• This May I will mark the beginning of my fifth year of ministry at NBBC
• That means I have preached four years worth of sermons. And as I have looked at what to preach about in the next few months, trying to discern the needs of the congregation and what counter cultural perspective might be needed to live lives with a difference in our context. I was very aware of one topic that I have intentionally avoided since I have been here. It is the topic of money
• Part of the reason was that I didn’t want to put off those who may be checking us out for the first time and have their preconceptions affirmed in their minds that the church is just after your money
• The other reason is that money for many people is a very personal and private matter it is not open for discussion or scrutiny.
• A third reason is that we live in Burlington, and Burlington is not poor. Did you know that the average earning of all persons in Burlington is just over $7,500 more than the provincial average and $11,000 more than the national average? Did you know that the Halton region has the second highest median family income in all of Canada? And that Burlington, Oakville, Milton, and Puslinch are in the top 35 highest income communities with 5000 or more people in all of Canada? And I would go so far as to say that in my observation our city is very materialistic and because of that I am quite sure that a series that deals with finances will step on some toes.
• It was for those reasons that I didn’t want to preach on finances… until I had enough “trust chips” in the bank that I might be able to cash in a few should they be needed, enough tenure with the congregation that they would know my heart should they be tempted to question my motives.
• So now that I have been here four years, I have decided now would be a good time to preach this series. And the reasons why we need to look at it is because I’ve been hear so long and we’ve never taken an in depth look at this particular topic. Because many people believe that money a personal and private matter which is not true, it may be personal but it is not private, what your drive, where you live, what you where reveals all kinds of public information about your financial priorities. Further, because it is personal it is often kept hidden from others, including the one we call Lord and that is not an option open to one who desires to be a follower of Jesus Christ.
• And finally, because the lure of materialism is so great in Burlington I think it’s time to do some teaching on the topic of financial faithfulness and today I’d like to talk about your attitude and your assets.
• We often talk about talk about taking the next step in discipleship and perhaps for some here today you’ve never really allowed God to look to deeply into that part of your heart about your finances, and maybe that is the next step for you.
• If you are a visitor here today, let me just say my intention is not to make people feel guilty, or for you to feel uncomfortable, I know that talking publicly about finances is a very counter cultural activity. So let me just explain why I am doing that today. You see the church is those people who have said they want their lives to follow the example of Jesus and the teaching of God’s word.
• And the Bible has an awful lot to say about money, and so while it may not be the most comfortable of topics it is a very necessary topic, and so even though I am not an expert nor claim to be the best of examples of all that is in this book, I do have a responsibility to address those topics that are in it.
• Allow me to set up the text before we read it. The church in Jerusalem has fallen into a condition of extreme poverty, so Paul set up a collection that would take place with the churches that he founded to help the poorer Christians in Jerusalem. At first, the Corinthian Christians had provided funds which they had promised but now their enthusiasm seems to have waned. It is into this situation that Paul is now writing. In 2 Corinthians 8:1 – 12 (read text)
• Paul uses the example of the Macedonian church as a model for the Corinthians to imitate and I want to look a little more in depth at that example, but before I do I first want to pull out a couple of important principles that Paul makes about a person’s attitude towards giving that will help us in understanding the Macedonian example a bit better.
• Listen again to what Paul says in verse 8 “I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others.”
• The point that Paul is making is that your giving is a true reflection of the sincerity of your faith.
• Friends what you truly believe you support. And one of the predominant ways we support something is financially. Friends, if you were to look at your spending habits over the last month, what would it reveal about your values?
• If someone who didn’t know you looked at the breakdown would they say about you, “Wow, these people really take their faith seriously.”
• I also want to suggest that your attitude towards giving is not only a reflection of the sincerity of your faith it is also a reflection of the depth of your experience of God’s love.
• You see, Paul says that all giving is really just a following after the example of Jesus, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.”
• One time when Jesus was teaching He said that “the person who has been forgiven little, love little.” His point was not that there are some people who are more needing of forgiveness than others, it is only that some are more acutely aware than others, and because they are aware of their need they are exceedingly grateful when they are forgiven and it wells up in great expressions of love.
• Friends, what do your giving habits tell about your gratefulness, and the depth of your experience of God’s love for you? If it suggests a shallow experience, may I propose the remedy is not to give more, the remedy is a deeper walk with God who will then motivate and change your heart.
• One last principle that I want to draw out before looking at the example of the Macedonian church, in verse 11 Paul encourages them, “Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means. For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have.”
• You see Paul is saying that their real attitude towards giving is not validated by their feelings of good will, nor is it validates by the amount of money they give, it is validated by the act of giving itself.
• When your heart is moved to give, do you give? Is that your habit? When you feel a compulsion to give, do you make the effort required so that it translates into real action? The point is less that you feel bad for the AIDS orphans in Africa, its more about does that feeling bad translate into any real and tangible action on your part.
• You see the case that Paul has built in all of this is that our giving habits reveal our true attitudes towards our faith in relationship to our wealth.
• Our giving habits reveal if the substance of our faith has penetrated the grip of materialism that seeks to keep human hearts in bondage.
• And consequentially the way we give has the potential to communicate the Gospel.
• You see weather you are a follower of Jesus Christ or not, your attitude towards finances expresses some of your core realities with regard to priorities. It helps to reveal the dominant ruling party within our hearts.
