We are continuing a series that we kicked off last week at the new year entitled Giving is Greater Than Receiving. Can we all say that together? Giving is greater than receiving. Can we say it one more time? Giving is greater than receiving.
And this is a principle. That is supported time and time again throughout scripture. The title of this series is really just taken from the words of Jesus when the Apostle Paul was quoting him in Acts chapter number 20, when Paul quotes Jesus and says, It is more blessed to give. than it is to to receive. And what I'll tell you is that in the church, sometimes talking about wealth and money and things like that, it can be very uncomfortable.
And I get it. And as a pastor, it's uncomfortable for me even to talk about it. But what we learned last week in the introduction is that Jesus talked about money and wealth. and possessions a lot. And it's mentioned throughout scripture.
And the reason why it was such a large portion of God's word is because there's a. A connection. Between wealth, possessions, and things, materialism. In our in our heart. And the reason why our scripture talks about it so much and that God's Word talks about it so much is because of that correlation.
Is that in life, you're always going to have those two things tugging at your heart. If you're giving your life to Christ, you are going to have, you know, that should be the center of your heart. But in a lot of ways, the enemy is trying to make wealth and possessions the center of your heart. And so, over just a couple of weeks, so this week and next week, we are looking at this idea that it is more blessed to give than it is to receive. Last week, the big idea was simple.
This is what we learned. I'd encourage if you missed it, you can go back and tune in online. But the big idea last week was that wealth. Can become an idol in the place of God or an instrument used for the kingdom of God. And as followers of Christ, we want our wealth and our possessions to be used as instruments in the hands of God for the kingdom of God and not to ever become an idol that takes the place of God in our And our hearts.
And then today, we are going to talk about really the heart of giving. And if God cares about our hearts, What should our hearts look like when it comes to a life of generosity? And the big idea that we're going to look at here today, especially if you're taking notes, you can jot this down. It's simply this: God doesn't care. As much about the amount that we give as he does the heart in which we give.
God doesn't care about as much about the amount that you give.
Sometimes we in our humanistic Minds, we're always thinking amounts and different things. And yes, there is a standard that he gives us called the tithe, the tenth, ten percent, and that kind of thing.
So there is a standard, but I don't want you to get too caught up in the amounts because in scripture, Jesus Himself, He rebukes the Pharisees because they were actually, you know, we talked about this last week. The Pharisees were, you know, they would keep the law and they would keep every single, you know, every single part of the law. And what they were doing is that they were giving. Their tent, they were giving their tithe to the temple, but they were not giving out of the right spirit. And Jesus would rebuke that.
And Jesus called that out. And so, what I want to show you today from Scripture is that it's about the heart. In which we give. It's about that, the heart. It's not about the amount, it's about the heart.
In fact, there's two times in Scripture, Luke chapter number 21, as well as Mark 12. We don't have time to turn to those, but two different accounts in the gospel. Jesus is doing his teaching, and he recognizes that. That the religious crowd is giving to the temple. And he notices this, and the religious crowd is giving, just like what the law had suggested.
And many of them were giving out of their abundance. And so you get the idea that these religious people were giving a lot of money and things like that. And then Jesus goes on to say on these two accounts that a widow comes in and she gives. Two mites. Which was literally all she had.
And that is not, if you're wondering, that's not a ton of money. It's not a lot, it's worth very little. But the principle that Jesus after he shows as he's teaching this, he tells them that you have these religious crowd, they're going in and they're giving a lot of money and different things. And then this one widow woman comes, gives all she has, even though it was very, very little. And he says that she has given more.
Now, the amount doesn't make any sense because mathematically, this religious crowd's giving a lot more money, but the heart. In which the widow woman gave is what Christ has been after. And that's really some of the really the back or the background of this series. Is that God doesn't need your money? If you think that this series or you think that's all God wants, man, they need my money, or the church needs my money, or whatever, listen, it's not that.
What we want to talk about is that God has our hearts. God wants your heart way more than he does your money. In fact, if you're wondering if like Union Grove needs your money and stuff, obviously we want you to be obedient to what God is leading you to, but the church is doing well financially. That's not the reason for this series is that we're in a situation where we really need to encourage you and like we got to do better and things like that and stuff. No, the church is doing well financially right here, but what we want to recognize is that scripture time and time again supports this idea.
That it's not about the amount, it's about the heart in which we give. And God cares way more about our hearts than He does our pocketbook. And that's what we have to understand as we look at what Scripture says.
