Hello Monday. Here you come and you didn’t even ask me if I were ready for you. I was really enjoying your friends Saturday and Sunday, but they left rather abruptly and well, here you are. I have a lot to do this week and Monday, you make me start thinking about every one of them. Monday, I know they all need to happen but you see, I like to procrastinate and you make that really hard for me to do. Monday, we will continue this talk later, as I’ve looked at a calendar for 2019 and it seems you happen once a week. Oh Monday, what am I going to do with you.
It was great weekend around here. Marge and I are blessed with work and much of it happens on the weekends with the positions God currently has us in. I finished up my Fall 2018 semester this past Saturday at the Cox School of Business at SMU, what a great workshop it was. Of course, being in retail AND in the holiday season means that Margie works most Saturdays and even some Sunday afternoons. God has blessed her with the fact that Hulen Mall is only open from 12-6 on Sunday so she doesn’t have to miss church for work. You know what the difference is between a job and work? A job is something you do to pay the bills. Most people I know hate their jobs and I’ve been there, believe me. Work however is from the Lord. I pray today that you are blessed with work from the Lord and you are excited to get up and work for Him. It’s all in the perception of who you’re really working for and the purpose of that work.
Well, here it comes in 2 Corinthians chapter 8. You knew it was stuck in the bible somewhere. The passages we all cringe at when we hear them. That big, bad, mean 6 letter Bible word….GIVING. There’s no doubt that Satan does some of his absolute best work when it comes to the average Christian and giving to God’s Work. I heard a description of Satan and his goal, “Satan’s goal is to either delay or completely halt the giving out of God’s Word.” So true. If Satan is going to battle God and His people, this is the forefront of the battle for him, to suppress the Holy Word of God going out.
I think there’s no doubt that the pocketbook is the true test of a person’s love. This is by far the most sensitive area of a Christian’s walk. What to do with the God, the church and my money. I want us this morning to really dig deep into what Paul presents as true giving to God, and not what our society says about giving to God. God’s Word is truth, so if you want to know about Godly giving, go to God and see EXACTLY what HE says about it.
So this morning lets shuffle things up and look at a few societal assumptions about giving to God, and then answer them according to what we find in 2 Corinthians chapter 8 this morning.
Assumption #1 - I need to tithe and give 10% of everything I make to God.
Not really. Yes, tithe means 10% and we should give back to God, but the tithe was used in the Old testament and it is not the basis for which Christians are to give today. In fact, did you know that the OT Christians were responsible for not one but THREE tithes? The first was the Levitical or sacred tithe. This 10% of a person’s income was used to further the giving out of God’s Word. The second was the Feast tithe. Jewish families were required to go to Jerusalem several times a year for religious festivals and this 10% was basically a savings account so they could afford to travel to these festivals. It would be like us saving up all year to go on a big mission trip. The third tithe was the neighbor tithe. This was normally given every third year and it was taken up and used by the community to help widows and orphans. So, you see the tithe in the OT was quite a bit different than we think of it today.
Today we are under the new covenant of Jesus Christ and we have the New Testament as a guide. So what does the NT say about giving to God? Let’s look at 1 Corinthians 16:2
“Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.”
Notice the 5 words in the middle there, “as God has prospered him.” You see there’s nothing wrong with giving 10%, it’s a great place to be and Marge & I use it as a guide. But we’re not limited to 10%. We are to give back to God as God has first blessed us. That’s an important note on giving, God does not ask us to give first on what we think He will bless us with. He says, “wait and see how I bless you financially and then you give accordingly.” Once you get into this rhythm with God, it turns into a dog chasing its tail. He blesses you more, you give more, He blesses you even more and you give even more!
Assumption #2 - I am commanded by God to give.
To the best of my knowledge I could not find a commandment anywhere in God’s Word that commands us to give. In fact right here in 2 Cor. 8 we find this from Paul:
“I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others.”
