Does God get the leftovers of your time and money? Or do you give Him the best of your resources? Today, on Turning Point, Dr. David Jeremiah reminds us that God is far more concerned about the giver than the gift. and shares how we can be more generous in giving God our lives and our resources.
Listen now as David introduces today's message: giving yourself first to God.
Well, in the Bible, there are several key passages that talk about giving, about stewardship. One of them certainly is the eighth chapter of 2 Corinthians. The most amazing thing in this passage, which is why we're going to talk about it today, is the fact the Bible says that the Corinthians first gave themselves to God. They willingly gave of their substance, but they first gave themselves to God. What a wonderful reminder to us is that God wants us before he wants anything else.
He wants your heart. He wants my heart. He wants us as faithful followers of his. He wants us to be in heaven with him someday, as we have been talking about so much recently.
So I hope you have your Bible close by and can follow along as we just take this passage apart verse by verse, put it back together. Giving yourself first to God, 2 Corinthians chapter 8. Let me remind you that there's a study guide for this series and a set of C D's that capture all of this teaching. Maybe you're a young pastor and you're in a church and you've never taught stewardship before, maybe like I was when I was young and starting out, maybe you're afraid of the subject.
So many people. feel like the only reason a church exists is to ask for money, which of course is a ridiculous thought. But the Bible teaches this subject, and if more pastors and more churches would teach it, they would discover they wouldn't have to have so many meetings because they've run out of money, because God promises to supply the needs when we do his will and his work. We're going to get started in just a moment in 2 Corinthians chapter 8. But first, I keep telling you about this incredible book that's available this month.
It goes right along with the subject of stewardship because it's filled with promises. What God promises you, seven truths that will change the way you live. It's a beautiful gift book, hardcover, beautiful color on the inside, easy to read print, but most of all, great words from the scripture to motivate your life. Please ask for your copy of what God promises you when you send your gift to Turning Point during the month of January. And now, here is giving yourself first to God.
I'd like for you to do something with me, if you would, please, and open your Bibles to 2 Corinthians chapter 8. Moreover, brethren, We make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia. That in a great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality. For I bear witness that according to their ability, yes and beyond their ability, they were freely willing. Imploring us with much urgency that we would receive the gift and the fellowship of the ministering to the saints, and not only as we had hoped.
Here it is. But they first gave themselves to the Lord and then to us. By the will of God. They first gave themselves to us and to the Lord, says Paul. by the will of God.
Now the churches of Macedonia are well known to us, even though we may not be aware of it by that terminology. They're listed in Acts 16 and 17, and they're the churches of Philippi and Thessalonica and Berea. When you study the book of Acts, you learn a great deal about them. They were not rich churches, they were poor churches, churches that had very little that they could call their own.
Now Paul is writing to the church at Corinth, which was a church with resources. And he's using these churches of Macedonia, the Philippians, the Thessalonicans, and the Bereans, to motivate the Corinthians to do what they ought to do in a coming offering. And he is saying that the Macedonian churches had given to this offering, and they had given out of their poverty, that they didn't really have much to make ends meet in some respects. They had very little that they could say was theirs. But when the opportunity came, they led the way in giving to this incredible offering.
And it's interesting that when Paul wants to motivate the Corinthians, he doesn't go to a wealthy church or a church with much resources and cite them as the example, but rather he cites the poor Macedonians and he says, I want you to look at what they did. And then before we're into the lesson very far, Paul gives us the clue, the key, the secret as to why they were able to do it. And here it is. Before they did anything else, Paul said, they first gave themselves. to God.
they first gave themselves to God. You know, that's where it has to start for all of us. That's where we have to begin our understanding of this whole matter of stewardship. We can talk about tithing and proportionate giving and offerings until everybody is sick and tired of hearing it, and it will make no major impact on our lives until we get to this principle: that we first give ourselves to God, and then when we do that, everything else begins to fall into place. There's a principle at stake here, men and women, and this is the principle: that God is far more interested in the giver.
that he is in the gift. God wants your heart. And he wants your priorities and your goals and your purposes to be so in line with his. that when the opportunity comes to be involved in the support of a ministry through tithes and offerings, it is the second nature to you. It is the obvious thing to do because you have already made the priority decision of first of all giving yourself to God.
And that's what the Macedonians did.
So many people, and do they love God? Absolutely. Do they read their Bibles pretty consistently? Do they make it to church on Sunday? Quite regularly.
Are they involved in helping? Are they in small groups? Do they teach Sunday school? Across the list of priorities, you could say. Most of what they know they should do, they do because they love the Lord.
