SPEAKER_00: Ministering to the heart of Western Arkansas's River Valley for over 165 years, welcome to Chapter and First, the Bible teaching ministry of Fort Smith's First Baptist Church.
SPEAKER_00: You'll find sermons and teachings from Pastor Greg, our ministry staff, and guest speakers.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening.
SPEAKER_01: It is awesome to know we have a living hope that we worship.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Alive because Jesus rose again.
SPEAKER_01: We are in the second week now of our Faith Forward Emphasis this year.
SPEAKER_01: Of course, that is the time each year where we take a special offering above our tithes that moves us forward as a church.
SPEAKER_01: And this year the focus will be on helping us create a campus out in the Chaffee area.
SPEAKER_01: And this is something that we do every year.
SPEAKER_01: This is our second annual one.
SPEAKER_01: And so our theme is investment in eternity.
SPEAKER_01: Next week is the week for that offering.
SPEAKER_01: So I pray that you've been in prayer.
SPEAKER_01: You and your family, there are envelopes there in the back of the pew in front of you that you can use next week, or if you need to give during the week, or whatever, that's great.
SPEAKER_01: We give cash or you can pledge or both, and that helps us kind of move forward.
SPEAKER_01: Our theme, investment in eternity, we started last week talking about uh sort of the illustration of life that happens in the game of Monopoly.
SPEAKER_01: And uh so we had a good time talking through some of that last week.
SPEAKER_01: And uh it's great to hear some of you talk about the fights that your family has while you're playing Monopoly, which makes the rest of us feel normal.
SPEAKER_01: So thank you for sharing those.
SPEAKER_01: Uh and it's a lot of fun as you go through around the board, you're collecting properties, and of course, the whole point of that is to uh is to gain money.
SPEAKER_01: Uh now it's interesting as you're looking at this game, in a lot of ways, it sort of reflects life as you're walking through and you're investing and you're doing all of that.
SPEAKER_01: But there are two little places here on the middle of the board uh that you'll remember uh the community uh community chest and the chance.
SPEAKER_01: You guys remember those cards, right?
SPEAKER_01: And so as you're walking, as you're going around the board, as you're collecting, as you're doing life, they're kind of a reminder that life happens.
SPEAKER_01: And some of those are things like you have to repair something or whatever.
SPEAKER_01: Some of them are opportunities for you to give or impact or you get a blessing for being benevolent or generous to people.
SPEAKER_01: But even in this picture of this game, it's funny how the structure of it kind of speaks into how we approach a lot of these things in life.
SPEAKER_01: Here's kind of how generosity works in the world of monopoly.
SPEAKER_01: I pulled out some of these community chess cards and they're kind of fun.
SPEAKER_01: This one says, you help build a new school playground, then you get to test the slide.
SPEAKER_01: And for that benevolence, you collect$100.
SPEAKER_01: Well, if you think about it, that's kind of how life works today.
SPEAKER_01: When we give our world and country has structured this in a way that you benefit because you give.
SPEAKER_01: We even mess up the definition of generosity.
SPEAKER_01: Of course, this is fun.
SPEAKER_01: Another community chess card.
SPEAKER_01: You go to the local school's car wash fundraiser, but you forget to close your windows, pay$100.
SPEAKER_01: And uh and so life kind of sets in and happens as well.
SPEAKER_01: Here's another one.
SPEAKER_01: You rescue a puppy, and you feel rescued too, get out of jail free.
SPEAKER_01: Wouldn't it be nice if that's all it took to get a get out of jail free card?
SPEAKER_01: Husbands will be selling these for$100 donations for all of you after service.
SPEAKER_01: But if you look at this, it's just reaffirming in a funny way what we actually know is kind of how people raise money in today's culture.
SPEAKER_01: You volunteer at a blood drive.
SPEAKER_01: There are free cookies, collect ten dollars.
SPEAKER_01: You organize a block party so people on your street can get to know each other, collect ten dollars from each player.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know that I want you to be a neighbor in my neighborhood, right?
SPEAKER_01: Uh if you have to pay to come to the block party.
SPEAKER_01: You help your neighbors clean up their yards after a big storm, collect$200.
SPEAKER_01: How does that work?
SPEAKER_01: You know, again, it's teaching us in our world that benevolence relates to that.
SPEAKER_01: You help your neighbor bring in her groceries.
SPEAKER_01: She makes you lunch to say thanks, collect$20.
SPEAKER_01: And so everybody tells us that if we give, or the way that universities or hospitals or people who raise money today, the way they talk about that is they really pitch the benefit to you.
SPEAKER_01: A lot of times they'll pitch the benefit of what the organization is doing, but they also pitch that this is a benefit to you if you will do this and help do that.
SPEAKER_01: If you read books on fundraising and generosity, and I have friends that have worked in the fundraising area and all that, there's a whole lot in there about how you're supposed to thank people and tell people what they did and all that kind of stuff.
SPEAKER_01: And all that is designed to get somebody to give you something that came from their pile of money.
SPEAKER_01: And so, in a lot of ways, the way this community chess thing works, it feels a little bit like that in life.
SPEAKER_01: You're walking through life and doing what you're doing, and you run into a banquet or a salesperson or a friend or somebody who asks, can you give from your money to this?
SPEAKER_01: And of course, as we saw last week and understood, when we are finished with this game that we call life, what we have collected and hold on to all goes back in the box.
SPEAKER_01: And I think because of that, we live in a culture where generosity is a word, but it's not really taught as a matter of the heart.
SPEAKER_01: When for Christians, for us, our standard on how we give, on how we invest in eternity, is built on the biblical concept and understanding of generosity as the heart and character of a follower of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to turn with me in your Bibles to 2 Corinthians chapter 8, and we're going to look at a couple of instances, a couple of verses there in that passage that speak to us about generosity, where God is affirming and teaching that truth.
