This is one of those areas of
preaching that I personally avoid, sinfully avoid. Can I make that
confession? Don't throw me out. I'm making
it known, and now I'm accountable for it. And this that I'm talking
about this morning is in the area, as you heard the text of
2 Corinthians 9, that Brother Dave read, it deals with giving,
offerings, tithes, worship through giving. And typically in most
churches, what you'll see is, you know, every few weeks we're
going to tie giving into the sermon. Or every few services
there's going to be a time of offering. I get many, many complaints,
questions, and weird looks as people visit our fellowship.
But one of the weirdest things that sort of troubles people
is that we don't pass an offering plate. We don't go around and
Stick a little round disc that's open to the public in front of
your face and shake it until you empty your pockets. Most
churches do something to that nature. I want to give you just
a little bit of a journey on my views and thoughts in regard
to taking offerings and giving for just a moment. And then we're
going to get back into Galatians 6 and we're going to end up in
2 Corinthians 9. Because what I want us to do for the point
of preaching is I don't want us just to learn the practice
of giving. Even though I believe that my view of giving is most
biblical, or if not more biblical than most any other church that
I've been a part of, I dare not say that it is without error.
And I also dare not do what most people do and put an undue burden
on the church in the sense that it might be your conviction one
way or your conviction another. And so that's why I believe 2
Corinthians 9 is a good place to land, specifically that God
says He loves a cheerful giver. And so if I were to summarize
giving for the Christian to the local church in this culture
today, I would say that we ought to give that which makes us happy. And that sounds really like a
good title of a sermon that would go on TBN and then they'd offer
an offering option for you to give and all sorts of things. But why deal with it anyway?
Because it's biblical. Why are we having to deal with
it now? Because it's not in Thessalonians.
And it's not in John, and it's not in any of the places that
I think I'm going to be preaching over the next few years. And I have
ignored the reality. And many of you, many of you
have said, what is the church's stance on giving? Why don't you
have a plate? You know, that little box over
there looks like something you put a complaint in. I mean, you know, it takes
some people like a month or two, and they're standing around sometimes
with a dollar bill or whatever. Where do I put this? Put it back
in your pocket, I guess. So it's a little odd. It's a little odd
for us because I have, I lived under a compulsion. as a pastor
on staff with a church that required tithing 10% of everything you
made. It was your choice whether it
was the gross or the net. The gross is what you get totally.
The net is what's left after Uncle Sam takes it all. And it
was your choice, but in the end, in order to remain an elder in
that church, you had to tithe on record because it was the
biblical mandate that we saw in Scripture according to the
teaching of the church. And even prior to that, in the
very beginning days of our ministry, we were taught that if we did
not give, we were robbing God. If we could not give, we should
take our money that we were going to put on our light bill and
give to the church and trust in the Lord. It wasn't even a
word of faith ministry. It wasn't even such to say, plant
this seed and God will give you 10 times more, which is a heresy
from hell. It's not from hell. God created
hell, but we like to say that because it sounds so nasty and
evil, but it's a heresy from the liar, from the deceiver.
If we want money from God, we should just keep the money He's
given us. If we want God to bless us, then we need to find out
what the Scripture teaches in Ephesians chapter 1, that we
have all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus. There is nothing
else. But yet there is a teaching of reciprocity, if you will. There is a teaching of sowing
and reaping that we find in the New Testament, but it's not in
the sense that we do these things so that we get more. It's not
a satisfaction of our flesh and our material needs. The blessing
of giving as a Christian, of our time, of our talents, of
our treasures, is that we are fulfilled in that, and it gives
us the most satisfaction. It's like Jesus would say in
John 4, when they say, would you like something to eat? He
tells His disciples, I have food that you know not of. And they're
puzzled, because they left Him there by Himself to go get food. And they quarrel among themselves
or they whisper later, John confesses, that he was talking with a woman
and that what kind of food was it that he was... So Jesus explains,
he says, my food is to do the will of him who sent me. And
so to summarize it the way many good exegetes do is that Jesus'
food was to be food for a people who needed food. When he says
in John 6, I am the bread. And so in the same way, giving
is directly tied to Christ. It's directly tied to the gospel
and the power of the gospel in the sense that the New Testament
church is a church that is supportive of itself and each other. But
there have been times in our lives where we so were burdened
by the reality of giving in fear and compulsion that we did that
very thing from time to time where when things were tight
for us, we did not pay our electric bill and we did not pay our water
bill. And we gave that money then to the church only to find
ourselves for five days with no electricity and no water.
