I like to begin a new year by speaking in a church on the subject of stewardship at
least one time.
That's not an accident.
That's because I believe stewardship to be such a biblical priority for us as believers.
As I was preparing myself for that this last December, God impressed on my heart.
In fact, through a verse that we'll look at this morning, there was another matter we
needed to talk about first as a church, and that's been what we have talked about the
last several weeks.
This matter of being broken before God, this matter of the Christian life being a walk
of faith, which involves both abandonment and abiding in Christ.
After we have heard that and responded to that message, God seemed to be saying to me,
we can hear and respond more quickly to a message on stewardship.
We come today, though, to that message on stewardship.
I want to talk today about guidelines for giving.
Would you take your Bible and turn with me to 2 Corinthians 8, verses 1 through 5.
Now, brethren, we wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the
churches of Macedonia, that in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their
deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality.
For I testify that according to their ability and beyond their ability, they gave of their
own accord, begging us with much entreaty for the favor of participation in the support
of the saints.
And this not as we had expected, but they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us
by the will of God.
Consequently, we urged Titus that as he had previously made a beginning, so he would also
complete in you this gracious work as well.
Knowing how to give and then obeying God's word on giving is absolutely essential to
one's maturity and walk with God.
You and I must know and we must then obey and follow the principles of God with regard
to giving if we are going to grow as Christians.
I believe firmly that one evidence of a maturing, growing Christian is his record of giving.
We often think in a church of the importance of something like faith.
Can we please God without faith?
Of course not.
Hebrews 11 says that without faith it's impossible to please him.
We think also of the importance in the church of the importance of witnessing or preaching
the word of God.
Can a church grow and be fruitful in the service of the Lord without preaching, without witnessing,
without speaking and proclaiming the word of God?
No, of course not.
It's essential.
What about knowing doctrine?
Can a church grow without knowing doctrine?
Of course not.
How about sincerity?
Can a church really accomplish the will of God without being sincere in its ministry?
No.
What about love?
All you say, that's the greatest of all.
Indeed it is.
You see, those things are absolutely essential for a healthy church and a healthy Christian.
There must be sincerity and love and faith and witnessing and the knowledge of doctrine
if we're going to be healthy, growing Christians.
We'll take a look at verse 7.
Just as you abound in everything, in faith, utterance, knowledge, all earnestness and in
love, see that you abound in this gracious work also.
You know what Paul is saying here?
He is saying that our learning how to give God's way is just as important as faith and
love and witnessing and knowing doctrine and being sincere.
We don't usually put that in the same category, do we?
And yet God does put them in the same category very clearly in verse 7.
Learning how to abound in our giving, how to follow God's guidelines in giving, is
just as important as these other spiritual matters that I've mentioned.
God's Word gives us guidelines for giving in these two chapters where we'll primarily
focus this morning.
There are twelve of them.
You say you're going to get through all twelve by quitting time?
Oh yes, we just move quitting time, see.
No we go seventy minutes and usually that's it.
The first guideline for giving.
Giving is a grace.
In verse 1 he speaks about the grace of God which has been active in the churches in Macedonia
talking about their giving.
In verse 6 he calls it this gracious work.
In verse 7 he uses the same phrase, this gracious work.
In verse 19 he speaks about this gracious work.
And then he concludes chapter 9 in verse 14 by speaking about the surpassing grace of
God in you, again talking about their giving.
And so please understand as we begin that giving is a grace.
That is, we do not give in response to a legalistic command, but we give out of thankful hearts
in response to God's grace in our lives.
We do not give out of a sense of obligation, but rather because of the outflow of the working
of God's Spirit in our lives.
When I say that giving is a grace, I mean that giving is to be generous, as generous
as God's giving of his grace to us.
We are to be sacrificial just as God's grace sacrificed for us.
We see that sacrifice in verse 9 where he speaks about the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, that you through his poverty
might become rich.
Do you see the sacrificing grace of God?
And now he says to you and me that our giving is likewise a grace and it should involve
sacrifice.
That's guideline number one.
Giving is not a legal duty, but rather giving is an outflow of a thankful heart, grateful
to God for the grace that he has bestowed upon us in his Son.
Guideline number two.
Giving is to be exercised whatever one's circumstances.
Verse two says regarding the Macedonians that in a great ordeal of affliction, their abundance
of joy and their deep poverty overflowed.
Now the financial condition of the Macedonians was one that was desperate.
This word deep literally means down to the depths.
