Are you a giver?
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Introduction
Introduction
The fullness of the blessing
Mother Teresa once gave an interview to Hello! magazine. She was asked the question, “Is it only the affluent who give?”
She replied, “No, even the poorest of the poor give. The other day a very poor beggar came up to me and said, “Everyone gives to you and I also want to give you twenty paisa” - which has been known as 1/100th of a rupee and is no longer recognized as money has been replaced by 50 paisa coins. But at the time it is 3 cents CAD.
She said “I thought to myself, what do I do? If I take it he won’t have anything to eat, but if I don’t take it I would hurt him so much. So I took it, and he was so happy because he had given to Mother Teresa of Calcutta to help the poor”.
Giving cleans the heart and helps you get closer to God. You get so much back in return.
Generosity is not just a nice character trait that people have. It is right at the heart of what our faith is all about.
C. S. Lewis defined Christianity as “a kind of giving”. God has poured out his generosity to you in Jesus (John 3:16) and you are called to respond in faith and generosity to others.
The key to the fullness of the blessing is the generosity
The wicked borrow and do not repay,
but the righteous give generously;
This morning we are going to look at giving, being generous and what that means. We are approaching a season where we will celebrate our blessings and thankfulness. We are blessed and because of our blessings we need to remember to be generous people.
Be Generous Always
Be Generous to Everyone
Be Generous LikeGod
The wicked borrow and do not repay,
but the righteous give generously;
those the Lord blesses will inherit the land,
but those he curses will be destroyed.
The Lord makes firm the steps
of the one who delights in him;
though he may stumble, he will not fall,
for the Lord upholds him with his hand.
I was young and now I am old,
yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken
or their children begging bread.
They are always generous and lend freely;
their children will be a blessing.
Turn from evil and do good;
then you will dwell in the land forever.
For the Lord loves the just
and will not forsake his faithful ones.
Wrongdoers will be completely destroyed;
the offspring of the wicked will perish.
The righteous will inherit the land
and dwell in it forever.
The mouths of the righteous utter wisdom,
and their tongues speak what is just.
The law of their God is in their hearts;
their feet do not slip.
1. Be Generous Always
1. Be Generous Always
We can look at our society and see that it is made up of givers and takers.
According to David, this is a key difference between the righteous and the wicked.
Wicked borrows and never returns;
Righteous gives and gives.
Generosity is not an occasional act it is a way of living.
According to v. 26 in our text:
The generous are:
-always generous
-lead freely
The Lord delights in those who live like this (v. 23)
We may hit problems and stumble but you will not fall. God promise is to bless you and your children.
Today we are confronted with so many needs. The bigger picture in this Psalm is a vision of the entire people of God upheld by the practice of mutual generosity: giving and receiving.
In our fellowship currently we have this initiative called Formission and we have just completed my health and now into mutual health which lines up here with our text of giving and receiving. We are to be generous always. Taking into account those around us.
It was the people who followed God in generous giving to the poor that would find that their own needs were met when things took a turn for the worse.
Today, we are aware of great need both locally and further. God’s will for all His people is to uphold one another by giving generously (v. 21).
Take every opportunity to give generously and you will experience the fullness of God’s blessing.
One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles: Simon (whom he named Peter), his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called the Zealot, Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
He went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coastal region around Tyre and Sidon, who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by impure spirits were cured, and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all.
Looking at his disciples, he said:
“Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
Blessed are you who hunger now,
for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.
Blessed are you when people hate you,
when they exclude you and insult you
and reject your name as evil,
because of the Son of Man.
“Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets.
“But woe to you who are rich,
for you have already received your comfort.
Woe to you who are well fed now,
for you will go hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now,
for you will mourn and weep.
Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you,
for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.
“But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.
“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
2. Be Generous to Everyone
2. Be Generous to Everyone
Jesus spent the night praying to God. He was filled with insight as he chose his disciples. He was also filled with the power to heal the sick: ‘and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all’ (v. 19).
Jesus contrasts those who accumulate for themselves (the takers) and those who have generosity of spirit (the givers).
There is an emptiness about the way of life in which involves becoming ‘rich’, being ‘well fed’ with lots of superficial laughter and gaining a good reputation (v. 24-26). It leaves people ultimately dissatisfied and ‘hungry’ (v. 25).
The way of blessing is totally different. It is the way of generosity. It may involve poverty, hunger, weeping, being hated, excluded, insulted and rejected - but it is a way of satisfaction.
When we are generous to everyone how does that look?
being kind in action and speech
bearing on another’s burdens
being people of confidence - genuine care
love like Jesus loves
random acts of kindness
being who we say we are even when no one’s looking
Blessed are you who hunger now,
for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.
You see - you will be satisfied (satisfaction) and joy (you will laugh).
Jesus calls us to be generous towards our enemies ‘Love your enemies...”
Be generous to everyone, this means an attitude of generosity, ‘without expecting to get anything back”.
As always, Jesus is only calling us to imitate the generosity of God: ‘Help and give without expecting a return. You will never regret it.
Live out this God created identity the way our father lives towards us, generously, even when we are at our worst. Our father is kind and we are called to be kind also. (v. 35-36).
Generosity towards your enemies means not only to forgive them. You must not speak evil of them even if you think they deserve it. You are to PRAY for them, BLESS them, and speak WELL of them.
