A LIFE WORTH GIVING
I TIMOTHY 6: 17-19
January 2002
I want us to talk about something that is almost taboo in today’s churches. Giving. Giving is one of the least talked about subjects in churches today, especially Baptist churches. Why is that? Did you know that giving is mentioned 2,285 times in the Bible. That is more than faith, hope, and love are mentioned. Yet, those are the ones that we talk more about. I think that the reason for the lack of talking about giving is that we are afraid that God is going to make us do something that we don’t want to. We are afraid that He may make us start giving a tithe, or give something up that we don’t want to give up. Or, maybe we are afraid He will make us give an offering to missions.
Today as we look at what Paul had to tell to Timothy about this very thing, we can learn quite a bit from what he had to say. He is sending a word to the wealthy. That the wealthy should be willing and ready to give at the sign of a need. A few of you are looking relieved, thinking that this lets you off the hook because your not wealthy. Sorry, that is not true. The fact is that if we have Christ living in us, then we are wealthy. This call, or command is to all of us, not just the wealthy materially. There are some things that we can learn about giving. When we give, it does some things for us:
I. Makes us more like God.
I Chronicles 29:14 David was praising god and proclaimed that all things have come from you Lord. All things are from God. there is nothing that has been made that is not from the hand of God. Everything that we have is given by God. when we give back to God we follow His example.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
The fact is that God gives generously of what He has. God has given us the very best gift that He could. By giving we are imitating God. Eph. 5:1 tells us to be imitators of God. By giving that is exactly what we are doing.
God Gave his one and only Son so that you and I could have eternal life. God knows how to give good things. It would only be right for us to give as the Father has given to us.
This passage says Let those who are rich in this present age. That is those who are rich in Christ Jesus. We have the greatest wealth that there is. There is none that could compare.
It goes on to say, let them do goo, ready to give, willing to share. That means that we are to do good things because we are rich in Christ. That also means that we are to share in the wealth that we already have. If there is a need, we should be willing to meet it. No matter what. It does not matter who that person is, if we are presented a need as a Christian, we are to do all within our power to meet that need. It says willing to share. That is give of what we already have. That is to give to someone out of our abundance.
This goes beyond a physical need. This speaks of our giving to spiritual needs as well. No one is in so much need as the one who is spiritually lost. Our responsibility is to share in the wealth of the spirit. That means that we are supposed to witness. Tell others about Jesus. Why don’t we?
God would. We are to be like Him in all that we do. God would give, just as He did for us. By giving to others it makes us more like God.
II. It Draws us Closer to God.
How does giving draw us closer to God? If it makes us more like Him, then it is definitely drawing us closer to Him.
Mat. 6:1 tells us that where our treasure is there our heart will be also. If our treasure is in the things and the ways of God, then that is where our heart will be also. If our treasure lies in our material possessions, and our material wealth, then our hearts will be far from God.
It is time that Christians around the world took their eyes off of material things and put our focus back on God. We need to focus on God and not the material things of the world. Give back to God what is His. God has provided you with the things that you have. He has given you your job, and the income that you have. How are you using it to glorify Him?
Are you giving back to God what is His? Are you tithing? There are Christians who refuse to tithe. They say that is an OT principle. That simply isn’t true. Why did Jesus tell us to give to God. Paul, and all the others talk about giving and tithing throughout the NT. The fact is that some of us use that as a cop out of doing what we are supposed to do. The fact is that we are selfish and greedy, and we want to hold on to all that we can. We certainly don’t want to give it God. If we refuse to give to God, and to meet the needs of others, then why do you expect God to give to you, and to meet your needs? Isn’t that a double standard?
Are you meeting the needs of those that God brings into your path? God just said meet the need, He didn’t say if they meet your criteria, or to judge them. He just said meet the need. Lots of times we only want to meet the needs of the ones we want to. We don’t want to help this person because of this reason or that reason. That again is our way of being selfish and greedy. God said meet the need. Now that does not mean that we are not to discern the truth. If someone comes in with a genuine need, we are to meet it. We are to give.
Giving goes beyond money and possessions. Giving is about giving of our time and of our talents. Where do you spend your time? Do you spend time with God daily? That is a part of giving to God. Tithing not only is about money, it is about tithing our time and our talents as well. God has given them to us, we are to give them back to Him to use as he sees fit. Our spending time with God will draw us closer to Him than anything else. We learn about God and His ways. We come to the point that we want to do the things that He wants us to do.
What about where you spend your talents? God has given you some precious gifts. How are you using them?
III. Strengthens our faith.
I will make this promise to you. If you will take your time, talent, and your finances, and tithe them to God, He will do some mighty things in your life. He will take you to new levels and the blessings will be overflowing. As we give, God gives in return.
God will give back to us, if we are willing to give to Him. When we are willing to give to others out of our abundance, then when we are in need others give to us out of their abundance.
When I talk about God giving in return. Those are the times that we give even when we don’t have it. The times that you say, “OK Lord, I have this bill due right now. I can either pay my tithe, or I can pay the bill. I will give it to you and pay the tithe, and let you work it out.” Somehow, the bill gets paid. The money is there. That is God.
If you are not a tither, let me issue a challenge to you. My challenge to you is to commit to give to 10% of your income to God over the next two months. Without fail. Stand by and watch what God will do with your relationship with Him, your finances, and your life. It won’t be easy, but God will bless you.
If you already tithe your income, my challenge to you is a little different. My challenge to you is to tithe your time and your talents to God. That means commit to spend twenty minutes a day with God for the next two months. In that time, watch what God will do in your life.
I am by no means saying that by doing this that God will make you rich. I am saying that God will bless you because of your obedience, and will meet all of your needs.
The fact is that we look at our churches and we wonder why God often removes His hand from them. We want Him to bless our churches and give us lots of money to sit on. the thing is that all of us are not willing to give ourselves to Him and be obedient. Until all of the church is in obedience to God’s command, and all are willing to give, God’s fire will not be there. God will not bless partial obedience. Partial obedience is still disobedience.
God has called us to give. To meet the needs of others, and do it cheerfully, and willingly. He has also called us to give back to Him. To tithe our time, talents, and our money. We will not fully experience the fire of god until we are ready to do these things.
If we really want God to set this church on fire for Him, then we ALL must commit to Him to give. We ALL must tithe our time, talents, and money. We ALL must give when there is a need and God tells us to meet that need. If we would do that God would set this church on fire for Him. He would expand our territory beyond anything that we could imagine.
Can you imagine what God will do with one church that is fully devoted to Him with time, money, and talents. Think of what God would do with that place. We need to be that church. We need to stand up and say Here we are, send us!
God will completely change our lives, if we would just give. That means to give to others in need, physically and spiritually, and to give to Him your time, talents and money. If we do we will be more like God, we will be drawn closer to Him, and it will strengthen our faith. Are you willing?
Will you accept the challenge? Will you commit to tithe your income for the next two months? Will you commit to tithe your time and talents for the next two months? Why not? You have absolutely nothing to lose. If you are willing to make that commitment, will you come forward and tell God. will you come forward and tell the church so that they may pray for you. There is nothing to be embarrassed about.