It means that they were on rock bottom, poverty.
You don't get any lower than the Macedonians were in their circumstances.
The word poverty here literally means abject poverty.
The idea was that they were actually in danger of starvation.
We talk about poverty in the United States and relatively speaking there is poverty in
the United States and some of it is severe.
But very little poverty in the United States is to the point of starvation as it is in
multiplied other countries around the world where people literally every day are starving
to death.
Now it is in that condition like in the third world today that the Macedonians were in.
They were at the point of having no food to eat and yet the apostle says despite that
their great joy mingled with this deep poverty and overflowed in the wealth of their liberality.
They gave a generous and liberal gift to the ministry of the apostle Paul.
So whether one has much or little, whether one is salaried or unemployed, whether one
is on social security or if one is a child on an allowance, if one has anything to give
he has something to give.
I think of the woman in Mark chapter 12 who gave the might.
That's all she had.
It wasn't very much but what it was that she possessed she gave.
She didn't give 10 percent, she gave 100 percent and she was blessed for her giving.
Oh somebody says if I were wealthy then I would certainly give generously.
Have you ever felt that way?
I think all of us have had that at least cross our minds if not become a philosophy of our
hearts.
If I were only wealthy then I could give generously.
You see our circumstances will never be what they should be in order for us to be generous.
We need to learn to be generous with whatever we have to give.
You see being rich does not make one spiritual.
If one cannot trust God when he is poor it's going to be even tougher when he is rich to
trust God.
Being wealthy has nothing to do with being generous.
Being generous means giving out of that which we have.
Really being rich only compounds the problem and you come right down to it.
It makes it even harder to give and to be generous.
I remember hearing a story about a preacher who went out to visit a farmer.
Preacher wanted to talk to him about his giving so he said, well farmer if you had two farms
would you give them to God?
Give one of them to God?
Farmer said, preacher you know I would.
And he said, well farmer if you had two thousand dollars would you give one of those thousands
to God?
The farmer said with tears in his eyes, preacher you know I would.
And he said, well farmer if you had two cows would you give one of them to God?
The farmer said, now preacher you know I've got two cows.
Isn't that just the way most of us are?
Giving is to be exercised whatever our circumstances.
And then a third guideline is that giving is a form of fellowship.
In verse four he describes the Macedonians as begging with much entreaty for the favor
of fellowship, is the real word there, in the support of the saints in Jerusalem.
In other words, giving is a way in which we fellowship with one another.
Fellowship is simply sharing, it's a very practical kind of sharing.
We would rather talk about other kinds of fellowship.
And yet giving is a form of fellowship.
They were giving to the ministry of the saints, to the needs of the saints in Jerusalem.
The Jerusalem saints themselves practiced this in Acts chapter four.
Those who had lands went out and sold them and they brought the money in so that it could
be given to those who had nothing.
That's a way of fellowshiping with other believers.
Frankly some of us would rather be in a prayer meeting than to have this kind of fellowship.
Or we'd rather go to a Bible study than to fellowship in giving.
And yet this is a form of fellowship.
We fellowship in giving as a church by sharing in the expenses of the ministry both here
and around the world through missions.
That is part of the fellowship of grace church, giving.
Giving is a form of fellowship.
Fourth, giving should follow personal consecration.
Verse five, Paul says that they gave in this way not as they had expected but they had
first given themselves to the Lord and to us he says by the will of God.
In other words, the Macedonians before they sent their generous gift out of their poverty
first gave themselves to the Lord.
Right here is the verse that God used to prompt my heart to preach as I did in the month of
January.
Because people, we can hear all about how we should give and what God's guidelines for
giving are, but unless our hearts really belong to the Lord we're not going to obey those
guidelines.
Not until we are broken, not until we come to the place of walking by faith and abandoning
and abiding are we going to be willing to obey God's guidelines.
You see, giving has to be preceded by a personal consecration in which we say, Lord, I am yours.
And by the way, everything I have is yours too.
When we get that view, that perspective, we can begin to obey the guidelines that God
gives us.
Giving should follow personal consecration.
I think some people try to buy off God with their bucks.
They say, God, I'll give you these dollars, just leave me alone.
That's unsatisfactory.
God doesn't want the bucks, God wants you.
He wants your heart, He wants your affection, He wants your devotion.
And when He's got that, then you can give.
Give meaningfully.
Number five, giving is a proof of love, verses seven and eight.
