Generosity Produced

We're going to spend the next few weeks looking at God's Word on the subject of giving. Now you're surely asking, why do you want to spend time preaching to us on giving? Well, because, I'll be honest with you, last year was a difficult one for LaRue Baptist Church in terms of our budget. we weren't meeting it on a consistent basis. Elders then thought it would be a good idea to, let's look into the word of God about it.

We met with the deacons, we painstakingly were going over the budget. They concurred, why don't you preach on that. Now, listen carefully. Our intention is not to beat you over the head with the idea that you were not meeting your obligations. We don't know what you give, and so we don't know if that was the case. We just don't know.

Inflation is a reality, and we all were hit pretty hard with that in the last couple of years. So that what the church purchases and pays for went up, so there was less money than we had anticipated, and inflation hit you. your income was affected and so quite possibly you weren't able to give as you thought but we thought actually we don't know what's happening so let's just look into the word of God and see what God's going to do however as we enter the new year if you look at the bulletin every week for the last couple months we've been exceeding budget right uh it's not what it was so you're thinking i get it you got it planned you might as well do it anyway no no why should we preach on this because giving is a spiritual issue giving is a barometer of your worship and loyalty to your heavenly father it says something about that relationship and the bible also indicates that it's a measure of your spiritual growth and maturity so regardless of the budget. We need instruction in these matters.

I mean, it's a spiritual issue, so we ought to address it from the Word of God. Need may be an occasion for preaching, but it's never the primary reason for it. So our prayer over the next few weeks is that this series will encourage your love for Jesus, strengthen your relationship with your Father, and cause you to seek the Holy Spirit's power. And so as we enter in, please understand, this is not aimed at give more.

This is an issue, we've not talked about it in a long time. Let's look in the next few weeks about what the Bible says about giving. It's a spiritual issue and we all might learn something together. So, here we are. Let's pray and we'll dive in. God of heaven thank you for this people that are assembled here today you have been faithful to us over these many years Lord in my experience of four decades here you have always been faithful to us and you've been faithful to us as we understand you better through your word and so I pray that over the next few weeks this would be an enjoyable time of hearing what you have to say to us in this area, that we would understand more about you and about what Jesus has done for us, and that that might help us to understand our responsibilities and our privilege of giving.

So God, help us to enter into this joyfully with the attitude that we are going to learn more about what you have to say about an important part of our Christian life, and we'll thank you for what you're going to do already. In Jesus' name, amen. question, does God need your money? And you're saying to me, you're thinking, you won't say it out loud, but you're thinking, what a stupid question.

Of course he doesn't need our money. We all know that God is self-sufficient. He doesn't need anything outside of himself. He has all the resources for everything he needs within himself. He doesn't need us, and he doesn't need our money. And that would be a theologically sound answer.

That's right. Yet as you look at scripture, you see a great emphasis on giving. Consider for a moment, Abraham, tithe to Melchizedek. Israel, in the wilderness, as you heard this morning, gave for the tabernacle. In fact, they were so generous that Moses finally had to say, stop, don't bring any more. We have plenty.

You see that David led the people in giving for the temple. And in our call to worship, it reflects that. God, you're the one who gives us everything. We're not producing anything. You're the one who's given everything to us that we could give to you. Giving was part of temple worship.

The New Testament says a great deal about giving and about what we do with our money. If God doesn't need money then, why is there such an emphasis on it in the scriptures? Because giving is a test of your spiritual growth. It's a test of your loyalty and love to your Father. It's a test. It says something about the reach of the Savior's grace to your heart.

You remember Jesus said in Matthew 6, no one can serve two masters. You cannot serve both God and money. That verse always said something to me. It impresses me because this is what Jesus is saying. He says money is like a competing God that's vying for your allegiance. money is a competing God that beckons you away from the true God in order to give your allegiance to him how you part with your money is a great test of your spiritual growth because it says a great deal about who is your master Now we want to see what God says about giving to the ministry of Christ's church.

A good steward of the resources God has given him will be in the habit of giving. And the two chapters in the Bible that really kind of crystallize, this is what we call a classic passage in the Bible about giving. It's the two chapters in 2 Corinthians, chapters 8 and 9. These say a great deal to us about giving. And so we're going to spend a couple of weeks in these two chapters.

And here you see the kind of giving that pleases your Heavenly Father. Now the background to this is simply the Apostle Paul, as we pick up in the latter chapters of the book of Acts, The Apostle Paul is gathering a collection to take to the church in Jerusalem. The church in Jerusalem was suffering at this time a great deal. They were very impoverished.

