Do we Really Want to be Free?

Opening & Intro

The act of giving is a vivid reminder that it is all about God. It’s saying that I am not the point, He is the point. I exist for him. God’s money has a higher purpose than for my affluence.

Last week we started this freedom series

Ecclesiastes 5:10–15 NIV

Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless. As goods increase, so do those who consume them. And what benefit are they to the owners except to feast their eyes on them? The sleep of a laborer is sweet, whether they eat little or much, but as for the rich, their abundance permits them no sleep. I have seen a grievous evil under the sun: wealth hoarded to the harm of its owners, or wealth lost through some misfortune, so that when they have children there is nothing left for them to inherit. Everyone comes naked from their mother’s womb, and as everyone comes, so they depart. They take nothing from their toil that they can carry in their hands.

- 10 - Whoever loves money never has enough

- 10 – whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with income

- 11 – the more you have to more people will come after it

- 12 – The more you have to more you have to worry about

- 13 – The more you have the more you can hurt yourself trying to hold on to it

- 14 – The more you have the more you have to lose

- 15 – the more you have the more you will leave behind

These are words from onw of the wisest people who ever lived.’

Money and stuff is always goignt o try to be a motivator for us

Giving is the only antidote to materialism.

Dealing materialism in our lives is the only way to experience true freedom.

Why Does it Matter

If we don’t put money and possessions in thier place it will always control our decisions. We will miss out on what is truely important.

Scripture

Matthew 13:44–46 NIV

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.

Luke 12:13–21 NIV

Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” ’ “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”

o Ruler wouldn’t give it up

o The traveler would

o The traveler understood what the treasure would give him

o The ruler did not

o It cost him EVERYTHING he owned but it was short term sacrifices to have a long-term gain.

o It gained him everything that mattered.

o He wasn’t exchanging lesser treasure for greater treasure out of dutiful obligation. It was out of joyful exhilaration

o No matter how great the value of something on earth it is worthless in eternity.

We can fall in to these traps and they will hold us back all of our lives or we can seel out our lives and be like the traveller and hold out for the treasure that matters.

Application

- The more we give the more we relinquish control and allow God to use us more freely

- Good giving doesn’t strip us of vested interests, rather it shifts our interests from ourselves to God.

- Giving isn’t just about money. Giving could be time, gifts, or wisdom. We give any of those it will break the hold on ourselves.

- Many Christians have settled for less than what has been offered.

Malachi 3:8–10 NIV

“Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’ “In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.

- The tithe was a mandatory 10th of our wealth

- Jesus validated this in

Matthew 23:23 NIV

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.

- But it is so hard to want to do something out of legalism. “The book says it, so we need to do it.”

- We need to give our first fruits to God weather the tithe is the minimum gift of our first fruits. But…

2 Corinthians 8:7 NIV

But since you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you—see that you also excel in this grace of giving.

Giving isn’t just about money. Giving could be time, gifts, or wisdom. We give any of those it will break the hold on ourselves.

Closing

Matthew 5:27–32 NIV

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell. “It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, makes her the victim of adultery, and anyone who marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

Jesus raises the spiritual bar; he never lowers it.

Does God expect his new covenant children to give less or to give more?