Welcome to Turning Point. Why do you give financially to the church? Is it because of peer pressure? Pride. the tax benefits you'll receive.
Today, Dr. David Jeremiah asks you to examine your motives and encourages you toward God's style of sacrificial giving, which was evident in the New Testament church. From Investing for Eternity, here's David to introduce his message, grace giving.
Well, you know, most people when they talk about stewardship uh They stay in the Old Testament, but the New Testament is so filled with incredible truth. In fact, I think one of the most powerful passages on stewardship is before us today in 2 Corinthians 8. The principles of giving from the New Testament are much more stringent than the ones from the Old Testament. A lot of people say, No, in the New Testament you can give whatever you want. No, you can't.
In the New Testament, you're told to give as God prospers you. That's even more powerful than a tithe. You know, I know some people get stuck on a tithe and God continues to prosper and then they don't even make a change. I know Donna and I have for years asked God to help us make a percentage change.
So, just one little point, but it could be a lot of money over the years. We're to give as we're prospered. And that's just one of the New Testament principles we're going to talk about in today's lesson. Grace Giving Part One Here on Turning Point. The material on stewardship is so very interesting, and people tell me that they don't see this very often and it's not easy to find.
Well, we have this whole series of messages on investing for eternity. Published in a study guide and recorded in a series on CDs. And you can get all this information from TurningPoint at davidjeremiah.org. This is a great way for you. To engage your friends and your study group, your Sunday school class, or pastor.
Have the courage to teach on it in church. It will give you some material to get going, and God will honor it, and He will bless it, and you will be so thankful down through the years that you've taught your people to be stewards. That's what we do at Shadow Mountain, and we've been doing it ever since we came here back in 1981. God honors the teaching of His Word. Here's part one of grace giving from 2 Corinthians chapter 8 and 9.
But I have come to understand that the highest level of stewardship. That a man can know is the stewardship of God's grace. And that the New Testament teaches us a kind of giving. which goes beyond anything the Old Testament ever dreamed of. That a Christian who understands the principles of stewardship that are clearly taught in the New Testament.
We'll understand stewardship not as a matter of a percentage, though it is indeed that. But he will understand it as a matter of his whole life and his total responsibility before God. There is a difference between giving under law and giving under grace.
Okay. I think one of the stories that I remember that helps me understand that is attributed to the late Dr. Harry Ironside. One time he told of an old Indian from our great southwest who took his first train trip to San Francisco. His very first sight of a railroad station was in Albuquerque.
And before he boarded the train, He said to Dr. Ironside, I looked at the wall and I saw a sign that said, Do not spit on the floor. He said, Then I looked at the floor and all I saw was spit.
Well, he said, then I got on the train and I went to San Francisco, and he said, I visited a friend who owned a big, lovely home. Perfectly furnished with thick carpet. Colorful drapes and beautiful furniture. Having experienced what he had in the Albuquerque train station, he said, I went in and I looked all around. I looked for a sign on the wall.
and there was no sign. And he said, I looked for spit on the floor and there was none. Dr. Ironside said, in his estimation, as crude as that illustration might be. That illustrates the difference between the Old and the New Testament.
In the Old Testament, there are signs everywhere. Thou shalt, thou shalt not. And that doesn't mean there aren't any thou shalts or shalt nots in the New Testament. But in the New Testament, we are ushered into the vestibule of God's beautiful grace. And when we come to grips with the grace of God that has been dispensed to all of us and poured out upon us and lavishly multiplied to us in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, there is no sign.
But if we understand the grace of God, there is everywhere the highest motivation to live the highest kind of life that a man can know. And I believe that the greatest travesty of the Christian faith. In many of our churches, is that as Christian ministers, we have failed. We have failed to teach our people the principles of grace-giving. And the result of that has been that they have been impoverished and robbed of the opportunity of living the way God wants them to live in the beautiful house called grace.
With the incumbent responsibilities that just become the natural response to a God has. Wonderfully great. as is our God. I want to share with you some of the principles of grace giving. From the New Testament.
I hope you will find them as exciting and challenging as I have. And they're found basically in the eighth and ninth chapters of 2 Corinthians, two of the greatest chapters in all the Bible on how God expects us to give and be involved as His stewards. And I'd like to just share with you several principles. Principle number one of grace giving is this: that grace giving is sacrificial. Verses one to three of Second Corinthians eight, we read these words: Moreover, brethren.
We do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed upon the churches of Macedonia. How that, in a great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality. For to their power I bear record, yea, and beyond their power, they were willing of themselves.
