The Hilarity of Giving
6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7 Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. [1] (2 Cor. 9:6-15)
It’s the time of the harvest. Next weekend we will celebrate Thanksgiving . . . . or we will endure it. I found myself around a table at a certain coffee shop the other day with two friends who had just run several miles with me. The conversation wound it’s way into a “count-your-blessings” session. It was just a spontaneous thing. A very natural time, and as I listened to these guys express their thankfulness for their wives, their homes, their children, I found my heart leaping toward God in praise. I literally worshipped God right there, because He was there. The scriptures tell us that He “inhabits” the praises of His people. Also we read the familiar scriptures that where two or three are gathered in His Name, He is there in the midst of them. There was no music, no singing, no instruments but I believe that God was honored and glorified as significantly in the back corner of that certain coffee shop as He might be in any Sunday morning service.
One of my friends said repeatedly, “I love my life.” And the other remarked that the most significant thing to him was that he felt he deserved nothing of what he has received from God.
Our experience in worship on Sundays will never exceed our experience in worship during the week. God lives and reigns 24/7. If we never or rarely worship Him as individuals then our Sunday experience will be lifeless and impotent.
Truly thankful hearts will worship God in every way on every occasion. Every day is a worship experience.
I am going to bring some messages on the subject of stewardship of life over the next month. It has been two years now since I have done anything like this. I struggle with the topic because I know that it brings difficulty to the lives of certain folk.
I think of one man who spoke to me on the way out the door a couple years ago now. His wife is not a Christian and doesn’t attend this church. She does not want to see him tithe. He is torn because he wants to tithe but does not want the division that this brings to his home.
Another lady feels guilty every time she buys the simplest of things. A little make-up, a little this or that. Nothing extravagant but she lives alone and is desperately lonely. She is largely unloved and ignored. She lives on government assistance and often does not have money to put in the plate. I have wanted to tell her different times, “Don’t put money in the plate, we don’t expect it.” But the words stick in my throat because she wants to give to God. I can’t release her from that because I know that regardless of how difficult it may be, it will bring her joy. And joy is a rare thing in her life.
A young couple moved to Fredericton a couple of years ago now and she asked for tithing envelopes before they had secured employment. They are doing well today. God has blessed them as they have honored Him.
Stewardship is a spiritual issue and that is why it needs to be spoken of from the pulpit from time to time. This is God’s church and He will meet our needs. No church knows that any more than this church. He hasn’t changed and He won’t shorten His supply.
But you need to give for your sake not His. We are driven by our desire to acquire and then we discover that nothing meets the deep need. We will never find it met until we learn to look away from ourselves and begin to give to God a portion of what He has given us.
God doesn’t need your resources. He can inspire praise from a rock if he wished and He can find a willing heart to facilitate His purposes. You do need however, the experience of deliberately prioritizing the things that God wants to the exclusion of the things that you want. That means that you may not be able to afford a new car because you give God a car payment each month. So be it. It is one step toward vital spirituality that must be taken if you are to truly be His disciple. If the presence of God in your life does not radically alter your living and your giving then there is a spiritual issue.
I want to look at the scripture that we read together today.
1. What you get from God and His church is directly proportional to what you put into it.
“Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.”
This is true from a stewardship of life perspective. How many times have you heard this before? If you passionately seek the heart of God you will discover it and your experience will be rich. If you don’t talk to Him (pray), serve Him (use your gifts to build the church – the purpose of His gifts), discover His truth (read His Word and read literature that expounds His Word) and direction for living then faith becomes very detached from life. It is then boring and unfulfilling. This is simply the Law of the Farm. Your harvest cannot possibly exceed what you sow.
Your personal spiritual experience, its richness or its poverty is an indication of what you sow, what you give of your life to God. There is a secular adage. You receive proportionately to what you give in time talent and treasure.
2. It is up to you to determine what you should be giving.
“Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give . . .”
This should be based on your understanding of scripture and in keeping with your means.
