FREELY YOU HAVE RECEIVED, FREELY GIVE

FREELY YOU HAVE RECEIVED, FREELY GIVE 2 Corinthians 8:1-15 With grateful acknowledgement of these sources of direction and inspiration: the Holy Spirit; the Word of God; Warren Wiersbe, The Twenty Essential Qualities of an Authentic Christian; James Denison, "Facing north When the Market Goes South"; Timothy Keller, "Treasure Versus Money" Oct 6, 2002 Given by: Pastor Rich Bersett [Index of Past Messages] Introductory I understand that Mercedes is putting out a new sports car model. They're only going to make 250 of them. So, if you want one you'd better hurry and get your order in, because they're supposed to be really nice. And to hang your license plate on one of these babies it'll cost you a cool 1.7 million dollars. That kind of opulence is just more evidence that we live in a very materialistic world. I read recently that Americans spend $9 billion a year renting those mini-warehouses to store all the stuff we don't have room for in our over-sized, over-priced houses. Among the severest consequences of our materialism is that it tends to rob us of one of the greatest satisfactions in all of life-giving. It's true that the more we have the more selfish we get, and the less we want to be generous. Current research shows that poorer Americans give a greater percentage of their income to charity than do richer Americans. Those who earn less than $10,000 give an average of 5.2% of their income to charities. Those making between $10,00 and $20,000 a year give away about 3.3%. And those who earn $75,000 to $100,000 gave only an average of 1.6%. The spiritual irony is that, by seeking to have more pleasure and satisfaction through keeping their riches, the richer, stingier people are actually missing the most pleasurable and satisfying experience of all-giving. In Acts 20:35, Paul recalled the words of Jesus, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." In last week's teaching [webmasters note: Message Sep 29] we began our focus on the command that Jesus issued to His disciples at Matthew 10:8 - "Freely you have received, freely give." He said this to them, of course, as they were being sent out to minister in His name. It is a critically important message for us, too, who have been sent out into a world alienated from God by sin to minister in His name. We are called by God to be agents of grace who have freely received from Him divine resources, and who reciprocate by using those resources in service to the world around us in His name. This is true, as we studied last week, in the case of our gifts, talents and unique abilities. We received all of it from Him as a free gift, and He recruits us to freely use them in service to Him and people. Today we are going to consider how that same commission applies to the monetary resources God gives to us. This teaching is about money. And any biblically sound discussion of stewardship must begin with the basic premise found in Psalm 24:1 - "The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it, the world and all who live in it." A three-word motto sums up this foundational principle: IT'S ALL GOD'S. Everything and anything we are privileged to handle in our brief lives on this planet is on loan to us, and we are called to be faithful in handling it as good stewards. One author compared our role in handling the money God gives us to that of a banker. A banker handles other people's money in a manner that, hopefully, brings blessing and profit to the customers, and to himself as well. But he must always remember that it is not his money. It belongs to the ones who entrusted him with it for a time. What a terrible shock it was to our whole nation to learn of the investment scandals in the huge, trusted companies like Enron. It violates and hurts us when we discover that someone we trusted with our resources has misused them in selfish, reckless and deceitful ways. That is exactly how God looks at us when we abuse our stewardship of His resources on loan to us. Good stewards recognize, first and foremost, that it all belongs to God, and He will demand an accounting of us as to how we use His resources. The Text at 2 Corinthians 8:1-15 I invite you to look with me at the principles of financial giving found in the first half of the 8th chapter of 2 Corinthians. Let's begin with the first principle, which is found in the first five verses 1. We are to view our giving as an act of OBEDIENCE - 2 Cor. 8:1-5. Over in chapter 9 of this letter, the apostle describes the act of Christian contributing as obedience. "Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else." Giving back a sacrificial portion of that which He gives to us is our act of obedience to Him. He does expect this kind of obedience from His people. In Matthew 6, Jesus refers to the grace of giving, and He does not say, "If you give…". He says, "When you give…" [webmasters note: Matthew 6:2-3] Other representative scriptures bring the point home clearly - "Give and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." (Luke 6:38) "…From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked." (Luke 12:48) "Give to . . . God what is God's" (Matthew 22:21) Giving--regular, sacrificial giving--is God's approved and commanded way to OBEY Him. We are called to treat giving as an act of obedience to God. Look at the last five words in verse 5 - "…in keeping with God's will." 2. We are to view our giving as an act of GRACE - 2 Cor. 8:6-7 There in verse six Paul describes the contributions coming from the Corinthian believers as "this act of grace". Then in verse 7 he exhorts them to "excel in this grace of giving". Grace is simply defined as something freely done for the benefit of someone else. A "grace" is a gift, and to participate in an act of grace is to freely give, to bless, without any expectation of repayment. Selling a bracelet to someone is a business transaction; giving it to someone as a gift is grace. God has given us "grace" in Jesus Christ. Because of His sacrificial death on the cross in our place, these grace-gifts are ours - forgiveness, gifts, the Holy Spirit, and