And then when the church calls to see where we are, Of course,
we didn't answer the phone because we were embarrassed, so they
come knocking and they're like, why is everything so dark? Can
I wash my hands? You can do neither in this home.
Why? Then I was told, it's because
you're not a steward and God is punishing you, to which I
responded, no, because I gave the church all my money. Oh, well if that's true on record,
we'll pay your utilities. If it's not, we're not stepping
into the Lord's discipline. And that was how we lived. Now
friends, some of you might think, that's harsh. That's where most
churches are. Most churches preach compulsion
when it comes to giving. Why teach on it? It's biblical.
Everything that the scripture teaches is good. But we, and
those of you who know me, know that my heart is, is burdened
to the nth degree because these types of sermons and these types
of preaching can come across so self-serving. You know, I
need a new jet. You know, that kind of stuff.
We see it all the time on television. How about just a small twin engine
plane? You know what I'm talking about.
I'm being funny, but it's really deplorable. But you see it all
the time. And so as a shepherd of the flock,
I hate dealing with the context of giving because it seems It
seems so odd in our culture because it's such a polarizing issue.
But the ultimate outcome of today's sermon is that we understand
that giving is not just an issue of practice, but it's an issue
of worship. And the most important thing
about giving of ourselves, whether it be our money or of our time,
of our leadership, of our servanthood, is that's the reality of it.
We are doing it for a specific purpose that the scripture calls
out very clearly, and it is in Galatians 6. Not just in the
sense that Paul says that it is, but also in the fullest sense
that we are to always be considering what? Each other, as we learn
in Philippians. And so I will say to you today,
with fear and trembling, that I come before you to rock your
world when it comes to your biblical view of tithing or giving or
offering. And some of you will be set free
today, and some of you will be enlightened today. Ultimately,
I hope that your joy will be full. And so with that, I want
to pray again as we get started, please. Father, I have no words. I have no power, no ability. I have no expertise in how to
really teach or preach Your Word. But Lord, by Your wisdom, You
called me to this task. And Father, every day, every
season, every week, as we labor to live out our faith, as we
labor to see Your love effectually in us toward each other, as we're
continually burdened to pray for each other and to minister
to each other's needs. Lord, you know that we understand
without your mighty grace, we would fail miserably in all of
it. But Father, our culture, our lives as a people, the so-called
church of this world, Lord, has tainted your word, has twisted
your scripture, has put a different face on the gospel, and it has
invaded all of us. And though we strive for truth,
though we strive to be a people, father, we still see many who
come and who go and who do not want to receive the truth of
your word, but rather they get offended on small, what we would
say non-essential things because they have made them their Lord.
And so God, as we see idols in our lives this day, we pray that
by your grace and mercy, you would tear them down. And Father,
as I preach this text, I pray that it would truly reveal the
nature of Christ and that the gospel that set us free from
the judgment of Your holiness would be so powerful among us
this day that we would be transformed dynamically and supernaturally
in an instant. And we thank You that Your Word
is true. And we thank You that we all are gathered here today
to be a people who would display the power of Your glory and be
the product of Your grace. In Jesus' name, amen. Turn to Galatians 6. And let
me review some things and then reiterate some things. I know
that seems redundant. And then let me expose some things
that I was not able to really focus on last week. Goodness. Galatians chapter 6,
starting in verse 1. I'm going to read down through
verse 6. Brothers, if anyone is caught
in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore
him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest
you too be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and
so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he's something
when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one test
his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone
and not in his neighbor, for each will have to bear his own
load. Verse 6, One who is taught the
word must share all good things with the one who teaches. Do
not be deceived. God does not mock. For whatever
one sows, one also shall reap. For the one who sows to his own
flesh will reap from his flesh corruption. For the one who sows
to the Spirit will reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary
of doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not give
up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and
especially to those who are of the household of faith. In the
next two weeks, I'll finish out this text, but today I'm going
to go back to verse one, down through verse six. You see how
this is a little frustrating for a guy like me? You see? To end on the note that says,
let the one who has taught the word, you, share all good things
with the one who teaches me. I hate that. But let me explain
it in the context of this verse, the context of this list, if
you will. Paul, if you go back to where
we were, says that there are many people in our community
of faith who are the body of Christ, and these people are
of great differences in maturity. These people are in great different
places in their understanding of the gospel, different places
in their disciplines. But we're all in the same place
in that we are all in need of grace. We are all in need of
the gospel every day. The gospel is not just that that
saves us and leaves us. The gospel is the power of God
unto salvation and unto sustenance in the fact that we will be preserved
forever, eternally by the gospel. So that then the gospel of Jesus
Christ is what we need every day. We're to look at Christ. We're to love each other as Christ
loved. We're to learn Christ over and
over again. Christ is the answer. He is the
right answer for every situation in life. How He lived, what He
said, the example of His sacrifice. Everything that we see throughout
the entire Bible is a depiction of God's grace, of His revelation
to us, which is fulfilled and perfectly seen in Jesus Christ. so that as we see each other
get tied up and tangled up into doctrinal disputes, or as Paul
would tell Timothy, genealogical disputes, we ought to do, as
Titus said, be patient with those who doubt. We ought to rebuke
those sharply who cause division. And after we warn them once and
then warn them again, we have nothing more to do with them.
