Good morning.
Congratulations.
You made it on time.
Yeah.
I was telling John during announcements
when all the late people show up in an hour
we'll say, and for those of you that were on time
you know, the prize you got
you know, just enjoy that.
And then have all the late people going, what did we miss?
Right? Well welcome
everybody that is here
and for those of you that may be watching this later
today because daylight savings time
got you, welcome.
We're so glad you're all here today
to join us in worship and we just love
to start the day by welcoming
anybody that's here for the first time or online
for the first time. We just love
worshiping with all of you.
So I am Pastor Nathan and
today we are
doing part three
of our four part series
on generosity and giving
dealing with what I am calling
the doctrine of giving.
So far in this series
we have looked at things like what the church
is, really establishing
a basis for our
called collective
participation in the
body of Christ because we are
the body of Christ. And then we
looked at the heart of giving. Really
kind of looking at why we
give. Why giving is a thing in the Bible
and we really saw that giving is
primarily for us. It's not
for God. It's not that God is
desperate for our money
and our time. He's not, you know,
missing out and just wringing his hands
going oh shoot if we could just afford this
and that. It's for us because
giving is a part of our
faith walk. It's a part of us
living the life that reflects
our savior. It's a part of
us living in obedience to him and
following his example
of generosity as
well as when we do so there are so
many promises in God's word that
he will bless us when we are obedient
in every way and this includes
our giving and our financial
outlooks. And so today
we're going to look at what scripture
says about giving and generosity
from a doctrinal point of
view. And that word doctrine for
those of you that may not know it simply means instruction.
But it's instruction
especially as it applies
to lifestyle
application.
It's not just knowledge but it's living
the knowledge. That's what doctrine is about.
How should we live?
Doctrine is teaching imparted
by an authoritative source
and in the case of the Bible
that's God. So everything we
read in scripture about everything
about living, about life including
our finances, it is God's
teaching for how we should
be living. 2 Timothy
3 16 tells us this. It says
all scripture
and that includes both the Old Testament
and the New Testament is
inspired by God and is profitable
for teaching, for rebuking,
for correcting and for training
in righteousness.
And that word there you see
there teaching in that verse in
the New King James Version it actually says
doctrine. So it's
profitable for doctrine.
Now biblical doctrine is what
helps us understand the will of God for our
lives as His people. It teaches
us the nature and the character
of God. It teaches us
the path to salvation.
It teaches us about sin
and who we are in relation
to all of that. It also
gives us instructions for the church,
how we're to operate together as the
body of Christ as well as God's standard
for holiness or his
standard of holiness for
our living.
And yes this includes what we do
with our money and that is why we are going
through this series.
When we base our doctrine soundly on
scripture
we can know that we're living the way
God wants us to live and behaving
the way God wants us to behave and
doing what God wants us to
do. And so today we're going to develop
a number of principles taught
in the word of God in
scripture both the Old Testament
and the New Testament and we're going to talk
about how those principles that we find
in God's word apply to us today,
how we apply those things in our lives today
so that when it comes to our
finances, when it comes to our money
we can know that we're living the way
God wants us to live.
Not the way any
church wants us to live or any
pastor wants you to live or any
organization wants you to live but how God
wants you to live because he is the
source, he is the authority
and he is the one we want to model our lives after.
Amen. Alright let's pray
Father we love you
we thank you God
and Lord we know that our
relationship with you is a
daily, moment by moment
yielding of our life and laying
down our life at your feet God.
Yielding ourselves to your authority and
your Lordship because
you're our Lord and Savior and
God there's so many areas of our
lives Lord that your word teaches us about
where we do need to lay down
our will, submit
our will to your will and God
our finances, our money
is no different Lord.
God there are people who
may look at teaching within the
church about money and want to lay
accusation and point the finger
and but Lord is your
people we don't want to
shy away from what your word teaches about
anything. We don't want to
turn away from it, we don't want to neglect
it God but we want to know.
We want to know what it is you have
for us God and that's why we turn to your
word for teaching. We turn to
your word for doctrine.
And so teach us today God.
Encourage us Lord from your word these principles
on stewardship and
principles of finances and principles of
what you want us to do with the
resources you've given us God that
we would be people who glorify your name
in every area of our life
God. And Lord we
don't want to do anything else but your
will. We want to know how you want
us to react, how you want us to live
so that we glorify you with our lives.
God teach us today,
encourage us today, speak to us today.
Lord challenge us today
if that's what is necessary.
God we even invite you to rebuke
us today God if that's what you
need to do Lord because all scripture
truly is inspired by you
and is profitable
Lord for teaching us, for
rebuking us, for correcting us
and training us Lord in right
living and righteousness.
We love you God and we want to praise
your name today for what you're about to share with
us and we want to praise your name for what you've done
in our lives and we want to thank you God
for every blessing
and everything you've given to us Lord.
You are almighty.
You are so worthy. You are love.
You are everything God. We love
you and we thank you. It's in Jesus
name we pray. Amen.
Well good morning.
Need to make a clarification
from last week because there was at least
two of you who approached me
which means there was probably more of you
that are thinking it. But I told
a story last week about
me going to the bank and withdrawing
some money. Right?
And somebody came up to me after and they're like
you didn't take the ten dollars back to the bank?
So I'd like to give a
clarification there.
I legally withdrew
too much money
which was ten dollars more than I had intended
to withdraw but it was
legitimate. It was on the withdrawal slip
and so it was indeed
legally my money and so
I didn't think I was withdrawing
that much and so I wanted
to clarify that for those of you that were
concerned that your pastor is a bank
thief.
I'm not. Maybe
in another life without Jesus but no
I'm not a bank thief you know.
And I wanted to straighten that
out. So
today I'm going to attempt
to be as thorough
as I can with the hour
that we have together to go through
scripture and to
bring out the principles
that scripture teaches us so that we know
what God's word says about giving,
about generosity.
Now it is said that from
Genesis to Revelation that there's
about five hundred
verses about prayer.
It's also said that there's
about five hundred verses
about faith but there's over
two thousand verses
on the subject of money
and our possessions.
And so we're going to look at every single one of
those today. Just kidding.
Some of you
are like we don't doubt you Pastor Nathan.
Okay.
Now we don't have time to go
through everything exhaustively but I'm
going to pull out some highlights there but
really we have to understand that money is an important
topic. It affects
so much of our life.
