OPEN: In 21ST Century Christian Magazine a mother told this story:
Our 3 year old daughter was in the habit of giving half of her 2 quarter allowance to God each week. One Sunday we were out of town, so the next Sunday, we gave her an extra quarter to teach her about “making up” our giving when we miss.
She said, “Oh, good, I’ll give one for God and one for Jesus.”
We thought that was cute and didn’t think more about it until the following Sunday. When it was back to the regular allowance and she had only one quarter for the contribution, she started crying. We asked her what was wrong and she said, “Where’s the quarter for Jesus?”
Needless to say, she got an immediate raise in her allowance! We are waiting to see what happens when she finds out about the Holy Spirit.
APPLY: That family was faithfully teaching their daughter a great truth: that giving was an act of worship.
And that was what Solomon was teaching his son.
Look at Proverbs 3:5-10 again:
“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.
Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil. This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones.
Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.”
Notice the words Solomon uses:
· "in all your ways acknowledge him"(vs. 6)
· "Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops"(vs. 9)
· "Trust in the LORD" (vs. 5)
In other words, what Solomon was teaching his son that, in his worship, his financial gifts to God were the way he:
ACKNOWLEDGED GOD
HONORED GOD
TRUSTED GOD
I. We’re going to start with this idea of “acknowledging God” in our giving
Did you notice the phrase “first fruits”?
What’s that mean? What does “first fruit” mean? (wait for response)
It means – that the FIRST of all your fruits are set aside for God.
It means – that should you plan what you’re going to give to God
ILLUS: Clara Null of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma told of living in a small town with one bank and three churches. Early one Monday morning, the bank called all three churches with the same request. “Could you bring in Sunday’s collection right away?” We’re out of one-dollar bills.”
Now, why could the bank be sure that there would be $1 bills in the offering? Because many people DON’T PLAN AHEAD in their giving… they give God what they have in their pockets at the time.
ILLUS: One wit observed: “One of the best tests of religion is to find yourself in church with nothing less than a 20 dollar bill in your wallet” (For Benefit of Clergy quoted in Readers’ Digest 5/89)
That sounds good, but in reality:
The best test of religion is not what you’d do if you found yourself in church with a $20 bill…
The best test of religion is one that shows you’ve acknowledged God’s ownership of your wallet
The best test of religion is when you’ve already cut the check for the offering plate when you got paid the week before.
ILLUS: When I explain to people what it means to become a Christian, I explain faith, repentance and baptism… but I spend a great deal of my time on the “confessing Jesus as Lord” out of Romans 10.
I explain that, in the day of Jesus, if one person called another their “Lord” they were acknowledging that that person “owned them.” They were slaves. The owner not only owned the slave’s services, they owned everything around the slave. The slave owned nothing. (Take out wallet) At this point, I take out my wallet and tell them that “confessing Jesus as Lord” means turning over to Jesus everything you own: everything in your wallet, your bank account, your deeds and titles of ownership – it’s all His now.
Giving your First Fruits means you are acknowledging God’s ownership of all you have.
It means you are NOT giving God your leftovers…
It means your gift to God is NOT an afterthought…
YOUR GIFT TO GOD is something you’ve planned
When you do that (when you give God your 1st fruits) you are beginning to learn the concept from Proverbs: “in all your ways acknowledge him” (vs. 6)
II. Secondly, in your giving of your first fruits to God… you’re honoring Him
ILLUS: Years ago, there was a movie called Shenandoah. The leading character, played by Jimmy Stewart opened the film with a prayer of thanksgiving for the meal. He calls the family in, makes the kids sit still, and prays,
“Lord, we plowed the field, we planted the field, we harvested the crop. We cooked it and put it on the table. It wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for our hard work. But we thank you for it anyway. Amen.”
NOW… was Stewart’s character in the movie “honoring God?”
Noooo… in fact, he was mocking God. In his opinion, God wasn’t necessary. God was irrelevant.
Now, contrast that attitude with what the Jews did when they celebrated the “Feast of the First Fruits.” On that special day, Israel brought in sheaths of grain to the Temple – the first crops
(or fruits) that were gathered from their fields – and they presented them to the priests. The priests would then take those sheaths of grain and “waive” them before the Lord.
It was a big production, an elaborate ceremony. And this ceremony began a day of great feasting and celebration before God
ILLUS: Dr. Scott Caudill made an observation about this event. He said that when the Israelites presented their gifts in this way they were making this statement:
“God you’re so good, and God you’re so great, before we take any of this barley for ourselves, we want to first of all give it to you. And Lord we’re not going to give you our second best. And Lord we’re not going to give you what’s left over. Oh no! We’re going to give you our first fruits! Only the best is good enough for our great and wonderful God!”
What the Israelites were doing in this festival was “honoring God” in their giving
They were declaring that God was worthy of praise in all that they gave that day.
III. Lastly, when we give our offerings on Sunday Morning, we are showing how much we trust God.
ILLUS: The story’s told of a man who wanted to take his Uncle Dudley on a plane ride.
This was years ago, when planes were still a novelty.