Verse seven, He speaks about the gracious work of giving, then He says in verse eight,
I am not speaking this as a command, but as proving through the earnestness of others
the sincerity of your love also.
Love is cheap, but action costs something.
It is not enough to say that we love God or say that we love God's people or even to
say that we love the lost.
It's fine to say it, but we have to put action to that.
And part of that action is giving.
Giving to the Lord, giving to the Lord's work in the local church, giving to the Lord's
work in evangelism around the world.
Giving is a proof of love.
John says that if we see a brother or sister who has a need, we ought to give to that brother
or sister.
Not just say that we love them.
Not say, God bless you, I really love you, pray for you.
No, we ought to give to them to help them.
Giving is a proof of love.
Again, I point to verse nine as an illustration.
John 3.16 doesn't say, for God so loved the world.
It says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
The coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is the proof, is the evidence of God's love and God's
grace.
The evidence of God's love in our lives is our giving, says the Apostle Paul.
Do not say that you love God if you do not give to your brother who is in need.
Do not say that you love God and have a selfish heart.
6.
Giving is intended to reflect equality.
We see this in verses 10-15 of chapter 8 of 2 Corinthians.
I'm not going to read that whole text for time's sake, and yet you will notice that
several times there the word equality is mentioned.
Let me just pick out verse 12.
He says, for if the readiness is present, it is acceptable according to what a man has,
not according to what he does not have.
For this is not for the ease of others and for your affliction, but by way of equality.
What is he saying here?
He is saying basically what we said a year ago when we had that stewardship campaign.
Remember the little phrase that was used?
Not equal gifts, but equal what?
Sacrifice.
We are not to give what we don't have, but we are to give out of that which we do have.
So that those who have much give much, and those who have only little give little.
But there is an equality in the sense that they each sacrifice equally.
The idea here is proportionate giving, an idea which is reinforced back in 1 Corinthians
chapter 16 as the apostle closes his first letter to this same people.
He says in verse 2 of that chapter, on the first day of every week, let each one of you
put aside and save as he may prosper, that no collections be made when I come.
In other words, he says according to as we prosper, as God prospers us, we are responsible
to give.
And he says I say this to every one of you.
This is not just for those who are on a definite salary or those who have a high income, but
he says every one of you, even children on allowance.
He says every one of you should lay aside in store according as God prospers.
Each has a share.
The support of God's work is not for just a few.
It's not just for the leaders, but the support of God's work is for everyone.
And the principle, the guideline involved is that giving should be equal.
So that those who have much give much and those who have little give out of their little.
Number seven, giving is to be voluntary.
Here we skip down to chapter 9 verse 7 where he says let each one do just as he has purposed
in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion.
Now what had happened was that a year before Paul wrote this letter that we're looking
at, the Corinthians had indicated to him that they wanted to give a gift to the poor saints
in Jerusalem.
In other words, they had made a faith promise.
Some people want to know if that's biblical.
Well here's an example of it.
The Corinthians by faith had made a promise.
We say well we're going to take this offering for the poor saints in Jerusalem.
Now Paul is coming along a few months later and he says to them, look, you haven't gotten
that offering together yet that by faith you promised to God.
And he uses the word promise in our text.
He says you haven't gotten that together yet.
You need to do it.
You need to avoid covetousness.
The end of verse 5 he uses that very term.
He says you promised, now don't be selfish.
Don't say you're going to do something and then not come through with it.
But he goes on to say, but let each one of you do just as he purposes in his heart.
In other words, it's to be voluntary giving.
There is not to be a set amount.
They were voluntarily to give, but how much you say, 10%?
A tithe?
No.
As a matter of fact tithing is not God's principle of giving in the New Testament.
It actually wasn't even God's principle of giving in the Old Testament.
Even under the Old Testament the Jews gave about 23% per year on average, but that included
their national taxes at the temple.
In the Old Testament when Zacchaeus was saved he didn't give 10%.
He gave how much?
Was anybody here last Sunday night?
50%, right.
He gave 50%.
So there's not a set amount that is given, giving is voluntary, it's personal.
No one can tell another what or how much to give.
In fact I wonder if setting a rule or a percentage doesn't rob people of the joy and the liberty
of their giving.
We're not to give out of compulsion, out of constraint, we're not to give with a grudge,
he says, that's improper motivation.
We're to give freely, we're to give voluntarily what we give.
If we don't give with that kind of a spirit then our giving isn't really doing any good
spiritually for us anyway.
God is not pleased when we give and then regret that we've given.
