPTION...
Yet James 1:27 Says a PURE AND UNDEFILED RELIGION IS TO VISIT THE WIDOWS AND ORPHANS.
Tuesday, I played music in Elizabethtown, KY at a retirement home.
There was a lady taking the food back into the kitchen. There was one table that had food spelled on it.
We set up music on that table.
A lady with me asked the worker, could she give us a rag to clean off the table or could she clean off the table, the worker getting paid by the hour, turned to our volunteer and said, THAT IS NOT IN MY JOB DESCRIPTION.
This HAVE TO ATTITUDE IS HURTING US.
We traveled 2 1/2 hours, played a 1 1/2 music program, never received a penny, and this lady could not do anything beyond her official job description?
How sad! I wanted to tell her off and tell her supervisor, but I didn’t.
Yet James 1:27 Says a PURE AND UNDEFILED RELIGION IS TO VISIT THE WIDOWS AND ORPHANS.
Seems some think they can give a big offering and sit in a high office and assign the widows and orphans to someone else. We need to reach beyond job descriptions to reach out of our box.
Many religious leaders never come down from their thrones to do the things that pleases our God.
21. HOW SAD ARE THESE WORDS?
2 Corinthians 9:6 But this I say, HE WHICH SOWETH SPARINGLY SHALL REAP SPARINGLY ...
HOW HAPPY ARE THESE WORDS?
and he which soweth bountifully shall reap bountifully.
ARE WE TALKING ABOUT SEEDS? YES AND NO!
We are talking about giving attitudes, giving patterns, and habits of giving.
22. GOD LOVES A CHEERFUL GIVER
2 Corinthians 9:7 Every man according as he purposed in his heart, so let him give; NOT GRUDGINGLY, or of necessity: FOR GOD LOVETH A CHEERFUL GIVER.
Amplified
2 Cor. 9:7 Let each one give as he has made up his own mind and purposed in His heart, not reluctantly or sorrowfully or under compulsion, for God loves,
(that is God takes pleasure in, God prizes, and is unwilling to do without) a cheerful giver, (joyous, prompt-to-do-it) whose heart is in his giving.
Living Bible
2 Cor. 9:7 Everyone must make up his mind as to how much to give. Don’t force anyone to give more than he really wants to give, for cheerful givers are prizes to God.
Is God’s word true?
God gives us a clear job description ... laugh as you give, love to give and God will prize you.
I have heard from several sources that only 18 per cent of Christians give regularly?
82% of Christians are not faithful givers.
Wow, what could we do for church, pastors, and missions if we could turn that around grow 82% of the church faithful givers, and 18% learning to be God’s
prize.
23. WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF WE REMAIN UNFAITHFUL GIVERS?
We will have a stale testimony and be weak and anemic.
The church will always be lacking funds and our outward reach to the youth, the aged, the widows, and missions will always suffer.
Lack of proper love giving will stunt the growth of individuals, of families and of churches.
Lacking of giving will breed attitudes or spirits of carelessness and indifference within the body of Christ.
24. TITHING IS NOT THE KEYS TO THE KINGDOM,
TITHING AND OFFERINGS ARE THE KEYS TO BLESSINGS!
I had rather have 9/10’s of my earnings and God’s blessings from a giving heart, than to have 10/10’s with selfishness and greed lurking in the dark places within my being.
Some people have a great difficulty and want to debate and argue tithing not because of the giving issue, but because of the submission and discipline that
faithful tithing brings. Some cannot tithe because they have garbage hidden in
their hearts and they will not surrender to the Lord’s yoke. By faithful giving one expresses their love, their devotion, and their thanks to the Most Holy
God. Faithfulness in giving releases blessings and is a high form of worship
and praise.
His servant, Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com
Could you help me? Could you pass this lesson on to others?