Now, I want you to notice some words in those verses that seem like they don't belong together. Hear the words, great trial of affliction. Deep poverty. Liberality. Those words don't fit with each other.
Great trial of affliction, great poverty coupled with liberality. In fact, the next verse says that these folks gave not only according to their power, which means according to their ability, but beyond their ability they gave. In other words, the giving of these people recorded for us here in the eighth chapter was sacrificial giving. It was giving that went beyond the ordinary, giving that reached down beyond the normal limits. It was giving at a level of sacrifice.
You cannot study chapters 8 and 9 of 2 Corinthians without being persuaded that selfless giving, sacrificial giving, was very much a part of the early church. It is not a matter of the tithe. We could argue that all night. The tithe never enters into the picture, though I am certain that it was at least that much. But the issue was that here was purposeful, deliberate giving, consistent and cheerful and thankful.
And if one would accept these principles under grace that are laid down for us in these two chapters, the word tithe probably never comes up. Because we would be so far beyond that in our understanding of what it means to give sacrificially. Grace giving is sacrificial giving. There's a lovely story told about Yeah. Francis Ridley Havergell, who wrote the lines we so often sing, and sometimes without very much seriousness.
The lines go like this. Take my silver and my gold. Not a mite would I withhold. But we don't really mean that. But we sing it, don't we?
When Frances Ridley Havergill was writing that song and writing those words, she became convicted about the reality of that truth in her own life. And in one of the books that she has written, telling about how her songs were written, she said, I began to write the words, take my silver and my gold, and now I realize that meant. Shipping off all of my ornaments, including a jewel cabinet, which is really fit for a countess. and I shipped them off to the Missionary Society in my church. I don't think I need tell you, she said, that I never packed a box.
with such Pleasure. Take my silver and my gold. Not a mite would I withhold. And if our sacrificial giving is to enter into the realm of spiritual giving under grace, it will have to at least touch the threshold of sacrifice. I don't believe most of us know much about that because you see, sacrifice means that in order to do what we do, we have to give up something.
that we want to keep. I remember in an offering that we had to build a building back in the Midwest. We were having some testimonies from some people who were involved in the offering, and a young couple. Got up to share that they lived in a brand new home that God had given them, and they were just getting started out in their family life, and they had two little children. And they lived on a kind of a busy street.
And they had saved up enough money to put a fence around their backyard so their children could be protected. And they believed that God wanted them to give that fence. to the offering. And they did it. I remember thinking, I'm not sure I would do that, realizing that I would have to worry every day if I was the mother, especially of how my children were.
But you see, sacrifice means giving up something you want. In order to do what God wants you to do. And that's one of the high and lofty principles of grace giving. And here it is pictured for us in this chapter. Note, secondly, principle number two: that grace giving is spontaneous.
It is not done out of a sense of ought or obligation. You know, there are so many motives that we can use for giving to God. Have you discovered that?
Some people give to God because of the general good of the church that's at stake.
Sometimes they feel a group pressure.
Sometimes people give out of pride or maybe the fear of embarrassment.
Some people give for pity's sake or for social approval. I know a lot of Christian folks who give because of tax exemption. Oh, we could go on and list many motivations for giving, and perhaps none of them are wrong in themselves, but the greatest motivation and the greatest desire and the greatest underlying reason for giving to God is the desire willingly to be involved in His service. And 2 Corinthians 8 and verse 3 puts it this way: For to their power I bear record, yea, and beyond their power, they were willing. They desired to give, and chapter 9, verse 7 says they did it not grudgingly or of necessity.
Human nature causes us on occasion to give with a spirit of obligation, but grace giving is always done with a desire in one's heart to be involved. The Macedonians not only gave willingly, but they earnestly begged for the privilege to do so. They were excited about being involved in the project. And this principle, in my estimation, elevates New Testament giving more than any other principle above anything that you see in the Old Testament. For in the New Testament, it is not only the gift that is at stake, but it's the giver.
It is not only the action, but it's the attitude of heart. It is not only the method of giving the gift, but it's the motivation behind it. And God teaches us that if we give out of a sense of ought, Without a willing spirit, that we miss the whole purpose of grace-giving, which is to willingly give, even as God has given willingly to us of His own Son. Grace giving is not only sacrificial, But grace giving is spontaneous. The Bible says that we're to give cheerfully.
I'm sure you've heard some stewardship sermonettes on that subject. Usually, related to the verse that says, We are to give cheerfully, and then someone comes up with the thought that the word hilaros, which is translated by the word cheerfully, means hilarious. And I've heard some wonderful little sermonettes on how we ought to hilariously give to God. And you know, things like having a cheerleader to cheer when the offering plate is passed. Oh boy, it's offering time again, and everybody being excited.
