What We Give Away, Part 1

God commands us to be generous with the resources He's given, but that generosity flows out of our relationship with Him.

They first gave themselves to the Lord, giving that is God honoring, is giving that is ultimately proceeding from the overflowing of a life that is entirely devoted to God. And the worst thing that any church or pastoral team could ever do is encourage people to give, and it doesn't really matter how you're getting along with God. Of course, it's true that God wants His people to be supporting His work. Churches and Christian ministries are funded by the generosity of God's people as He moves them to give. But giving financially to your church is an act of worship. It flows from your relationship with God. It's not just an obligation to fulfill. Just like the other things you do when you worship, things like prayer or singing or being taught from God's Word, giving can become just another thing that we do. But if we really want to honor God through our giving, we'll learn to do it as an act of worship.

We'll see how today. This is Wisdom for the Heart, and here's our Bible teacher, Stephen Davey. For these past several months, we've been addressing the subject of the church.

And when I began, I mentioned this was a highly personalized series of studies. Even though, as I've mentioned, we have people watching the live stream in different parts of the country and world on any Sunday morning, we're still really not talking to them. We're talking to us. This is for us. These are significant days for our church as we have clarified our documents, our Constitution and bylaws, and we will be affirming those in January as a church body.

We'll give you a little more information on the specific dates, but you have picked up perhaps your copy. And because we're a Bible believing church, the significance of this isn't lost on any of us when it comes to documentation. We want to make sure we're ransacking the scriptures, especially the New Testament epistles, to determine as to whether or not we're following what we have been given by our Lord. And I don't know about you, but I have been struck all over again with the significance of the local church, the primacy of the local church in the redemptive purposes and plan of God, the foundation of the church upon the word of God. The fact that this phrase on my pulpit sola scriptura is indeed something that we're committed to, the scriptures alone.

Out of the scriptures come our basis for what we believe and how we live. I had a gentleman come to me last Sunday. I'm not sure which hour it was after the first or second or this third service.

It kind of becomes a blur to me. But he came up to me in the hallway in between services and he paid really the highest compliment any under shepherd wants to hear and wanted me to share it with our other elders. He said, I got a copy a couple of weeks ago of the Constitution and bylaws as rewritten. And I want you to know, I took it home and I read every word of it. And wherever you had a scripture reference and we have a lot of them, probably well over 100 of them, I looked every reference up and read every text.

I thought, that guy, he deserves a reward in heaven for that. I mean, how many of you can say you've read every word? One. How many of you picked up a copy? Thank you. Good. I was really glad at least you picked up a copy.

Isn't that amazing? Well, what he said to me was this I thought was so encouraging. He said, as I read through that document and I looked at all of those references, it just struck me. And I want you to thank the entire elder team, which I'm doing this morning for so carefully and so clearly following the scriptures. That's the highest compliment any under shepherd could be paid, any church, any body of believers. This is a commendation to you, too, that we would care that much about the scriptures to try to define who we are and what we believe based on God's word. Now, in the last few weeks, we've covered what churches throughout the centuries have called church covenants.

The church covenant traditionally involves a covenant of conduct and commitment to doctrine, to to lifestyle that effectively honors and glorifies our Lord. And in our new constitution and bylaws, we've attempted to make everything clearer. We've sort of dropped the formality of the language. And if you do choose to open that cover and read a little bit of it, I hope it's clearer to you.

It isn't so legal is and so formal because we really want it to be understandable because it doesn't do any good for it not to be clear. And what we what we did, one of the things we did is we rewrote that covenant. It goes back to the original days and we recrafted them according to promises. And if you've been with us for a few weeks, you've noticed that we've been basically going through these promises that we first made in terms of our own personal conduct and promises as it relates to our church. And our relationship with the church. And then we'll get to eventually promises related to our community. And I want you to know we're using the word promise because that's really what it is. But that also implies that this is really our desire. It doesn't mean that any of us will ever perfectly fulfill these promises. OK, well, we're not interested in perfection, which is a good thing, right?

Only Christ is. But we are interested in progression. That is, this is this is our pattern. This is what we're pursuing.

I've used the expression that this is the direction in which our toes are pointed. OK, and really in your life and in mine, a lot of times what matters isn't certainly perfection, but but which way are you heading? And if there is ever a time in a culture, in a country, in a world where the church ought to know the direction its toes are pointing in, it's today. So we have attempted to clarify as best as we we can.

