Over and Above, Because of My Love

1 Chronicles 29:3

Recently someone sent me a list entitled, “Satan’s Beatitudes.”  They said if the devil were to write his Beatitudes they would probably go something like this:

•       Blessed are those who are too tired, too busy, too distracted to spend an hour once a week with their fellow Christians—they are my best workers.  

•       Blessed are those Christians who wait to be asked, and expect to be thanked—I can use them.

•       Blessed are the touchy.  With a bit of luck they may stop going to church—they are my missionaries.

•       Blessed are the troublemakers—they shall be called my children.

•       Blessed are the complainers—I’m all ears to them.

•       Blessed are they who are bored with the minister’s mannerisms and mistakes—for they get nothing out of his sermons.

•       Blessed is the church member who expects to be invited to his own church—for he is part of the problem instead of the solution.

•       Blessed are they who gossip—for they shall cause strife and divisions that please me.

•       Blessed are they who are easily offended—for they will soon get angry and quit.

•       Blessed are they who do not give their offering to carry on God’s work—for they are my helpers.

•       Blessed is he who professes to love God, but hates his brother and sister—for he shall be with me forever.

•       Blessed are you when you hear this and think it is about other people and not yourself—I’ve got you.

As I thought about that list, one thing immediately hit me.  What the church desperately needs is more members who simply love their church.

But not only love their church, but love their church the way God loves the church.  You see, God loves the church sacrificially.  He gave His Son for it.  God loves the church unconditionally.  When He’s pleased with it and when He is not pleased with it.  God loves His church eternally.

There is a blessing that comes to every church member who really will love his church, and love it in the right way, and love it for the right reason.  I want to share with you my three beatitudes for a church member who truly loves his church the way Jesus wants him to.

I.  Blessed Is The Church Member Who Gives His Church His Loving Affection

The background of this story is fascinating.  David had a desire in his heart to build a house for God.  It was a legitimate desire, it was a noble desire, it was an honorable desire. 

But God, in His sovereign will and purpose, did not want David to build the house.  He wanted David’s son, Solomon, to build the house.  Now David was still the King of Israel.  David could have pouted, he could have sulked, he could have walked away from it and said, “I won’t have anything to do with it.”

You see, David could have said, “There’s nothing in this for me.”  You think about this:

David was going to give a house of worship that would benefit someone else.  David was going to give to build a house of worship he would never attend.  David was going to give to build a house of worship that he would not even live to see. Had David said, “What’s in for me?”  he wouldn’t have given one dime to see that house built. 

But David’s heart was, “I want to invest in the work of God any way that I can.  I am willing to build a house of worship even if I will never enter into it if it means God can be glorified, the Word can be preached, and other people can be saved.”

Notice incidentally what he said in v.1, “The temple is not for man, but for the Lord God.”  I want to say to our church, whatever buildings we build, whether we build them here or somewhere else, they are never to be monuments to the pastor, or to any one individual.  They are to be built for God, for His glory, for His kingdom, and for the preaching of His word.

Now I wish I had the time to go into the detail of telling you exactly what David gave, because in modern-day terms David gave over $20 billion.  But it is not what David gave that is so impressive, it is why David gave.  Listen to v.3, “But moreover, because I have set my affection on the house of my God, I have given to the house of my God.”  David gave to God’s house because he loved God, and he loved God’s house.

So I want to ask you a question.  In fact, I want to ask you a series of questions.  Question number one:  Do you love God’s church?  I’m not asking do you love me?  I’m not asking do you love the staff?  I’m not asking do you love the deacons, the choir, or the Sunday School teachers?  I’m asking you, “Do you love God’s church?” 

Now don’t answer too quickly.  Because I want to say to you gently, lovingly, but firmly; you have no right to say you love God’s church, if you’re not giving to it and supporting it financially.  I hate to report this to you, but one out of every two members of the average church, based on that criteria, does not love his church at all.  You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving.      

Now we all know that Jesus Christ loves the church, but how do we know that He loves it?  Did he just say so?  Oh, no.  Eph. 5:25 says, “Christ loved the church, and gave Himself for it.”  I want to tell you that if the Lord Jesus were a physical member of this church, He would come not just next Sunday, but every Sunday, and gladly give a sacrificial offering to help the work of God get done.   Because if Jesus loved this church enough to give His life, you know He would love the church enough to give a tithe and an offering.

Now let me ask you another question.  If you do support this church financially, why do you?  I want you to understand that God not only sees what you give, God sees why you give it, and even if you give, and give generously, if you give for the wrong motive or the wrong reason, God writes zero over your account. 