But you know, that's really not what's involved in that word. The word hilaros does translate by the word cheerful in the text, but it is also the word from which we get the word mercy seat and atonement. And it tells us that when we give to God, we are involved in a very high and lofty and theologically. Wonderful truth of being involved in the ministry of giving to a great God, and we ought to do it willingly. Grace giving is not only sacrificial.
Grace giving is spontaneous. Notice thirdly, In the text that grace-giving is selfless. Verse 4 says, praying with us with much entreaty that we would receive the gift and take upon us the fellowship of ministering to the saints. Human nature usually finds its focus in its own needs, but grace-giving always focuses on the needs of the other, always sees beyond itself into the needs that are out there. God's grace, provoked by the same selfless spirit in the early church, To hold all things in common is the reason we were able to speak of a man by the name of Barnabas.
He was a man concerned about others and grace giving, real New Testament giving, always has a view to how God is going to be able to use what we give to help others find Christ, grow in the Lord, reach out. It is always a selfless kind of giving. That's why when we give and try to hang on to what we give. We violate the New Testament covenant. I am told that when the British government sought to reward General Gordon for his brilliant service in China.
He declined all money, would not accept any of the titles, but he did accept a gold medal. that was inscribed with the record of his thirty-three engagements. And it became his most prized possession, as you can well understand. After his death, they couldn't find the medal. They were looking for it to include with his memoirs in the museum.
Finally, they learned that he had sent it to Manchester during a severe famine, directing that it should be melted down and used to buy food for the poor. And they later discovered in his diary, written on the date when this was sent, these words: The last earthly thing I had in this world that I valued, I have given to the Lord Jesus Christ. That is selfless giving. I remember reading some of the life story of David Livingston. He wrote in his journal on one occasion concerning his selfless life.
And I quote: He said, People talk of the sacrifice I have made in spending so much of my life in Africa. Mm. Can that be called a sacrifice, wrote Livingston, which is simply paying back a small part of the great debt? owing to our God, which we can never repay. Is that a sacrifice which brings its own blessed reward in healthful activity?
the consciousness of doing good. Peace of mind. and a bright hope for glorious destiny hereafter. Away with the word in such a view, and with such a thought, it is emphatically no sacrifice. Say, rather, it is a privilege, and I would do it again and again.
End of quote. Selfless giving. That's the principle of the whole Christian life. How we're to give of ourselves to one another in the body, how we're to give of ourselves to the needs of world evangelism, and it certainly ought to be the principle involved in our giving of the substance God entrusts to us, to the church or wherever our gift is directed. It is to be selfless giving.
Let me suggest to you, fourthly, that grace-giving is not only sacrificial and spontaneous and selfless, but fourthly, grace-giving is systematic. 2 Corinthians chapter 8 and verse 6 says, Inasmuch that we desired Titus, that as he had begun, so he would also finish in you the same grace also. This implies a form and a structure in giving that was going on in the church. Paul commanded the Corinthians and us to abound in this grace, implying a structure in which we might grow. And he said, Titus has already started to teach you this information and help you understand what's involved in being involved as godly stewards.
Sometimes we get the idea that Christian giving is sort of a spontaneous thing in the sense that we never have any plan for it. That we're never involved in any purposeful giving. But that's not the picture of the New Testament. In fact, if you'll study one of the offerings here in this context, they spent a whole year planning for the offering, making sure that it was organized and put together right. And then, when the offering was to be delivered, they made sure that they had competent people to deliver it and ensure that it was delivered, in fact, as it should have been.
There was a system involved. Once in a while, people tell me that they don't think we ought to have church envelopes. I think church envelopes are a tremendous blessing. You know, there's nothing in the Word of God that gives me reason to say that. I just think it's great because it's a system.
It helps you be faithful. You know, it also convicts you when you find a few left in there that shouldn't be there. If you aren't involved in envelope giving, you ought to be because it's a plan. You know, when we bought our house here, the bank thought we needed a system to pay for it. You know, they didn't say, Jeremiah, when you feel like it, just sort of drop by and leave something whenever you, you know, feel like it.
We'd appreciate it. They felt like there needed to be a system involved in paying off that house. And I believe that God wants us to be systematic in our giving. Though we are spontaneous, that doesn't mean we are without system. And God has provided a wonderful means whereby we can be regular and systematic in our giving.
And God expects us to do that in order that we might be faithful. as his stewards. throughout the New Testament. We see that principle over and over again. I could spend the next 20 minutes talking to you about how the systematic offerings of the New Testament just come right out of the text when you read it with that in mind.
