God Does Not Need Your Money

Introduction

Welcome to our second annual Faith Forward study in giving.

We started this last year, and it will be something that continues year-after-year. For those that are new, or have only been coming for less than 12 months, last year we started a faith commitment giving plan.

Let me take a few moments to explain that.

Our church, like any other organization and like, hopefully, most families here, is operated from a budget. The church, however, is unique in how it depends on its budget and where its funds come from, and that is because we do not make our own money. What I mean is that we do not have the ability to project income based on a service that we provide, similarly to individuals or families. Somebody, or multiple people in a family may go to work. Those that do have the ability to more or less accurately project how much they may make in a month or year.

Corporations that deal in product or services are able to look back at trends and often be able to project how much income they will have in a given time period of the upcoming year.

The church, however, is supported not by a product that it sells or a service that it provides. The cashflow of the church comes from donors. Those donors are the members of the church. Organizations like churches that depend on donors either primarily or exclusively, like we do, for their income, often find that it is difficult to make a predictable budget. The reason is because they cannot say for certain that their donors will give regularly or even the same amount.

So, this is why we do a yearly faith commitment campaign. It helps us more accurately predict what may come in, so that we may more wisely plan to work the mission of the church through this income.

What Is “Faith Commitment” Giving?

Your first question might be, “What even is faith commitment giving?” And that is a valid question. So let me break it down as well as I can while still being brief. If you’d like a little bit more detailed explanation, there is a stack of letters on the tables of the fireplace room that explain it, hopefully, to a deeper satisfaction. And of course, I am happy to answer any questions that you may have about it.

Giving to the Mission of the Church

So what is faith commitment giving? Well, first off, it is giving to the mission of the church. It is a free-will offering given by members of the church to church so that the church can continue its mission of preaching the Gospel and making disciples.

We exist to make disciples that impact the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is our mission as a church.

There are steps that we are taking to accomplish this here.

Connect. The first step is the connect step. We hope to help people connect to God and then to the church. How do we become connected to God? Well, the only way to do that is to enter into a relationship with Him through faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ, His Son, asking and trusting in Him for the forgiveness of sins. After people get saved, we believe that God wants every Christian to be active in a church community. If this is the church for them, we want them to connect with us and become members here. This is where the Connect Class comes in. If you joined the church any time in the last 2.5 years or so, you went through the Connect Class with either Jason and Bri Steffens or Paul and Megan Pestel. This class is to let people know exactly what our church believes, how we operate, and what the general expectations we have of each other as members. And then, we want people to continue to be connected to the church and its members. We want to promote events, activities, and ministries that help people get to know each other more and create bonds of unity among the members. Unity is something that we need to always be fighting for and striving toward.

Grow. The next step is Grow. God wants us to grow in Him. He desires that we not only grow in knowledge, but also in semblance to His Son. The Bible tells us that we are to be transformed. So we seek to promote activities, ministries, and events that will help people grow in their walk with the Lord. This is the reasoning behind the Disciples Path study that we are doing on Wednesdays - growth. This is also something that we need to always be making sure is happening.

Serve. After connecting with God and connecting with the church, and after having a disposition that enables Christians to grow, we want to ensure that people are serving. This next step is an important part of church membership and essential for the church to do its mission. It is the responsibility of every church member to serve in some capacity or another. There are not reserves in this team. There is no bench. Every Christian should be active in some form of service or another. As we grow, we learn this, and we learn how to best serve others in the church and serve outside the church in order for the mission of the church to be accomplished. Again, this step is something that should always be happening.

Share. This is the ultimate expression of the mission of the church. There is no way to make disciples without sharing the Good News of the Gospel. Sharing becomes effective when we are growing in the Lord and when we are serving others. Ministries, events, and activities that allow us to share an invitation to the church or the outright presentation of the Gospel are things we ought to be working toward.

