Psalm 116: The Lord Loves a Cheerful Giver: Giving as Worship

Scripture Reading

2 Corinthians 9:6–9 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. As it is written, “He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.”

Intro

Why do you give?

You work hard for you money… why do you set a portion of it aside to the church?

You’ve got mouths to feed… why give any money at all?

Any time you talk about financial giving and money in a church it can be a touchy subject.

In some churches all they do is talk about money…

Its always this campaign or that campaign where the church is more about the budget than it is the glory of God and Christian Discipleship.

While other churches… on the other side of the ditch… never talk about it.

They don’t want to step on toes or come off like Prosperity Preachers…

And so what happens is Christians are stuck in the middle without any discipleship on money and a crucial aspect of their worship.

The irony is by not talking about it… you rob the church of their ability to worship God.

And so what I want to do today is give you back your giving as the worship of God.

This is not a beat em up sermon.

You are such a faithful, and generous church.

Now some of you might need to repent and start giving… I don’t know who; we don’t look at giving that way…

While others of you might have never been taught how giving is a part of your worship and discipled in how to connect that giving to the worship of God.

And so by and large I want this to be an encouraging sermon.

I want to take your faithfulness and give it back to you as worship.

Similar to how we did with the Lord’s Supper series… I don’t want giving to be some ritual… obligation… just something we do.

I want to put heart behind it because giving is ultimately not about the money… its about the heart.

I want this sermon to serve as a Theology of Giving to help you worship God.

I’m not after your pocket book.

Guests and Visitors I’m not talking to you.

This is family business.

By God’s grace our church is healthy financially.

But all of that means nothing if we don’t connect our giving to our worship of God.

Giving is Worship.

So let’s go to Psalm 116:12 to see how our giving is a part of our worship of God in response to His generous gift to us in the free grace of Christ.

Psalm 116:12–14 What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord, I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people.

What shall give to the Lord?

All His benefits are described in verses 1-11 talking about God’s grace and our salvation.

Psalm 116:1–4 I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy. Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live. The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me;

Sheol another name for the grave… the Land of the Dead.

I suffered distress and anguish. Then I called on the name of the Lord: “O Lord, I pray, deliver my soul!”

This is all of us dead in our trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1).

We are in distress and anguish.

Caught in the snares of death.

No hope… no light… no peace… except for God’s grace.

Psalm 116:5–11 Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; our God is merciful. The Lord preserves the simple; when I was brought low, he saved me. Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you. For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling; I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living. I believed, even when I spoke: “I am greatly afflicted”; I said in my alarm, “All mankind are liars.”

This is the grace of Eternal Life.

Even in the midst of his trouble, he believed… He believed God could save him and God is true though all mankind are liars.

God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it? (Numbers 23:19).

God can always be counted on… trusted in… depended upon.

Why?

Because Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; our God is merciful… when I was brought low, He…saved…me.

When we were lower than low… lost… blind… dead.

No hope.. no life…

God sent His Son to die for our sins.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).

God in His grace gave us Eternal Life.

Jesus… in His love… laid down His life and gave His life for us (John 15:13).

The Spirit… in His power… gave us the grace of New Birth (John 6:63, John 3:3-8).

Salvation is a Trinitarian Work… All because Jesus died and rose again for us… for all who would believe.

All His benefits are every spiritual blessing in Christ (Ephesians 1:3).

Forgiveness… grace… mercy.

Adoption… Justification… the indwelling Holy Spirit and New Birth.

Freedom from slavery to sin and Eternal Life!

When we were dead in our trespasses and sins, God saved us.

Psalm 103 says Forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy (Psalm 103:2–4).

By Grace Alone through Faith Alone in Christ Alone God heard our pleas for mercy.

He delivered our eyes from tears… our feet from stumbling… our souls from death.

When I was brought low He saved me…

So here’s what I want you to see as we go back to verse 12-14…

All this giving to the Lord… all this rendering and offering worship to God… is giving in response to God first giving to us.

His mercy… His grace… His Son… the Eternal Life we have in Christ!

Like the Psalm says… He has dealt bountifully with you… no one is more generous than God.

So the Psalm says…

Psalm 116:12–14 What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord, I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people.

The answer is Worship.

I will lift up the cup of salvation.

This is a Drink offering celebrating God’s grace.

Its connected to the sacrifice of thanksgiving in verse 17 and was part of Israel’s regular sacrifices to worship the Lord.

Then it says I will call on the name of the Lord.

This is worship… and prayer… and faith.

And then I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people.

Vows are promises made to the Lord and in the Old Testament they were paired with financial gifts and financial giving (Psalm 76:11, Deuteronomy 23:18).