Let me just say a practical word, can I? A system begins with a commitment. I wonder if there's anybody who began to tithe after you could afford it. I don't know anybody like that. It seems like most of us, when we started to give to God and make a spiritual commitment to God, whether it was percentage giving or whatever, sometimes we've had to do that at some of the lowest points in our life.
We've had to do it when there wasn't any, when we could not afford it. I want you to know that if you wait till you can afford it, you'll never do it. Commitment to God is a personal decision. That begins the system. That gets you into the cycle, as we'll see in a few moments.
But until you make that decision, there can't be any way you can do it when you feel like it, if things are good, when you can afford it. I read this little bit of doggrell about.
Some folks in another area of life who tried to pull this off. I may have shared this with you earlier, but it bears repeating. The bride bent with age, leaned over her cane. Her steps, uncertain, needed guiding. While down the church aisle with a wan, toothless smile, the groom in a wheelchair gliding.
And who is this elderly couple thus wed? You'll find when you've closely explored it This is that rare, most conservative pair, who waited until they could afford it. I'll tell you something else you didn't do, most of you. You didn't wait to get married until you could afford it. And God expects us to be involved in a spiritual decision.
That involves us in the systematic giving of our income to the Lord. There's some interesting things you can observe if you've been a pastor for very long, just watching the stewardship patterns of a church. There are certain times in the year that are very unpredictable, and if they are predictable, you can predict they aren't going to be too good. There are three times. One of them is the summertime.
Usually, you make it pretty good through June, sometimes halfway through July, from July on. You wonder what happened to God's people. The second time is the time we're going through right now. called January or the after Christmas syndrome. And the third time is when taxes are due in April.
You say, Pastor, why do you bring up such mundane things as that? I can only tell you that I bring those things up. Because God wants us to be systematic. And if we really truly were systematic, we wouldn't have those dropouts in our stewardship program. Do you understand that?
If we really were giving according to the system that God wants us to involve ourselves in. We would be regular, systematic, and the needs would be met just across the board. as God expects them to be met. And I think God wants to teach us something. about the system of our giving.
That is a New Testament principle. Let me give you principle number five: grace giving. is spiritual.
Sometimes when we talk about stewardship, We get the idea that it is a necessary evil that we have to put up with because obviously the church has got to pay its bills. I get that attitude once in a while from some folks.
Well, obviously, the man's got to talk about money after all. That's a big operation over there. I mean, it got a lot of bills to pay and a lot of salaries. You just got to understand a man's got to talk about money. And when they say that, they miss the whole thing.
Because you see, we're not dealing with a necessary evil. We're dealing with a spiritual reality. That is just as much a part of our spiritual lives as our Bible reading and our prayer and our witnessing and all the rest of it. And I want you to notice how this is brought out in the eighth chapter, in the seventh verse. Paul writing to the Corinthians says, Therefore, as you abound in everything, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us.
See that you abound in this grace also. Paul says you believe in Faith, you believe in speaking and bold utterance, and you believe in knowledge, and you believe in diligently living the Christian life, and you believe in love because you've sent your love to us.
Now, I want to ask you to start abounding in the grace of stewardship because it's on the same level as all the rest of these things. That's his argument. He's saying that stewardship is just as important as faith, as utterance, and all the rest, for it's a spiritual exercise. Amen. You know, the people that give, the people that are faithful in stewardship, are usually.
the strong towers of your church, the people that are at the core. And you know why? Because they have skin in the game. I don't know if I should say it that way or not, but what that means is they've made an investment in what's going on and they want to be a part of what's going on and they're excited to see what God is doing. And we as leaders need to communicate back to them what God is doing with the resources they entrust to us.
And it is a wonderful thing to see the cause and effect of these principles we're studying together. And as we conclude this lesson here on Friday, we'll have some more about it on Monday, but this part of what we're talking about in grace giving is so powerful. I hope over the weekend you will think about it. Ask God what He wants to do. Maybe there's some changes you need to make in your life.
Make those changes, you'll be glad you did. Have a great weekend. Go to church. Listen to Turning Point on television if you can, and be sure to be here next Monday as we open our Bibles together. Thank you.
Our message today originated from Shadow Mountain Community Church and Dr. David Jeremiah, the senior pastor. Turning Point is also on radio and TV this weekend. To learn where to find it, visit our website davidjeremiah.org slash radio. That's davidjeremiah.org slash radio or call 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. Tell us how this ministry helps you grow. Write to Turning Point, PO Box 3838, San Diego, California, 92163.
This is David Michael Jeremiah. Join us Monday as we continue the series Investing for Eternity on Turning Point with Dr. David Jeremiah.
