179- Pastors: Create a Culture of Joyful Generosity

Joyful generosity. It's a biblical concept.

2 Corinthians 9:7 So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. 

Is it possible to outgive God?

Is it possible for a congregation to be led in such a way that the body of believers will love, love, love giving to God, giving to others, and investing in His kingdom. 

Find out some suggestions that might help you, the pastor, accomplish that with your fellowship.

For Poimen Ministries, its staff, ministries, and focus, go to poimenministries.com. To contact Poimen Ministries, email us at strongerpastors@gmail.com. May the Lord revive His work in the midst of these years!

Transcript

179- Pastors ... Create a Culture of Joyful Generosity

Welcome to Strength for Today's Pastor, conversations with current senior pastors and leaders which will strengthen and help you in your pastoral ministry. And now here's your host, Bill Holdridge of Poimen Ministries. 

Welcome to podcast 179 of Strength for Today's Pastor.

So we are in a three-part series on stewardship, giving, congregational response to God in these matters of worship, and how we as pastors can lead and disciple our congregations in these areas. So that's what it's about. In podcast 177 we looked at discipling God's people in the areas of biblical stewardship and giving.

In podcast 178 we looked at how we can lead by example in matters of stewardship and giving. It's important that leaders lead by example. And now in podcast 179 we're going to look at some ways to cultivate a church culture of joyful generosity.

So that's the topic of today's podcast. Pastors: create a culture of joyful generosity. 

So for me it all starts with Matthew 6:33. We used to sing that song a lot when Karen Lafferty wrote it back in the days of the Jesus Revolution, Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God. 

Beautiful song. And the truth of that passage and the verse that follows it really rung true to so many of our hearts. We trusted the Lord to provide. 

Our hearts, our minds, our focus was on the kingdom of God, being used of God, being right with God, walking with God closely, being filled with the Spirit of God. These were the things that were our focus and because of that we trusted the Lord to provide because we saw the promise of Matthew 6:33. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.” 

And of course all these things have to do with the things that we need in this life. We need provision, we need food, clothing, lodging, etc. The things that we need, they will be provided us if we first seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness. 

So is that [also] true for a church? I really do believe that it is. But within the context of Matthew 6:33, this incredible journey of faith that we're on, this amazing trusting of the Lord, this anxiety-free lifestyle that Jesus has promised us, where he says in the next verse, Matthew 6:34, “Take no thought for tomorrow, for tomorrow will take care of its own things; sufficient for every day is the evil in it.” So that's what Jesus said. 

So one day at a time, seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, trusting Him to provide for us all the things that we need. And so that's the challenge that is behind creating a culture of joyful generosity. The challenge is a challenge of faith. 

It's just like the challenge for a new believer to learn how to be a giver. It's a steep learning curve for a fellowship as a whole to learn how to be joyfully generous. But it is possible to create a culture of joyful generosity. 

I do believe that the Holy Spirit is all over this one. He wants to create this within God's people. God loves a cheerful giver. 

That's what the Bible teaches very clearly. God loves a cheerful giver. He's produced in us the joy of giving. 

He's produced in us the rewards of giving. And so that's why he loves it, because the things that are being produced from our lives are things that He himself has authored.  

So it all starts with a single step of faith for the individual believer, but also for a church. 

And then it graduates into a life of faithful giving and generosity. So we're going to be talking about creating a culture of joyful generosity. These are ideas that I've had over the years. 

These are just thoughts. Take them as a plate of hors d'oeuvres, and you pick whatever hors d'oeuvres you want. If you want none of them, that's your choice. 

If you want all of them, that's your choice. If you want this one and not that one, that's your choice. It's a plate of hors d'oeuvres offered with the hope that it'll be encouraging and strengthening to many. 

So on an individual level, the question is this. In terms of giving, let's just use the tithe, the concept of giving a tenth, as a bottom line. I'm not advocating for that [the tithe] being a New Testament mandate or any such thing, because it's not. 

But I'm going to use the 10% as part of the question that I'm about to ask. Do we trust God enough as our provider that we give him 10% and we live on the remaining 90%? Another way to put it, would I rather have God bless my 90% or take my chances on living on 100% without God's blessing? And the choice that I think many of us have made is I would rather live on 90% blessed by God than 100% that doesn't have the guarantee of His blessing. So that's the faith challenge. 

That's kind of what's behind the thing that is tangling up the idea of giving or the idea of a congregation entering into joyful generosity as a culture. It's been jokingly stated, but there's probably truth to this, that the last things to be redeemed in the life of many believers is his or her right foot, the foot associated with the gas pedal [in the United States anyway). Well, [I guess] that's true also in the UK. 

