Properly handling our finances is necessary not only in the physical realm, but in the spiritual realm as well. Today, on Turning Point, Dr. David Jeremiah shares his perspective on giving money God's way. Which is less concerned with the amount of the offering than with the heart of the giver. For more on God's program of stewardship, listen as David introduces the conclusion of his message, Grace Giving.
Well, friends, this is the passage we're studying where we learn that before they gave of their substance, they gave themselves willingly to God, which is the key to all of it. In the New Testament, there are basically seven specific grace principles about giving, and we're examining those right now. We started Friday, and we'll finish up here today. Don't forget, there's a study guide for this series and a set of C Ds that capture all of the teaching during this month. If you'd like more information about that, go to our website and look up Investing for Eternity.
There you will find everything you need to know in order to order this material for your use wherever you teach the Word of God or interact with others around the Scripture. The uh series is something we do regularly at our church, and we've decided to do it this year on the radio, just to share with everybody these incredible principles that help us know how to steward that which God entrusts to us. This month during January, we're featuring a special resource that we want you to have. It's a book called What God Promises You: Seven Truths That Will Change the Way You Live. This brand new gift book, 208 pages, is beautifully adorned and is filled with truth to help you gain confidence in your relationship with the Lord.
For it reminds you of everything He's promised to do for you when you put your trust in him. It's a great addition to your library, a great encouragement to your life, and we'd like for you to have your copy of it as soon as possible.
So, when you send a gift of any size during the month of January, simply ask for your copy of what God promises you. It is a brand new publication from Turning Point Press here in Southern California. Let's get started now with part two of Grace Giving. 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 doggerl 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 summer time. 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 an utterance, and all the rest, for it's a spiritual exercise. And you know, it's always been a great interest to me. How easily Paul shifts in the 15th chapter of 1 Corinthians to the 16th chapter.
Have you noticed that? I like to call this the resurrection. to collection transition. And that's what it is. He's speaking in the 15th chapter about one of the most important doctrines in the Bible: the doctrine of resurrection.
And he teaches us what that means to us. And it's one of the most important theological passages in the Word of God. And then, without even taking a breath, he says at chapter 16: now concerning the collection. He apparently didn't think there was anything different about resurrection than collection. He saw them at the same level of importance.
And until we see what we do with our resources and our substance and our money at a spiritual level on par with the great theological truths of the New Testament, we have not understood grace giving. For grace-giving is an opportunity for us to live life at a level far above the material and the mundane things of the world. It involves us in living a life up here. in the spiritual realm. Grace provokes the believer to generosity.
Grace giving is spiritual. Principle number six says this. Grace giving is sincere. Notice this in verses 8 and 9 of chapter 8. I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness of others, and to prove.
the sincerity of your love. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might be rich. Paul wants to teach us in these two passages that our giving is to be a sincere reflection of our love relationship with God. He says That grace provokes the believer to confirm the sincerity of his love by what he does in a tangible way. to enhance the work of God.
I wonder what would happen in your family. Husband, if You never expressed your love to your wife. You just assumed it. I remember hearing Howie Hendricks tell a story. about his involvement with the Dallas Cowboys football club.
Sharing with one of the football players that was on that team. One day, one of the football players' wives came to him and was talking about some of the problems they were having in their particular home. And she said, Howie, the problem is. That big lug I married never ever expresses love to me verbally. I never hear that he cares about me.
And she says, I'm just starved. I'm just starved to know where he stands with me. I just wish he'd let me know.
So, Howie made an appointment to see her husband, and he was confronting him with the lack of verbal. Freshen and the football player, I can't remember which one it was now, said, look. I told that woman I loved her when I married her, and it's in force until I tell her otherwise. That was his understanding of how you deal with a love relationship at home.
Now obviously uh Howie had his work cut out for him. He had a little counseling to do to get that couple thinking straight about how that works. And obviously, none of us would like to have that happen in our own home. But you know that's the way some of us are with the Lord, isn't it? I told the Lord I loved him when I got saved.