Relationships
sometimes have struggles over finances
and arguments over finances.
And it governs so much
of our lives and we're constantly thinking about
these things and I think that's why
God speaks so much
into the reality of our finances
and our money and what we do with it
and our understanding and approach
to all of it. You know Jesus talked about money and
possessions a lot. I said
in a previous study that he actually talked about
money more than he talked about love.
If you can imagine that. It's
quite an important topic.
Sixteen of his 38 parables
deal with how we handle
our finances and our possessions.
In the Gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke,
and John one out of every ten verses
deals directly with the subject
of money.
So how we handle our money
it really is an important thing.
It reveals much about
our priorities, about our loyalties,
about our affections.
And when it comes to us being God's children
and understanding our finances it has
a lot to do with just our walk and our
obedience and our life for him.
So one of the foundational
principles to understand when it comes
to our finances biblically is the
principle of stewardship.
Stewardship.
You see in Genesis chapter
one verse one, see I told you we're
starting at the beginning here.
It says in the beginning God
created the heavens
and the earth.
That's a foundational understanding.
I'm excited to dig into that when we start
the book of Genesis.
But Psalms chapter 24 verse one
says the earth and everything in it,
the world and its inhabitants belong
to who?
Belong to the Lord.
Right? This tells us something
very important
that as creator
God has
absolute rights
of ownership
to everything.
Everything. All things.
Missing
this foundational principle
really causes everything
else not to line up properly when we
go through scripture and understanding
everything including our finances.
That God owns
everything. It all belongs
to him. He is the owner.
We as his
creation are
blessed and honored to
be managers or
stewards of what is
his. And that's where the idea
of stewardship
comes from. Now stewardship
extends far past
our money, right?
As his creation
we are stewards of the time
he gives us and how we use that time.
As his creation we are stewards
of the talents and the gifts he gives
us and how we use those.
But we're also stewards of the
financial and material resources that
he gives us. It's about
stewarding our entire being
as his servants.
And so stewardship defines our
practical obedience in
the administration of everything
that's under our control.
Everything
entrusted to us by
him is what falls
under that umbrella.
Which is everything
because as we've established
it belongs to his because he is
creator. Stewardship
acknowledges in practice
that we do not have the right of
control over ourselves
or over our possessions.
They're given
to us to manage on his
behalf.
And so that's the idea is that we simply manage what
belongs to him under his authority
according to his
word. And so the
idea of stewardship really is something
that expresses our total
obedience to Jesus
Christ who we call as
his children he's our Lord
and he's our Savior.
And right so this idea of stewardship
really begs the question in
our lives. Am I
the Lord of my life
or is Jesus the
Lord of my life?
That's what the concept of stewardship
really brings up.
Is my life yielded to him
or am I running the
show? And again
as we've mentioned in previous studies you know
there are areas of our lives where it's
really easy to yield to him
and there are some areas where we
still kind of hold on right?
You know the famous song Jesus
take the wheel right?
You know and in many cases
when it comes to our finances we're like bro
the back seat's comfortable.
You stay there I'll drive
right?
And really that's not the
obedience that God calls from us. We don't
pick and choose the areas
of our life where we yield.
Where we lay down our
will to his will. It's in every area of life
we're called to. And so the next
principle I want to bring up biblically is this
principle of firstfruits. We see
this from the Old Testament and even
through the New Testament but the idea of
the first fruit
was the idea that the first
and the best part
of a harvest of crops
or produce
or animals
and all of that and even sons
in the family the first. The
best of what God had given
in that was really called
the first fruit right?
It was the first off the top.
In Exodus chapter 23 19 we
read this. It says bring the best
of the first fruits
and that word best really means the first.
So it's the first of your first fruits
of your land to the house
of the Lord your God.
Now the principle
of the first fruit
is essentially that it's about
putting the Lord first in
every area of your life.
It's putting
him first. It's giving him the
best of everything in your life. It's
committing it to him. It's the first of our
time right?
It's the first of our finances.
It's the first of our
talents. It's the first
place in our families.
It's that God gets
the first and the idea of the first
fruits principle is
God you get the first of
everything in my life and then I'm
going to trust your provision
with the rest. This is the
principle of the first fruits.
This applies
in many different areas of our lives.
Now again these things aren't
to be a legalistic type of thing and we're going
to talk about that more but coming
to church on the first day of
the week is
a picture. It's a form of
giving God the first of our time.
The very first
of the week we start our week with gathering together
and saying God we want to worship
you. Now that doesn't mean if you're
unable to come to church on Sunday that
you're doing something wrong.
We know that Paul said look
some of you esteem one day over the other and it's
like just worship God. But
for most of us it's we set aside
this time on the first of the week to give to
him. Giving to God
the first from our financial
increase is a picture
of giving God the first
of our finances. The first fruit
of what he's given us. Proverbs
chapter 3 verse 9 says it this way
honor the Lord with your possessions
and with the first produce
of your entire harvest.
Then your barns will be completely filled
and your vats will overflow
with new wine.
Now that phrase first produce
there in other translations
it's first fruits.
And then when he says the first produce
of your entire harvest
in the New King James that phrase entire
harvest is simply increase.
So you read it in the New King James where he
says honor the Lord with the
first fruits of your
increase.
Now in the Old Testament
we understand that most
of the people were farmers.
They raised crops, they
raised animals, and
so these crops as they raised these crops
they would partake of the
crops but then they would also sell these things
as a part of their income.
Those that raised animals. They would
birth animals and these animals would get
sold and given off. And it was a part of
their income.
Well today not
many of us are farmers.
Right?
Is there anybody in here an active farmer?
No, not a one,
right? I can't see.
Now we might know farmers
but in our culture today here
in Southern California not many of us
are farmers but instead we're
bankers, we're mechanics,
we're teachers,
we're professionals of one kind
or another, we might be business owners,
right? And so our increase,
our harvest
comes in a different way. It doesn't
come in crops,
it doesn't come in a high birth rate
with our animals that we're taking care of
but it comes in the form of what we call our
paycheck. Okay?
It's our income.
It's the increase that is promised to us
and the biblical principle of first fruits
is simply this. Honor
the Lord first
with the first part of the fruits
of your labor.
