The Best (Week 4)

We've been in this sermon series, The Best, talking about bringing our best to God, what that looks like for us as believers.

And these messages are building on one another.

So we've been talking about generosity.

We've been talking about gratitude.

And a few weeks ago, we got it kicked off with our friend Dustin Stradley, who talked to us about us having a spirit of gratitude.

But we're not able to have a spirit of gratitude until we have recognized all that we have been given.

Before we even can look at the things in our life and say, man, I'm recognizing the fact that I have something to be grateful for.

And then a spirit of gratitude begins to build in our lives.

The fact that we don't take things for granted, and the car that we drive or the house that we walk up to or apartment, that we thank God on our way in and out.

A family that we have, the people in our life that though there may be bumps along the way, that we can still be grateful and thankful to God for all he's blessed us with.

And it's once we have a spirit of gratitude that moves us into having a spirit of generosity.

Because you can't really move into the place of generosity unless you've realized the fact that you have something to be thankful for.

And that you have something to share with others.

That generosity overflows from you, not just in finances, but in your time, the words and encouragement that you say to other people, small acts of kindness that you do for your spouse, your friends, your coworkers, the people you go to the gym with.

And you begin to have a spirit of generosity, so we talked about last week.

And that spirit of generosity, what holds us back from having that spirit of generosity is a spirit of fear.

But God's not given us a spirit of fear.

He's given us a spirit of power and of love.

That's what the scripture says and teaches us.

And we're not able to move from a spirit of generosity into what we're talking about today and bringing or returning the tithe to God.

And then ultimately, in another couple weeks, that we're talking about giving to the Lord over and above, leading up to this to December 11th on our giving weekend that I'm so excited for to see what God's going to do.

See, because if you if if this is your first time here or you're just walking through the door, I just want to let you know we're so thankful that you're here and you're stepping into a generous church.

We're a brand new church.

We launched in March of 2022, this year.

But last year, as we built, we're building up to that launch, our small group of small church that was building at the time, in 2021, we invested over$50,000 locally here in Frankfurt to people who are in need, kids that are impacted by incarceration, families that are going through difficult times.

We did wheelchair ramp builds and weatherized in elderly people's homes who had cancer.

And over that course of that year, really to set ourselves on a course of being a generous church to see not only ourselves but our community be blessed by God.

And so you stepped into a generous place.

And it's that same place of generosity that leads us to the truth of the scripture that we get to tithe, that we get to return to God.

Now, just to uh be frank with you, a message like this, especially when it comes to tithing, for a pastor, I always kind of like get nervous.

Like, all right, who's with me in the room?

Maybe it's their first time being here.

But I know this, it can't be worse than the way this sermon started, uh, than a pastor down when I went to college down on the edge of Tennessee in eastern Kentucky, where I went to Cumberland, there was a pastor who got up in front of his congregation one Sunday morning, and uh he said, Church, I have some very grave and sad news to tell you.

Our church safe has been robbed over the weekend.

We've called the sheriff, we've let him know.

But thankfully, we found the money.

And everybody kind of sigh of relief.

And he's like, the money is in y'all's wallets because y'all haven't been giving and been robbing God.

You've been robbing God! Oh my gosh.

When I heard about that message uh from when I was in college, I was like, you cannot start a giving sermon worse than that right there.

I guess I just did.

But anyway.

Nonetheless, we talk about giving, we talk about tithing in particular.

Because we're gonna walk through the scripture today and learn from God's word.

But why in the world are we even talking about this?

And the reason why is because Jesus talked about it.

Jesus talked about it.

Kind of an uncomfortable truth of the scripture that you don't know unless you start to read through the Gospels and read the red letters that Jesus said is that Jesus actually talked about money more than he talked about heaven and hell.

And it kind of makes you wonder why that is, and I think it's because that this subject is so deeply personal to us.

I know this, my wife and I don't really get in fights about whether or not we're going to heaven or hell.

