God's Plan for Giving, Part 2 B

Giving is not a matter of what you have.

It's a matter of the heart. It's a matter of the sacrifice that you desire to render toward God. And in verse 7, therefore as you abound in everything, faith, utterance, knowledge, diligence, love, abound in this also. When you give to God, you ought to abound in the same sense that you abound in those spiritual commodities. Welcome to Grace to You with John MacArthur.

I'm your host, Phil Johnson. It can probably be said with little or no argument, a pastor can teach on weighty, eternal matters like the consequences of sin. And many people will find their minds wondering. But if he starts talking about an everyday issue like money, specifically offering it to the Lord, well, that's a whole different story. Indeed, your ears probably perk up when you hear someone talking about giving away what you worked hard to earn. But with the right biblical understanding, giving to the Lord can be a joyous act of worship. John MacArthur helps you better grasp that truth today as he continues his study titled, God's Plan for Giving. And with that, let's get to the lesson.

Here's John MacArthur. Now in 2 Corinthians chapter 9, we won't look at it now, but we'll look at it later. It tells us that if you give, if you sow sparingly, you reap sparingly, sow bountifully, reap bountifully. If you sow bountifully, you reap bountifully. If you give not grudgingly or of necessity, but because God loves a cheerful giver. If you give freely, God will supply you at ease. God will make everything increase to you. He'll have all sufficiency so that he'll fulfill up everything you need physically and spiritually.

Let me give you another thought on principle number one. Just had a good thought. You remember the rich young ruler in Matthew 19 21 that came to Jesus and Jesus said, go sell all you have and give to the poor?

And then you could come. You know, people read about that and they say, wow, do you have to give your money away to be a Christian? No, I don't think that's what it's saying. In fact, I think God blesses some of us who have invested with him over and above. I mean, I feel like I have so much and I know many of you do, too.

And I need to be a more conscientious steward of all time. But Jesus wasn't saying you've got to give your money away to be a Christian. What he was saying was your money is standing between you and me. There was a slave one time who was a tremendous Christian. He gave a great testimony to his master. His master came in one day and said, you know, whatever you've got, I want it.

You have such peace and joy and contentment. I can't believe it. What is it?

How can I get this? He says, go to the house, put on your white suit, come down here and work in the mud with the rest of us slaves. And you can have it. He said, what are you talking about? He said, I could never do that. I'm the master. You're the slave. I'm the householder.

I can't do that. I wouldn't have that beneath my dignity. And he walked off in a huff. He came back a couple months later and said, I can't resist asking you again, what is it you have and how can I have this? And he says, I told you, go put your white suit on, come down and work in the mud with us.

You can have it. And he was furious again and walked off. Finally in desperation, he came back to the slave and he said, I don't care what it takes. I've got to do it. I'll do anything. And he says, go put on your white suit and come down.

Will you do that? He said, yes. He says, you don't have to. You see the point? He knew what was standing between the man and Christ. Pride, self.

And he put the issue right where it was. That's all Jesus is saying. Until you're detached from your money, you're separated from God because you can't serve both.

All right, let's go to principle number two. Giving is to be sacrificial. Giving is to be sacrificial. It isn't the amount.

It's just what it costs you to give it. Look at Mark 12 41. I know you're already running ahead of me. Mark 12 41. Jesus sat opposite the treasury. Now here he is sitting in the place where everybody's paying taxes. He's watching this in the court of the women, the temple treasury, and he's just staying there. It's an imperfect verb, which means he continued to sit there and he continued to behold. People came, people came, people came. And he saw the people cast the money into the treasury and many that were rich cast in much. He watched the rich people come in and really throw it in these little trumpet-shaped deals that were on the wall, 13 of them around the temple treasury, and they were all dropping in their taxes and all.

He was watching and he kept watching. And there came a certain poor widow and she threw in two mites, which makes a farthing. Friends, two mites. A mite is an eighth of a cent and a farthing is a fourth of a cent, two eighths of a cent. Here came a poor widow and she had the smallest coin there was, a copper mite, a lepta, about an eighth of a cent and she had two of those that made up a fourth of a Roman penny. I mean, it wasn't enough to buy a lunch for a priest. You say, what good is that? I mean, that isn't going to do anything. Here's somebody else over there just dumping the stuff in. And here are these two little copper leptas dropped in.