Question: Do you give to this church for any other reason than just because you love Jesus and love this church?  If you give to this church just so you will get it off your income taxes, no need to give.  If you give to this church only when you agree with everything that goes on, no need to give.  If you give to this church only when things are going your way, and you agree with every decision, no need to give.

May I tell you something about my two daughters.  For years and years and years, I have been giving my sons food on the table, a roof over their head, clothes on their back; all the necessities of life and some of the luxuries.  Now if I had decided every time they didn’t act the way I wanted them to act, or didn’t do what I wanted them to do, or made a decision I didn’t agree with, that I was going to cut off their funding, they would have all three starved to death a long time ago. 

But I love my daughters unconditionally.  Though I may not always agree with everything they do, say, or decide, I’m going to give to them because I love them.   

Now there are some people who say the moment things don’t go their way, or they don’t agree with a decision, that they’re just not going to give anymore.  So let me just make something very plain to you.  There is no excuse that God will accept from a church member, not to support the church financially that he regularly attends and is a member of—none.  

There are reasons to quit giving to a church.  You ought to quit giving to a church that quits preaching the Bible.  You ought to quit giving to a church that quits trying to win lost people to Christ.  You ought to quit giving to a church that loses its heart for the world.  You ought to quit giving to a church that quits believing the Bible.  But if you ever come to a point to where, for whatever the reason, you quit giving to a church, then you ought to quit going to that church, and you ought to find a church where you can give. 

Because you see, when you withhold from the church, you withhold from Jesus.  When you refuse to give to the church, you refuse to give to Jesus.  When you refuse to help the church, you refuse to help the Lord Jesus.  Where do I get that idea? 

Do you remember the occasion when Paul met the Lord Jesus on the Damascus road, and Jesus asked Paul a very interesting question in Acts 9.  He said, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” 

Well, as you know Paul thought he was persecuting the church, and yet Jesus said, “You are persecuting Me.”  You understand what Jesus was saying.  He was saying, “Anything you do to hurt the church, hurts Me.   When you don’t support your church, you’re not supporting Me.  When you don’t give to your church, you’re not giving to Me.  When you don’t love the church like you ought to, then you don’t love Me like you ought to.”

I heard about a four-year-old boy that told his mother one time, “Mommy, when I grow up, I’m going to buy you a fur coat, a diamond ring, and a Mercedes Benz!” 

One day his mother scolded him for a mistake that he made, and he pointed his finger at her and said, “There goes the fur coat.”  Well, that’s the way some people are with the church.  The first time something goes wrong, the first time the pastor makes a decision they don’t agree with, the first time the church goes in a direction they don’t like, they say, “There goes the tithe.” 

Well, I just go back to what David said.  David gave only one reason for his giving to his church.  He said, “Because I have set my affection on the house of my God.  I will give to the house of my God.” 

I’ve said to you before, and I’ll say it again.  No matter what you do, whether it is giving a tithe and an offering, singing in the choir, winning people to Jesus, or sitting in a pew on Sunday morning; do it because you love Jesus.

II.   Blessed Is The Believer Who Gives His Church His Loyal Allegiance

There is a statement I want you to read with me from Neh. 10:39, “We will not neglect the house of our God.” 

The word “neglect” literally means “to let go” or “to let loose.”  It is a word that describes how a man, after twenty-five years of faithful marriage, would leave his wife for a younger woman.  It literally means to forsake or desert.

Now just as it is unconscionable for a man to forsake his wife, I believe it is inexcusable for a Christian to forsake his church.  It is easier to do that than you might think.  I want to give you several ways you can neglect your church. 

There are some people who neglect their church by just not coming.  They just don’t show up.  They have saturated the church with their absence.  Even though we miss them, they really don’t miss us.  A little boy was absent from school one day, and the next day when he came back the teacher said, “George, did you miss school yesterday?”  He said, “No ma’am, not a bit.”  There are a lot of Christians who have forsaken the church, and don’t even miss it.

But it is also possible to come to church, even come every Sunday, and still neglect the church.  There are many people who come to church and basically just take up space.  The only thing they do contribute to the church is their presence.  They don’t give, they don’t work, they don’t serve, they don’t witness, they don’t worship, some of them don’t even sing; they just come. 

If you are a member of this church, let me ask you this question:  “What are you contributing to this church over and above a person who never comes at all?  Now some of you could say, “Well, I give my money.”  Well, we have shut-ins who send their money.  We have sick people who aren’t able to come who mail in their tithes and offerings. 

So let me ask you again, “What are you giving to the church that you could not give by just staying at home and mailing it in?”  Now don’t misunderstand me.  I want you to come.  I thank God that you come.  I am glad that you come.  I’m simply saying it is possible to come and still neglect the church.

