God’s Giving Programme for a Church
July 24th
2011 AM
Pastor Craig Ledbetter
I.
Introduction
A.
The Bible has a lot to say
about money
1.
Proverbs 13:22
"A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children's children: and the
wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just" Evidently we should have some
money left over to our grandchildren when we die!
2.
Proverbs 21:20
"There is treasure to be desired and oil in the dwelling of the wise; but
a foolish man spendeth it up."
Evidently God wants us to save for a rainy day, to set something back for
safekeeping. To not spend everything we make in a week!
3.
Proverbs 22:7 states that "The
rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender."
Did you hear that? The Bible
discourages debt! Does God really
want me to pay my debts off and avoid debt? Evidently so!
4.
Matthew. 6:24 " Ye cannot
serve God and mammon" Evidently, money IS important, but it is not the big thing
in life that everyone makes it out to be! It is never to be served, and worried
about, and catered to. Worship only God!
B.
Why does the Bible talk so
much about money? Shouldn’t it just talk about heaven, about peace, love, and
getting along with our “fellow man?” Only if you live in the 1960’s and are on
drugs! Let me ask you some questions…
1.
Whose money is it anyway?
2.
Who is actually taking care of
you and me every moment of every day?
3.
What does our attitude about
money reveal? It reveals what we REALLY love!
C.
Giving Money Away Works
1.
No strings attached. No
expectation to be paid back by people! Just giving as to the Lord (Pr 19:17)
2.
God doesn’t need good
economies, good jobs, or good banks to get His people through hard times!
3.
He just needs faithful, humble
believers who believe and trust God about everything! Including their money!
4.
Christians need to get back to
giving money away!
5.
Giving money away works
because…
a.
We believe and obey God and
not the economists
b.
We think of others, especially
the lost who need someone to go TO them at their own cost
c.
We put God as our first and
top priority – not as our left-overs
D.
The Vision God has Given Us as
a Church
1.
Of Growth – never standing
still
2.
Of Ministry – serving people,
and giving out the true bread of the life – the word of God!
3.
Of a world still heading for
hell – in need of the Gospel!
4.
None of that vision is free!
It is for others, but not for us who are committed to being a New Testament kind
of Church!
E.
This morning I want to learn
about giving! I want to show you how God gives, how Christ Jesus gave, how it is
in our new nature to give, and that we are not Christian, if we are not giving
money away!
II.
Examples of Giving
A.
God
(John 3:16; 1Tim 6:17) – God is a giver! He is the GREAT giver
1.
He GAVE Himself
2.
He gave us our very lives
3.
He forGAVE us every sin and
debt we ever owed Him
4.
Since God is the owner and
giver of all things, we are only trustees, managers, stewards of His things. God
entrusts some things to us It is not "my" home, "my" car, "my" money, or even
"my" child. I am just a trustee of God's possessions. In fact, I do not even
"possess" salvation or eternal life. Jesus Christ (who is my life) possesses me!
B.
Jesus Christ
(2Cor 8:9)
1.
He gave to everyone who asked
of Him
2.
He never owned anything other
than the clothes on his back
3.
He supplied tax money for
Peter, bread for 20,000 people one day, and the 15 thousand people another day
4.
In the OT, He supplied manna
every day for 40 years, and water from a Rock in the desert!
5.
Jesus Christ is a giver!
C.
A widow
(Luke 21:1-4)
D.
Our new nature is a giving
nature
1.
When a person gets born again,
they get a brand new life in them – a new nature
2.
They still have that selfish,
stingy, discontented nature
3.
But now they have the Holy
Spirit of God in them, and that is the Spirit of giving – not of taking, and
hording, and not caring about others!
III.
Message – How A
Christian Gives
A.
Christians Give Obediently
(Malachi 3:8-10) – as a Choice
1.
That’s where it all begins!
This is the rock-solid foundation
2.
There are so many rewards and
blessings for tithing
3.
But we don’t tithe because of
the blessing first – we tithe because God said to
4.
To tithe is to give the first
10% of our income to God’s storehouse – your local Church
5.
It is the first bill we pay,
never the last!
6.
It is not because you are rich
– it is because you got money!
7.
We think God only wants money
from rich people – nope!
8.
He wants to make sure none of
us let money become more important than God Himself! And he does that by asking
for the first 10%
a.
If you get €100 a week, your
tithe is €10 – is that too hard?
b.
If you get €1,000 a week, your
tithe is what?
c.
If you get €50 a week, your
tithe is what?
B.
Christians Give Lovingly
(Mk 14:3-8) – from the Heart
1.
