We began a few weeks ago by talking about the grace of giving. The Macedonian Christians in 2 Corinthians 8 had mastered the grace of giving. Their extreme poverty and overflowing joy in Christ welled up in rich generosity. They gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability, because God kept the warehouse of their generosity fully stocked. God supplied their generosity. He opened the floodgates of heaven for them. He poured out his blessing on the Macedonians. He held back nothing from them. And the Macedonians responded to God with continued generosity. While others questioned the pace of their generosity given their severe circumstances, the Macedonians would hear nothing of it. They pleaded for the opportunity to give. Giving was a privilege. Giving was a joy.
Some people would call the Macedonians religious fanatics. We should simply refer to them as Christians. They were Christians who were deeply touched by the generosity that God first showed them through Jesus Christ. We should be every bit as motivated as the Macedonians when it comes to giving. In Christ, God made himself poor so that we might become rich in every way. And that is exactly what we are in Christ. We are rich and we are blessed. Giving is merely our response of gratitude back to God because he enriched us first.
Then last week we talked about the heart of giving. At the risk of wearing out the example of the Macedonian Christians, we discovered that they gave entirely on their own volition. They weren't manipulated. They weren't coerced. They didn't give out of shame or out of guilt or out of a sense of duty. They didn't give because of peer pressure. They didn't give because the apostle Paul needed their money. They didn't give because they were trying to purchase God's favor or because they thought they would be judged for not obeying the Old Testament tithing laws. They gave because they loved God. They loved his kingdom. They wanted to please him. They wanted others to know the God who they passionately served.
Last week I told you that if you are not giving with the right heart, then don't give. 2 Corinthians 8:12 (NIV) says, "For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have." Nothing is gained by giving with an impure heart. The gift isn't acceptable to God.
2 Corinthians 9:7 (NIV) says, "Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver." God doesn't need your money. He wants your heart. He wants a relationship, not a transaction. He wants to be your first love, not your first creditor or bill.
But having said this, we cannot overstate the significance of giving in discipleship. In Matthew 6:21 (NIV) Jesus says, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." God doesn't need our money, but we need to give God our money. Matthew 6reminds us that our heart always follows our treasure. If we put our treasure in heaven with God, our hearts will be in heaven with God. If we only invest our treasure in this life, then our hearts will only be in this life. In the end, our ultimate destiny will be the home we've built for our hearts in this life.
Getting our hearts right before God should always be our first order of business. The heart is your spiritual life center. Your giving is an EKG that monitors how strong your heart has become in the grace of Jesus Christ. A right heart before God is a generous heart, a grateful heart, and a trusting heart. The Macedonians had strong hearts. They had mastered the grace of giving because they fully understood how deeply they had been touched by God's grace.
The administration of giving.
This morning we want to talk about the administration of giving. It sounds like a rather drab title, administration. It's like the word management. No one gets excited about management. Management sounds tedious and boring.
But the biblical word for administration is stewardship. We are stewards who have been given a trust by God. We are to be faithful and wise managers of our resources. And this biblical idea of stewardship or administration is anything but boring and dull. When it comes to stewardship there is never a dull moment. When we let Jesus Christ into our personal finances, no two days are ever the same. Stewardship can best be described as an adventure, a step of faith, or a journey.
The promotion team and video teams for the stewardship campaign carefully chose the theme for our current stewardship campaign. The theme is, "The Journey Continues: God Does Immeasurably More." The teams wanted to capture the excitement that began during our last stewardship campaign three to four years ago. At that time no one could have imagined all the different ways God has poured out his blessing on our church family. The teams wanted to convey the idea that when we give, we become part of something that is living, dynamic, and exhilarating. Something that transcends the present moment and that takes us where we've never been before.
In 2 Corinthians 8 and 2 Corinthians 9 Paul is challenging the Corinthian Church to join in a similar journey. He shifts away from the example set by the generous Macedonian Christians and he encourages the Corinthians to set their own example of generosity. He mentions several principles to guide their stewardship and generosity. These are principles that equally apply to the Church today.
Giving to God should be according to blessing.
One principle that Paul mentions is in 2 Corinthians 8:11-12 (NIV). Last week we just barely touched on these verses. Paul says, "Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means. For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have."
