I CAN SEE CLEARLY NOW
“5 Characteristics of a Generous Church”
2nd Corinthians 8:1-7
The first job I had I got when I was about 12 or 13 years of age. In the town where I grew up we had a local mission and the helped families in the area with a variety of needs. They gave away food and clothing to needy families and they also provided lawn care to people in the community for a fee. And that’s who I worked for.
Another thing the mission did was to take care of men who were homeless. They gave them a place to stay and gave them 3 good meals a day. The pastor who supervised all of this was named Paul. He was a pretty rough individual but had a great heat, a lot of wisdom and he was the right person for the job. He had several rules he functioned by for the men who stayed there. (1) If you are going to stay there you had to attend church every Sunday. He would preach in a chapel located there and church was mandatory. (2) another rule he had and by the way, his wife was a great cook, was this ….if you didn’t work, you didn’t eat. That’s right out of the scripture, of course, from the apostle Paul.
So the men who stayed there would go out and do lawn work and other odd jobs and they could have 3 meals and a warm place to sleep. Then at the end of the week he would pay everyone in cash. He also hired a few young teenage boys like me and he would pay us all at the same time.
Payday was very interesting. I still recall how he would do it. He would gather all of the men and the young guys together; we stood in a large circle and he would call us over to him and he would pay us in cash. And this is the way he paid me….Henderson, how many hours did you work this week?…..no time cards. I would tell him and this is what he would do. He pulled out this wad of cash and he would say this is what you made, this is for God and this is for you. He would hand me my money and he would stick God’s money in his pocket. Now as a kid I always wondered how God got His money out of his pocket.
But he was a very hard -working, honest, man…. he had a big impact on my life and right there in that circle he gave me my first lesson on tithing. Now before we move any further I want to define what a tithe is. So let’s go to the dictionary. Webster defines a tithe as a 10th part, paid or given for the support of a church. I do not know how many of you give 10% of your income to this church. My family does and that is the one I am responsible for. But as your pastor I am also responsible for helping this church understand that God has commanded all of us to give our tithes and offerings.
Now I want to admit something to you. As a young boy I will admit to you that the first time I tithed I wasn’t sure if I like it or not. Partly I suppose because no one asked me if I wanted to or not. He just chose to give my money away for me. Sort of like the government does. No seriously. You go to work for someone and let’s say that they pay you 10.00 an hour. You work for 40 hours and so you’re expecting a check for 400.00. But that’s not what it is. With S.S. and Federal tax your check will be about 312.00. Over 20% of your check will come out and go to the government. Without anyone asking you by the way. Now you’re probably like me in that. You don’t like someone telling you to give and you sure don’t like someone making you give and you certainly don’t like someone doing it without even asking you first.
So why as your pastor should I think that I should stand up here and tell you that you need to give if I already know that people don’t like it? Well, first of all, no one is going to make you give to God’s work. No one is going to deduct it from your paycheck…federal tax, social security, tithe! But we do have to understand what the Bible teaches us about giving.
In this passage Paul was talking to the church in Corinth and he was telling them about the church in Macedonia and how they had learned to give. The church in Macedonia had discovered some basic principles for giving that the church in Corinth had not caught on to. And you know what? Neither have we. I see 5 and I want to share those this morning. I call them 5 characteristics of a generous church. .
1. Even in their poverty they were generous. V. 2. You see we have this idea about giving that you have to be wealthy in order to give. If I had more money, if I made just this much more then I could give. John Rockefeller, who was a millionaire said, “I never would have been able to give from my millions if I had not tithed off of my first job which paid 1.50 a week.” Listen, when you give to God you will discover that God will give to you. Jesus said if you don’t judge people, YOU won’t be judged. If you forgive people you will be forgiven and if you give it will be given to you. We see several examples of this in scripture. The widow who gave at the entrance to the temple, Jesus saw her give two small, copper coins. Now she wasn’t the only one who was giving that day. The wealthy were giving and when they gave they tossed their money into the coffers and made a loud noise so everyone would notice. And Jesus noticed. But Jesus did not focus on the rich. He zeroed in on a poor widow. This widow gave two coins that were basically worthless, very little value didn’t commend the rich for giving, He commended this poor widow for giving. You see the rich were giving from their abundance and the widow was giving from her poverty. There’s a difference. Giving isn’t based on how much you give. It’s based on what you have left after you give. Even in their poverty they were generous.