“Resentment is like drinking poison and hoping it will kill your enemies” - N. Mandela
We are called to be like God and to be generous to everyone (v. 36)
3. Be Generous like God
3. Be Generous like God
Throughout scripture we see the theme of blessings and curses and the contrast of taking and giving. We see God’s continuing generosity to His people. Their life was not easy. If you have been a Christian for any length of time you have probably experienced times like that. The Israelites went through the desert, the valley, and wasteland. This could be seen as a picture of life’s trials, dry patches, low spots and seeming fruitless.
But God gives water!
Jesus replied, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.”
“Please, sir,” the woman said, “give me this water! Then I’ll never be thirsty again, and I won’t have to come here to get water.”
“Go and get your husband,” Jesus told her.
Part of being generous like God is in obedience and an area of obedience to God is giving or tithing.
“I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty.
“But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’
“Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me.
“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’
“In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the Lord Almighty.
It is important to talk about tithing, there are times we need a reminder of the importance of this act. It is important because it is another act of worship. Showing God we are thankful for what He has given to us by giving back to Him the first fruits of what He has blessed us with.
There are those here today that this may be the first time you have heard about it and others have heard but have forgotten the need to be obedient here.
I touched on this briefly on Tuesday night but this morning I would like to share on this a little more.
We are taught here that we must bring our whole tithe into the storehouse in verse 10
It is clear here that our tithes are not to be cut up for a little here and a little there. If this is your church, place where you are coming to be fed spiritually then this is where your whole tithe needs to come. Tithing is an act of worship where we give God our all because it is His and He gives us the ability to show our surrender to Him to honor Him by giving it back.
Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.
It goes on to say the whole tithe so that there may be food in my house. I believe here what this means for us today is tithe to your local church so that it can then feed you and do the work that we have been called to do. We come to this church to be fed spiritually therefore if we are not tithing our whole tithe there will not be food to feed you, the ability for the church to do what is needed will lack.
By not being obedient in this manner we are robbing God. We would never want to be accused of robbing God. Therefore when you give take this seriously and give as we are called to give. Give with a cheerful heart.
Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
Cheerful heart - give not with a grudge
When we give we give to God. There are things that may happen in our fellowship and in our church we may not like but by not giving we are using vengence and being disobedient to God. We are called to give back what is God’s and give with a cheerful heart.
If there are things we are not happy with in our leadership there are ways we are told to deal with it and withholding our tithes and offerings are not listed there.
“In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.
We are all going to feel angry at times but it is not a sin to be angry it is what we do with that anger that is the problem. We need to not pray and ask God to change our feelings but to change us so we can be stronger than those feelings are.
He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty,
And he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.
A person who rules their spirit demonstrates self control. Self control is a fruit of the spirit that is given to us to help us control ourselves.
I have said it already we are on a fresh start therefore we are being called at this church to do that. Forgive and forget all the things that have happened and begin fresh and get back on track with God in all areas giving included. *
There are ten reasons we are told to tithe:
To honor our creator.
They said to Him, “Caesar’s.”
And He said to them, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
2. To acknowledge our heritage
And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
3. To fulfill the Covenant
For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious.
4. To show our love
Many waters cannot quench love,
Nor can the floods drown it.
If a man would give for love
All the wealth of his house,
It would be utterly despised.
Love is the strongest motivation in the world.
I have seen bumper stickers “If you love Jesus honk your horn” I think there should be one made “If you love Jesus pay your tithes”
Genuine love for the Lord the tithe is only the beginning of giving. He gives not only His tithe, but also offerings (PLURAL) not grudgingly and not of necessity but cheerfully with love.
5. To fulfill Obligation
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.
Jesus was not criticizing the Pharisees for paying tithes. He commended them. He said it was something they ought to have done. Ought used here expresses an obligation or duty. This is one of the strongest words in the English language.
6. To escape Condemnation
“Will a man rob God?
Yet you have robbed Me!
But you say,
‘In what way have we robbed You?’
In tithes and offerings.
7. To spread the Gospel
In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel.
Tithing is God’s way of supporting the ministry.
8. To avoid a curse
You are cursed with a curse,
For you have robbed Me,
Even this whole nation.
Some people put their money into everything else and then are unable to give. Priority is given to the things. We need to set our priority right away to have our tithes taken out right away as soon as payday hits.
Putting giving to God as high priority is showing not only with our lips that we love Him and serve Him wholly.
I don’t want God to curse my blessings I want to give Him His tithe.
9. To enjoy His blessing
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.
Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.”
God blesses the people who pay tithes. They do not always have the most money or best clothes but they are blessed. They are living obedience.
God has asked us to prove to Him and see if He will not give us His blessings by giving our tithes.
10. To be Consistent
Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.
Paying tithes will not save you but paying tithes will reap a blessing. Genuine Christians will not only pay tithes , but they willingly pay tithes.
It is expected of us but we have free will to do it or not. We are called to be obedient in this manner therefore we need to do so consistently.
This morning this is an issue that is delicate but necessary. I say these things to you in love and because I feel God’s leading to minister this way. It is one thing to get excited and shout and yell and please hear me I love that! But we also need to be obedient to give God what is His and show Him our worship in this manner. Be generous always, Be generous to everyone and Be Generous like God and to God.