Joyful Giving #3

Joyous Giving
Stewardship #3
November 2, 2008
Pastor Ben Fleming

Introduction: Turn in your bible to 2 Cor chapter 9. Please turn off the lights. Eph 5:8 “ 8For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9(for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) 10and find out what pleases the Lord. 11Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. 12For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. 13But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, 14for it is light that makes everything visible. ----- as a believer in Jesus Christ you are to expose your life – your thinking – your values and all that you are to the light of the Word of God. Your relationships are to be under the light of the Word of God --- that is why we have been taking the Peacemakers training on Tuesdays….. Your marriage must be under the light of the Word of God – that is why we have the seminar Love and Respect. Your dating must be under the light of the Word of God – the movies that you watch and the books that you read must be under the light of the Word of God. How you are going to vote this Tuesday must be under the light of the Word of God and not your political party…….Your sexuality must be under the light of the Word of God….. Your work must be under the light of the Word of God. Your money and your possessions must be under the light of the Word of God.

All that you are and think must be under the light of the Word of God. Paul says – “for you were once darkness but now your are light in the Lord – live as a child of the light and find out what pleases the Lord.” If the bible tells us that we must find out what pleases God then we have to assume that we do not know. We do not hear much about pleasing the Lord today. Most of us are only concerned with pleasing ourselves ---- that is like everyone around us and we do not concern ourselves with bringing all of the areas of our lives under the light of the Word of God – we are worldly. Jerry Bridges says in his book “Respectable Sins” Worldliness means accepting the values, mores, and practices of our nice unbelieving society around us without discerning whether or not those values are biblical.”…..

I went to the trouble of typing out for you some words about wordliness from C.J. Mahaney – it is in your program. We must become a people who live as a child of the light and find out what pleases the Lord.

Psalm 135:5- 6 “I know that the Lord is great, that our Lord is greater than all gods. The Lord does whatever pleases him, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths.” So God is not all that concerned with pleasing His creation – He is focused on pleasing Himself….. He is hedonistic. Proverbs 15:8 “The Lord detests the sacrifice of the wicked, but the prayer of the upright pleases Him.” Prayer pleases God. The prayer of a believer who is in right standing with Him pleases Him. God is pleased when His children talk to Him……….. John 8:28 - 29 (Jesus) “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am the one I claim to be and I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. The one who sent me is with me; He has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases Him.”…. Jesus sought to please the Father during His 33 years on this earth and He always fully pleased the Father while being fully a man. If we pursue being like Christ then we must pursue pleasing God…… Listen kids to this one from Eph 3:20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.” It is pleasing to God to obey your parents. It is pleasing to God to not give your dad and mom a hard time. If you have a hard time obeying your mom and dad just think of your disobedience as displeasing to God. 1 Timothy 2:3 says that when we pray for our political leaders it pleases God and 1 John 3:21 says “Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from Him anything we ask, because we obey His commands and do what pleases Him. And this is His command: to believe in the name of His Son – Jesus Christ and to love one another.”…….. It pleases God when you believe in Jesus. It pleases God when that belief in Jesus causes you to love one another. It pleases God when your belief in Jesus causes your life to change and begin to reflect godliness.

We are talking about stewardship – managing the money and possessions that God has given to us. We either want to please God with our money and possessions or we are only concerned with pleasing ourselves. We are in the state that we are in as a country because the majority of us are only concerned with pleasing our selves when it comes to money and what we do with that money. Some of us are deep deep in debt. Some of us are even considering bankruptcy as a way out and some of us have no idea how to get a handle on our money so that it does not control us. This past week – is the first time in 13 years that I have had someone meet with me for help in managing their money. Pleasing God has got to become an issue in our lives especially when it comes to money. Most believers are ashamed of how they have managed money and many simply do not want to change. I am talking about money – this is our third message on money – we have a second testimony today --- please do not get up and walk out on me and I am sorry if you feel like I am stepping on your toes – my heart is to encourage you and to help you and to challenge you to repent and to glorify God by the way you use and manage the money He gives you. Jesus gives us these sobering words in (TOP OF YOUR OUTLINE) Luke 12:48 “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” Everyone of us have been given much because we live in this country………..If you and I learn to please God in our giving…. I guarantee you that you will experience more joy in God. Do you want more joy in God? So – today I want to give you 10 ways to give that pleases God. We are talking about joyful giving. Last week we read 2 Corinthians chapter 8 – today we are reading chapter 9. I am going to use last weeks chapter and this weeks chapter since they both go together. PHIL .

