It truly is light for our feet, lamp
for our path, and Lord, we just thank
you that in it there is such wisdom
and freedom.
Thank you, Lord, that there is such a
revelation of Jesus.
Lord, we acknowledge again and unashamedly we do
it every time we come to this book,
Lord, that without you we won't even understand
it.
We are that much in need of you.
And so we give you our hearts and
our minds and ask that you will touch
both and refresh and teach us and fill
us this evening.
For your name's sake and for your glory.
Amen.
As most of you know, for 15 years
I was the pastor of the church in
Marguerite Valley, Nova Scotia.
And over those years there was only one
thing that I disobeyed the elders over.
Well, I mean, as far as I remember
anyway.
There may have been other things, but there
was one thing they kept coming back to
me every year with.
One thing I kept saying no to.
And I caused some distress to them, but
in the end they tolerated my strangeness and
let me just get on with it.
But every year, every year, the same elder
would come to one of our elders' meetings
and say, it's time you preached about giving.
Every year he'd come.
Our last pastor, he'd say to me, who
is also a guy I know very well,
he preached once a year about giving.
And that was just a good kick in
the, you know what, for our people.
And they needed that little boost just so
that they could understand and appreciate what giving
was all about.
And I would say no.
And I would say no every year.
And I would say to them, my practice
is that I preach through books.
And if in that given book that the
Lord leads us to, there's teaching about giving,
then I'll preach about giving.
Otherwise I'm not touching it.
The same elder would say to me, and
another thing, he said, when you teach and
when you speak about giving, you've got to
tell our people they need to be tithing.
And that was another thing I wouldn't do.
And I would usually say to him, show
me in the New Testament where it says
anything about tithing.
And of course he would fluster and bluster
and say, but it says in the Old
Testament and it's a good sort of business
for giving and we should be encouraging our
people to give.
And I would say no.
So on that issue we had disagreement.
And I suspect that as I speak about
giving in the next few weeks, because we're
going to be in two chapters which speak
about it, I may find some of you
disagreeing with me too.
I'm okay with that as long as you
will be too.
And as long as we can see what
the Word says and enjoy the truth that
comes to us in the New Testament.
How about this important issue?
You know, giving is often used as a
weapon in people's lives.
Giving can be a thing of great terror
in the church, a burden of great weight.
It doesn't matter what your background is.
It doesn't matter what church you've been to
in the past.
Any church, every church has been guilty at
times of laying this burden upon its people.
Whether it's because of some new project or
because the giving is dying in general or
because they feel that it's a very big
part of your expression of your Christianity.
The church has laid burdens on people about
giving.
As God gives me breath, we are not
going to do that here.
I would rather that we have nothing than
put a burden on people to give that
is unbiblical.
So I want to lay before you in
the next few weeks what I believe is
the biblical New Testament teaching about giving.
And later I hope some of the Old
Testament stuff as well.
In fact, I hope we'll do that tonight.
But as we do, let's open our hearts
to what the Lord has to say.
And see that God will bless us if
we do, because he will.
Giving will not be a problem.
It really won't be.
So I'm here.
I'm here in 2 Corinthians chapter 8 and
behold, it speaks about giving.
So that's what we're going to do over
the next little while.
Not because it's the time of the year,
not because the elders asked me to, but
because this is where we're at in this
book.
2 Corinthians chapter 8 and verse 1 begins,
And now brothers, we want you to know
about the grace that God has given the
Macedonian churches.
And here is the very first thing that
I want to say about giving in the
New Testament.
Giving in the context of the church of
Jesus in the New Testament.
That it's all about grace.
Now that's not something really that should surprise
us, because everything about the Lord Jesus in
the New Testament is about grace.
Is it not?
And what is grace?
Keep going, Morris.
You're in the right...
Favor.
Yes, that's it.
God's unmerited favor.
It's God's blessing toward us.
In every way, in every real way, practically,
spiritually, emotionally, it's God's touch upon our lives.
It's God's willingness to reach out and bless
us.
It's when God commits Himself to us.
That's what grace is.
And that's what's at the heart of the
New Testament message.