So he says whatever you give, whatever you purpose in your heart to give, do that freely,
let it be a voluntary thing.
Guideline number eight is found in verse seven also.
God loves a cheerful giver.
So giving is to be joyful, is to be joyful.
The Macedonians gave that way, we read back in chapter eight verse two that out of that
ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed together
to give the gift.
So they enjoyed giving, it was fun for them.
And as most of you know the word here really is hilarious.
God loves and hilarious giver.
I've said before, I'll say it again, that the most fun part of our whole worship service
ought to be the offering time.
You see that pleases God, giving is to be joyful.
A covetous spirit is one that is an unhappy one.
Greed and selfishness and smallness of heart only produce misery.
Did you ever think about the root of misery?
Miser means to be small.
So being a miser produces misery.
Some of the happiest people in the world are the people who give generously.
I did not say the wealthy.
It doesn't make any difference on one's status of income or possessions.
But those who give generously are the joyful.
I think of a class of ladies in a church where I pastored in Kentucky who for the most part
are in their 60s and 70s and 80s.
I'll leave a little room for some that may be below that.
But most of them are in that age group.
I don't know of a wealthy one in the whole group of them, in a hundred, 120 of them.
Almost every one of them lives month by month on social security.
And yet those ladies every year in the spring take a special offering for the Christian
school related to that church.
Last year out of their meager incomes they pulled together some $7,000 above their regular
giving for the support of that work at the Christian school.
And I'm telling you, you never saw a happier bunch of women than in that Fidelis class.
They really enjoy giving.
Do you enjoy giving?
God loves a joyful giver.
And the more generously that we give, the more joy that we have.
Didn't Jesus say it is more blessed to what?
To give than to receive.
Your children think it's fun now to get Christmas presents, right?
You think it's fun to get birthday presents.
Well everybody enjoys getting a present.
Let me tell you what you're going to enjoy more than getting a Christmas present or a
birthday present.
You're going to enjoy growing up becoming a mother or daddy and watching your children
open presents.
It's a lot more fun to give them to you than it is for you to get them.
Giving is to be joyful, and it is joyful, for those who are generous and are not misers.
And then nine, giving increases one's harvest.
In verse six the apostle says, this I say, he who sows sparingly shall also reap sparingly,
and he who sows bountifully shall also reap bountifully.
Then verse 10, now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and
multiply your seed for sowing, and increase the harvest of your righteousness.
And you will be enriched in everything for all liberality, which through us is producing
thanksgiving to God.
You know what he's saying here?
That as we give it increases our harvest.
Our harvest spiritually for one thing.
He says that the more that we give the more we are laying up in heaven, the more we are
investing with God.
Yeah, somebody says, but the return on that is not material, it's spiritual.
Is there something so wrong with that?
There is a teaching these days in some circles that if you give generously God's going to
make you a rich person.
God never promises that.
But God does say that as we give generously our harvest will increase.
Down here we are sowing.
Our harvest is coming in heaven, folks.
So that as you and I lay up treasure in heaven, as Jesus told us to, we are being wise.
We are investing in spiritual things and heavenly things so that when we get to heaven we will
have sent it on ahead.
And there we get our dividends.
He also suggests here that as we are faithful in giving, God gives us more to give.
As we sow the seed, as he calls it, God gives us additional seed to sow.
The farmer must invest his seed.
He can't selfishly hoard it and expect to get a harvest.
Likewise, we have to sow in giving if we expect to have a harvest in heaven.
Number ten, giving supplies the need of the moment.
The ministry of this service is not only fully supplying the needs of the saints, but is
also overflowing through many thanksgivings to God.
He says, I want you Corinthians to know that all of this giving that is taking place is
glorifying God, in addition to that, he says, it's meeting fully supplying the needs of
the saints.
Regular giving is God's normal method of providing for the needs of the ministry.
There are some people who wait to have a feeling before they give.
They concern me.
You and I should not give in response to emotional appeals.
We have a lot of that these days on radio and especially television, where we are shown
people in poverty and children who are hungry and have flies all around their eyes and their
mouths.
That evokes pity and mercy from us.
We have a feeling about that.
We want to do something that's normal.
Be very careful in responding to that kind of pressure.
Never sit down and write, never call 800 numbers and say, I'm going to give this amount of
money in response to that kind of an appeal.
Always wait a day or two and then let God direct you in your giving.
Do not give emotionally, but give regularly.
That's what the apostle is talking about here.
He says through this giving, God supplies the needs of the saints, the needs of the
ministry.
