Hebrews Lesson 83 March
29, 2007
NKJ Philippians
We are studying the New
Testament doctrine of giving. Giving is
a subject, sort of a secondary study, as we are coming out of Hebrews 7 where
we have just about the only reference to tithing in the New Testament . Tithing is one of those subjects that for a
lot of believers is extremely touchy. I
have gotten into some very heated discussions with some people in certain
denominations because they cannot understand what you mean when you say that
tithing isn’t for today. Part of that
reason is because it has become almost synonymous with giving. They can’t separate what they call
giving. They have these rather
legalistic notions about giving. It is
amazing how people can’t grasp the whole principle of grace giving. Now we have gone through Old Testament
passages the last few weeks. We
summarized those under about four basic summary principles.
The first of those was that giving
even under the Mosaic Law was not a part of the means to spiritual growth. It wasn’t the means to either salvation or to
spiritual growth. You had two different
types remember. There was mandatory
giving which was for the support of the government which was the priesthood and
the tabernacle and temple and in support of the widows and orphans. But there was also freewill giving. Freewill giving was an expression of
gratitude to God and recognition within the Mosaic Law that everything that we
have is really God’s. God is the owner
of the land that He gave
The second thing that we
noted was that grace doesn’t mean that you don’t have obligation or
responsibility, but that it is up to our volition to participate in the way God
has planned these things. We do have
various obligations.
The third point that I made
was that grace doesn’t mean that it is free.
It may be free to us, but there is still a cost. There is still a price attached. Jesus Christ gives us salvation at no
cost. It is free to one and all, but
there is a cost involved. He had to go
to the cross and die for our sins.
A principle that we see developed
even in the Old Testament is the principle of generosity.
Then we came over to the New
Testament. I started going through the
doctrine of tithing in the New Testament.
Without going into a lot of detail, I will summarize those points.
The first point was that tithing
is mentioned in the gospels only in reference to the practice of the Pharisees
- the term that is. Tithing is only
found with reference to the Pharisees. In
that sense it was a legalistic practice.
It was legalistic because they thought that by doing it, they could gain
the approbation of God. You can have two
different acts. You can have prayer that
can be legalistic or grace oriented. You
could have attendance in church or Bible class that becomes legalistic or it is
grace oriented. You could have witnessing
that becomes legalistic or grace oriented.
Anything can become legalistic because you are doing it in order to get God’s
approval. You are doing it to get brownie points from God. Anything can be perverted. That is exactly what happened.
Remember Paul said in Romans
7 that the Mosaic Law was righteous, good, and holy. That means that the laws
pertaining to tithing were righteous, good and holy. But, the way tithing was practiced (Remember
a right thing done in a wrong way is wrong.) by the Pharisees was a way to
manipulate the favor of God. So that’s
why it became legalistic. A lot of
people throw this term legalism around in an inappropriate way. People say about someone perhaps who is very
concerned about always doing things the right way, appropriate conduct, very
sensitive to moral issues, and very sensitive to being obedient to Scripture.
There are those who would
say, “They are just legalistic.”
They aren’t legalistic. They are just concerned about doing the right
thing. Legalism has to be correctly
defined.
Definition: Legalism is
the attempt to gain God’s favor on the basis of what we do.
It is opposed to what Paul
says is that in response to what God has done we should live a life in
gratitude to Him. In some ways it may
look the same on the outside, but only God knows the heart or what the internal
motivation is.
So the first principle was
that tithing is mentioned in the gospels with reference to the legalistic
practice of the Pharisees.
When it came to giving, our Lord
mentioned in Matthew 6:2-3 that the principle is that is to be a private
matter. It is between the individual and
the Lord. Not only should individual
believers not know how much some believer is giving in terms of either amount
or percentage; but it is no one’s business whether you are giving. The whole thing is a private matter between
the individual and the Lord. What you
see in so many churches is where there is this emphasis to show giving. You have to be careful not to overreact and
go in the other way as I pointed out last time.
