William Post won $ 16.2 million I wish it never happened. It was totally a nightmare. - today he lives on $ 450 a month and food stamps.

Transcription

1 GENEROSITY: The Faithfulness Of giving # 4 Key Words About Money 2 Cor. 9:6-15 Introduction Video: Beatles Money Can t Buy Me Love 0 to 1:13 * Money Can t Buy me love. Nor does it buy happiness or contentment. Evelyn Adams won $ 5.4 million in the lottery Winning the lottery isn t always what it s cracked up to be. I won the American dream but I lost it too. William Post won $ 16.2 million I wish it never happened. It was totally a nightmare. - today he lives on $ 450 a month and food stamps. Financial planner - Susan Bradley in an article on sudden money said, In our culture, there is a widely held belief that money solves problems. People think if they had more money, their troubles would be over. When a family receives sudden money, they frequently learn that money can cause as many problems as it solves. Down through the centuries - those who had a lot of money have found that it is not all that it was cracked up to be. - John D. Rockefeller I have made millions but they have brought me not happiness. - W.H. Vanderbilt The care of 200 million dollars is enough to kill anyone. There is no pleasure in it - John Jacob Astor I am the most miserable man on earth. - Andrew Carnegie Millionaires seldom smile. - Henry Ford I was actually happier when doing a mechanics job. * This morning we re going to look at a church that understood its relationship to money and found it a tremendous source of joy in their lives. - I think God has some powerful lessons for us to learn and apply so that we to can find money and material things to be a source of joy rather than disappointment. * Open Your Bibles 2 Corinthians 8:1-6 - To Get The Context Of our Discussion * **Read 2 Cor. 8:1-6 ** - Macedonia church received the same appeal for funds that many of the churches around the Mediterranean had received. - Appealing for the churches to help suffering & afflicted brothers in the churches in Judea. - churches in one part of the world were suffering and experiencing persecution and churches in other parts of the world heard about it and decided they wanted to help. (Just like church in Cuba is suffering and experiencing persecution and we are helping) * Churches of Macedonia had given - and Paul describes these churches of Macedonia. 1. They Were In Great Affliction (vs 2) 2. They Were Deeply Impoverished (vs 2) 3. They Overflowed With Generosity (vs 2) - notice church in Cuba gives out of its poverty.

2 - In their poverty they heard of a church in need and they gave generously * Later in 2 Cor. 9 Paul shares more with us about this incredibly generous group of people in Macedonia. ** Read 2 Cor. 9:5-15 ** * 3 Important Lessons I Think We Can Learn From This Impoverished Church That Practised Generous Biblical Giving. 1. What is God s Desire for how we should give - from their example - what is God s desire for our giving. 2. What Does God Promise Those Who Give Generously With Joy Whether They Have A Lot Or Not. What does God promise to those kinds of churches & people.? 3. How Do You Get Started - what steps can you take to more towards a wealth of generosity? * Let s Understand I. GOD S DESIRE: Generosity From A Cheerful Heart ** God Loves Generosity From A Cheerful Heart 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 made up his mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. (2 Cor 9:6-7) * God Loves Generous Cheerful Giving 1. Generous Giving Is Personal Each one must give as he has made up his mind (vs 7) Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, (2 Cor 9:7 NIV) * It is an individual thing that applies to all of us. - referring back to churches in Macedonia who gave out of their deep poverty Today ** If you re listening today - even if you are unemployed this applies to you. - if you are at the lower end of the income scale it applies to you - if you are at the upper end it applies to you. Each One - not body in the body of Christ is excluded. Any Age Any Income - Teach your kids about giving generously Illustrate: Long before I ever knew about tithing - Wendy s Mom and Dad who were common working folks taught her how to tithe. Gave her a dime - she learned to put 1 cent in the church offering. - We did the same with our kids. 2. Generous Giving Is Purposeful Each one must give as he has made up his mind (vs 7)