It is by grace, the Bible says in
the New Testament, in Ephesians chapter 2 verses
8 and 9, We are saved through faith,
and this not of ourselves, it is the
gift of God.
Not of works, so that no man should
boast.
All that we have in the New Testament,
all that we have in our relationship with
God, if it's true and real, is about
God's favor toward us.
The whole balance of the New Testament teaching
is that grace is not about what we
do for God, but what He does for
us.
Now that must affect how we understand giving.
And as Paul begins to speak about it
here in 2 Corinthians, and he spoke about
it briefly at the end of 1 Corinthians,
he comes right away to lay the groundwork
for giving in the New Testament by saying,
I want you to understand, brothers, about the
churches in Macedonia, which would be Philippi, Thessalonica,
and churches like Berea, which you read about
in the Acts of the Apostles.
I want you to understand the grace, the
favor that God has given to them.
Because out of that grace came their gift.
And so he says this in verse 2,
Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing
joy and their extreme poverty welled up in
rich generosity.
For I testify that they gave as much
as they were able and even beyond their
ability entirely on their own.
So here's something that we can say right
away after we say that the giving of
the New Testament church is about grace.
It's about God's work in us.
It's about what God does for us.
It's not about what we're doing for Him.
The first thing we can say about that
giving, the first thing we can say about
that grace, is that it came in the
lives of these people out of trial.
Now, isn't that interesting?
Most people, when they think about giving, think
of it coming out of richness, out of
ease, and out of financial blessing.
This giving, the giving that came out of
grace, came out of severe trial.
It flowed from joy.
And it came from extreme poverty.
And because of those three things, and in
those three things, severe trial, overflowing joy, and
severe poverty, their hearts welled up, the Bible
says here.
It literally means their hearts sprung up.
It's the idea of a spring in the
mountainside that is gushing water.
That's what happened in their hearts.
God exercised His grace toward these people.
He poured out His blessing upon them.
He loved them.
He rescued them from sin.
He rescued them from an empty way of
life passed down to them by their forefathers.
He showed them the love of the Lord
Jesus Christ.
He drew them to put their faith in
Jesus.
And then they went into times of difficulty.
That happens.
Anybody who tries to tell you that being
a Christian is an easy thing is lying
to you.
It's not an easy thing.
It's never been easy to be a true
believer.
And these people went into severe persecution and
severe trial.
And yet even in the midst of all
of that, even as we mentioned this morning,
there are those who by grace, not by
their own strength, can still stand and say,
Jesus is Lord.
And out of that trial, in the midst
of that joy, in deep poverty, generosity welled
up.
Isn't that strange?
It seems so opposite from the world.
Chad and I were driving home from a
meeting last week and we were talking about
things like this.
And we both decided that there's a myth.
It's propagated in the churches.
And we're prone to believe it and we're
prone to suffer because the church needs rich
people.
And there are some churches that court rich
people or people who are very well off
in order that they might get from those
people what they think they need.
Thinking that if, well, if we could just
get so-and-so to come to our
church, you know, he's on a six-figure
salary.
He could be a real good giver.
And we could get on with the project.
You know, it's a myth.
Giving in the New Testament, the giving of
the Lord's people has nothing to do with
richness.
It has everything to do with grace.
It is not that we need rich people
in the church.
And don't get me wrong.
If you happen to be rich, we're glad
you're here.
But we're not interested.
We're not interested in you for your money's
sake.
And if you happen to be poor, we're
glad that you're here.
And if you happen to be like most
of us, just sort of making it every
day and getting the bills paid and still
sweating at the end of the month like
most of us as you do the budget,
you're welcome too.
Because giving is not about whether you're able
to give or not able to give.
It's about grace.
It's about God touching your life with mercy.
It's about freedom that comes within.
It's about forgiveness of sin.
Most of all, it's about acceptance.
Acceptance.
Acceptance as we are, not as we should
be.
And the grace of God flowing into and
out of our lives.
It's about even times when we're persecuted or
times when we're poor, that joy wells up.
And I said to Chad as we were
talking about this, you know, the most generous
people I've ever known have always been the
people who were the least able to express
their generosity, practically speaking.
And that is so true.
And I'm sure you know it as well.