When it comes to the finances, we maybe had some of the drag, some of the knockdown dragons a time or two when talking about money.

Now we're the only couple, I'm sure, that ever fight about money or ever had that experience before.

I'm sure we're the only ones.

It's because it's something that's deeply personal.

But my hope and prayer for you today is this that we see the fact that as we're following Jesus, that he wants to bless us richly.

But we have to get our heart and ourselves in the right place to receive it.

And it starts with the bringing.

You know, I'm just gonna kind of walk through the scripture with you today because I want to kind of unlock for you the right thinking when it comes to being financially blessed and what that says from the scripture.

The first passage is kind of the famous passage that talks about tithing, which is Malachi 3.10.

The scripture says this bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my temple.

If you do, says the Lord of heaven's armies, if you do, I will open up the windows of heaven for you.

I will pour out a blessing so great you won't have enough room to take it in.

Try me.

Put me to the test.

God doesn't ask us to test him in any way in the scripture outside of this passage and outside of testing him in a way of our finances in the tithe.

This is kind of the famous passage about tithing, and I'm just, I want to say this as a brand new church.

I'm very thankful from the jump over the last year and a half as we've been planting Multiply Church, that God has led different people with a heart of generosity for them to give consistently here at Multiply.

I'll just say this: a year and a half ago, we didn't have any of the sound system stuff.

We didn't have a movie theater to meet in.

We was just a ragtag, small group of folks who are getting together, but there's been a spirit of generosity all along the way that has allowed us to get to this day.

And I'm grateful for it.

I'm thankful for it.

Because there's folks among us, and maybe you, and maybe it's not you yet, that have taken God at his word and said, okay, God, you set for me to test you in this, you set for me to try you in this, and so I'm gonna step out and I'm gonna step out in faith and put you to the test.

If I'm gonna tithe, and what a tithe is means 10%.

Tithe is a word, it means tenth.

And so for us as believers in Jesus, followers of the way, God asked for us to return to him 10%.

Now that seems like that's a lot.

You serious?

10%?

Whoa! Are you kidding me?

Tie.

Look at what uh well, this is it's come from a spirit all along the way from the Old Testament that God's been teaching people, and for us to return to him what's his.

Look at Leviticus 27, verse 30.

Leviticus 27:30

One tenth of the produce of the land, whether grain from the fields or fruit from the trees, belongs to the Lord and must be set apart to him as holy.

See, this spirit of or bringing of the tithe goes way back, way, way back to the Lord telling his people that this first tenth, this tenth of the land of the fruit, whatever it is that you produce, that it belongs to the Lord, but ultimately you know that every good and perfect gift comes from above in heaven.

So we're returning back to God, the tithe.

Now, why am I saying bringing?

Why am I saying returning?

It's this, because you cannot give the tithe.

Listen to me, church, this is really important.

Because sometimes the language gets messed up.

When we talk about, like, hey, giving generously, you can give.

The only way that you can give is once you have first brought and returned back to God what is rightfully his for you to set apart is holy, which is the 10% tithe.

That's why we say, bring the tithe, or you return the tithe, because all 100% of what we make and what we produce and what God has blessed us with so richly, he asks for us to return to him what's already his, but one tenth of it, to bring it back to him.

Jesus roasts the Pharisees in the New Testament in Matthew 27.

He goes straight to the heart of the matter as he talks to them, these Pharisees, these religious leaders who thought they had everything, had it all worked out, all the little rules, all the regulations, but their hearts were corrupt.

Jesus in 20, in Matthew 23, verse 23, he says, Oh, what sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees, hypocrites.

Matthew 23:23

For you're careful to tithe even the tiniest income from your herb gardens, but you ignore the more important aspects of the law, justice, mercy, and faith.

You should tithe, yes, but do not neglect the more important things.

You know why Jesus tells them that?

Because he knows how quickly greed can overtake your heart.

And it's not just greed when it comes to finances, but he looked at them and said, Hey, you you all are a bunch of hypocrites.

