The Courage To Let Go

THE COURAGE TO LET GO

Luke 6:38

S: Stewardship

Th: Brave Hearts

Pr: WE MUST HAVE COURAGE TO LET GO OF OUR MONEY.

?: Why?

KW: Reasons

TS: We will find in our study three reasons why we must have courage to let go of our money.

The _____ reason is we walk in…

I. FAITH

II. JOY

III. ABUNDANCE

Version: ESV

RMBC 05 Jan 03 AM

INTRODUCTION:

ILL Notebook: Money (I have plenty…)

While attending West Virginia University, Rick Clayton’s answering machine went like this:

"Hi, this is Rick. If you are some-one from the phone company, I’ve already sent the money. If this is one of my parents, please send money. If it’s my financial institution, you didn’t lend me enough money. If you’re a friend, you owe me money. If you are a female...I have plenty of money."

Well, there are many ways to look at money, isn’t there?

But, let me ask you this…

1. Does money cause you to lose your perspective?

As we look to our theme for 2003, how we look at money has to be taken into consideration.

Our…

2. 2003 Theme: “Brave Hearts”

Our corresponding verse comes from Deuteronomy 31:8…

“The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”

We will be talking about our annual theme more specifically next week, both in the morning and evening service.

Today, we give consideration to the relationship between courage and money.

You see, when it comes to money, some of us are not very brave.

We hold on to it like our life depended on it.

But that is not a Biblical concept.

Our life depends on the fact that the Lord goes before us and that He is with us.

In April 2000, George Barna’s research demonstrated that only 8% of born again Christians give 10% or more of their income.

Now, I must admit that I do not spend a lot of time talking about the tithe, though I believe it to be in force and that the tithe (10%) is our starting place for giving.

I don’t spend a lot of time talking about the tithe because I think the New Testament opens up an even broader perspective about giving.

That is, we don’t give because we have to…we give because we want to.

We are called on to give freely and cheerfully, according to how God has prospered us.

And for the most part, we are very prosperous.

And to check it, all we have to do is go out in the parking lot and check what we are driving and/or go see the house that we are living in.

So for most of us, there really isn’t any excuse.

It just means that…

3. WE MUST HAVE COURAGE TO LET GO OF OUR MONEY.

I like what C. S. Lewis says about giving…

I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare.

Well, as we look at our text today…

4. We will find in our study three reasons why we must have courage to let go of our money.

Our text is Luke 6:38, and it is Jesus speaking when He says…

“…give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”

OUR STUDY:

I. The first reason we must have courage to let go is we walk in FAITH.

The text tells us to “give.”

It is an imperative, a command.

And the Greek tense tells us that our act of giving is to be continuous, that generosity is the way of the believer.

This understanding of this one word tells us simply that…

We should always be looking to raise our standard of faith.

Frankly, typically, we look to raise our standard of living.

But we are looking to raise the wrong thing.

Instead of raising the standard of living, how about raising the standard of our giving, and thus, our faith?

We spend a lot of time accumulating wealth, but the biblical concept is of continuous giving.

We are to continuously give so that we will not get wrapped up in and trapped up in earthly treasure.

We are to continuously give so that there will never be anything that will become untouchable that is in our possession.

We are to continuously give so that the burden of proof is on what to keep rather than on what we give.

II. The second reason we must have the courage to let go of our money is that we are to walk in JOY.