Managing Money for God's Good, our Own Good, and the Good of Others: Sermon number 3 of 5
"The Blessing of Knowing How Not to Give"
Approaching the sermon this morning, I am assuming that money is an important subject to most of us. Philosophically, historically, and in personal experience, money has been demonstrated to be a very important subject for most people. Money, and teaching about it, is also an important subject to God. Some of us here have heard how scholars have set themselves to the task of identifying how many times money is mentioned in the Bible. I have not personally taken the time to count up the references, but I've read more than one reliable source that states that money is mentioned about 2000 times in the Bible. 2000 times seems like a lot. Some people think that if money is mentioned so many times in the Bible, then money must be really important. Actually, the subject of money would be important if it was only mentioned once in the Bible, wouldn't it? I recently read that the Bible has 10 times more verses on money than on immoral sex. Immoral sex is an important issue; especially since God does not want us to partake in the activity. God calls immoral sex "sin." Money, on the other hand, is not inherently sinful. According to God, it is the love of money that is the root of all kinds of evil, and many who have longed for it have wandered off from the faith in it's precepts for godly living, 1 Timothy 6:10. I also read that, in the Bible, money is mentioned 2 times more than both faith and prayer. Money is mentioned 5 times more than just prayer alone. According to the studious statisticians of Scripture, apparently 50 percent of Jesus' teachings have to do with our attitudes, and actions, concerning wealth. 15 percent of Jesus' spoken words are about money, which includes 16 out of 31 of His parables. People, who calculate money passages in the Bible like accountants in a Bank, go on to point out that in the New Testament, money is even mentioned more times than heaven and hell combined. I'm not sure why that is an important figure, but someone, at least, thinks that it certainly is. You know, there is a cliché that says,
"You can't take it with you when you die."
I think this is a biblical figure that is really easy to calculate. Paul had this calculation in mind when he said,
"we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either." 1 Timothy 6:7
In the meantime, I think it is safe to say that God thinks that money is an important subject to use in teaching, whether by illustration, or in direct instruction. God teaches us principles in His word on how to make money; on how to invest money; on how to manage money; and how to have a proper perspective on money, like not being greedy; in being content, and in being giving. It is with these things in mind, that I have been teaching us on money; particularly on managing money for God's good, our own good, and the good of others. First, I taught on the blessing of budgeting. Secondly, I taught on the blessing of staying out of wanton credit debt in the form of credit cards and the like. This morning, we continue this important subject by focusing on blessings associated with giving. But, this teaching may not be what you expect. This morning, I will not be teaching so much on how to give, but rather we are going to look at how not to give. In learning how not to give, we will have a good foundation to build upon concerning how to give. I ask you to prepare your heart to learn, along with me, in this sermon,
Managing Money for God's Good, our Own Good, and the Good of Others: Sermon number 3 of 5
"The Blessing of Knowing How Not to Give."
[prayer]
Starting out this morning, I want to quickly get the fact settled that it is God's will that we, as Christians, give. We read of the principle in 1 John,
"whoever has the world's goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? 18 Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth." 1 John 3:17-18
1@ God wants us to love with __________________ and not just mere words that claim we love. 1 John 3:17-18
The deed of love, is to give to our brothers and sisters in Christ who are in "need." It is a principle, and God wants us to do it. This is easy to remember. We can think of it like a rhyme I have heard before:
Giving is the deed of love that fulfills the need thereof.
In 2 Corinthians 9, we read,
"he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 Each one must do [in giving] just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed;" 2 Corinthians 9:6-8
I am quickly establishing the biblical fact that it is God's will for us, who are saved, to give, and so Paul says in Acts,
"remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'" Acts 20:35
How many Christians really believe that?
You say,
"Well all Christians must believe that, if, in fact, they are Christians."
Okay, then let me ask you,
"How many Christians act like they believe it is more blessed for them to give, than for them to receive?"
The point is that Jesus is stating a truth that flies right in the face of anyone who acts like it is more cursed for them to give than receive. The point is that Jesus is right. As Christians, it is more blessed for us to give than for us to get. Finally, on this principle, Jesus gets straight to the point;
"Give, and it will be given to you." Luke 6:38
At this point I have been showing that, clearly, such passages as these establish the biblical giving mandate basis for this teaching this morning on "how not to give." God wants His people to give because giving is good. Nevertheless, though God wants His people to give, not all giving is good. In other words, there are improper ways of giving. God wants His people to know about those too. He wants us to know about them, and He wants us to avoid them. This morning, I am going to describe four important ways for us not to give.