That means they don't shake their hands at the gas pump. except
they repent of their sin. Because to divide the body of
Christ is the most wicked thing that someone who professes Christ
could do. It is blasphemous. It is blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.
It is anti-Christ and it is anti-gospel. And so that whether it be willful
sin or just gossip, that's accidental. Did you hear what happened? Oh,
wow. And we poison people's minds
or we put an obstacle in front of someone. We must be careful
to always consider the uniqueness of each person in the body and
the immaturity and maturity of each person in the body. And
we must say to ourselves, is what we're about to do, say,
think, post, look at, eat, Whatever it might be, is it going to give
opportunity for unity and the power of Christ? Or is this an
opportunity for the devil to become to create a stumbling
block among us? So Paul says there are some who
would be called up in transgression, any transgression And that means
that there could be people who are willfully sinning. There
could be people who are accidentally sinning. There could be people
like I was in my youth and the early days of my pastorate where
I was zealous about truth. And when I saw wickedness and
people just stood up and especially those who thought that they were
better than everybody else because they had been there the longest,
and tithed the most, and had a Sunday school class with their
name on it, and a pew with their mama's name on it, and a hymnal
with their grandmama's name on it, and a brick with their great
granddaddy's name on it on the outside, that they had some end
run to the supernatural of God. And when they would stand there
and cause division, and I would stand for truth, there was several
times in those seasons of my life where I would be correct
in my words, correct in my exegesis, correct in my zeal, correct in
my anger about the circumstances, but incorrect in my exercise
of that anger. And I'll never forget a meeting
one time with very delicate sheep of Christ who supported me and
supported the pastor of the church and supported the truth of Christ
and wanted dearly to see resolution and restitution come to a very
grave matter. And one of them decided that
they would pose a question. And this question irritated,
I was sick of answering this question. And I said, God doesn't
care about that, which was true. And then I slammed my hand down
on the table in anger, like Moses smacking that rock, and three
of the most godly men in my life got up and walked out. Sentence. I was called up in
a transgression. And the spiritual people in that
church left me. Now who's here to help? So sometimes,
even when we're right, we sin in our rightness. You see what
I mean? Don't always, because the error
that most of us think, oh, that people who are just living in
sin. That's exactly what Paul then says very next phrase. We restore them in the spirit
of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself. Keep watch on yourself,
beloved, lest you too be tempted. You too be tempted. So in this
now, we must be careful to watch out for ourselves or we will
be tempted. We may be tempted as he goes on to say in verse
what? Three, if you feel like you're
something when you're really nothing, and I'll talk about
that in a minute, but be careful not to think so highly of yourself
as to say, man, look at old brother James, man, he's just falling
away. Why can't he be a stronger believer like me? Oh, poor little
guy, let's pity him. If he'd just get his life together.
If he'd just stop doing that, if he'd just stop doing that,
if he'd just stop doing that, then this would work. You know,
he's just got to let God and let go. What does that even mean? How can I let God do anything,
even if I let go? I don't want to let go of God.
