Honouring God in our Finance

Introduction

Theme for this month is honouring God in our finances

Most people think it’s just talking about money - but it’s not

When talking about honouring God with our finances - most people would just jump to talking the rules.

10% this, offering on top of that.

But it’d be wrong to make it a money matter - giving to God is never a money matter - it’s a heart matter.

Pray

Gratitude is the basis for giving (v15)

2 Corinthians 9:6–15 (ESV)

6 The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 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. 9 As it is written,

“He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor;

his righteousness endures forever.”

10 He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. 12 For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. 13 By their approval of this service, they will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others, 14 while they long for you and pray for you, because of the surpassing grace of God upon you. 15 Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!

So Paul writes this passage to encourage the Corinthian church to give generously in a collection for the poor Christians in Jerusalem

It’s a good passage for today because it doesn’t just administer the instruction to give - but on top of that gives us the reasons for it as well.

When we read this passage from top down, at first it may sound like the prosperity gospel.

But the reason is that it doesn’t follow the typical Pauline line of reasoning

We’re used to seeing in Romans where Paul outlines the reason before the result (Romans 1-8 are the theory and Romans 8+ is the practical living).

But this passage is the opposite way around - Paul actually gives us the outworking before the reasoning, the orthopraxy before the orthodoxy.

For this reason I want to go backward and to start at the end of the passage - and work our way up to the beginning.

It’s easier to understand the gist of what Paul is trying to say if we go from v15 backwards.

By far the most important thing in this passage is in v15 - so I want to start there. 2 Corinthians 9:15

2 Corinthians 9:15 (ESV)

15 Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!

I want to start with a principle that we need to know about honouring God with our finances: Gratitude is the basis for our giving. Gratitude is the reason behind our giving. All giving is done out of gratitude.

It’s so important to understand the role of gratitude in the Christian’s life. In fact, do you know that the essence of sin is actually not ingratitude - it’s misguided gratitude.

We’re dependent creatures so we all, by nature, thank someone or something for what we achieve and experience.

And the ultimate object of our gratitude ends up becoming the object of our worship

And we will end up serving whatever we end up worshipping. The object of our gratitude - becomes the object of our service.

That’s why Romans 1:25

Romans 1:25 (ESV)

25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

What we worship and what we serve - are linked.

Gratitude is IMPORTANT. It all begins with where we place our gratitude - what are you thankful for? Who are you thankful to?

So it becomes very important to pay attention to Paul when he writes about this gift in v15.

he’s uses this term “inexpressible” - meaning that we have been given a gift that is so good it’s beyond all expression

Why’s that an important term? -because if we could express it then we would eventually cease speaking it - the wonder would end, the gift could be explained or exhausted. The gift is limited.

But because it’s inexpressible, it’s inexhaustiable - it can never be fully explored, it can never be fully defined, it can never be fully understood or comprehended

It is quite literally the gift that keeps on giving. God has given us a gift of infinite proportion in the life and death of Jesus Christ, His son.

Why is it important that we start with this? Because this must be the ULTIMATE object of our gratitude.

The cross is a gift that is inexhaustible - you will never be able to repay it, you will never be able to fully understand or explain it, you will never be able to fully express it or define it.

A true appreciation of the gift of the cross births an inexhaustible sense of gratitude - we will be FOREVER grateful for what God has done for us - and for the cross in our lives.

And an inexhaustible gratitude births inexhaustible generosity - our giving capacity supernaturally enlarges because we are continually being filled with gratitude over this infinitely precious gift.

When we turn our gratitude to created things - people, self, money then our capacity for generosity and giving drastically decreases because our gratitude is pulling from a limited source

any source of gratitude ASIDE from the cross - is limited, no question about it.

And this is often the reason why we struggle with giving, whether to God or man, we struggle with being generous - we struggle with honouring God in our finances.

