1 Corinthians 13. A very familiar portion of Scripture
that speaks of charity. 1 Corinthians 13, let me just
read to you the 13th verse. 1 Corinthians 13, 13, And now
abideth faith, hope, and charity, these three. But the greatest of these is
charity. Now, the word. Used in scriptures, charity is
what we normally refer to as love. The word love is what the scriptures
refer to as charity, the word charity. is what we associate
with what? Giving. When we think of charity,
we think of giving. Giving. But they're really synonymous
terms. Giving and love go hand in hand. There is no true love without
giving. Nor is there true giving without
love. they go together. Now, false
religion, false prophets, they have to resort to all manner
of trickery and so forth to get
people, to get their hearers, to get their members to give
to their so-called ministries and so-called churches. They
have to lie, beg, cheat, and steal to fill the coffers or
fill their pockets. It mostly goes into the pockets
of the preacher. People have to be swindled, cajoled,
bribed, bargained with, and most of all, need to be rewarded They need to be rewarded to get
them to support the so-called ministry. And people are prodded
by different means, such as, for primary things, people are,
these are the methods that are used today to get people to send
in their money. People are prodded to give by
using guilt manipulation. They're told it is your duty
that you're robbing God Malachi. It's your duty. Robbed God it's
your duty and it is. Your duty and we have robbed
God but that is not proper motivation for giving and God will not acknowledge
any gift given under those. Circumstances and with that motive
in mind guilt supposed to so I'll give you he may use the
money yes, but he won't. You will not be blessed by. Secondly
fraud people are defrauded. These. Preachers so-called say
give and God will bless you this is this is the method most widely
used give and God will bless you. If you send a thousand and
you'll receive a hundredfold. Man, a hundred percent interest?
Only a fool wouldn't invest. And that's what people are doing,
aren't they? Investing in that sort of thing. Only a fool. That's
better than the banks are giving. A whole lot better. Only a fool
wouldn't invest in those sort of terms if you believe the man.
And if you can be swindled into that, well, you'd do well to
give that sort of, you'd give whatever you got. But that's
fraud. That's bribery. That's holding
God at ransom. Like old Oral Roberts did, you
know, God's going to kill me if you don't give so much money. Oh boy, that doesn't even bear
dealing with, does it? But they do use this thing of
fraud. They defraud the people, bribe
the people, and they do it in the name of God. God's not in
that. I want to show you what God demands of us in this thing
of giving. Thirdly, praise. They use this
thing of praise to manipulate people into giving. Give and
be recognized. Well, we'll put your name on
a pew. Right there on the front of your pew. thousand dollar
club or whatever, you know, or a plaque on the wall, a brick
in the courtyard. If you've seen all these things,
go on. We'll read your name out loud.
We'll make a memorial to you. Some people have given so much
that they named the church after them. You know, Sister Susie
Memorial Methodist, you know. You know what I'm saying. Fourthly,
they use fear. They use fear. If you don't give,
God will punish you. And that will work every time.
But look at 2 Corinthians chapter 8 with me. 2 Corinthians chapter
8. I want to give you eight Bible
words about this thing of true scriptural giving, true giving. Eight Bible words. Taken from
a passage of Scripture second Corinthians chapter eight read
with me the first seven verses second Corinthians eight and
moreover brethren we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed
upon the churches of Macedonia. Now this church in Macedonia
evidently had a. They had a wonderful reputation
of being a liberal. cheerful supporters of the gospel
they had a good reputation. I'm just going to say it I brag
on them all the time but I can't help it Paul bragged on Macedonia
but this reminds me of 13th Street Baptist Church that's been so
liberal they've been awful mighty mighty liberal to this group.
They sure have haven't they? Mighty mighty liberal and I can't
say enough about. It's the people now, it's not
the pastor, it's the people of that church. And Paul was bragging
on his church in Macedonia, evidently they had the same reputation,
or they had the first reputation. Look at this, in verse 2, how
in great trial of affliction, although they were in trials
like anybody else, they had bills to pay, they had things they
went through, troubles and trials and so forth, yet the abundance
of their joy And although in deep poverty, it abounded under
the riches of their liberality. They were liberal even though
they were poor. For to their power I bear record,
yea, witness, testimony, yea, that beyond their power, it didn't
seem possible, but they did. They were willing of themselves.
