Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
Part 3 – Is That Your Final Answer?
Glenn H. Teal, CrossRoads Community Church
February 20/00
We are using the name of the TV Game Show to jump-start a serious study of the issues surrounding the management of money.
How do we get more money? In a word – honestly.
How do we manage the money God has entrusted to us? In a word – wisely.
How do we learn to share our resources? In a word – generously.
Today we address the question – How do we really feel about sharing and giving our financial resources?
Disclaimer: If you are brand new in our church today, don’t faint and don’t leave now. This is not our usual subject matter – in fact it is highly unusual. But perhaps you can consider this to be an inside look at some of the “behind the scenes” issues involved with the live of a growing church. Although this is not intended for newcomers I’m sure there are principles for living will apply to everyone, including you.
Recently I did a few simple calculations:
If every adult who attends CrossRoads on a regular basis – 800 adults – made $15,000 per year and gave one tenth to this ministry what would our annual income be?
a. $880,000
b. $980,000
c. $1,080,000
d. $1.2 million
The correct answer of course is – 1.2 million dollars. Which simply points to the possibility that if we all had generous hearts and really believed that this ministry was a great investment we could do some amazing things together.
Here at CrossRoads as in the vast majority of churches in North America there comes a time in virtually every service that makes many people feel ambivalent or even awkward. For many of us a love/hate feeling arises in that fateful moment when the offering plate is passed. In fact, if you’ve been around here very long you notice that, we ask our first time guests not to give money when the plates go by.
There is a reason we do this. Brand new people really are not ready to participate in that part of the service, so we just say, "Don’t give." That’s why – we suggest that you take a pass. Newcomers are seldom ready to participate in the offering. They don’t know enough about this ministry to know if it is a worthwhile investment. They may not know enough about God to trust him with this whole giving thing.
Truth is there are some people who try to reduce giving to God’s work in this world to something less than noble. For them it is not about giving from the heart to an awesome God. They just see the offering as paying the bills and keeping the place solvent.
I recently heard a true story of a man who was far from God but family attended a good little church and they liked it and he was warming up to it. He found out financial pressures threatened the future of that ministry. The church couldn’t make their payments. Staff was not being paid and they were in serious financial trouble.
So the concerned guy made an appointment with the pastor. He said “I’m pretty good with money and I like this thing you’ve got going here – so answer a few questions I can help you dig this thing out of the hole you are in.
How many adults come each week? The pastor answered – about 350.
How many teens? 50. How many kids? 100 or so.
Well the way I see it – we could take our weekly cost factor to do business and divvy it up.
If we charge every adult 18+ -- $15 a head – they did the math.
If we charge every teenager -- $10 a head – they did the math
If we charge for every kid – about $7 a head – they did the math again.
By this time the newcomer had crunched the numbers to the point that almost all the bills could be paid. Then he added. Then as an extra source of money we could charge $3 per car for parking. If we did all that we could turn this thing around in no time.
The pastor said ”Thanks but no thanks. I appreciate your heart – that you want this thing to survive but there are some teachings in the Bible about money and giving and how you run a ministry and support it. None of them look like your plan – divide up the costs among the participants and charge a fee. That is not God’s way.”
And that pastor was absolutely right: In today’s talk I’d like to share with you what I am deeply convinced that the Biblical model for raising financial support looks like.
Scripture begins by focusing on giving to ministry as an issue of the heart not the calculator.
1 Receive God’s Greatest Gift
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23 NLT
Underline – gift of God
Understanding a Biblical approach to generosity starts with gaining an understanding of God’s heart. God is the ultimate giver.
Jesus told terrific stories. One of his best was about the perfect pearl of immense worth.
In this story Jesus tells of a pearl so valuable that it would be worth giving up everything one owned to obtain it. He uses this to illustrate just how valuable eternal life is.
In order to gain eternal life most people would give up everything they own – that is if it could be bought. To give every cent in exchange for a soul connection to God for now and forever would be a bargain – wouldn’t it?
How much is your soul worth?
You know I really believe that we are lost in this life without Jesus Christ – the Bible says so.
I also believe that we are lost after this life without Jesus Christ – the wages of sin is death!
However God offers us the most incredible gift in history – eternal life!
There is only one thing to do with a gift – receive it!
Whenever we receive a gift it does us no good unless we take the time to open them.