And it's in force. Until I tell him it's not. And every week that goes by, when we are not involved at a level of giving that enhances and expresses our love for God. We just let opportunity after opportunity go by without ever saying, Lord, I just love you. And I want to express that love, and I want to prove that love, and I want to demonstrate that love in a tangible way.
by my gifts. And by my offerings. It's sincere. Then I want you to notice seventhly that grace giving is sharing with others. Notice in verses 12 through 15 how Paul expresses this.
For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not. For I mean not that other men be eased and you burdened, but by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, and their abundance also may be a supply for your want. that there may be equality.
Now, what he's saying is that the purpose of stewardship, and especially God's wonderful program of stewardship, is that the needs of the body and the needs of the world might be met through an equitable plan. Who could have thought of this but God Himself? If we had done it, we would have put a quota for everybody, and it'd all have been the same. But God says that there is a kind of sharing that's involved in stewardship, which is a perfect plan that the needs of the body might be met. He that has much is able to share much.
He that has a little is able to share of his little. But as we share proportionately that which God has entrusted to us, the needs of the whole body are met. And it's the sharing principle that's involved that Paul extols in the book of Corinthians. He teaches us that the critical issue is the attitude of heart, not really even the amount of the offering. He says: if there is first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that which a man hath, and not according to that which he hath not.
Paul does not say you have to get to a certain level of financial stability before you get involved in giving. He says, It's not important how much you have or how much you don't have. It's important what you do with that which God has entrusted to you. I'd like to just share a word of testimony about some things that have happened in our lives as husband and wife. I think every couple goes through a real struggle somewhere along the way in this matter of financial stewardship.
I remember when we first started to give really as a couple, When we were in seminary, we gave, but we didn't have much to give at all. We gave what we had, but. We didn't have much. And then, when we got into our first ministry, right out of seminary, we had a little salary and we began to give. It was an interesting time in our lives because we had gone to seminary, and we still had a lot of the seminary bills to pay off, and we were in our first ministry.
We were low men on the totem pole in terms of salary there. I'd hesitate to even tell you what we were making. It was a long time ago, but it was an awful little bit. And we decided we were going to start to give and start to tithe. And I remember one day saying to Donna, by God's grace, we're going to be faithful and we're going to tithe and we're going to give.
And then, you know, she took care of the checkbook and I just went on and did my thing and Worked in the ministry and Really just assumed everything was going all right. And you know, a lot of wives are like my dear wife, and that is they try to keep pressure away from you if you're under enough pressure anyway.
So unless it was really difficult, she wouldn't say a whole lot to me. And I'll never forget this. It was a moment of truth in our relationship about these matters, and one day Very strange thing, I was looking through the checkbook. And I realized that there were some checks sort of tucked in the back of the checkbook made out to the church, but they hadn't been given. They went back just a few weeks, maybe three or four weeks.
We had written them out. But we hadn't put them in because there was so much pressure from all the other things that needed to be done. And I realized that I had left Donna with the whole thing. I'd left her with all the pressure. I'd made all the great spiritual decisions, but I hadn't been involved with her in feeling those things through and fighting those things through.
We had to sit down and get honest with God together as a couple. And decide that if we're going to owe somebody one thing for sure, it's not going to be God. We're going to do the very best we can to be faithful to Him. And I remember that day going to the bank. We didn't have any money, and some.
unsuspecting soul loaned me enough money to get all that caught up. and we paid it all right on the spot and brought it up to date. It was a good feeling. To know that we had done what was right by God. And I just want to tell you that it's not an easy decision, and I know that there will be struggles along the way, but I want to tell you every struggle you have is worthwhile.
If it gets you to the place of honesty before God and being able to look up into His face and say, Lord, best I know how, I'm doing what's right with that which you have entrusted to me. It's a matter of your sharing that which God has given to you. Then I'd like to just share with you lastly. I think one of the most precious verses in the Bible over in the ninth chapter. Which reminds us that God's gift to us is sufficient.