Well, the Apostle Paul. In 2 Corinthians chapter 9. He talks about this, and he is talking to the church at Corinth. And we looked at some of this last week, and as he's writing to the church, he's talking about this idea of giving. And it was very common for them to be instructed, the New Testament church, to give of their tithe, to set aside money each and every week.
So that when Paul would come and he would gather the money that had been given. That he could go out and he could bless the Jerusalem people for it, specifically some of the poor Jews that this money would go to. And so, what he had challenged them last week on was: make sure that you give every single week. That discipline of giving, so that when I come, I'm not going to have to do this kind of special big push. Love offering in order for us to have enough to go out and bless these Jews in the community, but rather you've consistently given every week, which has built itself up so that we can take that and go out and bless the Jews in the community.
And so he goes on here in his second letter to the church at Corinth, and he's talking about this idea of money again. This is something that the church at Corinth had questions about, and so he continuously answers them with this. And in verse number six. It says this, but this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly. And he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.
every man according as he purposeth in his heart, So let him give. not grudgingly or of necessity. For God loveth a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound towards you. That ye always having all sufficiency in all things may abound to every good work.
As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad. He hath given to the poor. His righteousness remaineth forever.
Now he that ministereth seed to the sower, Both minister bread for your food and multiply your seed sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness. Verse 11, being enriched. In everything to all bountifulness. which causeth through us thanksgiving. To God.
Now, some background to what he's saying. In verses 1 through 5, we're not going to take the time to read those. But in verses 1 through 5, the Apostle Paul is bragging on the church at Corinth for their generosity. In fact, you learn that he is bragging specifically to the Macedonians about how generous. The church at Corinth is.
And he begins to kind of teach about the description. of a generous heart. And what that looks like. Specifically saying that we should, when we give, we should give out of a cheerful Heart. We should give out of a cheerful heart.
You see, it's all about the heart in which we give. And so he goes on here in verse number 12, he says, For the administration of this service not only supplieth the one of the saints. but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God. Was by the experiment of this ministration, they glorify God for your professed subjection unto the gospel of Christ. and for your liberal distribution unto them and unto all men.
And by their prayer for you, which long after you, for the exceeding grace of God in you. Thanks be to God for his unspeakable gift. And so what we learn here is that we as Christians. As followers of Christ, when we give. It's about the heart in which we give.
We should give out of a a cheerful Spirit, out of a cheerful heart. And that's what Paul is addressing here. He's addressing the heart and the motivation behind our giving, showing us that it's not about an obligation. But in fact, giving is an opportunity for God to work. It's an opportunity.
It's not about obligation. It's about an opportunity for God to do something special in your life. And so when we talk about the heart of giving. I want to show you just three things from this that I think will help us as we think about what does this look like to have a cheerful heart. A cheerful heart when we give.
Does that mean that we're supposed to just, you know, as the offering plates pass, you know, that we're just smiling and we're kind of having it? What does that actually mean by a cheerful spirit behind the way that we? we give.
Well, three things. First, we see the fruit of cheerful giving. The fruit of cheerful giving. If you look back in verse number six. Of chapter 9.
Here's what he says. I want to read it again. He says, This I say unto you: he which soweth sparingly. The word sparingly, think stingy, holding back. And so think, if you hold back, you shall reap also sparingly.
Okay. And he which soweth bountifully. shall reap Also bountifully. Here, Paul, he gives us almost this. this spiritual law about giving.
It's a principle that Paul is trying to get the church to understand.
So he uses really an illustration with the church at Corinth. It was very common for For a lot of families in the first century and in the New Testament church to be involved in their careers in the agriculture business. And so, what you see a lot of times are a lot of illustrations like that, a lot of illustrations about. about farming terminology and things like that in the scripture. And the reason why is because a lot of their audience, a lot of the congregations there, they would have understood that terminology.
Because for them, they understood the principle of sowing and reaping. Because for many of them, every single season they take the seeds out and they go and they plant their seeds and they trust. that a harvest will come. And for many of you, if you have a garden or if you do have a farm or anything like that, you do the same thing, right? You go out in the season and you plant your seeds.
And you hope that You know what? Harvest is going to come. You trust when you put those seeds into the ground, you trust that a harvest is going to come. That a harvest is one day coming. It is a trust factor.
