That Which We Dislike Giving

May 28, 2006 Preacher: Randy Smith Series: 1 Corinthians

Scripture: 1 Corinthians 16:1–4

Transcript

That Which We Dislike Giving

1 Corinthians 16:1-4
Sunday, May 28, 2006
Pastor Randy Smith



In the 1950's, Yale's H. Richard Niebuhr described the so-called gospel of protestant liberalism as: "A God without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through a Christ without a cross." That is an inaccurate view of the gospel.

We learned that Paul called the gospel that of "first importance" (1 Cor. 15:3). The gospel, understanding the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ is at the heart of our Christian belief. Yet few professing Christians today when asked, can correctly articulate this core truth of our salvation.

Sadly, the one time liberal gospel has now become the modern gospel. So allow me to provide some contrast between the modern gospel and the true biblical gospel:

  • The modern gospel says: "God is only love." Yet the Bible says, "It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Heb. 10:31).

  • The modern gospel says: "We are basically good people." Yet the Bible says, "There is none who does good, there is not even one" (Rom. 3:12).

  • The modern gospel says: "All people go to heaven." Yet the Bible says through the lips of Jesus, "But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him" (Lk. 12:5)!

  • The modern gospel says: "What you choose to believe is insignificant." Yet the Bible says, "Brethren, do not be children in your thinking; yet in evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature" (1 Cor. 14:20).

  • The modern gospel says: "The purpose for Jesus Christ was merely to provide a good example as to how we are to live our lives." Yet the Bible says, "And He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross…for by His wounds you were healed" (1 Pet. 2:24).

Our salvation is at stake. Will we choose to follow what fallible humans may tell us? Will we choose to believe the flawed internal testimony of our feelings? Or will we stand on what God has to say through His inspired Word?

Once we make it this far and accept the true gospel, the next issue pertains to what we choose to do once we become a follower of Jesus Christ. How will we choose to live our lives? Our daily conduct is important! We know that we are not saved by our actions, but our actions after salvation not only bring glory to God, but also give evidence to us regarding the reality of our salvation.

So again, do we follow what others have defined as the Christian life? Do we do whatever we feel like doing? Or do we believe that God has given us identifiable expectations that He has outlined in the Scriptures and that He expects from His children? Moreover, are these expectations optional, or are they necessary as we submit to the lordship of Christ?

I have chosen to discuss these issues because of where we find ourselves in Paul's letter to the Corinthians. Having concluded his lengthy discourse on the resurrection, the Apostle spends the remaining 24 verses making some closing comments. The final verses of chapter 16, deal with the ministries of Paul's missionary companions. Yet the beginning of chapter 16, verses 1-9, deal with the ministry of the Apostle Paul himself.

And as we examine Paul's ministry we find him speaking about two issues that we have chosen to bury in the church. Most pastors would ignore these issues, as they tend to be offensive and uncomfortable. But Paul didn't exclude them. As a matter of fact, he chose to end his letter on these points. He chose to mention them as two marks that define his ministry. He chose to remind us that these are necessary elements for the true follower of Jesus Christ.

So as we look at Paul's ministry, we need to examine our own ministry in the light of Scripture. Lest we think we are wiser than the Bible, we must probe deeply into these two controversial topics over the next two weeks. The topics? Take a deep breath; one deals with money and the other deals with suffering.

The first sermon is entitled: "That Which We Dislike Giving," followed by the second: "That Which We Dislike Getting." Considering our Lord's calling, and the example we will learn from Paul, these sermons fall under a general banner I'm calling: "A Test of Commitment."

Let's begin…

There is a story about a little girl who experienced a major breakthrough in her life when she learned to tie her own shoes. But instead of excitement, she was overcome by tears. Her father asked, "Why are you crying?" "I have to tie my shoes," she said. "You just learned how. It isn't that hard, is it?" said the father. "I know," she wailed, "but I'm going to have to do it for the rest of my life."

