Rev. Ron Sumners
January 1, 1995
Just what is it that properly motivates the Spirit-filled Christian to be a cheerful giver? Today's scripture reading is taken from one of the frankest passages in the Bible on the subject of Christian stewardship. Paul takes two entire chapters to present a distinctly New Testament vision for our giving. He takes us beyond the tithing covenants of the Old Testament.
January is an especially appropriate time for us to examine this subject of why and how and what we give. It is particularly relevant because this month is a time of so many new beginnings. Many of us already have been working on our fresh calendar with new diets, new exercise regimens, new budgets, new attitudes. Therefore, this is a good time to consider a new perspective on our stewardship commitments. How much should we give this year to the church and missions? How much should we give in the Spirit of Joy and Thanksgiving?
Nothing speaks as clearly about you as your checkbook. Philip Guedalla has written some of the greatest biographies in English literature. When asked how he was able to compose such intimate portraits of his subjects, he revealed one of his great secrets. "The public record of the rich and famous is easy to find," he explained. "Where the person went and what they said is usually a matter of historical record. But to find the really unimpeachable evidence of what a person is like inside, you need something much more revealing." When working on the biography of the Duke of Wellington, Guedalla found the key. It all happened one day when he stumbled across an old box of Wellington's true inner soul - the real man, hidden from the eyes of the world. His real nature was plain to see in that trail of cancelled checks!
And so, our use of money is one of the most telling evidence of our spirituality. Jesus, in the Gospels, is unrelenting in His demand for total control of our finances, "You cannot serve God and Mammon." You cannot serve God and money. (Matthew 6:24).
If Christ does not have control of your checkbook, pocketbook and credit cards then you're still in the kindergarten of Christian discipleship. "Prayer before purchase" should be as natural a rule of life as breathing. In the area of money-management, the believer needs to make decisions as if Christ is his or her full partner rather than a silent observer. Every financial decision should be a time of prayer for guidance. This is real New Testament Stewardship: JESUS IS LORD OF ALL OR HE'S NOT LORD AT ALL!
But what about tithing? Where does this ancient Jewish custom fit into the Christian Life? For millions of Christians, tithing is the very cornerstone of their Christian stewardship plan. Although the New Testament gives no direct command about tithing, Jesus and Paul were teaching in the context of Jewish culture where tithing was the starting point for all giving. Therefore, all their instruction of finances was probably given with the assumption that ten per cent of gross income was the minimum level for charity.
John Templeton has founded some of Wall Street's most glamorous mutual funds. Even in today's high-risk stock market, his funds have earned a remarkable return, making his advice among the most sought-after today. The Templeton World Fund has returned as much as twenty-three percent to investors in a single year! Mr. Templeton was asked what he considered the first and most important investment a person should make. His answer? Tithing. He said that he counsels all his investors lo begin their portfolio with a plan that automatically gives away ten percent of all they earn to charity! Templeton has even been known to challenge skeptical clients to tithe for a year - promising to make up the difference if their stock income doesn't increase! Now that's real faith in God and the power of tithing! And millions of Christians believe in the promise of God in Malachi 3:10.
"Bring all the tithes into the storehouse that there may be food in my house, and try me now in this,” says the Lord of Hosts. "If I will not open for you the windows of Heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it."
Proverbs 3:9-10 counsels the believer with similar advice. "Honor the Lord with thy substance, and with the first fruits of all thine increase so shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine."
Christian financial counselors Ron Blue and Larry Burkett say that even when persons who seem hopelessly in debt come to them for advice, they start them out on a road to financial freedom based on tithing. (Skeptics mock, but simple believers who take God at His word continue to find that it really does work.)
But is entering into the tithing covenant with God the true basis of New Testament Stewardship? It is not. New Testament giving is not based on law, but Grace. Properly understood, our giving should be the reflection of His Grace, manifested in our checkbook.
First, real new testament giving is a response to Christ's love. (II Corinthians 8:8-9, 9: 15). These two chapters have often been described as the first fundraising letter! In them, Paul is asking the Corinthians to fulfill an earlier pledge they had made to help the poor of Jerusalem. The centerpiece of Paul's appeal is the example of Christ Himself: "For Ye know the Grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich" (II Corinthians 8:9).