Then there are those who come to church and yet they are so negative, so critical, their attitude is so bad that both they and the church would be better off if they maybe stayed home.

Dr. Carlos McLeod, who was the Evangelism Director for the State of Texas, told me one time that the meanest man he ever pastored never missed a Sunday.  Well, I believe if you’re going to attend your church, you ought to defend your church, and you ought to commend your church.

Now that does not mean the church is not above good solid constructive criticism, given to the right person, at the right place, at the right time, in the right way.  I can assure you there is plenty to criticize in this church, and you don’t have to look hard to find it.  As a matter of fact, I can tell you what you’ll find in this church, and just about any church.  You’ll find what you’re looking for.

I heard an old story about a fellow who went to a small town in Indiana.  Well, the thought of possibly moving his family there, he went to a local service station and asked the attendant, “What kind of people live around here?”  The attendant said, “Well, what kind of people lived back where you’re from?”  The visitor said, “Well, by and large they’re ornery, mean, and dishonest!”  The attendant looked up and said, “Mister, you’ll find them about like that around here too.” 

A few weeks later another gentleman stopped by the gas station with the same question.  He said, “Excuse me, I’m thinking of moving to your town with my family.  What kind of people live around these parts?”  The attendant said, “Well, what kind of people live back where you’re from?”

The stranger thought for a moment, and said, “Well, by and large, they’re kind, decent, good, honest people.”  The gas station attendant looked up and said, “Well, you’ll find them about like that around here too.”  It’s so true.  You’ll find exactly what you are looking for.

We are living in a day when many people have forgotten what the term loyalty means.  I want you to listen to this statement, because I can tell you, as a pastor, it is right on the money.

Church attendance is infected with a malaise of conditional loyalty which has produced an army of ecclesiastical hitch-hikers.  The hitch-hiker’s thumb says, “You buy the car, pay for the repairs, upkeep and insurance, fill the car with gas, and I’ll ride with you.  But if you have an accident, you’re on your own and I’ll probably sue.”

So it is today with the credo of so many of today’s church attenders: “You go to the meeting, serve on the boards and committees, grapple with the issues, do the work of the church, and pay the bills, and I’ll come along for the ride.  But if things ever go in a way that do not suit me I’ll criticize, complain, and probably bail out—my thumb is always out for a better ride. (1)

But you know another way we can neglect our church is by just simply not caring at all.  I’m afraid the average member of the average church really doesn’t care whether the church baptizes anybody or not; they don’t care whether anybody ever gets saved or not; they don’t care if they ever build another building, raise another budget, pave another parking place, or try to reach another lost soul; it just simply makes no difference to them.

I was talking to a pastor in Illinois just the other day.  I said to him, “What is the greatest single challenge you face as a pastor?”  You know what he said to me?  “The apathy of my people.”  Our church is just like every other church, it’s full of willing people, some willing to work, and the rest willing to let them.

I’m sure there are people who come into a church like ours and say, “I can’t believe how much is done in this church.”  You wouldn’t believe how much goes undone in this church sometimes because nobody’s willing to do it.

I read a story one time about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, Nobody.  There was an important job to be done, and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it.  Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it.  Somebody got angry about that because it was Everybody’s job.  Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it.  It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have done.

Now here’s my last question.  Are you a part of the Everybody that is waiting on Somebody to do what Anybody can do, but Nobody is doing?  Or, are you a Somebody who is doing what Everybody thought Anybody could do, but Nobody would have done if you weren’t doing it?

III.  Blessed Is The Believer That Gives His Church His Lasting Attendance

Heb. 10:25 tells us “that we should not be forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”  Your church deserves your consistent, constant, continuous, conscientious attendance.      

So many people only come to church three times in their life: when they’re first born and they get dedicated or christened; when they get married and they come to church to have the wedding; and when they die and come to church to have their funeral.  In other words, they come to church three times—when they’re hatched, matched, and dispatched.  The first time you throw water on them, the second time you throw rice, and the third time you throw dirt. 

I never cease to be amazed at the excuses that people give for not coming to church.  Sometimes I think I’m going to catalogue them and write a book on them.  But let me say this.  I don’t mind people giving excuses for not coming to church as long as they are consistent.  I got a church mail-out one time and on the front of the mail-out it had this big headline:  THE PASTOR QUITS SPORTS!!!!  Underneath it was this paragraph:

Football in the fall, basketball in the winter, baseball in the spring and summer—Your pastor has been an avid sports fan all of his life, but I’ve had it.  I have quit this sports business once and for all.  I’m never going to see a football, basketball, or baseball game ever again.  Then he said, “Do you want to know why?”  Here are the reasons he listed:

1.  Every time I went they asked me for money.

2.  The people with whom I had to seat weren’t very friendly and didn’t speak to me.

3.  The seats were too hard and not very comfortable.  4.  I went to many games but the coach never came to visit me.

5.  The coach made a decision that I didn’t like.

6.  I figured out that I was sitting with some hypocrites.  They didn’t come to see the ballgame.  They just came to see what everybody was wearing.