That's the idea of the first fruit principle,
okay? And then he gives a promise
here in Exodus
or I'm sorry in Proverbs, he says
you won't have lack, right? He goes,
then your barns will be completely filled and your vats will overflow
with new wine.
The idea is that as you
honor the Lord with your possessions
and you honor the Lord with the first
part of your increase,
what you're given, what you earn, what you make,
the picture here is he says
you won't have lack. You're not going to go
without your needs being fulfilled.
And that's often one of the big
reasons we struggle with giving.
Oh no, I'm not going to have enough.
Oh no, my needs aren't going to be
fulfilled. Oh no, oh no.
And constantly
the idea is God is constantly trying
to get us, his people, to say
I trust you Lord. I trust
you, right?
And so this idea
of the first
goes to God.
This is all over the Old Testament.
We see it in so many different ways.
In the story of Cain and Abel, and I'm going to talk
more about this next week,
we see that Abel brought an offering to God
and so did Cain. And we read
that God accepted Abel's offering, he didn't
accept Cain's offering, right?
Now when you read the details of that story, what you
see is that Abel brought the first
of his harvest.
In Cain's
portion of the story it says, basically I'm going to
paraphrase, when he got around to it,
he brought God an offering.
It wasn't the first fruit.
And God rejected
Cain's offering and took Abel's, right?
We're going to see more of that next week when we get into
those ideas of the practicality of
stuff, but one of the stories that I think
really illustrates this in a neat way is the fall of
Jericho. You guys remember that story in the Old Testament?
Right? Israel entered the promised
land, the very first
city that they were going
to go conquer and God's name was Jericho.
And it's a beautiful
story, but in that story,
what God told Joshua and
the people of Israel that
they were not to keep any of the spoils
of that city. All of
it was to go to God. Don't take the silver,
don't take the gold, don't take any of the spoils
of the conquest. It all belongs
to God.
Now there are other conquests, they were able to
keep some of the spoils. You might go, well that's interesting,
why did God say that?
Well because it was the first
city conquered in the promised land.
It was the first
fruit of the conquest.
And the first belongs
to God. And so
you'll notice there, he didn't say, hey Joshua,
take Israel and
go conquer ten cities.
Take everything you want and then give
me what was left over.
He doesn't say that, he says the first
one belongs to me.
It goes to the Lord.
And so,
as you can imagine, that took faith.
They had been wandering the wilderness for forty years.
They're finally in the
promised land. God says,
I've given you this land, you're going to conquer.
So go conquer this
city with these big walls, right? And then he tells
him this crazy plan, march around it for seven
days and do all this really seemingly
silly stuff and then the walls fall down,
but don't keep any of it. It belongs
to the Lord.
What if
we don't conquer another city?
What if
God doesn't come through?
What if, right?
They had all the fears.
And then in that story we read that when
one person violated God's command,
a man named Achan, it
cursed the entire effort to take
the promised land. The whole
effort was cursed.
Everything. And then fortunately they dealt
with that and things got back on track.
We have to understand that in our lives
we have to deal with our disobedience
in giving
God the first of our lives as well.
And when we're off track we have to deal with that so
we can get back on track.
Now the first part that was given to
God in the Old Testament
was often referred to as the
tithe. Many of you are familiar with
this word, the tithe, and this is the
principle of the tithe. Now the
tithe was something that was considered
consecrated to the Lord. It was
consecrated to God.
It was consecrated to the Lord's
house, which was at the time the
tabernacle and then the temple, right?
It was to be given to
God's house. The place that was
the central gathering point
of God's people and their spiritual
growth and efforts.
And they said it goes there. Now
the tithe, for those of you that
don't know, is a word that literally means
a tenth. That's what
tithe means. Tithe
means ten percent, right?
That's where we get that idea, and you
might hear it when people talk about their giving
and they go, we'll give ten percent, right? It comes
from this idea of the tithe.
Now it was a command
that was given to the Israelites as part of the
Mosaic law, right?
And it was ten percent of everything they
earned. Ten percent of everything
they grew went to
the temple. We read about this in
Leviticus 2730 and
Numbers 1826 and
Deuteronomy 1424.
But these funds that were given to
the temple were to fund
the temple. They were also
there to provide for the full-time Levitical
priests. Because in the Old
Testament we understand that all the tribes of Israel
were given land. They
were given businesses. They were given
ways to earn income, right?
But those that were called to serve
God and then minister to the people full
time, they didn't get any land.
And so they depended solely
on the donation, the generosity of the
people they served so that they could eat,
so that they could live, so that they had a livelihood.
And so that was part of where the tithe went to.
It was also to fund the
festivals and the celebrations that Israel
had, like Passover and
all the different feasts. The money that everybody
participated and collectively gave
to the temple went to fund those
things. And it also went to just help
the poor and to feed those that were
suffering and that
had lack. And so the idea there
again in the Old Testament was that the body,
the people of God collectively
participated in the work
of what was the spiritual center of their
culture. Now it's
interesting if you study through the Old Testament,
you'll find that
there was multiple
tithes required of the people.
The first one, the 10%,
that was just the first one.
Collectively, the legally
required tithes under the Mosaic Law
actually came to about 23.3%
of their annual income.
So 10% was just the starting
point. It wasn't the ending point,
okay? Now I could feel
right now the whole room just went, ugh.
Okay, we're still
going through this, right?
On top
of the Old Testament commanded tithe
of 23.3%, again
there was multiple tithes,
God also directed His people, the Israelites,
to give what was called a freewill offering.
We read about this in Deuteronomy 16,
10. He says, you are to celebrate
the festival of weeks to the Lord
your God with a freewill offering
that you give in proportion
to how your Lord God has blessed you.
So there was tithes
of percentages, you're going to
give 10%, it was commanded,
you're going to give da-da-da-da, and it all totaled out
to 23.3%, it was commanded.
Then on top of that, there was
a commanded, you pick
the amount you want to give in proportion
to how God has blessed you offering.
It was called a freewill offering.
Now for Israel,
not giving
according to the commandments of God,
according to the law, the Mosaic law,
was considered stealing
from God. It wasn't considered like
oh, you just didn't give, you were actually
stealing from God. God said
so Himself in Malachi chapter 3.
We read this last week, but
we're going to read it again. Verse 8
it says, God speaking, will a man rob God?