3 We are to decide pre-determined prayerful decision - we know God wants us to be generous God wants us to pray about it and prayerfully think through it before we do it. * Question is not How much should I give? but Lord, how much do You want me to give? * Prayerfully asking God to help you purpose in your heart - It is prayerfully planned - not sporadic. - Most believers don t get this. Trend is disturbing. Illustrate: Survey of giving patterns in the church asked: is your giving planned ahead of time? Aged 55+ it was 75% aged it was 52% - aged it was only 19% - Trend in the church - you just go to church and at the last moment you decide what to give. Maybe you give maybe you don t, but it s not something you ve prayerfully considered. God says it is to be Personal and it is to be Purposeful 3. Generous Giving Is Bountiful whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. (Vs 6) * (Many of you give bountifully - thank God for that. Some of you have further to go.) * Each of us needs to prayerfully ask God God how bountiful do You want me to be? * Our Culture - Even Among Christians Isn t Generally Generous. One Study - average church goer gives about 1.7% of their income. Another Study compared giving as our income grows. Lower Income $ 20,000 or below average 3% giving Mid Income $ average 2% giving Upper Income $ average 1% giving Dollar amount is more but as a % - as the income rises the giving goes down. * Culture has convinced us that the more we have the more we need. - As our income goes up it does not get easier to give its actually harder to give because of the influence of our culture. Illustrate: 2002 NA Christians gave about $ 2 billion to world missions. Spent $ 2 billion on pet food every 52 days. * We have a long way to go when it comes to learning bountiful biblical giving. * God loves it when we are giving personally, purposefully and bountifully. 4. Generous Giving Is Joyful not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. (2 Cor. 6:7) * God Loves It When We Give Joyfully - not grudgingly or because you have to. Cheerful Giver = hilaros (hil-ar-os') - merry - get our word Hilarious

4 - Man - I really want you to get this part. I can see it now. Time for the offering - Wow - here comes the offering plate I can hardly wait - as it s coming your way you just get so excited about your chance to give here it is my chance to give weeee - you burst out in laughter and joy. I ve never seen it but I m looking forward to it. The attitude we should be fostering is generous, joyful giving. - Generous giving goes beyond the tithe). * See it not as an obligation but as an opportunity. ** That s God s Pattern For Our Giving. Note: God uses 2 verses to tell us what to do. God uses 8 vs. to tell us what He will do when we do it. Beginning vs 8 And God is able. - Next 8 vs. Is What God Is Able To Do. Here Are His Promises II. GOD S PROMISE: A Fivefold Harvest Of Divine Blessing 1. To Provide Your Needs And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, (2 Cor 9:8) And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, (2 Cor 9:8 NIV) 2. To Increase Your Capacity For Giving - Not only will you have sufficiency in everything but that you will have an abundance for doing good. 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. (2 Cor 9:8) And God is able to make every grace overflow to you, so that in every way, always having everything you need, you may excel in every good work. (2 Cor 9:8 Holman Christian Standard Bible) He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing (2 Cor 9:10) - using farming metaphor for giving. - When you give generously to the Lord -like the farmer who has so much grain he has enough to sow. When you give generously God will provide even more than enough that you will be have even more to give away and help others. 3. To Stimulate Your Spiritual Growth He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for

5 sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be enriched in every way for all your generosity, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. (2 Cor 9:10-11) increase the harvest of your righteousness - you are going to grow spiritually as you do this * Whenever we give - especially out of a atmosphere of poverty - when we re not sure exactly how our own needs are going to be looked after but we give sacrificially and stretch ourselves out of our comfort zone in order to give we are going to grow spiritually as a result. * Here s What Happens: 1. Your Joy Increases Lord Jesus, how he himself said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.' (Acts 20:35) - giver gets more blessing than the receiver - more fun to be generous than to be greedy, selfish or stingy Man if your security and significance are tied up in the all sufficient God of the universe you can have fun in giving because you know you re being looked after. greed and stinginess never brought joy to anyone 2. Your Purpose Increases - God can take something as trivial as my resources and use it to change someone s life. 3. Your Faith Increases - Nothing stretches your faith more than walking in obedience to God in the area of our finances and generous giving. - Exciting to see how God provides when we give even beyond our means in a spirit of generosity and our faith grows. Illustrate: OBC Missions conf. - At back of chapel with $ 20 - ready to give $5 but then God laid it on my heart to give $ 20 back to my mailbox after Chapel $ 40 in my mail box. $ 20 for my room rent and $ 20 extra. Faith Promise Giving pray and pledge to give trusting God. - not about our finances going up but our faith going up. * God wants to build us spiritually as we give generously. 4. To Meet The Need Of The Church You will be enriched in every way for all your generosity, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. 12 For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. (2 Cor 9:11-12) * God Uses Your Generosity To Meet The Needs Of The Church Both Locally and Globally. - If churches are under financed or missions is under supported its not because God hasn t give us the resources. It s because we aren t releasing those resources back to God. * Many Missions have people waiting to go to the field but they don t have the finances.