You're careful to tithe the tiniest amounts, but the more important things, the heart, what Jesus is really interested in, our hearts.

He said, You're missing the big picture here.

You're missing the fact that I want you to understand God's justice and his mercy and his love.

And then in that have a spirit of generosity that includes, yes, bringing the tithe, but it's not just limited to that.

Why does Jesus know?

Why does he tell us that the fact that greed can get into our mind and our heart?

It's because in Luke 16, 13, Jesus says, No one can serve two masters, for you'll hate one and love the other, you'll be devoted to one and despise the other.

You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.

It's kind of serious stuff when you come to and you think about Jesus using this term of us being enslaved to money.

That enslavement comes in our life in the form of greed.

And sometimes that greed looks like what last week we talked about Scrooge and the Christmas Carol that you're pinching pennies and you're rubbing them together because you're so tight.

And there's a greed that you don't want to let go, you don't want to have anybody, you want to be generous in any way.

Me, me, me, me, me.

Can look like that.

Or it could look like the polar opposite way.

But you just are spending and spending and living a luxurious life to bless yourself.

You got all the toys, all the things, all the things that the world says, but your heart is not in the right place.

Now here's the thing: it's not a sin to be rich.

Amen.

It's not.

I hope that many of you do become rich.

Just because I want to be happy for you.

It's not a sin to be rich, but have a heart of greed.

That is what's sinful.

It can enslave you and entrap you.

And ultimately, money's a bad savior.

Money's a bad savior.

And so what do you do?

How do you kind of turn the corner and start moving the other direction if you are not yet at that place of bringing and returning what is truly God's?

The first thing you need to think about and talk with your spouse, or you need to have this conversation between you and the Lord, is you need to put God first.

She just got out of college, was just starting her career, and she's coming to church, her family are not believers.

She's a first believer in her family, and she was sitting in our small group a few years ago, and she had been at church and they had talked about tithing, and she had never been somebody who had tithe, but she was just getting into her career as a teacher, and she said, you know what?

Okay, I it's time, like I feel this, and the Lord, I need to take this step to begin to tithe.

And she had been holding it back.

And she chose to begin to give her tithe, and she was sharing this with uh with some of her friends.

She started tithing on Sunday.

The next week, the next week, she found out she had not known, she'd gone through all four years of college and not known that her grandparents had put a trust in her name for her education.

And she found out the week after she began to tithe that there was a lump sum, large lump sum of money waiting for her to pay off her student loans.

Now I don't know if that's gonna happen to you and you start tithing there.

There's just some bank account that you don't know about that's uh gonna bless you, but it did it the the more than just the money.

Emily and I saw this this young girl take a step of faith and then got God to respond to her and to provide to her, to open the storehouses to bless her.

You know, um we can get into a mindset of thinking, especially when it comes to a 10%.

Which again, with our finances, however way that you handle your money and what your budget is, 10% can seem like a lot.

And I know I've heard this, I've heard it time and time again.

Emily and I have had this conversation at different times in our marriage where you just look at each other and you just say, I can't afford I can't afford it.

I can't afford to tithe.

I can't afford to tithe right now with the bills, the debt, the things that have.

And what's interesting and funny to me is when you say I can't afford to tithe, it's kind of the same thing as saying, I'm too busy to get help with time management.

I'm just I'm just too busy to get help with time management.

Well, no kidding, because you're too busy.

In the same way when you say, hey, I I I can't afford to begin to tithe, in the same way, in the same way, the antidote is for you to trust God and to put him first.

It's ultimately a matter of faith.

So how should you give a tithe?

How do you do it?

Before is I haven't done this before, I haven't taken this step of faith.

Like, what in the world do I do?

I want to go way back to the very beginnings of this scripture, to the book of Genesis.

It's a story of two brothers, Cain and Abel.

You may have heard of it before.

I want to look at the particulars of this story, and it's gonna teach us something about how we should give.