Ten Ways to Give That Pleases God

1. God is pleased when you give even though you are overwhelmed with your problems. Last week we read about the believers in Macedonia 2 Cor. 8:1 – 2 “Now, brothers, about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.” These believers were persecuted – robbed – imprisoned and beaten for their faith. Most of them had been layed off from work and had their homes foreclosed on. Do you only give when you have no problems? Do you only give when you have paid all the bills? Do you give only when you have work? Some of you are overwhelmed with expenses and problems. I have known what that feels like….. In June – because of our grandsons death -- the extra expenses in our life went over $3000.00. Some of it was paid for by others but I still thought to myself – “how in the world are we going to pay for these things and when it came to giving to God in June - I actually thought of not doing that ----- but by God’s grace we gave. Give – even when your problems overwhelm you.

2. God is pleased when you give and you are in poverty. Poverty is relative in the United States because even those who receive disability and social security checks are rich compared to the rest of the world.

Turn to the gospel of Mark chap 12:41………. Jesus is teaching in the Jewish Temple courts at this time and people are bringing their giving to the temple. Follow along with me: “Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They gave out of their wealth, but she out of her poverty, put in everything – all she had to live on.” What this woman did is recorded in the bible for some reason……. God’s Word teaches us that no matter how difficult our financial situation is we can still give something to God. Some of us live paycheck to paycheck but there is no one in here who goes down to the Carson River with a 5 gal drum to get water and there is no one in here who uses a hoe and goes out in a field to use the bathroom. God is pleased when you give and you are in poverty.

3. God is pleased when you give beyond your ability. Verse 3 of chapter 8. “For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability.” These believers gave what they could afford and what they could not afford. These believers trusted God and He did not let them down. Determine what you should give to God and you will find yourself giving beyond your ability to give. You can never say you can’t give because you are not able to. If you not able to give then you can give. God gave the Macedonian believers that ability and He will not stop doing that with you.

4. God is pleased when you give generously. Verse 2 of chapter 8 “out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.” When Paul wrote this for some reason he used the words joy and generosity. God is pleased when we give generous amounts with generous hearts. Notice that the amount goes with the condition of the heart. It is possible to give and not have a generous heart. Your gift may be small compared to someone else’s gift but if your heart is generous --- God is pleased. God is not pleased when we give from stingy hearts ---- A man prayed once --- “God, you can have anything you can pry out of my hands”. You laugh at that but some have said it. Think about it:

Everything you have came from God and belongs to God – simple gratitude should motive you to give as much money to God’s work as you can. Do not stop at 10% ----10% is not this legalistic spiritual mark that you have achieved and when you have achieved it you have arrived spiritually. Do not stop at giving an offering which is giving above 10%. Learn to give sacrificially. Dr Mark Dever has said that as American believers we cannot say we give sacrificially until we have given to the point where the gift has lowered our net worth. I have to say that in my Christian life -- My wife and I give generously but we have only given sacrificially one time --- if I use Pastor Dever’s definition. If that confuses you please do not hesitate to ask me to expand on it.

5. God is pleased when we give eagerly. Verse 4 of chap. 8. “they pleaded with us for the privilege in this service to the saints.” We do not know exactly what was going on here – Paul and Titus may have seen how poor these believers were and the believers found out about the need and the were eager to give. This example tells us that God is pleased when His people have an attitude of an eagerness to give. That means they did not feel obligated – or pressured or guilt driven. An eagerness to give means that you plan to give. It means that you think about and pray about your giving before the opportunity to give --- it is not an impulse thing. I am pleased to say that in the past 13 years I can think of a few people who have asked me how they could give to a need. It happened just this past week. God is pleased when our giving is from an eagerness.