There are some churches who overreact in the other direction and they’ll
hide the offering box and stick it back in the corner of the nursery under a
flower pot to make sure nobody can find it. (I am being a little factious; but they make
it almost difficult to give, impossible to give). It is hard to find how to give. You don’t want to overreact because that is
just as wrong in its way as what it is reacting against. You want to be relaxed about the whole
thing. It is between the individual and
the Lord remembering that God will always supply that which is needed.
The third principle is that
the New Testament recognizes that free will giving is based on gratitude in the
soul and not some prescribed percentage.
I gave the reference from Luke 21:2-4 about the widow giving out of her
poverty.
That brought us to the fourth
point which dealt with our passage - specifically that Abraham’s tithe when he
tithed to Melchizedek (gave 10%) was a one time gift that is described in Hebrews
7:5-9. It came from the recovered plunder. It didn’t come from all of his
possessions. If you read the text it
came from his plunder, not everything that he had before that. If we were to apply this passage the way the
tithers want to apply it, they would get a lot less money than what they are
trying to get. Unfortunately we used to
manipulate people by guilt and that is a violation. If you are giving out of guilt, you are violating
various passages of Scripture as we will see this evening.
The fifth point then is that
tithing is not a synonym for giving and is not a substitute for grace
giving. Tithing was a mandatory form of
giving. Don’t use the phrase or think of
it as simply a synonym for giving. Tithing
was something completely different.
Now that brings us to the
sixth point which is that the New Testament principles for grace giving are located
in three central passages that I want to look at this evening. The first is Romans 12:8. The second is II Corinthians 16:1-4. The third is II Corinthians 9:4-15.
So we will start with Romans
12:8. This sets a summary foundation for
the principle of giving. It is talking
about spiritual gifts in context.
NKJ Romans 12:8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he
who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy,
with cheerfulness.
The context is talking about
spiritual gifts. There are seven spiritual gifts are listed in verse 6-8. They have to do with prophecy and service and
teaching and exhortation and leadership and mercy. I left out the one we are talking about which
is giving. So it is talking about giving
and it’s talking about the spiritual gift of giving in this passage. That
is specifically the reference because it is talking about how a person should exercise
that spiritual gift. The principle still
applies in terms of the use of the gift.
One thing that is interesting
is that everybody has a spiritual gift. Most of the spiritual gifts (ignoring
the sign gifts since they ended with the destruction of
So the principle for giving
is as it is translated in the New American Standard is “with liberality”. Giving with liberality doesn’t catch the
meaning of the Greek word. If you look
in a couple of basic Greek dictionaries you get something like what I have on
the screen.
The Greek word translated
“with liberality” is the Greek preposition en plus the noun haplotes.
It has to do with single in the sense of being single-minded, not having
an ulterior or double motive. It is used
to indicate that which is simple or pure or sincere or faithful. It indicates plenitude. That is a fancy word for generosity. In the New Testament the writer says that it
is only used in a moral sense as the opposite of duplicity meaning sincerity,
faithfulness toward others, manifested in helpfulness, giving assistance to
others. It is equivalent to being faithful and benevolent. When I think of liberality I don’t
necessarily think of being faithful. Benevolent
yes, in the sense of generosity. However
the basic idea of this word is of something that is done with a genuine sincere
attitude. There is no sense of guilt
manipulation. There is no sense of trying to impress God or anyone else with giving. It is giving the gift with no strings
attached, without any reservations, without any hidden agendas.
Often you have people say, “I
have given X number of dollars to the church.
I don’t like the way they painted the Sunday school building so I am not
going to give them any more money.”
They are doing something or
not doing something the way you think they ought to be doing it.
Or in giving to a seminary they
say, “Well, they are not teaching the favorite course that I think ought to be
taught the way that I think it ought to be taught so I am not going to give any
more money.”
That is not grace
giving. There is no Christian
organization that is always going to do it right. The church leadership isn’t always going to
make wise decisions. We’re not
perfect. Seminaries don’t to that. People are going to make mistakes. People are sometimes looking at things from a
different perspective than we are. When
we give we are supporting the mission of a ministry and supporting the leadership
of that ministry. It is given as unto
the Lord. Once it leaves our fingers,
that’s it. It is totally up to the Lord and
we should forget about it once we make that decision. I am not talking about if a school or a
ministry or church shifts their position or begins to teach that which is
erroneous or their doctrinal position shifts or something of that nature. So we give freely as unto the Lord. That is the idea there. The person who gives, gives freely as unto
the Lord without reservation. The
concept of benevolence or generosity is also present there.
