The Grace of Giving

Introduction

Good Morning Church, how are we doing this morning?

So when you woke up this morning and you remembered it was Sunday and you were coming here to Church I bet you didn’t realize how fortunate you were that this Sunday of all Sundays you would be here. Because today’s message is about the one thing that every person who comes to Church hoping that the message will be about. If you only knew what we were gonna be talking about today then you would have had a little more bounce in your step on your way in here today.

Because today we are going to talk about what God says about your money!!!!! I know, it’s exciting isn’t it. You were hoping the pastor would talk about money. Some of you are so overwhelmed you might even start heading for the door right now to try and compose yourself and contain your excitement…

or more accurately to get in your car and rush back to bed again. Because if you somehow missed how my words have been drowning in sarcasm…I am well aware that the idea of a message about money is not one that we are too often excited about. In fact , it is one of the consistent complaints that those who dislike the Church lodge against it. Because of this, most of the pastors I know do everything that they can to avoid having to talk about it and I would too…if I thought I could do it without abandoning my responsibility as your Pastor.

And ever since we began this series called “Ekklessia, the unstoppable movement of God” we have been striving to discover what it is that Jesus wants for His Church. How is He building it. How has He been building over the past 2000 years. Remember, Ekklessia means “gathering” and there have been many gatherings that have called themselves “The Church” and yet they operate in very different ways.

One of the big distinctives is in how these various gatherings relate to, understand or talk about money.

Tension

Have you ever stopped to consider what money really is? For most of my life, when I have thought of money I have pictured either pieces of paper in my wallet or round metal disks in my pocket. That was money and it had writing with numbers to tell us how much each one was worth and you would gather a bunch of it together to buy big things or you would get a bunch back in you bought something little. That was money.

But have you noticed how seldom we deal with this kind of “money” today? For so many of us, when we spend our money it is just a number going either up or down on our Credit Card and Bank Statements. We don’t use “Cash” nearly as much as we used to.

I was standing in line for cheese curds at the food truck on the 4th of July Fireworks show this past week, and the first thing that the teenage girls in front of me asked was if they took credit cards and they were just like “Sure, why wouldn’t we”…at the food truck. The deep fried Oreo’s they walked away with were weird enough - but these teenagers were just swiping their card at the food truck out on a street corner.

Because at the end of the day, money is just an agreed upon way of exchanging one valuable thing for another. At one time that value was held inherently in gold and silver coins, then it was supposed to be representative of that gold and silver somewhere but now we all know it is mostly just a number that goes up and down. Anyway you look at it, it is still just a way to exchange the value we have placed on one item for another item that holds that same value for us.

In the Old Testament, when God first asked His people to use their “exchangeable value” to honor Him, it wasn’t measured in dollars and cents, it was measured by their flocks and fields. That was one form of currency back then, but even back then it was not to be approached like you were exchanging something of equal value in order to pay off your dept or settle your contract. All the pagan nations that surrounded God’s people tried to please or appease their gods with contractual offerings, but our God has never worked that way.

He is and has always been about calling us into a relationship with Him. A relationship where He is God and we don’t have anything valuable enough to pay our debt. It has never been a relationship of equal exchange, like the food truck vendor who needs to get paid, so he can pay his debts. It has always been about God inviting us into a relationship that sees the greatness as God as something that we could never truly value enough.

Listen to what God has said to His peope in Psalm 50:

Psalm 50:7–15 (ESV)

7 “Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, I will testify against you. I am God, your God. 8 Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you; your burnt offerings are continually before me. 9 I will not accept a bull from your house or goats from your folds.

10 For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. 11 I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine. 12 “If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine. 13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats?

What God is saying here is that He has not asked for our first and best because He needs it. He is not dependent on us. He is not a food truck vendor, asking us to pay our bill so He can pay his. This is His world. It’s all his in the first place. He spoke it all into existence - do we really think that we are going to somehow meet God’s needs in our giving?

He has not asked us to give Him our first and best because He needs it, He requires us to give Him our first and best because we need to give it.

14 Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the Most High, 15 and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”

This is the right posture when it comes to our money. God does not need our money. It doesn’t change Him or His circumstances one bit…but the principle of giving our first and best to God holds great value…in how it can change us.

So as we have over the past several weeks, lets take a look at how this played out in one of the early Christian Churches, the Church in Corinth. To read along with us, open up your Bibles to 2 Corinthians chapter 9, it is on page 968 in the Bibles in the chairs.

I’ll pray and then we will take an offering…just kidding…you will see it is not about that. We are just asking God to set our hearts and minds right when it comes to our attitude toward money.

Let’s pray.

Truth

I am amazed once again at God’s perfect timing for our message this morning. You see some Pastors feel this pressure to break out their “generosity sermon” when the annual budget meeting is coming up and the giving is really behind, but by God’s grace that is not where we are at as a Church right now.

