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A. Today we are going to discover
what God’s Word has to say about giving.
- Now, it’s very easy to be
somewhat cynical or even skeptical these days when someone associated
with the church begins to talk about giving.
- With the scandals that have rocked
the religious world in the last couple decades, many have become
sensitive to the fact that there are some people in the world claiming
to be doing the work of Christ, that are actually extremely successful
scam artists.
- Understanding the sensitivity to
the subject of money in the church, many preachers and churches have
become silent on the issue.
- But the problem of that is, God is
not silent on this issue at all.
- In fact, one of the main themes of
both the Old and New Testaments is the subject of giving back to God out
of what He has given to us.
B. Our main objective in this series
is simply to worship God in a way that brings Him honor and glory and
allows us to draw closer to Him.
- Let me just put some of you at
ease as we begin and let you know that our objective is simply to be
faithful to God.
- That’s what we’re here for and
that’s what this series is all about.
- We are not going to apologize for
what God has to say about giving.
- Nor are we going to shy away from
it in any way, shape, or form.
- Because the bottom line is, giving
to God is what must take place in your life and in mine if we are going
to live to our full potential as Christians.
- We can talk about prayer, bible
study, fellowship, and other spiritual habits, but none of them are more
important than obtaining the habit of giving to God.
C. Now we don’t always look forward
to lessons on giving.
- And I’m convinced that if you are
not looking forward to this sermon on giving, it’s because you don’t
enjoy giving.
- The reason many people don’t enjoy
giving, or hearing about it, is because they give to God at some level,
but they do it for the wrong reason.
- In other words, they have the
wrong motivation behind it.
- I want to give you five
motivations for giving this morning, with the lowest motivation first,
and we’ll work our way through to the best motivation – all from 2
Corinthians chapters 8 and 9.
- Before we get going, let me remind
you of something you probably already know – Giving is essential in
the life of a Christian.
- It’s essential for three reasons:
1) Because it pleases God;
2) As we give we are able to
accomplish a tremendous about of good for God;
3) If you develop the habit of
giving to God it will help you escape the grasp of materialism.
So here is the first motivation
for giving
MOTIVATION #1: GUILT – “I
Have To Give”
- (2 Cor. 9:7) Each man should
give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or
under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
- Did you notice that last phrase?
“God loves a cheerful giver.”
- Our heart’s response when giving
should be one of cheerfulness.
- The word translated cheerful
here, is where we get our English word hilarious.
- Now when’s the last time that we
passed the offering plate you heard someone just start to giggle as they
dropped their check into the plate?
- God is saying that this is
something that ought to make us really happy.
- And He doesn’t just stop with that
phrase cheerful here – if we back up a little we see that God
makes it very clear we are not to give reluctantly and we are not
to give under compulsion.
- Now here’s my point – this first
motive of guilt is not a biblical motive.
- And anybody that would teach you
in such a way that you have to give is abusing Scripture.
- There is strength to motivate by
guilt
_ STRENGTH:
Brings In Money
- People will give if they think
they have to give.
- The problem is, you begin to view
giving to God’s work in the same way you view paying your taxes – you
don’t enjoy doing it, but you are forced into it.
- There is a weakness to motivate by
guilt
_ WEAKNESS:
It’s Unbiblical!
- This is a motive that is often
used, but it is a motive that is used in direct contradiction to what
the Bible teaches.
- It brings no joy to anyone, and it
doesn’t help us to outgrow materialism.
- So let’s just cross this one off
from the very start – this motive has absolutely no redeeming value
whatsoever – let’s just put a big X across Motivation #1.
So here is the second motivation
for giving
MOTIVATION #2: RESPONSIBILITY
– “I Ought To Giving”
- Now this is a higher motivation
than guilt.
- (2 Cor. 8:7)
But just as you excel in everything--in faith, in speech,
in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us --see
that you also excel in this grace of giving.
- This little word excel
should say a lot to us – it means that we should really become good at
doing this – we should become excellent in our giving.
- And it’s really interesting the
way it plays out in this verse, because he says we should excel “just
as” we do in these other areas of the Christian life.
- In Faith, speech, knowledge,
earnestness, and love.
- Now these first four areas where
we are called to excel, we would all say “yea, I really need to be good
at those things – those are areas that I need to grow”.