If you've been in the church any length
of time, the people that have been the
sweetest and the most generous to you, if
you're a Christian who's been blessed by other
Christians, are the people who can't afford to
give.
I think of Anora, who is an old
friend of ours from Sheddekamp, Nova Scotia.
A lady who lived in some of the
poorest circumstances I have ever seen in North
America.
Who lived in persecution every single day of
her life as an adult.
Who experienced some of the most stringent and
most difficult times.
A lady with five children who when we
got to know her, was married, but then
through no fault of her own found herself
thrown out of her home and having to
take care of her kids.
Found herself in a context where she had
to provide for five children, and all of
them under college age.
Just during that time, Sarah was part of
a mission trip to Ireland.
And as was true of all of our
mission trips, we asked the Lord to provide
the money.
We didn't have any fundraising.
We didn't do anything except pray and ask
God to provide.
One day after our church service, I believe
it was, a little Anora came up to
Sarah with a packet.
And in that packet, there was a generous
gift.
And the way she gave it, she didn't
want anybody to know.
She walked away with extreme joy in her
heart as she hugged Sarah and wished her
the very best.
Wished her great joy as she went on
this mission trip.
And we were stunned.
Just stunned when Sarah got home and told
us how much money there was in that
packet.
It's not important how much it was, whether
it was 30 cents or $300.
See, it's not about how much.
It's about what God has done in your
heart.
You remember the story of the widow's night.
It's so true.
Jesus and His disciples sat, and Jesus must
have done it deliberately, sat near the place
where the collection boxes were.
The Hebrews did not receive an offering.
They were clearly not Baptists.
They had freewill offering boxes that lay at
the first entrance to the temple.
And that was the way they received their
offerings.
Nobody was ever asked to give anything.
You were supposed to just lay your money
there as you went in or as you
came out.
Most people put it in on the way
into church.
As they were watching it, they were watching
the Pharisees go and put their expensive gifts
in with great flurry, with great desire for
everybody to see what they were doing.
And then they watched an old woman come,
and as she came, you know what she
put in.
You know this story.
What did she put in?
She put in a mite, which in the
ancient world was nothing more than a half
penny.
But as Jesus looked at His disciples, and
He asked them to think about what was
the value of the gift, He said to
them, this gift was valuable because it was
all this lady had.
Nowhere in the Scripture does God ask anybody
to give all they have.
Nowhere.
In this chapter we'll see, not this week,
but we'll see soon, God does not ask
us to give more than we have.
But it is always fascinating to me that
when people are touched by grace, remember this
morning we talked about the fingerprint of God
in someone's life.
You know, when someone is touched by grace,
one of the clear evidences is even an
extreme trial, overflowing joy, and a generosity that
springs out of difficulty, even poverty, to be
good to others.
It's a sure sign of God's life in
ours.
God doesn't ask us to give beyond our
means, but often that was what happened.
And it was what happened when Jesus saw
this woman go in and He said, this
is wonderful because although it was so little,
it was her whole heart.
See, that's where it is at as far
as God is concerned.
Not how much you give, but what's in
your heart when you give.
Whether it's a reflection of all that God
has given you.
And you're not measuring out how much and
whether it's enough and whether it measures up
to any standard that is set.
It is simply a springing joy.
It's like the spring that comes from the
mountain.
You know, you don't measure the spring that
flows from the mountain.
You just put a pipe to it and
you capture all that's there.
And sometimes the pressure is greater, sometimes it's
less, but it just springs up and you
accept whatever's given.
That's the way God looks at giving.
And it comes from the source that is
in the mountain.
And it has everything to do with what
is going on under the ground.
So giving has everything to do not with
the law any longer, but what's going on
in the heart.
Now let me answer you a simple question.
Why it is I don't believe that tithing
has any connection with the New Testament anymore?
And why it is I don't expect or
encourage people to tithe?
It's not in the New Testament.
Do you know why?
Because it's law.
What was the tithe?
The tithe was a tax.
It was a tariff.
It was laid as a burden upon the
shoulders of the Old Testament people because the
priests who had no inheritance in the land,
they were not allowed to own land, had
no homes of their own, they were not
allowed to own homes of their own, had
nothing.
And God said to the priests, I will
be your inheritance.