SPEAKER_01: Now, our anchor passage that we have jumped off of for this series comes from the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter 6.
SPEAKER_01: We spent some time in that last week, and I want to remind you of Jesus' instruction and command from that verse.
SPEAKER_01: You're going to 2 Corinthians, just stay there in 2 Corinthians.
SPEAKER_01: And what we know is that Jesus in this message begins this part on finances telling us, do not collect for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.
SPEAKER_01: And even in our definition of giving and sort of the fun way we looked at it today, from monopoly, even that is investing in things here that go away.
SPEAKER_01: Pastor, where I grew up, used to say it's not our job as Christians to make the world a better place from which to go to hell.
SPEAKER_01: That our calling as gospel people is heaven and bringing other people to Christ so that they can be in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: Us looking forward to heaven and the rewards that happen in heaven because of our faithfulness and following Christ here and allowing him to change our character to be like him.
SPEAKER_01: And so Jesus says, don't collect for yourselves treasures here.
SPEAKER_01: They don't last for eternity, but collect for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal, because they can't, because it is protected for eternity by our heavenly Father.
SPEAKER_01: And so he tells us this idea of collecting for ourselves treasures in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: And note he also says, collect for yourselves.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Look, this is impacting your life when you look at eternity and when you invest in eternity, and you are creating for yourself rewards that last forever.
SPEAKER_01: You are creating in the kingdom of God things that last for eternity when your focus is collecting those.
SPEAKER_01: Now, this word collect it means like literally collect.
SPEAKER_01: It's not a one-time deal.
SPEAKER_01: It's not something that you do once, but it is a focal point of our lives that we are pursuing heavenly impact through what we do.
SPEAKER_01: And that's why we tell people about Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: That's why we serve and disciple new believers.
SPEAKER_01: It's why we follow the Great Commission.
SPEAKER_01: It's why we give as a church, it's why we send people out around the world.
SPEAKER_01: For example, we have partnerships in El Salvador and London, and we are helping plant churches and expand the gospel there.
SPEAKER_01: It's why we participate in things like Arkansas Baptist Life and we try to help reach our state and be a part of that cooperative mission to spread the gospel around Arkansas to see revival happen.
SPEAKER_01: It's why we do those things as a church.
SPEAKER_01: And they are natural to a church and the people of God to give and to support missions and ministry and benevolence and evangelism and all the things that we do.
SPEAKER_01: Here in 2 Corinthians chapter 8, you get a very practical passage of Scripture where the churches have come together around the world at that time that were connected through the ministry of Paul and those missions, and they are actually taking offerings, and he is talking about this process and how it works, and how the people in the church give to the church and how the church invests out in ministry to project the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: What's happened is uh there is a uh a famine that is going to come and sweep across a lot of the Roman Empire at that time, and in that time it really had hit Palestine very hard.
SPEAKER_01: The churches in Jerusalem in that area are struggling.
SPEAKER_01: And so what happens is all the other churches around have said, let's let's help our brothers and sisters back in Jerusalem.
SPEAKER_01: Just like we have stepped up as a church to try to help our brothers and sisters in London, began to push the gospel back into that nation and into that key international city.
SPEAKER_01: And so they are collecting an offering and they're discussing that process.
SPEAKER_01: Paul is about to send one of the men named Titus to collect that offering from the churches in Corinth, and he addresses that in this letter.
SPEAKER_01: Sort of follow with me and let's read a few of these places.
SPEAKER_01: As we read some of these select verses in chapter 8 and chapter 9, I want you to watch for certain words.
SPEAKER_01: Now remember, what we're going to talk about today is the biblical standard of giving for us is cheerful generosity.
SPEAKER_01: And I want you to look and see certain key words.
SPEAKER_01: Generous, how often you see the word generous in this passage of scripture.
SPEAKER_01: Excellent or excel, how often you see that word.
SPEAKER_01: Rich and grace.
SPEAKER_01: Now, what does the word grace mean for us?
SPEAKER_01: It is a powerful word.
SPEAKER_01: It means, well, if you take the word mercy, that means when God gives us mercy because of our sin.
SPEAKER_01: It means Jesus forgives us and we do not get what we deserved to get because of our sin.
SPEAKER_01: But we know that God does more than just save us from our sin.
SPEAKER_01: When you've accepted Christ as your Savior, it is his grace that saves us.
SPEAKER_01: And what that means is he goes so far beyond not just giving us what we should have gotten, what we deserve because of our sin, but he goes so far beyond that, and he blesses us with all of the riches in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: Ephesians chapter 1 says, in Christ, we have been blessed with every blessing in heavenly places.
SPEAKER_01: God, when I grew up and learned learning scripture things growing up in church, they taught us this for the definition of grace: God's riches at Christ's expense.
SPEAKER_01: He goes more than just forgiving our sins and saving us, and he adopts us as his child, and he brings us into his family, and he walks with us, and all of the scripture, all of the promises in scripture are sealed in his blood.
SPEAKER_01: We are protected in him forever.
SPEAKER_01: He is building for us a mansion with rewards in heaven, and we will spend an eternity with him there.
SPEAKER_01: We are never alone again.
SPEAKER_01: Once you know Christ as your Savior, the riches of a relationship with him become ours when we have trusted him as our Savior.
SPEAKER_01: And so the word grace is a word of richness and of spiritual riches.
SPEAKER_01: Read with me here, see what happens.
SPEAKER_01: Beginning of verse 1.
SPEAKER_01: We want you to know, brothers, Paul writing to the church, about the grace of God granted to the churches of Macedonia.
SPEAKER_01: It's a different area that he's speaking of.
SPEAKER_01: During a severe testing by affliction, because they're being persecuted, their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed into the wealth of their generosity.