I admit that the idea of giving comes from the O.T. principle of the tithe. We are not bound to O.T. law in the day of grace. However we are blessed spiritually far beyond those who existed in the pre-grace days. God has poured his blessings out on people today to a far greater measure than those who predated Calvary and the coming of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2, the day of Pentecost. It seems then that love and grace would not lead us to look for ways to do less but to do more if anything. If you are a spiritual minimalist you will interpret the absence of law as the freedom to keep more of what God has given you. If you are a recipient of God’s grace and it has truly transformed your life and you have fallen hilariously in love with God then you will far exceed the requirements of the law in every aspect of your relationship with God.
What is the process of “deciding” what to give all about?
- A gift that honors God. To obey is better than sacrifice. It comes from adherence to the First commandment. Thou shalt love the Lord your God with all your heart soul mind and strength. We don’t give others the things that we don’t want – the white elephants. We don’t give God the things that we have already used. It’s like buying a box of Tim Horton assorted muffins and taking them to a breakfast. The people who do the best are the ones who are first to the box. The last one there sees one leftover muffin that no one else wanted. It’s the one made of edible seaweed. For many people they give God what is left after everyone else has had their choice. He gets what we have picked over and manhandled and sniffed. The Bible speaks of “firstfruits”. That means that we allow God to be the first to the box. He gets first choice. The way that we disburse the rest of the box is up to us. People who give to God cut Him the first check and everyone else is served from what is left.
- A gift that costs us something. Not the stale chocolates from last years holidays. If it holds no value to me then it holds no value to God. I have to love what I give away. What holds no value to me holds no value to God. The things that hold the greatest value to me hold the greatest value to God. David refused to offer God anything that had cost hi nothing.
18 On that day Gad went to David and said to him, “Go up and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” 19 So David went up, as the Lord had commanded through Gad. 20 When Araunah looked and saw the king and his men coming toward him, he went out and bowed down before the king with his face to the ground. 21 Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” “To buy your threshing floor,” David answered, “so I can build an altar to the Lord, that the plague on the people may be stopped.” 22 Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take whatever pleases him and offer it up. Here are oxen for the burnt offering, and here are threshing sledges and ox yokes for the wood. 23 O king, Araunah gives all this to the king.” Araunah also said to him, “May the Lord your God accept you.” 24 But the king replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen and paid fifty shekelsa of silver for them. 25 David built an altar to the Lord there and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings.b Then the Lord answered prayer in behalf of the land, and the plague on Israel was stopped. [2] 2 Samuel 24:18-25 (NIV)
- A gift that we relinquish our hold on. We don’t feel that giving brings us the right to look for return. When we give to God as an act of worship we have to let it go. It is only what is reasonable. Giving does not entitle us to anything. It is an act of surrender and obedience and worship. It is not a means of getting. When Tom Stewart crafted this pulpit I asked him if we could avoid a plaque or an act of dedication. When we do these things they become sacred to us and the piece of furniture that is a blessing to a preacher who is 5’ 8’ could become a curse to a preacher who is over 6’ tall. I appreciated the love that went into the giving of this gift and then the heart that was willing to “let it go”.
As believers we are responsible for “letting go” of the things that tend to become more important to us than God himself. It doesn’t matter what these things are. (Vicks Snuffer) We are bound by the things that we cling to. They need to be given away to God so that we can never take them back.
3. The attitude with which you give is crucial.
“. . . not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
God cannot be worshipped when you are functioning out of a sense of duty or obligation.
The Greek word is “hilaros”. The obvious English derivative is “hilarious”. The Greek meaning is a cheerful, joyous prompt to do anything.
2431 ἱλαρός [hilaros /hil·ar·os/] adj. From the same as 2436; TDNT 3:297; TDNTA 362; GK 2659; AV translates as “cheerful” once. 1 cheerful, joyous, prompt to do anything.[3]
God loves a hilarious giver. The meaning almost suggests a person who is so loosely tied to their resources that the tiniest suggestion would “prompt” them to throw their money in the needed direction and it wouldn’t cause them a moment of concern. Rather it would be laughable.
What a difference this is from a miserly spirited person who is blessed by God but totally self-absorbed. Blinded even, believing that what they have, they have produced themselves.