The Scripture says hold fast to our confession of hope until
our knuckles are white. If we don't let go, I know what
the point is. But you see, that's not counsel,
that's not advice, that's just cliche. And it doesn't work. What works is we are spiritual,
restore him with a spirit of gentleness. We hold fast to Christ
and watch out. We look in the mirror, we look
at each other and we say, wow, if I don't carefully watch myself,
I'm going to fall into the same temptation that this brother
or this sister is in or worse. I will think I'm not being tempted
and actually fall into pride, fall into spiritual superiority.
This is a review from last week. And we don't want to do this.
We don't want to lean into the transgression. Well, I'll just
hang out with my friend at the club. And that way he'll... It'd be
relational evangelism. You know what? That's called
sin. Relational evangelism is the devil's word for sin. For ignoring the truth of the
gospel. For ignoring the truth of being
called to be holy. We don't go and partake in the
world and say we're trying to reach the world. We don't bring
worldly ways into the body of Christ. So we're just getting
them here, getting them where? Not to the church. You're not
at the church. You're not of the church if you're not born
of Christ. And so we come to this place
where we see this stuff and then we see verse two in the same
breath, we are to bear one another's burdens. and so fulfill the law
of Christ. Friends, I could do a series
on that verse right there, but in the sense that God has called
me to preach this text today, listen to what that says. Those
who are seen in a transgression, you who are spiritual, watch
out for them and restore them with a spirit of gentleness.
The idea is that we want to bring those who are fallen back to
the grace of Christ, back to the intimacy of the body. We
want people who are living apart from Christ to come back to Christ
with holy affection and holiness. And we are responsible for being
part of that restorative program, that restoration process, that
restoration prayer that we go out and we grab hold to them
and we bring them into our lives. We don't go to where they are.
We bring them to where we are. We bring them to the Word of
God. We bring them to the fellowship. We bring them to the table of
prayer. We bring them to the petition of our Father in heaven.
We go after them, and if they don't let us, then that's not
our fault, but we try. And we are to be gentle. And
in doing all of that, we are actually bearing one another's
burdens. Now, when we hear that in our
vernacular, we think, oh, this is going to be awful. This is
awful, terrible. Oh, we've got to bear the burden.
Oh, my God, give me that toothache. I'll take it. Oh, this toothache's
awful. I'll fast for you. Man, I'm about
to starve. I mean, you know, Paul says do everything without
grumbling or complaining. She may be seen as a light amongst
a twisted and crooked generation. Anybody can do good deeds and
whine about it. Anybody can serve one another and complain about
it. When I was a very young man, I thought that, I don't even
know if I was 20 yet, but I thought I would make a t-shirt that said,
don't bother me, I'm fasting. Because you ever had those friends?
They're fasting and they want you to know they're fasting.
This is before the days of social media, text messaging. We had
payders, but you could just get a number and then the alphanumeric.
Nobody's going to waste a dollar page to text you. But I mean,
you know, people that fast and they're just complaining, they
isolate themselves. You call, what's going on? Oh,
I'm just fasting. I'm trying to get all that. I shouldn't know that it's hurting
you. That's not bearing one another's burdens. That's not putting up
with each other. It's not bearing one another's
burdens. Bearing one another's burdens is having burdens of
our own on our shoulders that we can barely manage, but in
the power of grace and the power of the cross. we're able to say,
you know what? My brother's stumbling over there.
He's about to follow that load that he's carrying is too much.
Let's go get it. And we go get a corner and somebody else gets
a corner. We pick it up off of them so that they don't have
to carry it at all. Not possible, but that's our
intent. And we're glad to help. We're rejoicing, even though
we'll have our times when we're sitting there one day in our
chair thinking, this is way too much and my neck hurts, and I
wish this guy would just get out of my life so that I wouldn't
have to carry the burden. And then the Lord's Word comes back and
says, be gentle, lest you fall into temptation yourself. Oh,
wait a minute, you just did. You see. There's too much here, I'm trying
to cram it all into one sermon. But this is a sermon about giving.
This is a sermon about giving. And it goes beyond money, it
goes beyond just treasure, it's never about the excess or the
spare, it's always about the all. And bearing each other's burdens.