6. God is pleased when we give cheerfully. Chp 9:7 “Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” Is there a joy in your heart when it comes to giving on Sunday? Do you resent having a bag passed around and or do you feel guilty for not putting in something? This verse was driven home in my thinking in 1979 when I was in Zululand and at a Zulu church service and it came time for the offering --- everyone stood up and everyone had some money in their hand and they were waving it back and forth – smiling and laughing and we all sang and two steeped in a line up to the front and put our giving in the offering plate. They demonstrated outwardly what Paul is talking about pleases God inwardly. If there is joy in your heart when it comes time to give to God – God is pleased. ---- so if there is no joy then you are off the hook when it comes to giving????? That is not biblical thinking…….. give and ask God for joy.

7. God is pleased when you give yourself to Him and to your spiritual leaders along with your money.
I know of believers who give… but they want nothing to do with submitting to the spiritual leadership of a local church family. They miss grace giving. They miss joyful giving. Their giving is not pleasing to God……… 2 Cor 8:5 “And they did not do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God’s will.” Paul clearly lays out that giving oneself to God and then to spiritual leaders is God’s will. You can give and be out of God’s will. You either support your spiritual leaders or you do not. These believers that Paul is writing about were not devoted to a doctrine or a certain issue that they had as a hobby horse and that was the only reason they gave but they were first and foremost devoted to God. They loved Him – obeyed Him and served Him and they were devoted to their spiritual leaders – they loved them – respected them and served them. When you are devoted to God and devoted to your spiritual leaders along with your money that pleases God.

8. God is pleased when you accept your personal responsibility to give. In 1 Cor. 16:1-2 Paul laid for the church this principle. “Now about the collection for God’s people: Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. On the first day of the week (Sunday) each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income as I directed the churches in Galatia, so do you also.” What does these two verses tell you? Every believer in a local church is to give. “each one of you” is pretty clear. Everybody is to participate in the support of their church family. It does not matter what your situation is --- God expects you to support your church family. COMMENT…. It pleases God when you accept your responsibility. Take out of your program an insert that I put in there – Accepting the 10% challenge. I want to help you be responsible. I want to help you please God. Let me read this for you………..

Take out insert and read it……… God is pleased when you accept your personal responsibility to give.

9. God is pleased when you carefully plan your giving. 1 Cor 16:2 “On the first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, that no collections be made when I come.” Paul was teaching the church to plan ahead. He was teaching the church financial planning. He was teaching the church to plan ones giving. Planned giving involves choosing a time to give. You are going to give every pay period – every week – every two weeks or once a month. Planned giving involves choosing a form of giving. You are going to give cash or check – when you give you are going to put it in an envelope with your name on it so that at the end of the year a record can be sent back to you so you can see how your giving was.

Planned giving involves choosing a place to give – for the believer the #1 place is their local church family – the book of Malachi tells us that.

A good steward carefully plans how he should invest His masters money in his masters best interest. When extra giving opportunities come to our family – Cheryl and I discuss them and we choose very carefully where we give. We have had many giving opportunities come to us as a church family over the past years but we have chosen very carefully where we invest God’s money. God is pleased when you carefully plan your giving.

10. God is pleased when you base your giving on the level of your prosperity. 16:2 “On the first day of the week each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper.” The apostle Paul lays out giving here for the believer. We are to give to God based on the level of our financial prosperity. The more you make the more you give to God. The more prosperous God makes you the more you invest in His kingdom. Some of us do not consider ourselves prosperous – you are. You live in this country. My wife and I have learned to give 20% of our income back to God. That is this year – I want to see it increase next year. Do you remember the promise from the first message Luke 6 “Give and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Cheryl and I have seen and experienced the truth of this promise --- we just want to increase our measuring cup.

I want you to hear how others are dealing with the issue of giving in their lives and Andy Getas is going to give us his testimony.

Andy testimony

Let us pray: Heavenly Father – I pray for your people that they would become pleasers of You. Help them not to forget to share with others, for with such sacrifices You are pleased. Would you work in them that which is pleasing to You. Would you help them to become generous givers. Help them to become pleasing stewards of the money and possessions that You have given to them. Father – may we walk in the light of the Word of God with our finances. Show us where our attitudes need to be changed. Show us where our financial habits need repenting. Lord – may we become a church family of generous givers. We ask in Jesus name --- Amen