every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms! For us to give back to God out of gratitude is to be gracious. Gracious giving overflows-it lavishes blessing on the one it is given to. If you command someone to give, at best you get a tip. Give to them generously first, and you get grace. Paul said that the Macedonians who had given so much out of their poverty gave "beyond their ability" [webmasters note: 2 Corinthians 8:3]. These indigent believers, who were barely eking out a living for themselves, were giving so much that the apostolic team urged them to stop giving. At that point they began to beg for the opportunity to give more! Gracious giving is extravagant-just like Jesus gave to us. 3. We are to view giving as an act of SINCERE LOVE - 2 Cor.  8:8-9 Paul refrained from ruining their grace giving by commanding them to give. But he did admit he wanted to "test the sincerity of your love". Testing sincerity of love is what happens when a young man buys the next larger diamond for his fianc?, even though it will require more sacrifice from him. And tends to notice that sort of thing! Hallmark made a mint by capturing this concept in a nine-word slogan -"When you care enough to send the very best". The test of the sincerity of love was taken and aced by Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the hill of Golgotha. When we love sincerely, we give our FIRST and our BEST. I would ask of each of us this morning the same implicit question Paul brought to the first century Corinthians - Does your giving pass the test? Does what you budget and put into the basket here and/or other places of charitable work clearly demonstrate that you love Him sincerely? Are your contributions "offerings" or genuine "love offerings"? A dairy farmer was asked by a visitor who was looking at one of his prize cows, "How much milk does she give?" His answer was straightforward: "She doesn't give any milk. But if you can corner her, give her a flake of alfalfa hay, and talk real sweet to her, she'll let go of about 2 gallons!" Too often in the church today, offerings are not offerings, but they are extractions-something people finally let loose of when the preacher or the finance chairman talked them out of it. That's not an offering that proves the sincerity of one's love. That's a successful campaign at best, and a manipulation at worst. A man called a church office and asked if he could speak to the "Head Hog at the Trough". The secretary said, "Who?" He said it again, "I want to speak to the Head Hog at the Trough!" When she realized she had heard correctly, the secretary reprimanded the caller: "Sir, if you mean our pastor, you will have to treat him with more respect-and ask for the pastor or the minister. You mustn't refer to him as the Head Hog at the Trough!" The man said, "Oh, I see. Well, I have ten thousand dollars I was thinking of donating to the Building Fund." The secretary said, "Hold the line-I think the Big Pig just walked in the door!" I want this church to never be a place of begging, cajoling or politicking to raise money. I want the Lord's people to be free of constraints, manipulation by guilt and any other untoward methods of financing the work. If a work cannot be financed through acts of sincere love, there's something seriously wrong. Freely you have received-freely give, not just generously but without constraint. We must view our giving as an act of obedience, an act of grace, an act of love, and, fourthly… 4. We are to view giving as an act of willingness - 2 Cor.  8:10-12 Chuck Swindoll writes: "If you have little children or if you have been around little children you've seen this scene a dozen times. The older child gets a toy, perhaps a special little truck he loves to play with. In fact, he plays with it 'till he about wears all the paint off it. And one day it's sitting on the coffee table and nobody's touching it. Along comes little sister, who toddles up to the table and reaches her little hand over to the well-worn truck, only to have it snatched away by the gorilla in the family. "It's my truck!" He doesn't want to part with something that important. How many of us parents have looked at the older child and said, "Let her play with it," and had the child say, "Oh, of course. Here, sis"? Are you kidding? "MINE! MINE!" And you just about have to break his arm to get the truck out of his hand. He doesn't want to give it up. And your [insistence] makes him grip it tighter. That's an illustration of giving "grudgingly." And yet the remarkable thing is that the standard approach in fund-raising is causing people to feel coerced. You see, compulsion results in reluctance. When you are compelled to do something, you are all the more reluctant to give it up." Let me make two requests of you who have committed to support the Lord's work through MECF. First, if you ever feel motivated to give by anything other than love (guilt, pressure, manipulation), DON'T GIVE. Wait and seek the Lord's healing and direction. Second, if you ever detect that the encouragement you receive from this church's leadership is anything other than pure, biblical exhortation laced with pastoral love, come and tell me immediately. Now, this does not mean that you will not hear appeals for support for various projects, whether local (like our current Facilities Special Offering), or remote (like for foreign missions). I promise you will hear such appeals. We will always make known the needs we feel the Lord wants us to address, just as Paul did in this letter. But please know that your response is up to you and the Lord. But, I pledge to you that you will never be put on the spot or singled out or made to feel like a certain gift is required of you. We make the needs known, and if the Spirit convicts individuals they give. If not, the project doesn't get done. 5. Finally, we are to view giving as an act of PARTNERSHIP - 2 Cor.  8:13-15 An interesting word appears in this part of our text - "equality". What that word represents is a partnership-each member doing what they can, with a view to spreading any financial burden over the whole body, so there is