And then He said to the Old Testament
people now to take care of those who
minister in the temple.
I'm going to lay a burden on your
shoulders, a tariff.
I'm going to put a law in place.
Give them ten percent, not just of your
money, but even of your food and of
your first fruits and of your harvest.
And so that was the law.
We are not under law.
We are under grace.
The principle of grace is not the principle
that makes me measure it out and make
sure I am up to the standard and
make sure that everybody knows.
The principle of grace is not about what's
going on on the outside.
It's not about how much money it is.
It's what's going on on the inside.
It's if Jesus has touched me.
And to be sure, if Jesus has touched
me, then even in the midst of trial,
as was with the Macedonian churches, overflowing joy
will come and a spring will come up
and when there's a need presented, people will
respond.
And they'll respond with deep happiness and even
in deep poverty because of grace.
Isn't that an awesome thing?
We don't teach the tithe.
I will never teach people the tithe because
it's law.
Someone will say, oh, you're antinomian, which for
theologians means, oh, you're against the law.
I just don't believe that the law is
any longer written on tablets of stone.
I don't believe it's assessed on the outside.
I believe that now the law is written
within.
And the law of love and the law
of grace overflows in generosity.
And I'll show you the standard of the
New Testament.
You think that the standard of the tithe
is a good standard?
Some people think the standard of the tithe
should be applied all over the New Testament
church.
That is such a low standard by the
New Testament principles.
And that's law.
It puts a burden on people.
I said to you two weeks ago, everything
that God has ever required in respect to
His law has been fulfilled by Jesus Christ.
Everything God has ever asked for, Jesus has
provided.
Hallelujah!
We are not expected to give a cent.
The law is no longer on the outside
in reference to us.
Hebrews chapter 8 tells us it has become
obsolete.
It's been fulfilled in Jesus.
There is no longer a priesthood that needs
support.
We're all priests in the kingdom of heaven.
And God supports each and every one of
us through His mercy and grace.
Hallelujah!
We're not under law.
We're under grace.
And it's in grace that this rich generosity
was shown.
Listen to what Paul says in verse 3.
For I testify that they gave as much
as they were able and even beyond their
ability.
Entirely on their own.
Listen to verse 4.
They urgently pleaded with us for the privilege
of sharing in this service to the saints.
Doesn't that sound a little odd to you?
I mean, how often has it happened that
getting to the end of the service on
a Sunday morning and I've forgotten to receive
the Baptist offering.
That someone has stood up and said, Steve,
I just want to give.
You forgot to give us the opportunity.
I love God so much.
I want to give.
I've never had that happen.
I've had a treasurer stick his hand up.
Not here.
But a treasurer stick his hand up in
Marguerite's...
I forgot the offering.
Things are low.
We need to get the offering in.
There was one guy in Marguerite every week.
And I forgot it consistently.
I'm one of those people who don't even
think about it.
That's true generally.
And I have to say, sometimes that's because
I don't bear the burden.
Marie will tell me off for being so
blase about money because actually she does the
budget in our house.
She often worries about the budget.
She worries sometimes too much.
I don't worry because I don't work for
you.
I work for God.
And if I starve, it's his problem.
And actually, as you can see, I'm not
starving.
And that's true of the church.
If the church cannot function, if the church
cannot pay me, if the church cannot pay
Kevin, who's our other full-time minister, if
the church cannot go forward in its desires
to serve people and have the money, that's
God's problem.
It's not your problem.
We're not going to beat you over the
head about it.
We're not going to tell you that you're
not giving enough.
We're not going to lay down any law.
If the money is not there to do
a project, you know what?
It's because God doesn't want it done.
Because if God touches people's hearts with His
mercy, then even in extreme poverty, generosity will
overflow.
I have no fear nor no doubt about
overflowing quite much.
Not about what's on the outside, but about
what's in the heart.
Amen?
That will be true of every project, everything
that we're asked to do, everything that we
need to do in order to serve people.
And it says here, on their own, they
urgently, they urgently pleaded with us for the
privilege of sharing.
What a sweet thing.
I've had that happen.
I have a friend in Mexico who is
a missionary, a good friend of Erica's.
