We are in the Advent season, and I remember as a little, well, a
young boy, I would say that when it came close to Christmas, I
think it's not about 10 days. And my, if my math is correct,
it's about 10 days before Christmas.
And those 10 days, the closer it got to Christmas, the longer it
took it. Those last week or so, it was
awfully long. That's no longer the case now.
It's very rushed. It seems I can't work fast
enough to get everything done before Christmas Arise arrives.
But I want to just bring my thought, bring our thoughts back
to why, as a little boy, did I wait and anticipate Christmas so
much. It was not because I had
opportunity to give, it was because I was going to get, I
was going to receive stuff. And I couldn't wait till
Christmas morning till I would go downstairs.
Well, not upstairs. We had, we didn't have a
upstairs at the time. We had a tradition and many of
you met us Mennonites and some of you may have done it too.
But for us as Mennonites in Mexico, what we would do is on
Christmas Eve, we would have a big bowl from the, from the
cupboard. Mom would give us each a big
bowl to put on the table at our place in the table.
And so Christmas morning, there's all kinds of goodies in
there. There's some toys in there and
Christmas Eve to Christmas morning lasted forever.
Not because I was going to give, because I was going to get.
And I'm wondering how many of us still live with that mindset of
Christmas time too. Not myself, not anymore.
Well, I do get some gifts and it's great and it's all good.
But now my mind has shifted. Who do I need to give something?
And of course, our children all get gifts and our grandchildren
all get gifts, which is very good.
But it has shifted in my mind. Who's the greatest giver?
And this morning we want to talk about giving in and of itself.
God is the ultimate giver. We read right from the get go in
the book of Genesis how God was a giver.
You know that no human being is born into this world without
owning or having anything. They haven't been given the gift
of life itself. It's a gift you didn't earn your
gift, your life before you received it, God gave it to you.
God gave you life. When God put Adam and Eve in the
garden, he says in Genesis chapter one, verse 20 and 129, I
won't have these on the board here.
It says, and God said, I have given you verse 29 and 1:29.
I've given you every herb of the of the field.
So everything God had, he had given them.
Well, first he gave it to Adam. Then God said it's not good for
the man to be alone. And so God put Adam to sleep and
he gave him a wife. He didn't have him earn a woman.
He didn't have him work for a woman.
He gave him a woman. God is a giver.
But then we know what happened. Adam and Eve, they send and
things didn't go so well. And God comes as Adam.
What have you done? And then you know what Adam had
the gall to do? Hey, God, that woman you gave
me, she is responsible for what I've done.
God was now the bad guy because you gave me a woman.
If you hadn't given me a woman, it wouldn't have happened.
He doesn't say that, but that's the implication.
And because the sin happened, there was another need now, the
need to give some more. And God decided I'm going to
give you a Savior. He gave them the law to tell
them, this is what you've done and this is who you are.
But here's my gift to you, salvation through my Son Jesus
Christ. It became necessary for God to
do some more giving at the time, which of course he already knew.
But then when Jesus came, God gave the baby Jesus to Joseph
and Mary and there was some more giving happening.
Of course, God knew they would have to go to Egypt and and the
baby boy Jesus would be threatened and they have to go
to Egypt. So some wise men came and gave
gifts of gold, frankincense and mirrors.
Some more giving was happening. But then there's one little
incident in the story. A guy named Herod.
He hears about this new baby Jesus.
Nobody will be a threat to my territory.
I'm going to eliminate this boy. And so he started on a taking
spree, taking the lives of many little baby boys in the realm of
Bethlehem. That's the difference.
The sermon this morning is not a Christmas sermon as far as its
content goes, but it's tied together with the principle of
giving that we find connected and interwoven through all of
Scripture. I've titled my sermon this
morning the right kind of giving.
You know, we all give in some way, shape or form.
The question is not do we give the questions what do we give
ourselves to and what do we give ourselves for?
Some people give out of hearts of generosity, others out of
duty and obligation. We know from scripture that not
all giving is godly giving. Some people are very meticulous
legalistic givers, not so much generosity minded.
But what do I have to do? I have to.
How much do I have to? Some of it is with strings
attached. I love fishing, but the whole
concept of fishing troubles me sometimes because when I tie
that hook to the end of the line and put a worm on the end of
that line, I'm hoping I can deceive some fish.