I believe many of us feel that way when we learn about Christian financial giving. We know it is a responsibility. We put something in the offering plate to appease our conscience. But we really do not want to discuss the words "giving" and "sacrifice" in the same sentence especially if it is something we must do the rest of our lives.

Such thinking only shows how little our lives are influenced by the Scriptures. Did you know that 15% of all that Christ said relates to money - more than His teachings on heaven and hell combined? Did you know that God owns all your money to start with (Psm. 24:1)? Did you know that all your earthly possessions are only temporary (1 Ti. 6:7)? Did you know that God wants to bless you with greater riches in heaven based upon what you give here on earth (Mt. 6:19-20)? Did you know that God loves a cheerful giver (2 Cor. 9:7)?

I know there has been a lot of abuse amongst church leaders as it pertains to giving, but it is really a shame that the modern church fears talking about money. Why is that?

According to my former Greek professor, Scott Hafemann, "Unfortunately, many pastors are afraid to mention giving too often, lest the congregation think that the 'church just wants our money.' Such fears are misplaced theologically and often reflect our cowardice in the face of the reigning idols of our day. To speak about our need to give is to emphasize that we are God's people through whom God glorifies Himself. The Corinthians' participation in the collection was not 'for the church,' but evidence that they were the church."

He goes on to say, "Mainstream evangelicals are offended by 'too much' talk about money, fearing that it may contaminate true spirituality. The real reason for seeking this silence, however, is subtle but clear: Too much emphasis on the spiritual necessity of giving as a matter of our salvation directly confronts our materialism and the individualistic privatization of our lives. The call to give is a call to flee the idolatrous worship of the Dollar and the Self by trusting in God's grace alone for our happiness and security. To talk about money is to talk about God" (Second Corinthians, NIV Application Commentary, p. 381, 383).

In the first 4 verses of chapter 16, our text for this morning, Paul encouraged the Corinthian church to begin a financial collection for the Christians in Jerusalem for the saints in the "holy city" had fallen upon difficult times (cf. Ac. 11:29-30; Gal. 2:10). They were experiencing tremendous persecution and economic struggles.

Christians have a responsibility to help the needy (1 Jn. 3:17), especially when they belong to the household of God (Gal. 6:10). Furthermore, Paul felt the Gentiles believers had a financial obligation to repay the Jewish believers for sharing in their spiritual things (Rom. 15:27). Moreover, what could better demonstrate the unity between the two ethnic groups that culturally were at odds with one another (Eph. 2:11-18) than a bountiful gift from the Gentile churches personally presented by key people and possibly the Apostle Paul himself (1 Cor. 16:3-4)?

Though this text deals with a special offering (and there is a place for that as we are currently participating in our baby bottle boomerang for Solutions Pregnancy Center), it does provide five biblical principles that apply to our standard ongoing giving to the church in support of the Lord's work. This morning we'll cover these five key principles applicable to all of us from our Lord's Word.

It's Regular

First of all, our giving should be regular. Verse 2 mentions that believers are to give "on the first day of every week." The first day of the week is Sunday, the new day for worship chosen by the early church to commemorate the resurrection of our Lord.

As you are well aware, we do this every Sunday morning signified by this distribution of the collection plates.

If I can be so bold to ask, what is your perspective on this part of the church service? Cutting through the many opinions, like anything else on Sunday morning, this time should be viewed as one of worship. This is a spiritual act of service where we are seeking to offer God our very best with a desire that it might be found pleasing in His sight. Just as the Jews of the Old Testament were to bring to God their first fruits, Sunday giving is a biblical element of spiritual worship. Therefore all of us as Christians are called to give on a regular basis.