And what Paul is doing here is he is bringing his audience, his congregation, in. And he's doing it through this idea of agriculture.
Now, as a farmer sows and tosses his seed out, you kind of get the sense: like there's this incredible amount of trust that a harvest is coming. There's an anticipation. If you would, that a harvest is coming. And he says, if you sow. Sparingly.
In other words, if you keep a lot back. And you don't sow bountifully, and you decide to sow more sparingly. that your harvest will be sparingly. But if you choose to use your possessions and your wealth and so. Bountifully.
Then you're going to reap the same. And so, the best way that I can tell you that I think he's trying to show us here. And don't get mad at me, this is from Scripture. But two things that I think about this, the fruit of cheerful giving. But the heart behind it is that stingy giving results in a stingy harvest.
Stingy giving. Results in a stingy harvest. It's about as clear as I can possibly be. about giving. Because if a har if a farmer Holds a lot back.
His harvest will not be near as bountiful. as he hopes for, as he prays for. As he trusts. is going to happen. as he anticipates.
It's not going to be near as good if he decides to hold a lot back. And so what we see is stingy giving results in a stingy harvest. But then also I'll tell you this, bountiful giving results in a bountiful Harvest.
Now, here's what I want to be very clear on.
Some preachers And you know, authors maybe will say things like, This means that if you give a lot, you're going to get a lot of wealth in return. And I'm never going to promise you that. We would say that that lends itself to a false theology out there called like the Uh called the uh Yes, yes. And sorry, I couldn't even think of it. I lost my train of thought.
And but, you know, the prosperity kind of gospel, if you would, that is out there. And sometimes when you turn on the TV or you read a book or something and you things sound good, but what they're promising you is that if you give to the number that's on the screen or if you give a lot, then all of a sudden you're going to receive a lot of wealth or a lot of possessions in return. I'm not going to promise you that because I don't think that's what he's saying. The bountiful harvest that we get Is always going to be greater, but it might not always involve your money. But there is going to be a provision that we receive.
As followers of Jesus, that is greater than any amount of money that you could ever receive. And you're going to see that as we work our way through and dissect this all the way through. And that's what he's saying: is that a stingy harvest or a stingy giving will result in a stingy harvest, but also a bountiful giving will result in a bountiful harvest. And the reason is, we can never outgive God. You can never out give God, and the reason is because everything you have already belongs to Him in the first place.
And so everything we have already belongs to him, and we fundamentally believe that. And so, therefore, when we talk about giving and we talk about generous living, I want you to understand that you can't out-give him. And so, what he gives you in return is far greater than any wealth or any riches that you could ever achieve. That's the fruit, if you would, of cheerful giving. But the second thing I want you to see is the origin of cheerful giving.
Like, he says that we should give out of a cheerful heart. Where does that come from? Like, how do we achieve that? How do we get that? Where does the cheerful heart come from?
Well, We've said that generosity is a heart issue.
So a generous life, in other words, a cheerful giver. It comes, and it only comes from a heart that has been changed and captivated. By the gospel. Let me show you how. The gospel What we talk about, that's what Jesus has done for you.
It's simply Jesus in your place. The gospel is not behavior modification.
Now there's a lot of us that sometimes struggle with this idea that when you got saved, you just wanted everything in your life to be fixed and stuff. It's not about behavior modification, right? The gospel is about heart transformation. And so a lot of us struggle with understanding the gospel. Even Christians struggle with this because we're trying to.
Fix ourselves from the outside in. And we try to, like when we hear, oh, we got to be cheerful givers, and so therefore, we're going to leave here, and we're going to try really hard to fix. The things around us. And what we've said from the get-go is that God cares more about your heart than He does your money, right? And so, therefore, we have to understand that the gospel fundamentally is heart transformation.
It's not outside in transformation. It's inside out transformation. Think about the story of Zacchaeus. You remember the story of Zacchaeus? The wee little man, okay?
And a wee little man was he, right? And so Zacchaeus, when he was there, he wanted to hear Jesus, and so he climbed up in a sycamore tree because the Lord he wanted to see. And so you remember, he gets up in this tree and he's looking to the Lord, and the Lord tells him that, you know, I'm going to come to your house and all this kind of stuff and things like that. And here's what I will tell you, Zacchaeus was a man who had cheated a lot of people. He was a man that had taken things from people.
