Good morning good morning good morning…It is so good to see you all this morning. It is so amazing to me that we get to get together and worship every Sunday and catch up on our week with each other. Hey, right now Im going to welcome our kids back to their teachers where they will get to learn about the Scriptures in a way that makes sense to them at their age. You know, it is so important that our teachers come along side you as parents who are the primary disciplers of your kids.We have some amazing teachers that believe that coming alongside you is important that they will prepare lessons just for your kids…I just think that is fantastic! I want to thank you if you are a teacher that goes through this rotation, you are truly a blessing to the kids and parents alike, so thank you all for serving in that way. I also want to welcome those of you that are joining us online this morning. We are so honored that you have decided to join us and be a part of our extended Spiritual family this morning. Of coarse we would love to see you join us in person any Sunday at 9:30am for fellowship and personal worship together.

Hey, I do want to start off today by telling you that we are looking at a sensitive area this morning. This morning we are looking at something that alot of faithful pastors are scared to talk about, but they all secretly want to. A lot of these faithful pastors are scared to talk about this because there is a segment of pastors and churches that talk about this in an unbiblical way, and so many will just ignore the topic all together, or maybe they will talk briefly about it in a comment or in a prayer, but they won’t really talk about it from the pulpit like this. Many will ignore this topic for very good reason. You see, this is a topic that has been publicized by various forms of media in the past and in a more modern form with a very interesting instagram page called “preachersnsneakers” where clothes are spotlighted. You see, this morning we are going to talk about giving. Giving is a scary topic because, and I quote, our finances are personal and no one else’s business. You know…I think that’s actually true, sort of. You see, Scripture has some pretty important things to say about our finances and so if we don’t talk about it, then that means we are ignoring a pretty significant portion of scripture. I don’t know about you, but I do not intend to ignore the teaching of Scripture just because its uncomfortable. I mean, if we did that then we would pretty much not have church. Anyway, I just wanted to get that out of the way and acknowledge that sometimes what we talk about is uncomfortable, but thats good. Its good because if it were comfortable then our faith would not be stretching and growing, and we would not become more like Christ, which is our goal, amen? Now, since this is our goal, we will be starting a new series in couple of weeks that is all about stewardship and what God says about different topics financially. Today, what we are going to look at is an

Attitude of Giving

You see, for the last few weeks we have been talking about our attitudes, and the attitudes of our heart. We have talked about how to have an attitude of worship, an attitude of growing, an attitude of serving, and an attitude of going. Today, we are going to talk about having an attitude of giving, and we are going to see what the Scriptures actually say about giving…not what some social media graphic says, or some hyped up quote says online. You see, I care more about what Scripture says that I do about what the latest celebrity says on this subject. So, let’s spend a little bit of time looking at what Scripture says this morning. However, I do want to take a brief moment and remind us about about where we started in this series. One thing that we said early on in this series is that God is more concerned with your heart that with your actions. We see that specifically in

Proverbs 16:2 (ESV)

All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the spirit.

This passage tells us that we can look like we are doing good, but God is more concerned about the heart, than about the actions. However, we also said that a right heart will be followed by right actions That is what we are looking at during this series…the heart behind the actions. So, lets take a look at what Jesus says about having an attitude of giving this morning.

Let me tell you about the greatest sermon that was ever preached. If you have ever read the book of Matthew, which is the first book in the New Testament. Well, when you look at chapters 5-7 you will see that all of those words are the color red. That is the Sermon on the Mount. So what happened is that crowds began to surround Jesus and so he and the disciples when up on a mountain, which simply refers to an elevated position, and then he began to speak and teach. Now, multiple volumes of books and resources have been created to talk about these passages. You see, Jesus amazed everyone with his speaking, both his words as well as the authority of his speaking. They had never experienced that before.

Matthew 7:28–29 (ESV)

And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.

Jesus spoke with such power and conviction that the crowd just could not leave. They were focused on what he had to say. Now, about halfway through the sermon Jesus began to speak about money. You can imagine those that were there began to get nervous, maybe look down and start to shuffle their feet a little…pretend that they got a phone call...because after-all money is so personal, right…But look at what Jesus says here

Matthew 6:19–21 (ESV)

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Now, remember we have been talking about our hearts and what the focus of our hearts are. Well, Jesus tells us right here an easy way to measure to the focus of our hearts. Im sure you guys have all heard someone say something like, “You can tell more about a person from his checkbook than anything else.” That is something that has been said over and over again. Maybe today we should include our credit card statements along with checkbooks. Now, since we have likely all heard this line, or something like it, there is something we all need to know about this statement. It’s true! Yeah, it’s true…actually that is exactly what Jesus is saying right here. However, Jesus doesn’t stop there, and to be honest, we may not like what Jesus is about to say.