/1/
The first way not to give is: Don't give deceitfully. The classic example of this is found in the story of Ananias and Sapphira. They were two people who were seemingly Christians who lived in the early days of the formation of the church. What happened is that Ananias, and his wife, sold a piece of property. Then they gave some of the money to the apostles. That was not a problem. The problem is that they lied to the Holy Spirit. They deceitfully kept back some of the money. Because of this, Peter said to Ananias,
"why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land? 4 While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God." Acts 5:3-4
Peter received a strong supernatural word of knowledge. It gets stronger. Listen to what happened next,
"5 And as he [Ananias] heard these words, Ananias fell down and breathed his last; and great fear came over all who heard of it." Acts 5:5
Lying about giving to the Lord's work in apostolic ministry was evidently so grave in this New Covenant transition time in history, that God instituted a swift death penalty. God instituted it, and then He executed the perpetrators by His own hand. Listen to what happened a few hours later,
"Now there elapsed an interval of about three hours, and his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter responded to her, 'Tell me whether you sold the land for such and such a price?' And she said, 'Yes, that was the price.' Then Peter said to her, 'Why is it that you have agreed together to put the Spirit of the Lord to the test? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out as well.' 10 And immediately she fell at his feet and breathed her last, and the young men came in and found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 11 And great fear came over the whole church, and over all who heard of these things." Acts 5:8-11
This event had such a profound effect on the Christians that great fear came over the whole church. Luke also indicates that fear came over all who heard of these things, which, in the wording, designates that even pagans feared. The main point is that,
"great fear came over the whole church."
If we, who are Christ's church today, learn any kind of principle from this event, I think that we would agree that being deceptive in the practice of giving is a very bad thing--right? Therefore, it will do us good to consider that there are quite a few ways that people are deceptive when giving; and we should learn what those deceptive ways are; then we should make strong efforts to avoid those ways.
1a
For example, a way that giving can be done deceptively, is to act like you are giving to the Lord's work, but you really are not. This reminds me of a story of a church back in the days when people gave gold and silver coins in support of the Lord's work in their local church fellowship. The offering would be taken up with brass offering plates. We don't use offering plates here at Bridgeway. If you've never seen one, they look like shallow metal bowls, with a big edge around the rim that you can hold onto. You take hold of the rim as the plate is passed from person to person. According to the story, the sinful problem that was occurring, is that when certain people in the fellowship did not want to give, but wanted to be seen giving, they would deceitfully put a clinched, but empty, hand into the plate, out of sight, and then what they would do is simultaneously thump the brass edge of the plate with a fingernail. Doing this would make a sound as if gold or silver coins had dropped to the bottom. This type of thing is deceitful giving. In fact, it is non-giving. Deceitful giving is to make it look like you are giving, but you really are not. It is a lie. It is hypocrisy. It is evil, and it is better to not give in truth than to lie about it. I want us to think about Ananias and Sapphira again. Think about the fact that they actually did give some money to the Lord's work. Isn't that interesting? They really gave some money; but also notice that it didn't matter (at least in terms of blessing them). In God's eyes, the lie outweighed the gift.
1b
Let me give another example of deceitful giving. I'll give an illustration of two men that I will name "Bob," and "Fred." Let's say that Bob entrusts Fred with some money to give to the ministry. We realize that it is Bob's money, right? So Bob hands over Bob's money to Fred to give to a certain church, or ministry, or someone else in need. Fred takes the money. He is faithful, and he gives the money to the ministry. We would think that this is a good thing, right? But what if Fred does this, and the whole time Fred is acting like it was Fred's money all along? In other words, Fred is making himself look like the actual giver of the money instead of simply the carrier and deliverer. Fred may not have actually said it was his money that was being given. In fact, he may have been silent in the whole process. But, in his silence, Fred has given the impression that he is the one who has given his own money, and Fred knows this. The actual giver, though, was Bob. Fred is merely the delivery guy. We think about this, and we can ask:
Is Fred giving honestly?
Certainly Fred did not steal the money because Fred actually gave the money away; but Fred is practicing actions that are meant to deceive because Fred gave someone else's money as the distributor that was doing them a favor, yet, in Fred's heart, he took the credit. So, Fred is doing a bad deed; whereas Bob, who entrusted Fred with the money, is the one that God recognizes as doing the good deed--and what God recognizes is what matters. Now listen because this is so important: The irony is that Fred would have been doing a good deed too, if Fred would have merely deferred any recognition away from himself to begin with. As it is, to give in this way is to be a liar who is lying through deceitful actions.
