Getting to the Heart of Giving Part II

Man, praise God for the lamb. Would you buy your

heads with me as we pray for the proclamation of

God's word. Heavenly Father, we have lifted up high the

name of Jesus, and it is right that we would

do so. Is by his death and your grace to

us through him, that we have been made right before you.

We stand with the righteousness of Christ before a holy God,

by your grace alone, united to Him by faith. And

we know that that work, that work which is finished,

is also continuing in the work of sanctification, That the

righteousness that you have given us before you is being

worked out in our very lives. Not only are we

in Christ, we're becoming like Christ through your power. That

is not something we can do on our own. Not

none of us can move forward one inch, can grow

and mature and sanctify ourselves one drop. We step forward

in faith, and then you do the work by the

power of your spirit through your word. So Lord, we

ask desperately but confidently, would you, as we open up

your word, would you open up our hearts, and as

your word sails through our hearts, as we feed on it,

as we are wounded by it, as we are healed

by it, as we are chipped away by what your

scripture has to say about who we are and who

you are and the work that you've done. Would you

change us? We need changing in Jesus name. Amen. Just

grab our bibles. Grab our bibles and turn to One

Timothy chapter six. That's where we're going to start this morning.

And if you don't have a Bible with you, just

raise your hand. We're passing those out right now. Just

raise your hand and keep it up. If you need

a bible or a bulletin or a pencil or anything

like that, and we will get it to you. This

is also a good time for me to remind you

to please fill out a connection card. That is a

really important pastoral tool for us. If you're a member

here or you're a guest, you come here a lot,

or maybe this is your first time. Either way, you

got the whole worship service to do that. Just use

the QR code that's in the bulletin on the seatback,

And we just asked that everybody fill out a connection

card that we would know that you're here by name.

Knowing that you hear that you are here by name

is really important for us as a pastoral team, and

that's also where you can leave a prayer request that

we have got a whole team of people who will

be praying with you throughout this next week for those

prayer requests. If you're somewhat new, leave some contact information.

We'll follow up with you. There's also a table called

Step one in the in the lobby. If you're new here,

we would love to connect with you there answer whatever

questions we can about God's Word, about the gospel of

Jesus Christ, about what it means to be a part

of a local church, and the discipleship life of a

local church, and welcome you into that. Okay. One Timothy

chapter six, let me just finish my my getting set

here because I'm gonna use this iPad this morning. It

all gets oh no, not that one, this one, it

all gets so complicated. Be good back there, all right,

Oh there we are. One Timothy chapter six actually has

several passages about biblical stewardship, and we've been in a

three part series. This is our last part on biblical

stewardship in the local church and the life of the believer.

Let me read this passage from first Timothy six. But

we are actually going to be in a whole lot

of different scriptures throughout our time. This morning, we're gonna

be in various scriptures, but I want to read this

one in particular. One Timothy six verses seventeen through nineteen

reads this way, as for the rich in this age,

charge them not to be haughty or to set their

hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who

richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to

do good, to be rich in good works, and to

be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure

for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so

that they may take hold of that which is truly life,

that which is truly life. This morning, we're talking about

the internals, the internals of giving, the internals. In the

Christian life, what's important the externals are the internals? You

think it's a trick question. Uh, yes, the externals and

the internals. But let me ask the question just a

little bit differently. In the Christian life, what is more important?

The internals are the externals. That's right, the internals are

more important than the externals. In fact, the externals are

to be an outflow of the internals, right, They're supposed

to flow from the internals. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees by

saying this, you're the kind of hypocrites who clean the

outside of the cup and the inside of the cup

is still filthy. Get the inside clean and the outside also,

the internals are way more important than the mirror externals.

And so in our look at biblical stewardship, we've approached

this from the outside in in order to end with

the most important part, the outside in. If you remember,

and this is going to be a long recap, are

you ready for a long recap? This means yes, okay,

good long recap. If you remember, we started, first of

all talking about biblical stewardship like this started by talking

about spending, right, that the Bible teaches us that God

gives us good gifts to enjoy with contentment. We all

need to grow in contentment and discipline, right, enjoy with

contentment and discipline. And that saving and investing is actually

a biblical instruction as well, that we would save some

seed for sewing, not to gobble up everything that God

puts into our hands right away. That's foolish, but that

he actually gives us the capacity to invest for the future.

And then that first week we didn't talk about giving

at all, and then we moved on to giving, so

we went kind of like this, spending, saving, giving the Bible.