These four steps go hand in hand, and ministries that can incorporate or naturally progress these steps are ones that we want to engage in. For example: we have a food pantry. This food pantry is so that we can serve others in the love of Christ, and by serving others, it opens up a door to share the Gospel with them. We do this so that they can connect with God by being saved, and hope that they will connect with the church through membership so that they can grow in the Lord. As they grow, they will begin to serve, and we hope that through their growth and service, they will also be able to share the news of salvation. And getting people into this cycle is basic discipleship.

“So, what does this all have to do with giving?” you might ask. Well, the ministries that promote connection, growth, service, and sharing are not free. Coming to this building and running the lights and having water and AC costs money. So as you give monetarily to the church, you support each of these steps that we are taking. Part of the way that we share and make an impact in the world is by giving to missionaries. So as you give to the church, you are also giving to fund missionaries that are impacting their areas of the world with the Gospel.

So giving, is the first part of this faith commitment giving, and we believe that giving financially to the local church you belong to is biblical and God-honoring.

A Commitment to the Lord

The second part I want to highlight is the work commitment. We ask that you make a specific commitment to giving a specific amount to the work of the Lord in your church over the course of the next year. We do this for a number of reasons.

It helps us be able to develop a plan for the budget for the upcoming year. Having a clearer expectation of how much will come in over the next 12 months allows us to more wisely plan for the expenditures of the church. It helps us to better determine if we can start new ministries or if we need to cut some spending.

We want this commitment to be one that you make with God. Entering into commitments with the Lord that are directed by the Lord is a way to grow your faith and see God at work in your life, and we believe that is true in financial commitments as well.

I want to make sure that I explain this clearly - the commitment you make for this giving is primarily to the Lord. We ask that you commit to giving to God’s work that He is accomplishing at and through Good News Baptist Church, and that you make this commitment to God. When you fill out a commitment card, you will notice that there are no places for your name. This is so that you know that we are not interested in going and collecting the money from you, we are not interested in calling you to remind you that you have missed three months of your giving, nor are we interested in judging anyone by how little or how much they will be giving.

If you make a commitment with the Lord to give to the church, then how you follow that commitment is between you and God.

Faith in God to Provide

The last part of Faith Commitment Giving is the greatest part - faith. You may already be squirming in your seat thinking, “I am stretched so thin already that I don’t think I can give anything to the Lord. I just can’t afford it!” And this is where faith comes in. I want you to understand this well also.

I am not asking you to make a decision today about what you will give for the next twelve months. I am not going to try to manipulate any amount of money out of you, nor am I interested in creating an emotionally hyped message that will make you make an emotionally charged decision.

I want you to act on faith. And I also want to be clear about what this means. I want you to talk to God. If you have not started to pray already, I want you, over the course of the next 14 days, I want you to be praying specifically that God would tell you how much to give to the church over the next 12 months. Pray, ask, seek God’s face.

Then, after that, I want you to commit to the number that God lays on your heart to give. The amount that God shows you will be between you and God. It may be that it will be difficult to give, maybe even impossible, but this is where faith comes into play. If God leads you to giving a certain amount, then you must believe that He will provide for you that amount to give.

Give it in faith. Don’t delay it. Then, watch God provide. We have looked extensively at what Jesus said about the nature and character of our heavenly Father toward His children. He lovingly provides for us. Let God do this and watch as He grows your faith through your obedience to Him.

I also want to be clear about this - I am in no way advocating, teaching, sponsoring, adopting, or preaching any type of prosperity gospel. Prosperity Gospel is the teaching that if you give money to God and you have faith, God will make you both healthy and wealthy.

Well, one of the giants of the faith of the New Testament is the Apostle Paul who had what appears to be physical affliction that God told him He would not take away. There were times when Paul was needy and poor. So in that simple view, we can see that health and financial prosperity are not guaranteed to those that give money to any ministry.

