In Matthew, Mark, and Luke, the three synoptic gospels, one out of every six verses deals with money.
Did you know that? One out of every six verses. Out of the 29 parables Jesus told, 16 deal with a person and his money. Now I'm convinced of something.
I'll share it up front. If Christians understood the New Testament principle of giving, they would be aching to do it. And welcome to Connect with Skip Weekend Edition. Skip Heitzigsy continues the message when Christians are generous, explaining how the Bible deals with the issue of money. Now according to dictionary.com, philanthropy is the effort or inclination to increase the well-being of humankind as by charitable aid or by donations. Now it's interesting that philanthropy is most often associated with the rich, but if the definition we shared is true, then philanthropy should be associated more with Christians than the wealthy.
After all, what better way is there to increase the well-being of mankind than by sharing the good news of the gospel? Now in today's study, Skip explores why believers should be generous. But before we get started today, here are details about this month's Connect with Skip resource offer.
2022 is almost here. Plan now for your spiritual menu starting in January. This month, we're offering Skip's daily God book devotional containing strong thoughts for each day of the year.
Here's a sample from January 1st. Martin Luther once said, The Bible is alive. It speaks to me. It has feet.
It runs after me. As you read each day, listen each day and prepare for the greatest adventure of your life. That's an excerpt of the direction found in Skip's daily God book that you'll receive in hard cover when you give $35 or more today to help keep this Bible teaching ministry growing. We'll also include Playlist, eight messages by Skip on key psalms delivered on CD as our thank you. Here's a sample of the wisdom you'll hear in the Playlist series. If you're going to spend energy in life, and we all do, make sure it's about people that you're building up, not just projects that you're building up.
To give and receive this month's resource package, visit connectwithskip.com or call 800-922-1888. Acts chapter two is where we'll be again today in our series Church Who Needs It. And here's Pastor Skip to begin our study today. If you were to boil it down, God's view of finances is simply this. Everything you have in your possession, you don't have. All of it belongs to God.
The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, or everything that is in it. It all belongs to Him. You might say, but I paid for it.
All 36 months of payments I paid for it, or all 30 years of payments I paid for it. The Bible says God gives you the power to get wealth. He is the source. It all belongs to Him. And He has the right to call for 10% of it, 20% of it, or 100% of it.
You're going to wait a minute, preacher. I thought, if anything, I have a responsibility to perhaps give 10% to God. Well, that's only the stewardship side of it. It's all His. It's all His. Just like when you gave your life to Christ, you gave your life to Christ. And this is all inclusive. Now, that does not mean that God doesn't want you to have money.
Far from it. First Timothy chapter 6, God has given us all things richly to enjoy. The context is money. Abraham was wealthy. Job was wealthy. Theophilus in the New Testament presumably was wealthy, and several others. It's not that God doesn't want you to have money. He does, but if you love it, it'll mess you up.
I can't say it any clearer than that. Timothy or Paul says to Timothy in 1 Timothy 6 verse 10, for the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. It's the love of it. And you can have none of it and have a love of it. I know people who love it, they don't have it, but they want it. Jesus said you can't serve God and money. I have never yet met a person who made as a goal of their life making money, making money, making money, making money, who has not gotten messed up by it.
No one. It just makes something askew and awry in a person's life. So that's the early church.
That's what they did. Speaking of getting messed up by it, we're introduced to chapter five. Chapter four is a contrast to chapter five. But, notice how the word begins or the section begins with a negative, but a certain man named Ananias with Sapphira, his wife, sold a possession. And he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles feet. But Peter said, Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? While it remained, was it not your own?
And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men, but to God. Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last.
So great fear came upon all those who heard these things, and the young men arose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him. The church was so pure up until chapter five. This is the first incident of sin recorded in the church, and it's over money.
Now what was the problem? It's not greed. If you're reading that into the story, you've read it wrong. It's not that they kept part of the back.
It's not greed. The sin was deceit. They said, according to Peter, that they were giving all, and they kept part of the back. They could have kept it all. This was voluntary.
In fact, look at verse four again. While it remained, was it not your own? You could do whatever you want with it. And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? It's between you and God. You can do whatever you want with it before the Lord. But you brought it to us, and you said, I've given all to the Lord. But you didn't.
You lied just to get your status raised. And God showed his obvious disapproval. Now verse four is to me a great principle.
It tells me that I need, as a believer, you need, we all need, to make a conscious decision of how we're going to handle our finances. We do it before God. We do it as a couple, husband and wife, or as a family, or as a single person.
We make that determination as I did in my early marriage. Now to do that, this might help. Because you might be thinking, let me just tell you something right now. This whole economic thing has just put me under the wire, and I'm so far behind. And I do appreciate that. And we are, as a church, here to help.
But I just want to help frame something for you. According to the United Nations, the latest statistics, the number of destitute people in the world, those who live, those who live or survive on less than one U.S. dollar per day, exceeds one billion people. Less than a dollar a day, one billion people. And the number, average number of people who die every day due to hunger are 24,000 people.