I close this morning with an excerpt from Max Lucado’s book, “When God Whispers Your Name”:
The habit of giving: "On every Lord's Day each of you should put aside something from what you have earned during the week, and use it for this offering. The amount depends on how much the Lord has helped you earn" (1 Cor. 16:2 TLB, emphasis mine).
You don't give for God's sake. You give for your sake. "The purpose of tithing is to teach you to always put God first in your lives" (Deut. 14:23 TLB).
How does tithing teach you? Consider the simple act of writing a check for the offering. First you enter the date. Already you are reminded that you are a time-bound creature and every possession you have will rust or burn. Best to give it while you can.
Then you enter the name of the one to whom you are giving the money. If the bank would cash it, you'd write God. But they won't, so you write the name of the church or group that has earned your trust.
Next comes the amount. Ahhh, the moment of truth. You're more than a person with a checkbook. You're David, placing a stone in the sling. You're Peter, one foot on the boat, one foot on the lake. You're a little boy in a big crowd. A picnic lunch is all the Teacher needs, but it's all you have.
What will you do?
Sling the stone?
Take the step?
give the meal?
Careful now, don't move too quickly. You aren't just entering an amount … you are making a confession. A confession that God owns it all anyway. And then the line in the lower left-hand corner on which you write what the check is for. Hard to know what to put. It's for light bills and literature. A little bit of outreach. A little bit of salary.
Better yet, it's partial payment for what the church has done to help you raise your family … keep your own priorities sorted out … tune you in to his ever-nearness.
Or perhaps, best yet, it's for you. For though the gift is to God, the benefit is for you. It's a moment for you to clip yet another strand from the rope of earth so that when he returns you won't be tied up.
Application
Goals for the month of October:
· I’d like to have 15 new giving units. Parents it could be a good practice to build into your children. Get envelopes for them and gear them every week toward the practice of tithing. I think that some who give anonymously apart from the envelope system would be surprised at how little they give in a year. Or they might be pleasantly surprised.
· I’d like to see others who are using the envelope system but are not yet at the level of the tithe, step up a notch or two. As a matter of intent, I would like to see you report this to someone. I don’t know who gives what in our church and I don’t need to. But if you are willing to be a part of the team and could encourage us in these efforts by letting us know that you are increasing your giving, then we would appreciate just a simple acknowledgement of that. Just let us know that you are planning to increase. I would like to see 10 people take this step.
· I’d like to challenge our current tithers to give $1.00 more per week than you gave last year. I would like to see 100 people take this step. This would be called the +1 club and we would use this money for ministry projects and opportunities that we are unable to foresee at the beginning of a church year.
· And then finally I would like to see the issue of missions support embraced on a wider scale. As a church we have decided to supplement current missions giving with a dollar amount that would bring our total giving to a figure equal to 10% of our non-designated income, 10% of our general fund. That is about $50,000 dollars that we would like to give away to mission causes and concerns outside of our walls. The dollar difference to accomplish this amount would be approximately $17,000.00. Without taking away from money that you are currently giving to the general fund, I would like to challenge every one of us to do something weekly as a matter of missions giving. It could perhaps be another dollar in your weekly offering designated on an envelope for missions. You may never go to a missions filed but you can do something to support the work of those who are willing to leave this country behind and risk their lives and well-being for the kingdom’s sake. Responding to the call of missions is in my mind the most selfless act of obedience that a Christian can take. People leave friends and family behind. They take their young families with them to another country. There are struggles that missionary- kids face when they come to realize that they are on the mission field because of choices that their parents have made. They do not always respond positively to this. In adult years these children rework this reality.
----
[1]The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 . Zondervan: Grand Rapids
a That is, about 1 1|4 pounds (about 0.6 kilogram)
b Traditionally peace offerings
[2] The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984. Zondervan: Grand Rapids
adj adj: adjective
TDNT Theological Dictionary of the New Testament
TDNTA Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Abridged in One Volume
GK Goodrick-Kohlenberger
AV Authorized Version
[3]Strong, J. 1996. The exhaustive concordance of the Bible : Showing every word of the test of the common English version of the canonical books, and every occurence of each word in regular order. (electronic ed.) . Woodside Bible Fellowship.: Ontario