Now that is our first
passage. That is a summary understanding
of the concept of giving in the New Testament.
Now let’s go to I Corinthians
16. Paul went on three missionary
journeys and a fourth trip that I believe he went on as he was taken to
At the end of the first
missionary journey (Now remember this.
This is one of those teaching moments that you’ll capture chronology of
the New Testament. At the end of the first missionary journey he wrote one
epistle. At the end of the second
missionary journey he wrote two epistles.
At the end of the third missionary journey he wrote (Anybody want to
guess?) three epistles. Then when he was
imprisoned in
At that time he has heard
that there is a famine in
NKJ 1 Corinthians 16:1 Now concerning the collection for
the saints, as I have given orders to the churches of Galatia, so you must do
also:
What is Paul doing here? This runs counter to what some people
think. Paul is getting ready to ask them
for money. Paul is going to tell them that there is a financial need and that they
have a responsibility to do something, no matter how little it may be, to help
the needy. There are some people who get
the idea that it is more spiritual not to ever mention that a ministry has
certain needs. Paul clearly rejects
that. He mentions the fact that there is
a financial need in
He doesn’t just say, “Pray
about it.”
He is going to give instructions
about how to set aside the money on a regular basis so that when he comes there
will be the financial resource there.
Instead of coming in at one
time and saying, “We are going to have a big fund raiser today. When I leave next week I have to take $15,000
with me. Let’s just surprise everybody
next week. Everybody come up with
$15,000.”
He knows that it is going to
be 5 or 6 months before he gets back to everybody. It might have even been longer.
So he says, “Start laying up
money now. Take a little out of your
paycheck each week and then by the time I get there, there will be a
significant amount and it won’t hurt.”
It is very orderly. It is very precise. He is not afraid to mention a need.
In the middle of the 19th
century there was a tremendous believer in
Now people read that and they
say, “I need to do what George Mueller did.
I am not going to tell anybody about my needs except God. I am just going to pray to God and He is
going to answer that.”
Well, God did not direct us
in the New Testament to do what George Mueller did. There is nothing wrong with what George
Mueller did. That fits under one of
those areas that is a gray area.
While you are still in I
Corinthians, I am going to flip back for a minute to I Corinthians 8. There is a lot of stuff here that flies in the
face of certain sacred cows that we sometimes have. In the
first part of I Corinthians 8 Paul is dealing with the principles of gray areas
– the principle of liberty in the areas that are neither right nor wrong. He is going to deal with meat sacrificed to
idols. He says at the beginning…
NKJ 1 Corinthians 8:1 Now concerning things offered to idols:
We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies.
Whenever you see (especially
in the New King James or the New American Standard) this phrase “now
concerning” which in the Greek is peri de, he
is shifting to a new topic. That gives
you your outline. So you have a topic
shift at 8:1, but you don’t have another topic shift again for several chapters
- not until chapter 16. Actually,
everything after that kind of floats together.
NKJ 1 Corinthians 8:2 And if anyone thinks that he knows
anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know.
NKJ 1 Corinthians 8:3 But if anyone loves God, this one
is known by Him.
He gets down here and he talks
about the whole issue of doubtful things. He says…
NKJ 1 Corinthians 8:4 Therefore concerning the eating of
things offered to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world,
and that there is no other God but one.
Where he is going to go with
that is to warn them about whether or not they should eat meat sacrificed to
idols.
Some people said “No, you
shouldn’t.”
That would indicate that you
are validating the idolatry, so it is wrong.
Others said, “Idols are
nothing. They are just stone. There may be a demon there, but they don’t
have any reality there. It is fine to
eat the meat.”
They were grace
oriented. Others, it wasn’t that they weren’t
grace oriented. They were immature. They were weak as Paul says here in the chapter. The principle is…
NKJ 1 Corinthians 8:9 But beware lest somehow this
liberty of yours become a stumbling block to those who are weak.