There seems to always be this one little thing that grabs hold of the heart of a Christian. That is the last thing we let go of. And maybe it's because it's at the very center of who we are as a person. It is the very essence of who we are as people. I never realized until a couple of years back how very central to the core of life is our money.
Our money is that which we translate out of the workforce where we give our time and our energy. We literally go to work for 40 hours or 50 or 60 hours a week, and when we get all done, then they give us a piece of paper, and that paper says, This is what you have been worth to us over this past period of time. Here is your value to us.
Now you take that and do with it as you please. And that becomes, in essence, especially in a man's heart, our estimation of who we are and our worth. And so we hang on to that or we use that in our own interest for all we are worth. And so oftentimes, the last thing that a Christian disciple really gets together is this matter of his giving to God. And knowing that he's already supposedly given himself to God, so this should follow naturally.
It reminds me of what it would be like If you owned a piece of property That was 99 acres. in size. But another person owned The one acre. That was right in the middle of your property. And you had to give him right away to that acre so that whenever he wanted to go to his one acre in the middle of your 99 acres, he could go anywhere he wanted to get to that acre.
So it is in the life of a lot of Christian people. In the One acre that we fail to give up to God, we give the enemy permission to walk all over our territory and to just do whatever he wants to. And so we always have this sense that we're kind of defeated, that we're doing pretty good and we're really honoring God, but we've got this one thing we haven't given up to God. And because of that, Satan just takes us to task and he walks all over the property that we have yielded to the Lord.
Now you see the Macedonians got that straight. Whatever else you want to say about them, they weren't rich, but one thing they understood was this: if they first gave themselves to God. everything else would fall into place. And isn't that true? It is the whole principle of the lesser being incorporated in the greater.
If I give myself to God completely, then He's got charge of everything there is to have that belongs to David Jeremiah. If I stand in a circle here and I say, God, everything in this circle I give to you, then He's got my abilities, He's got my energies, He's got my money, He's got my influence, He's got my family, He's got everything there is to have about me. And the real hard decisions that we struggle with so often as Christians become really a matter of just sequence. in the process of first things first.
Now let me show you from this passage what will happen to us. When we give ourselves first to God. Immediately, when we give ourselves first to God, we realize that everything belongs to God in the first place. We are really not giving anything back to God that He doesn't already own because the scripture says that God owns us anyway. In fact, he owns Christians twice.
He owns us by having created us. And He owns us by having redeemed us. He bought us according to the New Testament with the precious blood of His own Son, Jesus Christ.
So we belong to God. And God owns everything. When you first give yourself to God in an act of dedication, immediately you become aware of the fact: you know, this is interesting. I'm just relinquishing back to God what He's owned in the first place. And you know, stewardship is an interesting term because it simply means that we manage for somebody else what doesn't belong to us.
That's what we're doing with our money is simply taking what already belongs to God and managing it. And then God says, I want you to take part of what I've asked you to manage and return it to the kingdom's work. And that's what stewardship is all about.
So, when you give yourself first to God, what happens is. You immediately begin to realize that everything belongs to God in the first place. Once in a while, it's good for us to step back and look at what we have and remind ourselves that everything we have, if we've first given ourselves to God, everything we have belongs to Him in the first place. Secondly, When we give ourselves first to God, We will always respond by willingly giving to Him of our substance. You know the problem when we give God reluctantly?
When somebody asks us for an offering, or we're challenged to give, and we say, oh, well, I guess I better give something. Or, you know, you reach into your pocket and you try to find the smallest little bill you've got, and you give that. You know what's the problem? The problem is, if that's your attitude, you haven't come to the first things first decision. Because if you've already given yourself first to God, it will automatically take care of the attitudes you have in your heart about giving to Him.
Notice what it says in 2 Corinthians chapter 2. 9 and verse 7. Here in the same context, Paul is writing to the Corinthians and he's giving his closing arguments here. And he says, So, based upon all that I've said, Let each one give as he purposes in his heart.
Now, watch this: don't do it grudgingly or of necessity. For God loves a cheerful Give her. Do you know what? I think that's just a normal matter-of-fact It always follows in sequence when I've given myself fully to my wife. as I believe I have.
Whatever she needs, whatever I sense. she wants that I can provide. I don't do that reluctantly. I do that gladly, willingly. Because see I've faced the first decision already I am hers.
She is mine. And everything that I sense that she needs from me, I willingly give, I gladly give, I go out of my way seeking ways to meet the need in her life. And so it is with God. When you have given yourself first to God, Then you will discover that everything about your attitude and giving of your substance changes to one not of reluctance, but one of excitement and of willingness. Then notice thirdly, when we put God first, when we give ourselves first to Him, we recognize our personal accountability to Him.