They prayed praying us, praying us with much entreaty that we
would receive a gift. Evidently, they gave a gift of
phenomenal, phenomenal proportions, way beyond what they could really
afford. And the apostle was just taken
back and he gave God the glory. He said, I want to, I want to
tell you about the grace of God, grace of God that was bestowed
on the church of Macedonia. How, what they did. And this
they did. They told us to take this gift,
take it upon us for the fellowship of the ministry of the saints.
And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own
selves to the Lord. That's the most important thing.
That's the first and foremost gift, isn't it? Giving of yourself. As I've said other times, true service in the church is
first and foremost giving yourself, your prayers, Your love, your
time, your energy, your efforts, and so forth. But he is speaking
about monetary gifts. This is the content. And they
gave first theirselves and unto us by the will of God, insomuch
that we desired Titus as he had begun, so he would also finish
in you the same grace or gift also. Therefore, as you abound
in everything, in faith, in utterance, in knowledge, Oh, I know you
know the doctrine. I know you have faith in Christ.
I know you're strong believers. I know you're of good understanding
and faithful in attendance and this and that and the other.
But, he says, see that you abound in this grace also. So, the first Bible word in this
thing of giving is what? Grace, right? The true act of
giving, scriptural giving, is a gift, a gift of God's grace. And let me tell you something.
This message may be somewhat convicting. It was to me. It is to me. I hope it will,
as James said, make me a doer and not just a hearer only. I
hope it will do more than convict me. I hope it will convince me.
I hope it will commit me. Only the true grace of God in
a man's heart And life only the true regenerating saving grace
of God in a man's heart or woman in their heart and life will
save their wallet. Only the grace of God in a man's
heart and life will influence his wallet. Because listen now
the love of money is what the root of all evil. Do you not
find that root very much at work within yourselves? Huh? Why do
we do what we do? Why do we work the long hours
we work? Why do we, for the so-called almighty dollar and so forth?
But it takes grace. It takes a real work of grace. That is undeserved and abundant
favor, a real work of grace. And it takes for somebody to
realize what the grace, what a gift of grace God's given them
to make them gracious. A lot of people know something
about grace, the doctrine. Ain't too many know much about
grace, the act. I don't pay any attention to
somebody's conversation about grace, no matter how orthodox.
if it doesn't act. They can say grace all they want
to, sovereign grace, as loud as they want to, but if they're
not gracious, they're full of hypocrisy, full of it. Grace
says this. Grace says, what do I have that
I have not received? That's what grace says. Now,
if grace says that, what do I have that I have not received? You
know what else it says? Why am I holding back as if I
earned it? Why am I hoarding this on myself
if it was given to me in the first place? We've tried to instill
this in our daughter, as well as some of you have in your children.
Our children have an abundance of toys and things. Well, we
ran into some poor... My wife recently taught at a
local school where there was some poor deprived children. And one little girl in particular,
Mindy fell for it. She wanted to give her something.
Wanted to give her a doll baby. Evidently, she was without. And
we tried to instill this in our daughter that, listen, you have
150,000 dolls. That's stretching it, but it
seems like that many. They're all over the house. She
doesn't have any. And we have an abundance. Why do we hold it back like it's
ours, like we earned it or something? That's the first word, grace.
Secondly, look at verse 8 with me. 2 Corinthians 8, verse 8.
Now, he says, I speak not by commandment. I'm not sure I understand this. It's written in the Word of God. The Holy Spirit saw fit to write
it down there. I'm not sure I understand it,
but he said it. I'm not speaking by commandment, but by the occasion
of the forwardness of others. Prove the sincerity of your,
word number two, love. True scriptural giving is a gift,
an act of grace. True scriptural giving is out
of love, love. And he says prove it. You say
you love Christ, prove it. You say you love the gospel,
prove it. You say you love the church, prove it. Prove your
love. Love for God, the gospel, the
church, one another, prove it. Love, and this is the best definition
I've ever heard of love, that is the act of loving, the act
of loving, outside of scriptural definition that he is here in
his love, not that we love God, but that he loved us. But this
and this is what Christ did. Love seeks to bestow the best
that it has on the object of its affection. The object of
someone's affection will get the best that person has to offer. Yes, yes, sir. No doubt about
it. I love those two. I tell you,
I love them dearly. And there's nothing too much,
too good for me to give them. And if it's within my power,
I'll give it to them. Do I love you, Henry Sword, like that?