And then, the last thing to be redeemed may be a man’s wallet or a woman’s purse! The last things to be redeemed are our right foot, how fast are we gonna go on this car we've got, or our wallet or purse. Will I really dispense or depart with something that is so important to me, and that is the money that we possess? 

So let's get practical here, and I've got some practical ideas, and then we'll just take it from there and move on from there. Some practical ideas. The practical ideas have to do with a focus, first of all, on what God is doing. 

As we are working with our fellowship and as we're overseeing our churches, we need to focus in their minds and create a focus in their minds on what God is doing. People want to know that their giving to the Lord through that church is accomplishing something. So what we do in response to that is we communicate in a humble and a very God-honoring way. 

We don't give anybody the idea that we're the ones that came up with these great plans, or we're the ones that have all the great giftings and all the great energy to carry out these plans. We're just very humble about it. These are the things the Lord has done and is doing. 

We talk about missions, and we talk about missionaries. We talk about outreaches. We talk about lives that are being changed. 

We let people give testimonies, not to manipulate anyone into anything, but simply to paint the picture, this is what God is doing. When people understand that and when they see these kinds of things that God is doing, well, they have confidence that their giving to the Lord through the church is helping to accomplish some of these things that are going on. So, for example, maybe you're considering some sort of a new visionary project that you and the leadership feel led to embark on. 

Well, ask the fellowship to pray with you and for you, and pray with the leadership and for the leadership with regard to this project. Maybe you're thinking about starting a school. Maybe you're making initial plans to buy a piece of property or buy a building, or maybe you've got an outreach in mind that the church has never done before or tried before, but you're assembling a team, putting it together. 

Ask the church to pray for these things, and ask the Lord to pray with you for these things, and give them full information about it. Tell them about it as much as their attention span will allow you to, and that's it. You leave it at that. 

You don't solicit. You're not using these things as a trigger to ask them for money. It's not about that at all. 

You're just simply giving them full information without solicitation, which is a great motto to have, I think, for churches and missionaries and people working in ministry. Full information with no solicitation. So this is important. 

Have the people focus on what God is doing, not what you're doing, but what God is doing. That's helpful. It gives them encouragement. 

And then secondly, under that basic point, never appeal to the people with the idea that you're depending on them to help you reach your budget projections or to make up your budget shortage. That'd be the worst thing in the world to do is to appeal to the people or put on the people some sort of an expectation that it's up to them to help you meet your budget shortfall. Don't say and don't insinuate or give the idea that you and the leadership with you are actually looking to them, the congregants, to provide. 

Because if we give the people the idea that we're looking to them to provide, make up some sort of shortfall, do some sort of heroic giving campaign in order to make something happen, we give them that idea, then what idea are we really giving them? We're giving them the idea that we're trusting in man and we're not trusting in the Lord. We're trusting in what human beings can do rather than trusting in the God who created us. It has to be a God thing. 

All of these things have to be originated by God, led by God, and sustained by God. So leadership needs to be trusting in the Lord. And I know we all know that, but what does Psalm 127 verse 1 say? It says, Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. 

So we have no choice. We can't look to man. We can't look to human beings. 

We can't trust in the congregation or give them the idea that we're counting on them. Their gifts are going to make this happen. That's the wrong approach to take altogether. 

Leaders are either putting their trust in the Lord or they're putting their confidence in man. Those are the only two options. Psalm 118 verse 8. Better it is to trust in the Lord than to put one's confidence in man. 

Don't ever leave the people with the impression that you are trusting in their tithes and offerings, because we're not to trust in the people. We're to trust in the Lord. And it goes back to the Matthew 6:33 thing. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.  

I remember in Monterey, we were going to move into the new building that we built. We had been able to buy land and build a building, a very nice building in Monterey, California. 

Monterey is not an inexpensive place to build. We started the whole project with $84,000 in the bank. And miraculously and sovereignly, the Lord directed us and allowed us to buy the land. 

We had a short-term loan from Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa to help us buy the land. And then we were able to get a construction loan with a local bank. And we bought the building, bought the land, and everything else for that purpose of building the project, building the building. 

And it was wonderful. And it happened and all of that. But what we weren't sure about, even as we were building it, is whether or not we would be able to afford the payment on the construction loan. 

And then when it folded over into a permanent loan, would we be able to afford the payment? Because the payment was easily three or four times more than we had been used to paying for facilities. Would we be able to afford it? So we didn't go to the fellowship about this. We didn't tell them about this possible dilemma. 

We just told the staff, encouraged everybody to get something lined up for employment as a backup, just in case they’s need to get a job. And I did the same thing. I applied for and got offered employment by a local company, a local business, which would have provided the provision for our household. 

So I didn't except myself in all of this. It was all just part of our plan. And we just trusted the Lord. 