Because some fish will see that worm and think that's a gift or
a freebie and that worm will. The fish will swallow that worm,
which of course is what I want, and I'm going to reel them in
and that's my fish for dinner. That's a little bit a worldly
mindset of giving, deceptive, deceitful.
Now, I'm not saying you should stop fishing, OK?
I'm just saying that's what we as Fisher people, fishermen do.
But when, when you and I give, how do we give In God's Word?
There's a lot about giving. There's a lot, as I talked about
the Old Testament already, and we're coming to the close, our
First Corinthians, which we've been going through now for quite
some time, over half a year. And Paul had a lot of stuff to
teach the Corinthian church, issues they were going through,
struggles they were having, and he addressed 1 issue after
another after another. Then he went on to this teaching
about the resurrection. Some were confused about that.
What's that going to be like? But then in chapter 16, it's a
very abrupt change. All of the teaching so far up to
that point had been basically their struggles, their issues
they were dealing with. But here and then up to in 1314
and 15 and 15 and 16, it was about the resurrection.
I mean, 1450 about the resurrection and so on.
More teaching about what applied to them.
But here now it's outreach, it's outward focused.
Now it's about what do you need to do for others?
In today's passage, Paul gives the church at Corinth a command
on what he wanted them to do by the way of responding to a food
shortage back in Jerusalem due to a famine.
The church in Jerusalem was struggling.
Paul wanted the churches to get together or to stand together
and provide some financial help. So I want to read for us this
morning, 1st Corinthians 16, the 1st 4 verses. 1st Corinthians 16
the 1st 4 verses Paul writes now concerning the collection for
the Saints. As I have given orders to the
churches of Galatians, so you, you must, so you must do also on
the first day of the week. Let each one of you lay
something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no
collections when I come. And when I come, whomever you
approve by your letters, I will send to bear your gift to
Jerusalem. But if it is fitting that I go
also, they will go with me. Historians have written about
this famine at the time, and it was a very difficult famine,
especially for the believers, for the Saints, and especially
Jerusalem. The Christian communities were
not liked, they were not well received.
They were persecuted. Now with a economic problem on
top of all of that, yet that made life hard for the believers
here. In this passage, Paul addresses
that issue. And it was not just a Jerusalem
problem. Paul says this goes further.
We others, the churches in Galatia, we others, we also need
to step up and do something about their need.
And just because the church in Jerusalem is struggling does not
mean now, OK, they're struggling.
So doesn't pertain to us. Other people's needs become our
responsibility. Doing the right thing is always
the right thing to do. We must start to serve as soon
as we become a follower and a disciple of Jesus.
And just because we have problems, as the Church of
Corinth had problems, does not mean OK, we can put our giving
on hold now, wait till we get all fixed up and then we all
straight out. Then we can start giving again.
This giving responsibility continues for our whole life as
long as we're believers. So first of all, we want to look
at giving as an opportunity. I think it's not working here,
so let's just let's leave it. It does work.
Yes. They were commanded to take up
an offering for the church in Jerusalem.
In other words, he says, you Corinthians, you need to use
this opportunity to give. God has ordained it so that both
exists. If he wants us to give, there be
somebody who will need what we have to give.
That's the way God has ordained it.
The need for giving is not a have to, it's an opportunity.
Paul had ordered the churches in Galatia take up a collection,
raise funds for the relief in Jerusalem.
Now he's passing that on to Corinth as well.
And we can look at different translations here and the same
meaning comes out in all translations.
This was not. Now would you please give if you
feel so LED? That's not what he says.
Or if you find it in your heart to give, please do so.
Would you please consider he's saying what they're doing?
I'm ordering you or commanding you to do as well.
A passage like this makes me wonder sometimes, how seriously
do we take the needs of those around us who need us?
Paul ordered them to give to the cause of giving to the poor in
Jerusalem, and this was not, oh, do we have to.
It was an opportunity for me personally.
As the years go by, for me, I see increasingly giving is an
opportunity to grow. In the book of Acts, in chapter
20, verse 32 to verse 38, we find that after Paul had spent
time in Ephesus and he was on his way out of Ephesus and he
was leaving, going toward the ship, he had some last words
with the elders of Ephesus and he reminds them of this
principle of living generously and sacrificially.
