God's Plan for Giving, Part 1

Selected Scriptures

     This morning, we're going to look at God's plan for giving.  We're going to be dealing with the subject of money.  And money is a good barometer on spirituality, because the way you handle your money is an indication of your Christian stewardship of life.  More than any other single commodity, money is your hands.  You're constantly dealing with money. 

Some of you are now feeling your pocket to make sure you're still dealing with money and that you didn't lose it on the way in, and you pay bills constantly.  You write checks.  You receive paychecks.  You go to the savings.  You go to the bank.  You take your wallet out.   You put change in this and that.  Money is a constant thing. 

And the stewardship of money is a critical area of life.  And the Bible has very much to say about.  In fact, we're going to look at God's plan for giving in the Old Testament this morning.  And the next Lord's day, God's plan for giving in the New Testament.  And we're going to find out that they're no different, that they're the same.  But the definition is...it really in the New Testament so much more vast in the particulars, that I'm sure the two part study in itself will give us once and for all.  I trust the real understanding of this area. 

Now the Christian is faced with many decisions regarding money.  I ought to say this too, that for you that are visiting, this is something that we do not normally do.  We usually continue with a book study, but as I said, we're making a break for this particular reason.  And I trust that you'll understand that.

But the Christian is faced with many decisions regarding money.  Basically, they fall into four categories.  Number one, how we feel about money.  Number two, how we earn money.  Number three, how we spend money.  And number four, how we give money.  The total stewardship of money can fall into those categories.  How feel about it.  How we earn it.  How we spend it.  And how we give it away.

Now, first of all, what about the area of how we feel about money.  Does the Bible say anything about that?  Well, you know it does.  And I'm just going to briefly introduce the subject, because we want to dwell on the fourth one.  But the Bible says a lot about how we feel about money.  First of all, it says we are not to love it. 

In 1 Timothy 6 in verse 10 it says, "The love of money is the root of all kinds of evil."  We are not to love money.  Now that is not an easy thing since it's around us all the time.  Another thing the Bible says in regard to how feel about money is that we are not to trust money.  That is we are not to put our confidence in our money. 

In 1 Timothy 6:17 it says, "Charge those that are rich not to trust in their money."  So trust in money is idolatry.  Even when you derive your sense of security from the money that you say God provides for you, that's still idolatry. 

In Matthew 6:24 it says, "You cannot serve two gods.  You can't serve the true God and money."  That kind of divided allegiance doesn't make it.  That's why when the Bible lays down the qualifications for an elder, it says, "You cannot be a man who is greedy of money."  Because you cannot serve God and money.

Not only that, the Bible tells us that we are not to seek to be rich.  We are to seek to honor God.  If He desires to make us rich, that's His business.  We're to seek to work as hard as we can, do the very best we can for His glory.  If He desires to make rich in response to that, that's His business.

1 Timothy 6:9 says, "Those who would be rich fall into many hurtful lusts and their souls ultimately are drowned in destruction and loss."  Also in regarding money, we are not to regard money as our own.  It is God's.  We are stewards of it.  There are other things in that area.

Let me go to the second one.  What does the Bible say about how we earn money or how we get money?  It says a lot.  First of all, we're not to steal it.  That's a no-no.  We cannot steal money.  You say, "I...I would never do that."  Listen to Psalm 37:21.  "The wicked borrows and pays not back."  There are lots of ways to steal.

In fact, in Amos 8:5 and Hosea 12:7 the prophets talk about falsifying the balance owed and then deceiving somebody out of money.  No, you're not to steal money.  Secondly, we are not to exploit others by usury.  In other words, we are not to overcharge desperate people.  If your brother has a need, you give him to meet his need.  You don't loan him what he has to have and then charge him exhorbant and high rates of interest, that's usury. 

Also, we are not to defraud people by not paying them what we owe them.  You know what James 5:4 says?  It says, "The money that you should have paid to your laborers is crying out against you."  You've defrauded them, because you didn't pay them what they deserved for their work. 

In terms of how we get money, the Bible also says that we're not to gamble for it.  And this, of course, I think, is an inference in the scripture from the standpoint that if you trust the sovernty of God and the providence of God, chance has no part in it.  The word for dice-play is used in connection with the ministry of Satan in Ephesians 4:14.  Now, those are negative things as to how we're not to get money.  How are we to get it?

Well, we are to get it by receiving gifts.  And this is a wonderful way.  You don't have to do anything.  You just have to be nice.  Or know somebody who is nice.  And Paul received money a lot.  They gave him gifts constantly.  And...and I supposed that I've been the beneficiary of such things.  Sometimes people send a love offering, you know, in response to a ministry that you've had.  And this is expressing love.  And this is a legitimate way. 