However, as we give, whether out of prosperity or out of our deep need, as Paul wrote the Corinthians, we ought to do it in faith, knowing that God will provide for the amount He wants us to give.

A Way to Connect, Grow, Serve, and Share

Faith commitment giving is a way to connect, grow, serve, and share.

In giving to the church, you are connecting financially to the mission of this church. However, it is not just a financial connection that you are making, but an emotional connection as well.

Matthew 6:21 says

Matthew 6:21 KJV 1900

21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

As you give, you will become invested in the mission of the church at a much deeper level than simply financially, your heart will become invested in the mission of the church.

You will also grow. The Bible teaches that we should be joyful givers to the work of the Lord. Obedience will always bring growth. It is that way that our faith grows the most. So as you give faithfully, your faith will, in turn, grow as well.

Giving is a way of serving. It serves others in the church and outside of the church. It serves the ministries and missionaries that our church supports, and it supports us as we make decisions concerning the budget next year.

And lastly, it is a way of sharing the Gospel. By giving financially, you are helping missionaries and teachers and preachers share the gospel with others.

Getting involved with faith commitment giving is getting involved in a way that incorporates every one of our steps toward making disciples that impact Cedar Rapids and the world.

So I urge you, pray about what God wants you to give, trust Him to provide, and make a commitment in faith for the next 12 months.

This brings us to our message today:

Have you ever wondered, “If God wants us to give, how much of our money does He need?” Anybody here ever wondered? Well the answer to that is not half of your money. The answer is not one-third of your money. And the answer is not even 10% of your money. Do you know how much of your money God needs to fulfill His purpose and His mission here on earth?

He doesn’t need any of it.

God Does Not Need Your Money

This may seem like a horrible way to start off a Faith Promise/Commitment Giving campaign, but it is absolutely true, God doesn’t need your money.

And you may say, “Well, obviously, Mike, God does not need my money. His roads are paved with gold. But it surely it can’t hurt to give money and do other good things to get into His good graces, right?””

Questions arise like

How much do I have to do to get into or stay in God’s good graces?

How often do I need to come to church?

How much should I give?

How involved do I have to be?

How much is enough? How much does God need of me? And sometimes, these questions bring with them a feeling of guilt.

This morning we find ourselves in the book of 2 Samuel. In this passage, we will see an example and a prophecy that will help us get to the bottom of these questions.

As you find your place in 2 Samuel 7, let me give you a bit of context.

King David is now thoroughly established as the king of Israel. He has been fighting occupying and invading nations for many years now, but now, for the most part, there is relative peace, and the land is prospering.

Nathan, the prophet, is the nation’s spiritual leader. And we find David and Nathan sitting together in 2 Samuel 7:1-2

2 Samuel 7:1–2 KJV 1900

1 And it came to pass, when the king sat in his house, and the Lord had given him rest round about from all his enemies; 2 That the king said unto Nathan the prophet, See now, I dwell in an house of cedar, but the ark of God dwelleth within curtains.

“Nathan,” says David, “Look at all this. I am living in a wonderfully constructed house, a palace, but I feel bad because God dwells in a tent. It doesn’t seem right to me. My house is nice. It smells like cedar. It’s expensive. But God lives among curtains.”

So, as David muses about these things, Nathan realizes that behind these words is a heart that wants to do something for God. So he responds.

2 Samuel 7:3 KJV 1900

3 And Nathan said to the king, Go, do all that is in thine heart; for the Lord is with thee.

But something happens next that we might consider odd, and I hope that by the end of the sermon, we will understand why God responds to this the way that He does.

2 Samuel 7:4–7 KJV 1900

4 And it came to pass that night, that the word of the Lord came unto Nathan, saying, 5 Go and tell my servant David, Thus saith the Lord, Shalt thou build me an house for me to dwell in? 6 Whereas I have not dwelt in any house since the time that I brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt, even to this day, but have walked in a tent and in a tabernacle. 7 In all the places wherein I have walked with all the children of Israel spake I a word with any of the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to feed my people Israel, saying, Why build ye not me an house of cedar?