Yet you are
robbing me. How do we
rob you, the people ask, by not making
the payments of the tenth, that's the tithe
and the contributions, that's the freewill
offerings. You are suffering under
a curse, yet you, the whole nation, are
still robbing me.
Bring the full tenth into the storehouse
so that there may be food in my house.
Test me in this way, says the Lord of armies.
See if I will not open
the floodgates of heaven and pour out a blessing
for you without measure.
I will rebuke the devourer for you
so that it will not ruin the produce of your
land and your vine in your field
will not fail to produce fruit, says
the Lord of armies.
So, that shows us that
when the people disobeyed
God, when it came to
the tithes and offerings, the law that
they were commanded to do, they fell under
a curse.
What does that mean?
Their crops didn't grow as well.
Their animals didn't give offspring as well.
Their grapes didn't,
their vineyards didn't produce as well.
And so, their ability to
earn decreased.
It says it was hindered by the devourer.
Now, in the original language, that word
devourer, most commentators
believe it's referring to locusts,
right? Locusts would come and devour the
field. And if you guys know anything about
locust swarms, they're devastating, right?
They're devastating. They just eat everything.
But, when the people were
obedient to what God had
commanded them to do, God
himself, he says, I will rebuke
the devourer.
And the fruit of their labor was then
decursed, right?
So, God was saying, look, you do what I
tell you to do,
I'm blessing you. You disobey me,
well, sorry, I'm not going
to rebuke the devourer, right?
So, the principle here, again, the principle
is that when we don't honor God
in our giving, blessing in our lives is
impacted negatively, right?
That's the principle here.
Conversely, when we're obedient to God
in the area of generosity and giving,
God works on our behalf that blessing
will not fail, okay?
But the big question that comes up
when we talk about the Old Testament
and tithing and stuff is, is
the tithe for
Christians today?
Are we bound by that?
Are we under the 10%
rule? Or the
23.3% rule?
Some of you are going, please don't say that.
Right? Are
we required?
If not, is
there any required amount of giving
that is required of Christians? And we're going to deal
with some of those questions, but first,
let's look at what the New Testament has to say
about giving.
In 1 Corinthians chapter 16, verses
1 and 2, Paul writing
to the Corinthian church says, now about the
collection for the saints, and this is
a financial collection that they were
doing. He says, do the same as
I instructed the Galatian churches.
On the first day of the week,
each of you is to set something aside
and save in keeping with how
he is prospering, so that no collections
will need to be made when I come.
Now I mentioned
in a previous study that that word instructed
there in the Greek is a word
that literally means commanded.
So Paul is saying to the Corinthian
church regarding the collection
for the saints, do the same
as I commanded the Galatian
churches. So
giving, generosity,
financial support
within the church from God's people for the
work of the ministry is
a commandment of the New Testament, right?
Giving is not optional
is what this is telling us.
Now there's a number of details here
that kind of show us what the New Testament
says about giving.
You'll notice there that he said on the first day of the week,
each of you is to set something
aside. What does that tell us?
Nobody's exempt.
Nobody's exempt. All in the
church are expected to give,
to be generous, including
with their finances, every single
person. And then he says
on the first day of the week,
what does that tell us?
That giving is to be regular,
regular, consistent.
It's not to be every once in a blue
moon when you feel
like it or when you're feeling
particularly generous or when
you feel like, okay, I have enough extra,
but it's meant to be regular
and consistent. You know, how often
does the first day of the week come around?
Every seven days.
Right?
Now, I will
say this, that as I was studying this and I was thinking
about this, again, we are not
under a legalistic type of
law in the New Testament, right?
We're not bound legalistically to things
and so the question comes up, well, if
I give once a month, is that considered
regular? If I give every two weeks, is that
considered regular? I believe so.
I believe the point here, the idea
of what this is, is be regular,
be consistent,
okay? So you're not sinning if you don't
do it every seven days per se,
but there is this idea of
being regular in your giving.
It's interesting because I was looking up
some statistics and
according to 2023
statistics of the church in America,
only 10 to 25 percent
of modern church congregations
give regularly.
Only 10 to 25 percent.
You know, that's tough.
It makes it difficult to do things
collectively, you know, as the body of Christ,
but he said,
set something aside.
He was telling the Corinthians
church, on the first day of the week, each of you is to
set something aside.
That phrase indicates
forethought, right? It indicates
preparation, it indicates
intentionality, it indicates
decision.
It's not the, oh shoot,
they're about to do the giving right now,
what do I have with me?
Oh, here's, here's,
right? It's, no, no, no,
I've thought about what
I want to do. I've planned it. We're going to
see more scriptures about that later,
but the idea here is I've thought about it,
I've planned
what I'm going to give, right? This is the idea of
budgeting, we're going to talk about that next week.
I've talked to my spouse
about it, right? For you married couples, you guys
have together talked about what you want to give.
This is one of the
reasons why I personally, myself,
I love the reoccurring
giving feature in our
online giving platform, right? You could just set up
a reoccurring thing, you know,
because I'm terrible, right? I was the guy
early in my church years where
it was cash or a checkbook, and I never
carried either one, right? And then every week it was
like, oh shoot, oh shoot,
oh shoot, and then six
months later you're like, oh I got a tab.
Wow.
You know, well I can't do that, you know, right?
And then the devil capitalizes that, and the
guilt and condemnation, and
that's not the intent of this relationship,
right? That's not the relationship
God wants to have with us
regarding our finances, and so
for me, I just, I love setting up
reoccurring giving, just do it on this schedule
and poof, you know? I'm faithful
in that, you know? But then
he tells the Corinthian church
this really interesting phrase, he goes,
set something aside
and save in keeping with how
he is prospering.
That is the closest
thing the New Testament says
to an amount that we're supposed to
give, right?
That word keeping with is the
idea of in proportion,
right? In other translations it says
in proportion to how he is
prospering. That word
proportion means a part or an amount that
is considered in relation to a whole.
There's other words in the English
language that might say that
like, I don't know, percentage?
You know what I mean?
There's words that talk about
an amount considered in
relation to a whole.
And so what he's telling the Corinthian church here is there's a
part or an amount of your material
financial prospering, he goes, set it aside.
Set it aside.
It indicates
very clearly that it's
in proportion. So if you're
prospering more,
you should be more
generous. If you're prospering
less, it's okay
to be less generous
in that sense, right?
