Financial Stewardship, Reaching for Him

Financial Stewardship, Rough Draft

2 Corinthians 9:6-11

Everyone is calm until someone brings up the subject of money.

-A relative dies. There is money in the estate and a question on who it is to go to. Everyone is calm until money is involved.

-The cable company sends you a bill and it’s $30 too much.

That kind, nice person you know calls the cable company and tuns into a pit bull with customer service. Everyone is calm until money is involved.

-The preacher at church starts talking about giving. Your blood pressure goes up and lunchtime conversation gets passionate.

Everyone is calm until money is involved.

2 Corinthians 9:6-11

6 The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, 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 having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. 9 As it is written,

“He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor;

his righteousness endures forever.”

10 He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.

Pray

Here is what I hope you will do at the end of this message.

-If you are currently giving to the Lord. Be encouraged. Grow in rejoicing in your giving. Rejoice at a deeper level. Take pleasure and worship God even more when you give.

-If you are not giving, make a decision to begin to give. Set a goal for yourself or your family.

Intro - God desires me to give with cheerfulness - with joy. My financial giving is part of my spiritual growth and my reaping of blessing in my life.

Why do are we looking at today in our series “Reaching for Him”?

Money has a very strong spiritual thread that is tied to our hearts.

Money has a very strong connection to our spiritual lives.

-As we will see later, Giving is part of our worship. Our reaching up to God and exulting God.

We are going to look at 4 Biblical Principles about money and then return to our focal text for today. Pause

Have you ever heard or seen someone with the attitude, “It’s my money and I will do with it what I want to”?

-Maybe you’ve heard it said or seen the attitude,

Don’t tell me what I should do with my money.”

(It very similar to the thought, it’s my body and I’ll do with it what I want to.)

Those statements are fundamentally flawed.

There is not a dime on this earth that you own.

The Bible tells us this...

Slide 1.God owns everything you have

-God owns everything and I am his manager.

Psalm 24:1 (NLT)

1 The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.

The world and all its people belong to him.  

Job 41:11, God says this,

11  Who has first given to me, that I should repay him?

Whatever is under the whole heaven is mine.  

In case we need more clarity - Not only is all your stuff God’s, but your money is God’s.

Haggai 2:8

8 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the Lord of hosts.

When we think - I can do with MY money what I want. You can. But YOU have Zero money.

It’s all God’s money and you have been called to be a good manager (steward) of His money.

Everything you have is on loan from the Great King: Your money, your house, your job, your friends, your marriage, your children, your vehicle, your phone … all of it is God’s.

Be encouraged by this.

-You are the child of a God in heaven that has ultimate ownership of everything in the Universe.

-Not only is all money, Gold, and Silver his, but the planets are His, the starts are His.

-A God who owns all things, is a God of power. You - a Christ follower have placed your life in the hands of The One who is the most powerful.

-Your God does not just own the massive planet Jupiter. He created Jupiter and gave it enormity and it’s own strength.

-Your God is not the biggest most powerful thing in the Universe. God is bigger than the Universe. He more powerful than all of the strength in the universe combined.

-He has loaned you a few dollars to enjoy and live off of.

-You and I are managers of what God has loaned us.

Transition - Not only does God own everything, but when you give back to God, what is already His it is ...

Slide 2. Giving is an act of worship & Surrender/sacrifice

-From the very beginning with the first sacrifice of Cain and Able, we see that the worshipers of God never came to God with empty hands. A sacrifice of value was always brought.

-When you come to worship God corporately, you come to give yourself fresh to God in surrender.

Romans 12:1 tells us that we are a “Living Sacrifice” Holy and acceptable to God.

2 Corinthians 9:7 ESV

7 Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

“Each one must give”

Jesus said this in Luke 6

Luke 6:38 ESV

38 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.”

-God desires you to give to Him as part of your worship.

-When you give don’t you pray something like, “God I give this to you out of thankfulness. You have given me so much. Thank you that I have something to give to you.

-I give to you out of faith. Trusting that you will continue to provide not for my wants for my needs. Thank you Jesus, Amen.

-Our focal passage today remind us that - God loves a cheerful giver.

Illustration -At your child’s birthday party the birthday boy/girl is happy to receive gifts. Some tear into the box they have been given with passionate anticipation.

-If you are a parent or grandparent, you watch your gift be opened. You take joy. You take joy to give, because it pleases your children.

-You know that gift in a few months will be old or broken, but it doesn’t matter. You are happy to give and see that pleasure of the one you love.

-When we give as worship. We give with joy, knowing that when we give it

pleases our Father.