God tells Nathan to go to David and tell Him not to build anything, because this is David’s thought - “I am going to build God a dwelling place of cedar so that He is not stuck in a tent.”

And God tells David, through Nathan, “For the last several hundred years since the construction of the Tabernacle, this tent, I have dwelled in with Israel and walked with you. Since the exodus from Egypt until now, I have been with y’all in this tent and spoken from here. And in all that time, have you ever heard me say, ‘why doesn’t anyone build me a cedar palace?’”

It almost seems playful, the way that God is talking to David. “Really, David, you are going to build me a house on earth? Buddy, I have a gigantic palace. My streets are made of gold and my foundations are made of gemstones. If I really needed a nicer house to dwell in, I would not be asking you to provide it.

2 Samuel 7:8–11 KJV 1900

8 Now therefore so shalt thou say unto my servant David, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I took thee from the sheepcote, from following the sheep, to be ruler over my people, over Israel: 9 And I was with thee whithersoever thou wentest, and have cut off all thine enemies out of thy sight, and have made thee a great name, like unto the name of the great men that are in the earth. 10 Moreover I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as beforetime, 11 And as since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel, and have caused thee to rest from all thine enemies. Also the Lord telleth thee that he will make thee an house.

“David, the sentiment is nice and all, but I don’t think that you are remembering right.

I was the one that brought you out of sleeping in the field with the sheep and put you in a palace to reign over my people. I was the one that cut off all your enemies and gave you rest. I made a great name out of you, and I am the one providing Israel a place to stay and not wander anymore. You say you want to build me a house? Let me tell you something - I will build you a house.”

This is not about David giving to the Lord, it is about how the Lord has given to David. The emphasis that God makes here is that HE is great, and that anything that David has is because of God.

God didn’t need David to spare some money or some building supplies so that God could have a nicer place to stay, and God reminds David that the fact that he lives in a cedar palace is all the Lord’s doing in the first place. In essence, God is telling David, “David, I do not need anything from you.”

God is the one who has everything and owns everything. He created everything. Those great cedar trees that David had hewn down and made into his palace, God is the one that made those grow.

God continues His message to David.

2 Samuel 7:12 KJV 1900

12 And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom.

“David, after you die, I will still be around, and it will be me that raises up descendants from you.”

And this verse also starts a prophecy, a Messianic prophecy. Simply put, this verse along with the next couple of verses are prophecies about the Messiah, God’s Son, Jesus.

2 Samuel 7:12–15 KJV 1900

12 And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever. 14 I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men: 15 But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee.

This is a Messianic prophecy, but like many of the prophecies in the Bible, there are two meanings - an immediate meaning and an ultimate meaning.

The immediate meaning of this prophecy is about Solomon, David’s heir to the throne. God established him and did give him a promise, “If you sin and depart from me, I will punish.” And that is exactly what happened. God punished Solomon’s wickedness and his son’s wickedness by causing to kingdom to split in two.

But how can this be a Messianic prophecy if it is talking about committing iniquity? I thought Jesus was perfect and sinless? And He is. Though this prophecy is immediately about Solomon, Solomon was not the forever king. Solomon would disappoint. Like we mentioned before, because of Solomon’s sin, the kingdom was divided in two.

The ultimate meaning of this prophecy is about Jesus.

He would be a direct descendant of David

He would establish a real temple. Because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross for us, those that accept Him as savior are indwelled by the Holy Spirit, make each Christian a temple of God. 1 Corinthians 3:16 “16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?”

But what about the iniquity, the sin? Well, 2 Corinthians 5:21 “21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”

Though Jesus never did sin, He chose to take on the sin of the world. And He chose to be punished by the rod of men and the stripes of men. This is referencing Jesus being beaten and whipped.

