Dr. Ron Sumners
November 16, 2003
We began this series on Stewardship last Sunday with some questions about our personal giving. We continue today by giving thoughts of giving as a way of life.
Every church needs to grow warmer through fellowship and ministry and worship and evangelism and discipleship. But it is a fact, that all those are made possible by personal stewardship by the members of the church.
To be honest, we are all givers in one way or another. We give to ourselves, our spouses, our children, our friends, our pets, our jobs, our retirements, our favorite charities, our church and other things that you are thinking of at the moment. So, the object is not to make you start giving, but to reprioritize your giving according to God’s standards. That is what God will bless. His standards for giving are not the world’s standards. Before we can give in a way that honors God, we must have His heart and His vision. We must have His priorities in our heart!
It seems strange that we Christians need encouragement to give by God’s standards when God has given us so much. God had enriched the Corinthians in a wonderful way, and yet they were hesitant to share what they had with others. The exhortation that Paul gave them could be written to Meadow Brook Baptist Church in 2003!
The question to ask this day is, “How do I become the steward that God desires?” How do we live life as a manager rather than an owner? What is and isn’t enough to give and how much should we keep? Is there a formula for the giving of my time, my resources, and my abilities? We dealt with some questions last week. It seems that stewardship always evokes questions. Let’s deal with some more issues today!
Your giving will bless others. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 8:1-3, “And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability.
Paul was using the example of the Macedonians to provoke the giving spirit to the Corinthians. When we see what God has done and is doing in and through lives of others, we ought to strive to serve Him better ourselves. There is a fine line between fleshly imitation and spiritual emulation, and we must be careful in this regard. But a zealous Christian can be a catalyst to stirring up the church and motivating people to pray, work, witness and give. What example comes from your life?
We find that the Macedonians focused on others, not themselves. This is true humility: not thinking less of ourselves but thinking of ourselves less. Paul was telling the Corinthians to forget themselves long enough to lend a helping hand. That is what it means to “lose your life” - forgetting yourself in service to others. When we stop focusing on our needs, we become aware of the needs around us.
Jesus emptied Himself by taking the form of a servant. When was the last time you emptied yourself for the benefit of someone else? You can’t be a servant if you are full of yourself. It is only when we forget ourselves that we do the things that deserve to be remembered. Self-denial is the core of being a faithful steward. Thinking like a servant and a steward is difficult because it challenges the basic problem in our lives: we are selfish and greedy! I think most and first about me. That’s why humility is a daily struggle, a lesson that I must relearn over and over. The opportunity to be a servant confronts me dozens of times a day when I am given the choice to decide between meeting my needs and wants or the needs of others.
Our greatest encouragement for giving is that it pleases the Lord, but there is nothing wrong with practicing the kind of giving that provokes others to give.
Your giving will bless you. Jesus promised, “Give, and it shall be given unto you.” This was the Lord’s promise and it is still true. What He gives to us is not always money or material goods, but it is always worth far more than what we gave.
Giving is not something we do, but something we are. Giving is a way of life for the Christian who understands the grace of God. Real servants think like servants, not owners. They remember God owns it all. In the Bible, a steward was a servant entrusted to manage an estate.
Servanthood and stewardship go together since God expects us to be trustworthy in both. The Bible says that the one thing required of a servant steward is that they be faithful to their master. How are you handling the resources that God has entrusted to you?
To become a real servant, we’re going to have to settle the issue of money in our lives. Jesus said, “No servant can serve two masters… you cannot serve both God and money.” He did not say that we “shouldn’t” serve both, but you “cannot” serve both. It is impossible to do.
Do we really understand that all of our money, and all of our time, and all of our abilities belong to God? You and I cannot be a weekend Christian like a member of the National Guard can be a weekend soldier. Living with one hand clutching our possessions and the other holding on to God will tear us apart.
Are you aware that God uses money and material things to test our faithfulness to Him? Money can become your god. Money can buy many things, but the real danger is that it will purchase our own soul.
It is foolish to believe that God will play second fiddle to money. When Jesus is your master, money serves you and His kingdom, but if money is your master, you become its slave. Wealth is certainly not a sin, but failing to use it for God’s glory is. Real servants are more concerned about ministry than they are money.
The farmer who sows much seed will have a better chance for a bigger harvest. The investor, who puts a large sum in the bank, will certainly collect more dividends than the small investor. The more we invest in the work of the Lord, the more will be added to our joy. The reason that many Christians have little or no joy in their faith or in their church is because they have invested so little, or even nothing! Whenever we are tempted to forget this principle, we need to remind ourselves that God was unsparing in His giving. Romans 8:32 tells us, “He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall he not with Him also freely give us all things?”
In both nature and grace, God is a generous giver. We must follow His example.
In giving, there is the principle of intent. What is our motive in giving? Motive makes no difference to the farmer. If he sows good seed in good soil and has good weather, he will reap a harvest whether he is working for profit, pleasure or pride. It makes no difference what he plans to do with the money he earns; the harvest will come just the same.