In other words, don’t use
your liberty in front of people that you know are weak and it will becomes a
stumbling block for them to sin. In
other words, be sensitive to people. It
is the law of love. Recognize that some
people may not be taught and it might be a problem to them, so don’t use your
liberty to put a stumbling block in front of others.
Now most people when they
deal with this issue of gray areas and doubtful things or areas that are not
specifically addressed in Scripture as right or wrong they go to I Corinthians 8. They talk about the meat offered to idols and
they stop. They don’t go into chapter
9. Chapter 9 is just as much a part of
the discussion of doubtful things as chapter 8 is. But, it is a different area. It is an area of how the apostles conducted
their ministry. Maybe that is a fresh
idea for you. Some pastor may conduct
his ministry in one way before God and another pastor another way and both are
okay. Both come under the category of
doubtful things.
That is what Paul says in
verse 1.
NKJ 1 Corinthians
In other words, he is asking
these rhetorical questions to emphasize the fact that he is an apostle and he
has every right and privilege that belongs to someone who has been chosen by
the Lord Jesus Christ to be an apostle. Then
he follows that up with a couple of more rhetorical questions in verse 4.
NKJ 1 Corinthians 9:4 Do we have no right to eat and
drink?
The idea there is, don’t we
have a right to enjoy life and to enjoy the fine things of life, to eat food,
to drink good wine, to enjoy all the benefits and all pleasures of life?
NKJ 1 Corinthians 9:5 Do we have no right to take along a
believing wife, as do also the other apostles, the brothers of the Lord,
and Cephas?
So apparently all the other
apostles, when they traveled, took their wives and children along with
them.
They Paul says, “Wouldn’t I
have the right to do that as well?”
NKJ 1 Corinthians 9:6 Or is it only Barnabas and I
who have no right to refrain from working?
Then he goes on. I want you to skip down to verse 12.
NKJ 1 Corinthians
That is to accept money,
payment, honorariums for ministry to have their wives and children supported in
case of Peter and others when they travel.
He appeals to the fact because
he has a relationship with them. He is
still talking about doubtful things.
He is saying, “Look, it is
perfectly legitimate for another apostle to bring along his family with him and
to expect you as a congregation to house them and feed them and clothe them and
basically pay them a salary. I have
chosen not to exercise that right.”
Let me put it in other terms. Some pastors out there for whatever reason
decide that when they write material, they are going to go through the standard
operating procedure of publishing books and selling books in the Christian book
marketplace.
Some pastors say, “No, I am
going to use a grace process and I am going to make them available and we are not
going to put any price on it.”
The point I am making is that
one is not right and one is not wrong.
It is an individual decision of whoever that pastor is depending on what
the circumstances are in his particular life and ministry. That is the principle here. Paul says…
NKJ 1 Corinthians
That could relate to publishing
through a standard publishing house or operating on a grace ministry. It can go
either way. The point I am making is
that too often we come along and we look at the way somebody did something. Paul did it where he did not ask for support
in
So we look at somebody and we
say, “Look they did it this way. Look
how God blessed them. Now let’s make
this an absolute way and we all have to do it that way. George Mueller never mentioned that he had a
financial need. Let’s all do it that way.”
The Scripture doesn’t say
that. That was George Mueller’s decision
between him and the Lord. That was how
he wanted to conduct his ministry. It
was fine and it was wonderful. It is an
incredible testimony. It is wonderful to
read the stories of how God provided. But
that is not the only way that God provides.
He wasn’t following any mandates from Scripture when he did it that
way. It was just a decision that he was
making that was between him and the Lord.
I think there are those who
have misapplied some things here. Obviously
we live in an age when you go to many churches and they ask for so much money
and they sell everything. I have been
places were you preach the morning message and the tapes are duplicated and for
sale for $10 apiece on the way out the back door before you are ready to go
home. There are all kinds of ways that
people do things.
I think that there is an
overreaction to that when people say, “Oh, we are so tired of hearing everybody
trying to twist our arm about money and always taking up a collection and putting
a price tag on everything that we are going to hide the basket back in the
nursery somewhere.”