1c
Another way that someone can be deceitful in giving is to give, and then take back what was clearly given away. The reason why this is deceitful is that when we give something away, then we have transferred the stewardship to another person. In other words, the money no longer belongs to us. To take it back is to have been deceitful in our offering. If it was truly an offering, then we are not to take it back. It is not ours to take back. If we do demand it back, then we have acted in a deceitful manner, and so we are wrong in what we are doing. It would have been better to have never given, than to have given and then demand back what was given away. Now, of course, if you should find some reason to ask for the same amount from the party you gave your gift to, and that party sees fit to give that amount back to you, then that is another situation altogether. Asking for money, is different from demanding back what you have given, or taking it back, without permission. So this is the first principle; Do not give deceitfully.
/2/
The second principle is that you should not give for the purpose of pridefully being seen. Jesus taught this principle in Matthew 6,
"2 So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men.
[In other words, don't toot your own horn. Jesus goes on,]
Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. 3 But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving will be in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you." Matthew 6:2-4
2@ God wants us to give for pure reasons--not so that we can be ____________________________ by people. Matthew 6:2-4
The point that Jesus is making is that we are not to give so that we will be honored by others in prideful recognition. Sometimes we can not give in certain situations without people seeing us. In other words, we can not always avoid people seeing us, or finding out that we are giving, under certain common conditions. This is not what Jesus is talking about. Jesus is talking about our motivations. He's talking about your heart. The wrong motivation is the motivation of wanting to be seen and self-exalted. It is wanting to "be honored" in the first place. Jesus does not like it, so He says that secrecy is the way to destroy any self-exalting ambitions. So, when you give, and it so happens that there are people around you, then do your best to not let others see how much you are giving, and don't make a big deal out of what you are giving; or that you are giving. Your attempt shows that your heart is in the right place. On the other hand, making a big deal out of giving occurs because someone wants to be seen giving. Of course, there are many times, and places, where public giving occurs, and it is difficult to avoid such situations. For example, if you hand someone some money, then certainly you must expect that they know what is going on. Typically, in the times and places where public giving goes on, people see you doing what the others around you are typically doing in that same time and place. Such a time can be a good time to take advantage of blending in with everyone else who is giving. Actually, Paul speaks of public giving in a consistent setting, and manner, in instructing the Corinthians. He says,
"1 Now concerning the collection for the set apart ones, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you also ["You" here is the church]. 2 On the first day of every week [which is Sunday] each one of you [members of the church] is to put aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come. 3 When I arrive, whomever you [Corinthian church] may approve, I will send them with letters to carry your gift to Jerusalem;" 1 Corinthians 16:1-3
So, on every Sunday, when the churches are gathered, (in Corinth and Galatia) each one is to put aside money. It is to be stored up. Paul wanted this done every Sunday so that by the time he arrived there would be a lot of money; and there would not be merely a solitary special collection made at the time of Paul's arrival. The point is that biblically, historically, and traditionally, on Sunday combined collections for storing up are made in support of ministry. It is in the group setting of the called out and gathered church assemblies, where the money is considered to be not from individuals, but from the whole group in cooperation as the body. This is why Paul calls the gift of "each" member of the body "your gift" in referring to the church as a single organism. The point is that when you are giving as part of the organism--the body of Christ--then you are just one humble servant of the many that God is using for His glory. Please listen to the main thrust of this point, because we don't want to be legalistic on this: The shift occurs in the situation when someone wants to use giving for their own advantage, and so they have this subtle secret thought in their heart that whispers,
"I hope people see me giving right now. It will make me look good, and that's what I want."
The edifying principle is to just be careful, and recognize that it is easy to be tempted toward this kind of self exaltation. Maybe you can not handle the temptation toward self exalting thoughts by giving when other people may be watching. The question then, is:
What do I do in that moment?
Jesus gives the remedy. If the fact that anyone sees you leads you to think you are exalting yourself then wait until nobody is looking, and then give. The main point is that it is a heart attitude of secrecy where giving is meant for what your God sees, Who sees everything. It is not for what other people see as something that makes you look like a great person.
Another way of overcoming this self exalting tendency, is demonstrated in something I actually experienced. It is when God gave Laura and I our house. Yes, God gave us our house. The question is,
How do I know that God gave us our house?
The man who built our house for us, surprised us at the house dedication by publicly burning up the mortgage in ceremonial fashion. Then he signed over the deed to me right there on the spot. Now, here comes the part that demonstrates the principle I am wanting to get at here: Every time I attempted to thank the man for his gift of generosity to us, he immediately deferred to God, and said,
"It wasn't me. I believe God wanted me to give this house to you, so I did it. God gave you this house."