In fact, the text came to me this week where Peter is telling the believers in Second Peter. He says this, he says, apply all diligence and in your faith supply. He's he's saying add to pursue moral excellence. And in your moral excellence, add to that knowledge and in your knowledge, add self-control and the self-control, add perseverance and the perseverance. Add godliness and the godliness, brotherly kindness and the brotherly kindness.

Make sure you're adding love for. Here's the key text for if these qualities are yours or you are increasing in them because we never arrive. Then they will render you neither useless nor unfruitful.

If there is anything a church would never want to be or become is useless and unfruitful. These are then promises we're making one another. We're effectively saying we want to add all of these things. We want to pursue all of these things. This is the direction we're facing. This is where our toes are pointing, so to speak. And we don't want to be useless or unfruitful.

By the way, let me let me just throw that in this personal comment to hear been encouraging to me. I've had a number of people in our our staff have had a number of people say we want to join. It's like the more we lay this out, it doesn't drive people away.

It clarifies what we believe in. People have asked about the process of joining. And so I mentioned earlier that we might do this and we've just decided we will. So we will offer another greenhouse class this semester coming up.

It will start in January. So if you're on the edge or you really did mean what you said when you said you'd like to take it, please call the office. Go online. Register under the page. Join and I'll meet you on Wednesday nights beginning in January. And if you're thinking, well, my schedule, my work schedule or my children or whatever, we are now offering this live streaming for you. And this was very helpful. We offered it last semester. And a number of people took it that way or missed a session or even traveled and logged on that way. You don't have to join if you take the class, but if you want to join, you have to.

It'll be the most exciting 12 weeks of your life. OK, well, so far in our Sunday morning study, we've looked at a number of key issues related to our conduct and our relationship to the church. We've addressed who we are. What is the church? We've answered the question, why do you ever join a church?

Why would you? Why the church actually exists? Why are we here?

Why didn't the Lord just take us after we come to faith? Why are we here? We've addressed who has the final word.

And if you're wondering, the final word is the word of God. We've also talked about what makes us different from the world. We've talked about how we are to treat one another or to relate to one another. We've talked about how to get along with each other. And last Lord's Day, we talked about how and why we discipline the unrepentant from us.

Now, if I hadn't come down with a cold and I couldn't talk, we would have been finished. But because of that, we're going to finish the tenth promise today. And it is simply this. We promise to financially support the church through faithful, cheerful and sacrificial stewardship. Now, we've attached several passages. Should you decide to look any of these up and you can read these at your leisure to sort of draw from them principles about this subject of stewardship. And from our understanding of New Testament principles and our understanding of what Christ would be pleased with, this promise that you're reading is very carefully worded to communicate a biblical perspective. And break it down into three principles. First, there is the principle of faithfulness. We promise to support the church through stewardship that is faithful, which by the way immediately indicates and it should indicate or imply that when we give, we are effectively faithful not to anybody or any institution or any church. Ultimately, we're faithful to Christ.

We're faithful to him. In fact, the Apostle Paul writes of the eagerness and faithfulness of the Macedonians who wanted to give to the needs of believers. In fact, believers living in another city and another church. And he uses them as a testimony to kind of prod the Corinthians along.

So he says, let me give you a story. Let me tell you an illustration about some other believers. And then, of course, the application would be to the hearts of the Corinthians.

So let me just kind of drop in there. Would you with me, 2 Corinthians, just look at chapter 8 for a few moments and look at the way he describes these Macedonian believers. He says, if I can just sort of jump into verse 3, I'll back up to verse 2 in a minute. But he begins to describe them and he says, I testify that according to their ability, 2 Corinthians 8, verse 3, according to their ability and then beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord, now notice this in verse 4, begging us with much entreaty for the favor that is the privilege of participation in the support of the saints. Can you imagine anybody begging to give to some cause? I mean, it's one thing to be excited about some cause. It's another thing to be interested. But can you imagine they're saying, look, Paul, when you do that, when you take that gift, please don't go until you've gotten ours. Please don't do that. Don't leave us out of it.

We want to be involved in it. Then Paul makes this rather telling statement in verse 5. He says, you need to know that this wasn't what we had expected. But they first gave themselves to the Lord and then to us by the will of God. They gave themselves first to the Lord. Giving that is God honoring is giving that is ultimately proceeding from the overflowing of a life that is entirely devoted to God. And the worst thing that any church or pastoral team could ever do is encourage people to give and it doesn't really matter how you're getting along with God.