The idea is it's in proportion
to how God is blessing you.
That's the idea.
And it
also means that as what
God has
entrusted to you increases,
so should your generosity.
That's the idea here.
Interesting again, those stats that I was looking
up, it
said in 2023, for families
that were making
$75,000 a year or more,
only
1% of those people gave
at least 10% to the work
of the ministry.
Now again,
I'm going to build this point here.
There's no number in the New Testament.
There's no percentage in the New Testament,
okay? It's in
proportion, and that's something that is between
you and the Lord to
decide. But the idea
here is that you think about it, you
look at your situation, you budget, you
plan, and then you give.
Paul says, do this so
that no collections will need to be made when I come.
You know, Paul didn't want to show up to the
Corinthian church and make a big
plea and hold a special fundraiser
and do a bake sale and
all that. He just simply
wanted the church there in
the Corinthian church to just, hey everybody,
just be giving regularly
in proportion to what
God is blessing you with. Just do that
regularly so that when I show up, we don't need to
do an extra special offering
for the need that come up because it's
already there, right? This is the
idea. It's when the body collectively
together, each one as it says
here, gives in proportion
to what God has blessed them with.
When everybody does that,
the needs of the body and the saints
and the church, they're met when those needs
arise. That's the idea here.
Some of you have heard the statistic before
and I'm going to paraphrase
it, but
the stat goes, if every
single person in the church today
tithed
or gave 10%
off of a welfare income,
you guys follow that?
Every single person was on a
welfare income and gave 10%.
Every single church in America
would be debt free. Every building
would be paid off. Every missionary would be funded.
Every parachurch ministry would have all the
funding they need to do the work of the kingdom.
Now, I know that some of us are
on very difficult
situations and are on welfare incomes,
but many of us are not, you know?
And so, again, I'm not
here to try and lay guilt on anybody, alright?
I just want to tell you what the word of God says
about these things.
So that's 1 Corinthians 16. We learn a number
of things there that kind of characterize how
giving in the New Testament church should be.
In 2 Corinthians, chapter 8,
Paul is still writing to the
Corinthian church about this issue
and this is what we read starting in verse 1.
It says, We want you to know, brothers and
sisters, about the grace of God that was given
to the churches of Macedonia
during a severe trial brought about
by affliction, their abundant joy
and their extreme poverty
overflowed in a wealth of
generosity on their part.
I can testify that according
to their ability, and even beyond
their ability, of their own accord,
they begged us earnestly
for the privilege of sharing
in the ministry of the saints. And not
just as we had hoped. Instead,
they gave themselves first to the Lord
and then to us by
God's will.
So again, obviously there were some issues in the Corinthian
church because this is 2 Corinthians now
and he's still writing about this issue of
giving in generosity and supporting
the work of the ministry and the work of
just the church that was going on
in general. And what he's doing here
is he's praising the churches in Macedonia
for their generosity.
So let me paint the picture here.
What we're going to see is that the
Corinthians apparently had made a commitment
to give a certain amount of money in support
of the work of the ministry.
And about a year has gone by
and they haven't followed through yet.
They haven't come through yet. And Paul's
going to be going, hey guys,
like there's needs
and you made a commitment and of course
I've already taught you about setting
stuff aside and being ready and everything
and you need to follow through on your commitment
to do what you said you were going to
do. And then he says like
the Macedonian church, far
far far poorer
than you are, in extreme
poverty,
they gave gladly.
They gave willingly. They begged
us for the opportunity to participate
in this joy because they understood
what it was all about. And he says they gave
according to their ability.
That's that same phrase we read in 1 Corinthians
that they gave in proportion
to their prosperity.
Now it wasn't a lot because
again he said they were in extreme poverty.
So it wasn't
about the amount. It was about the heart
of their giving. And then he
said even beyond their ability,
right, the idea there is that
they gave sacrificially, that what they
gave was a sacrifice for
them. Of their own accord
they begged for the privilege of sharing,
that they did it willingly, they did it eagerly,
they did it joyfully. And then
he says instead
they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us
by God's will. The phrasing
there is that their giving was a reflection
of their relationship with Jesus, right?
It was a reflection of their trust
and their obedience and all of that. And so again
we see that giving isn't about
money.
Giving is about giving ourselves to the
Lord fully. Saying, God, I'm
yielding myself to you, I'm yielding
my life, I'm trusting you with
everything, I'm trusting you with my situation.
And when we yield that way,
the work that God does in our hearts, we see
that Biblical giving will follow.
So there's an idea of the heart issue.
Now later on in
2 Corinthians chapter 8, starting in verse
8, he says to them, he goes,
I'm not saying this is a command, but rather
by means of the diligence of others
I am testing the genuineness
of your love.
Did that
verse make anybody else uncomfortable for a
second? Let me
read what Paul says again.
I'm not saying this is a command,
rather by means of the diligence
of others, that's the Macedonians,
he goes, I'm testing the genuineness
of your love.
That's a scary verse.
Because what he's dealing with with
the Corinthian church is their giving and their generosity.
And he's
linking it to
testing the genuineness of their love.
That's
a scary thing to think about.
But again,
what does the Bible say here?
He goes in verse 9, for you know
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, though he
was rich, for your sake he became poor,
so that by his poverty you might become
rich. And in this matter,
I'm giving advice because it is
profitable for you, who began
last year, not only to do
something, but also to want to
do it. Now also
finish the task so that just
as there was an eager desire,
there may also be a completion,
according to what you have.
For if the eagerness is there,
the gift is acceptable, according to what
the person has, not according to what the person
does not have.
It's not that there should be relief for others
and hardship for you, but it is
a question of equality.
And so
the first thing we see there is like,
look, your relationship with Christ
is going to reflect
the character of Christ in our lives.
We talked about that last week a lot,
that one of the chief characteristics
we see about God with his love
and everything is that he's generous.
And as his people, we should
be generous, right?
Again, as I said earlier,
that the idea of giving and how we
handle our money really demonstrates the
priority of our heart, where our affections
lie, where our loyalties lie. I'm not
saying that giving is
the sole indicator,
like, are you a Christian? Let's see how much you gave.
There are some churches that abuse this
radically, and that's not what I'm saying.
But when we get
the Lord we serve and we get what he did
for us, he goes, you know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, though he was rich, he became poor for you.