What's the deal? He called unto him his disciples and he called his men over and he thought, here's my chance to teach. He taught right off the living illustrations of life. You know, one of the principles that I've learned about discipling people is this. Discipleship occurs best in the application of the principles of truth to the living of life. In other words, to sit a bunch of people down in a room and all try to disciple them doesn't really get at it. What you've got to do is apply biblical wisdom to the flow of life. And this is what Jesus did with his disciples. They walked through the world and He taught them off of what He saw happening.

He solved their problems with spiritual solutions. That's discipling. So He calls His disciples and says, I say unto you, this poor widow has cast more in than all they who have cast into the treasury. You say, wait a minute.

That's no big deal. For all they did cast in of their abundance. But she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living. You say, how did he know that?

He knew everything. She only had an eighth of a penny left and she gave it. Wow. You say, it's not very significant.

It won't do much. It was significant because she gave everything, friends, and you can't give any more than everything. But the point that Jesus is making is this, that that is sacrifice and that is the essence of giving.

And the ultimate sacrifice would be to give everything. The least money was the greatest gift. What does it teach about giving? Does this teach we're to tithe?

No. It teaches that we're to give sacrificially and maybe that means everything we have. Certainly it means more than we're giving now.

And I say that for myself as well. In Hebrews 13, 16, it says, but to do good and to share, that is to share your money, your possessions, don't forget. Listen, for with such sacrifices, God is well pleased. What pleases God in giving is sacrifice. Sacrifice. Philippians 4 18, Paul just received a lot of money from the Philippians and he was thankful. He said, I have all in a bound, I am full having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you. A sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God.

Now watch what will happen. In return, my God shall supply...what? All your needs according to His riches. You gave sacrificially, you invested with God, He'll supply all your needs according to His riches. Principle number three, giving is not a matter of what you have. Now people always say, if I only had more, I would give more. Huh?

That isn't it. I read about a farmer who...preacher came to see the farmer and he says, say to the farmer, he says, if you had two hundred dollars, would you give a hundred of it to the Lord? He said, I would. He said, if you had two cows, would you give one of them to the Lord? He said, I would. He said, if you had two pigs, would you give one of them to the Lord? He said, now that isn't fair, you know I have two pigs. Now go to Luke 16, 10 and let me show you this principle in the Word of God. It isn't how much you have. You know, and we all have done that, haven't we? If I had more, oh, I wish I could give more.

I wish I had more. It's proportionate giving. You may give more in amount, but you may not give more in proportion and it's proportion that God is after.

In Luke 16, 10, we have this introduced to us. He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much. And he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. If you are not giving sacrificially with what you have, you wouldn't give sacrificially if you had more, right?

That's what He's saying. Boy, it's a tremendous principle in Luke 16, 10. You see, it's illustrated so beautifully in 2 Corinthians 8, the Macedonians gave an offering to the Christians to Jerusalem. And it says in verse 2 of 2 Corinthians 8, the Macedonians how that in a great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded to the riches of their liberality.

He says deep poverty abounded to liberality. In other words, they didn't have much, but boy, did they ever give liberally. And, of course, in verse 5 He says that's because they first gave what?

Themselves. They first gave themselves. Giving is not a matter of what you have. It's a matter of the heart. It's a matter of the sacrifice that you desire to render toward God. And in verse 7, therefore as you abound in everything, faith, utterance, knowledge, diligence, love abound in this also. When you give to God, you ought to abound in the same sense that you abound in those spiritual commodities. Principle 4, giving affects spiritual riches.

Stay right there in Luke 16. This is one of the most sobering statements in regard to giving anywhere in the Scripture. Luke 16, 11, if therefore you have not been faithful in the unrighteous money, and money isn't righteous, is it? Money is just neutral. Who will commit to your trust the true riches?

Boy, is that ever potent. If you can't handle money, which is earthly riches, you think God's going to give you spiritual riches to handle? Now listen to what I'm saying. If you don't handle money wisely, you will never be given spiritual responsibility.

