Church Matters
Part 4
“How We Give: Our Generosity”
Phil 4:14-17;19-20 “14 Even so, you have done well to share with me in my present difficulty. 15 As you know, you Philippians were the only ones who gave me financial help when I first brought you the Good News and then traveled on from Macedonia. No other church did this. 16 Even when I was in Thessalonica you sent help more than once. 17 I don’t say this because I want a gift from you. Rather, I want you to receive a reward for your kindness. 19 And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus. 20 Now all glory to God our Father forever and ever! Amen.”
This is the last message in our series on Church Really Does Matter.
So far we’ve looked at:
Why We Meet—Our Fellowship
What We Do—Our Habits
Who We Are—Our Identity
And now this time we’ll address: How We Give—Our
Generosity.
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Whenever I speak on the subject of giving (which is not often), I’m aware that I’m dealing with a touchy area where people are easily turned off.
“The church is always after my money,” is the typical criticism you hear from some.
It reminds me of something one preacher said—When you throw a rock at a pack of dogs and one of them yelps, you know which one got hit.
So before you yelp about this message, ask yourself why it hurts!
You should also know that I don’t know what anyone in this church gives.
So if you think I’m looking at you because of your giving or lack thereof, relax!
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The Bible speaks a lot about money because our hearts and wallets are tied together.
Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, that is where your heart will be.”—Matt 6:21
It might surprise you to know that Jesus talked about money more than just about anything else.
—16 of His 38 parables deal with how to handle money and possessions.
—In the 4 Gospels, one out of ten verses deal directly with money (288 verses in all).
—The Bible contains 500 verses on prayer, 500 verses on faith, but more than 2,000 verses on money and possessions.
So since how we handle money is that important to God, we need to see what He says about it!
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Now, in our text the Apostle Paul is thanking the Philippian church for their financial support of His ministry.
He says that at the beginning of his ministry to them, they were the only ones that supported him out of all the other churches.
Even when he moved on to birth the church at Thessalonica they continued to support him.
Paul says: “As you know, you Philippians were the only ones who gave me financial help when I first brought you the Good News and then traveled on from Macedonia. No other church did this. 16 Even when I was in Thessalonica you sent help more than once.”—vs. 15-16
These Philippian believers were just a few months old in the Lord, but they were already practicing faithful giving!
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Now, Jesus taught us something very important in Luke 16 about giving.
He brought a parable about an unrighteous servant and how he handled his money.
Summing up the parable, Jesus dropped a universal principle regarding finances:
“He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much.”—vs. 10
He goes on to show that the “little thing” is our use of “unrighteous mammon,” or money.
—How you handle your money reveals how much you can be trusted with bigger things in God’s kingdom!
If we are faithful in how we use our money to advance His kingdom, the Lord will entrust “true riches” to us—which are greater kingdom responsibilities and opportunities.
In other words, one way faithfulness is measured in the kingdom of God is by how we steward the money God entrusts to us.
TO US our money is a “big thing,” but to God its a “little thing” compared to kingdom riches.
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In Luke’s gospel a few chapters earlier Jesus tells the parable of a rich man who experienced an incredibly good harvest in his field—so much so that he didn’t have enough room to store all the grain.
But, instead of exploring how he might give some of it away, he decided to build bigger barns to hoard it all for himself.
After doing so, he made retirement plans.
He said within himself, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat drink and be merry.”—Lk. 12:19
“But God said to him, ‘You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for?’”—vs.20
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Then Jesus ends the parable with these words,
“This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”—vs.21
Wise living is to live for God, being rich toward Him with our time, our devotion, and our finances.
—We should all ask ourselves: What kingdom work has been strengthened, empowered, or helped by my giving?
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So who exactly should we give our finances to?
It begins with the church you call home.
Part of being a member of a church is to support its work.
You should not be in a church whose ministry you don’t believe enough in to support it.
God doesn’t need our money, but His work does, as Paul himself testified of!
That said—Here’s what you look for to give finances to:
—A church worth giving to will emphasize MINISTRY over MONEY!
If all you’re ever hearing from the pulpit is money, combined with high pressure tactics to give, you might want to pray about what you’re giving to.
The kind of ministry you want to look for is where the faithful teaching of His word and the preaching of the gospel are number one.
Are people being saved?
Is it helping the poor, healing the wounded, doing what Jesus did while he was here?
In short, Christians should support their church’s resolve to fulfill the Greatest Commission!
Matt. 28:19-20 “Therefore go and make disciples in all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and then teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you;”
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Now, I want you to notice the promise Paul attaches to the Philippian’s giving:
“Not because I desire a gift: but I desire fruit that may abound to your account.”—4:17
Look at that phrase—“fruit that abounds to your account.”
Paul uses a phrase taken from commercial business dealings.
He says that their giving will be added to their spiritual credit or account.
What does that mean?
—When you and I come to appear before God, we will reap a reward for the generosity we showed in giving to the Lord’s work.
This is exactly what Jesus taught:
“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. 21 Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.”
—One way we store up treasures in heaven is by faithfully supporting God’s work!
Now, let me head to the close with a quick sweep through what New Testament giving is characterized by.
First, NT giving involves:
I. Planning ahead
“On the first day of each week, you should each put aside a portion of the money you have earned.”—1 Cor. 16:2
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Second, NT giving is:
II. From the heart
2 Cor. 9:7 “You must each decide in your heart how much to give. And don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. For God loves a person who gives cheerfully.’”
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Then next, NT giving is governed by:
III. The law of sowing and reaping
2 Cor. 9:6 “But remember this—if you give little, you will get little. A farmer who plants just a few seeds will get only a small crop, but if he plants much, he will reap much.”
We will always reap WHAT we sowed, MORE than we sowed, LATER than we sowed.
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And finally, NT giving is divided into:
IV. Tithes and offerings
The TITHE is described in the verse we already read:
“On the first day of each week, you should each put aside a portion of the money you have earned.”—1 Cor. 16:2
So the TITHE is decided by a percentage of what you earned.
But an OFFERING is above that percentage.
An OFFERING is a sacrificial gift to a cause God has touched your heart about.
We should never take from the tithe in order to give an offering.
—The tithe keeps the church running, the bills paid, the mission outreaches funded, and the lights on.
When I give an offering in my own life, it is always after giving my tithe.
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I want to close with one of my favorite giving verses which contains a powerful promise for givers:
2 Cor. 9: 10-11 “For God, who gives seed to the farmer to plant, and later on good crops to harvest and eat, will give you more and more seed to plant and will make it grow so that you can give away more and more fruit from your harvest. 11 Yes, God will give you much so that you can give away much…”
LET’S PRAY