Do I love the church like that? Do I love Christ like that? Do
I love the gospel? Do I esteem the gospel that highly?
Love. Love seeks to bestow the best
it has on the object of its affection. Ephesians chapter 5, now here
it is in the actual power. This is not just the form of
it, this is the power. Ephesians chapter 5. It says this, Christ now, here
in His love, He tells us to walk in love as Christ also hath loved
us. Well, how do you show it? You
just say it? Oh, no. He loved us and He proved
it. How? By giving Himself for us
and offering a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling Savior.
It just stands to reason that a husband doesn't love his wife
and his children if he doesn't lavish them with gifts, but rather
bestows everything on himself. That stands to reason that only
a fool would fool himself into believing he really loves his
family if he doesn't seek to make them happy and lavish them
with gifts. God does that to us, doesn't
He? Well, sure He does. Come on now,
agree with me. Sure he does. God lavishes us
with everything under the sun and more. Not only what we need,
but what we want. We've got everything we want,
not just need. Yeah, we do. Got brand new 1974 automobiles. Right, Vicki? A parent who thinks of self and
not their children, they don't love their children, they love
themselves. A Christian, so-called, professing Christian who has,
now listen to this, I said this this morning, some of you weren't
here. A professing believer, disciple, one who professes to
love Christ supremely, to esteem the gospel above, the greatest
gift upon the face of this earth. Who has everything that money
can buy in the church struggles? I'm not too sure that person
knows anything about the love of Christ and love for the gospel.
I'm just not sure about that. And I say this convicting myself.
I think back. Let me read this article. This
was in our bulletin one time. And I want to read it again in
case It didn't hit us the first time. The title of it is, What
Kind of Church Would This Be? If everyone, ask yourselves,
apply this to yourself. Don't look at Joe Smoe and say,
well, he needs this. Think about yourself here. I
will. I'll take it. If everyone in the assembly did
no more than I do, what kind of church would this be? Would
the house of worship ever be cleaned and maintained? Would
the yard ever be mowed, the grounds kept neat and attractive? If
everyone in the assembly, if everyone was as diligent as I
am to attend the worship of God and the preaching of his gospel,
to hear and learn the gospel, what kind of assembly would this
be? Would there be any need to assemble? If everyone gave as
I gave, would the bills be paid? If everyone prayed as I prayed
and loved as I loved, what kind of assembly would this be? We need to give these things
serious and sober consideration. Only eternity will tell the importance
of a faithful, unwavering dedication to the gospel ministry where
God has put you. Don't let this once-in-a-lifetime
privilege to serve God in the gospel pass you by. Lay down the banner of Christ,
esteem it a light thing, and God may never allow you to pick
it up again." I didn't write that, another pastor did. It
was well worthy of being read and considered. What kind of
church would this be? And I ask that of myself. Second
word is love. And third word, look at verse
11 and 12 with me, 2 Corinthians 8, verse 11 and 12. Look at this. Now, Paul says, now perform the
doing of it. Therefore, perform the doing
of it. He's talking about giving here. That as there was a readiness
to will, so there may be a performance also of that which you have.
If there first be a willing mind, it is accepted according to that
a man hath, and not according to that he hath not. Third word
here is willingness. willingness. Now, this thing
of pledge giving, that's a bunch of bunk. That's a bunch of bunk,
that's what the, that's, you know, he's vowing a vow and so
forth. People that don't have a job, don't have money. I'm
going to vow a vow of a thousand dollars, I don't know where it's
coming from, so forth. Man, you're a fool. Who are you trying to
kid? That's just, that's bribery,
that's fraud. What if you went down to the
bank and said, I'd like to open up an account? I hear you're
paying 10% on your money. Yeah, yeah, we are. What do you
got to invest? We don't have anything right
now, but you just open me up one for $1,000 and start paying
on it, and I'll pay my part when it starts rolling in. Would they open you an account
up? Is God Almighty going to pay any attention to that sort
of foolishness? That's hypocrisy. That's blasphemy. That's ridiculous.