I'm going to go through that for a second.
He says, so now brethren, I commend you to God and to the
word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an
inheritance among all those who are sanctified.
I have coveted no one silver or gold or apparel.
Yes, you yourselves know that these hands have provided for my
necessities and for those who are with me.
I've shown you in every way by laboring like this, that you
must, you must support the weak. And I remember and remember the
words of the Lord Jesus that He said.
It is more blessed to give than to receive.
And when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed
with them all. Then they all wept freely and
fell on Paul's neck and kissed him, soaring most of all for the
words which he spoke, that they would see his face no more.
They accompanied him to the ship.
Let me ask this question. What was it that made Paul and
these elders so closely united and the Church of Ephesus in
total? What was it that bonded them so
deeply and so closely together? I would suggest this, and you
can debate this if you like, but I would suggest this.
It was Paul's teaching for sure. That was it.
That was part of but even something deeper.
Paul had physically, financially, economically
sacrificed himself for this church.
His lifestyle was the the generosity was the glue that
bonded together. Everything he said and spoke, we
read from other passages. Paul was not that great of a
preacher. Some people didn't think he was
that good. In fact, we have the story in
book of Acts one night, one day in one place, he preached all
night and the guy fell asleep and fell out of the window and,
and Paul had to raise him up from the dead or I'm not sure if
he was dead, but he was passed out at least.
And so he's, Paul may have been long winded for all we know.
He was not eloquent. He says that in Second
Corinthians chapter one, verse 5, two verse 1, chapter first
Corinthians 21 to five, he says he's not eloquent.
We find that in chapter second Corinthians, chapter 10, verse
10, some people thought he was not well spoken.
He didn't speak too well. But you know what carried this
man through? You can't deny, you can't argue,
you can't find fault with character.
He may not be good speech wise, but his lifestyle spoke volumes.
He lived out what he preached to the NTH degree.
He he spoke, but he lived with such weight and power.
No one could argue with him. I want, I want to say this here
this morning, I've thought about this.
Of all the New Testament guys we read Jesus, of course, he's the
he's the 1st, but we we don't want to use him in this
comparison of all the New Testament guys that we read
about. Was there anybody who was a
greater self sacrificer? If that's a word, I think it is
self sacrificer than Jesus Christ, than Paul.
Was there anybody who did more? I can't think of one.
If you do, please let me know. We find a number of places, a
number of places Paul provided for himself at his own expense
for the benefit of others. He lived what he preached and he
says to Corinth, I want you to do this now.
I want you to give. He was supported.
It's not that Paul didn't get money.
He got money from other churches.
They supported him. He he got financial support.
Yes, he did. But it was never his, his aim,
his goal to do so. He did get support, but that was
never his focus. I want to ask ourselves this
morning, do we give as easily as we take?
Do we give as easily as we take or do the needs of somebody else
bother us? Uh oh, that's too bad.
Now we're going to have to give. He says in Acts 20 verse 35,
I've shown you in every way. He says every way by laboring
like this that we must support the weak.
He's teaching the Corinthians that and remember the words of
the Lord Jesus that he said it's more blessed to give than to
receive. That's part of the DNA of a
disciple of Jesus. Paul lived this in Acts 18 verse
one to three we find in the 1st Thessalonians, 2 verse 9, Acts
20 verse 34 in Ephesus. He was truly a giving man, a
self sacrificial man. It was his lifestyle, his work,
his actions showed it. Paul was truly a man of
integrity in the big picture. Yes, Paul was a giver, he was a
sacrificer, but he didn't view himself as such.
He just wanted to serve Jesus and we know he received the
blessing. He says in 2nd Corinthians 2
verse 14, he says for the third time, I'm ready to come to you
to the Corinthians and I will not be burdensome to you.
He says that at the start, I do not seek for I do not seek
yours, but you for the children ought not to lay up for the
parents, but parents for the children.
He says to the Corinthians, don't worry so much about
yourself guys. Look about what the others need.