That's what He said. Verse 12, if you have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own? Now here's the idea here. A father has a son he wants to give the estate to. The son is the firstborn, he's the heir to the estate. The father wants to find out whether the kid's going to manage the estate properly, so he gives him X number of dollars that isn't his own. And he watches how the kid uses the money, not for the money's sake, but as a measurement of the young man's character. If the young man doesn't use the money properly, he's disinherited and he gets somebody else to run his estate. That's essentially what's happening.

And the application to us is simply this. God commits into your hands a trust. The money that you have is not yours, it's His. He gave it to you. If you do not handle that money wisely, then God sees by evidence that you do not handle riches properly, the world's riches. He will never give you the true riches. That is spiritual responsibility may be withheld from those who cannot handle finances.

And I know men personally close to me that I've known for many years and there are many others in addition to that who have moved right out of the ministry altogether. God has totally removed all of their spiritual responsibility because they reached a place where they could not handle money. Listen, giving is a matter of affecting spiritual riches. If you want God to give you responsibility in spiritual things, true responsibility, then you prove that you can handle the world's goods. Number five. This is so important.

Giving amounts are personally determined. And for this you look at Luke 19. And this is a story that I remember so vividly from when I was a little kid. Remember the story about the guy in the tree named Zacchaeus? Everybody remembers that. One of the funny stories in the Bible.

Humorous. Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief among the tax collectors, which of course made him like the kiss of death. Everybody avoided him. And he was rich.

And of course he was rich because he could exact any amount of taxes that he wanted. And he sought to see Jesus, who he was. He wanted to find out about this person he'd heard about.

There was a big crowd and he was short, a little of stature. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree to see him, for he was to pass that way. And there he is hanging up in that sycamore tree. And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him and said unto him, Zacchaeus. Well, if he didn't fall out of the tree, it was only because he had a pretty good seat.

I mean, how did Jesus know his name? Zacchaeus, he said. Make haste and come down, for today I must abide at thy house. And he made haste, which may mean he fell out of the tree.

I don't know. He came down and received him joyfully. He couldn't believe it.

Couldn't believe it. Now they went home and they had a wonderful time and all the people said, Oh, that Jesus, he's going to go and eat with sinners. And Zacchaeus got straightened out and stood and said unto the Lord, Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor.

Isn't that terrific? He gave 10 percent? No.

What? 50 percent. Half of everything the man had. Now, Jesus could have said, No, no, all we require is a tenth in the system that we have, my friend. You may keep the rest.

No. The Lord never restricted a giving to a tenth. How ridiculous. To rob Zacchaeus of blessing. You say, but he's going to be in a lot of trouble, gives away half of everything he has.

And if I've taken anything from anybody by false accusation, I'll return him 400 percent. Oh, terrific. You see, the point here is giving is spontaneously done out of love and gratitude, not out of law. Do you see?

That's all. And the example is Jesus Christ who gave Himself, 2 Corinthians 8, 9. He's our example. He gave Himself. He who was rich for our sakes became poor that we through His poverty might be made rich. And there's the pattern. You're rich, become poor that others might be rich.

The Macedonians were already poor and they became destitute to make somebody else rich. You see, it's to be individually determined. It's between you and God out of a thankful heart. That's all God says. In fact, the Bible just says that God expects a willing heart. 2 Corinthians 8 talks about a willing heart. All right, let me go a step further. Number six, giving is also to be in response to need.

And I'll just mention this. It is true that giving is to be spontaneous and voluntary, just pouring out of a loving, thankful heart. But giving also in the New Testament is to be in response to need. For example, in Acts 2, 43 to 47 there were Christians, remember, at the time of Pentecost that had need. And it says there that they were selling and parting with things and were holding things in common. In other words, they were sharing their goods with those who had need. And you remember in chapter 4 how they were selling land and taking the money and giving it to the apostles for the apostles to give to the needy. It tells about how Barnabas did that and then how Ananias and Sapphira publicly said they were giving to the poor and kept back some and they died.

God executed them for their lie to the Holy Spirit. But in Acts 2 and Acts 4 and Acts 5, we see illustrations of how they gave to meet needs. The Apostle Paul collected an offering, didn't he, all over the area of the churches in the Gentile world to take to the needy poor saints in Jerusalem. In Acts 11 it tells us there was a famine and the saints collected money to take to the people who were in the famine, Acts 11, 27 to 30.