And so the Apostle Paul is going to those churches that he had planted. And he's collecting money to take with him. And you can read the details in part of chapter 8 and so forth where they're gathering men that will oversee it. And they're trying to make sure that it's all above board. and he at this point as he's writing these words is in Macedonia.

He's collecting money from the Macedonian churches, Philippi, Thessalonica, all those churches there. And he's collecting the money, he's writing to Corinth and saying, you know about this collection and here's what you need to keep in mind when I arrive, before I get there, here's what you need to keep in mind about this ministry of money that we have. And so in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9, we find that there's a great deal here said to us about giving.

All right, so let's look at the first 15 verses of chapter 8. You follow. We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed, and a wealth of generosity on their part. for they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints.

And this not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord, and then by the will of God to us. Accordingly, we urged Titus that as he had started, so he should complete among you this act of grace. but as you excel in everything in faith in speech in knowledge in all earnestness and in our love for you see that you excel in this act of grace also i say this not as a command but to prove by the earnestness of others that you your love also is genuine for you know the grace of our lord jesus christ that though he was rich yet for your sake he became poor so that you by his poverty might become rich and in this manner I and in this matter I give my judgment this benefits you who a year ago started not only to do this work but also to desire to do it so now finish doing it as well so that your readiness in desiring it may be matched by your completing it out of what you have for if the readiness is there it is acceptable according to what a person has not according to what he does not have for i do not mean that others should be eased and you burden but that as a matter of fairness your abundance in the present time should supply their needs that their abundance may supply your need and that there may be fairness as it is written whoever gathered much had nothing left over and whoever gathered little had no lack now here's the first thing we need to see. God says generosity is your standard in giving.

Generosity. This whole passage breathes with that word. You can't walk away without thinking generosity here from this passage. Overall, that's what he's saying. Paul doesn't say they met their pledges. Paul does not say they gave their tithes.

The whole passage has only one thrust. Follow the example of the Macedonians and be generous. That's all he says. Be generous. Well, what does God mean by generosity? What does that mean?

Give me something to work with here, God. I don't know what you mean by generous. What does that look like? Well, in those first six verses, God shows you generosity by example. He shows you generosity by example. He gives you the example of the Macedonians.

He says, if you look at them, you'll see what generosity really is. What is it? Verses 1 and 2. We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. First, generosity grows when God's grace and not your circumstances dictate your giving.

When God's grace dictates your circumstances, or dictates your giving, not your circumstances. You see, even though the Macedonians were persecuted and impoverished, they were joyful, and that welled up into generosity. It was God's grace that made them give, not their circumstances. They're persecuted, they're impoverished, and yet they're generous. You know, we read about this Macedonian church in Thessalonica.

For example, in 1 Thessalonians 1, verses 6 and 7. And you became imitators of us and the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia You see these former idol worshippers had learned that Jesus had delivered them from the wrath of God As idol worshippers, they were under this hovering wrath of God that would fall upon them someday. But they heard of Jesus, who made payment for their sins, and thus had delivered them as they trusted in Him, had delivered them from the wrath of God.

And even in the midst of great affliction, even in the midst of great affliction and poverty, they were joyful in that. Now just picture them for a moment. These poorly dressed believers assemble for worship on the Lord's Day. They're suffering persecution. Paul is up to speak and he talks about the saints in Jerusalem. And joy permeates that service because of their great hope in Christ.

And as he reports on his mission, he is overwhelmed by their generosity. And these poor saints give every penny they can spare, and then some more, is what the Apostle Paul says. They gave according to their means. They gave what they could. Every penny they could spare, and then they gave more. They did it with joy.

They thought it was a privilege to help a sister church. To help other saints who were struggling. They were joyful. Let's help them. It's interesting, they didn't respond to Paul with, Hey, we're pretty impoverished here. Why doesn't someone take up a collection for us?

No, they were overwhelmed with joy and generosity and gave for these other believers. And that is our example. God means that for us. Let's face it. Now let's face it. We are not persecuted.

We are certainly not impoverished, no matter how much we want to complain about how little we make at Whirlpool or Honda or whatever. We are not impoverished people. We're not persecuted. And yet, I don't know about you, we find it hard to be generous in parting with our money. You see, whether we are rich or poor really isn't the point. God's grace is.

That's the point. Generous people will not ask, well, how much should I give? Generous people will say, how much can I give? You're generous if you're motivated by God's grace, not by your circumstances. Verse 3. Let's just say to us in verse 3.

For they gave according to their means, as I can testify and beyond their means of their own accord. You are generous if you give sacrificially, if you give sacrificially according to their means and beyond their means. C.S. Lewis once wrote in Mere Christianity, I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare.