Where are you?
Oh, there you are.
She's here because of Jim.
Here is a man who has often urgently
pleaded with me for the privilege of giving.
For a time in Marguerite, I felt the
Lord call us as a family to go
off of salary, and we did until the
church got so embarrassed by us that they
forced us back on salary again.
They were so embarrassed because it looked to
the world like they weren't providing for us.
They were worrying far too much about nothing.
But they made me do it.
I had to go back on salary.
In the two and a half years that
we were off salary, God provided for us
abundantly.
And in one of the ways He provided
was through this man, Jim.
Jim had appeared on our doorstep by accident
a couple of years before this touring in
Nova Scotia.
This lovely, huge Texan man, six foot seven,
gentle giant.
How tall are you Cliff?
Six seven.
So the same height as Cliff and just
as sweet and gentle as Cliff is.
And you know, he got a burden and
a delight in what God was doing in
our ministry.
Now he lives totally by faith.
This man trusts God for every bite that
goes through his mouth.
He lives in the mountains in which province?
Sonora in Mexico.
He serves the Lord there.
But every year he sends me a gift.
And it's a considerable gift.
Sometimes he tells me what the Lord has
told him it's for.
Sometimes he doesn't.
And I have often said to him because
I'm no longer living in the way that
he is, I'll say, Jim, I feel bad.
He'll say, you shouldn't feel bad.
He says, I don't.
The Lord has not told me not to
give it to you, so you've got to
let me give it to you.
Tell me how.
Tell me which way you want it to
come.
And every time we go through this little
dance, but Jim, you understand now, I'm sorry.
I understand that, but God has not told
me not to give.
Now he's the man living by faith.
I'm the man on salary.
And he's giving to me.
It just doesn't make any sense.
But it's grace in his life.
That's all it is.
He delights to give, and he plays with
me to give.
The last time he called me was just
before Christmas, and he said, I think that
this is for a mission trip.
He knew nothing of the African mission trip.
I had already decided that I couldn't go,
that it wasn't possible for me.
Quite happy, I accepted it.
I was rejoicing in the fact that others
were able to go.
Jim called up and said, I think this
is for a mission trip.
Two thousand miles away, the Lord said to
him, Jim, give, because Stephen needs money.
So he called, and he pleaded for the
joy of giving.
He called me one time, and he had
a gift, and he said, I've got to
give it to you.
I said, I don't need it.
He said, I've got to give it to
you.
Sent it away.
A week later, after we'd had our little
fencing match on the phone, a week later,
he called me back, and he started chuckling
on the other end of the phone.
He said, you know, Brother Stephen, or Brother
Fenton, he never calls me Brother Stephen.
He shows me great respect.
He doesn't really know me that well, I
don't think.
He shows me great respect.
He said, you know, Brother Fenton, that's what
he calls me.
He said, I give you a gift, and
he told me exactly how much it was.
He said, you know, I've been doing this
for years.
I have been trying to out-give God.
He said, honestly, he said, I have, I've
been trying to out-give God.
You know what?
I can't out-give him.
He said, a week and a half ago,
I sent, I wired this money to you,
and he gave me the exact, and he
said, five days later, I had a guest
arrive from a brother who was supporting me
in Texas, and he said, do you know
how much it was?
It was exactly what he'd sent to me.
He said, I can't out-give God.
You know, we worry too much about our
giving.
We look at our own, our own lives,
and we think, oh, we can't afford it.
These people couldn't afford it.
Oh, we can only give so much.
We can only give our tithe this month.
If God touches us, we will overflow with
generosity, and as a need is presented to
us, we will express God's love in our
lives, and we will never out-give the
Lord.
He will never be a debtor to us.
It should never be an issue.
Time and time again, the Lord has taught
us about this.
We saved up a great deal of money
in order to adopt a Chinese baby, and
we worked hard in order to get that
money in the bank, and we were all
set to go, and then the Lord called
us to P.E.I. and said, put
the money into the house that you're going
to build when you go there, and we
stomped around and had a little bit of
a tantrum and pited for a while and
put the money into the house.
It was gone, invested into our home.
Never regretted it.
Our home is the Lord's, the place of
mission and ministry.