This is not true with the Christian: motive in giving (or in any other activity) is vitally important. Our giving must come from the heart, and the motive in the heart must please God.
We must not be “sad givers” who give grudgingly, or “mad givers” who give only because they feel they are duty-bound to do so. We should be “glad givers” who cheerfully share what we have because we have experienced the grace of God.
In giving there is the principle of immediacy. We reap even while we are sowing. The farmer has to wait for his harvest, but the believer who practices grace begins to reap the harvest immediately. To be sure, there are long-range benefits from our giving, but there are also immediate blessings.
To begin with, we start to share God’s abundant grace. This does not mean that God makes every Christian wealthy in material things; but it does mean that the Christian who practices grace giving will always have what he needs when he needs it. Paul referred here to Isaiah 55:10-11, a passage that uses seed and bread to refer to both the Word of God and to the literal harvest in the field. There is no such thing as “secular” and “sacred” in the Christian life. All is of God and all is for God!
The giving of money is just as spiritual an act as singing a hymn or handing out a gospel tract. Money is seed. If we give according to the principles of grace, it will multiply to the glory of God and meet many needs. If we use it in other ways than God desires, the harvest will be poor.
You can prosper financially, but still be impoverished. If what you have supports only you, it will soon die. But if what you have supports ministry and the kingdom of God, it will live all the way to eternity. Grace giving means that we really believe that God is the great giver, and we use our material and spiritual resources accordingly. You simply cannot out give God.
The emphasis in 2 Corinthians 9:12 is on the fact that their offering would meet the needs of poor saints in Judea. The gentile believers could have given a number of excuses for not giving. It wasn’t their fault that they had a famine and were poor. The churches closer to Jerusalem ought to bear that burden. We have enough needs here in Corinth without sending our money to people we don’t know.
When a Christian starts to think of excuses for not giving, he automatically moves out of the sphere of grace giving. Grace never looks for a reason; it only looks for an opportunity. If there is a need to be met, the grace-controlled Christian will do what he can to meet it.
Our giving ought to provide for necessities, not subsidize luxuries. There are needs to be met and our limited resources must not be squandered.
Our giving will glorify God. People will be led to praise God when they see our obedience to God. God will also be glorified by our generosity. We will bring honor and praise to God by our blessing God’s people and everybody else in need. In order to be a disciple, I must give myself to God. In order to be a worshipper, I must give my praise to God. In order to fellowship I must give myself to others.
When I live the life of a steward, I am giving so that others in God’s kingdom can become what Christ wants them to be. I become a tool in the hands of God to bring others to Him.
I can give my time to a troubled teen-ager or a new Christian; my money for Bibles, outreach and missions; my abilities for growth, encouragement and bearing other’s burdens. I can give my time for a hungry family, the sick and shut-in, a new member; my money for a new building or a new staff person; my abilities for teaching, or running the sound system or participating in the music ministry. I can give my time volunteering to work in Vacation Bible School, helping in the office or calling absentees; my money for the expansion of the church’s ministries; my ability for leading a small group prayer time. I can give my time for prayer, mentoring, teaching conversational English; my money for a fund to send all those who wish to go on mission projects; my abilities to do maintenance to the church, unclog a toilet, or mop the floor.
When you release those things to God it comes back to you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over. Don’t allow what God has given you to stop at your house, only with your family, only with your heart, your head, and your hands.
When I give as a steward, I sow seeds so that others may become disciples, so that others may worship, and so that others may fellowship. He gave to me so that I can give.
When you practice giving as a way of life, then you are not just giving money, but your time and the use of your abilities to bless others, bless yourself, meet needs, unite the Body of Christ, and glorify God.
You and I are blessed today because God gave…
He gives us love – John 15:12
He gives us mercy – Lamentations 3:22
He gives us salvation – John 3:16
He gives us His Son – Romans 8:32
He gives us His wisdom – James 1:5
He gives us benefits – Psalm 68:19
He gives us protection – Deuteronomy 33:27
He gives us joy – Psalm 30:5
He gives us peace – John 14:27
He gives us rest – Matthew 11:28
He gives us comfort – 2 Corinthians 1:4
He gives us authority – Matthew 16:19
He gives us strength – Psalm 18:1
He gives us the Holy Spirit – Luke 11:13
He gives us life – John 3:15
He gives us grace – Ephesians 2:8
He gives good things – Matthew 7:11
He gives us His presence – John 14:23
He gives us guidance – John 16:13
He gives us power, love and a sound mind – 2 Tim. 1:7
He gives us every spiritual blessing – Ephesians 1:3
He gave us, one Friday long ago, a savior and a sacrifice on a cross; He gave us one Saturday, a borrowed tomb, and a death; He gave us one Sunday, an empty grave and a risen Savior.
He gives so that we can give. He would never ask us to do what he has not already done Himself. With all that He has given to us, how can we not give?
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