Friends, even when there's nothing we can do, we weep with those
who weep. We rejoice with those who rejoice. This is what bearing means. And we do it with joy and we
do it with affection. We bear the burdens of their
needs. We bear the burdens of their spiritual growth or lack
thereof. We bury the burdens of their pain. We bury the burdens
of whatever they have. We bear them. And some of us
are equipped to bear some types of burdens, and some of us are
equipped to bear other types of burdens. None of us, in the
sound of my voice, have the exact same call, the exact same gift,
or the exact same abilities to bear the exact same burdens.
Because if that were true, then there'd be a whole lot of holes
and unheld burdens amongst us. Can you think of burdens in your
own life right now? Can you think of some that you have not even
made known that you wish that the church could help you carry?
Can you think of some that the church has come, that the body
of Christ, and I say the church, I'm not talking about the program,
I'm talking about y'all, us, we. That we in this room, we
in this fellowship have come and been able to help carry that
burden. And what's crazy is some of you may be thinking, I don't
think I've carried anybody's burdens yet. But yet some of
us in the room would say, yes, you have. Whether it be a small
touch on the shoulder in a prayer, powerful, whether it be a small
card for those of you who still like to write and send letters
and what they call those things, envelopes. Whether it be a phone call or
a text message or cleaning someone's yard or Meeting them wherever
they might be or dropping off a bag of groceries or giving
them a love offering of some kind. Whatever it might be, you're
bearing their burden somehow. Friends, that's why we're here
as a church. And there's a lot of blind spots
in our culture. There's a lot of blind spots
in our lives. There's a lot of blind spots in our fellowship.
But friends, we can't be blind to the reality that Christ bore
our burdens on the cross. And not only was it a burden
that was grave, eternally grave, but it was a burden that we would
carry eternally because it could not come off of our shoulders.
There is nothing that any human person can do to even weaken
the burden of judgment against them. You could be good for 99
years without ever having a sinful thought or deed, and you are
still going to be guilty of sin, except that Christ took all your
guilt on Himself and died by the hand of the Father, by the
will of God, so that you could be forgiven. We don't just also carry these
burdens by ourselves. We do it together, jointly. We all have a load to bear. And it came to me this morning
this way. It's not about putting up with each other. It's about
pulling up each other. Much like Moses, when his hands
were weak and he could no longer hold them up, and they held his
arms. But why do we do this? Because
Jesus says in John, 13, a new commandment I give you, that
you love one another. Now we could stop there and we
can contemplate what that means and we can come to many conclusions
in the sense of what love actually is. But friends, love is exactly
what Jesus says it is. And he continues in that verse
that you love one another just as I have loved you. You don't
love one another the way you want to love. You don't love
one another the way your mama taught you to love. You don't
love one another the way the world teaches to love. Love wins, the
world says, but I don't see it. It's not loving to let someone
waller in their depravity and say that it's OK. It's not loving
to let the world around us just think that it's all we're just
worldly. Let us love in our own way and call it love to take
what the world does that God is. God did not create love. He is love. And for the world
to define God differently than who he is, is wicked. And for
God's people who have been saved by Christ to allow it to continue
to spill off the lips of this world is not okay. We must stop
people preaching a false gospel who deny Christ and say that
it's love. What is love? Just as I've loved you, you are
also to love one another. Jesus would tell us also that
love is never seen in any greater way than when we lay down our
lives for another. No greater love than this, than
a man would lay down his life for a brother. Jesus laid down
His life. Christ was not incarnated against
His will. Christ did not come to this world
kicking and screaming out of the womb of Mary going, now I've
got to put up with it. Christ did not come to put up
with being human. Christ wanted to pay for our
sins. And friends, He did not have
to. Had God from the beginning of
the garden at the fall of Adam and Eve said to them instead
of, he will crush the head of the serpent. If he'd have said,
you're on your own, and my wrath is coming, carpe diem, he would
be worthy of all praise, all glory, all honor, because he would be right. It's like the satirical video
back in, I don't know how many years ago it was, back in the
early 2000s of a church used, anyway, satire to teach some
things. And they used a video of an old
movie of Jesus standing there and he says, can I have your
attention, please? I'm Jesus. Please listen to me. Very funny. I mean, it's just used for satire. Not so funny when you think about
it. And this depiction of Jesus says,
you're all sinners. There's no hope. Thank you. And a lot of people think that. But friends, even if he had said
that, which he didn't, he'd be worthy of praise. But because
Jesus came in the flesh and because Jesus lived a life obedient to
the holiness of God and because Jesus willfully, passively obeyed
the command of God to die on the cross as a sufficient lamb,
And because he is raised from the dead, we don't have to worship
God for just the fact that he's worthy of worship. We can worship
God because of his glorious grace. And that's what Paul says to
the Ephesian church, that we live to the praise of his glorious
grace. So if this is true, then should
not our hearts desire to fulfill the law of Christ? The law of
Christ is to lay down our lives for each other. And friends,
it goes far beyond what we even are able to do. But God enables
us. This temptation that we talked
about earlier, this, lest you be tempted, keep watch on yourself.