- But just as importantly as those
areas, we find that God wants us to grow in this grace of giving – this
is not at the bottom of the list, it is the whole point of this passage
– just as these things are important, learning to excel in giving is
equally important.
- The better we understand this, the
more able we are to break free from some bad attitudes we might have
about giving.
- When we begin to understand this
we realize that we are responsible to give, not out of guilt, but
because God has set this standard of excellence for us.
- I have no doubt that most money is
given because people feel this sense of responsibility to finance the
work God has called us to do -- and that’s a good thing.
_
The STRENGTH is : It Builds Accountability
[I’m sure many of you have heard of
the “80-20 rule”.
- The “80-20 rule” refers to studies
on congregational giving which indicate that 20% of church members give
80% of the funds, 30% give 20% of the funds, and approximately 50% give
nothing at all.
- For those 50% that are giving at
some level, it is usually because they feel some level of responsibility
to excel in this grace of giving.]
- We feel a sense of accountability
to God in this matter and that is a positive.
_ WEAKNESS:
Limits Joy and Amount Given
- The motive of responsibility, at
its core, has a tendency to lean toward legalism.
- If your primary motive for giving
is responsibility, you will reach a point where you say, “I have done my
part and I’m not doing any more” -- and that’s a legalistic attitude.
- What happens is, you find the
amount you feel God requires of you, and you give that amount because
you feel accountable to God for it, but it is not given with joy, and
generally is not given for the purpose of sharing in the ministry.
So here is the Third motivation
for giving
MOTIVATION #3: NEEDS – “I
Want To Give”
- When we see the need, we are
motivated to give.
- You see the need we have at this
church – we have a need to meet our budget; we have a need to supply our
ministries that will help us reach more people for Christ.
- (2 Cor. 8:13-15)
Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you
are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. At the present time
your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty
will supply what you need. Then there will be equality, as it is
written: "He who gathered much did not have too much, and he who
gathered little did not have too little."
- The quote at the end of this verse
is from the OT – Ex. 16:18.
- If you go back and read the story
behind this quote you’ll find that it is the account of the gathering of
the manna when the children of Israel were wandering through the
wilderness and God was supplying their needs.
- God was taking care of them, and
He told them that everyone needed to gather as much of the manna as they
needed.
- After they gathered what they
needed they would go back and share it with one another.
- But some of them didn’t share and
they hoarded their manna for themselves – but those who were selfish and
kept it for themselves until the next day got a surprise.
- They found that the manna they had
kept for themselves was filled with maggots.
- The lesson of course, was that
they were supposed to be looking out for the needs of others and meeting
those needs with what God provided.
- Now Paul takes that analogy and
applies it in the NT for recognizing the needs that our present, and
meeting those needs by giving financially.
_
STRENGTH: Feels Good
- We’re not giving because we feel
guilty, and not just because we feel responsible – we’re giving because
we know that there is a need and we want to meet it.
- It is this motivation for giving
that encourages us to understand what it means to give sacrificially,
above and beyond what we feel is required of us.
- This motivation also has the
potential to raise large sums of money because some people are only
motivated to give when they see a specific need.
_ WEAKNESS:
Some Don’t See the Need
- If this is your only motivation
for giving, you will tend to give only when you approve of a particular
project and you lose the whole idea of living in community as the people
of God.
- In addition, this motive is very
much emotion-based.
- Most of us aren’t going to be very
moved by the electric bill, or trash pick-up, or office expenses –
although these are very real and significant needs to do ministry.
So here is the fourth motivation
for giving
MOTIVATION #4: THANKSGIVING
– “I Can’t Help It But Giving”
- When you are living your life in
gratitude for God you will give out of that gratitude, rather than out
of guilt, responsibility, or need.
- (2 Cor. 9:12-13) This service
that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people
but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God.
Because of the service by which you have proved
yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your
confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in
sharing with them and with everyone else.
- I don’t know if you’ve ever
thought about it like this, but when you drop your money in the plate
each Sunday you are confessing your gratitude
- We need to learn that God equates
giving with gratitude.
- It is expressing to God that we
are thankful for what He has done in our lives.