The Bible advocates for an order in our own personal

lives that looks like this, give right, give first, and

best right first fruits. The first thing we do with

what God puts into our hands is to give. And

there's a reason for that. It's tied to worship, it's

tied to selflessness, it's tied to acknowledging that everything is

is we give first, then save and invest, and then spend.

Of course, most people, most people, it looks like this,

spend and then save and then give. Of course, in

that order, it's easy to spend without discipline, and we

can find ourselves in debt, right, debt, which we didn't

talk much about in either of the two first messages.

Debt is never spoken of positively in the Bible, always negatively,

which isn't to say that there's a biblic command to

never borrow money. That's not the case, but it's all

put in the negative. Sometimes there are things that you

need to do that. There's no other way but to

borrow money. But it is a dangerous proposition. The Bible

says that the debtor is slave to the lender. If

you get it, get rid of it. And we talked

about mister Dave Ramsey, that salty guy, Love him, love him.

He's gonna tell you exactly, He's gonna tell you exactly

what to do, step by step, and has helped I

don't know thousands and thousands of people who have made

poor stewardship's decisions. Finally, over the course of time, get

out of debt, reverse bad stewardship decisions, and move forward

in more biblical stewardship. Praise the Lord for him. And

let me just say, I don't want to fail to mention.

If you feel like, man, I've made a mess of things,

we will help you. We have several people who are

very skilled in helping others turn their stewardship situations around,

help them get out of debt, help them get on

a path of old Dave would call it financial peace

that's worth having. Then we talked about the practicalities, the

practicalities of giving. Our question was what does the Bible

instruct us in how does the Bible guide us in

the practicalities of giving. We've approached it this way, Why give?

How give? Why give? And how give? And the why

to giving this is that God is more interested in

doing things in you through giving than he is in

doing things through you through giving. Several passages throughout the

Bible show that though that people are, we're all called

to do things with our money through our giving. God

does way more in us and for us through giving

than he does through us. That's why give, It's for us.

And then we talked about how give, how give? This

was the phrase that I used that through Old Testament tithing,

although it's not a New Testament command, tithing teaches us

some timeless truths about giving that carry forward in the

New Testament. Giving should be proportional, planned generous to God

through his congregation. Proportional planned generous to God through his congregation.

We see that throughout the Old Testament through tithing, and

then it carries forward in the New Testament and several

different passages. And so tell me, if it doesn't seem

tempting to you that you could just come up with

a proportion a percentage, maybe ten percent. Because of the

example that's been set by so many as in so

many in the past, come up with a proportion, set

it up on auto pay, to go to your local

church and call it good. Seems tempting to me. Seems

like a pretty good setup. I know many people have

done exactly that. But here's the thing. All of that,

as good as that might be, as external, it's all external,

and the internal matters way more. You know this to

be true. The internals matter way more. And so this morning,

now that we've finished a very long recap, I just

want to look at what should be going on inside

when it comes to giving, and what shouldn't be going

on inside when it comes to giving. What should be

going on and what shouldn't be going on when it

comes to giving away this proportional, planned and generous to

God through his congregation. And because it's just my personality,

I'm going to start with the negative. What should not

be going on inside when it comes to giving. What

should not be going on? Well, we shouldn't be giving

in order to convince others of your righteousness. It's not

what it's about. Jesus speaks to that specifically in Matthew six.

So when you give don't be like the hypocrites who

give as a matter of show so that other people

can be convinced of their righteousness. Instead, give like it's

a secret, because your heavenly father, who sees in secret,

will reward you. Pastor Treebs just gave a testimony about

a time in which he was in a church where

actually what was how he was handling his finances and

and what what giving looked like was was actually something

that was very shared amongst others. And it would be

easy to say, I want to make sure why not

do something good? People notice? I mean you want recognition, right,

You don't want everything you do to be recognized, but

there's some things you want recognized. The question is this,

do you think you have to worry about being recognized

for what you do in giving? Jesus is making it

clear you do not have to worry about getting your props.

God sees it all. Everything you do will be recognized,

for better or worse, and what you do in giving

will be seen and rewarded and recognized by your father

in heaven. You never have to worry about getting respect

and recognition from anybody else. You never have to convince

anybody else of your righteousness through your giving. That shouldn't

that shouldn't be allowed to take harbor in your heart

as a motivation. If you sense it, you should kick

it out. That doesn't mean, by the way, that doesn't

mean that there's never a time for any kind of

public giving or mutual encouragement through giving. We see that

throughout the scriptures as well. We see that in First Corinthians, sorry,

First Chronicles twenty nine. We see that in the example

of Barnabas in the New Testament Church. There are times

in which we encourage one another through our giving, but

the motivation, the motivation to look good in front of others,

needs to be expelled from our hearts. What else shouldn't

be going on inside?