We open the gift of eternal life by giving our lives to Jesus through an honest sincere prayer from our heart. Like this “Lord Jesus I turn from my sin and selfishness to receive forgiveness and a new life from you. Right now I open my heart and receive a new life.”
When we receive the gift of God He gives us a new heart and he begins to transforms our minds so that we want to please God.
Learning to love and obey God always starts with establishing this heart connection first.
Once we have received the gift of eternal life we offer him our lives.
2 Surrender to God
Thank God for his Son – a gift too wonderful for words! 2 Corinthians 9:15 NLT
What can I give back to God for all of his benefits to me? Psalm 116:12 NIV
Underline: Thank God!
These two scriptures teach us that after all that God has given us – the least we can do is to give him ourselves in return.
Some people learn to give to God at this level of motivation: I am incredibly grateful! They seek to give financially and in other ways as a means of expressing gratitude to God. The truth is that we are wealthy people – especially so if Jesus is at the center of our lives.
Through Jesus we have been given so much over and over He has blessed us. He is in fact an indescribable gift! Jesus gives his followers so many good gifts: peace of mind, forgiveness, direction and purpose. The least we can do is to give something back.
Imagine for a moment that if you had an incredibly generous friend who gave you a large sum of money. She took your family out to great restaurants, let you use her car, frequently brought you nice gifts.
What if you became so used to her generosity that every time you saw her you would receive her presents and then ask: you got anything else?
NO WAY! How selfish could you be?
Yet some seem to have this attitude toward our providing God. They simply keep expecting more without ever saying thank you. Healthy and thankful followers of Jesus look for ways to express gratitude to Him. They are willing to give at least a little back!
Some of us in this room have a lot to be thankful for:
God saved our marriage from ruin. Our children have been nourished and pointed toward God. Our career track has been clarified and dramatically improved.
Lets all pray this prayer: “Lord, please change my heart and make me a more thankful person.”
Several times I have visited the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington D.C.. On one occasion I read several of the notes that lay at the base of the wall below the names of those who died. Several contained sentiments of deep gratitude. More than one took the form of an “open letter” telling one and all who might read the note of the brave sacrifice of the soldier who gave his life. This guy was my buddy and he gave his life – I will never forget Him.
Did you know that every Sunday the offering give us a way to say Thank You for the One who gave his life for us? When we give to God’s work we should recall Jesus sacrifice for us on the cross, his hands pierced, chest heaving, side bleeding all for me and for you.
When we give we need to say in our hearts “I am forever grateful!” to you Jesus. I will never get over all you have done for me.
Giving to God’s work is not about somebody “turning up the heat” or twisting my arm. We give because we are thrilled to be able to give something back to God. This is the level of Thanksgiving.
3 Trust God
Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the best part of everything your land produces. Then he will fill your barns with grain. Proverbs 3:9-10 NLT
For many people giving to God moves to another level – that of trust. However this passage teaches that if we honor the Lord our wealth – He will provide for us.
Throughout history people who love God give money time and energy to express their love. In the process learn to trust God. From Old Testament times God has called his people to do a very interesting thing – honor Him first: The key is first.
Giving a tithe – is to offer to God the first 10% of all we have as a sign that everything we have belongs to Him. This is very important to understand. Not just the 10% is God’s – 100% is his and the first 10% is the evidence.
Some will say: I can show that I trust God without giving money. But sooner or later we all come face to face with who or what we trust most. And in this society money is a biggee. We have Biggee fries and a Biggee drink but for a lot of us the real biggee is Biggie Bucks!
“If a person gets his attitude toward money straight, it will help straighten out almost every other area of his life.” So said Billy Graham.
I am convinced that in many human bodies the most sensitive nerve is the one from heart to wallet. Many of us are very sensitive on this issue – because it is so close to the bone – the core of our value system!
Giving to God is always a matter of trust. Since God asks His people to give to his work (Malachi 3:10) then here’s the question. If you can trust him with your life – your sins – your past – your future – your family – your eternal soul – why not trust him with your stuff?
Pray this prayer: “Lord, here’s my life and my stuff – I trust you.”
The truth is that God honors faithful and consistent givers: I love the true story of Mary who attended a small church in North Dakota. One Sunday she fainted in church hitting her head on pew, knocking her out. The ushers called an ambulance. As Mary was wheeled out strapped to a stretcher she motioned to her daughter to come near. Some thought final words might be next but this is what she said: “My offering is in my purse!” Mary had learned to trust and obey!