You only give what you have. Now, some people do not have
the means. There's some people in this, there's some widows
who live on Social Security checks in this congregation. They do
not have the means to give what some of us have. But listen,
I speak this to the rest of us. Most of us don't give. Let me say these things with
compassion, people. I'm not pointing my finger at
anybody. Like I said, I'll take it too. But most of us don't
give due to the debts we have incurred upon ourselves. It's
not that we could not be able if we did not get ourselves in
a mess. Most of the time we do not give. You say, I don't have
it right now. Why? It's because we've got ourselves
in such debts. out of covetousness and all that
we don't have it to give. Right. Oh, yes, that's right. And in cases like this, that's
what Christ said to the rich young ruler. He said, well, you
go sell it what you have. Or at least some of it, you sell
some of what you got and provide bags. Treasures which wax not
old. OK, that's the third word, willingness
must be a willingness, it's not required of someone to give what
they do not have, but it is required of someone to give what they
do have. But willingness is first what is required by God, a willing
mind. You remember when the poor widow
came, Christ was standing beside the offering plate and they were
casting in their alms and so he was watching them. And the
rest of me says it gave in their abundance. And he watched on
one widow gave. Too much, wasn't it too much?
I don't know what that's equivalent of now, but it ain't much. But
it was a sacrifice to her. She didn't have too much to give.
She gave it anyway. And Christ said, no, this woman.
Only one of the bunch is given anything. OK, willingness, willingness,
fourthly, Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 16, 1 Corinthians 16,
verse 2, 1 Corinthians 16, verse 2. Now, concerning the collection,
let's read verse 1. This is what he's talking about
here, too. Now, unless you think this is not important, Apostle
Paul spent an awful lot of time in the Scriptures about it. 2
Corinthians 8, 9, 1 Corinthians 16, there's an awful lot of time
spent. on this thing of giving, an awful
lot. Now concerning the collection
for the saints, he ended up his letter with this. As I've given
order to the churches of Galatia, even so do I to you. Evidently,
the Corinthians were a hard-headed bunch. He had to tell them about
it several times. Verse 2, Upon the first day of
the week, let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath
prospered him. There's the fourth word. Prosperity. Prosperity, and I add to that
proportion, prosperity, give in proportion to your prosperity
as God hath prospered you. I tell you what, folks. If we
gave according to the way God has prospered us. There'd never
be a need. We could support Franklin County. We could support the missionaries
so much. Dan Parks, there's missionaries
now who are struggling. Dan Parks, I understand, has
had a great deal of his support diminished recently. And I've
told you stories about these men, their charity, their liberality,
and so forth. Bill Clark and Ken Wymer live
on a shoestring. Yet they spend upwards of three
and four thousand dollars of their own money to finance these
Bible conferences for these preachers in Africa. They provide all of
their food, all of their housing, all of these things. Now we give
them money and they send it back out. Their distribution. See, a believer, a church, is
not a savings and loan. It's a distribution. Distribution
Center. Freely you receive, freely give. And that's the way every
believer should be. Prosperity in proportion according
as God hath prospered you. Let me ask you, how much has
God prospered you? My, my. We are all rich and increased
with goods and have need of nothing, aren't we? Yeah, we are. Starting
up here. We got every toy money can buy. And giving must be in proportion,
though. Listen to this. It's good reasoning here. Good,
good thought. Giving must be in proportion.
And this is the sense of what Paul's talking about here. As
God has prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.
It must be in proportion. This is the New Testament way
of giving. You take a man who earns, let's use, say $30,000,
$40,000 a year, a man or a couple. who earn between them $40,000
a year. Now, if you just tithe the loan
10%, that'd be $4,000 a year, which really isn't much. It's
not much given. It really isn't. But you take
a person, now listen, at the same token, 10%, this is the
reason tithing is not scriptural, 10%. Take a person who's earning
$15,000, now that's poverty level. $15,000. If they give 10%, that's
$1,500. That person who had $40,000 and
gave $4,000, they've got $36,000 left over to spend. The person who earned
$15,000 gave $1,500. They've got $13,500 left to spend.
Now, who gave and who didn't? You see, Tithing is not the scripture
way of giving. It's according to proportion.
It's according to proportion. It's the reason. It's the reason grace is the
way we're to give, to give as God has prospered us. Ten? Keep going. Fifteen? Well, you ought to keep going,
really. I tell you what, though, I believe
that. Two, four, six, eight, ten, never done this before,
twelve, fourteen, sixteen, eighteen, twenty, twenty-two, twenty-four,
twenty-five adults. I believe twenty-five adults,
we've got more than that, but if twenty-five, thirty adults
gave just ten percent, we'd never have a problem. Never have a problem. That's the reason some people
are given this gift of grace and giving. Some people are liberals.
