Why Christians Give
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
From the beginning, one of the most perplexing traits of Christians to onlookers has been our generosity, our willingness to let go of what everybody else is going to war over. How strange it looks to work hard, earn a modest salary, and then give away a significant portion of what you’ve earned. This time of year, I always think of Lottie Moon, whose name marks our Christmas offering. Lottie was born to a wealthy family in Virginia and became one of the very first women in the south to receive a college degree. In 1873, she left behind her family, her career, and a marriage proposal to join her sister in China. When Lottie was 72 years old, having served the impoverished of China for 39 years, it was realized that she had been giving away her small missionary salary and the food rations that Mission Board had provided for her. Realizing that she was starving to death, the evacuated her to the United States, but she never made it. Instead, she went home. In fact, Christian history is filled with this same story with such frequency that it becomes the normative pattern of a man or woman totally taken with God.
But, the irony today is that it’s not just the world that finds Christian generosity so strange and confusing; it’s Christians themselves. It seems strange to many to work so hard for a little and to not enjoy it to its fullest extent. And so, this morning, as we close out our time in Philippians, what we’ll see is Paul explaining why Christians give (headline) and why giving enables you to enjoy your resources more fully than spending.
God’s Word
God’s Word
Read
Read
Why Christians Give (Headline)
Why Christians Give (Headline)
The Philippians were a delightful exception among the churches that Paul ministered to. They were strange in the best sense of the word. They were on one hand one of the very poorest congregations that Paul founded, and yet on the other, they were his most generous congregation. He writes of them in : “for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy (don’t miss that word!) and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.” It’s as if their joy was so full in Christ that it overwhelmed their poverty so that they gave for more than appeared possible. And, it’s in his thanksgiving for their generosity that we can learn why Christians should be famous for their giving.
We Give to Share “Troubles”
We Give to Share “Troubles”
v. 14 “Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble.” The first reason we see as to why Christians give is that we give to share “troubles”. Now, for most of us, this probably sounds more like a deterrent to generosity than a justification of it. What most people are looking for is a low-maintenance faith that promises them heaven but doesn’t add any messiness to their lives. We’re not looking ‘to share’ in the troubles of others. We understand that there are teenagers in our community that have no one to depend on and moms who are filled with loneliness and children that go to school hungry and unbathed, but it’s difficult for us to commit the emotional energy to really take responsibility for it. It’s difficult for us to consider giving up what we’ve earned so that they might be ministered to and loved on and cared for. It’s much easier for it to be out of sight and out of mind. Such would have been the case for the Philippians with Paul. Paul left the Philippians and went on to the wealthier community of Thessalonica, and there really wasn’t an expectation for the Philippian Christians to take personal responsibility for the provision and well-being of Paul, but they had obligated themselves to him anyway. They ‘shared (his)trouble.’ They made his problems their problems, even though it would have been expected and easy to have just let him be out of sight and out of mind.
Generosity is Rooted in the Cross
Generosity is Rooted in the Cross
It’s interesting that both ‘share’ in verse 14 and ‘partnership’ in verse 15 share the same root word, the word which means ‘fellowship.’ He is saying quite literally that you are ‘connected’ to my suffering, ‘connected’ to me in my cell, ‘connected’ to me in my affliction. They are fellowshipping with him in his suffering by giving to him what little they had. If we’re all honest, ‘fellowship’ in Baptist speak just means fried chicken and casseroles. It just means a day in which we’re going to get out of church later than normal so that we can eat. But, true fellowship goes way beyond eating together. True fellowship is overcoming someone else’s troubles at your own expense. It’s taking on someone else’s fears as your own concerns. This is what Christ has done, and this is what we do in response.
v. 15 “no church entered into partnership with me in giving and receiving except you only.” It’s interesting that both ‘share’ in verse 14 and ‘partnership’ in verse 15 share the same root word, the word which means ‘fellowship.’ He is saying quite literally that you are ‘connected’ to my suffering, ‘connected’ to me in my cell, ‘connected’ to me in my affliction. They are fellowshipping with him in his suffering by giving to him what little they had. If we’re all honest, ‘fellowship’ in Baptist speak just means fried chicken and casseroles. It just means a day in which we’re going to get out of church later than normal so that we can eat. But, true fellowship goes way beyond eating together. True “fellowship” is a willingness to overcome someone else’s troubles at your own “expense”. It’s taking on someone else’s fears as your own concerns. This is what Christ has done, and this is what we do in response. You see, Christian generosity finds its roots at the cross. For Christ forfeited his own rights and gave to us what we couldn’t buy and only He could earn — righteousness. He gave to us our inheritance in the Kingdom at the great expense of his blood. And, that’s the shape of Christian giving. Giving is the forfeiture of your own rights. It’s giving to someone else what you have earned. It’s sacrificing by your own efforts so that someone else might have.