SPEAKER_01: I testify that on their own, according to their ability and beyond their ability, he's talking about their financial ability, they begged us insistently for the privilege of sharing in the ministry to the saints, and not just as we'd hoped they might.
SPEAKER_01: Instead, they gave themselves especially to the Lord, then to us by God's will.
SPEAKER_01: So we urged Titus that just as he had begun you know collecting, going around and collecting the offerings from all the churches, so he should also complete this grace to you.
SPEAKER_01: At the end of the chapter, he tells them Titus is on his way.
SPEAKER_01: Be ready with your offering.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 7 Now as you excel in everything faith, speech, knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love for us, excel also in this grace.
SPEAKER_01: What is that?
SPEAKER_01: The offering that they are collecting for these other churches and brothers and sisters in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: So he brags on them with their faith and their knowledge of Scripture and their diligence and all of that, but he puts their excellence in giving at the same level as those other spiritual truths.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 8 says, I'm not saying this as a command, rather, by means of the diligence of others, I am testing the genuineness of your love.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, we're going to count all these offerings, and I'm going to let everybody know what all the other churches are giving, because I want you to do a self-evaluation of how much you love God by comparing how much you give to the other churches.
SPEAKER_01: That'll shock some modern day Christians today to think about that concept.
SPEAKER_01: He says in verse 9, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: You know God's riches at Christ's expense for our Lord Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Though he was rich, for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty, taking on our sin, you might become rich in God's grace.
SPEAKER_01: Now I am giving an opinion on this because it is profitable for you, who a year ago began not only to do something, but also to desire it.
SPEAKER_01: So he's affirming that they wanted to be a part of this, but now finish the task as well, that just as there was eagerness to desire being a part of it, so there may also be a completion from what you have.
SPEAKER_01: For if the eagerness is there, it is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have.
SPEAKER_01: It is not that there may be relief for others and hardship for you.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, I'm not talking this.
SPEAKER_01: You make yourselves poor so that we can give them money and we can make them rich.
SPEAKER_01: He says that's not what we're doing.
SPEAKER_01: It is in a question of equality.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, it is a question of supporting each other.
SPEAKER_01: At the present time, your surplus is available for their need, so their abundance may also become available for our need, so that it may be equal.
SPEAKER_01: Or in other words, we're in this together.
SPEAKER_01: Now skip with me over to verse 1 of chapter 9.
SPEAKER_01: Now concerning the ministry to the saints, it is necessary for me to write to you, for I know your eagerness, and I brag about you to the Macedonians.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, he went to the Macedonians and did the same thing.
SPEAKER_01: If y'all really want to give to this offering, churches in Macedonia, I need to brag on our brothers and sisters in Christ over in Corinth.
SPEAKER_01: Man, those guys are awesome.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what they pledged to do.
SPEAKER_01: And he's using their excitement to incur the Macedonians, to stir the Macedonians.
SPEAKER_01: And now he's telling the people in Corinth, listen, your commitments stirred the Macedonians.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Achaea has been prepared since last year, and your zeal has stirred up most of them.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, he's bragging on the church because of your passion and your desire to give and your desire to participate, and because of your spiritual spirit of generosity, you have, God has used you to stir these other churches up to be a part of that.
SPEAKER_01: But I sent the brothers to you so that our boasting about you in the matter would not prove empty.
SPEAKER_01: And so you would be prepared, just as I said.
SPEAKER_01: For if any Macedonians come with me and we find you unprepared, we, not to mention you, would be embarrassed.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore I consider it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead to you and arrange in advance the generous gift you promised so that it will be ready as a gift and not we're an extortion or look, y'all promised to do this, and these people are here and y'all hadn't met your thing and that kind of deal.
SPEAKER_01: I had a church I pastored, my first pastorate, and they tell me that the pastor used to call over and find out what the offering was at the end of the service.
SPEAKER_01: And if it wasn't good enough or what he thought it should have been, he'd have the deacons meet him in the parking lot behind the church afterwards and say, okay, fellas, y'all need to pony up and catch up the rest.
SPEAKER_01: By the way, I'll be out at the No, I'm kidding.
SPEAKER_01: That was kind of nervy.
SPEAKER_01: I thought, wow, that's pretty impressive.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know that I could do that.
SPEAKER_01: But it's certainly not how it's supposed to happen, right?
SPEAKER_01: And so he's telling them, I don't want that to happen.
SPEAKER_01: I want your generosity to flow.
SPEAKER_01: And so he is stirring in them to engage and finish what they had had a desire and stirred to happen.
SPEAKER_01: Now he begins to teach about giving.
SPEAKER_01: Look what he says in verse 6.
SPEAKER_01: Remember this: the person who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly.
SPEAKER_01: And the person who sows generously will also reap generously.
SPEAKER_01: My pastor, when I grew up, used to refer to this.
SPEAKER_01: He said people would ask him, Pastor, do we tithe on the net or the gross?
SPEAKER_01: You want net blessings or gross blessings?
SPEAKER_01: Do you want to be sparing or do you want to sow generously?
SPEAKER_01: Each person should do as he has decided in his heart.
SPEAKER_01: See, he's teaching us that generosity is a matter of character.
SPEAKER_01: You'll notice they don't have a goal, there's not a plan, he's not putting that place.
SPEAKER_01: What he's doing is he's pointing them to Jesus, and he's understanding that these moments are opportunities for a Christian to have their heart changed and reflect that heart change in behavior.
SPEAKER_01: And so he says, Each person should do as he's decided in his heart, not reluctantly or out of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver.
SPEAKER_01: That means someone who is joyously engaged in this process, that it is a heart matter for them, and no one even really has to ask.
SPEAKER_01: They just love it.
SPEAKER_01: And God is able to make every grace overflow to you, so that in every way, always having everything you need, you may excel in every good work.