So part of worshiping God in response to His grace is by fulfilling promises and offering gifts (cf. Jonah 2:9).

So overall… here’s what you see…

What shall I render?

The answer is worship…

Worship in sacrifices…

Worship in prayer and faith…

And Worship in paying vows and fulfilling our promises.

All of this corresponds with verses 15-19.

Psalm 116:15–19 Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. O Lord, I am your servant; I am your servant, the son of your maidservant. You have loosed my bonds. I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people, in the courts of the house of the Lord, in your midst, O Jerusalem. Praise the Lord!

This almost repeats here with a parallel that comes with what just came before.

Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints corresponds with What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits?

They go together.

One of those benefits is God’s providential love and care.

If Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints then God cares for the life of His saints and all the life of His saints.

There’s not one part of your life from your salvation down to the smallest detail that goes uncared for or unnoticed.

And so what shall I render?

O Lord, I am your servant; I am your servant, the son of your maidservant. You have loosed my bonds.

This is total service… absolute devotion.

Its hard to see in English and you need an understanding of the Old Testament law for this background but this is really saying I am Your three-fold servant… Your total servant…. I belong to you three times over!

He is the slave who has willingly given himself to the Master’s house.

He is the child of a slave who belongs to the Master by birth (Exodus 21:4).

And he is the freed slave who chooses to stay in the service of his Master (Exodus 21:5-6).

In other words… O Lord, I am your servant… all of my life is yours!

That’s the heart…

What shall I render to the Lord?

All of me.

All my life… All my love… All my devotion.

And then comes the worship.

I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving… that corresponds to the cup of salvation… its a sacrifice.

And then I will call on the name of the Lord and I will pay my vows… both repeated from the previous verse.

Applying Under the New Covenant

Now here’s Big Idea and the Main Point of the Psalm…

Sacrificial Worship is the proper response to the salvation and grace of God.

I’m not trying to sneak something past you.

The Psalm is not primarily about giving.

The Psalm is about worship and giving is an application of that.

Because how do we apply this Psalm today?

Under the New Covenant… what sacrifices to we offer and what vows do we pay?

What are New Covenant Sacrifices?

Sunday Worship

Number 1… Sunday worship and a Sacrifice of Praise.

What shall I render?

The worship of God with God’s people.

The Psalm says I will pay my vows in the presence of all His people, in the courts of the house of the Lord.

Lord’s Day worship is not optional for the Christian.

Its part of our worship and thanksgiving to God.

And so Sunday worship needs to be a priority in your life.

If you’re neglecting the Sunday gathering and only showing up half the time you’re neglecting the very fruit of the gospel and showing ingratitude towards God.

Worship is a New Covenant sacrifice that honors and pleases God!

Psalm 50:23 The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me.

And Hebrews 13:15 Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.

Our worship is a New Covenant sacrifice.

Living Sacrifices

Number 2… What shall I render? What sacrifice shall I give?

Your very life…

The Psalm says I am your servant… your Total Servant… all of my life is yours.

And Paul says Romans 12:1 under the New Covenant: I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Spiritual Worship is living all of your life for Him.

Submitting to Him… Following Him…

Offering your life and all of your life as a sacrifice to God.

Money

And finally… number 3… What sacrifices do we offer in the New Covenant?

Its not bulls and goats.

Christ is the only, once and for all perfect sacrifice (Hebrews 10:1-18).

All the physical sacrifices of the Old Covenant are fulfilled in Him.

Our sacrifices are Sunday Worship…

Our Lives…

And our Money by financially giving to the church

The Psalm says I will pay my vows… which remember were usually associated with financial gifts.

Financial giving is one of the ways we worship the Lord and thank Him for all His benefits.

We see this is the New Covenant where our financial giving is called a sacrifice to God (cf. Hebrews 13:16).

In Philippians 4:18 Paul talks about the financial gifts he received from the Philippians and calls them [quote] a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God.

He talks about financial offerings using clear, Old Testament sacrificial language.

Financial giving is a form of New Covenant sacrificial worship.

So with that in mind… let’s focus on that.

Let’s do a Theology of Giving so that your faithfulness could be not just a ritual, or an obligation, or something you just do going through the motions…

but a New Covenant sacrifice… that is a fragrant offering and sacrifice that is acceptable pleasing to God.

Theology of Giving

Why Do We Give?

The first question is obviously, “Why do we give?”

God doesn’t need your money.

He’s not greedy… He’s not a hoarder.

He’s not some poor pauper dependent on His creatures.

Psalm 24:1 says The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.

And God says in Job 41:11 Who has first given to me, that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole heaven is mine.

So Why do we Give?

Because the Lord wants our heart.