2. They gave beyond their ability to give. V. 3. Now how do you do that? I have a certain amount I think I can give based on my bills and my needs and my wants. How can I give beyond my own ability? You see giving tests our faith. And that is where we have trouble. When we are about to give we only look at what we already have. The church in Macedonia looked beyond that, beyond their ability to what God actually wanted them to give. They were generous beyond what even seemed possible.
Now this brings out a basic principle in giving and here it is. People will give to the things that they love. You see we make space in our budget for the things that we really care about. So far this month you have probably paid your mortgage or your rent. Having a roof over your head matters to you. You have probably bought groceries; may have eaten out a time or two. Hopefully you paid your utility bills. In Florida we need AC. But if we are honest there are things that we have bought beyond these essentials that perhaps we really don’t need. Most of the material things that you have, you have because you love them and because you were willing to pay for them. And because you love them you didn’t really consider it to be a sacrifice to give your hard earned money away to purchase it. Let me give you a few examples. I love guitars. I have 8 guitars in my house. Electric. Acoustic. 6 string. 12 string. Hollow body. Solid body. As of 3 weeks ago I now have a banjo. I love guitars. So it’s not a sacrifice to me to purchase one.
Some of you have motorcycles. I know friends who collect guns. Perhaps have dozens of them. What do you do with that many guns? You could start a war.
When we need a get- away we pay for a vacation. We find the money. Another friend of mine has _____ paintings by Thomas Kincaid. We pay cash or we max out the credit card, if necessary to do these things because they are important to us. But this is what I want you to hear today. Never spend money for things that life does not require until you meet God’s requirement for giving. And His requirement is a tithe. Ten percent. Has it ever occurred to you that He could have demanded more? He could have told us to keep ten percent and give Him 90 percent. But He didn’t do that. You know why? Because God knows that you and I have some basic needs and it takes money to meet those needs. The church in Macedonia knew what their needs were, they knew how much they could give but they chose to give more than they actually could. Amazing.
3. Listen to this one. They pleaded/they begged for the privilege of giving. V. 4. Every pastor’s dream. The people come forward during the invitation and they say pastor I have a request…I don’t know what you will think about it but would you please let me give more. In one instance in the OT the priest actually had to stop the offering because the people were giving so much. Can you imagine? Definitely wasn’t a Baptist church. Here it is. Exodus 36:6 (on screen) “then Moses gave an order and they sent this word throughout the camp: ‘no man or woman is to make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary.’ And so the people were restrained form bringing more, because what they already had was more than enough to do all the work.” Can you imagine?
You see giving is a matter of the heart. Malachi says that we are to bring the whole tithe into the store house. 10 % right here. And He also says that when we choose NOT to give that we are actually robbing God. I think one of the reasons this passage of scripture intrigues me so much is because it is the only passage in the Bible where we are told to test God. Usually God is the one giving out the exams in life, the tests and we are the ones who have to pass them. But here God says test me in this and see whether I will bless you or not.
Giving is a sign of being a true disciple. You see,
(1) You don’t have to tell a true disciple to love God. The greatest commandment was that we are to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. I don’t have to tell you to do that. I believe that’s why you’re here.
(2) You don’t have to tell a true disciple to love people. 1 John 4:20 (NIV) If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.
(3) You don’t have to tell a true disciple to remain faithful. John 15:8 (NIV) This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
(4) You don’t have to tell a true disciple to obey God. John 14:15 (NIV) "If you love me, you will obey what I command.
