Giving from the Heart

11-03-2019

The great thing about when we set our clocks back is that no one is late for Church and in fact some of you might have been on time for Sunday School

This morning we will continue on with our Study of the Sermon on the Mount

Thus far we have covered the Beatitudes and that is what it looks like to walk with Jesus

Then looked at being salt and light and that is when you and I live out our walks with Jesus the Beatitudes in front of others

Then we looked how Jesus has taken the relationship with God from the physical relationship to an intimate heart relationship through the law

The purpose of the law was to convict you of your sin, when it does that it shows you your need for a Savior Jesus Christ

There is no salvation apart from repentance and there is no repentance apart from brokenness

Church you can’t be saved unless you are ready to run away from it and you can’t run away from it unless you don’t want it anymore

This morning we will just follow along with the story in your Bibles and we come to Matthew Chapter 6

Matthew 6:1 NASB95

1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.

Church Jesus is giving them and us a warning in this opening statement of the chapter

He is warning them not to practice their righteousness if front of others so they look good

Remember the purpose of us living out our faith in front of others is to not show them how horrible they are

It is not to show them how good we are, or how we have things all together

Because lets be honest with each other for a minute

You and I don’t have it all together

Turn to your neighbor and tell them you know they don’t have it all together

Now turn to your other neighbor and tell them you know they don’t have it all together

Jesus is warning is follows to look to dig others or put others down with your walk with Jesus

But

The purpose of our living out our faith in front of other people is to

Matthew 5:16 NASB95

16 “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

See you are to be a salty peanut and to be a light so that people see Jesus

Remember if people are seeing you, well you’re doing it wrong

Because if we are showing off for people our walks with Jesus that will be our reward

There will be no reward for us in heaven but we will get it here on earth

And church if we are to be Holy just as Christ is Holy then we are to live just as Jesus did

Jesus didn’t do the things He did so that people would notice Him but that they would notice Him who sent Him

God the Father

We are to live our lives in such a way that they point to Jesus and not us because if it points to us

Then you are doing it wrong

Not sure there is another way of saying it

In light of that warning of practicing the disciplines of the Christian Faith

Jesus shares

Matthew 6:2–5 NASB95

2 “So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. 3 “But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. 5 “When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.

First we notice that Jesus is going to discuss the disciplines of giving and prayer

This morning we will spend the majority of our time in giving and then briefly hit on prayer

if you will recall the warning Jesus is concerned with the motivation of the follower in this case giving

what is your motivation behind giving

in the Old Testament and even the New Testament

The giving box was a shofar chest, it had a wide opening at the top and narrowed down then into the hul of the chest

This was to prevent thieves from sticking their hands into it and stealing the money

So when you would toss your coins in they would make a lot of noise

And we know there are less noisy options to putting your money in so that it didn’t draw attention to yourself

Jesus is saying that when you give you shouldn’t announce it before everyone so that everyone can watch but rather it should be private

Because your giving should be out of obedience to God rather then for others to see

That is what Jesus is getting at that our motivation for giving should not be for the people around here but for God

So if you and I looked at giving

Jesus expected His followers to be givers to the poor

Matthew 19:21 NASB95

21 Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”

Jesus here again is concerned with the heart of the matter

Are you so tied to your possessions that they have become little g gods

Church as believers in Jesus we are to be givers

We are to give

Proverbs 3:9 NASB95

9 Honor the Lord from your wealth And from the first of all your produce;

We are to honor God with what God has given to us

To give you must first understand that it all comes from God anyway

You are merly being a steward of what God has given you

He has let you have it

So how do we honor God with what He has given us

The Bible talks about giving your first fruits, and your best, and a tenth of stuff

We see from that Adam and Eve and the boys understood how important it was to give back to God

We see that through the Law that we are to give back the first fruits, the tenth of the stuff

So lets be honest for a minute church

Are you honoring God with what you have been given by giving back to God

Some of you might sit there and say I give my money to the church and I am good

Notice God doesn’t specifically say just your money

What have you been given

Well I am glad you have asked because church you have been given a lot

You have been given life, time, money, knowledge, resources, talents, and abilities and so on

So when God says to give your first fruits I must ask are you giving Him the prime cut of your paycheck, or does he get the leftovers after all the other bills and stuff is paid for

When you write your tithe check, is it the first check your write, or is it the last check you write