SPEAKER_01: And there's that work again.
SPEAKER_01: He has called our generosity to be excellent as believers.
SPEAKER_01: As it is written.
SPEAKER_01: He scattered, God scattered, God gave to the poor, and God's righteousness endure forever.
SPEAKER_01: And so he gives an illustration of that.
SPEAKER_01: The one, that's Jesus, who provides seed for the sower and bread for food, will provide and multiply your seed and increase the harvest of your righteousness.
SPEAKER_01: You will be enriched in every way for all generosity, which produces thanksgiving to God through us.
SPEAKER_01: For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints, but it is also overflowing in many acts of thanksgiving to God.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, people are giving God credit for what's happened in his body as it impacts their lives.
SPEAKER_01: Therefore, we glorify God for your obedience to the confession of the gospel of Christ and for your generosity in sharing with them and others through the proof provided by this service.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, thank you for your commitment to the gospel and thank you for your faithfulness that you give and serve like you believe the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_01: The testimony of their giving and participation is testimony of the fact that Jesus and the gospel has changed their lives.
SPEAKER_01: And they will have deep affection for you in their prayers on your behalf because of the surpassing grace of God in you.
SPEAKER_01: Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift.
SPEAKER_01: I want to remind you of four principles, and then I want to give you some truths about generosity.
SPEAKER_01: Last week we looked at those four principles, and I'm going to cut them in shorthand for you right here.
SPEAKER_01: There are four principles all throughout Scripture.
SPEAKER_01: We talked about this last week.
SPEAKER_01: God is God, God is provider, God is at work, and God who blesses.
SPEAKER_01: What you say with me?
SPEAKER_01: God is God.
SPEAKER_01: Number two, God is provider.
SPEAKER_01: God is provider.
SPEAKER_01: God is at work.
SPEAKER_01: And God who blesses.
SPEAKER_01: You see those four principles all throughout this scripture.
SPEAKER_01: So let me give you just a word about generosity, and then I want to show you some practical ways it applies in our lives.
SPEAKER_01: Cheerful generosity, it illustrates all four of those principles.
SPEAKER_01: You find all four of those principles here just like they were in Matthew 6.
SPEAKER_01: But I want you to just think about a couple of these truths.
SPEAKER_01: Cheerful generosity from believers, Paul says, reflects the gracious heart of God.
SPEAKER_01: In chapter 8, verse 9, look at what he says.
SPEAKER_01: For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, though he was rich for your sake, he became poor so that by his poverty you might become rich.
SPEAKER_01: The graciousness of salvation and the riches that God bestows on us spiritually, personally, relationally, financially, whatever it is, eternally, all of those riches of salvation, when we give generously, we are reflecting the generous heart of a God who gives, a God who provides, a God who is at work, the God who blesses.
SPEAKER_01: When you give generously, it looks like Jesus has done something in your life.
SPEAKER_01: When we give generously, it meets his standard of excellence.
SPEAKER_01: How many times did you see him command them or encourage them?
SPEAKER_01: Excel in this, excel in this.
SPEAKER_01: This is an area in which you should excel.
SPEAKER_01: Our giving, it reflects the grace of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: I'm giving to the gospel, I'm giving to the building of the church, I'm giving to the ministry of the church because it has changed my life, and I want other lives to be changed.
SPEAKER_01: I'm giving because of what God has done in my life, and now I want to be a part of that, and I want to be a conduit that God uses to impact other people's lives.
SPEAKER_01: It reveals the heart of Jesus when you give.
SPEAKER_01: Again, he uses that illustration.
SPEAKER_01: For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, though he was rich, for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.
SPEAKER_01: Look at what happens here.
SPEAKER_01: He says, as they gave, why would you come and beg in a time of famine and a time of depression?
SPEAKER_01: Beg to be a part of giving to other people somewhere else.
SPEAKER_01: Because of what God had done in your heart, and it reflects that heart of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Again, look what he describes why they gave this way.
SPEAKER_01: He says, I testify in verse 3 that according to their own ability and beyond their ability, they begged us for the privilege of sharing.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 5, he says, and not just as we had hoped, they gave themselves especially to the Lord and then to us by God's will.
SPEAKER_01: Because they had given themselves to Jesus, God is God and He is our God, and now I am going to give myself to Him.
SPEAKER_01: It is going to produce action in my life.
SPEAKER_01: When we give generously, it creates praises to God.
SPEAKER_01: I love this in chapter 9, towards the end, here in verse 13.
SPEAKER_01: They will glorify God for your obedience to the confession of the gospel of Christ and for your generosity in sharing with them and with others through the proof provided by this service.
SPEAKER_01: It's incredible to think when we give, and then when we impact through Arkansas Baptist Ministry or Lottie Moon, or you think about the impact that we are having as a church as we're serving Brother Ugo and those who are planting that church in El Salvador, or you think about people in London who probably couldn't find Arkansas on a map and are grateful for you because of what we have begun doing in the developing partnership there.
SPEAKER_01: They are worshiping the Lord and praising him for what he is doing that flows out of the generosity of what he's done in our hearts.
SPEAKER_01: When you give, it stirs other believers.
SPEAKER_01: Man, I love this.
SPEAKER_01: This is one of my favorite places in Scripture.
SPEAKER_01: Verse 2, I brag about you to the Macedonians.
SPEAKER_01: Your zeal has stirred up most of them.
SPEAKER_01: Isn't that exciting?
SPEAKER_01: Don't you want to be a blessing, an impact?
SPEAKER_01: Don't you want to stir other folks?
SPEAKER_01: Don't you want them to say, look at that church and what they are doing, and we want to be a part of that?
SPEAKER_01: And then it moves God's heart of generosity.
SPEAKER_01: Remember one of those four things.