Recently my wife and I have changed our giving pattern in order to have a weekly reminder that regular giving is part of worship. We have chosen to have something to place in the offering plate on a weekly basis. We have chosen not to appear before God empty-handed (Ex. 23:15; Dt. 16:16). Now I am not insinuating that bi-weekly giving or monthly giving is a sin, but I am saying we should realize that regular giving is necessary and the time this is celebrated in the service is not just business as usual, but a holy part of our ongoing spiritual worship. There is no doubt that proper giving like anything else on Sunday morning is related to proper worship.

It's Universal

Second, God-honoring giving is universal. In verse 2 Paul said, "On the first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and save."

There is no doubt that God expects all of His children to be involved in the financial needs of the ministry. Regardless of your financial status, none in the family of God are to be exempt from this responsibility.

Regardless of your age, you are to participate. Seniors are not "off the hook" because it is time for someone else to carry the burden now. Likewise, younger people who profess Christ are not excused because of their age.

Parents, you have an excellent opportunity every Sunday to teach your children this invaluable principle. If they are older, they should give off their paycheck. If they are younger, you might wish to have them give off their allowance or whatever money they receive throughout the year - even if it is a very small amount. (Though the deacons who need to count the money don't, I love the coins in the offering plate. It means the kids are giving!) The offering plate every Sunday morning is an object lesson to teach our children about giving and stewardship and sacrifice. Are we catering to their idols or are we preparing them to be contributors for the strength of their spirituality and the strength of the future church?

It's Systematic

Our giving should be regular, universal and now, systematic. Again, in verse 2 we read, "On the first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and save."

The Greek word for "save" is thesaurizo. It is where we get the English word, "thesaurus." A thesaurus is a treasury of words. Here the call is to set aside a treasury of money to be devoted to the Lord's work. So when Paul commanded the church to "put aside and save," he called for an organized, planned, deliberate, thought-out manner of giving.

How far this is from most giving in our churches today. Giving is often based on feelings, sporadic whims, last minute scrapping for funds or the leftovers after all our personal wants have been met.

This verse is calling us to a faithful and consistent commitment to the Lord's work. This verse is calling us to prioritize our giving, not just on Sunday morning, but also with an attitude that seeks to honor God with our money throughout the week. This verse is calling us to take seriously the need to support the Lord's work at the local church and then have our other wants fall into place once this priority is established.

Pastor Don Fortner made these convicting comments, "Worshipful giving involves faith. It is giving from the firstfruits of all our increase. If we give what we have left over after paying our bills, entertaining our families, and laying aside for retirement, we have given nothing. That kind of giving requires no faith. That kind of giving is an abomination to God. He will not have our leavings! If we would honor God in our giving, we must prove God with our giving. Prove His faithfulness. Prove His promises. Prove His Word. Prove His goodness by giving to Him what you need, thus trusting Him to supply your need. God challenges us so to prove him (2 Chron. 31:5-10; Mal. 3:10; Luke 6:38). It is written, 'Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine' (Pro. 3:9-10)."

It's Proportionate

Fourth, our giving should be proportionate. All of us are required to give, but since all of us make different amounts of money, our giving is not based on a flat amount or a universal sum that all of us are to meet. Rather the Bible calls us to give proportionate to our income. Those who have more are required to give more. And those who have less are required to give less. In verse 2 Paul put it this way. He says we are to give "as (we) may prosper."

So we can say that God is not looking so much at the amount we give, but rather the percentage of our income that we choose to give, or better put, the sacrifice we choose to make. Ervin Lutzer said, "Those who give much without sacrifice are reckoned as having given little" (Men of Integrity, Vol. 1, no. 2). I like the way that great man of faith, George Muller put it. "God judges what we give by what we keep."

Possibly the best illustration of proportionate giving comes from Mark chapter 12. "And (Jesus) sat down opposite the treasury, and began observing how the people were putting money into the treasury; and many rich people were putting in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which amount to a cent. Calling His disciples to Him, He said to them, 'Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the contributors to the treasury; for they all put in out of their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, all she had to live on'" (Mk. 12:41-44).