They never mention money and
never tell what is going on because if you even do that you have got to be
wrong. It is an over reaction in the other
direction. It is legitimate to I think on
the basis of what Paul does right here in I Corinthians 16:1 to tell people
about legitimate needs as we did at the congregational meeting in February. We
let people know that we have a plan. Our
plan is that we would like to buy land and we would like to buy a
building. It is not going to be
free. It is going to cost
something. We put that out and the Lord
is going to provide. The Lord provides
through people. It is legitimate for
ministries like Jim Myers ministry or Moses Onwubiko or any number of other
missionaries to let people know what it is that they need.
How many of us have ever seen
any headquarters operations of any of these ministries? How many of us know how many computers they
need, how many printers they need, how much it costs for them to have internet
hookups, how much secretarial help they need? We don’t have any idea because we
aren’t local there. Some of these places
have been given houses. I know of
ministries that have houses and yards and they have to pay landscapers to come
in and cut the grass and everything else.
We don’t know what is needed.
It is helpful for ministries
to say, “Pray for us about these things.”
There is nothing wrong with
doing that. Some people have reacted to
that. That is exactly what Paul is doing
here.
He is saying, “There is a
legitimate need in
So he is identifying a need
and telling them ahead of time that he will be taking up a specific collection
for them. In verse 2 he gives them the
principle.
NKJ 1 Corinthians 16:2 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.
Notice he didn’t say, “Lay
10% aside.”
He didn’t give any
qualifications – just something. It is
between you and the Lord how much you are going to set aside. This wasn’t for the support of the local
congregation. This was money that was to be taken back to
In other words, it is not on
the basis of a percentage. It is on the
basis of how God has provided for you and how God has taken care of you and how
you handle it.
In other words, he is not
going to take up a collection when he comes.
The money is already going to be set aside.
What is interesting to me is
sociological studies. They are
interesting every now and then. You don’t
make policy as a church based on those.
You don’t base your evangelism methodology on them which is the standard
operating procedure in church growth today.
But it is interesting.
I am familiar with this
situation that is not too far from here. There was a church for sale. They had about 3 ½ acres and they had 5
buildings on it and a parking lot. They
were asking around $4 or $4 ½ million for it.
It was a tremendous set up and a nice church plan. A couple of those buildings had been built within
the last 15years or so. One was their
office building. I think it was three
floors. It was a nice set up. It was bought for I think $3 ½ million
recently by a Korean Baptist congregation that has been meeting for a number of
years over at Tallowwood. Now this church that was for sale had a
membership. I know at one time they ran
three services in their auditorium and that auditorium holds about 800. The church that bought it had 100 people in
it. They paid cash. Why did they do that? Because they were Koreans and Koreans give
percentage wise about 6 times more than what Caucasians do. Blacks give two or three times. It is interesting. Different ethnic groups give differently in
their congregations just because the way they approach from their world view and
in their culture how they handle money and prosperity and personal and material
possessions. It is interesting. Here is a church that is about 15 years old
and 125 members and comes up with $3.5 million cash to pay for this church. I think that is fascinating.
The principle is as He may
prosper. Every person and every group is
going to handle that somewhat differently.
Paul says in verse 3…
NKJ 1 Corinthians 16:3 And when I come, whomever you
approve by your letters I will send to bear your gift to
So we see a couple of
important principles here. First of all
there is a principle in verse 2 of regular giving. Now that may be weekly. Maybe you get paid twice a month. Maybe you get paid once a month. But, there is regularity to it. There is a decision beforehand. You sit down and budget and analyze your
finances. You make a responsible
decision before the Lord and pray about it.
Then you lay it aside, set it aside for the Lord. The principle of the percentage is as the
Lord prospers you.
Then there is a responsible
handling of the money by a responsible individual chosen by the
congregation. We have a treasurer. We have a policy that when money is collected
it always goes back and two of the deacons are together and they are back there
to witness each other to make sure that
they double count the money. All of these
safeguards are in place. I know of some
cases where the collection is taken up and the money is taken back and put on
the pastor’s desk. I know in this one
particular case that the pastor goes in and takes all the cash out and puts it
in his pocket. He deposits the checks in
the bank. It is a doctrinal church. I
won’t say anything more about that. That
is what happens.