Genesis chapter 4, verses, starting in verse 3.

Genesis 4 · chapter mention

In the course of time, Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord.

And Abel also brought an offering, fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock.

And God looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor.

So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.

Then the Lord said to Cain, Why are you angry?

Why is your face downcast?

If you do what is right, will you not be accepted?

But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door.

It desires to have you, but you must rule over it.

Now, those of y'all who know something about the Bible or grown up or know this story, you know the fact that God accepted Abel's gift.

He rejected Cain's, he got angry, he got so angry that Cain killed his brother Abel.

He murdered him.

The first recorded murder in the scripture is Cain killing his brother Abel out of jealousy.

See, because even there God says, hey, you gotta do the right thing because sin is crouching at your door, ready to overtake you.

Get your heart in the right place.

Now, what's interesting about this story is that we saw before from the first passage, it's okay.

He said, bring a tenth of the flocks that you have, bring a tenth of the grain of the field or the fruit of the tree.

Like the the the particulars of this story is not about God accepting Abel because he had brought him fat portions versus Abel or versus Cain bringing of the uh fruits and vegetables.

But the the key piece to this is in verse 4.

Abel also brought an offering, fat portions from some of the what firstborn of his flock.

Everybody say firstborn.

God accepts accepted Cain's gift because he gave to God and brought his best to the Lord.

You see, Abel, he he just brought some of his fruits from the soil as an offering to the Lord, is what verse 3 says.

But in verse 4, it said that Abel brought the first born at the very beginnings.

So for us as believers, we think about how should we give the tithe?

Bring God the first.

How should you tithe?

Bringing what's called the first fruits.

Now, this is a a a a this is a a concept from the scripture that goes all throughout the scripture of this thought of first fruits or the firstborn or bringing your first or bringing your best to God.

And ultimately, I think it's because of this.

Say that I had ten apples that were here on this table that yours are to feed yourself with.

What does it take more faith to give?

The first apple or the last one after you've already eaten?

It takes more faith to give the first, doesn't it?

This is a concept from the scripture that is introduced and flows throughout the whole Old and New Testament.

The concept of first fruits, it's prevalent in Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Numbers, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, 2 Kings, Nehemiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Proverbs, Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, 2 Thessalonians, and James.

Those are all books of the Bible, by the way.

From beginning to end, this concept of bringing your first fruits to God and bringing of your first, bringing of your best, it goes all the way through the scripture.

And we bring God our first that takes more faith.

We do it gladly.

Let me just tell you this.

Emily and I, my wife and I, we've tithed faithfully to the Lord for years and years and years.

But it wasn't until a few years ago that I really learned and kind of opened up the the The the concept of this first fruit aspect.

There are many times for us in our giving, where we were giving regularly and giving our ten percent, then we gotta get to the end of the month, and it's like, oh like oh I gotta I gotta I gotta remember I gotta fix how I gotta do my computer and go to the church website and you know I'm looking at the bank account and I'm trying to do calculations and I gotta check in the checking happen.

And I got into that situation many, many times, still wanting to be faithful to the Lord, but it was kind of after everything uh had gone on, it was like, oh, okay, well, now I'll give.

But after learning about this concept from the scripture, I completely shifted.

So that now in Emily and I, when we get our paychecks, the first thing that we pay is our tithe.

Actually, we've got a couple different, we've set up our system, we've got a couple different bank accounts, and there's a master bank account that our paycheck goes into, and the only thing that comes out of that account is a tithe.

This concept of first fruits, it builds our faith that we say, okay, God, I'm gonna bring the best.

Not the leftovers, not at the end trying to piece it all together, but God, I'm gonna bring you my best, and I'm gonna be happy doing it.

I'm gonna be cheerful.

We've looked at this passage almost every week the last few weeks.

2 Corinthians 9, 7.

You must decide in your heart how much to give and do not give reluctantly or in response to pressure, for God loves a person who gives cheerfully.

There's been plenty of times where I've been sitting there at the computer.