Notice again how Jesus is not as impressed with the amount as He is with the sacrifice. While others gave out of their surplus, this poor widow dropped all she had, two copper coins, into the collection plate. Her offering brought greater pleasure to the Lord. What does this say to all of us who live in such a wealthy and affluent society? Tremendous responsibility and accountability!

I found it interesting that the verb in this clause (euodoo) is in the passive tense. This indicates that our prosperity is directly related to the sovereign act of God. In other words, God gets all the glory for blessing us as He has chosen. Regardless of our financial status, we cannot take credit for what we possess. God is the One who has given us everything we own. With this perspective, our attitude on God prospering us should radically change our attitude toward giving. One Christian drew this conclusion: "God prospers me not to raise my standard of living, but to raise my standard of giving" (Randy Alcorn, The Treasure Principle, p. 73).

Now when we talk about proportion, we are basically talking about percentages. And when we talk about percentages, we commonly get on the subject of tithing. To put it bluntly, the question we are all burning to ask: "Are we as Christians required to give 10% of what we make to the Lord's work?

Time permits me from unfolding the biblical concept of tithing mentioned often in the Old Testament. Neither Jesus nor the Apostles spoke of required tithing for the Christian church. So is this principle, that many Christians practice, no longer applicable to us? If not, how can we determine what God expects us to give?

Permit me to allow some of my spiritual mentors to answer that question pertaining to the 10% guideline much better than I can myself:

Scott Hafemann: "The New Testament does not teach a doctrine of tithing (i.e., the mandatory giving of 10 percent of one's income.) Nor does Paul define what constitutes giving generously. He does not even provide a target number or general guidelines. The only rule is to give freely and generously as an expression of our continuing trust in God's grace (9:5-8). Paul simply assumes that believers will give all they can to meet as many needs as they can in order to glorify God as much as they can" (Second Corinthians, NIV Application Commentary , p. 381).

James Montgomery Boice: "Although the tithe is not mentioned (in the New Testament), the giving of weekly offerings is (1 Cor. 16:2). And more importantly, it is generally the case that in the New Testament the obligations of the Old Testament legislation are heightened rather than lessened. That is, the law is interpreted in the fullest measure. So while we are not required to give a specific tenth of our income, it is hard to think of a normal Christian, blessed with the fullness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, doing less. Under reasonable circumstances any true believer in Christ should give more than the tenth, for all we have is the Lord's" (The Minor Prophets, p. 602).

Gene Getz: "In our culture, I personally believe this admonition should mean that we give a minimum of 10% of our gross income. If at all possible, this should be a starting point. If it is not possible, it should be our goal - one that we should ask God to help us reach as soon as possible" (Becoming a Spiritually Mature Leader, Quoted in: Leaders on Leadership, p. 102).

Donald Whitney: "The more you prosper, the higher should be the proportion of your giving. There is no percentage goal in giving. Giving 10 percent of your gross income does not necessarily mean you have fulfilled the will of God. That's not a ceiling of giving to stop at, but a floor to move from" (Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, p. 151).

John Piper: "So the reason the tithe is not commanded by Paul is not that Jesus abolished it. He didn't, He approved it (Lk. 11:42). Nor was the reason that we should no longer give proportionately. We should "as we may prosper" (1 Cor. 16:2). The more you make the more you give. Nor was it that the need of the ministry is less in the New Testament. It's not. Teaching, preaching, caring and missions all take money. …The reason that Paul did not use the command to tithe in order to enforce his teaching about giving was that he wanted to emphasize willingness over constraint, and liberality over limitation, and a sense that all our money is God's not just a tenth. …If we are going to 'set aside' the command to tithe…because it feels slavish and legal, and because we want to promote freedom in our giving, then let us beware of jumping out of the frying pan of legal slavery to a command into the fire of carnal slavery to fear and greed. Sin lurks at both doors" (Sermon: Malachi 3:7-12, December 6, 1987).