ILLUSTRATION: The Stadium lights

Let me give you an example to paint a picture - let’s just imagine it’s a soccer night. The boys from DFC head over to the pitch after service, it’s the one that we were at the past game where we beat Globalheart. Beautiful pitch, everyone arrives - we’re all clad in our black gear and we’re ready to go. And just before kick off, those huge lights that light up the entire football field? They die - boom. Just pitch black, can’t see anything. Everyone’s screaming, Dan’s rolled his ankle, people are tripping over each other, it’s nuts. We need to get those massive stadium lights back online. What do I do? Do I go around going “oioioi Char, go find me a AAA battery, lets get those things powered up” - no that’s stupid, that would only power up a torch at best. Do I go “oioi Leila, disconnect your car batter - I’m going to jump start the lights” - no, that would get us a couple of car lights at best. No if that happens - I’m trying to find the switch that connects those lights to the mains electrical grid am I not? Because that’s an UNLIMITED supply of electricity that will let us power up those HUGE lights that light up the stadium.

And in exactly the same way - if our giving comes from anything but the cross, it is a limited source, and limited sources means limited output. Our generosity will only be as bright as a torch, or maybe a car’s headlamp. But if we want to be generous in a capacity that will literally shine the light of Christ to many - you gotta find the connection to the mains, the infinite power supply. You gotta find the cross. That’s not just with giving - that’s with almost any Christian principle.

God is the ultimate supplier

Gratitude for the cross cannot be separated from acknowledgement of the one who orchestrated it.

2 Corinthians 9:10–11 (ESV)

10 He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.

God is the giver behind every gift, he is the supplier behind every provision. And he is also the object of all thanksgiving. See that? Everything provision comes FROM God - and all thanks go TO God.

Our gratitude to God finds its output in generosity.

“You have been enriched in every way to be generous in every way”

You have been blessed so that you can be a blessing, you have been given so that you can give

Gratitude for the cross cannot find its outworking as selfishness or stingyness, if that’s the case in our lives - then something is wrong.

God’s radical generosity in the cross finds its proper expression when we become radically generous in our own lives.

It’s when gratitude to God ceases - that we open the door to greed.

Greed comes from a distrust of God’s provision. When we stop viewing God as our ultimate provider - even if we begin to see Him as stingy, or witholding from us.

Greed does not just manifest as a love of money and wealth, it manifests as a WITHOLDING of it too.

Friends, If Greed is something that you are struggling with today, if you struggle to be generous, if you recognise that this is an area of weakness in your life - then listen to me carefully when I say this.

Greed is not dangerous because the kingdom of God now has one less giver - no, God always finds a way to build his church and no person can stop that.

Greed is dangerous because it is Idolatry.

Colossians 3:5 (NIV)

5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.

Greed is a sign that we no longer look to God, we have started to look to another, we have started to put our trust in our possessions.

We, as a church, would be wise to heed this warning because unlike other sins - greed is hard to measure. It hides itself very well.

We don’t vet the bank accounts to check who is giving to church, we don’t follow up who pays for whos meals, we don’t ever ask how much you give to charity etc.

But I can tell you from experience as a pastor - that if I asked for a show of hands of who tithes properly and regularly, statistically less than half of this room would put their hands up - and I’m being quite generous here.

Now listen, I’m NOT here to scare you into giving - and our leadership will never, ever check and get names on who is giving and how much etc. That’s not how we do things here.

But I would not be doing my job as a pastor if I did not warn you about the sin of greed - and the telltale signs of ingratitude toward God, and a lacking of generosity.

Greed quite literally prevents us from honouring God with our finances.

And it all begins simply when we lose our gratitude for the cross in our lives. Do you see how central this is?

ILLUSTRATION: Fighting for the bill

In asian culture - and probably some others that I’m not aware of, there’s this whole tihng about fighting for the bill at the end of a meal. Now I’m not sure what kind of friends you guys have, but my friends are psychopaths. Some of them have worked out impeccable tricks just to stop you from paying for the bill. One of my friends would literally borrow another phone to try and call you as you’re about to tap your card so it wouldn’t go through, another took my card and literally flung it into the kitchen - that was at A MACDONALDS, do you know what I’m saying? One mate put me in a rear naked choke just to get my wallet off me, like this stuff goes crazy is basically what I’m trying to say.

But anyway - there was this one time I was taking one of my youth out to dinner, and it wasn’t to anywhere fancy, I think we just ended up going to U&I after youth on a Friday night because it was the only thing open still. And when it came to paying the bill - of course I’m going to pay, I’ve got a full time job, this kid works at like HJs on a Saturday, so I stepped up to pay the bill and he gets up to fight me for the bill. And I’m like - bro, step aside, we don’t even know if you can pay it.