SPEAKER_01: The last one is the God who blesses.
SPEAKER_01: Remember, Jesus says in Matthew 6, why are you worried about what you need when God knows and he provides and he blesses?
SPEAKER_01: Here in this passage of Scripture, he reminds again, chapter 9, verse 7, God loves a cheerful giver, and God is able to make every grace overflow to you so that in every way, always having everything you need.
SPEAKER_01: Is that incredible?
SPEAKER_01: Can you get any bigger words than that?
SPEAKER_01: Make every grace overflow so that in every way, always having everything you need, you may excel in every good work.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, you can't outgive God.
SPEAKER_01: That is why we say that.
SPEAKER_01: I've spent my life as a pastor watching Southern Baptists try to save God money because somehow we think he's going to run out in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: It's unbelievable.
SPEAKER_01: Well, Pastor, we can't do that.
SPEAKER_01: Pastor, can we do that?
SPEAKER_01: Pastor, what does the budget say about that?
SPEAKER_01: Who cares?
SPEAKER_01: How big is your God?
SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying we should be foolish and I'm not saying we shouldn't plan.
SPEAKER_01: I'm a planner.
SPEAKER_01: We plan.
SPEAKER_01: But listen, at some point it's got to grab our heart.
SPEAKER_01: What can we do if God's heart of generosity flows through us in our generosity?
SPEAKER_01: What happens if that happens?
SPEAKER_01: We couldn't create enough opportunities to do ministry if God moved.
SPEAKER_01: If we began to be biblically generous in what we do.
SPEAKER_01: So let me give you some practical tips about how to do this in our lives.
SPEAKER_01: When we start defining what actual terms are, people ask specific questions, and that's good.
SPEAKER_01: You should.
SPEAKER_01: Pastor, how much am I supposed to give?
SPEAKER_01: Pastor, is tithing an Old Testament thing or a New Testament thing?
SPEAKER_01: Are we required to do that?
SPEAKER_01: Pastor, why don't we set a goal for this?
SPEAKER_01: Pastor, why don't we set a goal for that?
SPEAKER_01: Pastor, how do we do this?
SPEAKER_01: Pastor, is that a.
SPEAKER_01: And those are great questions, and we should ask those things.
SPEAKER_01: We should be practical, and it should make a difference in your lives.
SPEAKER_01: So here's some things I want you to see from this passage of scripture.
SPEAKER_01: First of all, sacrificial giving from your circumstances.
SPEAKER_01: It's the way I've couched that.
SPEAKER_01: There are three ways that the Bible talks about giving in these two chapters.
SPEAKER_01: There are people who give below their ability, there are people who give according to their ability.
SPEAKER_01: That's mentioned twice.
SPEAKER_01: And then there are people who give beyond their ability.
SPEAKER_01: And that's a matter of faith.
SPEAKER_01: A Christian should always live in the tension between giving according to my ability and giving beyond my ability.
SPEAKER_01: Because if you're not in that tension, where have you tripped into generosity?
SPEAKER_01: Where have you tripped into faith?
SPEAKER_01: Where have you tripped into sacrificial giving?
SPEAKER_01: If you think about it, there's a lot more that we could give and we could change that really isn't even a sacrifice.
SPEAKER_01: It's amazing when we begin to think through, okay, I want to reflect the heart of God and be generous, and so I want to give and I want to give, and then we start making decisions of priorities.
SPEAKER_01: It's amazing how many things here, there, this, that we can get rid of.
SPEAKER_01: We don't even miss because we want to lay up for ourselves, we want to collect treasures in heaven.
SPEAKER_01: Are you pursuing sacrificial giving?
SPEAKER_01: Not wrecking your family or anything like that, because the Bible also says a person who doesn't provide for his family is worse than a pagan.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: And it says that.
SPEAKER_01: So we're required to do that, right?
SPEAKER_01: We're required to take care of things and pay things.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, I want to give you an illustration to get you to think about.
SPEAKER_01: Randy Alcorn, in a book on money, wealth, and heaven, quotes from a guy named Claude Rosenberg who devoted years to researching America's giving habits and potential.
SPEAKER_01: He quotes from this book, Wealthy and Wise, How You in America Can Get the Most Out of Your Giving.
SPEAKER_01: Now listen to these stats.
SPEAKER_01: Most of us as Americans give away less than 10% of what we could afford to give.
SPEAKER_01: Not 10% of our income, but 10% of what we can afford to give.
SPEAKER_01: Even without making significant lifestyle changes.
SPEAKER_01: He argues that Americans giving away 2% of their income could actually give away 20% of their income with simply wiser choices about what they spend.
SPEAKER_01: Just that change, he says, Americans could easily donate over$100 billion more every year without a lifestyle change.
SPEAKER_01: Is that stunning?
SPEAKER_01: Stats tell us that between 15 and 20% of church members tithe, 35% of church members say they tithe.
SPEAKER_01: I would suggest that the second category is worse to be in than the not giving category.
SPEAKER_01: And so what Paul says is listen, give according to your ability, but he then affirms the other church, stirring them up they gave beyond their ability.
SPEAKER_01: And then he says, in this context, you give, and God is the one who is providing what you give.
SPEAKER_01: That's that whole, if you're sowing seeds, the one who provides gave it to you to sow it.
SPEAKER_01: And he's giving you what you have.
SPEAKER_01: And if you recognize that it's not your money because God is the provider and he's given it to you, then you are then you are simply being a steward and investing what he's given.
SPEAKER_01: It came from him, there's more from him.
SPEAKER_01: He provides, he meets those needs.
SPEAKER_01: God is provider, and if we're not giving sacrificially, we never get to that second principle that God is actually providing for us.
SPEAKER_01: And so you look at where you are, you see your circumstances, but you also begin to push yourself to sacrifice.