You know, there's been a rumor that's surfaced over the years among churches that somehow God evaluates stewardship on the basis of how churches do. But you see, Unfortunately, we have no assurance that God reads our stewardship report. We do not have any way of knowing that God looks at our annual report. God doesn't care about that. God only cares about us as individuals.
We don't get accountability by groups. We get accountability by individuals.
So when I give myself first to God, Then I understand that my accountability. is with him. That someday I will stand before him, as the scripture says, and I will give an account of all that I have done. with my life. and with my resources.
Do you want a sobering experience, mister? Take what you believe to be your mean. level income during your earning years. Multiply it by the number of years that you can reasonably assume you're going to be able to work. and come up with that number.
And for many of you, It will be an astounding figure even though you wonder how in the world you're getting by with what you make. Over the lifetime of your earning ability, someday you will stand before God, and some of you will give an account of a quarter of a million, of a half a million, of a million dollars. That you've earned during your lifetime, and God's gonna wanna know. What have you done with that? Does that mean you shouldn't enjoy it and enjoy the good things that it can bring to you?
Absolutely not. You should enjoy all the fruit of your labor, says the scripture. But in the process of enjoying it, you should not leave God out, for He's the one who has blessed you with the privilege and the opportunity to have it. He is the one to whom we shall give an account. The biblical standard is, so then let each one of us understand, we shall give an account to God.
When you first give yourselves to God, What you will discover is you will recognize your personal accountability to Him. You will deal with God. Number four, when you give yourself first to God in tithing and in giving. you will release back to God that which we know is His anyway. You will give it back to him.
He would just say, Lord, here it is. I'm releasing it back to you. Every man gives as he is able according to the blessing of the Lord. It says in 1 Corinthians 16:2, upon the first day of the week, Let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come. When God already owns me, He owns everything about me, and when He impresses upon my heart that there's a special need, I give, the issue is that there are so many.
Who have yet to come to this priority decision. And while they're walking with God in almost every area of their life, there's that one little acre in the middle of the hundred-acre plot that they still hang on to, and they can't really get the joy they want because Satan walks all over their territory getting to his land. Let me say to you, number five, that When we give ourselves first to God, We regularly give of our substance. We don't just do it on a whim. We don't just, whenever we feel like it, give God some money.
But the scripture says we do it on the first day of the week. I think it's good that God set up a plan, don't you?
So that we can stay consistent, so that we don't get into a rut, so that attrition doesn't catch up with us, and then we give a little bit here. You know what I've discovered in my life? When I have given like that in the past, I always think I gave more than I really did. Have you ever noticed that? Oh, well, I think I've already given, and then you go back and look, and you discover you didn't do as good as you thought you did.
And therefore, it's important that there is a regular, habitual pattern in giving to God. Finally, I want you to notice that when we give ourselves to God first, we receive His guarantee. promise of supply. Look down in your Bibles again at 2 Corinthians 9 and verse 8. Notice this.
This is a financial promise. God is able to make all grace abound towards you. That you always, having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. Do you believe that? One of the things that people tell me when we talk about tithing is: you know, Pastor, it's just such a matter of faith.
I just can't get myself to do it. Because humanly speaking, I don't see how it's going to work out. I just don't see how it's going to work out.
Well, let me ask you a question: Do you think God would lie to us? Do you think God would try to fool us into doing something and then not keep his end of the bargain? Over in the book of Philippians, in the fourth chapter, after Paul had thanked the Philippians for an unbelievable offering they sent to him, telling them what a great thing it was that they had sacrificed for his need, he said this. But I want you to know, friends, that my God shall supply all your need according to His riches and glory by Christ Jesus. Let me tell you something.
When you give yourself to God first, when you step up to the line and say, God, I am giving myself back to you, that means my family, my resources, my influence, my talent, my gift. When you do that, God will never be a debtor to you. Never. He will supply your needs.
Now, I know sometimes in churches, people come up with little guarantees where they say, if you give to God all this year and He doesn't bless you, you bring your little slip in that has the amount that you gave, and we'll give it all back to you. I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to do that. First of all, that's almost taking the lower in order to prove the higher. You either got to decide whether you're going to believe God or not.
Did you believe God about your salvation? Yes. Did you believe that God sent His Son into the world to pay for your sin and you trusted Him as your Savior? Yes. If you believed him for that, why can't you believe that if you trust God with your substance, he will meet your need?
That is the promise of God. And that's where the step of faith comes. If you say, wait till I see it on paper, then I'll do it. No, you never will do it. You will only do it when you come to grips with the fact that God in His Word has said.