The idea is that
Jesus gave so much to us.
He literally laid
down his life that we would be eternally
saved.
And the result of that, he goes, just
be obedient to me, just be obedient.
And that includes these
ideas of what to do with our finances,
right? Just be obedient, trust
me. And so Corinthians, he says,
you made a commitment last year to give, but you haven't
followed through.
Now he says this interesting verse here,
he goes, if the eagerness is there, the gift is acceptable
according to what he has, not according
to what he does not have. What's the
idea here?
The Corinthians, it's not about the amount, it's about
the heart, right?
Look at the Macedonian churches.
They gave generously,
they gave eagerly, they gave with joy.
And it was just this beautiful
representation of their great love and joy
and relationship with Jesus Christ, and
their understanding of
what that meant. And so they just wanted to be generous
the way he was generous. And so he's telling the Corinthian
church, don't back out of your commitment.
And it really seems
to appear that they're trying to
back out of the commitment or they haven't followed
through yet, because maybe they committed
a lot.
Maybe he said, we're going to give this much!
And then they went, why did we say
that?
And they're like, well, let's wait.
And then now it's a year
later and Paul's going, guys,
come on.
He goes, look, if you
overcommitted,
then change the
amount. But don't
not give because you can't give
what you think is a lot.
He goes, don't not
give, he goes, just give
from what you have.
God's not asking us to give from what we
don't have.
God's just saying, look, I gave
you this, whatever that
is, and that is different for every single
one of us.
God says, just be generous.
And we're going to see in a little bit
that that's different for each one of us.
How much isn't
the issue?
It's the trust and the willingness
and the imitation of Christ in faithful generosity.
That's the issue.
That's the issue of giving. And so by
the end of this very long section,
Paul's speaking to the Corinthians about,
hey guys, follow through, right?
Do what you said you were going to do.
Don't get wrapped up in how much it is
or whatever, just give from what you have, right?
Be generous the way God is generous.
And then at the end of it,
in 2 Corinthians chapter 9, verse 6,
he goes, the point is this.
The person who sows
sparingly will also reap sparingly,
and the person who sows generously will
also reap generously. Each
person should do as he is
decided in his heart,
not reluctantly or out of compulsion
since God loves a cheerful
giver. And so,
a generous heart is the standard,
right?
But what is generous
for you is different
than what is generous for me.
What is
sparing for you
is different than what is sparing
for me. You guys
understand?
No church,
no pastor,
nobody can tell you
it has to be
this much.
Nobody can tell you that.
But, whether
you, for you,
and me, for me,
are being generous
or are being stingy,
what he says is expect the same in return.
Expect the same in return, right?
That's that reciprocity
principle he looked at in Luke 6.
Given it will be given to you.
Over and
over throughout the entire Bible,
God says, I'm paraphrasing
again, but be generous
as I am generous. And
watch me take care of you.
Watch me provide for your needs.
Watch me, watch me just
bless you.
But just, just trust me.
And here's the reality.
And you know, you
may disagree with me with this, I don't know.
But you know if you're being
generous or stingy. You know.
You know your situation.
You know your income.
You know your job situation.
You know, you know you.
I don't.
But guess who else knows you?
God.
God knows your situation.
God knows your heart.
So God knows when you sit down and you say,
okay God, this is what you've given
to me here now.
He knows
that you know
that he knows.
Whether you're being generous or
stingy. He knows that.
You know that. And so the
idea is, is we seek
the Lord, we pray,
we listen for his voice,
right? And in choosing
to say, God, I'm a Christian,
I want to follow you. I want to be
obedient to your word. I want to do what you're calling me to do.
I want to follow your word and your way.
In that process of
between you and the Lord, you decide
what is generous
for you in your situation.
Where God has you today.
And guess what? Your situation
can change from time
to time. And that's
why it's in proportion to your
prosperity.
God's blessing you more. Give more.
You're in a time
where you're like, hey, I'm severely limited
in my income.
Then you're going to be giving less
than you would if you were, you know,
abundantly prospering financially,
right?
And it's not the issue of
how much it is. It's the issue of
are you being regular and consistent?
Are you trusting God in this?
Are you thinking it through and setting aside
and doing it intentionally?
Are you saying, God, I want to do this
joyfully? I just, God, I want to be like you. I want
to represent you. I want to...and then
all of that.
And then I don't think God would have put all
these promises in the Bible if he didn't intend
us to say, and God, I look forward to
being blessed by you.
Now, that's not our goal.
That's not our reason. That's not our purpose.
But God created us.
And come on. He knew how he created
us. And one of the
things he created us with is we tend to be
motivated by reward.
We just are.
And I don't think it's necessarily a wrong thing
to be like, hey, God, the promises you
said, I'm excited for that.
I look forward to that. It's not my
reason to give. I just want to be like you.
But again, guess that's
between you and the Lord.
Right? Okay. So.
So he goes on to tell us
to do it not
reluctantly. That means
begrudgingly, right? That means regretfully.
Like the
Corinthians were doing. Oh, no.
We over committed.
He says, don't do it
under compulsion. That means
to be under pressure. Right?
Like one
of the things we're going to start doing here
after Easter, and because a number of you have asked
and we prayed and we feel
like the Lord wants to do, is we're going to
start taking a collection again
as a part of our offering time in the church.
We still have the app.
We still have the website. We still have the offering
envelopes. But as a
part of our worship, we're going to have
a collection time. And elders, I'm sorry if I
just sprung this on you. We haven't talked about it yet.
I'll get to you guys.
But we're just going to have that as a part of our
worship time again.
That doesn't mean that you have to put something
in the bag, right?
There's no compulsion.
But it means if you want to do it that way, because
there's some of you that are like, hey, look, you know, apps
are cool and websites are cool and all that. Not for
me. Right?
And you still have this strange little thing
that's about this big. And there's
these papers in it that you write on.
What are the, right? No.
You're still doing checks. Are you still doing, whatever it may be.
The idea is we're just
trying to say, okay, we just want to provide
for everybody to be able to give the way they
want to give.
But it's not a legalistic
issue.
It's not a, oh, no, I have to go sacrifice
on the altar because I forgot
to gave last week type of issue.
It's not a salvational issue. Giving
is not a salvational issue.
It's not a, if I don't do this,
Jesus isn't going to love me anymore.
