A Closer Look at: Giving
Introduction:
I like the old story about the guy who came to church with his family. As they were driving home afterwards he was complaining about everything. He said, “The music was too loud. The sermon was too long. The announcements were unclear. The building was hot. The people were unfriendly.” He went on & on, complaining about virtually everything. Finally, his very observant son said, “Dad, you’ve got to admit it wasn’t a bad show for just a dollar.”
Giving is the issue that people least like to hear about and preacher’s least like to preach about. It may be the hardest subject to address. The Bible commands a preacher to preach the whole counsel of God, and giving is included in this, but at the same time a preacher does not want to sound like a collector. I must confess that giving is a subject that would be easy to shy away from, but it is important to preach to God’s people what God’s people need to hear. I am aware that the congregation here is a very giving congregation, and that is to your honor. Because of that faithfulness to giving much has been accomplished from the giving of God’s people here at Oak Grove Christian Church.
Even though much has been accomplished because of the giving here, we still need to be exhorted to continue in our faithfulness to giving and even to be more faithful in our giving. We are at a stage at Oak Grove, where giving is very important. In order to accomplish the goals that have been set for the body of Christ here, the giving of the church is a very important aspect. I am not here today to tell you how much you need to give, or to beg for money, because that is not the right way to handle things, but I am here speaking from God’s Word of the need that exists and our responsibility to meet those needs. I ask today that you search your hearts and see if you are giving to the Lord as you should be giving.
Many try to down play the Biblical commands for giving, but the scriptures do not hold back on this issue. The Bible does give specific commands for God’s people to give of their money to the Lord. I have heard it said that Jesus spoke more about money than he did anything else. Even though money is not everything and has very little to do with eternal things, but the way that a Christian spends and uses their money shows something about their heart. I hope that today as we continue in this New Year that we can take a look at what the Bible says about our duty to give. Also as we continue in this year that we will consider our commitments to the Lord as far as our wallets are concerned. I wish that it was easy enough to stand here and tell you exactly how much the Lord requires of you, but the Bible does not say that much. God does not require equal gifts from every person, but he does require equal sacrifice. Sacrifice, is a word in which our world in very unfamiliar with. People today are unwilling to sacrifice anything of their own no matter what the cause may be. We live in a world which is consumer driven, and motivated by what they can gain in this Earth.
A young man had an accident while driving his car that was quite spectacular. When the policeman arrived he found the young man standing near his car mumbling. As the officer approached he overheard the young man saying, ’Oh, my BMW, oh my BMW, oh my BMW’.
Looking at the young man the policeman said, "Are you nuts, look at the condition of your arm, your left are is all mangled’. The young man looked down and said, ’Oh my Rolex, oh my Rolex, oh my Rolex’....
I believe that we would see great things happen in the church if we would put others above ourselves, and sacrifice our time, money and energy in order to meet others needs.
Text: Malachi 3:6-10
I. Reasons to Give
I believe that there are many reasons that the Bible provides that we should give to the Lord and His work. Sometimes we need reasons to do everything; sometimes we need something to motivate us to action. When someone tells us to do or not to do something the first thing we ask is, “why?” God gives us reasons why we should give of our income to the church.
a. needs of the saints
II Corinthians 8:12-15
One of the main reasons that Paul urged the giving among the Corinthian churches was the needs of their brothers and sisters in Christ. Paul was addressing a people who had been financially blessed and encouraged them to sacrifice so that the needs of other Christians around the world might be met. As bets as we can tell the churches jumped at these opportunities to meet the needs of the saints. We read in the book of Acts that the Christians gave generously and that nobody had suppressing needs. We do not have apostles alive today to preach to us and tell us the needs of brothers and sisters throughout the world, but I do not think that it takes an apostle to come to us and tell us that our brothers and sisters around us have needs. There are people in the world who are starving, and cannot even meet their physical needs, and we sit here miles away in our plenty. We talk a lot about the needs of the local churches and the churches in our country, and sometimes it seems that we have a fend for yourself mentality. We worry so much about issues pressing us, but there are serious needs of our brothers in sisters on the other side of the world. We have a duty to help meet their needs. If we are properly giving and spending the Lord’s money there should not be people that cannot survive. One reason that we should give is so that our brother’s and sister’s needs around the world will be met.
b. Needs of the church
A pastor stood before his church and said, “I’ve got some good news and some bad news. The good news is that the church has all the money it needs... The bad news is that it’s all still in your wallets.”...
