God and Money Week 2: Giving

Introduction

Good morning. I want to start this morning by explaining my change of sermon order. I had originally intended to preach a sermon in the God and Money series on faithfulness. But due to current circumstances I thought it best to rearrange the schedule and preach on giving this week instead.

What if I told you that there was a subject that Jesus talked about more than heaven or hell? What would you assume that to be? Would you assume that if Jesus spent more time on it than even heaven or hell that it is very important for us to talk about? That topic is money. Jesus talked more about money than either of those topics.

So how are we to feel about that? Well, we can approach it one of two ways. We can ignore it, which is a very dangerous choice to make. Or, we can find out as much as we can about how Jesus wants His followers to live toward money and obey what we find there.

As a church it is so vital that we have a proper understanding of what God says about our giving. A lot of people say “God doesn’t need your money.” That’s absolutely correct. God doesn’t need anything. My friend Mike Whittymore says, “God doesn’t need your money, but the church does.” God has ordained that the way his church is provided for is by His people giving to the work and ministry of the local church. A little later in the sermon I am going to talk more specifically about our church financial situation and what has happened over the last week.

Today we are going to take a look at what God tells us in the Bible about what our giving should look like. My goal is to help your hearts see and grasp what good opportunities God has given us to make much of Him and to help you see the importance of our personal obedience in this sensitive area. Would you take a moment and pray with me for our hearts as we dive into God’s Word this morning?

PRAY

Some of you are old enough to remember a band called Van Halen. They had a very interesting clause in their performance contract. Article 126 stipulated that “a bowl of M&Ms be provided backstage, but with every single brown M&M removed.” If the band arrived and found any brown M&Ms, they were free to cancel the contract and receive full payment. This was not because they hated brown M&Ms. It was a safety thing. They were the first big band to play in third-level markets and used nine tractor trailer’s worth of equipment! Mistakes were common and potentially life-threatening, especially if the stage couldn’t support all the weight. So they had to make sure that the promoter read the contract; hence, Article 126. To quote their lead singer, “When I would walk backstage, if I saw a brown M&M in that bowl…well, line-check the entire production…Guaranteed you’d run into a problem.”

It seems silly at first, but a detail like that turns out to be incredibly important.

To put it in a more biblical framework, remember what the master in the parable of the talents from last week said to the servant who had invested two talents.

Matthew 25:23 ESV

His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’

And that brings us to our topic this morning: giving. How we can we be good stewards with the little or much that we’ve received and what is our giving supposed to look like?

This morning we are going to be jumping around in scripture quite a bit.

My goal here today is that you see and respond obediently to the will of the Lord God. I am not trying to guilt you in anyway. As I said last week, there is quite a bit of Christian liberty in some areas of stewardship of our time, talent, and treasure. However, there are some very clear directions for how we are to live as followers of Christ in relation to finances. And these are not suggestions that God makes. This is important to point out. I have a deep burden that so many times we take the commands of God and treat them like they are suggestions… like this is really the preferred way to live over here but if I don’t feel so good about that then I can still live over here and be just fine…

But what we don’t want to do is to give begrudgingly. You know as the brothers pass the baskets we don’t hope they see a bunch of scowls… like the guy who gives but doesn’t want to… OR the guy who hates the fact that he has to give but is afraid if he doesn’t give then he won’t get that new job so he sort of gives out of a desire to get something else… like he’s paying a membership fee or dues. These are the not what it means to give to the Lord’s church. First of all, you’re giving to God. So, in the remainder of my time this morning we are going to look at what the Bible would have us understand about what giving is, what we should give, and how we should give.

I. Why Should Christians Give?

A. Giving Shows How Great God Is

Giving is an act of worship. Some mistakenly think that worship is only when we sing.

Now, that certainly is worship but it’s not all that is worship. It is worship when we hear the Word of the Lord proclaimed as you are during a sermon. It is worship when we serve, and it is most certainly an act of worship when we give. I encourage you to be mindful of the greatness and worth of God when you write that check and put it in the plate or when you hit the send button on your online giving. It’s worship when we set aside our amount in our monthly budget. Giving is an act of worship. Giving shows how great God is. It proves that He is worth it to us. It shows that we value not just the gift we have been given but the giver of that gift and that we trust Him.