He said,
do it cheerfully. That word in the
Greek is hilarious.
What does that sound like? Hilarious.
God loves a hilarious
giver.
Right?
Those are the givers you just
heard right now. They're cracking up.
No, he loves a cheerful
giver. He loves, like, have you
ever given something to somebody?
Have you done something to just bless them?
And they're just, like, amazed and that
feeling you get is like, this feels
so good. Like, wow.
I was just able to bless somebody
and there's no, like, pay me back, right?
There's nothing. You're like, no strings attached.
That's how God gave to us.
And he says, just follow my example.
Follow it with
your time. Follow it with your talent. But, yeah,
follow it with your money, too.
Just be a cheerful giver.
Give with high larity. I love
that. I mean, there's really no joy, like,
being generous the way the Lord is.
And so, again, it's not a legalistic issue.
It's a we get to issue.
We get to give like God gives.
And really,
ideally, it's a want to issue, right?
The Macedonian church. I want to.
They begged Paul, please.
Paul's like, you guys are so broke.
And they're like, nah, Jesus is
everything. Let us. Okay.
How awesome is that heart?
So, but
the Bible does tell us in the New Testament that
Jesus fulfilled
the law, right?
This includes the tithing
laws, right? Jesus fulfilled those.
So, are we bound
by the Mosaic tithing laws
today as the New Testament church? Are we bound
by having to give a certain percentage
elsewhere in violation of Scripture?
No, we are not. We are not.
If we don't
give it all, are we going to lose
our salvation? No.
Well, maybe. No, just kidding.
No,
no, no. Please don't quote me on that, right?
Jesus died
to atone for all
sin once
and for all.
It's not a salvational issue, right?
But we do
read in Scripture that
if we fail to be obedient in this area
of our life, we do lose blessing.
And that includes the
opportunity for financial blessing in
our lives.
If we expect God to bless us
in every way,
and of course we want that, God
bless us.
Well, then we need to obediently
and willfully and joyfully
be generous in every way
like He is. And then
in that, we expect God to return generous
blessing to us, pressed down,
shaken, running over, as He said in Luke
6. So yeah, when it comes
to the Old Testament, though, it's God's Word,
right? We don't reject it.
We don't toss it out. Although the Mosaic
Law applied to Israel as a nation,
and although we are not bound by the Mosaic
Law today, and Jesus fulfilled that
Law, it tells us the principles
we find there are still profitable
for doctrine. They're
still profitable for teaching and instruction
and correction. The principles we find
in the Old Testament still reveal the heart
of God. They still reveal
His character. They reveal His will, His
nature, and that's why we study the Old Testament and the
New Testament. Even though there might be
some things there where we go, that was
the Law for Israel for a time, we
still learn about God and who He is, and
so we can still glean principles from
this. So although the New Testament doesn't teach
that we are bound to fulfill
the Old Testament Law,
we are still bound by the principles
of who God is,
who we are to be as His children,
and how we're to live in response
to all of that. And it's
not to earn or secure
or maintain our salvation,
but it's to live in gratitude
for all He's done for us,
in saving us and demonstrate
the priority that He is
in our lives. And so
principles, biblical principles like
generosity,
like give God the first
of your life in every way.
You're giving Him the everything,
you know, it's still the call of
the church today.
Now the New Testament does indeed
command that we are to be givers,
including financially. We looked at that
in 1 Corinthians 16, 2,
2 Corinthians 9, 7.
There is however no set amount
that we are commanded to give or required
to give in the New Testament.
However, we are in the New Testament
taught that we're to give regularly,
consistently, intentionally,
whatever the amount is we give.
Now, not giving at all,
yeah, I think is
disobedience to God's word,
because the New Testament commands us to be giving.
If we don't give at all,
I think we're demonstrating
a very poor reflection of Jesus Christ
in our own lives.
So yeah, we're to give generously
and sacrificially and joyfully,
right?
That word generously, incidentally,
means marked by abundance or ample proportions.
Some of you go, what does ample mean?
Well, I got the definition for you.
Ample, of large or great amount,
fully sufficient to meet a need or purpose.
Why did I share that with you?
Because often when I
talk to somebody about giving
and the stuff, one of the big, you know,
objections is, there's no
percentage taught in the New Testament.
We're not under the tithe.
And, you know,
you're right. You're absolutely
right. Now, in most cases, not all cases,
that's somebody trying to justify little or no
giving, but we're not going to go there right now.
When someone says, there's
no percentage taught in the New Testament,
I say, you're absolutely right.
And then I say, do you
really think 10% is an ample proportion?
And they go, what? And I go, well,
I mean, for that matter,
right, the average percentage of income given by
church attenders in the United States in 2022
was 2.5%.
Now, that might be your generosity
for where you're at, and that's okay.
But for most of us,
if we're honest with ourselves, we might go,
I could probably be more generous.
Just to give you a frame of reference,
the churches
giving in the United States during the Great
Depression was 3.3% of their income.
People gave more during the Great Depression than
we give today in the church.
Just broadly, right?
Again, I'm not trying to
guilt anybody here, because you guys
are a generous church, and we're blessed by that.
But the idea here,
you know, as people go, oh,
there's no percentage, there's no percentage,
and you're absolutely right.
But when we start looking at the definition
of what generously means and ample
means, right, people are
real quick to go, hey, can we go back to that 10% thing?
10%
doesn't sound so bad when we look at what
generous means, you know?
But still, there is no percentage
in the New Testament, okay?
No specific amount, just an attitude
in which we decide between us and
the Lord what we're gonna give, and
we do it consistently and regularly.
However, we are
called to give in proportion to our prosperity.
That was 1 Corinthians 16.
And you know the first question I usually get when I
share that with people?
Hey, I want to know about giving, how much am I supposed to give?
And I go, well, the New Testament says give in proportion
to your prosperity.
First question is, how much is that?
Gee willikers. I mean, if there was
just a place
that's somewhere in
God's Word,
sometime in history, I don't know,
that the Lord maybe shared
a number, a percentage
perhaps, that
I don't know, might give us some
insight to maybe a target,
a place to start, something to shoot at.
If he had just said
something somewhere in his Word
to reveal to us his mind, you know,
I don't know, maybe a number like
10%, or maybe he used
a word. Yeah, maybe he can invent
a word that means a tenth.