That He will supply your need when you give yourself to Him and put Him first with your money. God not only wants to give you what you need, My experience with God's people is He wants to abundantly bless you. I have prayed. with Christian businessmen who have started new businesses.
Sometimes these men will come to me and say, we're starting a new business. And we're going to have a little dedication of that business at such and such a time. Would you come and offer a prayer as we give this business back to God? And I've gone and we've joined hands and we've said, God, this is your business. And if you'll bless it.
We'll give it back to you over and over again. And I have watched God do some of the most incredible things with businesses that on paper had absolutely no vision for success, but God just took that thing. Let me ask you this question: Do you think we're better at managing a business or God? When you give it back to God and let Him do it, then He can expand it and make it successful. The same thing is true in our own lives.
Are we better at managing our resources or is God? When we give God first, then God takes what we have. And he multiplies it and he supplies our need. Does that mean you'll have everything you want? No.
The Bible doesn't say, my God shall supply all your greed. It says, My God shall supply all your needs. Isn't that what it says? A lot of people get mixed up like that. You know, he's not going to supply all your greed because he knows if that's what you're after, you're back off on the wrong track again.
But he will supply your need. And I've been practicing this in my life with my family, and I can tell you that God has always met our needs, He has never left us. without what we need, and he will do the same for you. But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And all these things will be added unto you.
Let me review for just a moment. When we give ourselves first, it solves a lot of the problems that we bring up to God with regard to stewardship. If you're going to be a tither this year, that's where you start. You give yourself first to God. You say, God, I want to honor you.
I don't want to have one little acre on my property that belongs to the adversary. I'm going to give you the whole property, and you do with it as you please. When we do that, let me tell you what happens. First of all, the accountability problem is solved. You don't have to worry about what anybody else says.
You know, it's just you and God, and it's an accountability problem between you and God. Number two, the attitude problem is solved. You won't be begrudgingly giving to God because you will understand this now and you will gladly give to Him. Number three, the amount problem will be solved. You'll give to God tithes and offerings and do it with joy.
Number four, the attrition problem will be solved. You won't jump here and there and give, but you'll get into a pattern of regularly giving week by week, and you will be faithful to what God has called you to do. And most of all, number five, the anxiety problem will be solved. You won't be walking around worrying about whether or not you're going to have what you need. Every time you're tempted to do that, just pull out the word of God and remind God of what He said.
God, what you said is, I will make all grace abound toward you, that you always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. I have never had a person come to me and honestly Tell me. Pastor? I committed myself to tithe. and to put God first in my life.
I gave myself first to Him, and I've been obedient to His word. And I want to tell you, this has been the most miserable, most unbelievably bad, difficult year of my life. On the other hand, I have had literally hundreds of people come to me and tell me. One of the greatest surprises I ever had in my life, Pastor, was when I took the Word of God at face value. I put God first, and I began to tithe and began to honor Him with my substance.
And I could show you time after time after time when God has done incredible things for me. for my family. If we put God first. He will meet the need in our life. If you have been reluctantly holding on to this one little part of your life, I want you to let go of it and give it to God.
and watch him do for you what he's consistently done for all of those who have trusted him in this matter. Amen. That's the challenge for this month. All of you to make sure you get your Priorities in order, and begin this new year, putting God first in your life and doing what God tells you to do, even with the substance He has provided for you. Turning Point exists, as you know, from the gifts of people, but we have never asked for the tithes of people because we know they belong to the local church.
Your gifts above and beyond all of that are so special, and they make it possible for us to have an incredibly large network of radio stations and television stations all over the world. Where we can teach and preach the riches of God's truth. You're great partners, and we thank you. and thank you for joining us today. Tomorrow, we're going to talk about the lordship of stewardship.
from a passage of scripture in Colossians chapter 1. We hope you'll join us then as we continue our discussion of stewardship right here on Turning Point. For more information on Dr. Jeremiah's series, Investing for Eternity, please visit our website where we also offer two free ways to help you stay connected, our monthly Turning Points magazine and our daily email devotional. Sign up today at davidjeremiah.org/slash radio.
That's davidjeremiah.org slash radio. Or call us at 800-947-1993. Ask for your copy of David's new book, What God Promises You: Seven Truths That Will Change the Way You Live. It's yours for a gift of any amount. You can also purchase the Jeremiah Study Bible in the English Standard, New International, and New King James Versions, available in your choice of attractive and durable cover options.
Get all the details when you visit our website davidjeremiah.org/slash radio. This is David Michael Jeremiah. Join us tomorrow as we continue the series Investing for Eternity on Turning Point with Dr. David Jeremiah.