He was all about materialism. He was all about himself. He was that guy that didn't want to give. Right? He wanted to keep as much as he could for himself, and he wanted to take as much as he could for himself.
And then he comes and hears Jesus, and Jesus offers him a relationship. I'm gonna come to your house. And Zacchaeus gets changed that day. And here's what happened. After His heart was transformed.
The exterior changes. That he decides, like, okay, I'm going to, now I'm going to give.
Now I'm going to take back. You know, I'm going to give back everything I have taken. I'm going to give some people, you know, four times that much because I've taken back. You say, how in the world could a guy who's all consumed with himself? How could a guy that cares only about himself and his material possessions and his own money and all these kind of things, and he's making a career off of stealing from the poor and different things like that, how in the world could that guy go from being one of the generous people that we see in Scripture?
So only one explanation. is that Jesus came in and radically transformed his heart. You see, a cheerful life and a cheerful giver comes from a heart that has been captivated and changed. By the gospel. That has been changed by the gospel.
You say, what does that mean?
Well, in 2 Corinthians chapter 8, verse 9. It says this, for you know. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. That though he was rich. Yet for your sakes he became poor.
So that you Through his poverty might be rich. That's the gospel. You see, the point is that when we understand how generous God has been with us. And how generous he has been with his grace. Right?
His love? His mercy, his forgiveness, his kindness. When you realize how generous God has been with you, in all of those different ways. The only natural response is for us to be generous. Back.
For us to give out of the grace that we have received. You see, we were all born into this world in poverty. We were all born into this world in poverty, and that's not talking about your bank account. It's talking about your spiritual bank account. We were all born lost.
Without God. And far from him. And the worst part about that is there was absolutely nothing that we could do in return. There was nothing that we could do to fix it. There was nothing that you could do to fix your relationship with God.
And I mean, you could try as hard as you could. You could give as much. You could keep every bit of the law that you possibly could. You could do as many good works. You can give to the poor.
You can serve. You can do all those kind of things. You could even find yourself on a church roll, probably. And guess what? You'll still fall short.
We all. will still fall short. And so, what God did, noticing that we didn't deserve it. And that we had no good in us. What he did was he sent his only begotten son, Jesus Christ.
And Jesus came. From all of glory All of riches. Left heaven behind to come to a wicked, sin-filled earth. You see, what Jesus did when he came to this earth, he. became poor.
He became like us. Why?
So that we, through the blood of Jesus, could experience the riches that a relationship with Jesus has. And it's way more than your bank account. It's way more than a 401k. It's way more than any of that. What we have in Jesus, it far surpasses and far outweighs any of those things.
That's the origin of cheerful giving. That's where it comes from. If you're out here and you say, Man, I want to be a cheerful giver. I want to be like the Apostle Paul said, where he's bragging on the generosity of the church at Corinth to the Macedonians. I want to be that.
I want to be one that, you know, gives. And doesn't just lay up treasures that are one day going to rot and decay. I want to be a generous, cheerful giver.
Well, let me tell you this: it starts with the heart. You can go out of here and try as hard as you can on the exterior. It's not going to change anything until your heart is captivated by the generosity of God to you. And when you recognize how He has extended His grace and mercy to you, the only natural response out of that. is by being a generous giver.
Because he has been generous with us. The third thing and final thing is the supply of cheerful giving. The supply. In verses 8 through 11, he uses some words here. Verse 8: God is able to make all grace abound.
Okay, towards you. This is talking about after you give, all grace will abound to you, that you always having all sufficiency. In all things, may abound to every good work. In other words, you see that when you give, Here. You get sufficiency and you get all grace.
So you get everything that you need. And this is where giving gets just a little bit. Tricky if you would. Because we think giving is always for the recipient of the gift.
Okay, this my gift is going to this person, and so therefore. that the recipient gets all the blessing that comes with that. And what giving to the kingdom of God is like. What God's trying to show us here is that when you give to the kingdom of God, the blessing. Comes back to you.
Now, it might not be in wealth, but what you get out of being a cheerful giver is greater than any money or any amount that you could ever give. That's what he's trying to do. It's like this: you know, when you're a kid. You like getting gifts. Right?
We just came through Christmas season. You remember that? And when you were a kid, you loved getting gifts and you couldn't wait to open presents. And, you know, you're months before Christmas and you're telling your parents you're Christmasless, right? You can't wait, right?