There are a lot of needs among the congregations and the money that we give helps to meet those needs. I know that you have heard it said before, but money really does not grow on trees even if it is for the church. The church is not exempt from utility bills, and other payments. The money comes from the giving of God’s people. Believe it or not the government does not give the church an allowance. Another reason to give is to meet the needs of the church here. If it wasn’t for the generous giving of God’s people in the past this congregation would not be where it is at right now. Another reason to give is to help meet the needs within the local church body. Isn’t it a great thing to know that your giving contributes to the work of the church? Since your giving helps the church in this way, you are having an effect in eternity. It takes money to operate the church, and to reach the lost, and without your giving the church would not be able to reach its full potential. What a great reason to give more, the more given the more effective the church will be in reaching the lost.
c. need to obey
Here are some statistics about giving from the Barna Organization, which conducts significant research on the church in America:
8% of born again Christians tithed their income in 1999
17% of adults claimed in 1997 to have tithed but only 3% actually did so.
29% of adults surveyed in 1997 actually believe that Bible commands us to tithe.
If you were to talk to most people they would tell you that the Bible never commands Christians to give, but will never argue that the Old Testament does. The New Testament does in fact give us a command to give regularly of our income.
I Corinthians 16:1-2
The Bible gives us the command to tithe to the Lord, and a tithe is 10% of our income. When we give 10% we are simply obeying the commands of scripture and giving our tithe, our offerings to the Lord are anything above that 10%.
People in under the Old Covenant gave generously to the Lord, some scholars believe that after sacrifices and offerings required under the Law, it would add up to about 30% of their income. They gave that bound under the Old Covenant without the sacrifice of Jesus to be thankful for. How much more should we give out of gratitude for Jesus’ sacrifice.
What better reason to give of our money and sacrifice than that Jesus sacrificed for us?
II. How we should give
I hope that the reasons that I gave are enough to motivate the church to respond to be faithful in how they give, but it is easy to throw money into and offering plate in order to fulfill what you are supposed to do. Our giving is not another bill that we have to pay, but it is us giving back to the Lord of what he is letting us use. Sometimes we get the mindset that it is our money and that we can do what we want with it. That is not the truth, it is God’s money, and he has given it to us as he has seen fit, and we are simply giving back to Him. How though are you giving? Are you giving because you have to or need to? Or are you giving because you want others to be blessed by what you have been blessed with? Let us look a little deeper at the issue of giving and see how we ought to give.
a. Cheerfully
II Corinthians 9:7
Have you ever noticed how cheerful of givers children are? They love putting money into the offering. God wants us to give unto Him cheerfully. This means that we willfully and gladly give to the Lord what we have decided to give. Sometimes we may look at our budget for the month and wonder how we are going to make ends meet, the first natural thing to do it to cut out what you give to the church. I think that is the last place I would like to take out of my budget, because I would rather make it through the month with the Lord’s blessing of 90% than without His blessing on 100%. We need to give cheerfully, and expectant that the Lord will bless those who give. I can promise you that there are blessings for those who give. God always provides for you in awesome and unexplainable ways. Perhaps as you put money into the offering plate you are wondering if you gave too much, or you are hesitant to put it in, but God loves a cheerful giver and you cannot out give the Lord. If we gave out of faith I believe that we would truly be blessed because the Lord always will take care of us. The only time in scripture where God tells people to test him is concerning His blessing on those who give. We need to give cheerfully knowing that what we are giving is benefiting the Kingdom of God.
b. From our Firstfruits
God always commanded Israel to give of their firstfruits to the Lord. When Israel was taking the Promised Land, God told them to sacrifice everything to the Lord and take nothing for themselves. God was not trying to be cruel, but was teaching them a lesson that the Lord should be the first one to receive. If you remember after God had given that command one person withheld part of that which should have been devoted to the Lord, and he was punished because of that. If he would have just waited he would have been able to take whatever spoils of war he wanted, but the firstfruits were the Lord. What lesson can we take from this? Perhaps that the Lord should be the first to get paid out of what we owe, not the last because He is most important.
a. not our leftovers
Have you ever noticed that the Lord always gets our leftovers? We always give to the Lord that which has been used and is ragged and worn out. Maybe it would be a nice concept to keep for ourselves that which is leftover, and give our best to the Lord, give that which is new to Him. I am not saying that donations of used items are a bad thing, but sometimes I think that we get so used to giving the Lord out leftovers we never sacrifice what we want to give Him that which is best and new. The Lord deserves the best, not our leftovers and that which we do not have use for anymore. What makes us think that the Lord wants that which we no longer have use for?
b. out of our abundance
We also need to give out of our abundance. We truly are a people who are blessed and live abundantly, I think that it would be good for us to give out of our abundance. If we have been blessed let us bless others with what we have.
