Joyful Giving #2

Joyful Giving
Stewardship #2
October 26th 2008
Pastor Ben Fleming

Take your bibles and turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 8. Last week I began a new series on stewardship. I am calling it joyful giving. We are going to talk about money – using money and giving money. Please do not get up and walk out on me. You need to hear these words from God. People are worried about money. It’s interesting to look at some of the articles on MSN Money. “Five things its cheaper to do yourself.” “Sorry baby boomers so much for retirement” and “tell us if you are drowning in debt.” SLIDE I am even getting emails from American Express and this one caught my eye. You do not have to pay your debts you can walk away from them.”

The bible says in 1 Timothy 5:8 “if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”…. Regardless of what you might think or hear or believe – biblically – it is not the government’s responsibility to provide for you. That is not biblical thinking. If you have graduated from high school or college – it is not your parents responsibility to provide for you and put a roof over your head… How we use our money for ourselves – how we use our money to bless others and especially for God’s sake is a spiritual issue.

2 Cor 5:10 says “ For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.”…..You and I are going to be judged by God for how we use our money and our possessions here on this earth. What kind of a steward are you? Your pastor and leaders are going to be judged by God for how we use this churches money. In another light --- do you know that we mock and laugh at those among us who are penny pinchers and frugal and those who are spenders and wasteful, we say nothing……… When Paul says – every believer is going to appear before the judgment seat of Christ and that each believer will receive what is due him for the things done in the body, good or bad --- that is either true or not.

Why is a biblical use of our money and resources so crucial to our growth in godliness? We invest most of our days working in exchange for money – making it –thinking about it and worrying about it and spending it or using it. But we do not take managing money all that serious ---- if we mess up ---- we now believe that somebody is going to bail us out. We can always file bankruptcy or the government will take care of us and bail us out. That is a thinking that permeates our society and the church of Jesus Christ….. In a sense, money is that which represents who we are – it represents what are our priorities and what’s in our hearts. As we use our money and resources – we prove our growth in Christ.
The use of your money and how you give it away is one of the best ways of evaluating your relationship with Jesus Christ and your spiritual trustworthiness… If you are learning to love Christ with all your heart, your giving will reflect joyful giving. If you love Christ and the work of His Kingdom more than anything else,….. your giving will show that. Look at this quote (SLIDE) “We will do many things before we will give someone else, even Christ, the rights over every dollar we have and ever will have. But if you are learning to do that it will be expressed in your giving.” --- Donald Whitney

Last week we studied joyful giving. Today I want us to examine grace giving as Paul teaches it in 2 Corinthians 8. Paul uses the word charis or grace – 10 times in chapter 8 -9. It is God’s grace that plays a vital role in our lives in faithful financial stewardship. Please stand with me as we read 2 Corinthians chapter 8. PHIL BRADY . I want to draw 6 principles of grace giving for you from chapter 8 - 9 . Keep your bible open to these two chapters.
Biblical Principles of Grace Giving

1. Grace giving is the result of God’s gracious creation of generosity in the heart of the believer.
2 Corinthians. 8:1 “Now, brethren, we wish to make know to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia.” Both chapter 8 and 9 begin and end with a reference to God’s grace. In chapter 9 Paul brings this up close by saying that generosity comes from the work of God’s grace in the life of a believer. Look at chapter 9:14 “While they also, by prayer on your behalf, yearn for you because of the surpassing grace of God in you.” ………It was the grace of God in the Macedonian believers that enabled them and empowered them to give. Bible Scholar and laymen Jerry Bridges writes, “What was the secret of such an outpouring of generosity? We have no reason to believe that these believers were more inclined to be generous in giving to the needs of others. In the United States, one of the most affluent nations, believers give 1 – 2% of their income. The apostle Paul says that the Macedonian believers gave generously because of the grace of God – it was the working of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believers.” How can you give when you do not have enough as it is? How can a believer become a giver – the same way a believer forgives. The same way a believer witnesses to someone else. The same way a believer loves others. The same way a believer serves and uses his or her spiritual gifts – a believer becomes a giver by the grace that God gives them. God uses and blesses the believer who relies on and turns to Him to give. Paul put it this way:

1 Corinthians 15: 9 – 11 “For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, (do you feel that way about yourself?) and His grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. Notice what is underlined ……Whether, then, it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.” Sadly ---- “If you do not think you can become a giver then you do not believe in the grace of God for any other area of your life.” It is the grace of God that makes your heart generous. Ask God to do that in you. Ask Him to start and increase your giving. 2nd principle

2. Grace giving looks at participation in the needs of other believers as a privilege. Look what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 8:4 “they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints.” The Greek word the NIV translates as privilege is the word grace. So, the Christians in Madedonia did not resent being asked to give to believers in Jerusalem. They pleaded for the opportunity and they considered it a privilege. When there is an opportunity to give ---- grace giving provokes you to get involved. You either gave to the projector project out of obligation or your gave out of grace giving or you did not give at all. When there is a need that I know about as the pastor I ought to be able to tell you all and if you are exercising grace giving you will be able to give. Let’s make this practical. So Phil and Stacie --- if what Paul is writing here is true --- it is a privilege that everyone in this church family has to help support you in missions. Making personal: Cheryl and I consider it an opportunity that we cannot pass up so we have written to Compassion International in August to ask them to find someone else to support our Ethopian girl who we have supported for 8 years and we are going to transfer that support to privately support your mission as well as continue our giving through Silver Hills. Grace giving is a privilege.

3. Grace giving views a collection for the needs of others as a work that is gracious in nature.
Look at the three verses on your outline: (vs. 6 -7) “So we urged Titus, since he earlier made a beginning, to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part. But just as you excel in everything – in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us – see that you also excel in this grace of giving.” And then go down to verse 19 “What is more, he was chosen by the churches to accompany us as we carry the offering, which we
administer in order to honor the Lord himself and to show our eagerness to help.” By its very nature ---- giving to others who are involved in the work of the Lord is gracious in nature. Every week I ought to challenge you to give more and more ---- Paul commands it – he says “see to it that you excel in giving.” See to it that you excel in faith – see to it that you excel in your speech, see to it that you excel in your knowledge of God and see to it that you excel in your love for others in the family of God…. Look at verse 6 --- Pastor Titus started to urge the believers to give and Paul says to them that it was he who urged Titus to challenge the people to keep on giving and complete their giving to the believers needs in Jerusalem. Titus must have been hesitant to preach about this…… but Paul says --- no ---- complete this Titus and then if you look in verse 20 --- Paul says that he wants to avoid any criticism or judgment about what happens with the money that was given and he is going to take great pains in doing what is right in the eyes of God and man. Comments: --- Because of this biblical example of Paul this is why we have two people count our giving and record it, someone else to deposit it, someone else to keep a running monthly record and someone else to do bookkeeping and our records are open to everyone. Verse 21 says “we take great pains to do what is right, not only in the eyes of the Lord but also in the eyes of men.” Hold up report
4TH Principle………

4. Grace giving is inspired by the example of Christ’s gracious nature expressed in His becoming poor so that undeserving sinners might become rich.
(vs. 9) “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.” Grace is a personal quality of Jesus Christ. During his lifetime on this earth He reflected grace – He demonstrated grace and by the very fact that He gave up His life – He gave up His rights to those that God sent Him to save…… He became spiritually poor ---- God turned His face away from His Son when He hung on the cross.
The very body of Christ became a cup that the sins of God’s children were poured into and God turned His face away from His Son - for that moment until Christ said ---“it is finished”. His children were no longer spiritually bankrupt – because of the grace giving of Jesus Christ they became spiritually rich.

Grace giving is inspired in the life of the believer because that believer knows they are spiritually rich. Paul put it this way to the believers at Ephesus.
Ephesians 2:4 - 7 “But because of is great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages He might show the incomparable riches of His grace, expressed in His kindness to us in Christ Jesus.” Because of God’s great love for you and God’s great mercy shown to you --- grace giving is produced in your life.

5. Grace giving includes the use of natural means to encourage believers to give as they should. Most pastors think of this as simply keeping quiet about giving. Many have thought and said – “Giving is something that is private and should never be talked about out in the open --- that’s false thinking, it is not biblical thinking.