In other words, if our expenditures on comforts, luxuries, amusements, etc., is up to the standard common among those with the same income as our own, we are probably giving away too little. If our charities or our giving do not at all pinch or hamper us, I should say they are too small. There ought to be things we should like to do and cannot do because our charitable expenditures exclude them.

Now, he's not talking about impoverishing yourself. He's saying, do you need to buy? I can't buy a new car. I'll have to settle for an older one. Why? Can't afford it because I'm giving away.

I'm being generous. Maybe, maybe I can't afford the new dishwasher. The old one's fine. I can get along with it, but I can't get the new one. Why? because I've been generous. Maybe I have to go to Wisconsin for vacation rather than to Disney World.

Or maybe I'd have a staycation. So I was driving in, I thought, no, I shouldn't. I shouldn't have to buy a printer for my office at home and just do what I'm doing now. I should not be able to get another printer for that matter. I don't need to. You see, generosity is not measured by the amount you give.

It's measured by your sacrifice. Not by your amount, but by your sacrifice. Verse 5, notice what he says. And this, not as we expect. They were begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints. and this not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord, and then by the will of God to us. Verse 4, you're generous if you give voluntarily.

Evidently, Paul had mentioned the need of the church in Jerusalem, and they begged, they begged to be a part of that. It's possible he wasn't even soliciting it yet. He was just telling them about it. And they begged to let them be a part of it. No pleading, no brow-beating on his part. He made known the need, and God's people responded.

Generosity means responding without pressure. You don't respond just because there's pressure put on you. So, listen, you respond not because I'm preaching on this, and I'm trying to pressure you into giving more. That's not the issue. you respond voluntarily verse 5 i just read he says you generous if you give yourself he said before they offered their money they offered themselves They offered themselves Can you see now why they so generous They were generous with themselves.

They offered themselves to Paul for any service he might want. And that's why they had little problem with parting with their money. Think about this. Think about this. See the correlation. Those who are generous with themselves. those who are willing to say, my brother needs help, I'm going to put aside what I had planned for today and I'm going to get over there and I'm going to give him a hand.

Oh, wait a minute. They need help? They need help with those children? Okay, we're going to deal with that. Let's see what we can do to help them. See, gave of themselves first.

Those who give themselves in serving others will be generous with their money. If they're generous with themselves, They'll be generous with their money. If you're in the habit of giving yourself to helping others, you probably are not going to have a problem with being generous. Isn't that amazing? As I meditated and thought through this passage, that really struck me.

If I'm generous with myself to help others, I will be more apt to be generous with my money. How fascinating. verse 6 he talks about Titus coming accordingly we urge Titus that as he had started so he should complete among you this act of grace you have to cultivate generosity you have to cultivate generosity Titus brought this letter and he was to bring about the completion of the collection it was his job to say okay let's get it all together so when Paul arrives he can pick it up and go. And Paul had given them instructions about how to help Titus complete that in 1 Corinthians chapter 16.

So turn back, referencing the same collection. Here's what Paul says. Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do. On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up as he may prosper so that there will be no collecting when I come. And when I arrive, I will send those whom you accredit by letter to carry your gift to Jerusalem.

If it seems advisable that I should go also, they will accompany me. Now what does he say then in those first two verses? Here's what he says. To cultivate grace, you must set aside a proportion of your income. Set aside a proportion. Don't scrape up something.

He's not saying, don't be in the habit of just scraping up something and giving it. Be in the habit of deciding proportionately, of my income, I'm going to give this. That's the first thing he says. And the second thing he says, don't just scrape up some things every week. Don't just scrape up a few bucks every week as you're sitting in the pew. Give systematically.

Be in the habit of giving systematically. I'm going to give this much, I'm going to give it systematically. If I'm paid once a month, once a month I'm going to give. If I'm paid twice a month, twice a month I'm going to give. But do it systematically. Don't expect that the grace of giving will just zap you.

Cultivate that. Now look, think about it. What's one of God's gifts of grace? Teaching. That's a gift. Right?

So if you're gifted with teaching, boy, bang, all you have to do is just read over some stuff and get up and do your thing, right? That's what you do, Pastor, isn't it? Guys, the wrestling team saw me sitting in the cafeteria yesterday working away on this sermon, right? No. You may have the gift of teaching, but you have to grow in it. You can grow in it.

You have to discipline yourself. You have to seek to get better. Right? It doesn't just happen. Yes, you've got that gift. It's a gift of grace.

But you still can develop it. That's what he's saying here. This is a gift of... This is... this grace of giving doesn't just zap you. You've got to develop it. You've got to work on it.

