Sermon Tone Analysis

Does Our Giving Matter to God?

Malachi 3:6-12, Luke 7:36-50, Philippians 4:13-19

Sermon by Rick Crandall

Grayson Baptist Church - Sept. 28, 2014

*Years ago, a friend of ours started coming to church with us, and one of the first times she ever came, I preached about money.

This lady had been a friend for years, so she didn't mind telling me what she really thought.

And right after the service, she whined, "Oh, I came to church, and you preached about money."

*Some people get uncomfortable when the preacher talks about money.

But we have to talk about money in church, because God's Word talks about money.

God talks about money.

So does our giving matter to God? -- Without a doubt, the answer is yes, and this morning we will see 4 reasons why.

1.

First of all: Our giving is an obligation to God.

*God makes this truth clear to us in vs. 6-9, and there He said:

6. "For I am the Lord, I do not change; therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.

7. Yet from the days of your fathers you have gone away from My ordinances and have not kept them.

Return to Me, and I will return to you,'' says the Lord of hosts.

"But you said, 'In what way shall we return?'

8. Will a man rob God?

Yet you have robbed Me!

But you say, 'In what way have we robbed You?' In tithes and offerings.

9.

You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed Me, even this whole nation."

*We could say, "Well, that's Old Testament."

And of course it is, but listen to what Jesus said as he was scolding the religious rulers in Matt 23:23: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!

For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith.

These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone."

*Yes justice, mercy and faith are the most important things.

But Jesus said that we also ought to be giving.

Give your tithe: That's ten percent of your gross income or profit.

And give your offerings: These are special donations on top of our tithes.

*God never took away the requirement for tithing, because He always planned for His Kingdom work to be carried on through the tithes of His people.

And God never took away the requirement for offerings, because He knew that there would always be needy people in our world: People needing physical help, and most of all, people needing spiritual help.

*Our giving is an obligation to God.

The Lord even says in Malachi 3:8 that if we don't give, we are robbing God.

And this is true because every thing we think we own really belongs to God!

*In Acts 7:49-50, God said this about the Jerusalem Temple:

49. 'Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool.

What house will you build for Me? says the Lord, or what is the place of My rest?

50.

Has My hand not made all these things?'

*It all belongs to God.

Ben Franklin proved this truth by asking a good question: "If your riches are yours, why don't you take them with you to the other world?"

It all belongs to God anyway, so don't rob the Lord of your tithes and offerings.

(1)

*Years ago, I punched the answering machine in my office, and got my most unusual voice mail ever.

It was a testimony about tithing.

I saved it on my machine for several months.

And every once in a while I would listen to it, because it was a blessing.

I also asked the man to email it to me.

Here's part of what he said:

*"I've always believed in tithing.

For years I've studied why we tithe; how much to tithe; and who actually owns our possessions.

I finally came to the conclusion that 'ten percent of the gross' was the only thing that made sense to me.

*But about three years ago, I was faced with a personal crisis.

Family problems overwhelmed me and although 'business was booming,' my family situation was in shambles.

In concentrating on sheer survival, I lost focus in several areas of my spiritual life.

Tithing was one of them.

*I didn't withhold my tithe.

I just never gave it much thought.

For two years, my entire focus was on my family relationships, my work, and everything else except what God wanted from me.

*When I reviewed my church contributions for last year, I was shocked, embarrassed, and humiliated.

How could I give so little to the God who had given me so much?

I prayed for forgiveness and promised that I would pay more attention to my financial duties.

*Now that I am giving to God what he expects of me in my finances (and trying to catch up from my abysmal failure of the past two years), God is out-giving me by a long shot.

*It is not my money to begin with. . .

Everything we have belongs to God.

He just wants a small portion of what He has given to us."

Our giving matters to God, because it's an obligation to Him.

2. Church: Our giving also matters, because it will bring a demonstration of God's blessing.

*We see this truth in vs. 10-12, where the Lord said:

10. "Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and prove Me now in this,'' says the Lord of hosts, "If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it.

11.

And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, so that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,'' says the Lord of hosts;

12.

And all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a delightful land,'' says the Lord of hosts.

*God doesn't want to hurt us.

He wants to help us!

He wants to bless us!

He wants to bless us beyond measure, and these blessings even include financial blessings, according to the will of God.

*Listen to the end of my friend's tithing testimony, "This year has been unbelievable.

God continues to bless myself, my family, and my finances.

I can't wait to write my check now, because I get a blessing just from that.

A tithe is just a small token of appreciation to Someone who gave everything to us.

God doesn't receive the blessing when I tithe -- I DO."

*God wants to bless us, and He promises to bless in a special way when we give.

That's the message of vs. 10-12, and Jesus put it this way in Luke 6:38:

-"Give and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom.

For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you."

*God wants to bless you!

He wants to use your giving to prove His giving.

He wants to prove His generosity.

God wants to prove that He keeps His promises, and He will keep His promise about giving back to you.

*Now this doesn't mean that God will necessarily give us a boatload of money when we give to Him.

Some of the richest people I have ever known probably didn't have $500 in the bank, but they were rich in other ways.

And they were richer because they gave.

That's why in Acts 20:35, Jesus said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive."

*James McCullen told the story of a widow named Margaret Johnson.

After Margaret's husband died, she had very little money support her family.

About that time the office where Margaret worked was taking up a collection for a needy family.

Margaret insisted on giving even though her co-workers urged her not to.

She just felt good about giving.

Margaret later found out that the collection was for her.

(2)

*And she may have been one of the poorest people in her office, but Margaret was rich in generosity because she gave.

And God blessed her for it in more ways than one.

Our giving matters, because it brings a demonstration of God's blessing.