The principle that we covered last week from this verse is that only heart-prompted giving is accepted by God. Our giving is acceptable if there is willingness. But there is a second principle at work here that determines the acceptability of a gift that we offer before God. Not only must the gift come from the heart, it must be given, "according to what one has, not according to what he does not have." In other words, the gift must be according to our means.
In 1 Corinthians 16:2 (NIV) Paul says, "On the first day of every week, each one of your should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income..."
Last week we sufficiently refuted the legalistic standard of the Old Testament tithe. There are a lot of pastors who appeal to the Old Testament law to teach that the tithe is just as much God's law for the Christian today as it was for the Jew. But the New Testament does not set a standard for giving. There is no command given to Christians that they should tithe or give ten percent of their income. Instead, the New Testament teaches that we should set aside a sum of money in keeping with our income and that we should do so with a cheerful heart.
The phrase "in keeping with our income" suggests a percentage of income. But what percentage should we give? What standard should guide our giving? This is where the Old Testament tithing laws are useful. Not in the setting of an absolute legalistic standard, but in establishing helpful guidelines. The Old Testament tithing laws give us a basis off which we can determine what is generous and what might please God and be acceptable in his sight.
For the Old Testament Jew, that standard of generosity consisted of three different tithes that varied in frequency and amounted to twenty-three percent of a family's annual income. Giving twenty-three percent of our annual income would certainly please God, but that may not be a realistic guideline off which to base your generosity.
Over the last month I have been challenged by the words of Gary Edwards, who is our stewardship campaign director. He has taught us that our giving should be sacrificial. Our giving should cause us to give up something or to change our lifestyle. Our giving should cause us to pray, to walk by faith and not by sight, and to struggle. The national average of giving among Christians is three percent of annual income. The question we have to ask ourselves is, "Is three percent considered sacrificial giving?" Does ten percent of our income amount to a sacrifice? Is twenty-three percent a sacrifice?
Giving to God should be administered with integrity.
Lately I have been skimming Jim Bakker's autobiography, I Was Wrong. Jim Bakker was a prominent televangelist in the 1980's with a winsome charm. He hosted the immensely popular, "Praise The Lord" program and was the head of an empire including Heritage USA, PTL, and the Inspirational Network. He and his wife Tammy Faye Bakker achieved instant fame and fortune with their message of health and prosperity. People gave millions of dollars to their ministry.
But Jim Bakker lost everything. He was sentenced to forty-five years in prison in a federal penitentiary for fraud and embezzlement. He had misused the funds so graciously contributed from his supporters. As a child, I still remember hearing about air-conditioned doghouses and such!
When it comes to giving, our generosity must be administered with integrity and wisdom. In 2 Corinthians 8:13-14 (NIV) Paul speaks of the principle of equality. He says, "Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. Then there will be equality..."
Last year I got an e-mail from a very discouraged Christian. This wife was writing about her family. They had always attended a church. They had always tithed. They went out of their way to serve others. But when her husband lost his job, this church turned a cold shoulder to them. No one would help them with their financial needs. No one would even listen. In their plenty they had given to others, but in their need they were forsaken.
This should never be. Our generosity must be reciprocal. We should eagerly give when we have plenty. When we cannot give, others should come alongside us. Now there are guidelines in scripture given on how to handle people who will not work, who are always looking for a handout, or who have no connection to the church but just show up and want cash. That is a different situation. But our generosity should be administered wisely and with discernment and competence.
In 2 Corinthians 8:16-24 Paul highlights Titus' credentials to administer the monies collected from the Corinthians. He points out that Titus has a pure heart, he has enthusiasm, he is an initiator, he has a good reputation among the churches, he is a brother in the Lord, he has been a servant of the gospel, he seeks to do what is right in the eyes of the Lord and in the eyes of men, he is zealous, he is a partner, and he is a fellow worker.
Paul didn't just take the first volunteer who raised his hand to administer the monies. There are always dozens of people who want a hand in the financial administration of the church's monies. Paul hand-picked a person with proven character, someone with an established reputation. In our case, the elders oversee the administration of our generosity. They oversee the budget process. They use discernment and wisdom in their governance. But I want to encourage you to always demand accountability among your leaders, no matter who they are or how faithful they have been.
