Giving to God

Hymn no 31 "when Morning Gilds the sky"

Call to Worship:  Dearly beloved, we are come together in the presence of almighty God, and of the whole company of heaven, to make humble confession of our sin unto him; to set forth his most worthy praise; to hear his most holy Word; to declare faith in him, to ask, for ourselves and all men, those things which are necessary for the body and the soul; to offer unto him the service of our lives; and to receive his blessing.

Wherefore; let us rejoice and offer unto god our praises.

Scripture text: Luke 12:16-34
Hymn of preparation No.255 Take My Life and Let it Be
Hymn of dedication No. 226 O Jesus I have Promised

Giving to God

There are three kinds of giving: grudge giving, duty giving, and thanksgiving.  Grudge giving says, "I hate to," duty giving says, "I ought to," thanksgiving says, "I want to."  The first comes from constraint, the second from a sense of obligation, the third from a full heart.  Nothing much is conveyed in grudge giving since "The gift without the giver is bare."  Something more happens in duty giving but there is no song in it.  Thanksgiving is an open gate into the love of God.

I would like to talk to you this morning about our attitudes concerning giving to God.

Giving involves many areas and facets of our lives.  We will limit ourselves this morning to three areas-- what we give, how we give, and why we give.

We give because of the abundant blessing that is promised us in Malachi chapter 3 verse 10, where we find God speaking through the Prophet and saying bring ye all the tithes into the store-house, and prove me herewith, and see if I will not open the windows of heaven and pour you out a blessing.  Yes, God says try me.

I have had many people question me about the tithe and I think that too much emphasis has been placed on the amount a person should give.  Let's quickly look at some scriptural rules for giving.

We give according to income.  Deuteronomy 16 verse 17 says, every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the lord thy God which he hath given thee.

We are to give without display or show for Jesus said "When thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth."

Give Freely---In Luke---Jesus said, "Give and it shall be given unto you, good measure, pressed down and shaken together, for with the same measure as you give it will be measured to you again."

Paul in speaking to the church at Corinth about giving said that they should set aside an amount on the first day of the week as God has prospered them, so there would be no gatherings when he came.--- Paul was saying be orderly about your giving--set it aside regularly, freely, cheerfully as God has prospered you.  Paul's words still apply---Give freely-- this is the hard part for most of us, Yes, we give, but we like to channel and direct or giving.  Some of us say I want my money to go toward paying the pastor's salary, others say I don't believe in Missions so I want all my giving to go to general church expenses, I don't approve of building fund so don't put any money there.  Can you see how this attitude multiplied over and over again in the church hampers the work of Jesus Christ in the world?

We have many examples in the bible of Munificent giving, the greatest of these is the story of the widow's mite.

Jesus sat watching the people cast money into the treasury: and many that were rich cast in great sums of money, but the widow cast in all that she had even her living.--  This scripture has always given me trouble, it seems to say that the widow will receive a greater reward because she gave all she had.  This is not in focus with the picture we have of Jesus, the one who loved all men, looking at the widow's act of giving as better than say the free, willing, loving gift of a rich man.  Many times where great people are involved their friends when talking and writing about them tend to make them do and say things that are not in character with their nature, and I think the writer here in Mark had a slight tendency to do just that.

But this story also indicates to us what we are to do more than give out of our abundance.-  Too many people today give out of what is left over, we, many of us, fall into the same sin that the early Hebrews did in their sacrificial giving to the temple, they gave sick, blind, lame beasts to the temple for sacrifice, instead of the new born, unblemished animal that was required.  Malachi the prophet of God said of this---it would be better to shut the great gates of the temple and extinguish the fires on the alter than to allow this shameful practice to continue.

Of course we don't sacrifice at the alter today.  But we do give the lame, the sick, the blind beasts.---We serve at Church if we have any time left over, we give from the end of our income instead of setting aside at the beginning regularly, we visit the sick if we have time, we would go on listing the ways that we give the "sick, the lame, and blind beasts", because we are turned in on ourselves and just plain don't have time for the things of God.

The robbers in Christ's parable jumped on the man who was passing by and tore off his clothes and mugged him and left him half dead by the side of the road.  After awhile a couple of other men came by who were not half dead but only half alive, because when they looked at the man lying in the ditch, what they saw, this priest and this Levite, was just a man lying in a ditch.  Half dead

They saw the man, but they also saw the road, and in their mind's eye they saw whatever goal they were traveling that road to reach.  They recognized two needs, the need of the wounded man for help and their own need to get where they were going.  These men were not especially bad or heartless men, they were just men turned in on their own business and need.  This is the sad state of many churchmen today.  Christians who give to God if it is convenient --- If they have time.

But I see the question in your eyes, you say OK-- what is the proper tithe, where does the blessing come in, how do we experience this blessing.  The tithe is the regular amount that is given no strings attached to the work of the Church.--The tithe includes service as well as money, each of us has talent in an area that can be used in the work of the kingdom.  This monetary amount and the hours we give will increase as we experience the working of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  This working of the Holy Spirit begins with our smallest beginning, and grows---this is the blessing, not riches or fame, or success in business, no these things although we can achieve them are not blessings.  The real blessing is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.  When we experience this the tithe is right and proper. (L tourmeau)

First Timothy 6:7 gives us marching orders.  Paul says---We brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.  And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.  But they that will be rich fall into a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and predition.  For love of money is the root of all evil.  Which while some coveted after, they have erred from faith, an pierced themselves through with many sorrows.  But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.  Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.

An Paul continues, I give thee charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession; that thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Yes, the Lord says, "try me".  "Bring ye all the tithe into storehouse and prove me herewith, and see if I will not open the window of heaven and pour you out a blessing."

Prayer of Confession:
Our heavenly Father, who by thy love hast made us, and through thy love hast kept us, and in thy love wouldst make us perfect: we humbly confess that we have not loved thee with all our heart and soul and mind and strength, and we have not loved one another as Christ hath loved us.  Thy life is within our souls, but our selfishness hath hindered thee.  We have not lived by faith.  We have resisted thy Spirit.  We have neglected thine inspirations.

Forgive what we have been; help us to amend what we are; and in thy Spirit direct what shall be; that thou mayest come into the full glory of thy creation, in us and in all men; through Jesus Christ our lord. Amen

Nottingham Zion 196?