Are you giving money when God calls you to give or only what you think you can afford

That is how this church is able to do all it is doing is by you giving

Are you giving God the prime cut of your time, or like your check are you giving him the left over after everything else is done

Meaning are you giving God your best attention or does he get the tired cranky you, after your spouse and kids and family has got time then after your job or jobs, then after you have had time to unwind

Then do you make time for God

And when I mean make time for God I am not just meaning a quite time but are you giving your time back to God in form of service

Are you looking for opportunities to serve God, to serve here at the church

Or do you show up to church knowing that other people will pick up the load

Are you giving God the prime cut of your talents

Some of you are extremely talented people and we have some unique needs and ministry opportunities here at the church

To be honest are you willing to step up and into the unique needs and ministry that God has given you a unique talent for

if you are not willing to give of your talent then it will never get done or it will only continue to get done at a subpar level and you will miss out on the blessing of giving back to God with your talents

Are you giving God the prime cut of your resources

Now some of you have some amazing resources that God has given you over the years

But some reason we like to keep them all to ourselves

I have been to funerals since I was a very little boy, I have not once seen the hurse with a luggage rack

You cannot take those resources that God has gifted you with to heaven

like we said earlier this church has some unique needs and require some unique resources

Ultimately church are you giving God the prime cut of your life

Are you willing to give your life for Jesus because as I read the story in Scripture, He gave His life for you

Today is national pray for the persecuted church

There are people around the world right now who are dying because they walk with Jesus and you and I struggle to give more of our time or money because we don’t think God who created the universe will be able to meet our Finite needs

Church please hear me

people are dying because they are living out their faith in front of people not so they would be noticed but because of their own love for God

The people around the world are ready to give their lives for Jesus because they understand that Jesus gave His life for them

So are you willing to give your life for Jesus

Matthew 6:4 NASB95

4 so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

We read this and yes on the surface God is talking about giving money

When you and I give money we are to again announce it to the world so that we get noticed because again

If you are walking with Jesus and people see you then you are doing it wrong

We are to give our money out of obedience and love for our heavenly Father

Church giving though goes beyond just our money

As we have seen we are to give of our time, we are to give of our resources, we are to give of our abilities, we are to give of our lives

But I don’t want you to hear this sermon and go great the pastor expects me here and there and doing this and that or giving this and or that

No because to be honest if that is your attitude it would be better if you just stayed home

Jesus doesn’t want that type of attitude either

2 Corinthians 9:7 NASB95

7 Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

God wants your to give of your time, resources, money, abilities, talents, and your life out of joy for the Lord

Out of obedience and love for God

Remember it is not a check list to that you can force God’s hand into blessing you

The blessing you and I get from walking with Jesus is a by product of our hearts desire to spend time with our creator

When you and I give of our lives, our time, our resources, and talents it shouldn't be so that people see us and praise us but that they praise our God who is heaven

We should give so that God gets all the glory

Again Jesus is taking the physical act of giving and making it a heart issue

You shouldn’t serve or give of your time, or money, or the resources you have stacked up at home because you are feeling guilty because the pastor is talking about it

or even if the pastor is really really hinting at it

You should give because you want Jesus to get all the glory

Matthew 6:5 NASB95

5 “When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.

When you and I pray

Jesus starts out just like he did with giving

Our prayers should not be that others hear them and go that person is very spiritual but our prayers should be out of what is in our heart

We shouldn’t be praying to God so that others even hear but we should be praying to God so that He hears

Church do you notice that Jesus is talking the physical disciplines of walking with Him to an intimate heart level

We shouldn’t be giving or praying because it is a physical requirement of walking with Jesus

We shouldn’t be giving or praying because it is looked down upon if you don’t or because they are unwritten church rules

No we should be giving and praying because it is our hearts desire

They way we make them our hearts desire is by walking with Jesus

And church we walk with Jesus because the Holy Spirit draws us to Himself

As the band comes up we are going to move into a time of invitation

the invitation is simple

If you are here today and you are not walking with Jesus and you do not have a personal relationship with Jesus and you want that

We want to invite you to the front, there will be people down front to open the Bible and show you how you can have a personal relationship with Jesus

Or maybe you are here and lets be honest you have been giving and praying only because you have been compelled to by someone else

Or maybe you are here and you haven’t been giving or praying and you know God is calling you too

The altar is open