Right On The Money Part 2

Also, probably money and things related to money are talked about more than any other thing today. It seems that everyone is trying to figure how to get as much money as they can.

Illus: A young fellow by the name of Sammy liked to hang out at the local grocery store. The owner didn't know what Sammy's problem was, but the other boys would tease him all the time, calling him “Slow Sammy”, and punching him on the shoulder as they passed.

To mock him for being slow, they would offer him a dime and a nickel, telling him he could have just one. They said he always took the nickel because it was bigger.

One day after Sammy took the nickel, the owner pulled him to one side and said, "Son, don't you know they're making fun of you? They think you don't know that the dime is worth more than the nickel. Are you really grabbing the nickel because it's bigger, or what?"

Sammy said, "No, but if I took the dime they'd quit doing it!"

Everyone is trying to discover some way they came make as much money as they can, because they really believe the more they have the better chance they have of living the good life, even though this has proven to be untrue many times.

• We have a lot to say about money, but so does God’s Word.

• Since God’s Word has so much to say about money, we should spend a lot of time finding out why God’s Word has so much to say about it.

Let’s look at THREE things about money concerning our giving. We see . . .

I. GOD KNOWS WHY WE GIVE

As Christians, we need to understand there are THREE kinds of givers:

(1) THOSE WHO GIVE OUT OF THEIR ABUNDANCE

We are often impressed that the rich can give so much. It makes them look like very generous people to give such large gifts. But when you compare their gift to the amount of wealth they have, many times the gift is really not that large.

Illus: Suppose we were at the gym and my little grandson was with me, and he reached down and picked up a ten pound weight. That would be good for a little fellow like him.

But suppose I reached down and I picked up a fifty pound weight. Now that would mean I am picking up four times more than he is picking up. That might look like a lot more. But when you compare the muscles a man has to the muscles a small child has, it is not that impressive.

When you compare the gifts that some of the rich give relative to the amount they possess, it really is not that impressive.

Illus: During the Tsunami disaster in Indonesia, many of us scraped to sacrifice money to help these folks. It was announced that one movie actress, Sandra Bullock, gave a million dollars. That was good, but it made our sacrificial gifts look small.

What we have to realize is that some can give a million dollars as easily as we can give a hundred dollars.

Some of the wealthy can give a million dollars and that gift does not even come close to being a sacrifice. THEY ARE GIVING OUT OF THEIR ABUNDANCE!

Illus: Ted Turner gave a billion dollars to the United Nations. But by his own admission it didn’t cost him anything…it was excess money he had earned over first 9 months of the year.

Many give to SHOW OFF their wealth. When they give, they will make sure that everyone knows about it. The nature of evil man is to SHOW OFF, making themselves look better than others.

Illus: Have you heard about the four men who were bragging about how smart their dogs were?

• One man was an engineer

• One was an accountant

• One was a chemist

• One was a government worker

To see who had the best dog:

• The engineer called to his dog. "T-square, do your stuff." T-square trotted over to a desk, took out some paper and a pen, and promptly drew a circle, a square, and a triangle. Everyone agreed that was a pretty smart dog.

• The accountant said his dog could do better. He called to his dog and said, "Spreadsheet, do your stuff." Spreadsheet went out into the kitchen and returned with a dozen cookies and placed them in the circle that T-square had drawn. He divided them into four equal piles of three cookies each. Everyone agreed that was good.

• The chemist said his dog could do better still. He called to his dog and said, "Measure, do your stuff." Measure got up, walked over to the fridge, took out a quart of milk, got a ten-ounce glass from the cupboard, and poured exactly eight ounces without spilling a drop and placed it in the square that T-square had drawn. Everyone agreed that was pretty impressive.