And because of that, those that trust in Him for salvation will never lack the steadfast love of God, nor will they ever be abandoned by God.

Look how God concludes His message to David. 2 Samuel 7:16

2 Samuel 7:16 KJV 1900

16 And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever.

Jesus’ is the King of Kings, and He will one day reign upon this earth in a literal kingdom, and His throne is established forever.

David’s Response

David has been thinking that there is a need to do something for God. He feels motivated to build God a house, but his motivation is pity. It is as if David feels bad for God, that he, David, lives in a cedar palace, but God dwells in a tent. He lives in greatness and God lives in humility. His thought is, “I have not done enough for God, I must share my greatness with Him.”

But look now at David’s response after what God has told him. 2 Samuel 7:18-21, and as we look at these passages, I am going to point out a progression that David goes through.

2 Samuel 7:18–21 KJV 1900

18 Then went king David in, and sat before the Lord [The first thing that David does is that He sits before God. First, he was sitting in his own house. Now David sits before the Lord. I love that David sits before God - as if the words that God has spoken are so enlightening that David has to sit down before he can speak. David probably knows well Psalm 46 that says, “Be still and know that I am God.” He knows that there come times where he must sit and be still before God before any sort of resolution comes.], and he said, Who am I, O Lord God? and what is my house, that thou hast brought me hitherto? 19 And this was yet a small thing in thy sight, O Lord God; but thou hast spoken also of thy servant’s house for a great while to come. And is this the manner of man, O Lord God? 20 And what can David say more unto thee? for thou, Lord God, knowest thy servant. [First, David sits. Now we see him wondering. “Who am I? What is my house (family)? And what more can I say to you? These are important questions. And they come up when David sits before the Lord.] 21 For thy word’s sake, and according to thine own heart, hast thou done all these great things, to make thy servant know them. [He realizes. His attitude at first was, “Lord, allow me to elevate you.” Now he knows and realizes that it is the Lord that has elevated David, who is nobody. And it is this realization that causes him to worship.]

2 Samuel 7:22–26 KJV 1900

22 Wherefore thou art great, O Lord God: for there is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears. 23 And what one nation in the earth is like thy people, even like Israel, whom God went to redeem for a people to himself, and to make him a name, and to do for you great things and terrible, for thy land, before thy people, which thou redeemedst to thee from Egypt, from the nations and their gods? 26 And let thy name be magnified for ever, saying, The Lord of hosts is the God over Israel: and let the house of thy servant David be established before thee.

Can you hear the praise coming from David to the Lord?

But the last thing that David does is that he submits. Notice this last verse. David uses the word “let.” He is directing himself to the Lord, and let means that there is will involved. In essence, he is saying, “Lord, as your will would have it, let your name be magnified. And as your will would have it, establish my throne before you.” he is not demanding, he is submitting.

I like the paradigm shift we see here. At first, David said, “God, let me share with you and build you a house to elevate you.” But now, David looks at God and says, “Magnify your name however you want, and if you want to share with me, then do it your way.”

What Do We Learn Through This?

There are some biblical principles that are available for us to grasp, and you’ve probably already identified at least one or two of them. The first principle that we learn is about God’s grace.

God’s Grace

What is grace? Well, grace is God’s undeserved favor toward us, and we can see God talk about it to David. Grace is never earned, and this is what David had to learn.

David wanted to build God a house, so why did God refuse?

To fully understand why God is refusing something like this, we must understand the culture. Why would David want to build a house for God? To us, it is a simple matter of honoring God. But as we study the prevailing beliefs and practices of the nations that surrounded Israel, I think it might open our eyes a little bit.

The practice for a newly established king was for that king to build a temple for his god or gods. They would do this for the express reason of gaining favor with that god. The thought process was this - “I, a new king, must build a temple for the gods that I serve. The grander I can afford to build it, the more favor that god will show me. In building a temple, it will cause the citizens of my kingdom to come and worship this god. The more people that worship this god in the temple that I built, the more favor I will incur with that god. The more favor I have, the more prosperous my reign and the more protection I will have, and if I make him happy enough, he will establish my throne forever.”