That would be so helpful,
wouldn't it?
My point is this.
If you want to use
the tithe as a guideline, like
you're in your heart between you and the Lord,
you say, Lord, I'm going to shoot for 10%.
Then do that. There's nothing wrong with that.
You're not violating Scripture.
But if in this season of
your life you're just like, oh gosh,
I just don't know that I can do that.
Okay. Then pray and seek the
Lord and give what you can give.
But as God prospers you,
pray and seek the Lord and be ready
to say, God, as you're prospering me,
I want to be more generous.
When we combine the Old Testament
principles of the firstfruits and the tithe
and offering and the New Testament principles
of generosity, we should come to the conclusion
that giving is not about checking off
a duty box, right?
Giving is not about
giving the exact right amount
so that I've done what's required of me
and God's happy and I could go about
my life, but I did the thing.
It's about starting with, God,
everything I have belongs
to you.
God, you have given me
eternal life. You have given me
salvation. You have saved my soul.
You gave me the brain
that allows me to do
the thing I do to earn. You gave
me the skills I have. You gave me the
hands I work with. You gave me the money, right?
God, everything
that I have, everything
I am is yours.
And so, God, what do you want me
to do with it?
How do you want me to steward what you've given me?
It's about asking God
what and how
and yes, how much.
And then,
intentionally, regularly,
obeying God and stepping
forth in that without question.
And this can change from
season to season. That's okay.
But no,
don't not give because that's definitely
disobedience as we see in the Scripture.
Give something, right?
And then to do so joyfully
and cheerfully and hilariously.
To be eager to be a part of
God's work in His kingdom.
To be just excited.
God, I get to be a part of what you're
doing.
And God's going, great,
be a part of it. You're going, God, but
I can only do this. He goes, then do that.
But do it
cheerfully. Do it with high larity.
Be excited to be a part of the work God is doing
because it's about the joy and the
privilege and the honor of being like Him.
To reflect Him.
Never because we are legalistically bound,
but because we get to.
That's really the idea. We get to.
And the icing
on the cake
is that when we do
to His glory for His namesake
simply to say, God, I just want to
obey You and express my
gratitude for all You've given to me,
He promises to bless us
and to take care of us and to provide
for us and our needs.
How glorious.
Proverbs 22, 9 says, a generous person
will be blessed, for
he shares his food with the poor.
My prayer for every single person in this church
and every single person watching this video, whether you're
a part of our church or not,
is that you would be blessed.
Blessed.
That you would experience
the promises of God and what He says
in His word for those who are generous as He is
generous. That as you
pray and seek the Lord and you find out
what that amount is, whatever it
is, that you're just faithful.
Just faithful. And watch God
bless you.
Now, I'm not going to say every
time that it's like, oh, God gives you money.
But I can't
deny the Scriptures that seem to indicate
that finances are included in the blessing
of God when we're obedient to Him.
And I'm not going to shy away from those
things. But we don't
give as an investment tool.
We give to just say, God, I'm so grateful
for what you've given to me. But He does
bless. I pray that you would find
freedom from fear and
mistrust and worry and
anxiety and all of that.
Especially in your financial
life. Because so many of us
are languishing under
just such concern
because of debt and all
this stuff. And next week, we're going to talk about
some practical habits that the Bible
teaches. So that we aren't
enslaved to debt.
That we're not buried under
just poor financial
situations. But that we're doing things
according to God's word.
To find the freedom
that He has for all of us in
our possessions, in our money. And so
really that we would be trusting and living
and applying what God says in His word.
His teaching, His doctrine
of finances.
Amen? Let's pray. Father,
we love you.
We thank you, God.
We thank you, Lord.
We ask you, Lord,
to really drill
deep down into our hearts and our minds.
The reality that
everything is yours.
God, Lord, when we're
able to hold everything with that open
hand and to let it go in that sense,
Lord.
Gosh, it really does combat the
selfishness of our sinful nature.
And so, Lord,
help us to understand that we're stewards.
We're simply managers of what you've
given us, God. And so that we would turn to you
in all things and say, God, what do you want to do?
And that, Lord,
when we hear your voice,
we would be obedient.
God, we know the standard, we know the guideline.
You said be generous.
Lord, you even told us
if we give sparingly,
we'll reap sparingly. If we give generously, we'll give
generously, Lord. And we know that's not just
our money, Lord. We know that it's our time and our talent,
everything, God.
But, Lord, it does include
our finances. And so just help us
trust you, God. Help us trust you.
That, like
the Macedonian church, Lord, we would be
eager and excited to be
a part of what you're doing, God. Even
if we're in a place of what
Paul called extreme poverty for them.
Because,
Lord, you love a cheerful
giver.
Because, God, you are a cheerful
giver.
And when we're generous the way
you're a generous God,
we know in your word it pleases you.
It blesses you.
It reflects your nature,
your character, God, that you gave everything,
that you gave your very life, that we would have
eternal life, that we would be saved,
Lord. What a message the world needs to hear.
But, God, it's a difficult message to get out
when we're being stingy people.
And so, Lord,
we trust you with what you've given us, Lord.
Some of us have a lot. Some of us have a little.
And, God, it's between us and you.
And what we're gonna do, Lord,
so speak to us, God.
Speak to us that we would be
people that are reflecting your nature and your
will, God, and that, yeah, Lord, we would be in a
place to experience your blessing, Lord.
We welcome that. We receive that.
And, Lord, through
that, bless our lives individually.
Bless our church. Lord, bless the work
of your church here at Hosanna and every church,
Lord, that would follow your will and your word
when it comes to these things, Lord, that we would be
able to not just
get by, but, Lord,
really to move forward in accomplishing your work
and your will, God.
That we would truly be able to feed more people
and help more people and
bless more people and to give to more
people and, God, to really get
out and to be loving and practically
ministering, God, all for the sake of the Gospel.
But, Lord, we do readily
admit and accept, Lord, that there
are some expenses and overhead
that come with all of that, God, and so, Lord, just
speak to us individually.
Every single person in this church, Lord, speak
to their heart that they would
hear your voice and be obedient in this
and experience the blessing you have for
them. Lord, we love you.
We thank you, God.
Bless us, Lord,
as you are blessed.
In Jesus' name we pray.
Amen. Let's worship, guys.