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Worship & Preaching > Preaching on Stewardship > Giving Matters Stewardship Talks : Giving Matters
SACRIFICIALTo help us understand, I’ve brought my spending money. 10 x £1 (Count out ten pound coins, one by one). The first one is for God, I get 9; sounds like a pretty good deal to me. Tithing, giving the first tenth of our income to Gospel ministry, is a long established pattern for Christian giving. The Jews do it, and the Mormons, and the Jehovah’s Witnesses; historically, the Church of England has lived off dead men’s money, but the problem with dead giving is that it produces a dead church. It is live giving that produces a live church. Let’s discover what the Bible says, then let’s obey it. Is it compulsory? Certainly not. 2 Corinthians 9:7 “Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver”. The problem in this generation, is that if it is voluntary, we leave it to someone else. A congregation wanted to say farewell and “thank you” to their faithful Catholic priest. They decided that instead of money, they would give him a vat of best wine. Each member of the congregation would pour their wine into the vat. At his farewell, he was invited to taste the wine. He was really excited at the prospect, but when he had a sip, he spat it out; it was coloured water. They had all left it to someone else; their gifts were a sham. They shamed and dishonoured the one they came to honour. James 1:22 “Do not deceive yourselves by just listening to His Word; instead, put it into practice”. What does tithing do? Malachi 3:10 “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this, says the Lord God Almighty, and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it”. Tithing pleases God. The pattern for giving in the Bible is a proportion, a percentage of income. A woman once asked her husband, “Darling, can you give me a little money”? “Of course darling, how little”? The Jews give 10%, which is their tithe; they consider that they only start giving when they give more than 10%. If that was their response under the Law, and God has given us freedom under grace, it should be a freedom marked by generosity. God looks first and foremost not at our money, but the worship of our hearts and lives, but as my old friend Canon Keith de Berry (you have to listen to Canons when they fire off) would say, “The test of a converted heart....is a converted pocket”. It blesses the giver. 2 Corinthians 9:8 “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work”. We are so swamped by worldly standards, it is the standards around us that dictate our levels of giving. The standard of living expected in the N. T. is .....”enough”, “having all that you need” (2 Cor.9:8). If we do well financially in a year, it should make little or no difference to our standard of living, but it should make a considerable difference to our standard of giving. Each person should decide before God what “enough” is, but there is little doubt that Christians in the west have more than enough, and could give much more away. I love the example of John Wesley.
Tragically, in 2005, so may of us have lost our way; very few Christians give 10%, let alone 15%, and certainly not 77%. We have forgotten the NT standard of “enough”; we have neglected to worship God sacrificially with our money and possessions What happens if we don’t give a slice, but crumbs? It diminishes the work. Church of England missionary societies, and missionary societies supported by the Church of England, are sailing, not very successfully, through very stormy waters; nearly every missionary society I can think of is cutting back on staff. The Christian church is cutting back nationwide and worldwide. But the Moslems? They are driving forward, and are now rooted and established in every major city in Britain. Christians believe that God has revealed himself in Christ, yet in this country, at this time, it is clearly the Moslems who are financing mission, not the Christian church. You can neither maintain nor expand ministry on fresh air and good wishes. It dishonours God. Malachi 3:8 “Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, “How do we rob you”? “In tithes and offerings. (9) You are under a curse – the whole nation of you – because you are robbing me”. Are the relatively poor excluded? Luke 21:1–4 ( v.4) “she, poor as she is, gave all she had to live on” Are the relatively rich excluded? (Acts 4: 36,37) “Barnabas....sold a field he owned, brought the money, and handed it over to the apostles”. When I was converted, I asked an older Christian about the cost of being a Christian, and he kindly told me about grace being a free gift. I pointed out I had realised that, and asked him again about the cost of being a Christian. He told me about tithing from the Bible; that was good enough for me, so I started tithing straight away, and that’s what Lucille and I have done as a first priority since being married. Out tithe has always gone to our local church, other offerings are on top. In 1986 our local church faced a crisis with the building, so we cancelled the daily newspaper, worked out how much that would save us over 4 years, and gave the whole lot under Deed of Covenant so we could reclaim the tax from the government at no extra expense to our family budget. When we talked and prayed about the project, we thought keeping the church open was more important than a daily newspaper. The Bible is very clear; we dishonour God if we hold back that which rightly belongs to Him and His work. Malachi 3:8 “You are under a curse – the whole nation of you – because you are robbing me”. The Church of England, and that includes evangelicals, needs a bomb under it as far as finance is concerned. We have cut back on the work of the Gospel and dishonoured God for too long. The Biblical standard for giving is tithing, giving joyfully to God and His work the first tenth of our income, as a loving response to the sacrifice of Jesus. Does the Truth hurt? No, because Truth brings blessing. One of my great friends in S. Wales was Grandpa Thomas; for many years Grandpa Thomas was an elder in a Pentecostal Church just outside Porthcawl. I was the first Church of England Vicar ever to be allowed to preach in that church. One day, one of his church members went up to him and said: “Grandpa Thomas, I can’t afford to tithe”. Grandpa Thomas replied: “My boy, if that’s what the Bible says, you can’t afford not to”. REGULARAs with most things in life, it’s best to be regular. 1 Corinthians 16:2 “On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income” Now that was to do with collections for God’s people, but it is a good principle. We should pray regularly about our giving, and we should review it regularly. Giving to Gospel ministry is a priority for a Christian, it’s a first claim, not the leftover crumbs. We should ask some simple questions.
SMILEHave you ever given a Christmas present and thought, “There, that should shut you up for another year”. That can easily be a picture of our giving to God; a grim, grudging act done out of a sense of weary obligation. That is not the right way, because the Bible says: 2 Corinthians 9:7 Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver”. Have you ever taken seriously the parable of the widow’s gift in Luke 21:1 – 4? She wasn’t boasting; she wasn’t trying to earn God’s favour; she wasn’t investing for a greater return; she was simply offering God everything. Today she would be labelled unwise or simple, because that is how the world rates such things, but Jesus thought she was great. As Christians, we recognise that we own nothing, we are simply stewards. 1 Chronicles 29:14 “Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand”. My Uncle Jack was great; some people from outside Yorkshire thought he was mean, but I thought he was just a bit careful. My Uncle Jack used to say to me, “I hear that when you die, you can’t take your money with you – so I’m not going”. Last year my Uncle Jack died. He didn’t have a funeral service, he had a Thanksgiving Service;. He chose the hymns. Listen to the third verse of the first hymn he chose.
It’s no accident; he changed his priorities. And the last verse of the last hymn of Uncle Jack’s Thanksgiving Service?
What is the point of dying with a bulging bank account and a restless heart? We are not commanded to give any percentage of what the Lord gives us – rather, we are to use everything he has given us in His service. If we give grudgingly, we shouldn’t give at all, because we haven’t begun to understand Christian service. One of the basic marks of being a Christian is an open, generous spirit of giving. If you’re going to give, give with a smile. You were given a form inside the Notice Sheet when you came in. Please read it through, then tick whatever is appropriate. Gift Aid is really helpful; it allows the church to reclaim your tax from nice Mr Gordon Brown at no extra cost to the tax payer. It sounds too good to be true, but it is a fact, which many of us do for every penny we give to the church. You may find it helpful to give by Standing Order, or by regular giving envelopes, or cash donation envelopes. Which ever box or boxes you tick, our Treasurer, will get back to you. What are the principles for giving?
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