Every day. I bring that out because some of those are our brothers and sisters. So whatever you decide to do with your finances, that should be a consideration. And in Jerusalem it was. They had a tender social conscience. And having that tender conscience, they simplified their lifestyle. And they were generous. So the early church was open-hearted and the early church was open-handed in their distribution.
Now would you turn with me and we'll close here. 2 Corinthians chapter 9. This is Paul writing. And I'm closing here because this gives us principles in giving. Principles, New Testament principles in generous giving.
As you're turning there, let me tell you that though I often don't talk about finances like I'm doing today, and I'm doing it because of the context, I discovered something. The Bible has a lot to say about it. Now maybe not as much as some preachers, but it has a lot to say about it. In fact, maybe it has more to say than some preachers. In fact, I discovered and I was shocked that in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, the three synoptic gospels, one out of every six verses deals with money.
Did you know that? One out of every six verses. Out of the 29 parables Jesus told, 16 deal with a person and his money. Now I'm convinced of something and I'll share it up front. If Christians understood the New Testament principle of giving, they would be aching to do it.
They'd be aching to do it. I know that because we don't have time to cover it, but in chapter 8 of 2 Corinthians, Paul cites the Macedonians who found Paul and begged him to be able to give to this cause because they got it. They understood the principle. So let me give you some quick principles in giving.
You can write them down. Number one, give intentionally. Give intentionally. When I say that, I mean give knowing that the scripture commands you to do it and God will bless you for it. Give with that understanding that giving is powerful spiritually and practically.
There are results. Verse 6 of 2 Corinthians 9, look at that. But this I say, he who shall obey, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.
Now the whole context is about giving and Paul says giving is like farming. And so the truth in verse 6 is axiomatic. It's a self-revelatory truth.
You don't dispute it. Every farmer knows it. You reap what you sow and if you sow seed in the ground, it's a little bit of seed.
You get a little bit of result. You sow a lot, you'll get a lot. It's a principle of farming but it's also a spiritual principle. It's a spiritual principle.
I don't get it. I don't understand it but it's a spiritual principle. It is said over and over again in the Bible. Jesus in Luke 6 38 said, give and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over will be put into your bosom.
For with the same measure you use, it will be measured back to you. In Proverbs 11 24 and 25, there is one who scatters yet increases more. There is one who withholds more than is right but it leads to poverty. The generous soul will be made rich and he who waters will also be watered himself. Proverbs 19 verse 17, he who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord and he will pay back what he has given.
All these verses say the same thing. That when you give, it is invested with God and he pays dividends on it. Listen, you can never out give God all along the way.
Whatever you give, whatever I give, God will give and bless more. In fact, God says, test me, try me, try this out. It works and Paul and Jesus and Solomon all agree. Again, I don't completely understand it. It didn't make sense. It's counterintuitive because the world tells me if I give my stuff away, I have less.
God says, yeah but do that and just watch. I'll give you more. So give intentionally. Number two, give proportionally. Give proportionally. Verse six through nine is the cycle of giving.
Let's just go through it and read it all. It probably would have helped at the beginning. This I say, he who sows sparingly will reap sparingly. He who sows bountifully will reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart not grudgingly nor of necessity for God loves a cheerful giver and God is able to make all grace abound toward you that you always having all sufficiency in all things have an abundance for every good work as it is written he has dispersed abroad and given to the poor his righteousness remains forever 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.
It's the cycle. You sow, you reap and with that you sow more and you reap more and that's the cycle that a farmer experiences and the farmer sows if he's the smart farmer in proportion to what he has and we should give in proportion to what God has blessed us with. First Corinthians 16 verse 2 on the first day of the week Paul says let each of you lay something aside storing up as he may prosper or in proportion to your income that there be no collections when I come. Now this always brings up questions.
Well what proportion? Do I tithe on the net or do I tithe on the gross? People get very technical about this. Well the tithe is Old Testament. You're never commanded to tithe in the New Testament. You're told to be generous.
You're told to give proportionally and the tithe was Old Testament that was always just the place of beginning like it was when I made a decision in my early marriage but that's just the beginning. According to W.A. Criswell who's now in heaven he had experience with this man J.L. Kraft from the Kraft Cheese Corporation. He said he gave always 25 percent of his enormous proceeds income to Christian causes over the many years.
25 percent. Now that sounds like a lot to some but it pales in comparison to another man by the name of R.G. Letourneau an industrialist.
Some of you know his name because he was one of the first guys that invented large earth moving equipment. He decided he said if God blesses me I'm going to use it to further his kingdom. Well God blessed him and he lived on 10 percent of his income and he gave 90 percent of his income away.
God blessed him a lot and he could live very comfortably on just 10 percent of the enormous profits he made. Number three give prayerfully. Give prayerfully. Verse seven. Let each one give as he purposes in his heart not grudgingly or of necessity for God loves a cheerful giver.
A cheerful giver. You got to purpose something in your heart. It carries the idea of pre-meditation not giving on impulse.