Some people are. Some people are giving according
to the grace of God in their heart and life. They are. And it's a good thing. And we
ought to. And we ought to. It's a gift. It's a gift of God. But we're
to do it in proportion. One is not to be overly burdened
to make up for our lack. No, or to give him proportion.
All right. Fifthly, fifthly, can you receive
that you suffer the word of excitation tonight? Is it needful? Do we
need to hear this? If not, I'll quit. If we're doing a good job, then
I'll just quit. Verse five, or I'm sorry, second
Corinthians eight. No, it's verse two, I'm sorry.
Second, second, first Corinthians sixteen, verse two, verse two. Now, upon the first day of the
week, here's the next word. Let everyone. Of you lay by him
in store as God had prospered him, but there be no gatherings
when I come. Everyone. Or another word would
be equality. Turn to 2nd Corinthians chapter
8 back over there where we were 2nd Corinthians 8. You women,
you work, don't you? I wish you didn't have to. I
really do. It's not scriptural man to be
the breadwinner but. Seems to be. That's the way it
is now but you do work don't you. You're to give your part
to. You make money. God's prospered
you let everyone know what it says everyone children you got
an allowance. You get an allowance. And shaking his head. You're
supposed to give to. God's the money you have came
from God Almighty God Almighty bless your mom and daddy with
jobs and money to provide and they give it to you. So God is
the one really who gave it to you. You can give something to
you can't everyone. Second Corinthians eight, verse
fourteen, look at it. But by an equality now, I don't
mean that one man be eased and you burdened, but by an equality. Widows, just because you don't
earn much money doesn't make you exempt from giving that.
But by an equality though, that's the key, by an equality, that
at this time your abundance may be a supply. my abundance and
it shall be in supply as it is written verse fifteen he that
hath gathered much hath nothing over and he that hath gathered
little he doesn't have any lack either. But to the same extent
equality were to give to the same extent that is. Sacrificially. We're all to give. But not one
give more than the other, that is, in degree. We're all to give sacrificially. That's the only true type of
giving there is. There's no other type. Sacrificially. It's sad. I made this statement
this morning. It's sad that God has to give
us so much so that we'll give the excess and the needs get
met. Isn't that sad? He gives us so
much, our cup runs over, what do we give? We give what runs
over, you know. That's sad, sad commentary, but that's the way
it is. 2 Corinthians 9, look at verse 6, here's the next word,
the sixth word. Verse 6, 2 Corinthians 9, 6. Now this I say, he which soweth
sparingly shall reap also sparingly. But he that soweth bountifully
shall reap also bountifully, every man then as according as
he purposes in his heart. So let him give, not grudgingly,
but on purpose. On purpose. That's the next word,
purpose. Where is our treasure really
now? What is our greatest desire?
What do we pursue? in this life, what is it? What
are we after now? Come on, let's cast all this
religious, let's take our three-piece suits off, and let's ask ourselves,
what am I pursuing in this life, huh? What am I after? Money? Retirement? Fame? I don't think anybody here is
after that because you don't have to worry about it. Ain't nobody
going to be famous in here. Fortune including the preacher,
you know. Rocky Mountain is out of sight and out of mind, you
know. Fortune, fame, pleasure. We're getting close to home now.
Pleasure. Things of this world, happiness in this world. Or is
Christ really our treasure? Is it, or our affection, is our
affection set, I about said it wrong, didn't I? I about said
it the way the world says it, affections. It's affection, setting
off your affection, that is your whole heart's desire, the whole
of your being, your life on things below. But set your affection
on things above." What's above? Where Christ, the next verse
says, sits at the right hand of the majesty of God on high.
Is Christ our treasure? Is our affection set on things
above, set on Christ? Do we esteem Him greater riches
than all the treasures of this world of Egypt? We live in Egypt.
Do we lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven? or do we provide these
bags that's a good word in the bag stuff stuff bag is that I
got my stuff you got your stuff I tell you what it's one thing
now listen I've said this before too it's one thing to have riches and and and and and In proportion to what the world
believers used to have and what some of the world has now, we
are rich. Everyone in here, I don't care
how meagerly you live, you're rich with the things of this. You got a nice place to live.