This follows right after
giving obediently
2.
If you only give out of
obedience, it gets old quick
3.
You see, our gift is not to an
organisation, or to an office, or to a building… It is to our Saviour! The one
we call our Lord!
4.
And we love Him enough to show
our love!
5.
So we Give Willingly –
Freely – from our heart (2Cor 8:1-3)
6.
Again, with the new nature of
the Holy Spirit in a believer, there will never be a conflict with giving!
C.
Christians Give
Purposefully (2Cor 9:7)
1.
There are three purposes to
give your money away
a.
For the needs of others – just
should come naturally (Gal 6:10)
b.
For the needs of our community
(Job 31:16-28)
c.
For the needs of our future
(Hag 1:4-9) as a church
1)
We pay our bills
2)
We buy what we can afford
3)
But we have to plan for the
future and need to save back so that we can afford things in the future! Like a
mortgage!!!
2.
Do you all realise that we all
financially support 9 missionary families all over the world for €75 a month?
3.
Do you also realise that we
cannot send them money that isn’t there for us to send to them?
4.
Do you also realise that the
bank needs to see that not only do we pay our bills, on time, but that we all
tithe faithfully and consistently and not up and down week to week?
D.
Christians Give Cheerfully
(2Cor 9:7)
1.
This is the best part
2.
Jesus said that it is more
blessed to give than to get (Acts 20:35)
3.
So we enjoy giving
4.
A church does not give
“grudgingly” – with discontent, or with a bad attitude
5.
We cheer when we get to give!
6.
If giving your money away
doesn’t put a smile on your face, then you have not had a good week!
7.
Christianity truly is opposite
of everything in this world!
8.
Our church needs to love to
give! I love to sing, to preach, to eat, to go for walks with my family, and
especially my wife – but I cheer – I love to give!
E.
Christians Give Blindly
(Matthew 6:1-4)
1.
Without fanfare – without
drawing attention to yourself
2.
There is no merit in giving –
you earn nothing by giving
3.
You just give!
4.
Your left hand should not even
know that your right hand is giving!
5.
We don’t give our monies
because it is rewarding
6.
Give because giving is right
to do – whether anyone notices or not!
F.
Christians Give
Sacrificially (Luke 14:13,14)
1.
To people that don’t pay back
2.
To projects that don’t pay off
– we do things for eternity’s sake
3.
We don’t support our
missionaries because they then send money back here to US
4.
We don’t buy land, or a
building so that it can be an investment to sell off later
5.
We just give – wisely yes –
but give so that souls can be preached to, and children can be taught, and
families can be helped, and marriages can be fixed, and lives can be reclaimed!
6.
And all of that comes from a
sacrifice – not a donation
G.
Christians Give Expectantly
(2Cor 9:8)
1.
There IS a payback though!
Christians are not stupid! We know that God will repay
2.
Proverbs 3:9,10
3.
Proverbs 22:9
4.
Malachi 3:8-10
5.
Luke 6:38
H.
Christians Give
Consistently (1Cor 16:2)
1.
Everyone starts off right –
starts to give
2.
But few finish
3.
Life will always take more and
more of your time, more and more of your strength, and more and more of your
money unless you put Jesus first! And KEEP Him first!
4.
Every Sunday ought to be the
day you give your tithe
5.
It ought to be the day that
you find out what projects are going on that you can have a part in
6.
Yes, you will need to pay for
new tyres, new printer inks, new clothes and shoes
7.
But that all comes after you
have put your Lord and Saviour first!
8.
Remember those “holes”
mentioned in Haggai 1:6? If you have less and less, it probably is because you
are tithing less and less, and have make Jesus only worthy of the left-overs
IV.
Conclusion
A.
Is anybody in here glad that
God is a great giver? What did He first give us?
1.
Our very life
2.
And then our new life – Jesus
said, I am come that ye might have LIFE! New life!
3.
And now He gives you and me
every day, so many good and perfect gifts that we will never be able to count
them all and thank Him for them!
B.
The Challenge to every
Christian this morning… (2Cor 8:1-5)
1.
Give your SELF first to God
2.
Start Tithing – not just
donating
3.
Stay faithful in giving – not
spotty and inconsistent
4.
Give to specific needs – we
have several…
a.
We have about a dozen kids
whose parents can’t afford to pay for camp – so we need to all give so that they
can come!
b.
We are way behind on
purchasing tracts and Bibles to give away
c.
We have a Summer Bible Club
coming up, and need materials and supplies so that children all over this area
can come and have a blast learning about this Bible and about salvation, and
about heaven and hell, and about forgiveness!