But when you become an adult, or specifically when you become a parent. You know what you love doing more than getting gifts? You love giving gifts. As a dad I love Christmas. I love it.
And one of the reasons why I love Christmas is because it's an opportunity for me to give those I love. Gifts and different things like that. I love it. And as a dad, you get so excited about blessing your kids with certain things. There's like this eagerness and excitement that you just can't, you know, explain.
There's an anticipation there. And if you're a parent, you understand this.
Well, what you learn is that there's a supply given. to God's people when they give. That there is a provision that is given to us when we. When we give. You see, here's the principle that I want you to understand that I think is supported in scripture.
Generosity is not something that God just wants from you. It's something that he wants for you. It's a life that He wants for you because we learned that we cannot out give God, and He always gives us more than what we could ever possibly give Him. And here's what we learn throughout scripture: that if you give to God and you're generous to the kingdom of God, here's what I will tell you: it might not translate. To your bank account, but here's what I will tell you: if you allow your heart to be captivated by the gospel, it will lead your heart to be a cheerful giver.
Till you will give to the kingdom of God, not reluctantly. Like it tells us here, that's the word grudgingly. You know, not out of necessity because, you know, okay, Pastor's doing a sermon series, so I might as well give, right? No, no, no, no, no. You actually will give and be generous because you recognize God has been generous with you, and the only natural response is that.
And what I'll tell you in return might not translate into your bank account. But what you're gonna experience is far greater. In other words, here's what I think you get: when you give out of a cheerful heart, you get a provision in your life. That is greater than any amount of money. You get a peace that is greater in your life than any amount of money.
You get a satisfaction in your relationship with Christ that is greater than any amount of money. You get a security. And a safety piece in Christ that is greater than any amount of money. You get protection. from him that is greater than any amount of money.
You get him. And you get contentment. in him. That's the word sufficiency. You realize that your life is supposed to be lived for the kingdom of God and not for ourselves.
This is why we give. This is why we give. Because being generous with your money. It gives you something worth far more than silver. Gold.
And that's what we learn. That's what a cheerful heart is like. That's why we give. John D. Rockefeller is is widely known as the the world's first billionaire.
And he began, you know, accumulating wealth and riches at a young age. And when he got into his 50s, When he got into his 50s, He was experiencing some health issues that the doctors directly said was stress-related. And if you've ever made a lot of money or you've oversaw a lot of money, you understand it comes with a level of stress to it. And so John D. Rockefeller is in his fifties.
He has terrible health, and he In fact, the health was so bad that it actually burned like a hole in his stomach to where his diet ended up being like just crackers and milk was about all that he could ever, ever eat because his stomach had so many issues because of the stress that they allowed in his life.
So the doctors told him that you're not going to have long to live. And so he began to search. How to make his life. Last longer.
Well, he was a churchgoer, and so he began to go and he began to learn the principle of tithing in his local church. In his 50s. He started tithing and giving back. And then he heard one of John Wesley's sermons, which you can read it. I read it this week, the transcript from it, one of John Wesley's sermons from the Great Awakening.
Where John Wesley was talking about generosity and he was talking about the biblical heart behind giving, and he left his congregation with these words. Give. All you can. Save All you can. And, or no, he said, earn all you can, save all you can.
And give all you can. John D. Rockefeller, he heard that sermon or read those words, and then he said, you know what, I'm going to start doing just that. I'm going to start giving all I can, and I've learned the principle of tithing. It was out of his own personal testimony that he said that after I learned those principles to give my life away and stop living for my own personal wealth.
and my own personal possessions. He said, my health began to get better. He said, My health began to get better. My stress level went down the more that I gave. And John D.
Rockefeller lived to be 97 years old. I say all that to say, not that that might be every single one of our stories here in this place. But here's what I will tell you. is this. What he learned is that life is not about wealth.
That life is not all about accumulating possessions. There's something greater. to life then money, and then our bank account. And here's what I'll tell you. God cares about the heart.
in which you give. He cares about the heart. And the challenge for every follower of Christ is this: we must be a cheerful. Giver. And the way that we become a cheerful giver is by letting our heart be so captivated.
By the generosity of God to us. that the only natural response Is for us to be good stewards of what he's blessed us with. And I think it'd be fitting for us to take the words of John Wesley seriously. And to say, you know what, for us, hey, it's okay to earn all you can, it's okay to save all you can. But don't forget that we as followers of Christ, let's be generous and let's give all we can.