I'm a firm believer that giving should be planned, and I believe that God's planned
pattern is that giving should be primarily through the local church and be overseen by
the appointed leadership within a local church.
I think we see that clearly back in chapter 16 of 1 Corinthians, where again he mentions
concerning the collection for the saints.
He says, I direct you just like I did the churches of Galatia.
Notice he's giving this instruction to the churches.
He says, on the first day of every week, let each one of you put aside and save as he may
prosper that no collections be made when I come.
Two or three things I'd have you notice here, point out to you.
Number one, he says, on the first day of the week, this is to be done.
Why do you say the first day of the week?
Probably because that's when they met together as an assembly.
Some people say that, well, Paul is suggesting here that they keep a little savings account
at home and then divvy out of that.
If that was the case, why did they have to do it on the first day of the week?
They did it on the first day of the week because that's when they met as a church.
That's when they worshiped together.
That's when they assembled together.
And so it suggests the implication here is that it was at the assembly where they were
to set the money aside.
Furthermore, he says that we are to lay it aside in store, as the King James says.
The word store there is the word thesaurus.
Now, you English people understand thesaurus.
That is a book of synonyms.
It's a treasury of words.
And the word thesaurus in the Greek means treasury, a money box, a chest.
The background of that word goes to the Greek and pagan temples of that day where they had
these chests, these money boxes.
People would go and they would give the money to their gods in these boxes.
Eventually, though, these deposit places were the place where people stored all of their
money.
They figured that no one would dare break into the temple and steal because that's
the place of the gods, so they fell safe, leaving all of their money there.
And in fact, in some of the temples, they even had safe deposit boxes, just like our
banks do today.
That's the background of this word that is translated in some versions, store here, lay
up in store.
And again, it is a strong suggestion of bringing our money and keeping it together, not each
one keeping it in its own place.
Furthermore, the apostle says, I want you to do this so that there will be no collections
when I come.
Now, if everybody was keeping their own little bank account when Paul would come, what's
the first thing they'd have to do?
Have a collection.
So, he's saying, do the collecting before I get there.
Bring it together, store it in one place so that when I come, it will be all together
in one place.
So you see, through our regular systematic giving, through the lo- you say, is there
a place for giving apart from giving through the local church?
Yes, I think there is.
I don't think there's anything wrong with our hearts being sensitive to give in other
places for other needs, as God may direct us.
But I believe that our regular, planned, systematic giving ought to be in and through the ministry
of the local church.
That is God's program.
Chapter 11, giving glorifies God.
We already suggested at the end of verse 12 that is so.
He goes on in verse 13 to say, because of the proof given by this ministry, they will
glorify God for your obedience to your confession of the gospel of Christ and for the liberality
of your contribution to them and to all.
So what is he saying?
He's saying, as you give, the result of this is not only going to be that the needs of
the ministry are met, that the saints will be cared for, but the result will be that
God will be greatly glorified.
And the more you give, the more glory that will go to God.
Why do you give?
I know why most of you give.
You give to honor God, to glorify God.
And that's the right motive.
We ought not to be like that Pharisee in the temple who gave to be seen of men.
Rather, we ought to give quietly and in secret into the glory of God.
Unfortunately, there are people who have other motives for giving.
There are some people who like to use their money as a weapon, and that doesn't glorify
God.
I have known of wealthy people who wanted their way in the church, and when they didn't
get their way, the congregation went another way.
They withheld their giving, or they began to designate it all to a certain place.
That is not giving that glorifies God.
Or sometimes there's someone who doesn't like a decision, or there's a misunderstanding
with the preacher.
And so he says, I'm not going to give anything.
I'll show him.
I'll show that church.
Do you see how that is a dishonor to God?
Giving is to glorify God.
That's to be the motive of our giving.
God, I give not for men.
I don't even give for the church.
I give to you.
There are some people who ask, well, I go to a church that is a part of a certain organization
like the National Council of Churches, and I don't agree with what they're doing.
Should I give my money in that church?
My answer to that is no.
I would not give my money in a church if I did not agree with that church and with its
associations.
I wouldn't give my money there.
I wouldn't even be a member there, for one thing.
When we give our money, we need to trust the leadership.
If we don't trust the leadership, then we ought not to even be in the church, actually.
When we give our money, it's because we want to glorify God and we trust the leadership
and we trust the church to do the right and the wise thing to the honor of God.
Giving that way glorifies God.
It unifies the church.