He had come at his own expense. He didn't, he didn't say pastor
shouldn't get paid. He says this is my motive why
I'm coming. Paul sees the uses the common
understanding to explain the principle of generosity, says
children should not have to save up for the parents, but the
parents for the children. With this, I'm not saying that
we shouldn't have retirement plans or shouldn't save up money
for retirement. Nothing like that.
At the heart of our life. There should be generous mindset
to those who are less well off than we are.
There's another principle that applies right here on the heels
of this, and that's this giving should be planned.
How should the Corinthians plan their giving?
Paul gives them a clear road map on how to plan their giving.
Their giving was not to be some emotional, haphazard random
deeds of kindness that had no continuity or no stability or
no, no consistency, no stability.
I'm not saying that random deeds of kindness are bad or shouldn't
be done. They should.
Oftentimes there is a random deed of kindness that comes our
way that we can do, and we should do those.
That's not wrong, but that's not how the life of giving should be
lived. Again, let's go back to verse
two. He says on the first day of the
week, time that each of you lay something aside, storing as he
may prosper. That's planned, that there be no
collections when I come. Their giving was to be
structured, planned, and carefully carried out.
It's safe to say Paul wanted this to be a healthy work of
love on the part of the Corinthians for the church in
Jerusalem. And this giving was not intended
to deplete or impoverish, make destitute the Church of Corinth.
It was to be proportionate. It was to be sustained,
sustainable. It was to be organized.
It was to be healthy. There's the time factor.
When should they do it? When you get together on the
Sabbath, on this, on the first day of the week, Jews always met
on the Sabbath day, but the early church, they made Sunday
the day of getting together first day of the week.
It's a good time to schedule it. It's a good principle.
I used to. Now we have electronic funds
transfer EF TS and it's OK. I like it.
It's kind of convenient and all that.
I don't want to say you shouldn't give that way, but I
kind of liked it back in the day when we didn't have it.
And I remember as a years ago, I would just every Sunday morning
write my check and then go to the offering.
It was kind of nice. Teach the children that too.
It's not wrong what we do now, but it was structured and for
me, it's not just all automatic, but I like I kind of like that
Friday the paycheck came and then first thing Sunday morning
before the check is spent, a certain amount goes to the
church and then of course, charities that we supported as
well. Paul is saying the same thing
here. He says when you get your pay,
you meet on the first day of the week, lay something aside.
So when the gift is supposed to be given to Jerusalem, then,
then it's ready. The other thing here is do it
corporately. Each has to give individually.
See, you can't give corporately if individuals haven't given all
the giving that comes into the church is individually given.
That means you, me, us. Interestingly, Paul doesn't say
how much he just says as he may prosper as you're able and he
says that intentionally. He leaves out the amount because
not everybody is in the is in the same place financially.
Not everybody can give the same. Not everybody is expected is
expected to give the same. He's a storing up as he may
prosper. As followers of Jesus, we need
to be careful in the matter of giving.
Jesus knows the hearts. Jesus knows if I'm a generous
person if I give sacrificially. Jesus knows if I'm selfish or
greedy and give only with strings attached, out of duty
and obligation and sparingly. There are stories in the Bible
where giving went very wrong. It went horribly wrong.
They gave, but deceitfully and deceptively and with with
strings attached, so to speak. The story of Ananias and the
Fire comes to mind in Acts chapter 5.
There were husband and wife, couple had joined the church
were members donating money as well.
Ananias and the Fire sold a property and wanted to give some
proceeds to the church, but their hearts were not in it.
They decided we're going to make it look like we're generous
people, but in their hearts they wanted to just appear generous
without being generous to. Long story short, Peter
confronts them. Look, why are you lying to the
Holy Spirit? You're not lied to us but to
God. And they've 1st And an ass fell
down dead and he was carried out.
And a few hours later his wife comes in the same story.
She she's killed as well. God judged her, and that was
that. We have to conclude it's better
to not give than to give with deception.
Paul, Peter said. Wasn't the money yours?
You could do with it whatever you wanted, but why did you lie
about it? It's not the amount, folks.
It's the heart at which it's given.
There was the Old Testament law that very clearly spelled out in
great detail what percentage should be given.
That's a good starting base. I'm not saying that we have to.
That's the benchmark by which we give.
We it's a good starting point, but we should give far and above
beyond as God enables us, where God enables us.