He then told me never to tell anyone that he, the man, gave us our house, but that it was the Lord who gave us our house. So, this demonstrates another way to give and not be seen. It is accomplished in the action of making yourself disappear by bringing the true giver to the forefront, which is Who? God. So, to this day, whenever I speak of receiving our house as a gift, I always say,
"God gave us our house."
This is the second principle:: Don't give for the purpose of pridefully being seen giving.
/3/
This leads me now to bring out the third principle, and that is that you should not give grudgingly. The direct teaching on this is found in Paul's instruction to the Corinthian church, where he says,
"6 Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly [The ESV renders it as "reluctantly"] or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed" 2 Corinthians 9:6-8
3@ God _______________________ a cheerful giver. 2 Corinthians 9:6-8
To give grudgingly is to give with a reluctance that reflects that you are not putting your heart into giving because of not putting giving into your heart in the first place. This is why Paul says that each must do just as he has purposed in his heart. People give grudgingly when they look at the money that God has entrusted them with and they think to themselves,
"Hey, I worked hard for this money. I deserve it, so I deserve to keep it; but I know I should give to help meet this need. The Bible explains that money for ministry needs comes from the church. It doesn't grow on trees, so I'll give, but I don't really like to do this."
The mistake that a lot of folks make is that they think that their attitude in giving doesn't really matter; but God says that our attitude does matter. So instead of giving grudgingly, reluctantly, in sorrow, or heaviness, you are to purpose in your heart to be a "cheerful giver," and then look for opportunities to fulfill your mission of being a cheerful giver. Why is that? Because the Bible is clear; "God loves a cheerful giver."
There are some other bad mental processes that can lead someone to give grudgingly and reluctantly. One, of which, is that whenever you give in obedience to the Lord, you may be tempted to think that you are losing. It is hard to give with a cheerful heart when you think you are losing your money. But such thinking is based upon bad theology. It is a lie to think that when you give for the needs of others, or for the ministry, that you have lost your money. You have not lost anything. What you've really done is you've actually invested your money in God's kingdom through loving activity. This is winning--not losing. If you think you are losing something, then you need to take such thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ. You need to renew your mind with God's actual words, by His real Spirit. You do this, first of all, by counting yourself as a humble tool in God's hands. We count ourselves as a servants who have given ourselves over to obedience under our Lord to do his will. Along with that, we need to believe the words of Jesus when He says that our Father will reward us in our giving, Matthew 6:4. We need to believe what the Spirit says through Paul where he has the same sense in mind when he explains that God blesses us in giving, and for giving. Notice that Paul goes on, and says immediately,
"God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed" 2 Corinthians 9:8
4@ God makes sure that we will always have enough, and will have an abundance, to give for every good ________________________. 2 Corinthians 9:8
Paul is saying to be cheerful and non-grudging in your giving because God makes sure that you will have all sufficiency in everything. We really must learn Paul's connecting point here early on;
If you are a good steward of God's resources, then God knows it. He has always known it. Since God knows that you are a good steward who sows abundantly, He knows you will need abundance for every good deed, and so He will provide for the good deeds that He wants you to accomplish in His sovereignty.
You are like a lake with streams of giving that go out, and you are always filling up because God has rivers feeding into you to keep you full, to keep the streams flowing out. When we know this, and we give grudgingly, then we are showing both a lack of appreciation of the fact that God is really the provider of our financial success in life, and additionally, we are showing a lack of faith in a clear promise from God. What I am explaining to you is that we absolutely must avoid stinginess in giving. Clearly, God's word reveals to us that giving to the needs of others directly impacts our financial state. God says that grace will abound to us financially so that we always have all sufficiency in everything and have overflowing prosperity. The sufficiency, and the prosperity, blesses you; but it is continuous blessing that is meant for you to continually bless others. You may be someone who thinks that you never have abundance to share with others. You may think,
"I never have enough. I don't have enough for myself, so how can I have enough for others."
The reason why you think you do not have abundance is because you do not purpose in your heart to give in the first place. As a result, you are not a cheerful giver. The clear and obvious demonstration of this fact is seen in the record of your stinginess and your begrudging styled giving. What I mean is that you can always give something, even if it may seem like a small amount. So, if you give a small amount according to your means, then God sees it as sowing bountifully according to your means. Always understand:
A couple of pennies from a poor widow is like a couple of millions from a rich man; and sometimes it is more, Matthew 12:42-43
On the other hand, if you sow sparingly, in terms of stinginess and a grudging heart attitude with your means, then God sees it, and according to His same word, you will reap sparingly from the Lord. We really need to get the import of this. What Paul is saying here is not merely some kind of suggestion. It is a principle. If you do not heed God's instruction then your lack of faith, and your lack of appreciation of the fact that God is really your provider, will continue to keep you in sparsity and lack of abundance until you change your heart. That is the third principle; make sure you don't give grudgingly with a heart of reluctant sorrow. Be a cheerful giver.