Paul is clear here that he is not commanding the Corinthians to give but is really looking for the “sincerity of their love.” Lets look at an example. Christmas is in 6 weeks and I want to buy Margie a gift. A gift that will show her my deepest love, affection and appreciation for what she means to my soul and how she has given of herself to me. But Margie tells me exactly what she wants, gives me the money and COMMANDS me go and buy it for her. What? I know that seems silly but, really, think about it. Paul is saying if I make you give to God how is that true giving? A gift has to be GIVEN. You see God does not command us to give to him. What good would that do? God does not want forced giving, He wants a giving heart. In fact, just a few chapters ago Paul gives us this, “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” (2 Cor 9:7) God’s wants us to have a heart like His and God has a giving heart. If you want to ask yourself a really hard question about your level of giving to God ask yourself this one. First read John 3:16. Then ask yourself this….When God gave His only Son to die on a cross and save the world from its condemnation of sin, do you think He was limiting Himself to 10% giving or did He give generously? Ouch.
Assumption #3 - If I give to God He will repay me a bunch of money.
Not even close. I’ve heard it said that some play God like a “cosmic slot machine.” If I give God $500 then in a few days I’ll get back $1,000. My friends, that flies in the face of what we just discussed above. God made you. He knows your heart. If your giving to only get back, God has your motive pegged before you even do it! God loves a cheerful giver and He weighs your heart. But let me mention something to the cheerful giver. This is the only topic in all of God’s Word where the Lord dares us to “test him.”
“Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. (Mal. 3:10)
God promises to bless the cheerful giver. But let me speak personally to this. Margie and I give to God. He has indeed blessed our giving. But blessings come in many forms, not just financially. Don’t limit God and His rich blessings to just printed paper from the US Treasury. How would you like absolute peace today? That's God’s blessing. How would like to have a job that you love and know that God provided just for you? That's God’s blessing. How would you like to enjoy financial peace with your spouse today? That's God’s blessing. How would you like to be 100% debt free and financially live the way God suggests? That's God’s blessing. God will open the floodgates of Heaven and pour out so many blessings that you can’t handle them all. My friends, if I were you, I would take God up on this dare!
Assumption #4 - I don’t trust preachers and churches so I don’t have to give.
Nothing but an excuse. I personally lived this one. When Margie & I got married I was a new Christian, still a babe in Christ. When she brought up giving to the church I put my foot down. I had heard all the theft and deception with the big TV preachers and I was not going to plunk down my hard earned money so that some big wig preacher could have a new jet. My lack of trust cost me so many of God’s blessings. Slowly as God moved in my heart I realized my error. Let me just say this, if you don’t 100% trust an organization, DO NOT GIVE TO THEM! But this does not excuse you from giving to God.
Let me wrap up with a comment. God doesn’t need your money. His work will go on without your money. What God does want is to change your heart. The giving heart is maybe the most beautiful thing I have ever encountered in my life. When I encounter a generous, giving, loving heart I can see the face of God in that person. God doesn’t want your money, He wants your heart and He knows if He gets one he’ll get the other. This is the story that I have lived, I have seen it in my life.
So why give? We give because God first gave. We give to bless others because others have given to bless us. We give so that the Word of God can go out because somebody gave so that we could hear the Word of God that first time. We give because buildings need to be built. Somebody gave to build the building that you sit in on Sunday mornings. As the church grows people will be sitting in a new building in 30 years that you helped provide for. We give so people can go all over this world and tell people about Jesus. We give so children in China can hear about God for the first time. We give so that families in Africa can be united and live in harmony and the grace of the Lord. We give because God gave us His Son. His only begotten Son. His Son that died on a cross for your sin and my sin. His son that was raised on the third day and conquered that sin. What a gift we have in Jesus.
My friends, it has absolutely nothing to do with money. It has absolutely everything to do with your heart and how you see the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I pray that this morning you see giving to God in a different way. That maybe for the first time you might put some money in that plate at church and see the face of God as He blesses you in ways that you cannot imagine.
God is so good to us.
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