March 28, 1999
In February of last year I preached a series of sermons on giving. God powerfully used that series as well as the book by Kregg Hood that we read at the same time. One of the things God did with that series was to confirm within me the awareness that one of the main obstacles between many of us and our God is our wealth. So this morning I want to preach a sermon that intentionally targets the need for us to develop a Christian attitude to our wealth. This sermon will be quite similar to that earlier series, because I think the relevant issues need to be regularly re-visited.
You see, I believe that integral to God’s calling for this church family is that we give and give generously. My hope is that we will answer fully that calling and will indeed foster and preserve a thoroughly Christian attitude to wealth.
We are wealthy. We own lots of things that people lived for millennia without: cars, televisions, microwaves, computers, and the list could go on and on. And I wonder, I wonder how many third-world dwellings would fit into just one of our houses?
The two songs we have just sung powerfully direct us toward a thoroughly Christian attitude to our wealth. If we truly realize that our Lord is "More Precious than Silver," then we will naturally have a Christian attitude to our wealth. If we will always remember that "nothing [we] desire compares with [our Lord]," then wealth will never be greedily hoarded but generously shared. If we will love Jesus "More Than Anything" then God can use us and our wealth to His glory.
And that must be our goal, and we must be highly committed to it, because the Bible makes clear that having wealth can be a great stumbling block. Please take your Bibles and turn to Matthew 19:23-26 and follow along as I read.
Jesus said to his disciples, "Truly I tell you, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God." When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astounded and said, "Then who can be saved?" But Jesus looked at them and said, "For mortals it is impossible, but for God all things are possible."
I know that some relate Jesus’ words here about the "eye of a needle" to a narrow Jerusalem gate. Donald A. Hagner in his 1995 commentary on Matthew’s Gospel is surely right, however, when he says that those who understand
the "eye of the needle" as a narrow doorway miss the very point of the imagery. The analogy is deliberately ludicrous and hyperbolic. Nor is it to be taken as pointing to the literal impossibility of the rich entering the kingdom . . . but as a way of underlining the exceptional difficulty of this occurring.
Sisters and brothers, we must candidly acknowledge that wealth can lock our eyes onto the things of this world and can take our eyes off of the kingdom of God. I am convinced that the greatest temptation to American Christians is our wealth. I am convinced that more Christians in America will lose their focus and allow the power of their faith to die because of their love for wealth than for any other reason. Satan dangles this bauble before us with incredible success. We must resist, and the way to do that is to develop and adhere to a Christian attitude to our wealth, and the Christian attitude to wealth is grounded in a life-changing commitment to give ourselves to the Lord. You see, when we give ourselves to the Lord we also give all that we possess to Him and we see all that we have as His property, as His blessings. Then we can serve humbly and selflessly as the stewards of His riches. That will lead us to be generous as He has been generous with us.
Paul in 1 Timothy 6:17-19 says,
As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life.
No passage in the NT applies more directly to us than does this one. We "are rich" and we must, therefore, be "rich in good works, generous, and ready to share."
But what is it to give generously? Does the Bible present any guidelines? Yes it does, but sometimes we have an attitude that makes it very difficult for us to hear what the Bible says. That attitude stems from the belief that few if any of the commandments in the OT are relevant to us. Since all of the explicit commandments about the amount to give are in the Old Testament, we feel that we are left with no real guidelines regarding the amount that Christians should give.
In response to that attitude allow me to point out that 1 Timothy 6:17-19, the passage which we just read, does explicitly command us to be "generous givers." Since the OT used the tithe (a tenth of one’s earnings) as the required amount to be given, it seems likely that in Paul’s mind to give generously would mean to give at least that much.
In addition, allow me to note another passage from Paul. In 2 Tim. 3:16-17 he says,
All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.
Most all of us have heard that passage many times, but have we stopped to realize that Paul wrote it with regard to the Old Testament? That is made clear by the context. The preceding verse reveals that Paul is referring to the "sacred writings" that Timothy had known from childhood. The Old Testament writings are what Timothy, a person raised by his godly Jewish mother and godly Jewish grandmother, had known from childhood; and, when Paul wrote 2 Timothy, the NT had not even come together as a collection; many of the NT books had not even been written yet. So Paul is talking specifically in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 about the Old Testament when he refers to scriptures that are "useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work." Such an awareness would indicate to me that there is something about every OT teaching that i
s supposed to bless my life and equip me "for every good work." Therefore, I can think of no reason why the OT’s teachings on tithing should be set aside as having no relationship to the Christian life.