Matthew 6:24 (ESV)

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

Right here Jesus is telling people that they need to choose who their Lord will be…will your Lord be money…or will it be Jesus? Now, if I choose Jesus as my Lord, what do I do with my money…like you still need to have finances, right? You need to pay rent, or a mortgage, you need to pay for electricity, or car payments…I mean money is very much needed in our society, so what do we do here? Well, while we might want to tiptoe through this topic, or ignore it altogether because it makes us uncomfortable…it seems to have a pretty important impact on the heart according to Jesus.

Ok, so let me show you something about this passage. If we are not to collect treasures on Earth, now let me be clear…this is not talking about saving for retirement or for a house, or whatever you need…this is not speaking of being wise with your funds. This is talking about collecting, or hoarding your funds. So, if you are not to collect funds here, then the only option for us is to be generous with our funds. Now, remember that a right heart will lead to right actions, so you can’t fool God here by giving . Now, listen to this because it might hit home a little bit for some of us. Thom Rainer says this is a book on the topic,

If you are obsessed with your money, He is not your Lord. If you focus on your money, He is not your Lord. If you are not generous with your money, He is not your Lord. —Thom Rainer

Get it…Jesus gets pretty serious here when he says that you cannot serve two masters…This is why we get uncomfortable when a topic like this comes us. This is why we look down and shuffle our feet if a pastors or conference starts talking about money…this is why we say its a personal thing…because it is. Its a personal thing that has a massive impacts, because it is an issue of the heart. To say it simply, if we are not cheerfully generous with the funds that God gives us then we are not an obedient follower of Christ. We have made a very clear statement of the heart…a very personal statement that our heart is not with Christ. For where your treasure is, there is your heart… Just let that sink in a bit and think about where your heart is...

Now, there is another issue that we should look at. That is the

Issue of the Local Church

You see, there was a shift in local churches when it comes to talking about money. That shift happened somewhere in the 70’s and 80’s from what I saw in my research this week. The shift had to do with churches not talking about money. Largely for the reasons that I mentioned earlier…However, there was another reason that churches stopped talking about money. You see, there became a growing trend in churches to be seen as institutions to which you were owners, or customers who would pay for dues to the church in order to be counted among the members. Well, if that is the mindset, then the pastor can’t say something that might offend a member who may take their dues and go join another church. As a matter of fact, in our new members class this week I asked the question, “When you think of membership, what do you think of?” One person replied that they think of dues, or fees. Well thats a very true statement isn’t it. I mean there are all kinds of memberships that we can join. You can be a Sam’s Club member or a member of some timeshare club, or any number of clubs or organizations that you can join. All of those organizations live or die based on your dues, or fees. However, the church isn’t like that, is it?

Well, even though the church isn’t like that, there became this growing trend that if the church offended you, or better…if the pastor offended you, then you would simply withhold your tithes and offerings until the pastor apologized and came back into line. Then there was another option of your giving being based on what you felt the church should be doing. For instance, in our context I am always talking about Leaf River and making that a focus of our ministry. Well, should I with hold my generosity because I don’t like Leaf River and I would rather my funds be focused on Forreston? Absolutely not…You see, our giving to our church is not based on this program or that program. Our giving to our church is based on our commitment to the Lord. Let me share something with you that you may or may not realize…God doesn’t need your money, or my money…I’m pretty sure that God can accomplish his purposes without our money.

Now, let me be clear for a moment…If you are a part of a church that is not transparent with their finances, or if you are a part of a church that is abusing their finances, then you should have a conversation about that. However, the reality is that many church members have developed a consumer mindset that is all about me and what I want…Let me give you an example about another church.