In fact, we had our annual budget meeting a couple weeks ago and your actually exceeded the budget for last year. We didn’t even spend everything that we budgeted for, but even if we had your giving exceeded that. So you still may be asking, “If we are doing so well in this area, then why are we going to have to sit through a message on about money?”

That is a great question, and I am so glad that you asked it.

Especially because it seems to be a question that the Church in Corinth could have asked. As we have been walking through these letters we have seen this Church being corrected on many things, but apparently they were rocking this one.

In the last part of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians he gave them instructions on how they should be collecting money for the Christian who were suffering persecution in Jersualem, and it appears that the Church in Corinth had done especially well in following them, because here in his second letter, 2nd Corinthians, we read Paul saying:

2 Corinthians 9:1–2 (ESV)

1 Now it is superfluous for me to write to you about the ministry for the saints, 2 for I know your readiness, of which I boast about you to the people of Macedonia, saying that Achaia has been ready since last year. And your zeal has stirred up most of them.

“superfluous” is a fun word, but other translations say it was “not necessary” or “there is no need” for me to write to you on this issue, an issue that he calls here “ministry for the saints” which we know to be the financial giving that he called them to in the first letter.

He then goes on to tell them the plan for collecting the money they have agreed to give. This is not an additional call to give anything, but just a plan put in place so that they would be ready when he comes.

2 Corinthians 9:3–5 (ESV)

3 But I am sending the brothers so that our boasting about you may not prove empty in this matter, so that you may be ready, as I said you would be. 4 Otherwise, if some Macedonians come with me and find that you are not ready, we would be humiliated—to say nothing of you—for being so confident.

5 So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead to you and arrange in advance for the gift you have promised, so that it may be ready as a willing gift, not as an exaction.

In our culture today, most people give like they spend––with little prayer, planning, or preparation. Our focus this morning is not really aimed at personal finance principles, but I will just say that when we spend the money God has given us without a plan, it gets us into trouble. In the same vein, when we give without planning and preparation, we can miss the blessing that God intends for our giving to be in our lives.

Paul doesn’t want that to happen to the Church in Corinth and we don’t want that to happen here. Corporately, that is why we do a Church budget and present our plan at our annual budget meeting. We are not telling God what we are going to do with His money - we are just making a plan so that we can work together to invest the Kingdom resources He has given us in a responsible God-honoring way.

This brings us to our first theme for the week:

1. We can expect a great harvest of God’s blessings in our lives when we give hilariously (2 Corinthians 9:6-9).

2 Corinthians 9:6–9 (ESV)

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.”

Similar to our culture here in the greater Mondovi area, most of the world at this time was largely agrarian. Even if they didn’t work on a farm, they understood where food comes from and how it grows. So they would have understood that idea that “sowing” was planting seed in the ground and the more seed you sow the more yield you can expect. They didn’t have the genetically altered seeds that we do today, so it was a simpler equation. The more you put in to it, the more you got out of it.

That being said, Paul is careful to remind them that it is still a matter of the heart. God always is after our hearts. We are not to give reluctantly or under compulsion, even though we should be drawn to give. Ultimately God cares more about how we give than He does about how much we give. Where is our heart in it?

I still remember learning from the first Pastor that I served under that the Greek word Paul uses here to describe the “cheerful” giver that God wants is the word ἱλαρός hilaros, from which we get the English word hilarious. God loves a hilarious giver. God wants our giving to be something that we do with overwhelming joy, not begrudgingly or half-heartedly. In short it should be fun.

I hope that is your experience as you have invested in the Kingdom work here at Friendship Church. God is doing some really cool things here and we are just trying to keep up with it all. It is fun and exciting to see all that God is doing and you should know that you are a part of what He is doing. In your presence here each week, in how you care for each other and love each other throughout the week and in your generous giving.

Turning back one chapter in this same letter we hear of Paul encouraging the Corinthian Church with a testimony of giving from other Churches…Churches with less materially but who gave with the same “hilarious” spirit:

2 Corinthians 8:1–5 (ESV)

1 We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, 2 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.

3 For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, 4 begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints— 5 and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us.

It is never about how much is given, but how it is given.

2 Corinthians 8:6–7 (ESV)

6 Accordingly, we urged Titus that as he had started, so he should complete among you this act of grace. 7 But as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for you—see that you excel in this act of grace also.

Giving is an act of Grace. That is what Grace is, a gift freely given and since God in Christ Jesus has shown his infinitely greater grace to us, we can joyfully reflect His generosity to others…even in those seasons of financial difficulty, doing whatever we can to show how much we value what God is doing in His Kingdom.

How could these churches do this? How could they give so confidently, even giving “beyond their means”?

Because they knew that...

2. We can give to God’s work with the confidence that He supplies all our needs (2 Corinthians 9:10-11).

2 Corinthians 9:10–11 (ESV)

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. 11 You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God.