And there's no percent required. It was simply what the need was. If a man comes along with a need, you meet his need. If you give to the Lord, you give out of the wellspring of joy and gratitude and love in your heart. And so giving was to be in response to need. Yes, we could say, well, we have many needs and you may give. Oh, we can say, look, we have a missionary who needs money or we need a new building or we want to expand here.

We want to add some staff to our church. We want them to have some more ministries with you people and we need to support them, etc., etc. And you can respond to those needs equally as well as to the love and thanks in your own heart. All right, number seven, giving is to demonstrate love, not law. Giving is to demonstrate love, not law.

2 Corinthians 8, I'm going to skip along a little bit here and look at 2 Corinthians 8, 8 and 9. Love, not law, not a system of law that you're under. I speak not by commandment.

Did you get that? This is not a legal system. This is not a prescription for percentage. I speak not of a commandment, but by occasion of the earnestness of others and to prove the sincerity of your what? Of your love. I'm telling you all of this information about giving, which dominates this chapter, not by way of a command, but simply as a test of your love. Oh, that's good, isn't it? Giving is a test of your love.

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich for your sakes, He became poor that you through His poverty might be rich. You know the pattern. You know the example. Love gives everything. I am not giving you a commandment.

I am not degenerating this whole thing into legalism. I am telling you, prove your love. Demonstrate your love. Look at verse 12. For if there be first a willing mind, Paul says, he's talking about giving. All God wants is a willing mind, someone who wants to give. Verse 7 of chapter 9, every man according as he purposes in his own heart, so let him give.

It is to demonstrate love, not grudgingly, not necessity, not legalism, but love. And when you put a prescription on giving, you give people a law to abide by rather than love and you've robbed them. Number 8, giving is to be planned.

Giving is to be planned. 1 Corinthians 16, 1. Now here was Paul's plan. He gave it to the churches in Galatia, all of them. He gave it to the Corinthian church here. This is my plan, he says in verse 1, for taking the offering. Verse 2, upon the first day of the week, let every one of you lay by him in store.

Every Christian. You say, well, I don't give money, I give my talent. Well, I don't give money, I give my time or I give my mind, my thoughts, my ideas.

No, no, no. That doesn't teach you stewardship of your money. No, every one of you, you lay by and store it weekly, preparing in your heart, you lay it in store as God has prospered. That means proportionately on a percentage basis that there be no gatherings when I come.

What he's saying is this. You need a church budget. You need to have available money to meet needs as they arise, not always banging away for special monies, for special offerings, for special things. Turn every day, every week's calendar, and as you do, give and give and give so that you build up a resource. And not only that, you teach yourself the meaning of stewardship on a continuous basis.

You're not just responding to emotional needs. Giving then is to be done systematically. It is to be done proportionately. It is to be done faithfully as you purpose in your heart.

The word purpose, from ipe'o and pra, means to choose beforehand. You are to set it aside beforehand, plan, pray, prepare, and give, not haphazardly, and not in response to emotional appeals. Number nine, and just briefly, giving is to be generous.

This is a New Testament principle in 2 Corinthians chapter 8, verse 2. He says, their deep poverty abounded under the riches of their liberality. They were poor, but they gave generously. Chapter 9, verses 5 and 6, you'll notice the word bounty. And again, the word bounty, and again in verse 6, bountifully, bountifully.

Now that word means liberally. Generosity is the idea. Giving is to be generous, sacrificial. In Philippians chapter 4, the Apostle Paul was so grateful for the generosity of the Philippian church. He says, I rejoice greatly that now at the last your care of me has flourished again and you were mindful of me. Not though I need things, he says, the Lord meets my needs, but I'm so thankful for what you've given me. He says, in return for what you've given me, and this leads us to the last point, my God shall supply all what? Your need, according to His riches.

That's 10. Giving generously results in blessing. Paul said to the Philippians, because you've given so generously to me, God will supply your needs. All of them?