It was Uncle Dudley’s 75 birthday and his nephew said "How would you like to go up with me?"
His uncle agreed and they went up and circled the old man’s farm. When they set down, the nephew asked "Were you scared, Uncle Dudley?"
"No..., but I never did put my full weight down."
Too often, that’s how Christians approach God. They are not so sure “how much” they trust God. They’re not sure how much they want to put their “weight down.” And the proof of the pudding is in how they give to God.
That’s why many people don’t “plan ahead” in their giving. They are afraid that if they set aside a given amount for God, before they pay their bills… they won’t have enough to pay for their bills.
Now, I understand that fear. It’s hard to make this step in your faith. But I’m going to tell you something now that is going to sound cruel… and I apologize for that.
But what does that behavior declare (refusing to plan ahead in your giving because you are afraid you’re not going to have enough to pay the bills)? It declares that their trust is in ourselves… not in God. It declares that we trust ourselves to supply all that they will need to cover their weekly expenses, but we don’t trust God to help us with that task.
Proverbs 3:5 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding”
Planned giving is all about Trust. It’s all about what you “really” believe
QUOTE: Bob Perks ~ "It’s one thing to say you believe in something, but so much more to prove it."
QUOTE: Hudson Taylor said, "Unless there is an element of risk in our exploits for God, there is no need for faith."
IV. Now this series of sermons (I’ll be preaching this month) is all about giving to God
And, every Sunday, I’m going to be challenging you on your financial gifts to God.
Now, I can say, with confidence, that all your leadership here – plans ahead in their giving
They all give their 1st fruits to God. And they do that to acknowledge God, and to honor God, and to show how much they trust God.
You have good leaders in this congregation. They are great men of faith, and they believe that God is faithful. They believe what Solomon wrote in Proverbs 3:9-10 “Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.”
And because they believe that promise, they are offering you something a lot of churches won’t: a “money back” guarantee.
(pause) Well, actually, Jim (one of our Elders) said something about it coming out of my salary… but all the same, it’s a money back guarantee. If you have never tithed before now’s your chance to try it out with no risk whatsoever. We as your leaders believe so strongly in this concept that we are willing to trust that God will supply as He has in the past.
I’m challenging you to at least tithe for the next few weeks and see if God will do what He’s promised in Proverbs 3. Now there is a stipulation on this. You must make sure you submit your tithe in the form of a check of in an envelope so we can trace it… And then, after a period of time that you feel is appropriate, if God hasn’t met your expectations, you talk to our treasurer and she’ll cut you a check for the amount you tithed.
CLOSE: Now, my closing illustration deals with something other than “planned giving” but it’s it shows how faithful God is in matter of money. How many of you are familiar with a concept known as a “Faith Promise Rally?” (Get response) For you who don’t understand the concept, many churches use it in supporting their missionaries. During the “Rally” Christians are challenged to make a “Faith Promise Pledge” that – in essence – is a promise to give a specified amount of money to missions ONLY if God supplies it above and beyond their ordinary income.
A few years back, Harry Reinfelder attended a Faith Promise Rally at his church, and decided to give a certain amount of money. His immediate first notion was that even if God did not give him the extra money, he would be able to pay it anyway.
After further thought, he decided that his philosophy went against the whole concept of faith giving - giving back to God - so he made a faith promise of "thousands of dollars," and determined "it had to be from God."
His promise set the wheels in motion for God to perform a series of events that would exceed his wildest dreams.
Reinfelder made the pledge in the fall, and months later God still had not supplied the money. His wife Nancy thought the money was supposed to be paid monthly, but Reinfelder told her if God wanted them to pay it, He would provide first.
In the spring, however, his faith promise became reality.
Reinfelder and his wife owned and operated a resort on Munuscong Bay in Michigan’s upper Peninsula. One day Reinfelder received a call from the Michigan Outdoors television program, asking if they could do a show from the resort with Reinfelder.
After the crew arrived, Reinfelder was delayed and couldn’t take them out until long after the generally accepted fishing time. A he was getting ready to go fishing, "something told me to get a salmon net," which is a larger net than what he had originally prepared.
Reinfelder used light tackle and no steel leader, and a walleye fishing lure. A short time later, "I hooked into what I thought was a snag. At the same time, I heard the cameraman turn the camera on."
What he thought was a snag, turned out to be a 50 inch muskie. After playing the fish for 5 to 7 minutes, a very unusual thing happened, "the fish became docile and laid on the surface." At that time, he used his salmon net, "which the fish swam into - all recorded on film."
It was at that time that Reinfelder realized that God would supply the money through "publicity and notoriety." He was right. After being televised on Michigan Outdoors, his business skyrocketed, providing three times in profit what his original faith promise had been.
When Reinfelder took the money to the preacher and told him that he was the one who had made the large pledge, the preacher had his own story. When he saw the card and the amount of money pledged, he thought it was a kid playing a joke and threw the card away!
In addition to providing the faith promise, the muskie has opened other doors for Reinfelder to minister. He was able to sell his resort and go to work for a business that provides flexible hours for his new ministry. He now travels to various churches telling his "fish story." "People have accepted Christ because of that story," he says.