King Tut is a great example of this. He built a large temple and dedicated it to one of the Egyptian gods, Amon-Rah. After he did this, a priest of Amon-Rah told King Tut that because the temple was so nice, Amon-Rah would grant King Tut a kingdom that would cover the whole earth and would last a million years.

So the order of things in the world back then was:

King builds temple for god; beauty of the temple makes that god famous in the land; god thanks the king by giving him a strong kingdom.

But that is not how our God works. God is clearly letting David know, “I do things differently. My power establishes you, not the other way around. People marvel at my grace and mercy in your life, then you live in grateful response to me. David, you are not sharing anything with me, I give to you. You don’t lend to me, I lend to you. You earn nothing from me. You will always be the debtor. The object is not to build a house for me to increase your name. No, the object is that people will admire me for all that I have accomplished in you. The house that I live in will not say, ‘Built by David, for God.’ On the other hand, your house, your family, your authority, your throne, your future will say, ‘Built by God, for David.’” Did David deserve it? No, but God was going to establish his kingdom and even use him as a direct line to the Messiah.

The Principle of Giving

We also can see the principle of giving in this story. The first aspect of the principle of giving we have seen in this part of the story: God does not need us. God told David, “I don’t need you to build a house for me; I am building a house for you.”

God does not need our talents, our money, our giftings, or anything else that we could possible offer. He does not need it.

Does that mean that I can just spend all my money on me and not worry about giving to the church or serving the church? Well, no. And we understand this a little more by looking at the next aspect of the principle of giving: the aspect of our attitude.

2 Chronicles 6:8 gives us the events of the actual building of the Temple by Solomon, David’s son. And look what is recorded by Solomon.

2 Chronicles 6:8 KJV 1900

8 But the Lord said to David my father, Forasmuch as it was in thine heart to build an house for my name, thou didst well in that it was in thine heart:

Notice that God told David that it was good to have a desire to build God a house. And after God told David, no, David had a good attitude and learned why God had said no. And in response to this, David began gathering materials for the future building of the Temple.

1 Chronicles 22:5 KJV 1900

5 And David said, Solomon my son is young and tender, and the house that is to be builded for the Lord must be exceeding magnifical, of fame and of glory throughout all countries: I will therefore now make preparation for it. So David prepared abundantly before his death.

David could have had a bad attitude toward this, and left it up to Solomon to get all the materials together, but he didn’t. And this attitude of his about giving to the Lord brings us to the next principle -

The Principle of Generosity

The principle of generosity. David gave generously to the preparation of the materials of the temple. There is nowhere that you find David grudgingly giving for this project. He willingly does, and then encourages the rest of the nation to do give generously. Yes, David, as king, had access to the nation’s treasury, out of which he gave a substantial amount, but he also gave a lot of his own gold and silver along with other precious metals. Estimates of today’s worth of how much he gave run in the many tens of billions of dollars, some estimates reaching over the 100 billion dollar amount.

David gave generously. And the reason he was able to give generously was because he was submitted completely to the Lord.

The Principle of Submission

Submission means that we offer ourselves to God and allow Him to tell us what to do. The biggest mistakes that are most often made when giving financially to the Lord are these:

They have not offered themselves over to God fully and completely first. Romans 12:1 is very clear about this.

Romans 12:1 KJV 1900

1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

Paul begs the Christians in Rome and those of us who read it today, “Present your bodies. Give yourself to Christ fully and completely. As you would a sacrifice. When sacrificing an animal, it was the whole animal that was sacrificed, not just one of the legs; it was all of it. The whole animal died, and the whole animal was burnt.

We are told to offer ourselves, submit ourselves to the Lord completely.