I know that many of you are gardeners and farmer types so you now how incredible it is that inside of one little seed is the supply of both food from that plant and more seed to grow another plant. God’s design in that is just amazing, and so Paul continues to use that illustration to give us a picture of what it looks like to “sow” or invest our resources in God’s work.

But the “seed” and the “harvest” from that seed is something that many gathered Ekklesia’s, many Churches disagree on.

If you have been here at Friendship for any time, then you probably know that we reject the teaching that is commonly refereed to as “The Prosperity Gospel”. This is a teaching that says that every faith filled Christian is healthy and wealthy. So if you are not living a luxurious lifestyle of some sort or you are struggling with a health issue it is just because you don’t have enough faith. It is the empty promises of the stereotypical TV evangelist who claims that you can prove you have faith by sending them a check…and then just sit back and watch God make you healthy wealthy and slappy happy.…and it’s all a sham. Worse than that, it’s a disgrace…especially because of how public it all is so that people around the world think that is what the Gospel is all about and they rightly want nothing to do with that.

Notice what verse 10 says the harvest is? “the harvest of your righteousness” The harvest from our giving our first and best to God does not obligate God to make us healthy and wealthy so we can pursue our own selfish desires. The harvest is in increasing in our righteousness. Increasing in our “being right with God” ness. Showing ourselves to be people who find their joy and contentment in following God’s design and decrees more than any money making schemes. That we trust him with not just our spiritual life, but our spending life.

But there is a shadow side of the prosperity gospel that is lesser known but I would argue it is just as dangerous. It is something that is sometimes called “The Poverty Gospel”. It’s primary claim is that become a true Christian is to renounce any and all fiscal responsibility. You don’t need a job, because you have Jesus. You don’t need a savings account, your treasures in heaven. So you just live off the charity of others…or the checks from the government.

This false gospel comes with it’s own sense of superiority and self importance. Not because you are living in luxury but because you are not beholden to that worldly system of wealth and money. But the Bible never calls money evil, only that

1 Timothy 6:10 (ESV)

10 [For] the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

The -LOVE- of money can become a replacement of our love for God, a replacement for our faith. But rightly handled, our money can also be spent as an expression of our faith. We can give it away because we know that our security is not in that number. We have placed our faith in God He will provide for all our needs. Everything on earth is His. He gives it to us to see what we will do with it. See that in verse 11 we are enriched in every way to be generous in every way. Financial security is a myth, but trusting in the God who owns everything and has even given up his one and only Son for us…that is the Gospel worth putting your faith in.

God enriches us in every way to see what we will do with it. Will we hold onto it so tight that it begins to have a hold on us? Or will we invest it in His Kingdom, use it to bless our family, our community and the efforts of the gathered Ekklessia…all for His glory?

This brings us to our last theme for the week.

3. We bring glory to God and inspire others when we respond generously with our money. (2 Corinthians 9:12-15).

2 Corinthians 9:12–15 (ESV)

12 For the ministry of this service (financial giving) is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. 13 By their approval of this service, they will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others, 14 while they long for you and pray for you, because of the surpassing grace of God upon you. 15 Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!

Because our God is such a generous gift giver, it inspire others when we give our gifts in our trust, submission and in reflection of our great God.

The Church in Jerusalem was celebrating and praising God for these gifts. Not just because their needs were met, but because of the reminder that they were not alone. Can you imagine how encouraging this must have been for them in the midst of them being horribly persecuted and killed. The Ekklessia, the unstoppable movement of God had not died out, but was still spreading and growing across their known world. God was working and drawing more and more people to Himself. People who have been so transformed by the Gospel that now they were sending financial gifts to the Church in Jerusalem - the place where really the Church had begun.

Did you see that? They longed for them, they prayed for them, they cherished the grace of God that was alive and moving in and through them. This was the inexpressible gift they were praising God for. It wasn’t the money, the money just showed them what was happening in their hearts.

Gospel Application

You know Jesus talked a lot about money. It was one of the things that he talked about the most. We could do a whole series on all that Jesus said about money, and many people have. That is one of the reasons why I feel convicted to make sure when it comes up in the text to not shy away from it.

But I want to end this morning with one of the most memorable things that Jesus said about money. In Matthew 6 he says

Matthew 6:19–21 (ESV)

19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

It is not “our money” that God wants. It is our heart. The way we spend our money just reveals our hearts.

Matthew 6:24 (ESV)

24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money

Landing

Obviously there is no way for me to know where each of your hearts are when it comes to how you spend your money, but God does. Whether you think you have a lot or a little it doesn’t really matter - at the end of the day the question is not how much but how you spend your money. Does our giving show that we trust Him to care for our needs? Does our generosity reflect how much we have been given? Are we serving God with our money or are we serving money as our God?

Let’s pray into that together.