This is the thing that gets lost in most churches when you talk about giving.

The Lord cares more about your heart then He does your money.

And the reason why we give is because God wants our heart with Him and with His Kingdom.

Jesus said…

Matthew 6:19-21, 24 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… 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.

Where you’re treasure is your heart will be also and you cannot serve God and money.

Worship

How you view your money shows what you’re ultimately living for and who ultimately provides for you.

Is God your provider… sustainer… your source of life and joy?

Or is it your wealth?

And are you ultimately living for the Kingdom of God or the things of this World.

Where is your hope?

Where is your peace?

Do not love the world or the things in the world (1 John 2:15).

God doesn’t need your money… He wants your heart… and you cannot serve two masters.

Kingdom

God also wants you serving and living for His Kingdom.

How we use our money doesn’t just show who we worship but it also shows what we are ultimately living for…

Whether we are laying up for ourselves treasures in heaven or treasures on earth that perishing and fading away.

And where your treasure is there your heart will be also.

Is your heart with your kingdom and the kingdom of this world or is it with God’s Kingdom and serving His will and His purpose?

Your money goes to advance the Kingdom of God!

Again… not because god needs it but because God wants you giving your life to itOf serving Him instead of only living for yourself.

Seek first the Kingdom and not your own rival kingdom of your own tiny life.

So our finances are less about the money we give and more about the heart being devoted to God and living for His Kingdom.

Giving As Worship

And that background… God and His Kingdom… takes us to Giving as Worship.

I want to apply treasures in heaven and you cannot serve God and money to your everyday life to help you see your giving as worship and how it makes an impact for the Kingdom so that in your giving you can worship God you can be a Cheerful Giver.

Why should you give?

What does your giving do?

Why is giving a joy and not a chore or obligation?

Number 1…

1. Giving Provides for Worship of God and the Work of God’s Kingdom

Your giving goes to provide for the needs and the ministry of the church.

It all goes to serve the work of the Great Commission.

It pays for our building and to keep the lights on to worship God.

It pays the wages for your pastors to shepherd your souls.

And it provides for needs of mercy and benevolence in the church body.

Paying Pastors

Now you’ll get people today because of the abuses of Church Finances that will say Pastors don’t need to be paid and churches don’t need a building.

It should all be a house church and every Pastor should be bi-vocational.

Look at Paul! He was a tent-maker… that’s the biblical model of ministry.

It can be!

A church needs to live within its means.

But we already saw that Paul accepted money from the Philippians.

And where Paul talks about being a tent maker, he actually argues for paying for Pastors by saying In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel (1 Corinthians 9:14, 1-15).

Building

And in the same way… its not bad to have a building.

Well the early church met in homes?

Because they were kicked out of the synagogues.

But what you see in Scripture is the people providing for the worship of God in the Temple and the Tabernacle.

In Exodus 35 the people are told Whoever is of a generous heart, let him bring the Lord’s contribution (Exodus 35:5).

And they came, everyone whose heart stirred him, and everyone whose spirit moved him, and brought the Lord’s contribution to be used for the tent of meeting, and for all its service, and for the holy garments (Exodus 35:21).

In fact they brought so much Moses had to tell them to stop (Exodus 36:6).

And of course the pattern we see in the New Testament is the New Testament church providing for the needs of the saints (Acts 2:45-47, 2 Corinthians 8-9).

The point is your giving provides for the:

Preaching of the Word

The Worship of God

And the Needs of the Saints all which benefit your soul… so your giving benefits you…

And your giving furthers the work of God and the Great Commission both here and out in the world.

How Much?

Now that inevitably brings up the question, “Well how much do I give?”

Some people will look at the Old Testament and look at the tithe… giving 10% of what the Lord has given you to live on.

And I think that’s a good rule.

I think 10% is a good line to say this is sacrificial.

10% gives you plenty to live on but its still enough to say, “Lord its yours and I trust you.”

But there’s no hard and fast rule in the New Testament… so I’m not a legalist about it.

However… I will say that the pattern of Abraham and Jacob before God ever gave Israel the Law was to give the Lord full ten percent.

But at the end of the day… what I can say…. is that I think that the biblical standard according to the New Testament is… Cheerful… Habitual… and Sacrificial.

Cheerful… It should be out of worship not reluctance or obligation.

Habitual… it should be a regular part of your worship

And Sacrificial… Like David said I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing (2 Samuel 24:24).

The New Testament passage on this Cheerful, Habitual, Sacrificial giving is…

2 Corinthians 9:6–7 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.

The Lord wants the heart!

If you leave with one thing today let it be that.