2. The second mistake people make is that they believe they are the savior of the world, or the savior of the church. I have heard of too many Christians, church members, treat their tithes and offerings as if they were the ones providing for the church of God. There are Christians that like to make a big deal of swooping in and providing a large sum of money for a particular need that the church may have.

And doing this is not a bad thing. Giving a large sum of money to the church is not in-and-of-itself a bad thing. David gave billions of dollars to the construction of the Temple. What is bad is doing it in pride. I’ve never had this problem here at Good News, thankfully. Yes, people have given large amounts of money to the church, but none have done it from a heart that wishes to control things or even to be recognized.

But Tahsha and I have been in churches where people have tried to weaponize their gifts to the church. “Well, if this doesn’t happen, or if I don’t get put in this ministry that I want, or if the pastor preaches something I don’t like, I’m going to stop giving my tithes.”

There was a church that I was a youth pastor at for just over five years, but when we first got there, there was an older couple that used to regularly give us cash, gift cards to clothing stores (nice ones), clothes for the kids, and all sorts of things. And we appreciated it.

The pastor and his wife told us one day, “Hey, that couple that is giving you a bunch of stuff, just know that one day they will try to call in a favor in return. Their regular M.O. is to buy people that are in leadership at the church so they can try to control what is going on in the church. So, we aren’t saying, ‘Don’t take the gifts,” but we are saying that they have strings attached.”

Now, that was clear almost from the get-go. That couple did not like the pastor or his wife, and he would try to get me to agree that whatever decision the pastor had made was the wrong one. So I recognized this, but I told my pastor, I said, “Don’t you worry about a thing. I am a missionary’s kid. I have no problem thanking someone for a gift, and as far as strings being attached, I don’t ever feel those, again, probably owing to the fact that I’m a missionaries kid....”

So just fair warning, if you give me gifts expecting them to influence me to do something, it’s not gonna work...

But anyway, receiving gifts from people that are trying to influence my decisions or someone that is trying to get me on their side of an argument is not a hard thing for me. If they want to waste their money on me, then I will let them. But one thing I do not like is when they try to start pulling on these imaginary strings. We received a card from them to a nice clothing store, and it was mentioned when they dropped it off, that they had one time given one of these gift cards to the pastor’s wife, but she didn’t appreciate it. And the lady did it with this ugly sour face as she talked about my pastor and his wife.

Well, I am a fiercely loyal person, and I did not appreciate that. Later, when I gave Tahsha the gift card, I told her what had happened, and she immediately said, “Well, give it back to them! We don’t need gifts from people that are going to disparage the pastor’s family like that.”

And I, being the missionary’s kid, said, “Hold your horses, you could definitely use that money, and get yourself some nice clothes. It doesn’t matter. Taking this does not mean that I agree with them.” but Tahsha felt bad. So, in the end, what we decided to do was to write them a thank you card. The card said something to the effect of:

Dear Bro. and Mrs. So-and-So,

Thank you so much for that very generous gift card. We felt so blessed by your gift that we decided to be a blessing to someone else. I am pleased to let you know that we gave that gift card to the pastor’s wife. Thank you for blessing our pastor’s family so very much.

-The Joneses

The message was pretty clear. I will take whatever you want to give me, but you can’t buy me, nor can you pit me against the pastor or the church.

Though I have never seen this behavior here at Good News, there are Christians that will attempt to weaponize their offerings. Here’s the reality: This church belongs to Jesus, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, the owner of the cattle on a thousand hills, the Creator and Sustainer of this universe and that is in it, and He, and He alone will sustain His church.

Weaponizing our offerings is trying to be in control, when we are clearly told in scripture to surrender ourselves completely to God’s use.

What’s the Point?

Now we get to the important question. What’s the point of this?

Well, there are two that I want to make.

The first point is for believers. It is for those that are saved. It is primarily for those that are members here. And the point is this.