In the Old Testament, they received money without working and the basis of inheritance didn't they?  The first born received the inheritance of all that his father possessed in general.  So we can receive gifts in terms of inheritance as well as gifts of love.  Another way that we can get money is by making wise investments.  And I don't believe that God wants to run the risk of wildcat investments and high risk gambling speculations with this His funds, but I think that God desires that we make wise investments.

In Matthew 25, verse 27, you know, the owner said to the servant, "If you had been smart, you would have put this money out and so that when I came back, I would have received mine own with interest."  So we can earn money by making wise investments.  Interest can be made.

But the primary way and the last one I'll mention is we earn money by work.  Good old work.  And really frank...and frankly folks, the Bible says, "six days shalt thou," what?  "Labor and do all thy work.  The seventh shall you rest."  In other words, crowd your labor into six days.  Really, you have enough for seven if you're working hard. 

Now, that's a crusher, because most people in financial need haven't learned how to work yet.  You know, when you get down to the place of people who are chronically out of money, chronically don't have enough, they're chronically indolent.  To some degree or another.  Now, there are extenuating circumstances in personal individual cases, but basically the real problem with people who don't have anything is they don't work for anything.  Work is a wonderful divine principal. 

And a lot of us like a lot of divine principals, but we're not real excited about that one.  But that is one.  Proverbs 28:19, "He that tills his land shall have plenty of bread, but he that follows after vain persons shall have poverty enough."  He just floats with the crowd.  He's not going to make it, but the guy who stays home and works, he's going to do all right. 

I'll give you another interesting one.  I like this Proverbs 14:23.  This is really practical.  Listen to this.  "In all labor there is profit, but the talk of the lips tends to poverty."  You work you make money.  You talk, you don't.  Now you see the Bible then has a lot to say about how we get money.  About how we feel about money.

Thirdly, it has a lot to say about how we spend money.  First of all, we are to provide for the needs of our family and the needs of those around us.  1 Timothy 5:8 says, "That if a man doesn't provide for his household, he's worse than infidel."  That's pretty serious talk.

And John said in 1 John 3, "That if you see your brother have a need, you don't meet his need you're not even a Christian."  "How dwelleth the love of God in you?"  So you are to spend your money for your needs and the needs of your household and the needs of those around you who have needs.

Secondly, you're to spend your money to pay your debts immediately.  Did you get that?  Immediately.  Say where'd you get that?  Out of the Bible.  Romans 13, "Owe no man anything but love."  But I'll give you a verse that really is interesting.  II Kings 4:7, are you ready for this?  "Go sell the oil and pay thy debt and live thou and thy children on the rest."  II Kings 4:7 says liquidate what you have to pay your debts and live on what's left.  Pay your debts.

A third thing you're to do in spending your money is to save your money.  Do you know that there are four wise, wise creatures in the world that God just really exalts?  Ants, badgers, locusts, and spiders.  You say, you're kidding.  No, Proverbs 30.  "There are four things," verse 24 says, "which are little on the earth, but are exceedingly wise." 

The ants, the first one.  The ants don't make a great contribution, they mostly just get in the way, but here we find that they are extol for a very, very interesting virtue.  "The ants are people not strong, yet they prepare their food in the summer."  You know, they're not too strong, but they're smart enough to know that you'd better get your food in the summer, because you're not going to be able to find it in the winter.  Good for the ants.  That's saving.  That's stashing it for the time you're going to need it.

21:20 of Proverbs, "There is treasure to be desired and oil in the dwelling of the wise."  In other words, whatever you need, you're going to find in a wise man's treasury.  That's right.  But a foolish man spends it up.  No preparation for the future.  I believe that future planning is very reasonable.  It is not only reasonable, it is biblical.  It is wise.  Maybe you're future planning is in long-term solid investments.  Maybe it's in life insurance, where you are setting aside a certain amount of money to secure a certain amount in the future, which can take care of the needs of your family in a day when they may not have the money to supply the need.  This is wise.

All right, so there we have some...some of the indication what the Bible says about how we're to spend it, how we are to earn it, and how we are to feel about it.  All of this, people, becomes a barometer on your Christian life.  How you handle money just like everything else.  How you handle your wife, how you handle your husband, how you handle your kids, how you handle the stewardship of every dimension of your life.  How you work at your job.  How you handle the relationship with other believers.  Everything you do, how you handle your prayer life, how you handle your Bible time, all of this is a monitor or a barometer on your spiritual life isn't it?