There is a church, we will call it North Star church. Well, North Star church made some pretty hard decisions within the practice of the church that led to a particular group of people to get a bit upset. You see, they made a decision that only members would be allowed teach Sunday School. Well, that decision that was made created a bit of a problem because there was a person who had begun teaching a Sunday School class who was not a member and who decidedly did not want to become a member. Now we could look at the reasons they should or should not have made this decisions, but the leadership decided that this was for the best of the church, so they made this decision. Well, that was not recieved well because everyone loved this particular person. As a matter of fact, half of the churches adults were attending this particular class. At that point, all of these adults decided to withhold their tithes to make the church suffer…What happened is you started to see some people become very bitter when they were not getting their way, and in a little time, some of those adults left the church altogether. However, today the church is still standing and still proclaiming the Gospel.

Now, I don’t know the details about how everyone is doing there, and I definitely have thoughts on that whole situation. However, the point is that there was a group of people that were trying to punish the church by withholding from the Lord. Does that make sense to you? Even though it doesn’t make sense, the sad reality is that many church members have and will do this. This happens if I have a consumer mindset when I give to my church. Then if the church doesn’t do what I want them to do, I can withhold my generosity until I get my way. The problem here is that there is no church that will do 100% of things the way you want. There is no pastor that you will agree with 100% of the time. What is important is that we are a part of a church that we can give cheerfully, even when we don’t agree on something, and it’s ok to disagree with some things. That also means that you no longer see the funds as “your” funds. The act of giving means you are letting go and trusting the Lord and who he has put in leadership to be faithful stewards of those funds…or of those objects that you may be generous with.

Now, that was a little heavy, so let’s move in a more encouraging direction…You see, giving is a great indicator or our heart focus…but only when we

Give Cheerfully

The apostle Paul a letter to this church in Corinth. Now, Corinth at the time was a bit of a troubled city…Corinth had kind of a Vegas vibe going on. You know, what happens in Corinth stays in Corinth. Well, there was a pocket of believers there in Corinth, but they were not exactly the model of perfection, none of us are by the way. Anyway, Paul wanted to teach them about stewardship and so he did this in the second letter that he wrote to them, that we have. Now what he wrote to the church here might sound like no big deal, but it was actually pretty harsh. Let’s read together

2 Corinthians 9:6–8 (ESV)

The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.

Ok, so let me be clear about this…Paul is telling them that their spiritual growth (what they reap), is directly proportional to their level of generosity (what they sow). Ok, this sounds awful close to some of those preachers I heard as a kid that really made me mad. I remember watching a guy one time. He was on TV and I remember him telling people that if they were having trouble paying their rent this month, that they should sow a gift of faith in his ministry with the little finances they had and have faith God would bless them. He would advocate that people give to him instead of paying their bills. This preacher spent a little time in jail in the 90’s. Ok, but that is not what Paul is advocating for here…You see, Paul continues on to talk about being a cheerful giver and not giving out of compulsion or reluctantly. In other words, Paul speaks against the practice of what people like false TV preachers did. I especially love verse 7 where it says that each one must give as he has decided in his heart…becuase God loves a cheerful giver.

So Paul tells the church in Corinth to give with a cheerful heart, and that they should not give becuase you have to. You give to be pleasing to God…not man. So, how do we have a

Heart of Giving

Well, its easy…first, your giving should be a matter of prayer between you and God. “Each person should give as he has decided to in his heart.” Your heart, is your relationship with God. When you give, you give as God has led you to give…that will always be cheerfully. Second, realize that God is not limited by my resources. In other words, when we sow generously, we will reap generously. We do not need to see how God will do that. God is not limited to financial resources that we see. In other words, we should not limit our generosity to what we think is possible, but instead our generosity should be governed by how God would have us give. God owns the cattle on a thousand hills and he will provide our needs as we rely and obey him. Lastly…just be generous…Beyond your comfort, beyond your imagination, beyond your thoughts, obey as if you believe God is actually in charge of all you have.

Listen, when you are prayerfully considering how you will support the ministry of your church, whether that is here or somewhere else, be willing to say

I will have an attitude of giving.

Now listen, I know you may be here this morning and you may be thinking that you have not been living your life in a way that is pleasing to God. You may even be thinking that you didn’t realize you could be pleasing to God with your finances. That just adds a whole level of hard into the way you live your life, and the way you manage your finances. Listen, I want to encourage you becuase our next series is going to be 6 weeks on learning what God says about money is every aspect of our lives. However, maybe you are here this morning and you realize that you are not living your life pleasing to the Lord and you would like to change that. You would like to know what it takes to change the way you are living, to refocus your life on the one that sent his Son. If that is you, then please fill out the connect card and drop it in the basket in the back, or send me a message online. For now,

Let’s pray