And then something strange happened - he got emotional. And I was like ok you know what - props - I’ve never seen this level of commitment before. But he seriously kept insisting that he wanted to pay. When I asked him why, he said something that really just reframed money for me. He said, “I can just take another shift to earn the money back. But how often do I get to take my pastor out for dinner?”

Are you catching the heart behind that? I knew right then that this kid was being discipled properly - money was held so loosely, even though it was scarce, his priority was to give, to be generous, to love on others, to honour his pastor.

He’s now earning a million times more than I am, but you know every time we go out, he has paid for me at his insistence.

God Loves a cheerful giver

He lives what is perhaps the most outstanding verse in this passage which is: 2 Corinthians 9:7

2 Corinthians 9:7 (ESV)

7 Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

Be careful not to misinterpret this passage - it does NOT mean that we only give when we feel happy or cheerful, it doesn’t mean that we give only when we’re doing well.

Remember the context - the Corinthians had ALREADY made a prior commitment to give to the poorer Christians in Jerusalem which is why Paul is asking them to give what they had ALREADY decided, he’s asking them to honour their commitment - and to do it with the same joy they had when they first made it.

This means that the cheerfulness precedes the giving. He’s saying that cheerfulness that you had when you first heard about the need - that’s IMPORTANT.

He’s saying - now that you’ve had time to rationalise it and perhaps even come to question your decision - don’t! Remember to keep the same joy and the same cheerfulness that made you want to give in the first place.

God wants our giving commitment to come OUT from a heart filled with gratitude.

The only way that’s going to happen is if we are giving out of an overflow from the cross.

Anything else - and other source, any other supplier - is giving out of limitation and will lead to giving with reluctance, giving under compulsion

Honouring God with our finances is just as much a heart condition as it is a hand one.

In fact, if you look at the passage, the focus is not even on giving - it is on the Giver.

Giving is ABOUT honouring God - it’s about acknowledging His inexpressible gift to us, it’s about acknowledging him as our infinite provider.

I think especially when it comes to honouring God with our finances in the church - the difference between a cheerful giver and one who gives out of reluctance is that:

One sees giving as participation, the other sees giving as privilege and partnership.

One is focused solely on the giving (the amount, the cost, the money), the other has their eyes on the giver (the ever-reliable provider, the infinite source, the inexpressible gift).

I’m not here to ask you for your money tonight - and I can promise you I’m not going to check the bank account for who’s giving or not. I’ve actually got 0 interest to do that because I KNOW God is already going to provide for a church with its focus just set on Him.

In fact, almost the opposite - I’m going to ask you to take your eyes off your money. It’s not about the money.

When was the last time we set our eyes on the cross, and stood TRULY grateful, TRULY in awe of it?

ILLUSTRATION: Offering Struggles

You know I have a bit of a Christian hack that I learned from one of my Senior pastors. There was a time that I genuinely struggled to give offering to church, even though I was serving. I felt the need to confess to him and talk to him about it - see what counsel he would give me. And I thought he would just tell me to like direct debit it or something, like put it out of mind and just get it done. But he actually got me to do something very different and very weird. He told me - whenever you are struggling to give, I want you to sing a simple song. It’s an old hymn called “In the cross”.

So I got home and thought, yeah sure I should give my offering. I’m going to try this little Christian hack. And so I sat down and put the song on - and I was weeping before the song even finished. You know I don’t just use the song for offering, I use it to battle temptation, I use it when I’m complaining about things getting hard, I use it when ministry seems overwhelming, I use it when I don’t have enough faith.

You know why it works? Because it moves our focus to the only thing that matters - the cross. And if I am grateful for the cross, and have my eyes fixed on it - then living for Christ on this earth seems vastly more simple.

I’ve never struggled with offering since.

The lyrics to the first verse and chorus of this song read like this:

Jesus, keep me near the cross, there’s a precious fountain; free to all, a healing stream, flows from Calvary’s mountain.

In the cross, in the cross be my glory ever, till my ransomed soul shall find, rest beyond the river.

Altar Call

Let’s respond today - let’s fix our eyes back on the cross.

I know today’s message is technically about honouring God in our finance but it really does begin here. In the cross.

If you’ve been struggling with generosity, with honouring God with your finances - even with sin, something else, forgiveness, anything really. There is always just one solution, let’s look to the cross and reshift our gaze and perspective on to what is important.