We're not under that law. We're under grace, but doesn't
exempt us now from not having to give or not giving it all.
As followers of Jesus, our generosity, our giving, will
come out in what we do with what we're given.
CS Lewis, in this book called Mere Christianity, says the
following. He says, I do not believe one
can settle how much we ought to give.
I'm afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare.
In other words, if our expenditure and comforts and
luxuries and amusements, etcetera is up to the standard
common among those with the same income as our own, we're
probably giving away too little. If our charities do not at all
pinch or hamper us, I should say they're too small.
There ought to be things we should like to do and cannot do
because our charitable expenditure excludes them.
I'm Speaking of charities in the common way.
When a person gives with a focus on self, that person's blessing
is gone. In fact, Jesus talks about that
in Matthew chapter 6. He says, take heed that you do
not do your charitable deeds before men to be seen by them,
otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven.
Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a
trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues,
in the streets, that they may have glory for men.
Assuredly, I say to you, they have their rewards.
When we give because, oh, we want to be noticed, want to be
seen, want to be recognized, that's hypocritical.
He says in verse 3, when you do a charitable deed, do not let
your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your
charitable deed may be in secret and your father sees in secret
will himself reward you openly. Jesus does not say, I don't want
you to know how much money you took out of your wallet into the
into the offering box. He's not saying that.
He's saying our giving must be detached, disconnected from
myself in the sense that I will put myself 1st and others
second. Our human standards of comfort
cannot be the benchmark by which we give.
We should look after our necessities, yes, but
entertainment, amusement and recreation, all those things are
second. And our giving our in other
words, we should be Christ, focused on our giving through
and through. Is my giving looking like Jesus?
It should be intentional. It should be structured
timewise, should be planned. And then thirdly, it should be
done with discernment. He says in verse 2, When I come,
whomever you approve by your letters I will send to bear your
gift to Jerusalem. Why is it important to approve
this? Some people cannot be entrusted
with huge responsibilities when it comes to finances.
And I'm wondering if sometimes if that's why God doesn't bless
some of us as much as others because He's not created us for
that. And if we would strive for it,
it would ruin us. The giving was not the question.
They were to give. The structure of how was also to
do it. See, money is tempting.
It can bring out the worst in people.
Often times a person may feel fairly stable until they're
tempted with money. And then they would do all kinds
of strange things. Not everybody has the same
ability or equal skill to to manage a lot of money.
And he says, whom you approved by your letters, they were to
discern who's going to handle it, who's going to manage it,
who's going to do it. Even though it may be a normal
average church, there must be discernment as to who's in
charge of money. Doesn't matter how small the
church is, how big it is. We need to ask ourselves how?
Who do we trust with what we give?
Can you trust everyone who requests or needs support or who
says they need support? There's no shortage of
organizations, emails and phone calls and advertisements.
Give here, give there, give to this, give to that.
As a church, we have a responsibility making sure the
money that we give is well done, well managed, it's well
stewarded and so on. It's done in a trustworthy
manner and considering our own selves, and we receive a request
to give. Do we have a right to know what
happens with that money? Yes.
Not only do we have a right to know what happens with it, we're
we're duty bound to find out. We have an obligation to know.
We have a responsibility what happens with what we give
because what we give is actually God's money.
In my own personal life, I've had individuals ask me for money
numerous times or I'm asked to donate to a 'cause I generally,
not always equally thoroughly, but generally try to find a is
this organization trustworthy? What's the reputation?
What are they doing with it? Then I've also had in my own
personal life, people asking me for money because I'm a pastor,
not so much anymore, but early on in my pastoral life, it was,
it was interesting how many people came, can you give me
this? Can I have a, can I have a loan?
They would say, actually, people want to make loans.
I didn't like to give loans and I would give money here and
there, but I would also make it a point, Can I visit with you?
Can I have a conversation with you?
And there were times I just said, I'm sorry, but for what
you're going to do with it, I don't trust you and I'm not
going to give you anything. But I helped you manage the
money that you do have. That's happened to me even where
I said to a guy, listen, what you just told me you have, you
have a good income. Your problem is not the money,
it's just what you're doing with it.
Can I help you help you organize?
