A young pastor was absorbed in trying to generate more money for a new building project. He had scheduled his passionate appeal for the Sunday morning service because he knew that the most people would be in attendance. He had planned to have the musician play an appropriate song to be played at the end of his appeal, however he forgot to do that. He tried desperately to come up one at the last minute, but could not. In frustration he told her, "Just play whatever you think is appropriate."
During the message he emphasized the importance of giving faithfully to the Lord and the need for this building project. Then at the end of his message he told them, "If you are willing to shoulder greater financial responsibility by pledging at least $100 over your monthly giving, please stand as Mrs. Jones plays." He then nodded for her to begin, and to his delight the appropriate song that she had chosen was "The Star Spangled Banner."
Ok, go ahead and break out the rotten tomatoes because, yes, the preacher is going to be talking about the unspeakable subject, and that is giving. Now, before I begin let me throw out my usual disclaimer on this subject, and that is that I am not directing this to anyone in particular. I do not know, nor do I want to know how much money you give. It’s not the preacher’s business to know that. I’ve heard of preachers that want to know what every member gives, and they are nuts. It would probably lead to favoritism and judging, and neither one is healthy for the church.
But this is a subject that is important to the life of God’s people and the reason that I know that is because money is one of the most frequently discussed topics in the Bible. As I’ve said several times, God knows that money is the main competitor that He has for our hearts and minds. The love of money and the things that it can buy will probably divert our attention from God and His work more than anything else.
My main purpose for bringing this message is to you is not to curse you, but to bless you. A proper attitude about giving of ourselves and our money is one of the greatest blessings that we can enjoy as Christians, so please try to look on this as a positive thing because that’s the spirit that it’s given in.
But, having said that, I feel like we need to look at some giving facts that I got while researching for this lesson. Again, general facts, not facts about you or this church. But, among the 29 Protestant denominations that report annual financial information to the National Council of Churches, per-member giving as a percentage of income, decreased from 3.1 percent in 1968 to 2.6 percent in 1997. Measured as a percentage of disposable income, both mainline Protestants and evangelicals gave less in 1998 than they did in 1968.
The picture was even grimmer for 10 mainline Protestant denominations and the Southern Baptist Convention, which were examined in more detail. Their percentage of giving in 1998 was lower than it had been even in 1933 during the darkest days of the Depression. And, of course one of the 10 denominations was the United Methodist Church.
One of the reasons that church giving has decreased, especially in America, is that God’s people are choosing to do other things with their money. One author wrote, "Americans live a fantasy of enjoying great wealth while denying the reality. Consumer debt is a choice, similar to investments. Having money tied up in credit cards, or in the stock market, does not change the fact that a person has resources; these commitments only describe how that person has chosen to spend them." If we’ll be honest with ourselves, most of us will have to admit that it isn’t that we don’t have money to give, but that we choose to put that money other places.
So, the questions that we will try to answer this morning are: 1) How much should we give? And 2) what should our motive be for giving? Trust me, that’ll be ambitions enough for today.
Now, before we get into this we need to try and clear up one issue concerning giving, and that is the issue of tithing. And I say, "clear up" kind of loosely here, because I’m not going to give you a "yes/no" answer to this age-old question. As we all know, tithing was compulsory under the Old Testament Law. Old Testament Jews were required to give God one tenth of all their increase, which included a lot more than just money, by the way. It included things like cattle and crops, etc. So it’s difficult for us to be really literal about the subject. To tithe like the Old Testament believers did would require us to give more than just ten percent of our money. So be very careful about trying to be too literal about this subject.
Then there’s the fact that Jesus Himself stated that He had fulfilled the Law when He gave Himself on the cross of Calvary. There are a lot of people who argue that just because Jesus fulfilled the Law that we cannot just abandon the principles that it taught us. Things like the Ten Commandments for instances. Sounds right, doesn’t it?
So our answer probably needs to be found somewhere in between. Just as the Ten Commandments are used as a basis for the laws of most nations, the tithe can serve as a good "basis" for our giving to God. But the fact is that we are not under the Law, but under grace. And as such, we are no longer obliged to do anything in order to gain God’s favor. In a merit-orientated society it’s hard for us to accept the fact that we cannot work or buy our way into God’s grace, that was given to us unconditionally on the Cross of Calvary.