_
STRENGTH: Feels Very Good
- When we consider all that God has
done for us and for our church, it is great to know that we have a
tangible way of expressing our thanks back to Him.
- When I see the kids of this church
singing, or learning in class, or I see our Youth Group learning about
living pure lives for God, when I see how God has blessed us in allowing
us to support different mission’s ministries, I want to thank Him.
- I do that by giving to His cause
and offering to do even more so that more ministry can be accomplished
-- and when more ministry is accomplished I have even more reason to be
grateful.
- It is a cycle of thanksgiving that
continues to manufacture godly benefits.
_ WEAKNESS:
Limited by our Perception
- In particular, our perception of
thankfulness.
- Let me explain: I don’t know what
you’re going through right now – I don’t know where you are emotionally,
spiritually, or physically.
- If you are not up to par in any of
these areas you might not be feeling all that thankful right now.
- And if my main motivation is
thanksgiving, which in general is a great thing, if for some reason I’m
not feeling thankful at the moment I will tend to withhold from God what
is rightfully His.
So here is the final motivation
for giving
MOTIVATION #5: WORSHIP – “It’s
My Nature Giving”
- This is the top motivation for
giving.
- (2 Cor. 8:5) And they did not
do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and
then to us in keeping with God's will.
- Worship is giving yourself to God
– which means that giving is worship!
- These Macedonian Christians gave
themselves first to God, and their financial decision flowed out of
their desire to worship the Father.
- When worship becomes a part of our
very nature – that is, when we’ve begun to walk with God in such a way
that we desire to acknowledge His worth in every way – we will give to
Him financially as a natural expression of who we are.
- If we are to develop a faithful,
Christian attitude to wealth, we must give ourselves to
the Lord.
- We must acknowledge that we are
His.
- We must know that we are dependent
upon Him for all things––not money, but Him––not dependent upon
wealth, but dependent upon God.
- Let’s give ourselves to the Lord
and our giving will flow out of our very nature.
- The motivation to give then will
be a motivation of worship, of praise, of joy at the awareness of His
powerful work within our lives.
- Then we will gladly give our money
to His work.
- We will gladly give our time and
our talents to the cause of His kingdom.
- It will flow out of us as worship,
because we first gave ourselves to the Lord and found life in Him.
_
STRENGTH: Creates true Commitment, pleases God, allows
much work to be done to advance the cause of His Kingdom and
feels good too!
- This is the highest possible
motivation, to give because we want to worship God.
_
WEAKNESS: None
- It is important not to settle for
anything less than God’s best motivations for our giving.
- As we grow upward from this
motivational game plan, our joy will soar, and our efforts for the
kingdom will expand dramatically.
Conclusion:
- Back east is a restaurant that
serves the best chicken sandwiches. Truett Cathy, is the founder and
chairman of the Chick-fil-A fast-food chain, goes beyond giving
regularly to his local church.
- Cathy knows the value of investing
in the lives of young boys and girls.
- Besides teaching a junior high
boys’ Sunday school class for forty years, he operates nine foster
homes, has provided over four hundred $10,000 college scholarships, and
funds an annual summer camp for more than 1,000 children.
- Among the Christian principles he
instills in these children is the value of generous giving.
- The way he puts it is, “Money is
nice to have––as long as you’ve got it in your hand and not in your
heart.”
- Where is our money? Is it in our
hands to give generously to those whom God would have us bless? Or is
it in our hearts enthroned at the center of a materialistic philosophy
of life?
- Giving feels good when it is
motivated by a spirit of worship and praise.
- Giving feels good when it is the
result of having first given ourselves to the Lord.
-A long time ago I heard someone say
that “You can’t out give God”. And out the time I really didn’t know
what is meant.
-But in my life I have seen this
statement prove true time and time again. You can’t out give God means
that whenever you give God will always give more in than you could ever
ask.
-Now this is not a good motivation
to give, but it sure is a great result.
-God says that we can test Him in
this. Giving out of a heart of worship.
Bring
your full tithe to the Temple treasury so there will be ample provisions
in my Temple. Test me in this and see if I don't open up heaven itself
to you and pour out blessings beyond your wildest dreams. -Malachi
3:10 The Message
-Today let’s commit to giving God
everything. Let Him be Lord of all our heart, soul, mind, strength, and
even our finances.
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