• So let’s look at the example of the Macedonian church to see how their attitude in giving reflected the penetration of the Gospel in their hearts.
• “And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.”
• First thing we need to note is that they were giving out of a severe trial, out of their extreme poverty. In verse 3 it tells us that they gave even beyond their ability.
• Their giving reflected a faith that was sacrificial.
• You see they understood that their was a huge cost that God paid on their behalf and that reality was driven deep into their hearts so that even their giving was a reflection of that reality.
• Friends, I’ve said this before, we live at a time where the church has grown very comfortable, and where people have not needed to invest very sacrificially with regard to their faith, and ask any finance person where there is little investment there is little value.
• In that same verse we read that they gave out of their overflowing joy. Their example demonstrated a faith that is full of joy.
• When Jesus was contemplating the agony of the cross and the great cost that would be exacted of Him, the Scripture says, “…who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame…”
• If joy was a motivating factor in sustaining Jesus while He faced the cross it should be a motivating factor that sustains us in the financial sacrifices we make.
• But do you know what the option is, if joy is not a part of our giving, it means that we give out of obligation or duty, it reveals that your faith really is just a set of rules that need to be followed rather than a gracious overflowing of Joy.
• That same verse tells us that their faith is understood to be a generous faith.
• You see the faith that we have embraced is not the miserly leftovers of a patronizing deity, it is a generous, extravagant outpouring of our heavenly father who gives us every good and perfect gift, who prepares heaven for our future, and blesses us with every spiritual blessing.
• Those who have been touched by the generosity of God, are changed by it, it shapes them and brands them so that their lives are generously lived and that is nowhere more true than in their giving.
• Paul goes on to say in verses 3 & 4 “For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints.”
• The Macedonians revealed a deep willingness to have a part of blessings others.
• Friends, is there any question in your minds that the Gospel we reveal to others is a Gospel about a God who is forever willing to bless.
• The great early church theologian, Augustine, once said, “God is more anxious to bestow his blessings on us than we are to receive them.”
• I would seriously doubt that there is a person in this room who, if they began to write out every blessing they have received just in this past year, let alone their lifetime, I doubt they would get out of this room by the end of the day.
• An Old Hymn goes like this, “When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.”
• I also want you to notice that Paul says the Macedonians “urgently pleaded” with Paul to give beyond what their ability. There was a humility that was present in their giving.
• When Jesus gave of Himself, it was an act of great humility and that too should be reflected in our giving.
• There are some people who give money who almost seem embarrassed, you would think that these are the people who have so little to give but this is often not the case, usually it is from those who have so much and the embarrassment stems from a humble heart, which almost feels guilty of having so much monetary blessing from God, is it any wonder that when they give with such humility that they seem they are always being blessed?
• There is another way in which the giving of the Macedonians reflected their faith. It says that they “…urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints.”
• There was a strategic preference to their giving. I mean I’m pretty confident that if they wanted to give away their money there would have been plenty of people in the Roman Empire who would have taken it off of their hands. But they wanted to give it to that particular cause.
• If you are like me you probably have a ton of requests for money from very worthy causes coming at you from many different places and so it requites you to decide which cause you are going to give to. There are two ways that Lisa and I decide where to give one of the ways is to consider the potential donor pool from which they are drawing.
• We consider how many others can potentially give. So while I might be able to give to relief work though the Red Cross or CBM I know that CBM has a much smaller pool of potential donors from which to draw from and so I give through them
• One last point. We are told that Paul had a little surprise when the Macedonians gave, he says, “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.”
• You see the Macedonians gave in a way far beyond what Paul had hoped, he had merely hoped for a financial gift, but we are told they gave of themselves also.
• There was an intentionality to their gift, the money was only a part, they also gave of their genuine interest and concern. Our financial gifts should not simply be a reflex decision, it ought to be a giving that touches our hearts concern one over which we are impassioned.
• This is the second way we weed through the many requests we get for our financial contributions. Is it something about which we genuinely care for.
• The Macedonian example was strategic and intentional in their giving. So with that in mind I’d like to say this.
• If you find our vision and mission to reach the city of Burlington with the love of Jesus compelling and you are impassioned by that it would be on this basis that I would ask you to consider NBBC when you are considering giving. The reality is there only is us who we can draw on and I would suggest it is a strategic investment of your financial resources for revealing God’s Kingdom here.
• Friends I don’t apologize for believing, endorsing and promoting the mission and cause to which we feel called as a church.
• Now I don’t want to have people wondering after the service “is the church in financial difficulty?”
• It’s about being faithful with our finances, it’s about allowing the Gospel to move so deeply within our hearts and lives that our own giving reflects a Gospel which was sacrificial and generous, one that was offered willingly out of deep humility and motivated by joy. A Gospel that was strategic and intentional in its implementation.
• And finally friends, it is about examining our own hearts by an objective measure when we can so easily deceive ourselves with regard to the true state of our soul and spiritual life.
• If your financial habits are a reflection of the sincerity and depth of your faith, what does it say about where you are at?
• Have you been touched by the great sacrifice of God, or does your giving suggest that it only been an inconvenience?
• Is it a faith full of joy or is it an obligatory faith, a religion full or oughts and musts.
• Is it a reflection of a generous and gracious God, or one who is stingy and reluctant?
• Friends take time to consider your attitude and your assets.
• Lets pray