7.  Some games went into overtime and I had to wait in line at the restaurant.

8.  The band played some numbers that I’d never heard before.

9.  It seems like the games are always scheduled when I want to do something else.

10.  When I was growing up my mom and dad used to force me to go to ballgames.

11.  I recently read a book on sports, and now I feel that I know more than the coaches do anyhow. 

Yes, I know there are hypocrites in the church, and yes, I know that there are people who don’t go to church who live better lives than some people who do go to church.  But don’t judge the barrel by a few bad apples.

I heard about a preacher who visited a farmer to invite him to church.  The farmer said, “Well, I’m never going to come to your church.”  The preacher said, “Why not?”  The farmer said, “Because I know some of the members of your church and I live a lot better than they do.”

Well, some time later the preacher bought a pig from the farmer.  He said, “I want you to sell me the smallest, ugliest, sickliest pig that you’ve got.”  Well, the farmer, amazed, gave him exactly what he asked for.  After he paid for it, he said to farmer, “I’m going to take this sick, small, ugly pig to everybody in this community and tell them that I bought it from you.”

The farmer said, “Now preacher, that’s not fair.  I’ve got a lot of hogs that are nicer and bigger and fatter than that hog.”  The preacher said, “Buddy if it’s fair for the church it’s fair for the hogs.” 

I know that there are hypocrites in the church.  I know I preach to some every Sunday.  I’ve baptized quite a few.  But you should never let a hypocrite keep you away from the house of God.

I’m like that old country bumpkin who said, “I’d rather chase a rabbit and not catch it, than to chase a skunk and catch it.”  Well, I’d rather go to church with a few hypocrites on earth than to spend eternity with all of the hypocrites in hell.

May I tell you something.  There is never an excuse that God will accept for a professing believing child of God not to go to church.  Dr. Vance Havner once said, “Not one of us would live where there are no churches, but so many of us live as though there were no churches.”  Well, I want to stand up this morning and tell you, “I thank God for this church, and I love my church.  I love it enough to give it my loving affection.  I love it enough to give it my loyal allegiance.  I love it enough to give it my lasting attendance.

At sixty-six years of age Winston Churchill became the Prime Minister of England.  He served from 1940 to the end of the war in 1945.  They were dark days.  They were facing a task no one thought they could do; a mountain they thought no one could climb; a foe they thought no one could defeat.  When he went before the House of Commons to give his first address, this is what he said:

I would say to the House, as I say to those who have joined this Government:  ‘I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat.’  We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind.  We have before us many many long months of struggle and of suffering.  You ask what is our policy? I will say:  It is to wage war by sea, land, and air with all our might, and with all the strength God can give us: to wage war against a monstrous tyranny, never surpassed in the dark lamentable catalogue of human crime.  That is our policy.  You ask what is our aim?  I can answer in one word:  Victory—victory at all cost.  Victory in spite of all terror.  Victory, however long and hard the road may be; for without victory there is no survival.  Let that be realized.  No survival for the British Empire; no survival for laws the British Empire has stood for; no survival for the urgent impulse of the ages; that mankind will move forward toward its goals.  But I take up my task with buoyancy and hope.  I feel sure that our cause will not be suffered to fail among men. 

But the way he wrapped up his address is the way I wrap up my sermon with you today.  He said:

At this time I feel entitled to claim the aid of all, and I say, “Come then, let us go forward together with our united strength.” (2)

Well, I want to say to you, my beloved church today, I have given over fourteen years of my life to this church.  I’ve given some of the best years of my ministry.  I intend to give the best years of the rest of my ministry to this church as well.  All I have to offer is blood, toil, tears, and sweat. 

But I am here to tell you, that if you will go with me together, we can claim an entire county for Christ.  We can impact seven other counties besides.  We can do something that some are already saying cannot be done.  If you will join hands with me, together, with the help of the Holy Spirit, we’ll do something great for the glory of God.  As we do it, we will do it because we love our church.

Endnotes

1 Kent Hughes, The Disciplines of a Godly Man, pp. 151-152.

2 Steven Mansfield, Never Give In, p. 73.