SPEAKER_01: What does that feel like?
SPEAKER_01: It is in that moving into sacrifice that we begin to move into generosity.
SPEAKER_01: Number two, not sparingly.
SPEAKER_01: Again, Scripture says the person who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly.
SPEAKER_01: And the person who sows generously will also reap generously.
SPEAKER_01: What do you want to reap?
SPEAKER_01: Our desire should be to reap a heart that is a generous heart that reflects the heart of God.
SPEAKER_01: And in order to do that, we have to engage our character by making choices of faith to give generously, to sow generously, so we are having that heart change that moves us into a heart that reflects the heart of God.
SPEAKER_01: Not sparingly, but generously.
SPEAKER_01: In Galatians chapter 6, there's another illustration of this sowing and reaping.
SPEAKER_01: And he says, Don't be mocked.
SPEAKER_01: Whatever a man sows, that will he also reap.
SPEAKER_01: Pastor War grew up used to teach us all the time the rules of sowing and reaping.
SPEAKER_01: You reap what you sow, you reap more than you sow, and you reap later than you sow.
SPEAKER_01: When you begin to sow, you have seeds, and you sow those seeds, and then you reap more than you sow.
SPEAKER_01: It turns into wheat and it turns into a field.
SPEAKER_01: But that takes time.
SPEAKER_01: You reap later than you sow.
SPEAKER_01: But you reap what you sow.
SPEAKER_01: So what are you sowing?
SPEAKER_01: Are you sowing seeds of generosity in your character?
SPEAKER_01: Are you giving to the Lord because you want to reflect him?
SPEAKER_01: Or are you counting dimes and I can only do this or I'll only have to do that?
SPEAKER_01: Number three, it is appropriate to check yourself by the diligence of others.
SPEAKER_01: I want you to look at what he says repeatedly.
SPEAKER_01: He is encouraging all of these different churches.
SPEAKER_01: He told the Macedonian churches what Corinth had done.
SPEAKER_01: He's telling Corinth what the Macedonian churches had done.
SPEAKER_01: He's going back and forth, helping this understand this in practical terms what giving means and how it's impacting their lives as believers in these churches.
SPEAKER_01: But listen to what he says in verse 7.
SPEAKER_01: He is challenging them to excel in giving.
SPEAKER_01: As you excel in everything, faith, speech, knowledge, and in all diligence and in your love for us, excel also in this grace.
SPEAKER_01: I am not saying this as a command.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, he's saying, I am not trying to arm twist you.
SPEAKER_01: The way I say this in my life, and I've told you before, I'm not a fundraiser, I'm a preacher.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not trying to raise money.
SPEAKER_01: That's not what we do as a church.
SPEAKER_01: We give as believers, we fuel the ministry as God leads, and we are gospel people sharing the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: And that's what Paul is basically saying.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not trying to arm twist you, but he says, rather, by means of the diligence of others, I am testing the genuineness of your love or your passion for the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, he's saying, listen, you check yourself, you look at your brothers and sisters in Christ, you look at other churches, how are they giving?
SPEAKER_01: Are we in line?
SPEAKER_01: Are we stepping into the ministry?
SPEAKER_01: I just need to check and see how is my passion?
SPEAKER_01: Am I in line with people who really are sacrificially giving?
SPEAKER_01: And then what that says to me from an accountability standard, or as Proverbs says, as iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.
SPEAKER_01: He is saying, listen, when you compare that way, it is you are you are engaging this self-evaluation of, I can't just look at somebody over here and say I'm better than them because I look at them also.
SPEAKER_01: I can't just say I'm better than them because they're here also.
SPEAKER_01: And I am broadly looking and evaluating and asking the Lord to show me where is my passion level and am I giving as I should be giving?
SPEAKER_01: Am I sharing as I should be sharing?
SPEAKER_01: Am I serving as I should be serving?
SPEAKER_01: That's one of the reasons that we're in a church together, that we're a church family.
SPEAKER_01: That's one of the reasons it's so important to be in the body.
SPEAKER_01: It's more than just watching a message or watching online or other things, and those are great, and praise the Lord, we provide those, and I want us to continue to do that because we are reaching out with the gospel, calling people in.
SPEAKER_01: But listen, being here and being a part, rubbing shoulders, participating, being there in line, giving an offering with everybody else that gave and being a part of that.
SPEAKER_01: We are stirring each other up.
SPEAKER_01: We are challenging, encouraging, lifting each other up.
SPEAKER_01: We are stirring each other up in this process.
SPEAKER_01: When you give next week, you want to be a part of what your brothers and sisters are doing.
SPEAKER_01: And that is a critical part.
SPEAKER_01: Whether it is challenging you to have a quiet time, whether it is taking you out to witness so you can learn how to share your faith, or whether it's participating in an offering, it's all the same thing.
SPEAKER_01: Paul makes it clear as you excel in everything, faith, speech, knowledge, and in all diligence and in your love for us, excel in this also.
SPEAKER_01: And so we compare ourselves to that.
SPEAKER_01: Well, how would I do that, Pastor?
SPEAKER_01: Because we live in a world today where everybody else on the planet that is dealing with money deals with it openly.
SPEAKER_01: And so if you're a part of the friends of the hospital or if you give to the University of Arkansas or wherever you went to school or whatever it is, they know your name, they know how much you give, they send you stuff, they send you thank yous, they do all that.
SPEAKER_01: And we do that in every other aspect of life, but Lord have mercy on the pastor if he ever looked at what people give in the church.
SPEAKER_01: Now I'm not asking to do that, so don't panic on me right here, right?
SPEAKER_01: I remember one time I've I've preached so many times on these things through the years.
SPEAKER_01: I remember one time I had pulled a statistical evaluation of the church, and I had just looked at it in age blocks of 10 years, and here's the average giving them in their 20s, and average giving in their 30s, and average giving in their 40s, average giving in their 50s.