You got enough food to fill our fat little tummies. And a car,
and we got gasoline in it, we got a job, we got some money
coming. Maybe not enough. You think it's not enough, but
we can pay our bills. There's a lot of people out here
who don't have homes, who don't have cars, who don't have jobs,
and so forth. And there were people back then,
there are people now even, who are sacrificing for the gospel
sake, who don't even have these luxuries. Yes, there are still
people right now, believers. Down in Mexico, it's full of
them. It's one thing to have riches,
it's quite another to set your heart upon. It's one thing to
have riches, and it's another thing to set your heart upon.
There's many examples through the scriptures of men, of people
who were rich in this world, like us. Yet, God gave them the
grace to handle it. They were liberal. They could
handle it, they didn't have their hearts set on these things. I
don't believe David had his heart set on him. It says David's heart
was set on God. Abraham, he was rich, but I don't
believe Abraham. No, he didn't. The Scriptures
say he didn't. He sought another city, whose
builder and maker was God. It's one thing to have an abundance.
It's another thing to use them selfishly. It's one thing to
have an abundance, and we all do. Or most of us do anyway. It's another thing to use these
things selfishly. Now, you can have the riches
of this world. You can use this world and have
the riches, but remember, set not your heart on them. If riches
increase, set not your heart upon them. If riches increase,
you better use them. God generally gives more to those
who are going to use it. Yeah, he does. Listen to this.
This was in our bulletin today. God generally gives more to those
who are going to use it. Blessed is the man who considers
the poor. The Lord will also deliver him
in time of trouble. This is Psalm 41, 1 through 3. Those who think of and care for
others in their need will find the Lord thinking and caring
for them. Now, I know what the people, the false prophets of
this world say. Try this and God will bless you.
That's not the true motive for this type of this type of giving
gives because of all of the above, which you've already mentioned.
Grace, love, willingness and so forth. Those who think and
care for others in their need will find the Lord thinking and
caring for them. He often measures blessings to
us using our own wish on. That's a good statement, and
God generally gives and blesses us according to the bushel we
use in blessing and giving others. When we come to God for forgiveness,
our Lord said, bring your own principle of forgiveness. When
we come to God for mercy, he said, bring your own record for
showing mercy, and you'll see how much you're going to get.
When we come to God for blessings, remember, with what judgment
you judge, you shall be judged. With what measure you meet, it
shall be measured to you. If we've been given half pints, we're going to get a half pint.
We're half pints. That's what we are. We're going
to get a half a pint of blessing out of the gospel and everything
concerning the gospel. That's the way it is. Now, remember,
I said that our motive was not Our motive in giving is not so
that we might get a lot. And that what I was talking about
there is not material anyway. I'm talking about spiritual. Set your affection on things
above. Your treasure should be on things above and so forth.
Not on things. Seek ye first the kingdom of
God and all these things will be added. That's the first seeking
after. And that's where this world's
gone wrong. They're seeking first the things of this world. and
then hoping the kingdom of God will be given to them also. No,
seek ye first the kingdom of God. That should be first and
foremost. What is the purpose of our heart? The purpose in
everything we do. Can we sing that 393 with all
the gusto we can muster? Take my life and let it be consecrated,
Lord, to thee. Can we? And when is that the
purpose is the glory of God first and foremost in our hearts and
mind is the foremost desire in our hearts and minds to win Christ
and be found in him. And. Is the building up of the
church people of God. Is that. Principal thought and desire
of our heart are at seven. Second Corinthians nine, look
at verses six and seven. Here's the seventh word. Every
man according as he purposes in his heart, so let him give
not grudgingly or of necessity, but God loveth a cheerful giver. There's the seventh word. Cheerfulness
or with a good attitude. Liberality. Cheerfulness. That
word cheerful means liberally too. Folks, it truly is more blessed
to give and receive, isn't it? It really is. It really is. If you've ever been able to give
something, if you've got an abundance and you saw a need and you've
been able to give that to somebody, I tell you, you get the blessing,
don't you? Yeah, you do. Yeah, you do. It truly is. It's
true. You're going to get the blessing.
And it might not be money, although generally you will get back what
you put in. I just know that's so. I experience. We all do, to some degree. And
I tell you what, if you've ever been able to give cheerfully
and willingly, I mean, really wanted to help somebody, you
didn't think of the praise you were going to get from that person.