Matthew 13:45–46 ESV

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

It’s about giving up what is valuable for that which is more valuable. We see this in the life of Moses in the Old Testament but it is mentioned about him in Hebrews 11:26 in the New Testament.

Hebrews 11:26 ESV

He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.

B. God generously gives to us.

We can toss away our worldly possessions because God has given us something much more valuable. And he has given to us generously.

2 Corinthians 8:9 ESV

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.

Jesus gave His very life for you. He didn’t have to. He lived a perfect life with no sin and yet gave that life on the cross in your place because of your sin. He didn’t hold it back from you. He gave generously. He still gives generously, and we are to imitate Him in giving with nothing held back. Is He worth it? Yes! Are we willing? Each of us has to decide.

II. What should Christians give?

A. Everything

As we learned last week, everything we have is owned by God and given to us by God to steward or manage well for His purposes.

Romans 12:1 ESV

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Colossians 4:5 ESV

Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time.

1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV

1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

So in all things we are to be proclaiming God’s goodness and bringing Him glory. We do this in many ways but money is one piece of the larger puzzle of how we proclaim the goodness of God. However, money is often also a sign of the status of our hearts.

B. Tithes and Offerings

Here is where some of you want me to come in with hard and fast rules. And I believe we do see some of those in the Old Testament as it related to the law of Moses and God’s covenant with Israel. We aren’t going to set those aside. We are going to look at them in light of Jesus and try to understand where we should land today. You may land in a different place than me. Well meaning Christians of good conscience have disagreed on the issue of tithing.

Old Testament Giving

A good place to start is with the Old Testament concept of the tithe, which was a bit like income tax. A tithe just means a tenth part and was to be holy, or set apart, to the Lord. There were three different tithes collected in Israel.

First, Leviticus 27:30-33 tells us that a tithe of all the produce and flocks was to be set aside for the Lord. This tithe was given to the Levites, enabling them to serve in the tabernacle full-time since they didn’t receive an inheritance of land. They, in turn, were to tithe to support the priests (Num 18:8-32).

Second, in Deuteronomy, we see that a tenth of one’s produce and flocks was to be eaten at the central sanctuary (Deut. 12:17-18; 14:22-23). Interesting—God was commanding His people to save up for a big party once each year in His honor. Remember, part of bringing God glory is enjoying His gifts in ways that honor Him (1 Tim. 4:4). God loves to bless His people.

Finally, we see that every third year, a tithe was to go into a local storehouse to feed the poor (Deut. 14:28-29; 26:12-13).[1]

In addition to these three tithes, Israel also had the temple tax (Exod. 30:11-16), voluntary offerings (Deut. 12:6), gleaning of the fields that was to be left for the poor (Lev. 19:9-10), and additional taxes levied during the monarchy (2 Kings 23:35). So the Old Testament system of giving was much more complex than just 10%. That said, if you’re new to giving, 10% can be a great place to start. After all, Abraham gave 10% to Melchizedek (Gen. 14:20), and Jacob promised 10% to God (Gen. 28:22) hundreds of years before the law was given.

2. New Testament Giving

But let’s move onto the New Testament practice of giving. It’s interesting that nowhere in the New Testament are Christians commanded to give 10%. Instead, what we see in 1 Corinthians 16:2 is a simple admonition to give in keeping with our income, which we’ll come to later.

So what’s happened to the 10%? Well, the tithe—like animal sacrifices, the schedule of festivals, and priestly offices—were all parts of God’s regulations in the Old Testament of how his people were to worship him. Once Jesus comes along, He announces in the Sermon on the Mount that He fulfils the entire Old Testament (Matt. 5:17). All of the worship ordinances in the Old Testament were pointing to Him. That’s what much of Hebrews is about.