And you know, we moved into the building and we didn't have to do any of that. Nobody had to get a job outside of the staff was able to be compensated. I was able to be compensated. 

The Lord just provided. But it was a test of whether we were going to trust the Lord or not. And these are the important things that people in the congregation need to see. 

They need to see their leaders trusting the Lord. And we didn't talk about how that we had trusted the Lord either. We didn't say, well, you know, we all got jobs lined up, but we didn't have to take them because the Lord provided. 

We didn't want to shine the light on ourselves. We wanted the Lord to be known as the One that provided. Because He is. 

He's the provider. And we know these things. And we know that we need to trust the Lord. 

Our thought was, let's live that way congregationally. In doing so, the fellowship would be blessed. Another part of all of this, creating a culture of joyful generosity, is to show the people that God loves a cheerful giver … and that He has joy when we have joy in our giving. 

2 Corinthians 9:6-7. And I remember Pastor Chuck Smith teaching this verse or referring to it regularly. And it was such a blessing to hear it coming from the pulpit in those days. But this is what that passage says. 

But this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver.  

So the Lord loves it when we get ourselves in a spiritual shape, a spiritual condition where we know the Lord is authoring this gift. 

We know that He's the One that's the provider. We're happy to give it because it's more blessed to give than it is to receive. We give it to Him. 

We're so blessed that we have the opportunity to do it. We sign the check. We send in the money, however we do it. 

And we're just happy to do it. And the Lord sees the heart, and He loves that cheerfulness of heart as we give. But there are ways to quench this joy of giving. 

We have to be careful we don't do either of these two things that I'm going to mention. We can quench the people's joy in giving by making giving into a law. That is, this is what the Bible says. 

This is what the tithe is. You've got to give the tithe, you know, and making it some sort of a mandate. Rather than a response to God's goodness to us, it becomes a prompting to God to make Him bless us because we've done this thing. 

And we might have done it begrudgingly. If we make giving into a law, this will absolutely ruin the idea of giving back to God for His generosity to us. So this is one of the reasons I personally believe we should be careful to avoid or never even mention words like tithe or tithing as a New Testament mandate for Christians. 

Be it’s easy to go there. I mean, I think you can make a case for tithing being a spiritual principle that God has ordained in His world and it's a good place to start and all those kinds of things. But it's not a mandate in the sense that we are not under the law as was Israel. 

This was part of the covenant that God made with them. And so we should be careful about using the words tithe or tithing. The commands of the tithe were primarily for the Jewish nation and it's not a law which is incumbent upon Gentile believers. 

The better principle to operate by is in Proverbs 3, honor the Lord with your substance and with the first fruits of all your increase, Proverbs 3:9. That's a wonderful principle because when He gives us increase, we give back to Him. We're honoring Him because He's first provided for us. Just like it says in 1 John 4, we love Him because He first loved us. 

He's always the initiator. We're always the responder. And we need to give the people the joy of responding to God's goodness rather than making a law that would cause them to feel indebted to God or something that would cause God to do a certain thing towards them. 

So we can quench the joy of giving by making giving into a law.  

Second way we can do it, we can quench the people's joy in giving by communicating the idea that the Lord needs their help. Poor God, He's broke. 

He's run out of money and there's more month to go and there's not much money left to spend in it. He can't afford it. So the people in the church have to take up the slack. 

We never want to insinuate that. That does not glorify God and it makes Him small. It makes Him into a God that He is not.

 He's the all-powerful, transcendent, omnipotent, all-knowing, all-merciful, the One who knows everything and the one who owns everything. Everything belongs to Him. The world, the earth, it’s the Lord's along with all its fullness. 

Let's not give the people the idea that somehow God is impoverished and it's going to be completely incumbent upon them to make up the shortfall. So we can quench the people's joy in giving by communicating those kinds of ideas. We have to be careful. 

Another thing I think we can do to create a culture of joyful generosity in our churches is we can have giving be part of our worship on our weekly gatherings on Sundays. In my years at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, there was always a printed weekly bulletin that we received, handed out by the ushers as we entered into the sanctuary. And the worship order of service was always listed in that bulletin and it included these statements. 

We worship in prayer. Then we worship in song. Then we worship in giving. 

Then we worship in the Word of God or something like that. That was the order and those were the kinds of statements that were included in the bulletin every week. And I saw that, and I didn't lose the idea and it impressed me. 

The fact that right in the middle of prayer, worshiping, singing, receiving from the Word of God, right in the middle of that mix was the phrase, we worship in giving. To Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, to Pastor Chuck, to the board of directors of Calvary Costa Mesa, the pastors were on staff—giving, which would take place that morning—was part of their worship just as much as prayer was, just as much as being in the Word was, just as much as worshiping in song was. 