Under the Old Testament Law tithing was compulsory. The New Testament, however, does not compel Christians, but rather invites us to work and to give generously in response to the needs of others, and as an expression of our love for God. Several Scriptures in the New Testament, but especially the one that we read earlier, tell us that proper giving is voluntary, spontaneous, and freely given, not from a sense of obligation nor with an intent to merit blessings. That giving is to be seen as a privilege, not an obligation. If we can get that straight in our heads, then our giving will be the right amount and it will be given with the proper motive.
Now there are four things that our Scripture tells us that we as Christians must do when giving: 1) we must ask God what He wants us to give, 2) we must not give grudgingly, 3) we must not give out of a sense of obligation, and 4) we must give cheerfully.
In the passage that we’ve read, Paul is talking to the church at Corinth about collecting an offering that was to go to needy Christians in Jerusalem. The Corinthians had been very willing to participate in this offering, so much so that Paul had bragged about their generosity while among the Macedonians who also got really fired up about giving to this cause. But for some reason the Corinthians had not followed through with their intentions.
Paul therefore, sent a letter to them by Titus, advising them that he would be coming to Corinth soon and there was a good possibility that some of the Macedonia believers might accompany him there. How embarrassing it would be for them, not to mention Paul himself, if they found the Corinthians empty-handed. So Paul sent some of his people to "assist" the Corinthians in collecting their offering.
But in encouraging them in this passage, Paul gives them and us a couple of real nuggets of information concerning our giving. One thing that he reminds them is that, just as a farmer reaps much more in crops than he puts down in seed, we will reap blessings that are greater than the money and time that we give. But, by the same token, if we withhold our money, time, and service, that God will withhold blessings. Again, it’s not because He doesn’t love us, but He’s not going to reward us for being stingy and self-centered. "He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully."
In Malachi 3:10 God tells us, "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it." And this verse tells us that we simply cannot out-give God. That if we will be generous in our giving and doing it out of a correct motive, that God will bless us more than we can stand to be blessed. When God says "prove me" it literally means "put Me to the test and see if I won’t bless you beyond your wildest dreams." Will it be with more money? It could be. Several passages indicate that when we are faithful with a little bit that God will trust us with more. It may not be any money, but God will bless us beyond belief if we are faithful in this area of our lives.
Then in II Corinthians 9: 7 Paul gives us those four guidelines for proper New Testament giving, " Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver." So, in closing, let’s go over these quickly:
1) We must give what God wants us to give. "Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give." The question that everyone wants an answer to is "How much should I give," but what we’re usually asking is how little can I give and get away with it. We wince at giving God ten percent of "our" money, but what we fail to realize is that it’s all His anyway. I’m working up a sermon called "The Other 90%" because we need to know that it’s all His, we’re just giving a little of what He has given to us back to Him.
We are stewards of the things that God has entrusted to us, including money, and how we manage those things will determine what kind of blessings we receive. If we hold back on God, He’s going to withhold blessings from us. It’s just that simple. It doesn’t mean that He’s going to stop loving us, but He is going to withhold blessings. See, giving is not for God’s benefit, He’s got all the money in the world. He doesn’t need your money. But He wants You to be a giver just like He is a giver. Giving out of a right attitude blesses us, and it’s for our benefit. So we need to pray about this matter, we need to read the Scriptures about it, we need to find out what God’s will is about our giving, and we need to give that amount. How much should you give, that’s between you and God.
2) We must not give grudgingly. Grudgingly is the Greek word lupe and it means sorrow, pain, grief, annoyance, and affliction. If any of those words apply to you when you put money in the plate, then you’re not giving with the right attitude, and you may as well keep your money. The treasurer’s heart just stopped, but if you’re giving grudgingly God is not going to bless the gift.
3) We must not give out of a sense of obligation or "necessity." As we said earlier, we are not under the Law, but under grace. Ten percent of our income is a good guideline, but it’s just that, a guideline. We are not obliged to give any amount, but rather invited to work and to give generously in response to the needs of others, and as an expression of our love for God.
4) And finally, we must give cheerfully "for God loveth a cheerful giver." Again, when you’ve talked it over with God, and when you’re giving out of a correct motive, you will be giving the right amount and you will be blessed because of it.
Let us pray.
