A Sacrifice of Faith
Theological Proposition/Focus: God invites his people to join with him through the act of giving.
Homiletical Proposition/Application: A key part of living a disciplined life is determining to regularly tithe.
Introduction:
Image: The shopping Spree
I want you to do a quick calculation for me. Take 10% of your monthly or weekly income. If you don't know how to do that calculation let me help you. Just take the number and forget about the last digit. If you make $4578 a month then just forget about the 8 and consider $457. Think about that number. What might you be able to purchase if I gave that to you as a shopping spree at your favorite store. Maybe a new playstation, some extra groceries. I don't know think about it. Now that you have thought about it I want you to take a second and realize that God has asked you for that. Maybe you already give it to him, maybe not and you should. In either case I want us to start by realizing that when we talk about tithing and giving we are talking about real money that could be used for other things but that does not change the reality of God's call for us to give and make a sacrifice of faith.
Now you might be thinking, what an odd way to motivate me to give. He just told me about what I will be missing out on. Yep, I did, because I am not trying to trick you. Today we are talking about giving and what I want you to realize is that giving to God is a sacrifice but it is completely worth it.
Need: We need to learn to be disciplined in our giving because it is totally worth it.
Subject: Tithing, giving
Preview: Today we are going to talk about generosity as a spiritual discipline. We will begin with what, move to why, and conclude with how.
Text: 2 Cor. 9:7
Setting the Stage:
What is a Spiritual Discipline.
We are in the middle of a series focusing on spiritual disciplines. Spiritual disciplines are the regular practices that when systematically practiced can help an individual nurture their relationship with God and grow in Christ likeness. None of the Spiritual Disciplines are new ideas but the label Spiritual Discipline makes it clear that these practices should be a regular and purposeful part of the Christian life. The term Spiritual Discipline also acknowledges that these practices are not necessarily easy or something that comes naturally to every Christian. It takes work energy and effort to live a disciplined life.
There are several examples of Spiritual Disciplines, some we have talked about, and some we still need to talk about.
Prayer
Bible study
Meditation
Fasting
Today we are going to talk about generosity as a Spiritual Discipline.
Generosity, or giving, is an important discipline. Generosity requires faith and selflessness, should be purposeful, and can have amazing benefits.
Body
What does it look like to make giving a spiritual discipline?
Regular, systematic giving, is the standard in Scripture. (1 Cor. 16:2)
In 1 Cor. 16:2 we see that there are some important guidelines for giving.
Paul never used the word “tithe” when he discussed giving but that does not mean he does not have tithing in mind.
According to Paul, giving should be systematic
Giving should be regular (practiced every Sunday in a culture that was paid on a daily basis.)
Giving should be proportionate with one's income.
The tithe (10%) is a good minimum standard.
There is a strong biblical precedent for a tithe consisting of 10%.
Abraham tithes 10% to Melchizedek who was described as a priest of God Most High in Gen. 14:18-20
Jacob vowed to give God 10% after dreaming of a ladder reaching to heaven in Genesis 28:12-22.
The Israelites were commanded to give 10% to the levites for their service to God in Numbers 18:20-32.
Tithing was reinstated as part of the reforms of Hezekiah in 2 Chronicles 31:2-12.
In Nehemiah 10:32-39 the people vow to reinstate the tithe.
Since the first-fruits belong to God I would recommend that you calculate your 10% before taxes.
But don't let that stop you from tithing, just get things going!
Generosity should be shone through offerings above and beyond a tithe. (1 Timothy 6:17-19)
Everyone is commanded to tithe.
Those who have the capacity to be more generous should be more generous.
Money can cause several problems and giving above and beyond is commanded by Paul.
Arrogance in wealth should be replaced with generosity.
Confidence in one's money should be replaced with steps of faith through sacrificial giving.
Investments in the earthly should be replaced with heavenly investments.
Image: There are so many examples of money destroying people's life
Lifting writes,
The alluring but vain and plastic substitutes for life, supplied by an unhealthy attachment to material things, pale into worthlessness when compared with that life which is found in Jesus Christ (cf. Matt. 16:24–26), who is Himself the Life (John 14:6) and whom to know is life everlasting (John 17:3). [1]
Monetary giving is expected but should not replace giving of oneself. (Romans 12:1)
Finally, I want to add one more point. We are talking about money today, but probably your most valuable resource is your time. I hope at the end of the day you decide to be a thither and maybe even a giver beyond the tithe. But never let your money be an excuse not to give freely of yourself.
24 hours times sixty minutes is 1440 minutes. Ten percent of that is 144 minutes each day.
Why should I make giving a spiritual discipline? (2 Cor. 9:6-15)
Because a successful farmer looks for places to sow rather than trying to scrimp on the seed sown. (6)
Think about this for a second.
To have a productive farm you must sow.