Once Jesus comes along, these things are no longer needed because One greater than the temple is here (Matt. 12:6). That’s why Jesus declares the temple tax inapplicable to his followers in Matthew 17:25-26. We are sons of the king, Jesus says. And kings don’t tax their own sons.

So to summarize all of this, are you in sin if you don’t give 10% of your income to the church? Not necessarily. Notice I didn’t say “no.” For some of you, given how God has constructed your life, you may be in sin if you don’t give 50% of your income away. For others, God is very pleased with your 5%. Our job is not to meet a particular percentage but to give whatever we’re able. I have always thought of the tithe as a minimum but not where we should stay. Our practice as a family has been to tithe at least 10%.

In doing this, though, there are two additional principles in Scripture that we’ll find helpful.

Matthew 17:25–26 ESV

He said, “Yes.” And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings of the earth take toll or tax? From their sons or from others?” And when he said, “From others,” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are free.

3. Sacrificial Giving

When we study what the Bible has to say about following Jesus we can see that the Christian life is marked by self-denial. Matthew 16:24

Matthew 16:24 ESV

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

I think of the widow that Jesus observed when I think of sacrificial giving.

Mark 12:41–44 ESV

And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. 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. 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.”

I believe we should be serving Jesus in a way that we are making sacrifices. _2 ways you can view this wrongly:_ - to believe that if your budget isn’t so tight it squeaks that you’re not giving enough away. This just is not true. - a second wrong view is that somehow comfort and Christianity can coexist. This doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy the financial blessings some. But it does mean that our comfort can not be found in material means. Our comfort should be found in Christ. Period.

A Story of Sacrificial Giving: Dr. Truett of Texas was invited to a church that was raising $6,500 to dedicate a church building. After $3,500 had been promised, the offerings ceased. Then a plainly-dressed woman arose and spoke to her husband who was taking the names. “Charley, I wonder if you would be willing to give our little cottage, just out of debt. We were offered $3,500 for it yesterday. Would you be willing to give our little house for Christ that His house may be free?” The fine fellow responded in the same high spirit: “Jennie, dear, I was thinking of the same thing.” Then looking up at Truett with his face covered with tears, he said, “We will give the $3,500.” Then there followed a scene beggaring all description. Men and women sobbed aloud, and almost in a moment the $3,500 was provided. Then without invitation there came down the aisle men and women, saying, “Sir, where is the Saviour, and how can we find him?”

When people far from God see people following God, trusting God, being obedient to what God has commanded and holding nothing back, it has an evangelistic effect. We see this in the early church. They held nothing back.

This is where a lot of us need to hold up and sit for a few minutes.

Sacrificial giving is just like Jesus. It hurts. When did you give and it hurt a little? a lot?

2 Corinthians 8:2–3 ESV

for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord,

This brings us to generous giving:

4. Generous Giving

2 Corinthians 9:6 ESV

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

We are not called to be a stingy people but a cheerful and generous people. We should give and want to give more. This is not a great point for bean counters. When we encounter a need we should give generously.

Now, let’s talk about where or to what Christians are to give. The Bible has a lot to say here as well.

III. Where should Christians give?

A. Obligations

First: provide for your family.

1 Timothy 5:8ESV

But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

2nd: The Local church

To support the mission of the church.

To provide for the church needs. This includes budgeted ministry expenses and to provide for paying the pastor or pastors.

I want to give you a birds eye view of our finances as a church. I’m not going to get deep into the weeds but I want to be very transparent and clear about where we are at. As of last week our checking account was very, very low and we don’t have any substantial savings. This next part is incredibly awkward for me to talk about but we need to hear it. Last week was payday for me and the church was able to pay me less than half of my normal check. Obviously this is a big problem for the church to deal with. It goes much deeper than whether for not the pastor got paid. That’s important scripturally for sure but it’s deeper that those symptoms.

Galatians 6:6ESV

Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches.