A one dollar bill met a twenty dollar bill and said, "Hey, where’ve you been? I haven’t seen you around here much." The twenty answered (as the dollar bill listened enviously), "I’ve been hanging out at the casinos, went out on a cruise and did the rounds of the ship, back to the United States for a while, went to a couple of baseball games, to the mall, that kind of stuff. How about you?" The one dollar bill said, "You know, same old stuff, church, church, church."...
Those who have been blessed more are expected to give more. If Bill Gates came to church here and gave $100 some may be impressed and his generosity, but that wasn’t giving out of His abundance, which was giving of that which he could spare.
c. Generously
II Corinthians 9:6
We also need to give generously to the Lord. That may not mean the same thing for everyone, and that is why the Lord does not give a dollar amount. God does not demand equal gifts, but equal sacrifices. When God set up the sacrificial system of the Old Testament he did not require everyone to bring a Bull to sacrifice, but the sacrifices varied by a person’s income. If a person did not have much God made it possible for them to still sacrifice and worship the Lord. He does the same with our money today. He expects us all to give generously, but the dollar amount is not what He is concerned about it is the heart amount.
Mark 12:41-44
I know not everyone can give as much as they may like to give, but sometimes the smallest gifts given are the greatest in the eyes of God. Giving is more a matter of the heart than it is the wallet, and God wants us to sacrifice. If we cannot afford to give a big offering to the Lord we can still be a somebody in the Kingdom of God if we sacrifice of the little that we do have.
III. Rewards of Giving
I believe that the number one reason why we should be faithful in our giving to the Lord is because of the rewards that come from giving. Yes, God does promise to meet the physical needs of those who give, but those are not the rewards I am referring to. The rewards that make giving worth it are the rewards that have an eternal effect.
a. Treasures in Heaven
Matthew 6:19-21
When we give, we are storing up rewards in Heaven.
A man died and went to heaven. He was met at the Pearly Gates by St.
Peter who led him down the golden streets. They past mansions after
beautiful mansions until they came to the end of the street where they
stopped in front of a shack. The man asked St. Peter why he got a hut
when there were so many mansions he could live in. St. Peter replied,
"I did the best with the money you sent us."...
I do not believe that our motivation for giving should be because we want a bigger mansion in Heaven, but we should be motivated by a love for the Lord to give. When we give we will reap the rewards when we are in Heaven. We may have to sacrifice some things that we want here on this Earth, but I believe we will be able to say that it was worth it giving to the Lord, for it is more blessed to give than to receive.
b. Kingdom Advancing
One of the best rewards of our giving is knowing that because of our money eternity is being affected. Our giving goes out to help reach the lost. There is not greater reward and joy than knowing because of the money you sacrificed and gave someone else will spend eternity in Heaven. Money is a big factor in reaching the lost, and I believe that the more money that the church has to operate the more effective it can be in reaching the lost. Imagine what the church could be if everyone gave as they should. Finances would not be a worry and we could simply focus on reaching people with the gospel
c. Giving of Time
While I believe that the scriptures teach that money is important and we need to tithe and give offerings to the Lord regularly, I also believe that we should tithe and offer time to the Lord. If you cannot give anything else to the Lord you can devote your time to doing the Lord’s work, and every Christian can do that. It is easy to drop money into an offering plate and think we are done with that duty. Our relationship with God though is not a checklist, and we are required to sacrifice our time in His service. That sacrifice and giving of time is something we should all do, and decide in our hearts how much time we will give and how we will give it. Imagine, what the church could do if every member gave of their time to the Lord. We would not have to worry about the work and upkeep of the building; we could just focus on reaching the lost.
We are all called to give…how and what will you give to the Lord? First we must give of ourselves to the Lord, and then we can really give to Him. Test the Lord in this give and you will be blessed. Give of your money and your time and you will be able to say it was well worth the sacrifice.