When Jim Myers put the slide
up (if you missed it) the second morning of the conference, $16 billion a year
is embezzled in churches by deacons and pastors and elders. $15 billion is given to missions. So, you have to have safeguards. A church has to have men who have integrity
who are appointed to handle the money so that it is all done in an honest and
above board way where there are checks and balances. Everybody has sin natures and can be tempted
especially in the area of finances.
It has to be somebody with honesty
so that they don’t decide to take a vacation to
Then Paul says…
NKJ 1 Corinthians 16:4 But if it is fitting that I go
also, they will go with me.
“If you think it is
necessary, I will go in attendance.”
That is I Corinthians 16:1-4.
Now the longest passage, the
most detailed passage on giving in the New Testament is in II Corinthians
9. Again this is dealing with the same
basic background issue of giving to the churches and their need in
NKJ 2 Corinthians 8:1 Moreover, brethren, we make known
to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches of
NKJ 2 Corinthians 8:2 that in a great trial of affliction
the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of
their liberality.
In other words the Christians
were going through persecutions.
Paul doesn’t just say, “
Their poverty.”
In the depth of their
generosity, they didn’t have much to give; but they gave a tremendous
proportion of it. It wasn’t based on the
fact that they were wealthy and that they had plenty. They had very, very little
yet they gave a tremendous amount. So
Paul appeals to that as an example of giving.
He gives another pattern in
verse 9 of chapter 8.
NKJ 2 Corinthians 8:9 For you know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that
you through His poverty might become rich.
So the standard for grace
giving always goes back to that great gift of salvation through the Lord Jesus
Christ. He goes on to talk in verse 16
of that chapter about the collection that he had taken up before that was taken
to
In verse 5 he says…
NKJ 2 Corinthians 9:5 Therefore I thought it necessary to
exhort the brethren to go to you ahead of time, and prepare your generous gift
beforehand, which you had previously promised, that it may be ready as a
matter of generosity and not as a grudging obligation.
That is referring to the
collection of that which he had instructed them about in I Corinthians 16. He sent men ahead in order to collect that gift. It was made up of money which we might call
pledges. Sometimes that is a very abused
system in the way a lot of churches give.
But it is not necessarily or inherently wrong. Paul points out here that it is a gift that
they previously promised.
“It was based on your
generosity.”
It wasn’t based on guilt or
arm twisting or any of that. That is
what happens too often in situations today.
Then he gives a principle
related to giving in 9:6.
NKJ 2 Corinthians 9:6 But this I say: He who sows
sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap
bountifully.
That is in terms of giving remember.
He is expressing the
principle once again of generosity in giving in support of local church
ministries. As we give we become partners with those
ministries and we can have a special blessing and privilege to watch how Jim
Myers ministry grows and expands or watch how Chafer Seminary grows or expands
or when another missionary goes somewhere and we read the reports of how so
many people and so many pastors were instructed and so many people learned the Word. So many were saved that we had a part in that. The reality is that every ministry runs on
money. It would be nice if it didn’t,
but every ministry runs on money. It is
even more so today.
I was having a conversation
with someone this week who was commenting in observation on how many different ministries
that we have seen over the past 10 or 12 years sort of merge together so that
they can benefit from the finances because of the cost of computers. Every ministry has to have computers and internet
and printing and all of these overhead costs that soar. If you could combine some so that if they
could combine their overhead then it would make things a lot more efficient. So we always have to be mindful of all of
those things. The government comes along
and you have to do all of the accounting and bookkeeping and all the things
related to taxes. Even if you are a non-profit
organization, there is always paper work. You frequently have to hire the professionals
to come in and do that. So, all of that
is part of overhead and doing business in today’s world.
In verse 7 Paul makes the
statement that we are all familiar with.
NKJ 2 Corinthians 9:7 So let each one give as he purposes
in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.