Parable of the Brother in Trouble
Parable of the Brother in Trouble
Many of you have a brother or sister with whom you’re very close. Now, thinking forward to Thursday, imagine that after you all eat Thanksgiving lunch that you decide that you want to hike down the Pinhotti trail. You’re only intending it to be a short day hike to walk off all of your lunch calories so you don’t have anything except a bottle of water. Over the course of the hike, you become separated, and you look for him a short while, but you know that he’s familiar with the area and a good woodsmen; so, you figure he’s probably just messing with you like he normally does, and you head to the truck. At the truck, one hour passes and then another until it’s past dark, and you’re really, really annoyed and irritated that your bonehead brother has hijacked your whole Thanksgiving with his stupidity. Except that he never comes out. You wait until almost 10 when you drive out to find help and to alert the rest of the family. With an army of people, you can’t find him. You don’t stop looking even to eat or sleep until you realize that you’ve been going without stopping for over 24 hours. You head home because you don’t know where else to go. But, how can you rest wondering if your brother is cold? How can you eat knowing that your brother is hungry? How can you play and laugh with your kids knowing that your brother’s kids don’t have their dad? Your brother is in trouble. You see, love “compels” us to share troubles that aren’t our “own”. And, right now you have brothers and sisters around this community and around the world that are in trouble. How can we rest comfortably?
love compels us to share troubles that aren’t our own.
Let’s Be That Church
Let’s Be That Church
Paul says that it’s the Philippians that stands out in comparison to all the other churches he loves as being the most generous, the most concerned, the most devoted to caring for him. They weren’t the wealthiest. They weren’t the biggest. But, they were the most generous. Iron City, let’s be that church. Let’s be the church that becomes famous for meeting the needs of our community. Let be the church that becomes famous for clothing children and feeding the hungry and ministering the gospel to the broken down.
We Give to Please “God”
We Give to Please “God”
v. 17 “Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that increases to your credit.” The second reason we see as to why Christians give is that we give to please “God”. Paul viewed what he received from them as God providing for him on one hand, and he viewed it as an opportunity for the Philippians to be further blessed by God on the other hand. He did not want them to think that he loved them for their money, and yet he didn’t want them to think that he was unappreciative either. You’ll notice that he’s using the language of commerce and banking to explain to them the magnitude of what was happening. He talks about giving and receiving, and it’s because, as they all understood it, this was the nature of friendship. You give a great gift to your friend, and then he reciprocates with an even greater gift. So, friendship becomes a place for you to both demonstrate and receive generosity. It’s like an account with both debits and credits constantly filtering in and out. Today, I cook you a hamburger, and tomorrow you grill me a steak. But, the Philippians had given Paul so much, and he was in no position to give back. And, it’s this reality that gets to the very heart of Christian generosity. We don’t give so that we can then have. We “give” because we already “have”. We have Christ. We have a secure future. We have a durable joy. We have an indestructible treasure that will only continue to compound interest over the generations. So, we give generously and graciously now.
God’s Economy is Opposite
God’s Economy is Opposite
God’s “economy” is the opposite of the world’s “economy”. In the world, the receiver is the beneficiary, but in God’s economy, it’s the giver. That’s why he says, “I seek the fruit that increases to your credit.” The giver is blessed beyond the receiver. The receiver has food today and warmth today and clothing today, but you have a compounding, eternal reward that will never fade away. God takes the gifts that you forget about, and uses them to accrue for you rewards that you’ll enjoy forever. You give 10% of what you have, and you entrust it to him. And, God takes the money that would have ended up as a half drank Dr. Pepper in the floorboard of your truck, and He allows it to advance his Name and his Kingdom all while securing for you treasures that you can’t imagine and will never lose. You take part in discipling the coaches at White Plains that they may know Christ and make him known. You take part in the pastors of Swaziland renouncing the prosperity gospel and spreading true hope. You take part in loving and showing Jesus to the 60 children that are on our campus this morning. And, though you can’t see it now, there’s a return on your investment coming that you will not find the bottom of a billion years from now.