You didn't think, hopefully you didn't think that somebody would
find out about it and know what a wonderful giver you were. And
you know, generally we do give anonymously in the hopes that
somebody will find out. Right? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Don't say you don't. Yeah, we
do. But the times when you have been
able to give in the grace of God to give something to somebody
and really help them out in a time of need and they came to you
thanking you and so forth, you almost feel guilty about them.
Please don't. That's nothing. Right. Oh, I've
been given so don't thank me. They better. It's ingratitude
if they don't. But really, you don't want thanks
for that. You wanted to do it, didn't you? Yeah, you did. I tell you what, though, like
I said, if that person doesn't give thanks, that's, he's called
an ingrate. It's an old Puritan word for
being ungrateful. Ingratitude is the worst sort
of hypocrisy. We ought to thank people. I've
said this so many times, we ought to thank people for Opening the
door for us. We certainly ought to thank people
who slave and labor for our benefit. Your children ought to thank
your parents. I don't care what they say today, that you shouldn't
expect thanks out of your children. I don't care what they say. I
think children should be, I'm certain of it, that children
should be taught to thank their parents for the things they do
for them. Husband, you ought to thank that woman for washing
your clothes. You ought to thank that woman for feeding you. Feeding
your gut. Preparing those meals. He's got
things. He's busy, too. You ought to thank her. Every
time. How many of she fixes you a bologna sandwich? Thank you,
honey. I appreciate it. I didn't deserve
it. I sure do appreciate it. Yeah, it's her job, but it's
your job to say thank you, too. It's the least we could do. The
very least we could do. It's the least we could do. Thanks. Thanks. It goes a long
way. We ought to thank people for
the simplest of gifts. But I tell you what, it truly
is more blessed to give than to receive. It truly is. The last word. Look at Matthew
chapter 25 with me. Our Lord speaking here in Matthew
25. It goes in depth about this thing. Here's the last word or phrase. Matthew 25. I tell you what, folks, I'd a
whole lot rather preach maybe another sort of message,
but this is necessary right now, and I'll tell you in a minute
why. Very necessary. Well, you ought to know by now
why. You ought to be feeling a prick of conscience and a desire
in your heart now Toward these things already, we've been reading
the scriptures, haven't we? We've just been looking at the
scriptures. The scriptures ought to convict us. Look at this, Matthew
25, verses 34 through 40. Let's read all of this. This is Christ giving this parable
of the king. Verse 34 says, The king shall
say unto them on his right hand, After he gathers the sheep and
the goats and sets the sheep on his right hand, the goats
on the left, and the king shall say to them on his right hand,
that is the sheep, come you blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry
and you gave me meat. I was thirsty, you gave me drink.
I was a stranger, you took me in. Naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me.
I was in prison, you came unto me. Then shall the righteous
answer him, truly meet mild contract, saying, Lord, when do we see
you hungry, thirsty, and gave thee drink, naked, or stranger,
and took you in naked and clothed? When do we see you sick and in
prison and come unto thee? The king shall answer and say
unto them, Verily I say unto you, as much as you've done it
unto one of the least of these my brethren, you've done it unto The last word or phrase is unto
the Lord. That's what this thing of giving
is all about. We're not given to this church per se. We're not given to pay the electricity
per se. We're not given for material means per se. We're giving because we've been
given to. We're giving to the giver, aren't
we? Oh yeah, everything I've got's
the Lord's anyway. He gave it to me. What do I have
that I have not received? So out of gratitude and love
and praise and thanksgiving to God, I give back. I ain't giving
a thing. I'm just returning what's His.
I'm not giving a thing. I'm not giving anything. If I
return everything, it's His. The Lord gave. It's His anyway. What does that say about what
we should give? But he says here, unto the Lord, whatever is done
to a member of the body is done to Christ. This is pretty serious. Whatever is done to the body
is done to Christ, and Christ takes it seriously and rewards
it accordingly. Whatever is withheld from the
body is like withholding it from Christ. Now listen, the greatest display
of charity ever witnessed is Jesus Christ coming down here.