It still is.
It always will be, but we had no
more money left.
Two friends of ours who have two Chinese
children of their own and are in the
process of adopting a third African child came
to us and said, so how are things
going with the process?
Now we had prayed with them.
We had felt that God was telling us
that we needed to do this.
Our hearts had been bind already even though
we didn't know this baby yet, to a
baby that is yet unborn.
We knew that the Lord wanted us to
do this, but the money was gone, and
so they asked us.
We hung our heads and said, we just
can't do it.
We had the money, but we had to
spend it, and just occasionally, just occasionally, I
get rebuked.
I say I get rebuked a lot, but
this was one such occasion.
It was by a woman.
It was hard to take, and she looked
at me and she said, Steve, what on
earth are you talking about?
Do you believe that God is in this?
I said, yes.
We both believe that God is in this.
Do you still believe that God wants you
to have this baby?
I said, yes, we really do.
The money is not an issue.
How could money be an issue?
I said, yes, God is in this.
You just keep moving forward, and God will
provide, and no matter what it seems you
need, God will be there to provide it
for you.
You know what?
We have been for well over a year
now.
It seems to take forever.
It's the hugest, most outrageous, lengthy process I've
ever been in in my life, but every
stage, when we have looked at our bank
account and had no money, but needed to
pay a bill in relation to this, this
desire we have to be a ministry and
to rescue one little girl from a life
of absolute emptiness, the money has been there.
Sometimes we've gathered a little bit, thinking, oh
yeah, this will be for that.
And then God puts another need in our
faces that has nothing to do with that,
and we have to give it away.
So there's nothing left, so that when it
comes to the next step for the other
thing, He can provide it for me.
And He has been faithful, has He not?
And we're still only about halfway through the
process.
A social worker who did our home study
was an interesting lady who asked us everything
from the toothpaste we use to the major
issues of our lives.
And when it came to our finances, she
would look at me and she'd say, it's
really not a whole lot of money.
And we would say, no, there's not.
Well, how are you going to do this?
You know exactly what the Canadian and the
Chinese government asked us.
We don't know.
Well, what am I going to write down?
And we can't tell you.
All we can tell you is this, that
every time there's been any part of this
process that has needed provision because we believe
God is in this, we believe God will
provide.
Now this lady wasn't a Christian.
But after the second time she asked us
about our finances, we spent two and a
half hours sharing the Lord with her.
Because she saw that there was something that
came not out of rationale, but out of
relationship.
She saw that there was something that was
coming from our hearts that had to do
with what God was doing for us, not
what we were doing for Him.
She saw that He was faithful because we
were able to pay her when we shouldn't
have been able to pay her.
It's because of His work in us.
And in that context, it's a joy to
give.
In that context, people want to give.
I honestly believe this, but I think Baptists
have trouble with this.
I honestly believe that if we didn't receive
an offering, God would still provide.
I do.
And I think sometimes we have succumbed to
the whole issue of money by receiving an
offering because when you put a plate in
front of somebody's face they feel obligated.
It doesn't matter what you say to them.
I am not trying to change the church's
policy on this.
I'm just telling you what I think.
You can disagree, and actually because we're in
this kind of democratic thing here, the church
will have its way.
And that's fine with me.
I'm absolutely, absolutely happy with this.
But let me tell you, I believe that
if we never lifted an offering, God would
still provide.
People would be coming to us and saying,
please give me the privilege of giving back
to God something of what He's given to
me.
And we'd have happy givers instead of embarrassed
ones who stick the plate in their face.
Look at what it goes on to say.
I've got to get off that.
It's too convicting for us because we're Baptists.
Look at what it says next.
They urgently pleaded with us for the privilege
of sharing in this service.
What a delightful experience to the saints.
And there was a need.
There was starvation happening in Jerusalem.
The people were being asked to respond to
it.
I'm just going to finish with this next
verse.
And they did not do as we expected,
but they gave themselves first to the Lord
and then to us in keeping with God's
will.
These Macedonian churches, they kind of surprised us
because they did two things before they give
anything to the need in Jerusalem.
They give themselves to the Lord and they
give themselves to us.
I don't believe that true giving will ever
start in anybody's life until first they give
themselves to the Lord.