That'd be horrible. In fact, as a church ministry, we've been very reticent to ask the community to give us any money. That's why we don't do the community bake sales and the car washes because we really, as we've discussed this as an older team, we don't want to ask the world to give money to us that we will give to the Lord.

We're going to do that. Because what matters above and beyond any gift is the heart. We want people to come to know him.

Then as they come to know him and grow in him, they'll develop in their discipleship and begin to give. He writes further. He says, I'm not now speaking of this command.

This isn't a command I'm going to make here. But this is going to prove the earnestness of your love. That's where it comes to bear. This really does reveal who we are.

Look at verse 11. But now finish doing this. You've started, yes. Now finish it. There's readiness in you.

I'm grateful for that. But don't just be ready to do it. Don't just talk about doing it. Don't just desire to do it. But complete it, he writes, by your ability. In other words, be ready and that's a good thing. Be faithful, but then act.

Act. I'll never forget sitting in church. I may have shared this. I can't remember.

Probably years ago I did. But I remember sitting in church with my brothers. I had two brothers. I don't think the youngest was born.

But we're sitting in church. I can still see it. I was about 10 years old. And I was sitting about three rows from the front. And my older brother to my right and my younger brother to my left, Timmy, we called him. I was Stevie and Danny.

At any rate, we all grew that eventually. But Timmy was sitting there and then Mom and Dad. And the offering plate came by and Timmy took off that little clip-on skinny necktie that he had and he put it in the offering plate and passed it to me. And I didn't have time.

I had to pass it. And it went down the road until Mom got it and it stopped. And she leaned forward. She recognized it. She addressed him.

She leaned forward and effectively said, what are you doing? And Timmy responded with just total, he was about five years old, just total innocence. He said, well, the pastor said to give your tithes and offers. I promise you that happened.

It really happened. I mean, how is that for this wonderfully responsive, he said it okay. He probably was glad to get rid of it, frankly. But he gave it, surrendering that. And that just reflected his heart and he always was very giving.

Now he's with the Lord. But giving that honors God carries this element of eagerness and submission that translates into faithfulness, not because, you know, God too, but I just, I really want to. Now, let me follow that up quickly with the second principle. It's the principle of cheerfulness. For those of you older in the faith, you know exactly what I'm talking about. But when we write this here to financially support the church to be faithful, cheerful, giving. If you're new in the faith, you're going to think, what?

Cheerful, what's that got to do with anything? Well, I remember being in a church in East Africa, by the way, in a third world context and the block building and the tin roof and a hundred plus people packed into it. I was on a little platform and my sermon would be translated.

They were speaking in a language I didn't know. And suddenly the people began to cheer. I mean, literally stood up and clapped. I mean, they were so excited.

I thought, what in the world? And here came the ushers carrying these long poles, little sacks attached to the end that they would kind of feed down the row. They were cheering because they now had the opportunity to give something to God.

Deeply convicted. Paul wrote this text to the Corinthians in chapter 9, 2 Corinthians and verse 7. Let each one do just as he purposed in his heart, not grudgingly, that is, I hate to, or under compulsion, I guess I have to. And this has the sense of not necessarily that you'd have the responsibility that you really want to maintain.

This has the attitude of I have to and I really don't want to. For God loves a cheerful giver. Which, by the way, reverses then everything you might think about giving.

Because what matters to God then is the attitude with which we give something, not the amount of what we gave. And I have said it before and I want to say it again. Don't give if you hate to. Don't give if you have to and you don't want to. Give because you can't wait to. That's that Kenyan spirit that I saw.

A.W. Tozer clarified the perspective when he reminded me, as I read him, that as earthy, you know, earthy as money is, as earthy as it is, it can be converted for whatever is given to Christ is touched with immortality. I mean, the results can be forever. The church has to be careful. It can create givers out of obligation. And I want you to know, and again, this is personal.

This is us, okay? This is one of the reasons I do not come out here during the offering or before the offering. I made up my mind years ago. And I'm not saying negative things disparagingly about other pastors who come out, but I just decided I wasn't going to come out here before the offering and hold up the envelope or give you a story. I just want to err on the side of this is you giving because you can't wait to give to Christ. This is what Paul would say.

This is the direction we want to go. You know, it amazes me. I shared this with both hours and I've had people every hour come up and say we heard the same thing. I had two different couples in greenhouse class, two different classes in the last couple of years, independently of each other.