Not giving because the music and the chords just bring up that emotion and somebody says now please we need your help. Don't do that. Don't give on impulse. Pre-determine it. When you get your paycheck have a meeting with your heart before God.
That's where it takes place. Don't let anybody tell you exactly how much you're to give. It's really none of my business what you give and I've never made it my business. I never look at proportions. Hey tell me what this guy's tie them.
I never have ever looked at them. I want the freedom to minister to you apart from anything you give or don't give and my responsibility ends when I make known the need and then it's between you and God. That's how I see it. I think that's how the Bible teaches it. You give prayerfully. Now in Exodus 25 God says to Moses that he wants to take an offering.
Listen to how he puts it. Speak to the children of Israel that they may bring me an offering from everyone who gives it willingly with his heart you shall take my offering. It has to be willing. You have to want to do it.
Which leads us to the fourth and final principle and we close here. Give joyfully. Not just willingly but joyfully, happily.
Verse seven again. Not grudgingly which means with grief literally. Oh this really hurts man. This really hurts man. Really hurts to give this. I really don't want to.
I get so depressed when I think of this. Don't give that way he says. Not out of compulsion or not grudgingly nor of necessity for God loves a cheerful giver. This describes a person who says I know I should do it.
I know God wants it and I know it'll bless people and God will probably even bless me but I just really don't want to do it. Then keep it. Go spend it on yourself or change your attitude and the attitude is to be a joyful attitude. Hilaron is the Greek word cheerful or yeah cheerful. Hilaron we get the word hilarious from it. You ever seen a hilarious giver?
It'd probably be something like ha ha ha ha whoo all right. Who does that? God loves it. God loves a cheerful giver.
Now please mark that. It's a unique statement in the New Testament. It's a singular statement. God loves agapao, the unique divine covenant love, a cheerful giver. It's not that God doesn't love everybody. God does love everybody. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son and God loves all believers but here it stated God has a unique love for those whose hearts like his are generous and will give away what God has entrusted to them.
I want that. I want that benediction of being uniquely loved by God. I don't want to lose that and any preacher worth his salt would never pressure his people to give because he didn't want to take away the joy of being uniquely loved by God by having a willful cheerful heart and doing it out of necessity or compulsion. God loves a cheerful giver. So what happens when Christians are generous?
A lot. They're open-hearted. They're open-handed. They see a need. They want to meet it. They give prayerfully. Needs are met. The kingdom is furthered.
God blesses them with more and they give more to God's work and that cycle continues. If you ever come to Israel with us on the same day I will promise you this. We will show you on the same day from morning to evening two bodies of water that are inland from the ocean. One is the Sea of Galilee and one is the Dead Sea. What's interesting is both of them are connected to the Jordan River. Jordan River flows from the north into the Sea of Galilee, continues south, flows into the Dead Sea.
But when you see these two bodies of water they're vastly different. The Sea of Galilee is green, lush, verdant, full of life, children playing around it. There's city little villages on it, farming communities.
You get down south to the Dead Sea and it's aptly named. Nothing grows around it. Nothing lives in it.
It is dead. Which prompts a question, why is one living and one dead? Answer has nothing to do with the source. It has everything to do with the outlet. Now hear me, the Sea of Galilee takes in water and gives out water. The Dead Sea only has an inlet.
There's no outlet. It just takes in, it takes in, it takes in all the blessing and gives none away and it collects it all and evaporates and it's dead. The Jews often use that as an illustration to point to two kinds of people. Those who are living and vibrant and joyful and attractive are those who like God have a generous heart because they've been generously forgiven and lavished upon.
Those who do not are dead. So God says take an offering and give but only do it with the right heart. You know you can give without love but you can never love without giving.
I know plenty of people who go, got to do it if it's my duty. That's giving without love but if you truly love, the natural result of love is to give for God so loved that He gave. When we stop and consider what God was willing to give, the life of His Son Jesus to pay the price for our sin, how could we say we're not in a position to give?
You know God isn't asking us nearly as much as He gave but He does ask us to be willing to give and besides if we truly trust Him as our provider, we have no reason not to be among the greatest philanthropists in the world and that's all the time we have for today. But before we leave you, here's Skip to tell you about a trip to Israel planned for 2022. Going to Israel is a unique experience but by far the most life-changing part of it is the spiritual aspect. That's why I'm excited to announce our next trip there in 2022. You'll have the opportunity to worship and study God's Word in some of the most significant biblical sites in the country.
Find out more at inspirationcruises.com slash c-a-b-q. Thanks Skip and if you'd like to get a copy of today's teaching, When Christians are Generous, it's available on CD for just four dollars plus shipping when you call us at 1-800-922-1888 or when you visit connectwithskip.com and come back next weekend as we learn about the importance of soul winning and also explain exactly what that is right here on Connect with Skip Weekend Division, a presentation of Connection Communications. Cast your burdens on His Word. Make a connection. A connection. A connection. Connecting you to God's never-changing truth in ever-changing times.
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