You have to cultivate it. So cultivate generosity. So then God describes here generosity and giving. It's not controlled by circumstances, but by God's grace. It is sacrificial. It is voluntary.

It includes yourself. It is systematic. It is systematic. Well, now God gives us an example of generosity in the Macedonians so you know what generosity is. He now exhorts you so that you know what to do. And so in the remaining verses, 7 through 15, God exhorts you to generosity.

He gives you certain commands, if you will. Here's the first, verses 7 through 9. Make excellence your goal. Make excellence your goal. Verse 7, I think the paragraph break should be between 6 and 7. so but as you excel in everything in faith and speech and knowledge and all earnestness and in our love for you see that you excel in this act of grace also i say this not as a command but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine for you know the grace of our lord jesus christ that though he was rich yet for your sake he became poor so that you by his poverty might become rich.

Make excellence your goal. We all try to excel in these areas of the Christian faith. He talks about speech and knowledge and earnestness and so forth. We all try to excel in those areas. You discipline yourself. You strive to do your best that you excel in articulating your beliefs, their speech.

You seek excellence in speech. You want to do your very best. You want to go for excellence when it comes to articulating your beliefs. You discipline yourself and you spend much effort and study so that you excel in the knowledge of the Word of God, as he says here, excelling in knowledge. You excel in the knowledge of the Word. You're going to work hard so that you can do that.

You're going to expend yourself so that you excel in promoting the Gospel. He mentions earnestness here. You want to do well. You want to really dive into it and discipline yourself and strive so that you can do it well. Excellence is the goal, is what he says. And so he says it's also that way forgiving.

It's no less significant. You strive for excellence in these other areas. So strive for excellence in this as well. Strive for excellence in giving. Discipline, think, study, do what it takes. But strive for excellence. you know we have wrestlers here today who are good at what they do I would say these guys are really good at what they do and I could say something about yesterday's tournament but I'll refrain they wrestle well, they win a lot, they strive for excellence but they didn't get there by showing up for practice only three nights a week only three days a week for practice they show up for every practice They even work sometimes outside of practice.

In the off-season, they're lifting weights and they're wrestling and they're drilling. They keep working at it and working at it and working at it. Listen, you will not excel in giving by scraping together a few bucks as an afterthought as you're sitting in the pew. You will not reach excellence if that's your habit. If you're striving for excellence, it takes work.

It takes work. It takes thought. all right strive for excellence he says now here's here's kind of the center of it all this is not some cold moral obligation but it revolves around the love of the lord jesus for you if we would take out these verses for um verse verse uh nine for you know the grace of our lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich yet for your sake he became poor so that you by his poverty might become rich if we took that out the whole thing collapses this is not some cold moral obligation give generously because God wants you to God does want you to but why because look at the grace of the Lord Jesus he was rich he was rich consider Jesus before the incarnation he was in glory with the Father, receiving the adoration of all the departed saints before he came and of all the angels, right? Absolute.

He was at the height in the universe of all rich and richness and all the worship and adoration that was given him. But what did He became poor You know we can even imagine We just can I don my mind can wrap around what Jesus did He left all the glories of heaven the very highest and you heard me say this you know where I going Some of you have been here for a long time because this is just something that I cannot fathom He left the highest point in the universe of all the adoration of all creatures to the lowest point, dying on a cross, stripped naked, in utter shame. Counted a criminal.

Think about that. he died without a single possession no clothes not even a grave i mean it goes beyond it almost goes beyond those words for your you know he was rich but you for your sakes he became poor wow this is the grace of of jesus why so you could become rich so you could become rich So you would know the richness of peace with God and knowing that God is always for you and never against you any longer. And to know that in all your affliction, there's something better that Jesus has for you in this life, being like him in the next seeing him. The richness of all that we have because he became poor.

That's the heart of our giving. How do you know Jesus loves you? He excelled in giving. And He says, I'm doing this to prove the genuineness of your love. Your love proves genuine as you pursue that excellence. You see, this is what Jesus has done.

He who was rich became poor so you could become rich. That's at the core of our giving. that's at the very core so i said at the beginning it's a measure of how the grace of christ has reached your heart your giving is a measure of how that grace has reached your heart now in verses 10 through 12 he says match your willingness with us with the completion right verses 10 through 12 and in this matter i give my judgment this benefits you who a year ago started not only to do this work but also to desire to do it so now finish doing it as well so that your readiness and desiring it may be matched by your completing it out of what you have for if the readiness is there it is acceptable according to what a person has not according to what he does not have match your willingness with a sum of money. What God says here is that he judges by willingness, not by wealth.