It says he was rich. Oh, rich. Like the Queen of Sheba
said about Solomon, all the half was never told. Someday we're going to get up
there and we're going to see what Christ left. Eternal, constant bliss, happiness,
adoration. He left the adoration of the
billions and billions and the love, the adoration of the millions
and billions to receive the mock and the scoffing and the spit
in His face for this end great. He left the love and the fellowship
and the communion and the sweetness of his father's bosom to come
down here to hate and malice and wrath and anger and envy
and jealousy and sin and wickedness and rejection. No man loved like this did. He
was rich in all things, anything, everything at his disposal, yet
for our sake, it says, he became poor. He said, you think about
it. The son of man doesn't have anywhere. The ox, the ass, the foxes have
their holes. The birds of the air have their
nests. I don't have a place to call my own. Why did he do that? The son of God didn't have an
apartment. I don't care how meager our means
are, the Son of God lived and slept on the ground every night. Dare we ever complain about our
circumstances? Why did he do that? So that nobody
would be able to say, hey, you don't know how I'm feeling. Yes,
he does. He was tempted in all points
worse. See if there's any sorrow like unto my sorrow, Christ said.
And nobody, he said, lived like I did. Are we rich and increased
with goods compared to Christ? Oh, yes. But he didn't do it
just as an example. He became poor for our sakes
that we might become rich. That is, he became poor toward
God to supply our riches, spiritually speaking. In other words, he
became a poor sinner like us, numbered with the transgressors,
the scripture said, that we might become sons of God, joint heirs
with Christ. Someday we're going to, we're
going to see. It has not yet entered into our hearts and minds.
Someday we'll see. And oh, we'll be grateful then, but not much
now. Here, let me give you some practical
things. Let me give you some practical
things. about this thing of giving, then we're going to take up an
offering. Here we are. And I want everybody in here,
you can start right now, I want you to get your wallets out.
The church is in need right now. We're scrapped. We've got some
needs. Financially, I told you at the
beginning of the summer that during the summer we have visits
by missionaries. I told you that was coming. And
I tried to prepare you and forewarn you so we might lay a little
bit aside to provide for these things. And they came and we
gave liberally and I'm so thankful. But now we're scrapped. We can't
hardly pay our electric bill. We have a need right now. I want
everybody in here. How many did I count? Twenty-five, twenty-eight? I forget, but if everybody in
here gave five dollars, that'd help a whole bunch, wouldn't
it? That'd get us out of the hole. Five bucks! If I sound
like these guys on TV, forgive me. I ain't doing this so we
can get money, so I can go back on the TV and get more money.
I ain't doing that. I'm just saying we got some needs
right now. And if I don't tell you who's going to, we're not
going to find out. So we're going to take up an
offering in a minute. Get your wallets out. Let me give you some practical
instructions in this thing of giving. Discipline is required
in this thing of giving. He said over there in that verse,
first day of the week, didn't he? First day of the week, lay
aside. Lay aside, literally, lay aside. That is, write a check to the
church first. Yes, ma'am. Yes, sir. Write a
check to the church first. Not to Appalachian power. Yes,
ma'am. Let them turn your lights off
first. Don't let them turn the lights out of here. We can't
worship God, right? Write a check to the first, the
church first. Seek ye first. kingdom of God and his righteousness
and all these things be added unto. That's literal. That's literal. This is the only sense in which
God will bless this thing of us giving. That is sacrificial
giving. It's the only sense in which this will be God will bless
our giving. Only sense. And when we give
sacrificially, we really don't have it, I really can't afford
it, and I have to go without, and we'll give it anyway. The
church needs it. Guarantee you, blessed on the promises of God,
you'll get it back. I guarantee you. I want to tell
this. I don't want to. You just have
to believe me. And sincerely, my heart, I ain't
bragging about this thing. You all have done the same thing,
I hope. One Sunday, we didn't have the money to give. We get just like you all do.
We didn't have it. We didn't have it. Writing checks on money that
wasn't there, you know, on the, on the, in other words, on waiting,
anticipating Sunday's check. But we gave a check anyway. And we had outstanding bills
and we knew that we were going to be in the hole the rest of
the next two weeks. We gave it anyway. Do you know
that very night somebody came up and handed me personally a
check? Do you know? I didn't even open
it. I'm not trying to be sensational
here. I'm just telling you. I'm just telling you this so
you can praise God and see how that this thing is true. It's
true. That very night, somebody handed
me a check. I didn't even open it. I knew
how much was in that check. Do you remember that minute?
I brought it home and I said, here, open this, read this. I
know how much is in that check. Was it dollar for dollar or was
it not? It was to the penny. Write a check to the church first. All right. I'm not trying to
be sensational, folks.