And then true giving will be expressed.
You know why?
Because you know what?
When you give yourself to the Lord, you
give everything.
You know that everything is His.
Your heart, your life, your children, your family,
your home, everything is His.
You give it all.
Therefore, when He comes to you and says
there's a need, I'd like you to respond
to it.
It's not an issue because it's His anyway.
What do you own, Mr. Christian?
Well, let me tell you, if you have
given yourself to the Lord, you don't own
anything because it's all His anyway.
The privilege of giving is the joy that
comes when we rejoice in what God is
doing in our lives and we give in
absolute fearlessness, knowing that we will never out
-give the Lord.
We don't give in making a big noise
about it.
We don't give in order to get all
kinds of recognition.
We don't give in order to seem to
be wonderful.
We do it quietly.
We do it secretly so that the right
hand doesn't know what the left hand is
doing so that only God gets the glory.
We give because it's a delight to Him.
If they're not asking us, we want to
do it.
We find people.
We find ways to express it.
That's the Christian experience.
But it'll never happen until we first give
ourselves to the Lord.
And there'll never be an issue.
See, I don't believe there'll be ever a
problem with giving as long as our emphasis
is first on this.
Give yourselves to Jesus.
Realize that He's everything.
Understand what He has done for you.
He has poured out such grace in your
soul.
Just yield to the joy of Christ.
Don't even think about money.
Don't even think about giving.
Don't even think about time.
Don't even think about the first fruits of
your harvest.
Just give yourself to Jesus.
Everything else will fall into place.
It's the same message we're learning about everything
else.
Jesus is everything.
Jesus is enough.
And if Jesus is first in our lives,
then giving in the church will never be
an issue.
It'll be a privilege.
Right?
Right.
And when there's a need, people will be
tripping over themselves to respond to it.
Hallelujah.
We're going to come back to this next
week.
But look at the standard, and I'll really
well finish with this.
Look at the standard in verse 9.
For you know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet
for your sakes He became poor, so that
through His poverty, so that you through His
poverty might become rich.
There's the standard of the New Testament based
upon grace.
If you understand that Jesus gave everything for
you.
If you understand that He became poverty stricken
in order that you might become rich, spiritually
speaking.
It's not about materialism.
Never is.
Never.
If you understand that He has blessed you
deeply in your soul, then your heart will
overflow in thanksgiving in a number of ways.
That's the standard of the New Testament.
Jesus gave everything.
We give everything in return.
Everything.
The car you drive is not yours, it's
the Lord's.
The money in the bank is not yours,
it's the Lord's.
You better be asking Him how you're using
it.
And as He gives you the joy, as
He puts it upon your heart to give,
do not be afraid.
You will never outpace Him in your generosity.
I don't even need to teach you that.
Just give yourself to Jesus.
Even as He has given Himself to you,
your generosity will overflow.
Has generosity overflowed from Heaven toward us?
Did God give us 10% of Himself?
Did He?
Is it Romans 8?
He who has freely given us His own
Son, how will He not also give us
all things?
That's God's standard of giving.
And all that happens in the New Testament
church is that He reflects it in us.
As we trust in Jesus, as we give
ourselves to Him, He just reflects that same
generosity that just comes out of us.
It's not us, it's Him.
The same generosity that sent Jesus into the
world is the same generosity that overflows in
the church.
Isn't that beautiful?
The tide's gone.
That's part of the law.
We're not under law, we're under grace.
The standard of grace, man, is everything.
Brother Andrew is with us in November and
he lives by this standard.
Sometimes he gets onto a plane with only
his socks and his clothes.
He doesn't get on naked, thankfully.
He told us that a number of times.
Because he lives by this standard.
He believes he cannot outgive God and when
a need is presented to him, not the
need of tomorrow or next month, but the
need of today, he responds.
He takes the joy that has been given
to him as he rejoices in what God
has done, as he enjoys the fullness of
Jesus.
He just lets that fullness overflow.
He gives away his clothes.
He gives away his shoes.
Sometimes he says, I've given away all my
clothes and my suitcase.
The only thing I've left is the clothes
on me, my socks and the plane ticket.