They didn't know each other and they came up with the same rumor and they came up and told me. In fact, after our session on New Testament giving, which I spend a couple of sessions on this subject, explaining that tithing, the word tithe, disappears when you get into the New Testament. That is the establishment of the church. And it is all grace giving.

It is what God moves your heart to give. And then you happen to pay taxes too. Just as in the Old Testament, the Israelites paid taxes. That's the word for tithe really. And there are about 25% of their annual income that went to tithes. More than one tithe. Never heard a pastor tell me that. I always thought it was one.

There's actually more than one if you want to add them up. At any rate, you have the same, and then they gave overflowing gifts of grace. You find the same thing in the New Testament.

We pay our taxes and we give overflowing gifts of grace out of love for the Lord. But at any rate, they came up to me and they said after those sessions, they said, you know, we really came here skeptical to colonial. And we came to this class and we were expecting you to teach something differently and tell us you were going to do it differently because of what we'd heard. I said, well, what did you hear?

I know there are a lot of rumors out there. Some hurt, some are painful, some are heretical, some are tragic, and I couldn't believe this one. It was really interesting.

I couldn't think of another way to put it. They said, well, we had close friends tell us that it's okay to attend there, but just don't join. I said, well, why not? They said, we were told by our friends that if you join, the pastor is going to require that you give him a copy of your most recent 1040 tax return so that he can evaluate, so that you can prove that you are giving to the church.

Two couples had a man come up to me after one of the hours say I was told the same thing that your pastor requires a 1040 so he can know for sure you're giving to the church. I thought that was a brilliant idea, by the way. Why didn't I think of that, huh? Brilliant. No.

In fact, I joke and then it's going to go out there. Yeah, it's true. It is not true.

It's a rumor. I can assure you of a couple of things. Number one, I don't even know what you give. I do not know what you give. We've just established the system going back to the days now 27 years ago when we hired our first pastor and I drove him immediately to the bank and I said, it's going to be your signature on this bank account and you're going to deposit the money I am out of it. Our church was three years old. I do not know what you give.

I don't want to know. Secondly, the only tax returns that I have ever looked at to evaluate charitable giving are ours. And the reason that's important, those principles are, at least in the way I've tried to practice them as your pastor teacher, is that I don't want you to ever give thinking you're giving to me or even this church because ultimately, though you do give to the church, you are giving to Christ. I mean, it would be pitiful to be led to give to man.

I mean, how shortsighted would that be? We have been given immortality. We have been given forgiveness. We have been given grace. We have been given the promise of a coming kingdom where we will be dressed in royalty as royalty, serving along with him.

We have no idea. The apostle wrote of the glory that he has reserved to be revealed in us. He's backed the trickle already. So the false promise of prosperity theology that you just give and God's just going to give you back all the more, no, God will meet your needs. But sacrificial giving does not make a demand on God.

It isn't bribery. It's simply responding to his grace for what he's already given. As you were listening to Stephen today, much of what he had to say was very personal and related specifically to the church he pastors. But I trust that the principles from God's word regarding giving will help and encourage you. You're listening to Wisdom for the Heart with Stephen Davey. Today's lesson is called What We Give Away.

It's part of a series of lessons on the church that Stephen's entitled Upon This Rock. If God's using the teaching you hear on this program to encourage you, we'd sure love to hear about it. You can write to us at Wisdom for the Heart, PO Box 37297, Raleigh, North Carolina, 27627. That's Wisdom for the Heart, PO Box 37297, Raleigh, North Carolina, 27627.

You can also contact us through our Facebook page or through our website, which you'll find at wisdomonline.org. We recently heard from Greg, who listens to us from Alabama. He wrote, I use your sermons to help me lead my 7th through 12th grade boys Sunday school class.

They've helped me immensely and I've grown so much since when I first began listening. I look forward to receiving the Heart to Heart devotionals each morning and gleaning and growing from the articles. Well, thanks, Greg. Greg's referring to a monthly resource that we send as a gift to all of our Wisdom partners. Each monthly issue of Heart to Heart features articles from Stephen and a daily devotional guide written by Stephen's son, Seth. As I said, it's a resource we send to all of our partners, but we'd be happy to send you a few issues so that you can see it for yourself. Just call us at 866-48-BIBLE and we'll take it from there. Again, that's 866-482-4253. And as always, join us tomorrow for more wisdom for the hearts. .