equal sacrifice. I would apply this principle to the week-to-week, year-to-year financing of the mission of the church. It takes funding to keep this church open and serving. We have a very generous corps of believers who give sacrificially and regularly to ensure that the work goes on. Two men were shipwrecked and had drifted in a lifeboat to a tiny remote island. When they landed one of them started screaming and yelling, "We're going to die! We're going to die!" The second man propped himself against a palm tree and sat there calmly. That drove the first man crazy. "Don't you understand? We're going to die!" The second man replied, "No, you don't understand. You see, I make $100,000 a week." "What difference does that make?! We're on a remote island with no food and water! We're going to die!" The second man said, "You just don't get it. I make $100,000 a week, and every Sunday I tithe ten percent of that amount to my church. My pastor will find me!" Here's what equality means - that each part of the body does its fair share. That means, in accordance with what they are able to do. We do not legislate that. Your response is your response to God, not man. But, because we want to preach and teach the whole counsel of God from scripture, you can expect to be exhorted and encouraged regularly regarding your financial stewardship if you hang around MECF. Let me read from our Values Statement - MECF will be a church where faithful stewardship is practiced and encouraged. We dedicate ourselves to the biblical principle that god is the owner of all things (Psalm 24:1). We strive to constantly and consistently acknowledge Him as such, and to teach and model how believers ought to handle all that we have "on loan" from God. We believe, and teach others to believe, that God will demand an accounting of us as to how we use our time, talents and treasures. As such, we will always consider the free and gracious contributions of time, effort and finances as "normal" Christian behavior, and expect it from one another. We as a church practice the biblical discipline of "tithing" (giving ten percent of all we receive back into the work of the Kingdom), and we encourage one another to give tithes and offerings regularly. In a church in the Deep South, the preacher was moving toward the end of his sermon on stewardship, and with growing crescendo he said, "This church, like the crippled man, has got to get up and walk." And the congregation shouted, "That's right, pastor, let it walk." And he added, "this church, like Elijah on Mount Carmel, has got to run." "Run, let it run, pastor!" the people responded. "This church has got to mount up on wings like eagles and fly." "Let it fly, pastor. Let it fly." Then he added, "Now, if the church is gonna fly, it's gonna take money." "Let it walk, pastor, Let it walk!" Every part of the body is important to its overall health. We saw that as we studied how the various gifts in the church are related to the other members of the body, all working together. No part should ever be left out because it appears small or insignificant. Just ask Kurt Warner today how important a pinkie finger is. Every person is important-the person who can give $500 a week AND the person who can only contribute $20 a week. So what IS fair share of giving for a person in partnership with others in the Lord's church? Should there be a tax of a certain amount? Should the elders set a certain dollar limit? Last week as we announced the Facilities Special Offering we are taking this month I suggested that if each person in the church contributed $20, we would easily meet the need of paying off the new sign and bringing this building's safety features up to code. Is that the answer? That's never been the answer. What the members of the Body of Christ need is not equal gifts, but equal commitment. For most people, the tithe is the goal. The Bible says we ought to give away 10 percent, and that is as good and biblical a recommendation as you'll find. It's a good way to determine if the gospel is working in your heart. It's a good way to judge whether or not your giving is an act of obedience, grace sincere love, willingness and partnership. When you see with the eyes of your heart all that Jesus Christ has done for you, 10 percent doesn't seem like much. Yet, at the same time, for most people, tithing does represent a sacrifice. But 10 percent is a rule of thumb-a good way to get started in the business of gratefully giving back to God. The only standard for financial giving the Bible ever mentions is tithing. For the Christian, who is saved by grace, who knows it all belongs to God anyway and who is sincerely looking for a way to express his love and devotion to the Lord, tithing makes beautiful sense. To those with only a temporal mindset ten percent seems like a frighteningly large amount of money to give away. Conclusion Tell me, how do you respond to this kind of teaching. When you read your Bible and find the Word of God clearly and directly challenging you to extravagant generosity toward God and His Church, what is your response. The Word of God is "…living and active and sharper than a two-edged sword . . . it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account." (Hebrews 4:12-13). Author Timothy Keller puts it this way - When you go to a doctor for your annual check-up, he or she will often begin to poke, prod, and press various places, all the while asking, "Does this hurt? How about this?" If you cry out in pain, one of two things has happened. Either the doctor has pushed too hard, without the right sensitivity. Or, more likely, there's something wrong, and the doctor will say, "We'd better do some more tests. It's not supposed to hurt there!" So it is when someone brings to our attention the biblical teaching on financial stewardship, some will cry out in discomfort, perhaps resist or even criticize. If it's painful, either the pastor has pushed too hard, or perhaps there's something wrong. In that case, something's wrong, you need another appointment with the Great Physician, because it's not supposed to hurt there.   [Back to Top]