We should be giving to the work of God in and through the church. Not because God needs it, but because it is a good thing to do. And it is only a good thing to do when we give our of gratitude for God’s grace. It is only a good thing to do when we submit to giving exactly what God wants us to give. And it will be a gift that is worshipful only when we have given ourselves completely to the Lord first.

For the rest of this month, we will be talking about giving. We will discussing giving in one way or another. If you are a member here at Good News, you will be asked to commit to giving what God wants you to give over the next 12 months. But before you ever do that, I urge you to offer yourself as a living sacrifice. Look, if you give yourself to the Lord fully. If you surrender everything about you to be used in whatever way He wants to use you, then when He tells you how much He wants you to give to His work it will be easy, because you have already surrendered it to Him for His use.

The second point I want to make is to those that are unsaved. This next application is for all those that do not have a personal relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ.

We can see that application of all these principles in Jesus Christ. First off, we see God’s grace. Not a single person that has ever lived deserved or deserves heaven. We do not deserve the forgiveness of our sins, but God loved the world so much that He sent Jesus to die the death that we deserve, to suffer the wrath that we deserve, so that we could receive the gift of salvation and forgiveness that we do not deserve. And Jesus came willingly to do just that.

There is nothing you can do to earn it. There is no gift so grand that you could give that could buy it. If you were to give billions or trillions of dollars to churches around the world, it would not make a single difference in the forgiveness of your sins. The only one that can do that is Jesus, and you have to go to Him alone and ask for forgiveness.

Next, in Jesus we see the principle of giving. Jesus did not need anyone else’s help in paying for our sins. It had to be Him. Not only that, He didn’t need anyone’s help to rise from the dead. He did that on his own.

Jesus not only gave, but gave generously. “Greater love has no man than this,” the Bible tells us, “that a man lay down his life for his friends.” And yet, Jesus laid down His life for not only His friends, but His enemies as well. He spared no cost to purchase our forgiveness as He suffered and died on that cross.

And He did it out of submission to the Father. “Not my will,” Jesus said as He prayed to the Father, “Not my will, but yours be done.”

Jesus gave himself fully and completely so that you and I could have the forgiveness of sins. And the only way to receive this gift is by understanding that you are a sinner, that there is no way to receive forgiveness for those sins besides Jesus, believing in your heart that Jesus is God and that He died and resurrected to pay for your sins, and then in that belief, asking Him for that forgiveness and for the salvation that only He can give.

Invitation

At this point, I’ll ask that you bow your heads and close your eyes. I am going to ask some questions, but I do not want anyone to be embarrassed. My first question is this: Do you need to be saved and forgiven of your sins? Is there anyone here that is not saved, that does not know if they have a personal relationship with God. Is there anyone?

For the saved: Do you realize that there is nothing in the world that you could do to make God love you more? God asks you to do certain things and to obey Him, not so that He will love you more, but so that you will enter into a deeper relationship with Him, so that you will have more faith, and so that you will give Him glory with your life. I hope you understand that the infinite God that made the universe and sustains it with the power of His word does not need you, but wants you.

His plan is to use you to impact the world through your church. he could have used so many other things. He could have used angels, but He has chosen you and me. And I hope that you understand how amazing that is - that God wants to manifest His love and His power to the world through us.

What is motivating you to serve God? Is it truly a quest for His glory? Have you been giving or serving out of obligation, or are you truly doing it all as an act of worship?

And finally, the most important question of all? Have you given yourself completely to the Lord? All of yourself? How many could honestly say, “Mike, as I sit here right now, there is not a single area of my life that does not belong to Jesus.”?

If you were unable to raise your hand, I urge you as Paul did, Present yourself, all of yourself, as a living sacrifice unto the Lord. This is your only reasonable and logical service. After all He has done for us, our love for Him should motivate us to be completely submitted to Him.

Life Groups

What stood out to you from this sermon? What things have you learned? What questions do you have?