Our need as a church weekly to meet our budgeted expenses is about $2200. If we meet this we can do everything we budgeted for. If we exceed it we can do more or plan for the future. But that 2200 dollar figure is what we need. If we can’t meet that figure then we have to cut the budget. That means less ministry expenses or less staff salary. I don’t want to have to go work a second full time job in addition to pastoring the church (which no matter the pay status is always a full time job). But if it comes to that, I will do it. But that is going to take a lot of time away from the church and what I can do to serve the church and still have time for my family. That’s part of why the scripture teaches us to give mostly to the place where we get our teaching from: the local church.

B. Opportunities

There are other opportunities that we have to show generosity. Those should not replace our giving to our local church body but be in addition to it. These might be mission opportunities or helping with a benevolence need or a ministry like the Hope Life Center.

Galatians 6:10 ESV

So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

IV. How Should Christians Give?

Finally, let’s answer the question of how we should give. To do this, we’re going to primarily look at what Paul says 1 Corinthians 16:2: “On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come.”

There are 5 biblical admonitions that we can take from this verse.

So how should we give? Giving should be…

1. Periodic

We should give regularly. Paul says, “On the first day of every week,” when the church gathered. Sometimes I fear that Christians are more willing to follow IRS guidelines and give just before the end of the year than biblical guidelines of giving regularly throughout the year. Do we give our first fruits up front or do we give out of what’s leftover at the end of the year or the end of our lives?[7]

This is the part of tithing that is important. It’s off the top. It’s the first portion. When you sid down and make that budget, is it the first thing you figure on? Or are you just adding it in if there’s enough left over at the end of the month?

2. Personal

We’re each responsible to give. Paul says, “each of you.” We can’t assume that just because the church is giving, we’re giving.

3. Planned

We should give some deliberate thought to our giving. Paul says to put aside our money. When we plan our budgets, we should plan our giving. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 9:7, “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart.” This is a decision pray about and think about. Not one you make in the spur of the moment on Sunday morning.

4. Progressive

We should give according to our means. Paul says someone should give “as he may prosper.” The more God prospers us, the more we give. And presumably, the more God prospers us the higher portion we give.

So for example, let’s say that Believer A has an income of $30,000 per year and Believer B receives $60,000 per year. Both give 10% of their income. With everything else being equal, has Believer B given progressively? No, they haven’t. After giving, Believer A has $27,000 left to live on, and Believer B has $54,000, or twice as much. Believer B could actually give 20% and still have over $20,000 more to live on than Believer A.[8]

Remember, generosity is not marked by how much we give, but by how much we keep.

5. Plentiful

Our giving is to be generous. Paul concludes his instruction saying, “so that there will be no collecting when I come.” We should give plentifully as we reflect on all that God has given us in Christ.

Conclusion and Call for Response:

There is a temptation to bow up your back when the church starts talking about money. The truth is, if everyone gave obediently I believe the church would have all it needs to carry out the mission God has put us on as a church body. This isn’t about me telling you to give more money. And this certainly isn’t about me trying to guilt you into some emotional decision. That’s only good for a week or two anyway. Then the emotion wears off and if it’s not born out of faith it just fades away. This is about your relationship with God as a steward of what He has given you. If this bothers you, your problem isn’t actually with me, it’s with God. I’ve laid out what God says in scripture regarding our giving. So now it’s your turn to respond to His call and His commands. Will you individually be obedient to Him. Will you give to proclaim His goodness? Will you give to fulfill the mission of the church? Will you give because He gave and held back not even His own life?

Being a cheerful giver:

Prayer time...

Transition to time of Lord’s Supper:

The Lord’s Supper

Explain the time of remembrance of Christ’s sacrifice for our sins. A visual picture of the gospel.

1 Corinthians 11:17–27 ESV

But in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse. For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. And I believe it in part, for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized. When you come together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat. For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk. What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not. For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord.

Prayer – reflection time

Have the guys hand out the elements.

First Bread – Pray - Eat

Second Cup – Pray – Drink

Pray

Sing

[1] This third tithe may have been part of the second tithe in Deuteronomy 12:17-18.