6 ** One Researcher estimated that if the church in N.A. is giving $ 2 billion annually to missions it actually has the resources to give - are you ready for this - $ 100 billion a year without experiencing painful sacrifice. If would begin to give according to Scripture. Illustrate: Bob & Frank crashed -private plane on a deserted island & both survived. - Bob ran all over the island to see if they had any chance of survival. When he returned, he rushed up to Frank & screamed, This island is uninhabited, there s no food & there s no water! We re going to die! - Frank leaned back against the plane, folded his arms, & said, We re not going to die. I make $250,000 a week. - Bob grabbed him & said, There s no food, no water & we re going to die! - Frank said, We re not going to die! I make $250,000 every week! Bob said, I m telling you we re doomed! There s no one else on this island, there s no food & there s no water! We re going to die! - Frank calmly said, Don t make me say this again. I make $250,000 a week. We re not going to die. In frustration Bob screams - You don t get it. We re stranded here on this Island with no way of escaped how can you be so confident that we won t die. Calmly Frank says, Look, I make $ 250,000 a week. I attend Parkway Bible Church and I tithe. My Pastor will find me before Sunday. * God uses the generosity of His people to meet the needs of the church. 5. To Bring Glory To God You will be enriched in every way for all your generosity, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. 12 For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. (2 Cor 9:11-12) * When God s people begin to obey Him and give generously, God receives the glory. Generous biblical giving begins to make an impact for Jesus Christ. ** So, how can we get started with Generous Hilarious giving. * 4 Simple Steps To Get Started In Generous Giving. III. GOD S PLAN: Getting Started 1. Set Your Priorities * Decide to give from your first fruits. Every tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees, is the Lord's; it is holy to the Lord. (Lev 27:30) * Need to set priority that the very first cheque you ll write every payday is what you have purposely, prayerfully decided to give. (Illustrate:I Missionary in Africa received a knock at door There stood a little boy holding a fish. Reverend, you taught us what tithing is, so here. I've brought you my tithe." - Missionary gratefully took the fish, -- "If this is your tithe, where are the other nine fish?" * Boy beamed a big smile -- "Oh, they're still back in the river. I'm going back to catch them now." 2. Set A Percentage * Decide what you are going to do by percentage. - prayerfully decide a percentage.

7 * I believe that a 10% tithe is a great starting place. Randy Alcorn in his book suggest that the tithe was never intended to be the ceiling of our giving but the floor. - It s true that the tithe is not commanded in the NT - but if you study all of scripture it was only the starting point of OT giving. - when I think about how I have been blessed by the grace of God how dare I when I am told in the NT to give generously and bountifully, how dare I want to give less then the starting point of the OT law. * God has increasingly laid it on my heart to stop pussy footing and to say and teach the tithe as the starting place of Generous, Bountiful, Joyous giving as a step of faith because God says it is holy and it belongs to me. People encourage me to not teach or mention tithing I d be derelict in my duty if I didn t tell you this is the place to start. ** For many of us that may not be the appropriate percentage. 3. Stay Flexible Adjusting As God Blesses You Now concerning the collection for the saints: as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do. 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. (1 Cor 16:1-2) As God may prosper you - as you prosper more you give more Principle: As your income goes up always prayerfully ask God Lord, should we be kicking the percentage up? 11 % - 12 % 15 % 20% etc. * As God blesses you, prayerfully decide what God would have you do. I can t give you what your number should be. * For some people 10% of their income is sufficient to live off. * Set A Percentage And Adjust It As God Blesses You 4. Be Faithful and Full Of Faith * God is not so much interested in the amount we give, but are we willing to trust Him. That s the battle. The real battle going on in your soul is not a financial battle it is a faith battle as to whether you will trust God to fulfill these five promises that we looked at this morning. 1) I ll Provide For Your Needs 2) I ll Increase Your Capacity To Give 3) I ll Stimulate Your Spiritual Growth 4) I ll Meet The Needs Of The Church 5) I ll Be Glorified Conclusion Illustrate: Faithful giving of the poor in Cuba. Several yrs ago agreed with Pastor Josue to help repair the church in Palma. - Agreed if his church raise $ 1000, I would bring $ 3,000. Knew this would be hard for average offering was $ 65 a week. Week after week people faithfully brought not only their regular tithes and offerings but their sacrificial giving out of their deep poverty. Met their goal. God has rewarded them time and time again as they have exercised their faith through joyful, bountiful giving. ** It s a battle of faith. Be faithful and stretch your faith. C.S. Lewis All that matters when Jesus returns is that He should find us at our post whether we are leading a great crusade against slavery or tending pigs, faithfulness to our Lord is what matters.

8 ** Will You Be Found Faithful? That s our goal.