SPEAKER_01: And I explained to them five times, this is an average, this is an average.
SPEAKER_01: I didn't even calculate the average.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know, and I was being very careful with all of them.
SPEAKER_01: And some guy came running up afterwards and he goes, I can't believe that you look at everybody's tithing records and you are trying to find out who's tithing or not.
SPEAKER_01: And I said, Brother, there's only two people in the church I know where they tithe.
SPEAKER_01: I know that I do, and I know that you don't, or you wouldn't be that mad.
SPEAKER_01: But if you think about it, everybody else is doing all that.
SPEAKER_01: So how in the church do we do that?
SPEAKER_01: How do we create that diligence by evaluating by other people?
SPEAKER_01: Well, let me give you some thoughts about it.
SPEAKER_01: First of all, if you think about this is what tithing does for us.
SPEAKER_01: Now I'm gonna tell you, I'm gonna stake the ground.
SPEAKER_01: Janet and I tithe, we believe in tithing, we always believe in tithing.
SPEAKER_01: And we give offerings above and beyond our tithe.
SPEAKER_01: So I'm not trying to brag on us, I'm trying to give a testimony, okay?
SPEAKER_01: So next week, we're gonna give an offering that we believe is sacrificial and generous, and it is above and beyond the gross tithes that we give and other stuff that we do.
SPEAKER_01: I believe that you give to the church first.
SPEAKER_01: So we have other people we give to.
SPEAKER_01: We give generously to love worth finding, and I'm the president of the board of trustees there.
SPEAKER_01: We give some to Colonial Williamsburg because we love that.
SPEAKER_01: We give I give to the World War II Museum in New Orleans because we love that.
SPEAKER_01: But all of that is far and above, beyond first tithes and offerings to the church.
SPEAKER_01: Because the church of God is who we are a member of first.
SPEAKER_01: I can help other things, but I belong to you and you belong to me because we belong to Jesus together.
SPEAKER_01: And so I believe in the world.
SPEAKER_01: Tithes and offerings.
SPEAKER_01: Now, this is when some people come home and go, Well, that's an old testament thing.
SPEAKER_01: And then they want to get all eggheady, academic about, you know, this is Old Testament, this is a New Testament.
SPEAKER_01: And then other go, well, Jesus fulfilled the law, he didn't abolish it, and you get all this kind of stuff.
SPEAKER_01: And then you go look at things like uh the Pharisees, and Jesus is literally standing at the position where he can watch people giving the plate.
SPEAKER_01: And a Pharisee comes up and gives, and then the lady who's the widow, who's famous, she comes up and gives her widow's might, and Jesus says, She gave more than everybody else because she gave everything that she had.
SPEAKER_01: He's teaching generosity.
SPEAKER_01: And then they get mad about him doing that, and he says, Listen, I'm not saying you shouldn't give.
SPEAKER_01: I'm saying you ought to give according to the law and you ought to do everything else.
SPEAKER_01: So Jesus affirmed tithing.
SPEAKER_01: Multiple times he did.
SPEAKER_01: And then you get some other egghead guy who comes in and goes, Well, that's in the period between, you know, Jesus went to the cross and he wasn't off the cross yet, and you have this thing.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, who cares about all that stuff?
SPEAKER_01: If you're arguing about those things, why are you arguing about those things?
SPEAKER_01: Most people who are arguing about them are arguing about them so that they can spare some of their giving when God has called us to generosity.
SPEAKER_01: So let me give you a different way to look at it.
SPEAKER_01: If Scripture is telling us that you are to compare yourself to the people around you who presumably are your church brothers and sisters in Christ, and our responsibility is to encourage each other to be like Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: So this is not a negative competition.
SPEAKER_01: This is a self-evaluation, iron sharpening, iron thing that helps us do that.
SPEAKER_01: So why not do a tithe?
SPEAKER_01: Why not challenge yourself to a tithe when other people in the church are tithing?
SPEAKER_01: It is a biblical standard that is recognized in Scripture.
SPEAKER_01: It predates the law.
SPEAKER_01: So again, don't give me this law business.
SPEAKER_01: Go read the stories.
SPEAKER_01: Job tithed before the law.
SPEAKER_01: Abram tithed before the law.
SPEAKER_01: Jacob tithed before the law.
SPEAKER_01: Before it was even a nation of Israel yet, they tithed.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus spoke positively about the tithe.
SPEAKER_01: And then we are challenged to give consistently and give to the church and to give generously.
SPEAKER_01: So how do you define generosity?
SPEAKER_01: Well, why not use a biblical standard?
SPEAKER_01: So whether you want to argue about whether it's the law or not, who cares?
SPEAKER_01: It is a biblical standard given all throughout Scripture, always taught positively about, always affirmed in Scripture by the Lord.
SPEAKER_01: So why not set that as a standard?
SPEAKER_01: Let me strive for that and start there.
SPEAKER_01: It's a biblical standard that I can use.
SPEAKER_01: Then it is an objective comparison that I can check my diligence by others.
SPEAKER_01: You can ask somebody about tithing, and you're not asking them what they give.
SPEAKER_01: You're not asking them what they make.
SPEAKER_01: Do you tithe?
SPEAKER_01: How do you tithe?
SPEAKER_01: How do you get there?
SPEAKER_01: It's been incredible in my journey as a pastor to see so many times where young couples would come and one of them would say, Pastor, I want to tithe.
SPEAKER_01: And maybe the husband or the wife, whichever it was, both ways.
SPEAKER_01: He'll say, Listen, I never heard of tithing until I started coming to church with him.
SPEAKER_01: What does that mean?
SPEAKER_01: And how do you do that?
SPEAKER_01: And she just went out and bought a new SUV.