Well, we can put it this way, convincing.

Yourself of your righteousness. Jesus speaks to those Pharisees again.

They were the best tithers. They It would get down

to their herb gardens. Anybody got an herb garden, like

a little like window box or anything like that, where

you grow like basil and stuff like that. Nobody wants

to admit it. Thank you, thank you. They would take

a tenth of everything they grew in their herb garden

and they'd bind it up and they'd bring it to

and give it to God. And they're like, you know what,

I'm a tither. This is this look. I'm obeying the

rules everything on the outside. We want to make sure

we get this taken care of. And Jesus says, you

think that you are right because you've taken care of

these precise giving things on the outside. You've been so

meticulous about the outside. Yet what you have neglected is

justice and see an actual love for God by all means.

Do what's right on the outside, but don't neglect the

weightier matters that nobody can see. Are you using the

meticulousness with which you give, maybe even the volume with

which you give the numbers with what you give as

sort of a force field? Right? Like, God, what's going

on in the outside looks pretty good, So I want

that to create a little force field so that it

don't confront me about what's going on the inside. Let's

talk numbers, not heart. That should not be going on,

should not be going on on the inside. What else

should not be going on on the inside? Giving, sorry,

giving should not be detached from worship, should not be

detached from worship and Isaiah twenty nine, God confronts the people,

saying this, people, they honor me with their lips, but

their heart is far from me. They honor me with

what they say, they honor me with what they sing,

They honor me with what they bring and give, and

yet their heart is elsewhere. They're detached from worship. Sounds

like a pretty good setup. Put it up on auto pay.

What happens when autopay becomes autopilot. I'm not knocking it.

Lots of people I respect do it. I do it.

But what happens when you said it so that you

don't forget it? And it becomes I said it so

I can forget it, so I can stop thinking about

giving my first and best to God? And it becomes

completely detached from my heart and from my worship. God

confronts the people again in Malachi Malachi chapter one. He

says this, I wish somebody would lock the doors to

my temple, because they, as the people come, they come

bringing their sacrifices to give some, but not their first

and best. They come to give some, and just like, okay,

check I've given, I've sacrificed, but it's not their first

and best. It's detached from worship. Their heart is not

in it. What happens when our giving becomes about giving

but not about our first and best. This is actually

deadly serious. We're not talking about slight course corrections. Really,

we're talking about there's a snake living in your house.

Jesus says, you cannot serve both God and mammon. You

cannot love both God and manon and Mamon is kind

of an archaic term. Doesn't mean money exactly. It means

the spiritual power that money has in the human heart.

Mammon is about the spiritual power that money has in

the human heart, and it is powerful. Jesus says, you

cannot serve God and the power that money has in

your heart. You cannot serve both. You cannot love both.

So the power that money has is the power to

actually push you away from worship of the One True God.

You think that sitting there, you think, I will always

love the Lord. I would never grow cold toward him.

I will always desire him. He has my worship, And

Jesus is telling you that money has the power to

push you away from worshiping God. Paul says it also

write in one Timothy chapter six, that chapter that we

read up a top earlier in the chapter, he says

this those who desire was his verse nine of chapter six.

Those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into

a snare, in many senseless and harmful desires that plunge

people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money

is a root of all kinds of evils. And it

is through this craving that some have wandered away from

the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. I don't

know how many words there are to emphasize their ruin, pangs, pierced, temptation, snare.

I'm talking. It's serious. This isn't a mere mild course

correction that has to do with Excel spreadsheets. This is

about your heart before the living God. What should be

going on? What should be going on inside when it

comes to giving well First, Corinthia, sorry Tewod Corinthians Chapter

nine says this, God loves a cheerful giver pulses. I

don't want anybody to give out a compulsion or like reluctance,

because God loves a cheerful giver, which is not to

say well, God, I'm I feel a sense of compulsion

and reluctance, so I'm not gonna give. I'll wait till that,

you know, irons itself out. They'd be like if it

was Valentine's Day and you're like, honey, I didn't get

you anything because I just kind of it just felt

like dutiful to me, So just drop the whole thing.

Not cool. She's like, well, that's why don't you just

get that straightened out and then do what is right.