He arrives in Holland regularly like that.
He's famous now for it.
He said there are people who own clothing
stores in Holland who wait to see when
he comes home from a trip, to see
what he's got left.
And they already have clothes for him.
He said, I cannot escape.
He said, I've got wardrobes full of leather
coats.
And he said, I take them and I
give them away and they give them back
to me.
Brand new.
Shoes!
He said, I keep getting new shoes.
I get new shoes all the time.
He said, there's a Dutch shoemaker who constantly
supplies them.
So he gives them away and then he
gets them back.
You can never outpace God.
What are we afraid of?
It comes from the heart.
Well, that's the start.
Let's close in prayer and rejoice.
And if you've got questions, don't be afraid
to come and ask me them.
We'll keep on.
There's two chapters of this.
But first remember, it's from grace.
Always from grace.
Remember, the privilege of giving will often come
out of poverty, not richness.
It will come in such a way as
people will ask for the privilege.
You don't have to demand it from them.
We never will.
God help us.
If we ever get to the place where
we're demanding money, we're done.
We're done for.
And the New Testament principle is one that's
given to us in the life and in
the surrender of Jesus Christ.
He gave Himself to us.
And when He lives in us, He continues
to give Himself away to others.
There's such freedom in it.
Such delight in it.
Such joy in it.
Some of you are showing such an example.
I was so blessed to go last night
and eat those African delights in charlottetime.
I've watched this lady, this dear lady sitting
in the back, work her...
I better not be rude.
Work herself...
work herself so hard.
These two people could be making a lot
of money.
They're both extremely talented and gifted.
I know they don't want me to do
this, but I'm going to do it anyway.
And they have so blessed me.
I went in to see Nita the other
day.
She couldn't stop working.
She had to keep working because she was
preparing stuff in order to be a blessing
to others so that she could get this
container of clothes away to Africa.
They could be making a fortune anywhere.
Jean is almost a doctorate in his studies,
in the level of his education.
He's an amazing man.
Nita has been involved in taking care of
huge areas in Africa in terms of the
guest home that she oversaw and managed.
She's a remarkable woman.
They live at a level that many of
us wouldn't want to live at in order
to be good to others.
They have an understanding that God has poured
out grace.
One of the first things Jean said to
me when we were in a conversation, God
has been so good to me through others,
I feel that I need to be...
I want to be good to them.
That's grace.
That's God at work.
Bless your hearts.
Bless your hearts for such an example.
We need to learn from them and from
others.
Just give ourselves to Jesus and let him
just give himself away.
You don't have to work out how to
do it.
Just give yourself to Jesus and he will
overflow from you.
He's still like this, isn't he?
Still like this.
He wants to give himself away and he
will show you how.
Hallelujah.
How much did you raise last night?
Do you know yet?
Does that put you over the edge as
far as getting enough money or do you
still need more?
Not there yet.
This is to get the container of clothes
into Africa.
Also presented to you, Klishne this morning.
Just presenting them to you.
We're not demanding anything.
Don't give.
I'm telling you, don't give unless you first
give yourself to Jesus.
Then you can give yourself to others.
Presented to Klishne, still needs support.
Still needs support for our mission trip to
India.
We also put before you this morning Diane's
need of a vehicle in Africa.
She needs a vehicle.
Nine.
There it is.
See if you can out give God in
the process.
What a great testimony we'll have.
If we could sit sometimes after all this
and hear the stories.
I did this, God did this.
Let's pray.
We made a start on a subject that
can be such a painful and emotive and
challenging thing and can cause splits in churches
and people to get grumpy.
We realized something very simple tonight that it's
all about grace just as everything else is
that we're learning.
Not about what we do for you but
about what you're doing in us.
It's what you're giving yourself away to us
and then giving yourself away through us every
day.
That's not a burden.
That's nothing to get grumpy about.
That's a delight.
And we praise you for the opportunity to
be a vehicle.
Just a vehicle.
It's not us that's giving, it's you.
To be a tool in your hands.
To be poor people who overflow with generosity.
And I will give you praise.
And I ask that you'll teach us what
it is to excel in the grace of
giving.
Because we ask it in Jesus' name.
Amen.
Lord bless you.