How can I help you spend it wisely?
We're not helping people by just putting a pillow under bad
habits, bad money management. The money that God gives us,
we're responsible to steward it well to to give it wisely.
Then the church corporately has to be wise in its giving as
well. We have to keep pay careful
attention to this. And he says in verse 4, But if
it's fitting, I will also go that I go also they will go with
me. And that's literally what
happened. You read the book of Acts.
Paul did go to Jerusalem at all times, in every situation.
It begins with us individually and then it flows into US
corporately. How are we doing as individuals
and how are we doing as the body?
So what's the lesson for us today?
As God's people, we are responsible to help the less
fortunate. They are opportunities for us to
serve. Do it carefully.
Plan it wisely with discernment. There's a story in the Bible of
a man who had a lot of money. We were not given his name, but
it's Luke chapter 16, story of a man who had a lot of money,
lived sumptuously every day. And for all he we know, he was a
good citizen, law abiding, perhaps good man in his
community. But he did not pay attention to
the poor beggar Lazarus at his doorstep.
And in time the beggar died, was carried to Abraham's bosom, and
the rich man died and was buried.
And it says in hell, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far
off with Lazarus. And he wanted Abraham to send
Lazarus to him, to cool his tongue.
He was being tormented in the flame.
But Abraham says, no, we can't bridge this gap.
It's it's not possible. You had your good things in life
and Nazareth had his hard times. And now he's comforted.
You're tormented. You see, there was no escape.
The rich man's fate was sealed. Lazarus bliss had begun.
He would say, well, we're not judged on that.
Of course we're not. But the commands of Scripture
are clear. There's a reason why those
parables exist. There's a reason why those
parables exist. You see, it's like this, folks.
God is a God of giving. He blesses us for the purpose of
giving. Do we meet our needs?
Of course we do. God is a generous, gracious God,
and He expects the same of us. And in Matthew 25, we have the
story of the sheep and the goats.
And I know, I know, our works are not what save us, but they
do reveal where we're based. The sheep and the goats both get
a talking to. The sheep are welcomed and the
goats are denied. And Jesus, what you ever did not
do for the least of these, you did not do for me.
And those were acts of generosity.
They reveal where the heart is. It's the fruit and fruits don't
lie. I don't know where your heart is
this morning. Maybe this is this is far away
from you. Maybe maybe you're not here.
Maybe this is not you, but trust Christ, repent and put your
trust and hope Indiana Christ trust him and then as he
enables, start giving. Maybe you can't give money right
now then So what can you give? Can you give encouragement?
Can you give up your time? Can you give up yourself?
Then with joy, give us. God prospers as He gives
opportunity. Plan it, structure it how you
visit. Give with discernment.
You see, one day we'll all leave this earth and go to our eternal
destiny. We can't control the timing.
Most of the circumstances we can't control either.
But we have a choice how we want to leave when we do.
Read a quote this last week and I want to share with you this
morning. And I modified the end of it a
little bit. This guy wrote you're born
looking like your parents, but you die looking like your
decisions. I pondered this for some time,
and a big part of this is about the giving as well.
And I added something to it. And basically it's this.
When it comes to my time to die, don't really care about looking
at mom and dad and not even maybe so much about my
decisions, although that does weigh in a little bit.
But when I die, I want to look like Jesus.
I want to look like Jesus. He gave so much.
Then the Saints, they gave so much.
And again in Matthew 25, the benchmark that Jesus uses to
reveal and indicate where their hearts are, He says, look here,
this is who you are. This is what you've done.
May God bless his church as we together surrender humbly to
Christ. Give first of ourselves to His
cause, then what He has blessed us with, to those in our circle
of influence who need our help, and may that be our heart and
our mind as we go through the Advent season and anticipate the
birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Let us pray. Lord Jesus, you've given so
much. We've been so blessed.
You have so many opportunities among so much need.
May this holiday season be a holiday season where our hearts
are filled with gratitude, with Thanksgiving seeking
opportunities to share, to bless, to encourage, and to give
whoever may come into our path and our sphere of influence.
May our lifestyles reflect a heart of sacrificial generosity.
May your Spirit direct ourselves our steps as we seek to live
this out faithfully in your Kingdom.
Amen.