In verse eight, Paul tells the Corinthians that He is writing to test the sincerity of their love. And in verse twenty-four, Paul says that their giving is proof of their love for Christ. A leading Lutheran Layman, W.A. Poovey, wrote that "Christian giving is always a response. The motivation for our giving is that we have received. This doesn't mean we try to pay God back. That is an impossibility. It does mean that our giving begins in gratitude."
Little wonder that Paul ends His appeal to the Corinthians with the words "Thanks be to God for His indescribable Gift." (9:15). Moreover, Paul says that their giving has a double effect. First, of course, it shows their gratitude to God. But then as others receive, it provokes them to "Abound" in Thanksgiving as well. (9:11-12)
Second, the power and ability for New Testament giving is God's Grace. We are "Enriched in everything for all liberality" according to 9:11. The idea here is that God supplies us with material things in order that we might supply others.
For many years, "World Vision" printed a little verse on their stationery that expresses this thought very well. It read, "All that we have is His, and we give it out of His hand."
You can't outgive God. Every church and Christian organization can point to certain outstanding individuals who have been used in an unusual and miraculous way to give beyond their means to the cause of Christ. G. Curtis Jones, the great Southern Baptist preacher, tells of one such individual who was so generous that friends and family were afraid he might bankrupt himself. One of his children took him aside one day and warned him that he might end up becoming a beggar if he kept giving to all the Christian causes that were knocking at his door. He just laughed. "No way, " he said with a smile, "I shovel out and God shovels in - and He uses a bigger shovel that I do. And what's more He started shoveling first!
"And God is able to make all Grace abound toward you, that, you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work." Paul says (II Corinthians 9:8). God is more concerned about the poor and the needy than we are. He wants to supply us in order that we might supply others. He is looking for people who will be channels of blessing to others. This is why we see so many generous, obedient Christians who have the financial freedom they need in their lives. In verse six, Paul recites God's law of reciprocity. "He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully."
Third, real New Testament giving is done cheerfully and with joy. (v9:7). Paul says here that "God loves a cheerful giver." Christian giving is not done out of obligation, grudgingly, or under pressure.
William Allen White, the great journalist and philanthropist of Emporia, Kansas, demonstrated this beautifully when he donated "Peter Pan Park" to the city in memory of his daughter. His little girl, Mary, had been killed in a horseback riding accident. Out of his sorrow and loss, White chose to give something to all the children of the city. At the ceremony, when he turned the deed for the park over to the city, he said the following powerful words: ''This is the last kick in a fist full of dollars I am getting rid of today. I have always tried to teach you that there are three kicks in every dollar. One when you make it. The second, when you have it. The third, when you give· it away ... and the big kick is the last one!"
Our "Big Kick" comes when we are able to give away what God has given to us. The New Testament steward simply cannot hold onto his money. The New Testament steward easily writes check after check and gives donation after donation because money is not seen as something to be grasped and hoarded. Jesus said we should lay treasures in Heaven where moth and rust cannot corrupt. The Christian who understands this verse knows that the only way to send treasure on ahead is to give it up here and now!
Christian friend: Who and what is controlling your life today? Do you have your money, or docs your money have you? The Lord is calling you to surrender it all to Him today. Won't you begin by first rededicating yourself fully to the Lord?
Unconverted friend: If you haven't taken the first step and presented yourself to Christ, won't you come to Him today and settle it once and for all? And please don't misunderstand. You can't buy your way into Heaven. Jesus Christ has paid the price to redeem your life from the power of sin. Now He wants to give you the abundant life we've talked about today. He wants to pour riches of grace into your life now. Don't put it off!
The life of Joy, Grace, Power, and Financial Freedom that Paul is talking about in Second Corinthians doesn't begin with our pocketbooks. It ends there. It begins first with a life surrendered totally to the control of the Master. It's a free gift that God is offering to you this day. Won't you come and receive it now? All God asks is your will surrendered to His. He'll do the rest!
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