God loves a cheerful giver. Throughout the pages of Scripture,

giving is continually tied to joy, and I can tell

you giving is joyful, Giving is cheerful that the Greek

word for cheerful in that passage is hilarion. Right where

we get hilarious. God loves a cheerful giver. Here's a question.

Can you laugh at money? Can you laugh at money

when you give? Can you laugh because you trust God

enough that you know there's not a problem with not

having it. There's not a problem with not having it.

I can laugh at not having it, and I can

laugh that it doesn't have me. That's where God wants

you to be on the inside when it comes to money.

And possessions and giving. God loves a cheerful giver. Here's

another thing that should be going on inside. I'm gonna

use a term that someone used this week. I think

it's a I think maybe the best way to put

this should be giving in a way that is value adjusted.

Value adjusted. Here's what I mean. Earthly possessions are of

little real value. The money that you have, It's like

they're like chuck e cheese tokens. You cannot use your

money for anything once you leave this establishment. Real treasure,

real treasure is spiritual. This is what Paul is talking

about from first time, the chapter six that we read

up at the top right, storing up for themselves treasure.

Then they may take hold of what is truly life.

Real treasure is spiritual. What money value could you put

to that. It's eternal. It's way deeper. No eye has

seen and no ear has heard. What God has prepared

for those who love him. Could consider the work of

Christ at the start when you came to know him,

how he who was rich became poor so that you

would be truly rich, forgiven, brought from death to life,

given peace with God, live a life of actual worship.

What money value could you put to that? And as

Christ calls you forward in steps of faith regarding earthly wealth,

hasn't he always shown that his blessings are far greater

than your sacrifices like value, adjust your giving value, adjust

your possessions. You put this life in his hands and

received life of so much greater value. So many steps

of sanctification and sacrifice that He has called me to

have been acts of faith where He has called me

to put into his hands some treasured thing, some treasured time,

some treasured comfort, some treasured possession that already rightfully belonged

to him right And as he took that treasured thing,

he has always turned it into real treasure that is

deeper and eternal. To know Christ and his work is

to know that the things of earth can't be valued

the way they used to be. Once. Should be going

on on the inside when you give, is that I

have adjusted the value of earthly possessions. I can see

these possessions through the eyes of someone who knows the

living God and the work of Christ. This I can

laugh at. What else should be going on? Well? Lastly,

this always learning, always learning, said more than once during

this series on biblical stewardship. Turns out there's over twenty

three hundred Bible verses about possessions and giving and greediness

and investing and all of these things, everything, all this

that has to do with money stewardship. So in other words,

we're just scratching the surface. And Deuteronomy fourteen says this, says,

I want you to bring the tithe in. I want

you to handle it this way so that here's the purpose,

that you may learn to always fear the Lord your God.

Here's the question. Are you done learning to fear the

Lord your God? I'm not, and I'm not done learning

about biblical stewardship either, But do you think you're done

being sanctified and taught by God through giving and about giving? Honestly,

when we started this series, I thought, well, okay, biblical stewardship.

It's true, we have probably neglected to teach on biblical

stewardship as much as we should. So let me just

hop on that I know about biblical stewardship. And then

I got started preparing for these three weeks, and I

got humbled and I realized I am nowhere near done,

and I will never be done being taught by God

through giving. I am nowhere near done, and I will

never be done being taught by God about giving. Our

sanctification isn't over, and giving is a main artery our stewardship.

Our whole stewardship in general is like a main artery

straight to the heart, which is why the Bible talks

about it so much. We're not done learning. We're never

done learning about what God wants to do in our

hearts through what He asks us to do with our money.

So what I'd like to do right now before we

ask up some folks to be baptized, Yeah, just spend

a moment in prayer. Why don't you just bow your

heads right where you're at, and I'm going to ask

you two questions, and this prayer, this time of prayer

is for you to answer these two questions to yourself

before God. You know, sometimes somebody will ask me a

question and I've got one answer and God has another.

So it's probably really good for us to answer this

question before God in prayer to see if the Spirit

agrees with you as you answer this question in your heart.

You know what I'm saying, And just bow your head.

Here's the first question before God? What is my attitude

about giving? What's my attitude about giving? Is it cheerful, reluctant, detached, scared,

excited about the next step, not even realizing there's a

next step. Maybe I really feel deep down that I

can love both God and Mammon. What's my attitude about giving?

And what's my next step? What's my next step? Is

it external? Is it internal? Is it both? Before God,

what's my next step?