/4/
The fourth principle is found in this same passage. The principles is that you should not give under compulsion. Paul says,
"7 Each one must do [give] just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver." 2 Corinthians 9:7
Giving under compulsion is to give merely for the sole reason that you are required to give. It is when someone is not giving out of their own love motivation, in the Spirit, for God and for others. It is when someone only gives because it is dictated to them, outside of New Covenant Scripture, that they must. This occurs in two primary ways:
One is to be forced to give, because it is expected according to some kind of pharisaic tradition, or Old Covenant Law.
The second way is to give under carnal duress.
Let's talk about giving under duress. One way that this occurs is by being manipulated by bad theology to believe that you must give to someone's cause simply because someone has said that you must do it. They put a guilt trip on you to bring you under condemnation. In other words, they have made the decision for you that you must give to their cause, and if you do not, then they tell you that you are sinning against God. They will even quote Malachi, and say you are robbing God. There are certain people who are masters at this technique. Don't be taken in by their false warnings. Sometimes they will tell you that God said that He was going to take their life if they do not raise a certain amount of money. So, it is up to you to give them the money that is going to make God keep them alive. I heard of one media speaker, who is a self-proclaimed faith healer, who told an international viewing audience that God told him that if he did not raise 8 million dollars, that God was going to kill him. People wanted to save his life so they responded by sending in rivers of money. The mass-media speaker, and self proclaimed "faith healer," said that because of that appeal, one particular man in Florida sent in one and a half million dollars. You can see how lucrative such a manipulative tactic can be. It brings people under the carnal duress and compulsion of guilt, fear, and misguided compassion. The other form of compulsion we must consider has to do with being expected to give according to some man made rule, or Old Covenant Law rule, that requires that you give. The New Covenant Scripture that we just read is very clear on this, right? Don't give under compulsion. Unfortunately, the biggest manifestation of this is where churches teach you that you absolutely must give a tenth of your gross or net income to the church. They say it is compulsory because God commands it in the Law of Moses. It is called "tithing," which translated, literally means "tenthing." But, we are not under the Old Covenant Law of Moses. We are under the New Covenant in Christ, where actually, according to the Spirit, according to the Lordship of Christ, according to faith, and according to love, more is expected from us than Old Covenant Law compulsion. When God's people were under the Old Covenant Law of Moses, the tithe was a compulsory tax of the theocracy. Under the New Covenant in Christ, God's people are not to give under compulsion. Now we give from a cheerful heart. We give according to meeting needs. We give according to and advancing the work of the ministry. We give according to the leading of the Holy Spirit as per the mandate of the New Testament Scriptures which by the way is what Paul directed at the beginning of his teaching to the Corinthians. Remember, he said,
"1 Now concerning the collection for the set apart ones, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you also. 2 On the first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and store it up, as he may prosper, ..." 1 Corinthians 16:1-3
My point is that though there are New Covenant mandates to give, under Christ's New Covenant, we abide in the Law of Love; so we purpose in our heart to give according to the Law of Love. We abide in New Testament directives, so we purpose in our heart to give according to New Testament precepts. Next week, God willing, I will do a comprehensive teaching that refutes the Old Testament practice that some churches teach of trying to bring Christians under a piece of the Old Covenant by mandating the compulsory Old Testament tithe. After that, I plan to preach on the proper way to give, the reasons to give, and who to give to, as is directed by the Spirit in His New Covenant word.
In the meantime, what have we learned this morning? We have learned the essential foundation to build upon: God wants us to give to meet needs. But, there is an important fact that walks hand in hand with this one. There is blessing in knowing how not to give. We have also learned the blessing of how not to give by not giving deceitfully; by not giving for the purpose of pridefully being seen giving; by not giving grudgingly, reluctantly, like we have sorrow and regret in doing it; and finally, we have learned the blessing of how not to give by not giving under compulsion. I hope this teaching series on managing money for God's good, our own good, and the good of others, has been blessing you. I urge you to keep these principles in mind, and practice them as you stroll along through life in your walk in Christ.
1@ God wants us to love with __________________ and not just mere words that claim we love. 1 John 3:17-18
2@ God wants us to give for pure reasons--not so that we can be ____________________________ by people. Matthew 6:2-4
3@ God _______________________ a cheerful giver. 2 Corinthians 9:6-8
4@ God makes sure that we will always have enough, and will have an abundance, to give for every good ________________________. 2 Corinthians 9:8