He judges by willingness, not by wealth. Here's our problem. We say, according to my means, after some consideration, I can give $20 a week. Okay? Then Sunday comes, and you have a hard time parting with $20, so you put in $10. You intend to put in $20, but you're willing to put in 10.

God says here, match your gift with your intent. He does not judge the amount, but the willingness to give. You're not willing at that point, are you? You're not willing at that point. Look at chapter 9, verses 1 and 2. Now it is superfluous for me to write to you about the ministry for the saints for I know that your readiness of which I boast about you to the people of Macedonia saying that Achaia has been ready since last year and your zeal has stirred up most of them see they're ready right and so he says I'm the judgment I'm saying is it's your willingness your readiness let's put it this way God does not say give me 20 bucks and you squeeze out 14 He does not then say, you owe me six bucks.

He doesn't say that. That's judging by what you do not have. All right? Let's say you assert $14 is generous for me, and I'm willing to do that. And you make that intention concrete. Put in the $14.

God's pleased. You're willing to be generous, and God looks at your heart. But on the other hand, someone says to himself, I'm willing to give $20, but has a hard time parting with it, so he puts in 10. Well, your heart's really not willing then, is it? He's looking at your heart. Are you willing?

Are you willing? Now, by the way, that exhortation cuts two ways. God's looking at your heart. Are you willing? It removes excuses for no one can say God can't be pleased with $14. Are you willing to give that?

Yes. Good. That's what he's looking at. not the amount he's looking at your heart right but it also brings comfort to those who cannot give great amounts because god looks at your heart not the amount so your willingness now verses 13 through 15 these take a little bit of thought make proportional equality your standard verses 13 through 15 for i do not mean that others should be eased and you burden but that is a matter of fairness your abundance at the present time should supply their need so that your abundance may supply your need that there may be fairness as it is written whoever gathered much had nothing left over and whoever gathered little had no lack right someone doesn't have too much someone doesn't have too little i call that proportional equality when it comes to giving god god doesn't expect everyone to give the same he just says let there be fairness now he he says consider your situation you have great abundance and the macedonians have little in comparison the goal is not that i burden you and those who have little get a pass that's not it at all the goal is fairness it's not burdening the richer people and not expecting anything from anyone else and he says look at what happened to the people in the in people of israel in the wilderness and he quotes from exodus chapter 16 verse 18 and if you read that chapter it's about the people going out to pick up the manna you remember the bread from heaven god supplied their needs by giving them this food from heaven they went out every morning and picked it up and that was part of their food.

Now, this quote comes from Exodus 16, and what he's saying is those who gathered a lot did not have a great abundance They didn have a whole bunch left over those who gathered a lot but those who gathered little weren lacking either so strive for proportional equality what does he mean you who possess abundance have more to give be generous you don't need a whole lot left over you got a lot well make sure you don't have a whole lot left over like the people gathering up the manna. Those who gathered a lot did not have a lot left over. And those who gathered little weren't lacking.

And you who have fewer resources, give. Don't impoverish yourself either. You give generously. Don't impoverish yourself. Not lacking. All right?

So what is your father? So in other words, both can be generous. Right? I can give. My generosity may mean I give more. I'm striving not to have a lot left over.

And those who don't have much can be generous, but they don't need to lack either. You see? Proportional equality. Proportional equality. Let's strive for that. So what does your Father exhort you to do to be generous?

Make excellence your goal in light of the excellency of Jesus Christ. That's the first thing he says. be excellent in your giving like jesus was excellent in his giving jesus gave up much to minister to god's people let your giving reflect that as well i'm going to give i'm going to strive to give in order to minister to god's people be willing in your generosity Don't be grudging. Say, this is what I'm going to give, and that's what you give.

And then make proportionally quality a standard in your giving. So, what's the standard for giving? As we embark on this, what's the standard? Let's set it out right now. It's generosity. It's generosity.

God is looking for people who recognize the importance of generosity in giving. They are those who follow the example of the humble Macedonians. They are the ones who reflect the generous giving of Jesus for his people with us giving generously for his people. So consider these truths as you consider giving. I'm excited as we can look and understand a little bit more about this you know what, bottom line it's not about budget it's about my heart it's about my heart and that's where we're going and here's the first thing God says be generous thank you Father for your word it both convicts and encourages us it lifts a burden from us in that we say oh God I can't meet the standard I can't give a lot and yet you've told us we need to be generous it's not the amount so Father help us to be motivated by the grace of the Lord Jesus to give and to give generously and we'll thank you in Jesus name Amen.