This could be your tithes or your normal giving to the church or just giving and blessing your brothers in things like the care calendar and in benevolence (Hebrews 13:16).

All of it is worship of the Lord.

Giving provides for the worship of God and the work of God’s Kingdom to the benefit of the Great Commission to your soul and the souls of the lost out in the world.

Number 2…

2. Giving Exercises Faith

Giving says God you are the source of my life and my every breath.

In him we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28).

God you’re the one that ultimately provides for me… not my job… not my money… you.

We pray to the Lord, “Give us this day our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11).

Giving puts our whole life in the context of… God is our source.

And… it exercises faith by saying, “God you provided for me and I trust you to continue providing for me.”

It takes God up on His Word from Matthew 6:31–33 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

Number 3…

3. Giving Proves God’s Faithfulness

Jesus said…

Luke 6:37–38 Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.

Whether its judgment… forgiveness… or giving the measure you give will be given back to you.

This has been hijacked by the Prosperity Preachers… but God is generous with the generous giver.

We saw earlier Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully (2 Corinthians 9:6).

Proverbs 11:24 One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want.

Just because the Prosperity Preachers ruined it doesn’t mean that God is not generous with you when you give.

Now it doesn’t mean He’s going to give you a Ferrari or Health and Wealth and a Huge mansion.

If that’s your goal in giving just to see what God will give back that’s idolatry and manipulating God to serve money.

But it does me when you give, God will generously provide.

And sometimes… not always, sometimes it can be bitter providence, but sometimes people struggle financially because they aren’t giving to God and God is showing them their money cruddy god.

It can never provide… it can never carry.

But God can.

No Money

Now you might say… we don’t have any money to give.

We’re in debt… we’re under water on all our bills.

But Remember the Widow’s offering.

All the rich were donating in the box and all the widow was just two small copper coins but Jesus at that said, Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on (Luke 21:1-4).

Its not about the amount… its about the heart… the worship… the faith behind it.

Cheerful and sacrificial.

Sacrificial might just look like two small copper coins, but it honors the Lord and God proves His faithfulness.

Malachi 3:10 Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.

I can tell you from my own life experience when you trust the Lord… God is faithful to provide.

You give faithfully… you go down to a single income so mom can stay at home… I’m just tell you God just makes it work out because the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof and no one is more generous than God.

He says put me to the test.

When we give in faith that God is going to give back… that is worship because that kind of giving says… God is faithful.

Number 4…

4. Giving Gives Your Work Eternal Significance

When you’re faithful in giving it connects your money and your work to a Kingdom Impact.

It doesn’t matter if your a plumber or a vendor, any job you do can serve the Lord.

You can serve Christ and His Kingdom wherever God has placed you.

Hating Job

This can be helpful for some of you that just… hate your job.

Your job is how the Lord provides for you…

Provides for your family…

You might not like it… but God is good.

And no matter how much you might hate your job… you’re not working for that boss or wasting your life… by connecting work to your giving… you can serve the Lord.

5. Giving Wars Against Greed and Self-Reliance in the Heart

1 Timothy 6:10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

Giving is one of the ways we war against the temptation to rely on ourselves or live for the things of this world.

Its how we put to death the temptation to try to serve God and money.

That’s why some of you give with a check or make it a habit every month to press the button and not have it automatically drafted from your account.

You want to feel that… “Lord, its yours.”

Number 7…

6. Giving Says to Everything Else in My Life “God is First”

When we give of our first fruits we are saying I will have no other gods before me and as for me and my house we will serve the Lord.

My life is not my life… its His.

From my heart… mind… soul… strength… all the way down to my pocket book…

God is first… not myself… I live for Him.

Giving is worship.

Conclusion

We give because God was generous to us.

What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits?

Our giving and our generosity is rooted in His.

Its a worship of thanksgiving thanking God for His grace in Christ.

So how do you apply this?

Some of you might need to repent.

Maybe you’ve not been giving and you know you’ve not been giving and you need to change that today.

Some of you might just need to start giving.

You’ve never been taught… you’ve never been discipled and today’s the day to start worshiping the Lord and laying up treasures in heaven.

Teach your kids to give with their allowance or their job… show them this aspect of worship.

But for most of you the way you need to apply this is to give as worship to the Lord.

I told you this was not a beat em up sermon.

You are very faithful.

And so my heart as a Pastor is that your faithfulness would be worship.

Even if you have it automatically drafted… don’t let it just be your cable bill.

Pray about it.

Make it worship.

Consecrate it to the Lord.

Regularly make your giving say God thank you providing for me and giving more than I could ever hope for in Christ.

All my life is yours including this gift.

Worship the Lord because the Lord Loves a Cheerful Giver.

Let’s Pray