And spiritual giving is sufficient to meet our needs. not just the needs of the body. But the needs of each one of us. I remember hearing a lot of sermons on chapter 9 of 2 Corinthians in verse 8. It's a wonderful, promising verse, and sometimes it's quoted out of context.
It says, and God is able to make all grace abound towards you, that you always having all sufficiency in all things may abound to every good work. That is a great verse. But please note its context. That verse is a verse which is given as a promise to the men and women who understand the rest of the context. And the rest of the context is this: every man, verse 7, according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver, and God is able.
To make all grace abound towards you, that you always having all sufficiency in all things may abound unto every good work. You say, Pastor Jeremiah, if I start doing what you're suggesting, that is giving a percentage of my income to God, whether it be 10%. Charles Ryri used to teach us, make it 9% or 11%, and then you won't get stuck in the 10% rut. Maybe he's got a point there. But whatever the percentage.
If I start giving to God a percentage of my income, well, I'm having a tough enough time making it right now. How am I going to get on in this world? And I want to share with you that there is a promise to every single person who will be involved in God's stewardship program that he becomes obligated to meet your need. Notice what he says. Mm.
In your mind's eye, picture a circle. Let me draw it for you with words. Just a quick little outline of the eighth verse that you hopefully. won't forget because it's great promise from God. Start at the top with the first phrase.
God is able to make That's the might of it. All grace. That's the measure of it. Abound. That's the manner of it.
Towards you. That's the motion of it.
So that you always having all sufficiency in all things. That's the means of it. may abound to every good work. That's the ministry of it. Because God is able, that's the might of it, and it just keeps going around and around and around.
Let me say it again. God is able. That's the might of it. To make all grace, that's the measure of it. Abound, that's the manner of it.
Towards you. That's the motion of it.
So that you always having all sufficiency in all things, that's the means of it. May abound to every good work. That's the ministry of it, because God is able, and you're back up to the might of it again. That is God's cycle of sufficiency. And he says that when we get involved with him in ministry and when we get involved in abounding to every good work, including the work of stewardship, that we get involved with God in a kind of sufficiency cycle which can never run dry if God's word is true.
Now, he doesn't say he will make all grace abound so that we will have all we want. And all how we need to learn the difference between our needs and our wants. But God says He is able to make all grace abound so that we will always have all sufficiency that we need for the ministry God has called us to within the body, and that He has promised to do that according to His own power and might.
So I can stand here and tell you Unequivocaby.
Okay.
Now, you may not have the tremendously, overwhelmingly supportive experiences that you may. I've heard many, many testimonies where God has wonderfully blessed. in a very tangible way. But I can promise you this: that when you get involved with God at the level of stewardship we know is grace-giving, then God is obligated to meet your need and to care for you, and He has promised to do that. I don't know God has broken any promises yet.
I don't believe he's going to break this one. He's wonderfully cared for us over the years. I think the first evidence of God taking care of my wife and I right after we got married is still one of the most exciting. We were getting ready to go off to seminary. You know how it is.
When you're graduating from college and trying to get a wedding together and getting ready to go to seminary and all of that and We thought we had everything cared for until I went to close out my bank account at the bank, and they told me they really were glad to see me because I was overdrawn. That's what they told me. And I said, Well, it can't be. I've watched this carefully. It can't be, but there was no way I could get out of it.
They said, That's the way it was.
So I paid him, we got married, went off on our honeymoon, came back and loaded everything we had into our little trailer. Hooked it up to our Chevrolet and took off for Dallas. And we got down there foolishly. thinking we had enough money to take care of us for at least a week. We found jobs and found out they withhold your check for at least two weeks.
So, somewhere between the time we got there and the end of the third week, we were in trouble. And we were stubborn. You know, we felt like we weren't going to ask anybody for help. I mean, we were going to trust God and He was going to take care of us. I knew I could have called home and I would have had a check from my parents over the wire if I needed it.