An Offering to God, not Paul
An Offering to God, not Paul
v. 18b “the gifts you sent, a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God.” But, there’s another layer to this, and it’s this layer that I’ve been convicted over this week and that is really challenging me to take my generosity to a new level. Who does Paul say that they’ve given this gift to? He says that they’ve given it as an offering to God, not to Paul. Their gift basket is not merely an expression of love toward Paul, though it is. Their gift is an expression of worship toward God. He takes us back to the picture of an OT fragrant sacrifice where the animal would be burned and an aroma would waft into the air to the pleasure of God. But, God makes it clear over the generations that what he’s looking for is not mere activity and ritual. He doesn’t want your offerings as the result of some mechanical, ritualistic obligation. The offerings that please God are those that have the alignment of head, heart, and hands. The head knows what God requires, and the heart loves to honor God, and the hands follow through by doing what the head knows and the heart loves. And, this is the type of generosity that brings great pleasure to God. It’s not ritual. It’s not guilt. It’s not obligation. It’s a mind focused on God and a heart that loves God spilling out in worship their money and resources as to say that God is the Treasure their heart loves and lives for.
Give to God, not Others
Give to God, not Others
You see, here’s my hangup so often with being generous. How do I know where it’s going? How can I trust that this is a wise offering? And, I think there’s something to that. We should be prudent with our giving, and we should do our homework the best we can so as to not support partnerships and ministries that aren’t advancing the gospel. But, there’s no certainty that the person you give to in the parking lot isn’t going to buy liquor, and there’s no certainty that the ministry that you support doesn’t have someone embezzling funds, and there’s no guarantee that the ministries that you’re passionate about stewarding every dollar perfectly. But, here’s how Paul is training us to think: We aren’t giving to the homeless person or to the ministry or to the missionary or to the church, first and foremost. First and foremost, we’re giving to the Lord, and we’re trusting that the Lord will take every dollar where it’s supposed to go. Give to “God”, not “others”. So, there’s this added layer, and when we give from this perspective, then we can be certain that regardless of what ends up happening, the Lord has been blessed by us. So, we give to God, and we trust God to give it where it needs to be. Give to the pleasure and worship of God!
We Give to Express “Faith”
We Give to Express “Faith”
v. 19 “And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” The final reason we see why Christians give is that we give to express “faith”. There’s an important shift in verse 19. Up until this point, he’s really talked about what the Philippians will receive one day. But, they are living in third world poverty now, and they’ve given now. How can they be sure that they aren’t giving to Paul to their own demise. So, in verse 19, there’s a shift from the future to the present, from the spiritual to the material. There’s an abundance coming soon, but God will meet your needs today. That doesn’t mean a comfortable middle class lifestyle. It doesn’t mean you’ll have the house that you want or the job that you want or the car that you want. It means that God will provide for you, day in and day out, in a way that lets you know every, single day that you have not been forgotten and you are loved and He is your God.
So, giving expresses “confidence” that God will “provide”. I can give today if I am certain God is going to supply me tomorrow. Giving is a declaration that your security is not found in your currency. You see, your god is whatever you trust most. It’s wherever you run for cover. It’s where you look to gain confidence. What you have greater confidence in knowing that you were set to receive $100k per day or in knowing that God will supply every need? Oh, how it reveals the truth about our gods! Who would hear the gospel if you trusted God? Who would be fed if you trusted God? Who would be warm if you trusted God? What child would be adopted if you trusted God?
Your Inheritance was Bought by Jesus
Your Inheritance was Bought by Jesus
v. 20 “To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.” Jesus is the proof that God is “trustworthy”. Paul talks here about the riches of glory that God. You see, He is the God with cattle on a thousand hills. He is the owner of heaven, earth, and all that you’ve seen and haven’t seen. His wealth is unsearchable, and over the course of all eternity you’ll never find the end. He could have made you wealthy, and it would have cost him nothing. He could have given you great health, and it would have cost him nothing. But instead, He has made you a son and heir to eternal and unsearchable wealth, and it cost him his very Son. Jesus is the deposit that assures that our needs will be met and our Treasure is secure because Jesus is the proof that God himself has demonstrated painful, sacrificial, unmatchable generosity toward us. And. that’s why we give. “To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.”