It accomplishes the work of God.
Then number 12, we see that giving is a matter of obedience.
In verse 13, he says, they will glorify God for your obedience to your confession of the
gospel of Christ.
My giving proves the subordination of my life to my Master.
My giving shows that I really mean it when I call Him Lord.
It evidences the fact that I realize that I am a steward, that all I have is from God,
that He has entrusted to me what resources I do have.
Out of those resources now, as a steward, I need to obediently and faithfully give.
It's required in a steward that he be found faithful.
By the way, I think that's another reason why the Apostle said that they should do this
the first day of every week.
It was so that there would be a weekly or at least a regular reminder to them of their
obedience and their submission to the Lordship of Christ as they gave what they had to give.
It was a reminder, God owns all of this.
I am giving this as a matter of my service to Him.
Those are 12 guidelines for giving as found in the Word of God.
These are not my ideas.
These are not my standards.
These are God's guidelines.
You know, one of the basic sins to man is greed.
That's why one of the Ten Commandments found in Exodus 20 verse 17 says, Thou shalt not
covet.
In our society today, there is the approval and promotion of covetousness and greed.
And I tell you, it's tough.
It is tough to pull away from that as believers.
And yet, covetousness and greed robs us of joy and liberty in our giving.
It robs us of receiving God's abundance of blessing in return.
It robs us of our eternal dividends in heaven.
Covetousness is a terrible sin.
Covetousness is idolatry.
Greed is not only one of the basic sins of man, but it's also one of the most subtle
of sins.
So easily do we all rationalize its presence in our lives.
John MacArthur tells of a priest who heard years and years of confessions from his parishioners,
but he admitted that not once had he ever heard anyone confess the sin of covetousness.
It behooves all of us to examine our hearts to see if that sin be there, to see if we
are giving according to God's guidelines.
Now frankly, for some to be able to give as freely as they like, they have to get out
of debt.
One of the greatest problems in our society today is that very one, indebtedness.
We are told all the time that we need this card or we need this account in order to get
ourselves further into debt and pay more interest.
What some of us need to do is to get out of debt.
And if we're serious about that, it means that we give up our charge cards, we stop
borrowing and we get ourselves on a budget that is limited and which will provide for
our essential needs, but above and beyond that, we give to God and we get ourselves
out of debt.
There are some materials you can get if that is a need for you, for your family to get
out of debt.
It is important that we learn how to handle money.
You know why that is?
One of the basic principles that Jesus gives to us in the Gospels, I think it's in Luke
Chapter 16.
He says, if we do not know, you listen to this, if we do not know how to handle money,
he says, who is going to entrust to you the true riches?
In other words, spiritual responsibility.
There are some people who are very eager to have spiritual responsibility.
They want to be leaders and yet they haven't yet learned how to handle money.
And Jesus said that has to come first.
And so as you aspire to serve God in a great way or to be a leader in God's work, may
I exhort you first to look after your stewardship, to learn how to handle money, and then the
Lord says that he will entrust to you the true spiritual riches.
How can we be stingy or less than generous when we consider how great God's gift is
to us?
The apostle closes by saying, thanks be to God for his indescribable gift.
Out of our gratitude to God for that gift, may we follow the guidelines for giving as
he has given them to us in his word.
Let's pray together.
Our heads are bowed, our eyes are closed.
The message today has been a very particular, pointed one.
It may be that you're here and you're not a Christian at all.
Let me underscore in your heart that it is not your money that will gain you entrance
into heaven.
It's not how much you give.
Has nothing to do with that.
Indeed, you must see yourself as an impoverished sinner with nothing to bring to God.
You must see yourself as needy of his salvation if you will be saved.
If you've never trusted the one who died for you and rose again, the one who in grace
impoverished himself that you might be rich, will you trust him today?
And those of us who've done that, do we need to confess anything today?
Do we need to talk to God about what his word says in this matter of giving?
Some of us may.
And Father, may our talking with you and the decisions that we make in light of that and
our actions from here on regarding our stewardship reflect the teaching of your word.
I pray that we will not just be hearers of it, but doers of it.
Even if that means sacrifice, even if that means changing the way that we live, the way
that we think, even if it means confessing the sin of covetousness, whatever it takes
for us to get us into the place of obedience and therefore blessing, I pray that you will
work in our lives to that end.
Thank you so much for what Jesus has done for us, what he has given for us.
May we now be gracious in our giving to reflect your grace.
We pray in Jesus' name, amen.