SPEAKER_01: How am I supposed to give 10%?
SPEAKER_01: And they got, listen, that's great.
SPEAKER_01: Let's just start where you are and work towards that.
SPEAKER_01: When God speaks in Malachi 3.10 and he talks about the tithe, and he says, you are robbing me and what I own by not giving me my tithes.
SPEAKER_01: He then turns right around and says, Test me as God in this in Malachi 3.10.
SPEAKER_01: You step out in faith and give, and you see if I don't open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing so great on your life, you can't even catch all the blessings.
SPEAKER_01: Four principles the God who provides, the God who blesses.
SPEAKER_01: So it is an objective standard.
SPEAKER_01: I can work within the church.
SPEAKER_01: I can challenge myself to be a tither like the others who are tithing.
SPEAKER_01: Tithing and giving beyond that tithe, I can work through that.
SPEAKER_01: I can take that biblical challenge that Paul gives, and I can step into that process and grow to be like my brothers and sisters in Christ.
SPEAKER_01: I can ask people to help me with that.
SPEAKER_01: Let me give you another challenge.
SPEAKER_01: If you are a believer and you tithe, and the Bible clearly describes in this passage that generosity is stirring other believers, then what you ought to do is help people test themselves by the dealings of others.
SPEAKER_01: So you need to go into your Sunday school group next week and you need to start sharing testimonies of God's faithfulness because you tithe.
SPEAKER_01: Help people grow in that.
SPEAKER_01: Encourage their faith.
SPEAKER_01: If they're supposed to be checking themselves by some standard, then open your heart up and share with them and share with them God's provision and help them grow and be a part of that.
SPEAKER_01: Share with people that and make it work.
SPEAKER_01: It's a percentage basis.
SPEAKER_01: It's 10% is the tithe.
SPEAKER_01: It provides equal sacrifice all throughout these passages of scripture.
SPEAKER_01: Time, we don't have to go back and read them again.
SPEAKER_01: You read them, we read them together.
SPEAKER_01: He says, listen, it's about us participating together.
SPEAKER_01: He's not trying to penalize people.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, we have regressive taxes all over our culture.
SPEAKER_01: The lottery, shame on people who voted for that.
SPEAKER_01: It's the most regressive tax on poor people that has ever been concocted in the heart and mind of lost mankind.
SPEAKER_01: Period.
SPEAKER_01: The sales tax is a regressive tax.
SPEAKER_01: And in Arkansas, you people, y'all crazy enough.
SPEAKER_01: You've been affirming paying it on food for decades.
SPEAKER_01: Nobody else does that.
SPEAKER_01: Why do we do that?
SPEAKER_01: That's a regressive tax.
SPEAKER_01: Over and over and over, all these things are regressive taxes.
SPEAKER_01: All that kind of stuff.
SPEAKER_01: Listen, God is not in that business.
SPEAKER_01: God is trying to change our character, and so he gives a tithe.
SPEAKER_01: 10%, 10%, 10%.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody's working in the same direction.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody's challenging the same growth.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody's pursuing the same work of God in our lives together.
SPEAKER_01: And then it sets a biblical rationale for you moving beyond grudgingly and sparingly.
SPEAKER_01: What is the definition of generosity?
SPEAKER_01: Well, if you make$50,000 a year, it's one dollar amount.
SPEAKER_01: If you make$150,000 a year, it's another dollar amount.
SPEAKER_01: If you make$550,000 a year, it's a different dollar amount.
SPEAKER_01: But generosity doesn't change.
SPEAKER_01: The call to the heart does not change.
SPEAKER_01: And so if I'm going to live between according to my ability and beyond my ability, I've got to find some path to get there where I am talking with the Lord and He says, more or enough.
SPEAKER_01: That's good, Greg, and blesses.
SPEAKER_01: I've not asked you to do that, Greg.
SPEAKER_01: Don't do that.
SPEAKER_01: Somewhere in your home, you've got to get to that standard.
SPEAKER_01: So why not start with a biblical rationale infirmed in Scripture of tithes and offerings and begin to work in that direction?
SPEAKER_01: Why?
SPEAKER_01: Because we want God to bring us to a place of generosity.
SPEAKER_01: Want you to bow your heads as we close.
SPEAKER_01: I have described as clearly as I can in my feeble mind what it means to be saved, the riches of salvation that come from Christ's expense.
SPEAKER_01: If you've never accepted Christ as your Savior, why would you do this?
SPEAKER_01: It's because you know that He made Himself sin and died on the cross in your place so that you can be saved.
SPEAKER_01: If you've never trusted Christ as your Savior, we're going to end the service this morning.
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to pray.
SPEAKER_01: God's people are going to stand and sing a testimony of salvation.
SPEAKER_01: And if you've never trusted Christ as your Savior, I'm going to invite you to come.
SPEAKER_01: Some of this doesn't even make sense until you understand what Paul said, that Jesus became poverty so that we could become rich.
SPEAKER_01: He became sin for us so that we could be saved and forgiven and clean.
SPEAKER_01: If you've never accepted Christ as your Savior, I'm going to pray.
SPEAKER_01: God's people are going to stand and sing.
SPEAKER_01: We have pastors at the head of the aisles.
SPEAKER_01: If you need Jesus, you come.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, we give this time to you.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, we ask that this picture of your grace will speak to lives.
SPEAKER_01: And if someone needs Jesus, Lord, call them to yourself.
SPEAKER_01: It is in your name we pray, and all God's people said.
SPEAKER_00: We pray this message has been a blessing to you and helped to strengthen your walk with Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Please know we want to minister to you and pray for you.
SPEAKER_00: Send an email to contact us at fsfbc.org and let us pray for you and help you in any way we can.
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to Chapter and First, the Bible Teaching Ministry of Fort Smith First Baptist Church.