-Like a sacrifice on the alter of worship in the Old Testament.

-Paul tells us in Phil 4:18 that your gifts are a pleasing aroma to God.

Giving is an act of worship & Surrender/sacrifice

Giving reflects faith in God’s Provision

Mark 12:41–44 ESV

41 And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. 42 And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. 43 And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. 44 For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”

The Widow gave out of her poverty.

The widow had the deepest faith.

When we give, we say - I trust that God will provide for me.

I am not white knuckling on to money looking for money to provide security.

I am trusting that God will provide for my every need.

Illustration - When Susan and I bought out first starter home I remember getting an idea of what size house we could buy based on what we could afford in monthly payments.

-I did the math and realized that if we had taken our tithe and used that toward our house payment that we could have purchased a house twice as big as the homes we were looking at.

-Susan and I had to make a decision. Was a house that we could afford to buy after giving our tithe enough?

-Is it better to give to God and have a smaller house,

-Or not give to God and have a larger house, to materially have more?

Your giving reflects your faith in God’s provision.

Transition - And this truth is directly reflected in our next point.

Giving shows where your heart is

Luke 12:34 ESV

34 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

-If you want to see what you value the most, look into your bank statement.

-”Where your treasure is, there will your heart be.”

Abundant giving brings abundant reaping.

Enter 2 Corinthians 9:6-11

6 The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

We see this same truth given earlier in the Bible in Malachi.

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.

Let’s be clear about the blessing.

The blessing may be monetary, it may relational, the longest lasting blessing is eternal.

I am not saying if you give generously you will get a raise, your stocks will go up, or your small business will succeed.

What I am saying is this, There is a clear promise in scripture that generous blessing follows generous giving.

This is not just a financial promise.

-As you generously invest in encouraging others, there is great blessing.

-As you generously invest in discipling and spiritually pouring into other believers, there is great blessing.

-As you generously invest in praying for your children and grandchildren, there is great blessing.

-As Christ generously offered Himself as a living sacrifice for sins, there is the greatest of blessings for Him, His Father, for Millions - maybe Billions of people.

Abundant giving brings abundant reaping. Pause

Transition - You may ask, Jonathan, how much should I give?

3.- How much should I give? I

’m glad you asked that. Verse 7 gives us that answer. Look in your Bibles.

7 Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

-You need to decide what God has called you in your heart to give.

-Let me be clear that you pastor gives regularly and gives more than 10%.

-I give to the general fund.

Illustration - This past spring I planted a tomato garden. When my first tomatoes started to ripen I thought … In the Old Testament God asked for an offering of first fruits. I want to give my first fruits. I found widows and unchurched neighbors to give my first ripened fruit to.

Giving needs to be part of who we are as Christ followers.

I want to take a minute and talk about your giving to our church:

-State that the pastors of this church do not see the giving record and who has given what.

-We don’t have access to giving records and we do not want to have access to giving records. Our financial team handles the giving very well.

3.- How much should I give?

A. What you have decided in your heart to give cheerfully.

B. The model in the Bible that we see is 10%. 10% is a good minimum goal.

-You say, Jonathan if you knew how over leveraged I’ve become with debt or financial obligations - 10% is not even thinkable.

-Here is my council to you, begin. Begin regular giving. If 2% or 5% is all you can do right now. Begin. Make it a goal to increase your giving each year by 1% as you work yourself free of financial constraints.

-If you are young. Begin to give.

-Susan and I began to give when we were first married because we were taught to give when we were children and in High School.

-Teach you children to give their allowance, birthday and Christmas money.

-Susan and I give now, because we started giving when we were married.

How do I know that when I give - I will still have enough?

What if something unexpected comes up?

Here is God’s Promise. vs. 8

Transition - And this is our final truth.

God Will Supply

8 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.

How do I know that God will supply?

vs. 8, GOD IS ABLE,

Your Spiritual walk with God starts with the faith that God is able to supply for our sin - eternally.

Your Spiritual walk with God continues with daily faith that God is able to supply for your needs - hear on earth.

God is able.

The question is - will you trust Him.

____________________

Gospel

God calls you and I to follow Him in giving.

God has been the greatest and most generous of givers of all time.

His sacrifice on the Cross covered the greatest of sins off all time.

If you are NOT a Christ follower, God is able to handle your greatest sin and spiritual failure.

He did not give 10% or 20%. He gave all of Himself, by giving His life in Jesus for you to be saved.

Will you give all of yourself to Him?

Will you come to Him now and say Yes to Jesus in salvation?

Today is the day for you to have your sins forgiven.

Will you fully trust Jesus and be saved.