That is, in his thinking. It is not emotional. It is a thought
concept. It is thought out ahead of
time.
This is a problem that you have in the way money is
raised for too many ministries. Guilt is
put on people or there is some other kind of manipulation that goes on. This is
very objective. This is where the
individual should go home, look at their finances, look at their budgets and
think about their own spiritual life, their gratitude. All of these things come into play. Then make a decision about how much they are
going to give in support of local church, missions and how they are going to
plan it out.
The bottom line is that God
loves a cheerful giver. The idea
translated “cheerful” is the idea of someone who is grace oriented and
generous. It is a synonym for the word
we saw over in Romans and it has that idea of liberality to it, of generosity
and benevolence. It’s given without any
strings attached.
Verse 8 is the underlying
principle that God owns everything that we have.
NKJ 2 Corinthians 9:8 And God is able to make all
grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things,
may have an abundance for every good work.
Notice how many times you
have the word related to “all” here. In
Greek the root word is pas. Sometimes
it has a different ending so we have the phrase pante
pantote pas right in a row.
Remember the exercise we did
when we went through Genesis 8 and we circled every time there was a use of “all”
or “every” during the time of the Noahic flood and all the mountains were
covered and all life was killed. It
indicated universality there. That is
the same idea here. God’s grace is
sufficient for everything. He will
provide for the believer who is involved in grace oriented giving.
This isn’t to be taken to the
irresponsible extreme of the health and wealth crowd that says, “If you give so
much, God is going to be obligated to give it back to you ten-fold.”
But God is going to supply
the need for the believer. That is
exactly what Paul is saying in this particular verse. There will be a provision, abundance for
every good work. God will provide that
which is needed. Then he quotes from the
Old Testament in verse 9 from Psalm 112.
NKJ 2 Corinthians 9:9 As it is written: "He has
dispersed abroad, He has given to the poor; His righteousness endures
forever."
So in verse 9 and on we see
the principle that God is the one who ultimately supplies the gift.
In verse 10 we read…
NKJ 2 Corinthians 9:10 Now may He who supplies seed to the
sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and
increase the fruits of your righteousness,
So the giving is under the
category of a fruit or production of righteousness. That means it flows out of the integrity of
the believer’s soul, not manipulated, not out of guilt, not out of any of these
other false motivations.
In verse 11 he concludes by
saying…
NKJ 2 Corinthians
So what we see here is that
Paul is not afraid to talk about giving.
One reason I want to make that point is that I also see that in some
pastors, especially in young pastors. I
know when I was young I had a certain hesitancy about ever talking about money.
One reason is because we live in this culture where you have a lot of preachers
who are always talking about money. So
we have this problem of going to the other extreme. But what we see in Paul is that when it is
time to talk about giving and money and there is a need, then you need to talk
about money and giving and what the need is. There is nothing wrong with that
whatsoever. There is nothing wrong with challenging
people to the fact that there are financial needs.
God doesn’t drop money out of
heaven. God supplies the need through
believers who are grace oriented and are responding to that particular need. There is a responsibility on the part of
believers to be involved in giving. That
is not legalism. That is still part of
grace. Nobody is telling you how
much. Nobody is looking over your
shoulder. Nobody is twisting your
arm. Giving is part of the
responsibility of the spiritual life of every believer.
Now the problem that we have
in our culture is materialism. Paul addresses this in I Timothy 6:6-11, 17-19.
NKJ 1 Timothy 6:6 Now godliness with contentment is great gain.
This is really addressed to
people who have a trend in their sin nature toward materialism lust and a
desire to amass possessions.
That is spiritual growth,
spiritual maturity. That word eusebeia in the
Greek has to do with god-likeness (which the old English had). God-likeness is
to have the image of Christ in you. So it is the concept of spiritual
maturity. Spiritual maturity with
contentment or happiness is great gain - to be happy with your circumstances. Paul
addresses that in Philippians 4 when he talks about...
NKJ Philippians
NKJ Philippians
Now a lot of you memorized
that verse all by itself. I remember
singing that as a chorus in Sunday school.
You think that the “all
things” means anything I want to do.