Giving was part of it. And in that context, in Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, they would actually pass an offering bag and it would run through the aisles and wonderful things were happening spiritually during those moments. It was part of the worship service as it should be. 

It always should be part of the worship service. It's unfortunate in today's world, although we know that this is true, it's unfortunate that although much of the giving is given online now, there is no significant prayer that is offered during a service for that week's giving. This is what I recommend. 

If a church doesn't take up a physical offering on Sunday morning, that's fine. If they have well-stationed and easily visible places, boxes to put offerings in, that's great too. I have no nothing to say about the rightness or wrongness of either approach. 

I think they're both right. That's not my job description to evaluate such things. But what I will say is that if the giving is not with an offering bag, past, or a bucket, and if the giving is mostly online and the other giving that's on-site is going to be through an offering box stationed somewhere where it's able to be seen by the congregants, if that's the way it goes, then why aren't we praying for that week's giving? You know, we've got all this money that's coming in through online giving. 

We've got all this money that's coming through the box. If we take a physical offering, all the money that's being put in an offering bag, let's pray for that every single week. Let's have someone who knows how to pray publicly, who can keep the prayer short, and can be glorifying God in the way that he or she prays. 

Something like, “Father, we thank You for Your provision for us. We thank You, Lord, for the way You provide for us individually and as a church body. And now we're giving back to You a portion of what you've given to us with joyful thanksgiving. We're so grateful. We pray that You give wisdom to those that have responsibility over these gifts, and we pray that You'd enable us to be good stewards of that which You've committed to our trust. In Jesus' name.” 

Something very simple like that. As a giver, if I give online, I want that gift represented in that prayer that Sunday morning. It's part of the worship. 

I think that can help also create a culture of generous giving within a church. So to review all of this, we start with Matthew 6:33. We personally see ourselves as living first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and then the Lord will provide for us personally, but also congregationally. 

We are so blessed to be part of giving to the Lord through a congregation that is trustworthy, that is fulfilling the Great Commission, who is seeking to live for Jesus and by Jesus and like Jesus. All of this is such a wonderful and a good thing. So we want to be part of this, and we thank God for the opportunity. 

That's a joyful, generous heart. And then for a congregation to be proud of the things that the Lord is doing in their midst and through that church body. The lives that are being changed, the people that are being discipled, the converts that are being made. 

So wonderful to be part of a group like that, and it's a joy to give to this. We love to be generous. When a special need is brought up, or not necessarily brought up, but we hear about it. 

Someone in the church is experiencing a real economic downturn because of an injury or because of a loss of a job or something like that. God's people hear about these things, and they don't have to be manipulated into anything. They will naturally give. 

God's people who are part of a culture of joyful generosity will give, and they'll give sacrificially just to help these particular needs that come up in the community, within the church body, either way. So we focus on what God is doing, and we're careful to avoid some of the minefields that have to do with all of this. We don't want to manipulate. 

We never will. We don't wish to insinuate that God's people are being dependent upon to give or else God, who seems to be broke by such a mentality, will have a recourse, and somebody will make up for what he is unable to provide for us. That's a mockery of God. 

That's not who we are. That's not what we do. But we decide to avoid that minefield as well as the minefield of making this a legalistic responsibility or by, in some way, twisting the whole purpose of giving and stewardship. 

The bottom line is, is when we give, it shall be given unto us. And we give the first fruits of our increase, and the Lord fills our barns with plenty, and our vats will overflow with new wine. Symbolic language, of course, but he'll just provide more than we could possibly imagine him to do.

So these three podcasts that we've done, 177, 178, 179, they're all along these lines of trying to create a culture of discipleship to disciple believers into being good stewards, givers, generous, joyful givers. And then along with that, the leaders set the bar. They're the ones that set the example. 

They're the ones that the congregants are looking to provide a pattern to follow. And then, of course, finally, we're intent on creating a generous, joyful attitude within our congregations about the whole subject of giving, that this is a blessing from God to be able to do it, and we're happy that he's allowed us to do so. So that's it. 

Please feel free to write in your questions or your comments at the email address that will be given by the announcer at the end of this podcast. Feel free to contact Poimen Ministries if there's anything that we can do to help strengthen your pastor in order to strengthen the church that he is responsible to oversee. May the Lord bless you in Jesus' name. 

Strength for Today's Pastor is sponsored by Poimen Ministries. You can find us at PoimenMinistries.com. That's spelled P-O-I-M-E-N Ministries.com. If something in today's program prompts a question or comment or if you have a topic idea for a future episode, just shoot us an email at StrongerPastors@gmail.com. That's StrongerPastors@gmail.com. May the Lord bless you as you serve Him, His pastors, and His church.