But that is not all that it is appropriate to say about tithing. Jesus confronts tithing in Matthew 23:23; Luke 11:42, and Luke 18:12. In none of those passages does he convey a negative attitude toward tithing. In fact, in both Matthew 23 and Luke 11, Jesus tells those who are tithing to keep doing it. Jesus’ concern in those passages is that persons were tithing while refusing to be deeply devoted to God and His people.
The writer of Hebrews also refers to tithing in Hebrews 7. Again, there is not a negative thing said about that practice, and the reference is to Abraham’s giving of a tenth to Melchizedek––the high priest in whose line Jesus stands. It is certain that there are no negative associations relative to that tithe.
But now I want to look at a passage in the Gospels that does not even mention tithing but is extremely relevant to our study of it. Listen to Mark 12:41-44, a passage paralleled in Luke 21:1-4.
[Jesus] sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. Then he called his disciples and said to them, "Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on."
Let’s notice now what we have seen in this brief study of tithing. We saw first that Jesus refers to tithing and never says anything negative about it. We saw that the writer of Hebrews does the same. In the passage just read, we heard Jesus commend a poor widow who gives much more than a tenth; she gives all that she had. How can we, we who are so blessed materially, give less than a tithe. How can we pretend that we have given ourselves to the Lord if we give less than the scribes and the Pharisees gave.
Please open your worship bulletins again to the Responsive Scripture Reading. God asks His people to
"[b]ring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do," says the Lord Almighty, "I will open the windows of heaven for you and pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Let me prove it to you!"
Many of you began giving a tenth or more a little over a year ago. As a result, we ended 1998 over $180,000 above the budget. Our giving in 1998 increased by 25.2%, and the Lord did indeed pour out blessings upon us and through us. We were able to expand our benevolence program. We were able to renovate Carpenter’s church and to hire Brent McCay to work full-time there. We were able, without making any cuts in existing mission works, to take on the primary support of Gabe and Jill Moudy in Kenya. And the list could easily be expanded.
God has indeed poured out blessings on this church as a result of our increased giving. I hope we all want that to continue. If you are not giving at least a tithe, I encourage you to do that; I believe tithing will help you break the hold of money and possessions on your life. Those of us who are giving a tithe should keep looking for other ways to keep breaking the hold of materialism upon us; we should keep seeking to give ourselves more fully to God.
Broadway’s giving remains strong. Last Sunday was the third Sunday in March. If you compare the period from the first of the year through the third Sunday in March in 1998 to that same period in 1999 you discover that our giving has increased by 3.2%. Given the incredible increase that we experienced last year, a 3.2% increase in 1999 is not to be seen as paltry. However, to fulfill our budget we need a 5% increase, which explains why we are presently $9,250 below budget.
But that is not my primary concern. I am much more concerned about all of us being in Heaven together than I am about budgets. I am much more committed to moving all of us toward a Christian attitude to wealth than I am committed to meeting budgets. Let’s all give ourselves to the Lord. Let’s loosen our hold on money. Let’s loosen our hold on all the pretties that our consumer economy provides. Let’s free our hands, and hold on exclusively to our God.
Richard Trussell gave me an article this week. That article tells of a television documentary that showed one of the ways that African natives find water during the dry season. What they do is find a colony of baboons. Making sure that the baboons are watching, one of the natives digs a small hole in a dirt embankment. He then places a handful of fruit inside the hole. One of the baboons then goes to the hole, finds the fruit, and takes hold of it. But the baboon soon discovers that when the hand is clutching the fruit, it cannot be brought out of the hole. The baboon has to choose between hanging onto the fruit and being stuck or letting go of the fruit and being free. The TV documentary showed the native then coming toward the baboon. The baboon shrieked in terror, but would not let go of the fruit. The baboon was then captured, deprived of water for a couple of days, and then the natives released the baboon and followed it to its secret water-hole. The natives were able to capture the baboon
because it would not let go of a fistful of fruit.
One day every eye will behold the glorified Christ and every knee will bow before Him. At that time we will all know that the stuff we have here is worth no more than a fistful of fruit. Don’t be enslaved by your inability to let go of the wealth. Let’s all give ourselves to the Lord. Let’s break the hold upon our hearts of our money and our possessions. Let’s give and give generously to our God and to His people.
If you are here this morning and have not given yourself to the Lord, please let us assist you in whatever way we can. Please ask God to take you and consecrate you according to His will and His purpose. Please come and receive "the life that really is life." Please come as we stand and sing.