Right? No, if you look at the
context what Paul is saying in verse 12 is that he knows how to be poor.
“I know how not to have
anything. I know how to have
prosperity. I know how to abound.”
What is the “all things” in
the context?
“I can handle prosperity or
adversity. I can handle abundance or
need. I can handle wealth or poverty
because I can handle every situation through Christ who strengthens me.”
He goes on to say in verse 19
a great principle related to giving.
NKJ Philippians
Now when Paul comes to I
Timothy 6, he is talking about that spiritually mature attitude that we can
relax because we know that God is the one who supplies all of our financial
needs.
NKJ 1 Timothy 6:7 For we brought nothing into this world,
and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
Now he is not contradicting
the proverb that says the wise man leaves an inheritance for his children’s
children.
He is saying, “Don’t try to
keep it all.”
NKJ 1 Timothy 6:8 And having food and clothing, with
these we shall be content.
NKJ 1 Timothy 6:9 But those who desire to be rich fall
into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts
which drown men in destruction and perdition.
Notice it is desire to be
rich here. It is a desire to be wealthy
for the sake of being wealthy because you are placing your happiness in a
detail of life. Why? Because, they are thinking that something in
the cosmic system will give them happiness and meaning and purpose. They make an idol out of money. In Colossians
3 Paul calls that greed idolatry.
Now this isn’t talking about
men who desire to be successful. There
are many men who desire to be successful and amass incredible amounts of wealth
for the sake of supporting the local church and missionaries. I had the privilege to know some men like
that. Recently I was introduced to
another individual like that. He is the
president of his own company. He builds
some kind of machinery and is very wealthy.
He has no children. He lives to
give. He and his wife love to give money
to missionaries and various ministries. Paul
is not talking about that. He is not saying
it is wrong to amass wealth or to be wealthy.
He is saying it is wrong to have the wrong attitude toward it. There have been men of tremendous wealth that
God has used to supply the needs of local churches and ministries and
missionaries. It has been a wonderful
thing. But he is warning there. Don’t put your focus on the wrong thing.
NKJ 1 Timothy 6:10 For the love of money is a root of
all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their
greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
The love of money – not money
– that materialism lust, greed is the root of all kinds of evil.
It is a warning against
putting your emphasis on the wrong thing.
He warns Timothy as any pastor not to focus on wealth but to pursue …
NKJ 1 Timothy
Then at the end of the
chapter in verse 17 he says…
NKJ 1 Timothy 6:17 Command those who are rich in this
present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the
living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy.
That is the problem as you
start trusting in your money rather than in God. I remember a number of years ago a man who
was listening to doctrine and studying the Word for many years told me to make
sure to tell people that the biggest test, the toughest test is the test of prosperity.
Most people think, “Ah! Just give me the test of prosperity.”
He said, “When I didn’t have
anything and I wasn’t sure if I could pay my bills or pay my employees at the
end of every month, I listened to a tape or two a day and I prayed a lot. I depended upon the Lord conscientiously
day-by-day. But when I got successful and
had one of the biggest companies of my kind in my state and had a tremendous
amount of wealth, I forgot to listen to a tape everyday. It was hard.
I didn’t feel like I needed to do that every day.”
It is hard to keep those
priorities straight because your survival isn’t dependent upon it. But the reality is when you are wealthy, your
survival depends on it even more because you need to pass that prosperity test.”
In verse 18 Paul puts the
focus on the right thing.
NKJ 1 Timothy
That is that grace
orientation.
NKJ 1 Timothy
That is the issue of
utilizing our resources. Whatever that treasure
is whether it is our homes, our talents, or finances whatever it is to further
the ministry to minister to the body of Christ and to support one another in the
correct application of doctrine. The
ultimate reality is what happens at the Judgment Seat of Christ, not what
happens at the bottom line of the bank account at the end of life.
This is the biblical doctrine
of giving. It is not based on
tithing. It is not legalism. It is based on grace. I remember years ago reading a book on giving
by Dr. Ryrie.
He said, “The person who
believes in grace giving really ought to give more simply because they
understand the dimensions of what happened at the cross.”
Let’s bow our heads in
closing prayer.