Money is no different.  The credibility of your Christianity is manifest and the handling of your funds.  And this is a difficult area, because it's so constantly a problem that we're being bombarded with by the world to spend our money stupidly.  And not only that, to add to it, we're being bombarded by Christians to spend it just as stupidly.  Let's face it, we're victimized by an awful lot of slick campaigning on the part of Christian organizations, aren't we?  Trying to loosen up our Christian bucks.

But your money is qualifier of your Christianity in a sense.  You know, that's what John meant when he said in 1 John 3, "When you see your brother have a need and you don't extend to him what he needs, how dwells the love of God in you?"  In other words, your Christianity becomes manifest on the very level of whether you give the money to the guy who needs it.

Now, you know, you have to think of the money that you have as a stewardship. You know, if your employer came to you and said hey, "here's a hundred bucks of my money, I want you to spend it carefully and wisely, purchasing some things we need.  Come back and give the account."  Boy I'm telling you take care of that hundred bucks.  You'd come back and you'd say, "well, I got this, and I got this for the office and I got this and I got this, all these things we needed and here's the accounting.  I got the best prices."

You have a hundred dollars in your pocket that's your own and you don't feel because it's your own that you have any obligation to anybody.  But whose really is it?  It's God and if you should give an account to your employer, how much of account should you give to God for how you spend a hundred dollars?  You must answer to God.

All right, let's go to the fourth area.  We don't want to talk too much about that.  It gets kind of painful.  The major of issue of scripture...I mean, I'm even squirming.  The major issue of scripture is concerned with how you give your money.  Now this dominates scripture.  It's too important a subject for us to bypass.  How we give our money is extremely important.  And it isn't easy to keep a clear perspective because we really are being bombarded.

Now, there are constant appeal.  If you've been a Christian length of time and have gotten on any of the Christian "mailing lists," you know what comes wanting your Christian money. Well, if that's way at your house, you can imagine what it's like at mine.  There is no end to the proliferation of people who want money and the organizations.

And you turn on your radio, you know, and they have these half hour religious broadcasts, 25 minutes of asking for money and five minutes of telling you the reasons they're asking for money and that's about it.  And you wonder when they're going to get to doing something that's worth your money.  We're bombarded by these techniques giving gimmicks, church stewardship drives, budget drives, all kinds of things. 

And we've all come from organizations in the past where we were victimized by this.  Voltaire was no Christian by any stretch of the imagination, an atheist, once remarked, "That Protestantism is merely a less expensive substitute for Catholicism."  And Lucas Visher in his book wrote this, "The French philosopher Voltaire was highly critical of the Roman church for what he felt were its excesses and its aberitious demands. But he was even more critical of the Protestant churches for allowing themselves to be used as havens for those whose religious convictions were determined primarily by the desire to keep more of their money for themselves."

And I guess Christian giving in the eyes of some people seems to be exploitation.  In the eyes of other people, it seems to be totally neglected.  There's a stream literature telling you how.  You can take courses in certain schools on how to raise your church budget.  I can go take a course in that.  I have a book that I read this week on How To Develop a Tithing Church.  How to get slick things going like loyalty week and knock on every door week.

And everything in the book on how to have a pledge system.  How to have a canvas, how to have this, how to have that.  How to do this, how to stimulate people.  How to motivate people.  How to make them feel guilty because they don't do what they ought to do and then trade on the guilt that they feel.  And then if you really get desperate, you can hire out-of-town experts who will come in and raise the money for you, for a piece of the action.

I mean, it's not totally a ministry.  But there's one organization that exists in America just to publish materials that you can post around your church to stimulate people to give money.  I'm not against stimulating people to give me.  I'm just against doing in unbiblical ways.

That's like I was telling somebody yesterday, you know, the evangelism campaign in one church was stimulated by the fact that they were going to hide a football in the homes of several unsaved families, and you were to go to door to door and if you happened to hit the unsaved family that had the football, you won a jacket.  So evangelism was stimulated by hiding a football and trying to win a jacket.

Well, I'm not against evangelism, but I'm sure against that.  How in the world would an unregenerate family ever understand what's going on when they got a football in their house and people are coming there to witness to them on the pretense really of evangelism, when all they want's the jacket. 

Well, I get a little irritated about this kind of stuff.  There are so many slick ad men putting together these things, there are so many hucksters on TV and radio hounding the Christians for money that you really kind of find yourself trapped and you don't know what to do with it.  Then you feel the press of the economic situation and everybody keeps telling you that if you don't sock it away...if I hear that guy one more time from Glendale Federal telling me that I've got to have so much of my income in savings I'm going to write them