There is however another level of motivation in giving to God.
4 Love God
The purses of heaven have no holes in them. Your treasure will be safe—no thief can steal it and no moth can destroy it. Wherever your treasure is, there your heart and thoughts will also be. Luke 12:33-34 NLT
If you gave all the wealth of your house for love it would be laughed at – money cannot buy love. Song of Songs 8:7
This level of giving shows that location of your deepest love and loyalty -- “Lord God – I give everything to you, because I love you.”
We all know that the things we love most are those things to which we give our money.
I can trace what you love through your financial records. Why check my bank book and credit card statements and you will find several themes: green fees, restaurant bills, car payments, college tuition. There are some clues there about what I love -- aren’t there?
Remember your dating years? When I was dating my wife-to-be Nancy, there was not much money left in my wallet. Honestly I found that giving her gifts was a thrill. Truth be told – one of the most expensive purchases of my young adult life was my wife’s engagement ring. That is an investment I will never ever regret – because it came out of love.
Look at how people in the Bible expressed love. One time a woman washed Jesus feet with her hair and poured valuable perfume on his feet. Scripture says that the perfume was worth a year’s salary – $35,000 will buy some pretty amazing perfume!
Why did she do it? If anyone asked her I know what she would have answered: I did it because of love
Or what about the widow woman who came to the temple and put two coins in the offering box – her last bit of money. Why did she do it? You know the only explanation is that she did it because of Love
Around this church and others I have met a solid and growing group of people who give to God’s work with amazing generosity and cheerfulness. How do you explain that? I’ll tell you – they do it because of love.
They love what God has done in their live and they love Him in return. They also love the chance to invest in the kind of ministry that extends the love of God to others lone life at a time.
I know I give more than many others and I know that some may not understand. But this is what moves me to give -- love makes me do it! When you give out of love – you do it gladly –even cheerfully.
They say that in the country of Ghana Sunday services among the Presbyterians are very serious. The Ghanaians were evangelized by Scottish Presbyterians who are among the most serious and somber Christians in the world. So the Ghanaians have developed a quiet and dignified approach to church services. Only one time in the typical Sunday service do they allow the music and joyfulness of their own African culture to break out. The only time they sing and dance and smile in a service is during the offering!
Finally there is one more level of motivation when it comes to giving.
5 Try God
Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do says the LORD Almighty I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Let me prove it to you! Malachi 3:10 NLT
God only one time tells his people to test him or try him – this is it. We can test God or try Him in the matter of giving our tithes.
Here is very good prayer: “Lord, help me as I test your word and see what happens.” Tithing is all about taking a risk and trusting God.
Did you hear about the conversation between the $100 bill the $50 bill and the
$1 dollar bill? They asked each other – where have you been lately?
The $100 said: Puerto Vallarta, Paris, and New York
The $50 said: On a Caribbean cruise, and to several Professional sporting events
The $1 said: The same old thing – church, church, church
Unfortunately that can be all too true. We spend our best on ourselves and give God the leftovers. This is not God’s way and it should not be ours.
God invites us to try Him. To give him the first part of what we make and to see how he uses the rest of it to meet our needs. Not that is an adventure to be sure!
Remember the guy I spoke about at the beginning of today’s message who went to the pastor with a plan to charge-a-fee for every person for every service? Truth is -- he meant well.
It is sad to say there are entire denominations and many churches that feel forced to fund their operations in ways not unlike the fee-for-service plan. They take the expenses of the church -- divide them by the number of members, and then they send little invoices to the members’ homes with envelopes. In essence they say, "Your dues are about this much. Put it in the envelope, bring it in every week, and we’ll keep the doors open."
Here’s the problem with that plan. There is little or no adventure in it. Paying your dues involves no passion and expresses not much heart. Where is the love in that? I guess more than anything supporting ministry that way boils down to a kind of self-interest deal, where everybody decides to just pay up.
I am convinced that God has a better plan. God’s great plan to support his work involves obeying his word, loving his people, trusting his promises, and testing his faithfulness. So how about it? Why not join as we all try tithing. Let’s try tithing next Sunday – February 27, 2000 and we’ll see what God does – not just for the church – but for you and you’re your family as you obey Him.
This will be an adventure for sure!
Let us join together in closing prayer