(5) You don’t have to tell a true disciple to give. Matthew 10:8 (NIV) “Freely you have received, freely give.” We just do it.
4. They gave themselves first. V. 5. Does our church have a giving problem? I have told you before that we actually have all of the money we need. The problem is we have to figure out how to get it from your pocket. But more than I don’t know of any church that has a giving problem. If a church doesn’t give the problem is much deeper than that. It’s a problem of the heart. Jesus said where your treasure is there will your hear be also. Our money and our giving follow our heart. Giving follows our desires.
God has never had a giving problem. Because His heart is focused on the things that matter. In the very first chapter of the Bible….
• we learn that God set lights in the heavens for this purpose….so that He could GIVE us light on earth.
• He GAVE us plants and fruit and cattle so we could eat.
• He GAVE the Israelites the Promised Land.
• He GAVE Moses water out of a rock.
• He GAVE David the joy of His salvation.
• He blessed a few loaves of bread and GAVE it to His disciples and it turned into enough to feed 5000.
• John 3:16 tells us that God loved the world so much that He GAVE! I could go on.
The church in Macedonia had their priorities in order. You see before we give anything, before we carry our any ministry, hold a Bible study or a worship service, our hearts must be in the right place. Before you give anything God wants you to give yourself. To get your hearts right. When our hearts are right, giving is easy.
5. Paul urged them to excel in their giving. V. 7. School has officially started back in Pasco county. Parents are thrilled. Kids, not so much. In 9 short weeks they will all come up with a report card. When I was in grade school the grading system was less complicated. I was an excellent speller. So I would get an S+ in spelling. That means I made a 100 on every weekly spelling test. Then we could get an S if our work was satisfactory. Then an S minus if it wasn’t. Now we have A, B, C, D, and the dreaded F.
What if God graded our giving as a church? It might look like this:
Some would receive an F. And that means that you failed. It seems to me that it’s the most unfair grade of all. You see if I make a 90, I get an A. If I make 100, I get an A. That seems fair to me. If I score a 5, I get an F. But if I can raise my average by 54 points you know what I get? I get an F. Doesn’t seem fair. That’s a big range. But somewhere we decided that just wasn’t acceptable.
Some would receive a D. We all know what that means. It means that either you’re not really trying, the class is too hard or perhaps you just don’t understand what is expected of you.
Others would receive a C. Now if you aren’t so motivated in school a C sounds OK. A C is average. We don’t stand out. We don’t do anything extra. We’re just average.
Some churches would receive a B. They would make the honor roll. They would give beyond what the average church gives. And in that God would certainly be honored.
Some churches would receive an A. That means they would be excelling as Paul says. A step above all the rest. And that should be our goal.
Now it’s not up to me to grade the church. That’s God’s job. But one thing is for sure. We are not ranked with the church in Macedonia.
This week I was thinking about the book written by Charles Dickens titled “A tale of two cities.” In the opening line it says it was the best of times; it was the worst of times. Both were present at the same time. It describes how I feel about things at church right now. In the area of ministry and vision and looking at all the new ministries we will start and when I think about how far the church could go, I am excited. It is the best of times. When I look at how we are doing with our budget and how behind we are in building payments it’s the worst of times. We have to catch up in order to move forward. We have to.
We are stepping out in faith to do more. Starting new ministries, new Bible studies, providing more fellowship, attempting to reach new people. Why? Because it matters. The CR program we are starting will reach people that no other program will reach. And every church isn’t going to have one. In fact if we don’t do it I don’t think any other church in this area will. In other words it won’t get done. And many hurting people will not get the help that they need. We are here to make a difference. The day we stop making a difference is the day we should just lock the doors and go home. But I’m not ready to do that. Are you? So I’m calling on every person here today to give generously, to give today and in the weeks to come as well. We have cast a new vision for the church, we have lots of new ideas, we been praying. Let’s not stop now. Let’s give. Let’s give. Let’s give.