I give my tithe online.

I'm about to press the enter button.

I'm like, oh man.

Okay, God, help me.

Help me to press this inner button right now.

Okay.

Okay, God.

I'm gonna give you the best.

I'm gonna give you the first.

Yeah, I was making jokes earlier about the pastor talking about robbing God.

But back that first passage, Malachi 3.10, that talks about the tithe of us bringing our tithe to the Lord and him asking us to test him, to try him, that he see if he wouldn't bless you and open up the floodgates to you.

You know what the few passages before that one says?

Malachi 3, 7 through 9 says this.

He's talking to the people of God.

He says, Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them.

Return to me and I will return to you, says the Lord Almighty.

But you ask, How are we to return?

We're a will a mere mortal rob God, yet you rob me.

But you ask, How are we robbing you in the tithes and offerings?

You're under a curse, your whole nation, because you're robbing me.

And then God says, tithe and see if I won't bless you.

Try me in it, test me in it.

I've been very encouraged by somebody in our church who early on when they began to come, told me about their giving journey and their tithing journey.

That God has continued to put on their heart as a family to increase their giving and their tithe, not just to 10%, but now they are now they're tithing 20% of their income.

This is anything that I asked for.

I didn't ask that of them.

Some thing that I went and put pressure on them anyway, but instead this that the Lord had laid it on their heart, of their faith journey, to give 20% is kind of amazing and just encouragement to me and just kind of mind-blowing.

But you know what?

I have seen the Lord.

I have seen the Lord increase and continue to increase the blessing of this family, their jobs, promotion, the jobs, more income along the way, as they've told me of like, hey, I'm giving and you know, we've increased our giving, but you can't outgive God.

You can't outgive God.

There's somebody among us in our church who is experiencing that right now.

That literally their life, their income is increasing and has increased over time.

Promotion, work, those things as they have given more to the Lord.

Now, I'm not saying that's for you today.

I'm not saying, and I'm not putting any pressure on you that that's the decision you make, but I do know this.

They have tested and tried God, and God has opened up the storehouses and responded.

It's been an encouragement to me as I've seen it happen.

We're gonna bring, we're gonna return to God what's rightfully his, and we're gonna bring it to him first.

And in doing so, we're gonna receive back from the Lord the first.

Just like Jesus told the Pharisees, it's not just about the tithe, it's about your heart.

That each of us would have a spirit of generosity to give to the Lord, and that we would seek him and put him first in our life.

Matthew 6, 33, this is one of the scriptures that you should like highlight in your Bible, you should put it on the wall, put it on your mirror at home.

It's this.

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.

Seek first the Lord.

Seek first.

And in doing so, you're gonna receive back from the Lord.

An amazing portion.

Remember how I said that this concept of giving of first fruits is all through the scripture?

Look at what 1 Corinthians 15, 23 says.

But each in turn, Christ, the what?

Say it again, the what?

Then when he comes, those who belong to him, the scripture says Jesus is the first fruits.

Do you know that God gave you his best?

God gave you his first in the form of his son Jesus, that he would go and give his life on the cross for you and for me.

That Jesus himself is the first fruits.

As we live our life to seek first Jesus and his kingdom, that God's gonna richly bless us in return.

The main way is that amazing salvation that we receive through God and through Christ on the cross.

Through God's amazing rescue mission.

Jesus is the first fruits.

And so for us, we recognize the fact that Jesus is first, so we put him first.

Jesus is first, so we put him first.

I I want to ask this question, because I think this is kind of getting to the heart of it.

Nobody answer this out loud, but in your mind and heart, answer this question.

Have you positioned yourself to be blessed?

Have you positioned your home, your family, your finances?

Have you positioned yourself, gotten you into the position to where God can send his blessing your way?

How do you do that?

It's by you putting God first.

By you bringing to him first fruits to allow him the opportunity to bless you.

As you bring and return the tithe to the Lord, have you positioned yourself that you can receive the blessing that God has for you?