In fact, the biggest problem that a farmer faces is not coming up with seed (in reality seed Is pretty easy to come by).
The biggest problem a farmer faces is finding the right place to sow his seed.
When planting a garden I don't put one seed in every plant and hope it germinates. I put a handful in every pot and plan to pick the smaller plants once everything sprouts.
We should make giving a spiritual discipline because a generous act of sowing will yield much better results than a sparing act of sowing.
Because faithful and purposeful giving tugs on the heart strings of God. (7)
The verse does not say that God does not love one who does not give. We know that God loves the world.
Instead, I think the idea is that the one who gives cheerfully catches God's attention.
But there is more, notice the object of God's love.
God loves not the gift but the giver.
You might think that God would really love a million dollar gift but that is not what the text says. What the text says is that God loves the one who cheerfully set aside $1.00 from their allowance to give to God.
The amount is irrelevant, the heart is the key!
Image: The joy of giving the right gift. Emily and my Christmas Eve shopping competition.
A couple of years ago Emily and I had a competition on Christmas Eve. What we did is that instead of coming up with a Christmas list and shopping ahead of time, which inevitably means we each pick out our own gift, I gave Emily $50 dollars and took $50 for myself and drove to Target. I told Emily that the competition was that in 2 hours, without a list we were to go through the store and spend a fixed amount of money on the other person trying to figure out what sort of things they would like. That year for Christmas we both received some groceries that we normally would not buy for ourselves and many other smaller items that individually were not really "gift worthy" but all together were really fun. We also learned that the amount of money the gift was worth was really irrelevant, it was the act of knowing the other person that was meaningful.
With God, the value seems not to matter, it seems that the amount of faith is what really matters.
Because God is the one who has provided the gift. (8-11)
Image: Dad giving a quarter every Sunday for the offering.
Growing up, every Sunday morning my dad gave each of us a quarter to place in the offering plate. There was never a question about what we should do with the quarter, dad had given it to us for offering. My dad was the pastor and would leave about an hour before church and so we had the job of holding onto that quarter for the next hour so that we could place the quarter in the offering. I didn't realize it then but the principle is the same for us. God is the one who gives us the gift that we then turn around to give to God. We are just trusted not to lose it as we wait for the opportunity to give.
Image: Dad giving daughters money to buy a gift.
I know that several of you do something like this, when your birthday rolls around you give your kids some money to go and buy you a present. I venture to guess that if the kid came back with a piece of beef jerky for you and a bunch of their own snacks then you would be not too happy.
God has already provided the gift, let's make sure to give it to him!
Because giving results in God being glorified. (12-14)
Something I love about giving to God is the downstream effects that giving has. Look at verses 12 through 15.
When we give we reap several important rewards:
We supply for the needs of the Lord's servants.
Let me take a second and thank you. I do not take for granted the fact that you all give to support me!
When we give others notice. Hopefully not the one who gave the gift but rather the faith of the gift. This results in God being thanked.
Think about it, if a large donation was given today and we learned about the donation, we would all give God thanks. It is only natural.
When we give others praise God because they recognize that giving represents obedience and growth.
When we give we are actually confessing the Gospel, that we are bought and the property of Christ.
When we give we lead others to pray.
Ultimately, as evidenced in verse 15 giving is a reminder of the ultimate gift, salvation.
One reason to make giving a spiritual discipline is so that you are constantly reminded of the ultimate gift.
How can I make giving a spiritual discipline?
Here we go back to our original answers about what generosity as a spiritual discipline looks like.
MTR: Determine to regularly and systematically give. (1 Cor. 16:2)
Only you can tell what this actually looks like. You may need to give on a weekly basis to ensure that you actually do it. You may need to set-up automatic withdrawals. You might find that you are most successful at tithing when you make yourself accountable to a close friend or family member. The key here is to start regular systematic giving.
MTR: Look and ask for opportunities to give above and beyond your tithe. (1 Timothy 6:17-19)
This might be giving to a building project, we have one. This might be giving to a charity. Maybe you want to give to a missionary. All of us here are wealthy far beyond what nearly any of Paul's audience could imagine. Let us give out of our abundance.
MTR: Give freely of your most valuable resource, time. (Romans 12:1)
How are you going to serve this week? Think about this. Tithing ten percent of your income is really pretty easy. If you make $200 tomorrow you set aside $20. Not a big deal. Now let me remind you that 10% of your time is 144 minutes. Now you might argue that you are working eight hours and already tithing on that. Fine, whatever, then 96 minutes. Are you willing to give up 96 minutes for God tomorrow? Let me make it a little more personal, David, Myra, Angel, myself, are we willing to work an additional 96 minutes beyond our 8 hour day? What would it look like if we did?
Memory Verse: Micah 6:8
He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
- ↑ A. Duane Litfin, “1 Timothy,” in The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, vol. 2 (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 748.
