Dr. Rodney Plunket

God Richly Provides
a topical sermon on giving

  Three tightwads went late to a church service.  They went late on purpose, in order to avoid the offering.  To their dismay, they learned that the offering was to be taken up at the end of the service on that Sunday.  But they solved the problem.  One fainted, and the other two carried him out.

To avoid giving to the work of the Lord’s church will not negate the purposes of God.  Nothing can stand in the way of His will.  He will accomplish His goals with or without us.

Pharaoh was used by God in spite of the fact that Pharaoh had no desire to be so used.  The Roman governor, Pilate, was the same––an ignorant and unwilling tool in the hands of God.

God does not want people to be used that way.  What He wants is for us to be in loving relationship with Him, a relationship in which we become so one together with God that God’s will is our will.

Giving to the purposes and work of God is a way of becoming one with God.  It is a way of saying to God that we love Him and love His will for us and for the world.  Giving is an act of worship, a means of reverentially bowing before the Father and saying, “Not my will but thine be done”.

But generous giving is also a way of confessing our faith.  It is a way of saying that I know the Father will provide.  Rod Blackwood was telling me this week of how he has come to give of his farm income to the church.  He told me that for a farmer the temptation is to figure the tithe after paying all farm expenses.  I have had several people ask me if Margaret and I figure our tithe on our gross or on our net income (i.e., before taxes or after taxes).  We figure it on our gross, i.e., before taxes.  Rod made me aware that farmers have an additional question.  Should they figure their tithes before they know exactly what their expenses are, or should they wait until all of their expenses are in and are subtracted from their earnings?  Rod has come to the conclusion and to the commitment that he should give before expenses, because that kind of giving expresses faith that God will richly provide, that God will provide the means of paying the expenses if we will trust in Him and give before we know the way He is going to provide.

When a person is in debt, the tendency is to give less to the work of the Lord.  I have come to realize that such behavior is faithless and even backwards.  If we believe that God richly provides and loves to bless those who commit themselves to His purposes and to His will––if we believe that, then we will give at least 10% even when we are pinched financially.  We will do that because we trust in God’s power to provide, to provide richly.

Remember our Scripture reading.  In it Jesus said, “But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well”.  We must put God first.  We must put Him first in everything.  And we must put him first by giving generously to His work in the world.  Put Him first and the damning sin of materialism will not crush the faith out of us.

I want you to think back to the book of Exodus.  In Ex 16, the people of Israel are tested.  In fact, there are a couple of tests reported in that passage, and both of them relate to the gift of bread from God, the bread that the people called “manna”.  I want us to focus upon the first of those tests.  After the people’s initial reception of the manna, Moses told them to throw out, at the end of the day, any that was leftover.  Think about it.  You’re in the desert.  You have found nothing in this desert to eat.  Then finally something happens that has never happened before.  A mysterious bread-like substance appears on the ground with the morning dew.  You have been allowed to gather a generous amount, about 2.3 liters per person.  Imagine a container about 15% larger than a two liter cold drink bottle.  Imagine that container filled with bread, and imagine that if you have a family of four that you have four of those containers filled with bread.  It is not hard to realize that at the end of the day many households would have some left over.  Moses tells these people who have so recently been afraid of starving that they are to throw away that perfectly good bread.  Surely, we all realize that in the desert a person normally does not throw away any edible provisions.  This is a test.  It is a test to determine if the people believe that God is able to provide more manna on the following day.  It is a test to determine if the mighty acts of God which the people have seen have indeed created faith within this people, a faith that God will richly provide.  Many of the Israelites do not have that kind of faith.  They keep their leftover manna and wake up the next morning to find a worm-filled mess where their manna used to be.

I wonder how many worm-filled messes we have in our lives because we have never learned that God richly provides, because we have never learned to live trusting in God rather than our efforts or our possessions.  When we refuse to give generously to matters that matter to God, when we become too attached to our attachments––then we show where our faith is.  Brothers and sisters, our attitude to our wealth must be based upon the fact that the God who feeds “the birds of the air” can feed us and the God who “clothes the grass of the field” can clothe us.  God richly provides.  He will bless us if we will focus our faith on Him and not on our wealth.

At a time when our nation is so focused upon possessions and bank accounts, we must reveal a very different focus.  We must develop a Christian attitude to our wealth.  As I have said numerous times, I do not think that we can do that until we learn to give generously of our wealth to the work of God in this world.

For the past two Sundays, we have had a Broadway member come to the microphone and share with us the joy of giving.  This morning I want to share some words from our brother John Scoggin.  John has been a part of the Broadway church for almost 69 years, and he has given generously to support this church family.  He did not want to come to the microphone, so I will read from statements that he brought to me several days ago.  John writes,

In all of my adult years, I have been very conscious of the importance of sacrificial giving.

The key word for me is sacrificial.  This descriptive word should be applicable to every individual contribution to this church, whether the amount is the largest, smallest, or in-between.

I use this word, prayerfully, when I commit to the elders the amount I plan to give weekly for the coming year; for our missions contribution; for our Children’s Home Sunday or any other special occasion for giving.

I feel a need to give back to God a generous portion of the physical blessings that He has heaped on me and my family.

When John brought his words to my office, we visited together; and he spoke some more about the word, “sacrificial”.  He said that many times he has been writing a check for a church contribution of some kind or another; and as he made out the check, he would think of the word, “sacrificial”, and he would feel compelled to increase the amount of that check.  John believes in sacrificial giving, and he believes that God richly provides for His people who give sacrificially.  John’s sacrificial giving has not strained his family.  On the contrary, he is emphatic about the fact that it has blessed him and his family.  God richly provides.  We can give generously, sacrificially, knowing that God will give back to us in greater measure than we could ever give to Him.

In Luke 6:38, Jesus says,

give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.

Clearly, Jesus is not saying that if we give $5.00 then we will get $5.00 back.  I think that Jesus’ picture of a good measure running over into our laps makes clear that if we give generously according to our abilities and standards, then God will give generously according to His ability and standards; and God’s storehouse has unlimited resources and His standards of generosity are apparent in the infinite universe which He has created.

God richly provides.  God richly provides.  Let’s give to Him because He richly provides.

God has done so much for us.  He has so richly provided for us.  We want to sing a song now that expresses our thanksgiving to our God for His countless blessings.  If you need to surrender yourself to this gracious God, please come to the front as we stand and sing.