If you look in chapter 8 of 2 Cor. Vs 16 Paul says, “I thank God, who put it into the heart of Titus the same concern I have for you.” Apparently God worked directly in Titus’s heart – but that is not God’s normal means of working. He most of the time uses natural means – the Corinthian believers became joyful givers because of the exhortation and encouragement of Paul. If you go over to Romans 15:26 You can see that believers responded and gave “for Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem.” Look with me in the text this morning how God works to encourage us to in grace giving.

* Personal example – 2 Corinthians 8:1 -2 “And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God gave the Macedonian churches. Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.” God uses the personal example and testimony of believers in a church body. Let us hear one of those testimonies in our body… Carol Williams testimony

* Direct exhortation - vs 7 “see that you also excel in this grace of giving.” Paul is commanding the believers to give – you can almost feel him raising his hand and pointing his finger – “See to it” Look on your outline at what a pastor is told to speak to God’s people in a church.

1 Timothy 6:17 -19 17 “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18 Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and ready to share. 19 In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.” ------ how many times does Paul use the word command?? Circle the two times on your outline. So – when a pastor commands you to give – he is only obeying God’s Word. Look at verse 19 – underlined it. What is the result of grace giving in the life of a believer? They lay up treasure for themselves in heaven for the coming age and they take hold of the life that is truly life --- when do they take hold of it? Now ---- when you become a grace giver you take hold of the fullness of eternal life now. So --- if I am hearing what God is saying here --- SLIDE “grace giving and the abundant Christian life go together.”

I have no problem telling you to give. I not only am telling you to give, I command you to give. Let me promise you this: I will help you and advise you with your finances and when you begin to give and you cannot make it to the next paycheck, I will make certain the church gives you the money back that you gave. Paul says God encourages us to give by 1. Personal example 2. Direct exhortation and

* Personal leadership – my wife and I do not tithe. We do not give back to God 10%. We have been married for 28 years and believers in Jesus Christ for over 30. We should be able to believe God for more than what He expects and the standard that He gives. We started out in our marriage at the standard of 10% - but over the years our faith and trust in God has grown to where we give between 20 – 25% of our income. Grace giving starts at a tithe and goes beyond it. My wife and I practice what I am preaching to you. I know that what the bible teaches is real. I would not lead you astray. I have lived it and continue to live it. Believe me….. God can be trusted.

I remember in college going to a CCC Christmas event as 19 year old and a 1 year baby Christian and being challenge to give a pledge to support African ministers. I wrote down $120 on the card. We were in Washington DC and I had $40 to eat on for the 4 day conference. When the offering box came around – I put the card and $20 bucks in the box. I promised to trust God for the money in the next 3 months. I did not – but I remember how hard it was to eat on $20 for 4 days –and I will always remember being challenged to give and my feeble attempts at obeying and trusting God. Grace giving starts at some point.

6. Grace giving is rewarded by God’s gracious provision of abundant resources for the faithful giver. 2 Corinthians 9:8 “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.” When God chooses to meet the believers needs with more than they have given - that reward is undeserved. He is not obligated to bless the believer. But He does and when He does that is His grace. Jerry Bridges puts this way:

“This is the amazing story of God’s grace. God saves us by His grace and transforms us more and more into the likeness of His Son by His grace. In all our trails and afflictions, He sustains and strengthens us by His grace. He calls us by grace to perform our own unique function within the body of Christ. Then by grace, He gives to each of us the spiritual gifts necessary to fulfill our calling. As we serve Him, He makes that service acceptable to Himself by grace, and then He rewards us a hundred – fold by grace.”

Let us pray: Lord Jesus – I pray that You will strengthen the faith of Your children and extinguish all of Satan’s flaming missiles of fear and covetousness. Enable Your children to be strong in You, and in the strength of Your might. Do not lead them into temptation but deliver them from the evil one. Let them sense Your pleasure with them. And strengthen them with the joy that comes from grace giving. I ask that You would glorify Yourself by keeping Your promises to bless them for their faithful giving. You said in Your Word that if we give generously and sacrificially, You will give us all the money we need, as well as extra money to give away. I claim that promise for the flock you have entrusted to my care. Give them pay raises – give them jobs – keep their cars running – keep their appliances from breaking down – surpize them with unexpected gifts – open their eyes to Your provision in their lives. Surround my people like the mountains surround Jerusalem to protect them from temptation and to give to them all your good gifts. When you answer these prayers, I will give you all the credit. In Jesus name -- Amen