I want y'all to know this, church.

I want for multiplied church, I want us, I want us to position ourselves in a way in obedience to God that we're ready when He wants to bless us.

I want us to be nimble and ready to receive the blessing from God, from whichever way it comes.

Y'all been hearing me talk about all year long about the Save a Lot building over there?

Conversations that happen with it.

I want you guys to know that we're in the final negotiations with them, which is awesome.

It's amazing.

Now it's not a done deal.

Still a trapdoor.

But it's moving in the right direction.

And I just I just want for each of us, not just our church, for us individually, for us to position ourselves in a way in obedience that we're ready to receive the blessing from God.

To receive from Him the way He wants to re bless us.

Ultimately, this the barrier to us bringing the tithe, the barrier is disobedience is disobedience.

You know, it's God's heart for us that we would please him and him alone.

That we would please God and follow him more than our careers, our bosses, family influences, that first and foremost, we would be obedient to God.

And in doing so, us being obedient to God puts us in a place to be able to receive first fruits from Him.

Now you may be in the house today, and you haven't yet received the first fruits of Jesus.

You've never received the fact that Jesus went to the cross and died for your sins 2,000 years ago.

God loved you so much that he positioned himself on a cross to die in your place.

For all the sin, all the mess-ups, all the crazy things that you have done, ways that you have been disobedient to God, that in one fail swoop, that Jesus took our punishment for us on the cross.

He was buried in the grave and he overcame the grave victorious.

So that you and I, that we wouldn't have to die.

That death here on earth wouldn't be the end of our life, but it would live on, that we would live on, our life would live on into eternity with Him.

Maybe today is your day for you to receive the first fruits of God, Jesus, his salvation on the cross.

By way of doing that, you just you gotta ask for it.

You gotta ask for it.

Yes, Jesus to save you, to forgive you of your sin, recognizing and acknowledging the fact that he is Savior and Lord, that he's a Son of God, and that He's alive, and that He's coming back one day, for you to make your way with Him into eternal paradise in heaven.

Today could be the day for you, for you to receive that forgiveness and for you to be saved.

If that's you today, I pray that you would do that.

That you wouldn't let any grass grow under your feet in the time of the knowledge of that, make the decision to follow it because it is a matter of life and death.

When we follow Jesus, that we cross over from death, spiritual death, into life.

That may be for you today.

You may be in the house today and you've accepted Jesus and you've accepted Christ and you've been saved.

You've been saved for a long time now, and God is calling you and asking for you to take a next step with him in faith.

So that he can bless you.

So he can bless us.

So he can bless our church.

And I want to pray over you right now for all of us that God would bless us richly as we step in faith with him.

Would you pray with me?

Father, I pray over each person who's in this room, each household and family that's represented.

God, I pray, Lord, for your blessings to pour out onto our church in response.

God, to a generous spirit, trust being obedient to return to you, God, what is rightfully and truly yours.

And Father, I pray across the room today, God, for anyone who's not received the amazing first fruit of salvation.

It's come through your son.

God, I pray all across the room, God, if somebody has not made that decision that today they would, that they would make the decision, God, to follow you, Jesus, and be saved.

And in doing so, be blessed for eternity.

All across this room, nobody looking around.

If that's you today and you want to follow Jesus for the first time, I just ask you to pray in your heart and mind, Jesus, save me.

It's not just words, just pray it in your heart and mind.

Jesus, save me.

Forgive me.

Wash me as white as snow.

I believe that you're the Son of God, that you died on the cross for my sins, and that you're alive.

Today I give my life to you as you've given your life for mine.

I want to be in heaven with you one day.

Thank you for saving me.

Thank you for blessing me.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

If you prayed that prayer today, we'd love to encourage you, celebrate you.

There's a place on the Connect card that simply says, I want to follow Jesus.

We'd love for you to check that off and to return it to the station out front.

But I'm going to invite us all right now to stand to your feet as we close in worship.