It's Voluntary

So our giving should be regular, universal, systematic, proportionate and finally, our giving should be voluntary.

Paul encouraged this church to give, verse 2, "So that no collections be made when (he) come(s)."

So many pastors are no different than fund-raisers on the street. They resort to guilt, manipulation and other worldly tactics to get their congregation to take seriously our Lord's commands to give. This is wrong, ineffective and unbiblical. Notice how Paul did not opt for pressure, gimmicks or emotionalism. A need had to be met and he knew the Corinthians were capable of playing a role in it (Gordon Fee, 1 Corinthians, p. 817).

He was like Moses who brought the need to the people when it came time to build the Tabernacle. He was simply looking for hearts stirred by God that were willing (Ex. 35:5). And the text says the people gave so much they needed to be restrained "for the material they had was sufficient and more than enough for all the work, to perform it" (Ex. 36:7).

In his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul gave the example of the Macedonians church (we looked at them last Wednesday) in relation to their contribution to this offering. He said their deep poverty overflowed with generosity (2 Cor. 8:2). He said they gave beyond their ability and of their own accord (2 Cor. 8:3). He even said they begged to be allowed to participate in the giving (2 Cor. 8:4). How did they do this? The text says, "They first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God" (2 Cor. 8:5). Paul attributes their actions to grace (2 Cor. 8:1) working through obedient hearts of people walking in the Spirit.

As a matter of fact, the word for "gift" in 1 Corinthians 16:3 is the same word we use for "grace" (charis). We may not like to hear this, but the way we give is evidence of God's grace operating in our lives. Giving is our reflective response to grace. That's why John MacArthur stated, "One of the surest signs of a recreated person, a saved and redeemed person, is willingness to give" (1 Corinthians, p. 456).

Paul did not "twist arms." Rather he wanted this church to be moved by the grace of God to give joyfully out of a heart filled with gratitude and eager expectation. He wanted their offering to be a token of their love for God and their love for needy believers across the Mediterranean world. For when our giving to God freely overflows from a thankful heart from God, God receives much glory.

"There are three kinds of giving," said one Christian: "Grudge giving, duty giving, and thanksgiving. Grudge giving says, 'I have to;' duty giving says, 'I ought to;' thanksgiving says, 'I want to'" (Robert Rodenmeyer, Quoted in John Blanchard, Gathered Gold, p. 113).

Oh how God loves a cheerful giver (2 Cor. 9:7)!

Beloved, we can talk about the seriousness of our faith all we want, but here is where the rubber really hits the road. What we do with our money is one of the greatest revealers of our heart. It is possibly the most decisive test of our character because our money will always follow the treasure in our heart.

"The use of your money and how you give it" said Don Whitney, "Is one of the best ways of evaluating your relationship with Christ and your spiritual trustworthiness. If you love Christ with all your heart, your giving will reflect that. If you love Christ and the work of His Kingdom more than anything else, your giving will show that. If you are truly submitted to the lordship of Christ, if you are willing to obey Him completely in every area of your life, your giving will reveal it. 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 have done that, it will be expressed in your giving. That's why it's said that your checkbook tells more about you than almost anything else" (Donald Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, p. 146).

Now, I don't know what any of you give nor do I want to. Personally, I believe many of you are making great sacrifices giving over and above to the needs of the church. May God bless you for that! I hope this sermon is more encouraging than convicting!

But have we been self-deceived in this area? Possibly we need to do a little soul searching. Possibly we need to get beyond what our feelings dictate or what others may be doing and examine ourselves, as I mentioned in the introduction, in the light of Scripture. Are we willing to be obedient? Don't brush off this essential topic. "You cannot serve both God and wealth" (Mt. 6:24). God's glory and your joy are severely at stake. For as Jesus said, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Mt. 6:21). Your giving will reflect the reality of your treasure. Does your giving prove that you are following the Bible, and that God is really your treasure?


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