Don't settle for second best when it comes to choosing your leaders. Choose the best. Choose men and women of proven character to appropriate the funds. Pay attention to how your money is being invested in God's kingdom, whether it is being invested in this ministry or by another ministry. Pay attention to what kind of fruits are coming from the ministry you contribute to. Is that ministry making a good return on the investment of your dollar? Is the ministry meeting needs or is it just trying to survive and sustain a bureaucracy?
Giving to God should be promise and commitment.
When it comes to giving, we are always full of good intentions. In 2 Corinthians 9:1-2 (NIV) Paul acknowledges the Corinthians' good intentions. He says, "There is no need for me to write to you about this service to the saints. For I know your eagerness to help, and I have been boasting about it to the Macedonians, telling them that since last year you in Achaia were ready to give; and your enthusiasm has stirred most of them to action."
But good intentions do very little for the kingdom of God. It was necessary for Paul to extract some kind of commitment out of them. Notice how Paul gently moves the Corinthians to take their good intentions which are presently in the form of promises, and urges them to convert them into bold action.
He says in 2 Corinthians 9:3-5 (NIV),"But I am sending the brothers in order that our boasting about you in this matter should not prove hollow, but that you may be ready, as I said you would be. For if any Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we— not to say anything about you— would be ashamed of having been so confident. So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to visit you in advance and finish the arrangements for the generous gift you had promised. Then it will be ready as a generous gift, not as one grudgingly given."
Notice several things. First, Paul needed them to make a promise or pledge of support. Initially, the pledge was non-binding. It was simply a snapshot of what Paul might expect of them. It was an estimate of support. Paul couldn't make reasonable ministry plans without first getting some feel for what kind of financial support he might receive.
Second, Paul needed to remind the Corinthians of their promise. When I was in grade school I made a commitment at church camp one summer. I wrote down some areas of my life that I needed to change. At the time, my desire to change was strong, but the deans at camp that week knew that in just a few short days I was likely to forget my commitment. They had every camper draft a reminder letter to themselves that would be mailed later that summer. It was a great idea. That summer I got the letter that I wrote to myself. I wrote, "Hey goofball, you got busy and forgot your commitment to Christ, didn't you?" It is human nature to forget. It's human nature to need to be reminded!
Third, Paul needed to hold the Corinthians accountable. Paul needed to ask the Corinthians to follow through on their promises. He needed them to write the check that would turn their good intentions into reality and help the kingdom advance. Paul made careful arrangements to not only remind the Corinthians of their promises but to have adequate time to fulfill their pledge of support. And he made sure that they understood the importance of doing so with a right heart. He was looking for a generous gift given with a generous heart, and not a gift, "grudgingly given".
Are stewardship campaigns biblical?
Some people object to stewardship campaigns. But such campaigns are thoroughly biblical. It is necessary that we get a picture of what kind of giving to expect from this congregation over the next three years. We know that our current giving level will allow us to meet our budget and fund most of our ministries. But we also know that we need a three year "over and above" pledge to seize the opportunities that God is presenting our ministry. Tonight, our church is gathering at the Northfield Inn to make a pledge of support. As a member of this congregation, you are encouraged to attend. If you cannot attend, you can make a pledge of support at the end of this service by filling out a pledge card in the back of the sanctuary.
But tonight is just the first step. The biggest steps are taken over the next three years as our promise of support becomes reality in the form of contributions. Over the next three years we will be setting aside a sum of money in keeping with our respective incomes and that sum will be given to this church. One person will monitor the monies received and with a computer program, wills end out reminder letters updating each of us on our progress toward our promise. No one will be embarrassed if they cannot meet their promise. If your financial situation changes, you can modify your pledge.
We want to give everyone an opportunity to participate. If you are a regular attender here or a member, and cannot attend tonight, you will be contacted and given an opportunity to participate.
But no matter what, remember the spirit of this stewardship campaign. This campaign is all about giving with a right heart. We absolutely do not want to pressure anyone to give what they're not ready to give in their heart. Our desire is to help you stretch your faith by giving sacrificially. We want you to graciously receive the mild accountability we've built into this process and know that it is as much for you as it is for God's kingdom. And know that in the end, the leadership of this church will wisely invest your generous gifts in God's kingdom. My two dogs do not live in air-conditioned dog houses, but they do live in an air-conditioned house. I hope that is okay.