Yes, all of them. Looking at 2 Corinthians 9, look at verse 6. You sow bountifully, you reap bountifully. And verse 8 says, and God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you always having all sufficiency in all things may abound to every good work. Verse 10 says, you'll have bread for your food, your seed will multiply, the fruit of your righteousness will increase. Verse 11, you will be enriched in everything to all bountifulness.

See? You sow bountifully, you will reap bountifully. There are the principles. No wonder our Lord Jesus said, as recorded in Acts 20, 35, it is better to give than to receive. Beloved, these are the principles of giving in the Scripture, and the blessing attendant upon them can be experienced in the life of every faithful steward. Let's pray. Our Father, we know that these truths are for us, from you, for our blessing.

Thank you for them. Nail down in our hearts a commitment to these truths. Make them part of us. Teach us to release the worldly investments and to lay up treasure with you. Teach us to find the balance between preparing for the future and saving, doing those things the Bible does talk about, and investing with you. May we be sacrificial toward you. May we enable the Spirit of God to totally control our lives because we serve you, not money. And accomplish your work through the gifts of your saints, we pray in Christ's name.

Amen. That's John MacArthur. He's Chancellor of the Masters University and Seminary. His current study here on Grace to You offers a thorough, practical look at how you can honor God with your finances. It's titled, God's Plan for Giving. John, today you stressed how important it is to make a priority out of laying up treasure in heaven.

But let me ask you this. There are people who experience financial difficulties, long periods of money trouble. How would you counsel that believer who wants to support God's work, but he's also struggling to make ends meet? Well, I would say there are times in our lives, exigencies in our lives, when we may have just enough resources to survive. And I think the Lord understands that. I think I would still give.

It might be a lot smaller than you would want to do. But again, the Bible says if we sow sparingly, we reap sparingly. If we sow bountifully, we reap bountifully. So I still think it's our responsibility as believers to give when we come together. As Paul says to the Corinthians, on the first day of the week when you come together, take the offering so that you don't have to take one when I arrive. So I think giving is an act of worship. Giving is a part of worship.

And again, it may be a lot less than you would wish because of the challenges that you're facing. But I still think the stewardship and the responsibility to give is a regular part of worship, is something that every believer should do. I think it will ease your conscience if you give something, even though it's not what you would want to give. But I would back up from that and say, you have to be careful that you're not in that situation because you have spent money you didn't have. And that's what so many people do.

They run the credit cards to the max, and then they're bound to make payments at a 20 percent interest rate, and that eats up whatever discretionary money they might have. So don't get yourself in a position where, basically, the one that holds you in debt controls your life and therefore controls your giving. It's a lesson I heard from you years ago when I was beginning my own family. You said, give to the Lord first, and then out of what you have left, decide what's discretionary. You don't save your giving to the Lord until the last. Yeah, and again, don't borrow money at 20 percent to buy something. I mean, 20 percent, on and on and on and on, because you never, ever pay the principal off. Save money and spend the money you save, and don't buy things you don't have the money to buy. Or you'll become a debtor, and the one who holds your debt owns you and even owns and controls your stewardship. Yeah, that's an important principle to remember.

Thanks, Jon. And, friend, if you want help honoring the Lord with your finances, let me recommend a book written by Jon and the Masters University faculty. It's called Think Biblically.

It will show you how to cultivate a biblical mindset on government, science, economics, and more. To order Think Biblically, contact us today. Call 800-55-GRACE or go to our website, GTY.org. Think Biblically costs $13.50 and shipping is free.

This book will help you cut through the secular worldviews that saturate our culture, and you can apply God's truth to the most talked-about moral, political, and ethical issues today. Read an excerpt from the book and place your order at GTY.org or call 800-55-GRACE. Also, friend, we sometimes hear from people who want to know about the different ways they can support Grace To You. There are ways to give to this ministry through estate planning that will allow you to play a key role in making Grace To You's verse-by-verse Bible teaching available for generations to come. And for more information on Legacy Giving, visit GTY.org or call 800-55-GRACE. And our website one more time, GTY.org. Now for John MacArthur and the entire Grace To You staff, I'm Phil Johnson encouraging you to be here tomorrow. When John looks at crucial truths, you need to remember the next time the offering plate comes around. It's another 30 minutes of unleashing God's truth, one verse at a time, on Grace To You.