And Donna's folks were the same. But we determined. We weren't going to do that. Craft T V cheese and macaroni. They used to cost twenty one cents back in those days, and I can tell you how many times we counted out the pennies and went over to the grocery store and bought the box of Craft.
Macaroni and cheese dinners. I can hardly say it. We were down to our last pennies. I shouldn't tell you this. We used to.
Kind of joke around with one another. And it was kind of a funny thing between us as to who was going to go to the store. Because who likes to go to the store with a handful of pennies we'd saved up in our little bank? And so when we had to get a dinner together, you know, we decided: no, look, I'll go over and buy this, I'll take the pennies, and you go over after me. And I'll tell you which check lane I went through.
So you don't go through the same one and then we won't feel foolish. Except a couple of times I fudged on Donna and sent her to the same checklist. They said, Well, there was a guy just over here before you. He had a whole bunch of pennies. Then she'd come home and we'd have some interesting interchange then.
But, you know, those were interesting days, and we just sort of lived from hand to mouth and trusted God every step of the way. And I remember we were down to the last, we didn't have anything. And we got a letter in the mail. Said something like this. Dear Mr.
Jeremiah, In our monthly audit at the Miami Deposit Bank, we discovered that we had posted one of your deposits to your parents' account. Therefore, Your account was considered overdrawn. We have corrected the error. And our enclosing a check. Then we just sat down there and looked at that, and we thought, how wise is our God?
He knew if we had that money on our honeymoon, we wouldn't have had it now when we needed it.
So he went into a savings program for us, and he just sent it down here to us when we needed it. And you know, God is like that. He is like that. When he discerns the attitude of our heart. To be the attitude of desire to please God with what we have.
God becomes obligated to meet our need. And he'll do that for you. And I'm just praying that God will get a hold of many of your hearts and get you excited. about getting involved. And I want to ask you to make that decision.
Make the commitment. Husbands, you make it, but make it in concert with your wife. You're the spiritual priest, but you need to bring her into the decision and help her understand what you're doing. and ask God to help you. Make a commitment.
Of a certain percentage, and you need to remember that though tithing is not legal for the Christian, it seems to me that that's somewhere near the threshold of where we ought to start. And make that commitment to God and begin systematically to do what God has instructed you to do, and then watch God go to work in your behalf. Maybe next year. you'll be able to share what he's done for you. You know, one of the great things that we do at Shadow Mountain is we We watch four testimonies every year from people who have started tithing and the way God has changed their lives, and they're truly amazing.
It's almost like having a sermon before there's a sermon. These people, we go to their home with video equipment and we record their testimony and how God has led them and what's happened in their lives since they began to practice stewardship. It's probably way more important than my teaching because it's so visceral and so real. And these people are so honest about what challenges they faced and yet also about the victories that they won. That's a good practice.
If you teach stewardship in your church, that's a good way to do it.
Well, tomorrow we're going to talk about hiding in all the wrong places. What kind of excuses do people use for not giving, what causes them to? Refrain from doing what God tells them to do right here on Turning Point on this good station in tomorrow. Thanks for listening. Our message today originated from Shadow Mountain Community Church and Dr.
David Jeremiah, the senior pastor. Reach out and tell us how this ministry helps you grow by writing to us at TurningPoint, PO Box 3838, San Diego, California, 92163. Visiting our website at davidjeremiah.org/slash radio. or calling 800-947-1993. Ask for your copy of David's new book, What God Promises You, 7 Truths That Will Change the Way You Live.
It's yours for a gift of any amount. You can also view over 1200 of Dr. Jeremiah's sermons on any screen, anytime you like. On our Turning Point Plus streaming service for a monthly gift of any amount, visit turningpointplus.org for details. This is David Michael Jeremiah.
Join us tomorrow as we continue the series Investing for Eternity on Turning Point with Dr. David Jeremiah.