Let me talk about that for a moment. Because sometimes we think, well,
I don't want to be tempted. And He said, I don't want to
think that I'm something, so I'm nothing. So let's just think
about that for a minute. Some people are tempted to say,
I'm helping, I'm carrying burden. So, wow, look at me. Some people
don't even have that heart, but they're concerned how people
might look at them in that regard and they decide not to do anything.
I don't want people to think I'm trying to get accolades,
so I just will sit tight. Some people see someone that's
zealous to be a minister to others, and they look at them and say,
look at him. He's just always there, always
doing something. Pastor's pet, always there, vacuuming
the floor, washing the windows, opening doors for ladies. Oh,
what kind of guy is this? He's just looking for, you know.
And we are tempted to think that way sometimes. Are we not? Some
people are tempted to say, well, I'm better because I'm not hurting.
I'm in a better position with Christ. My spiritual life is,
is stronger because I'm more in the word and I'm teaching.
And sister so-and-so is just so ragged out. She just can't
get her life together. Oh God help her. And we are sincere
in that, but sometimes we're tempted to feel like we're more
spiritual. Some people think, well, my station
is better. My station in life is better, so God is blessing
me more. I would suggest to you that Jesus
himself would say that as our station goes up, our spirituality
goes down to the point that if we are really, really worldly,
really, really wealthy, really, really successful, chances are
we're really, really lost. High probability. Matter of fact, the whole of
the Church of Jesus Christ and the saints of the Old Testament
that were saved are not even named because they're nobodies. And even the ones that are named,
they're 90% nobodies. And the rich and the ruling,
we see them named so we can see them fall and see them lose it
all and see them worship God. Be tempted. For if a woman thinks
he's something when he's nothing, he deceives himself. Let me tell
you, sometimes we're tempted even in that reality. Friends,
being self-deprecating is not godly. What's that mean? It means to put oneself down
is different than thinking less of oneself in a biblical context. I hear people very often Well,
I just can't overcome this. I'm just a sinner. I'm just a
sinner. I'm just a sinner. You were a
sinner. And now you're a child of God.
And if you sin, you have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ
the righteous. Yes, your flesh is still dying. Your fleshly old man still is
alive, if we can say that. It's active, but it can be what? Put to death and then the righteousness
of Christ be put on. This is the striving. This isn't
new. We looked at it in Philippians. We looked at it in Ephesians.
We've looked at it in Jude. We've looked at it in Titus.
We've looked at it everywhere we go. We see the reality of
scripture that teaches the body of Christ to strive for holiness,
not in our own efforts, but in the power of Christ. We see the
scripture teach us to not look at ourselves as these lost, hopeless
people. But we rejoice in Christ that
he saved us, knowing well that our lives have no meaning apart
from him, but that we are saved by Christ. Listen, we are infinitely
worthy because we're the body of Christ. You're not worthless to God because
he's loved you with a great love and he's caused you to be born
again. Is that worth and that love he has for you because of
you? No, it's in spite of you. It's
in spite of us. We don't deserve it. That's why
it's called grace. Remember that very first week
of this little series here. We talked about the reality that
God is the master giver. God is the master gifter. God
is the master builder of his church. and to think less of
himself. If anyone thinks he's something
when he's really nothing, he is self-deceived. That does not
mean to say, I'm worthless in the kingdom of Christ. But at the same time, it's not
to look at ourselves and become haughty and self-righteous and
self-worthy. It's for us to look and see that
Christ is building me. God is doing a work in me. This
affection that I have, what did Paul say? Paul boasted in the
Philippians. Paul was grieved of the idea
that he may have worked in vain, had these people fallen away
from the faith, evidenced by their lack of joy in their suffering. Paul says, I have for you all
the affection of Christ. For Christ lives in me. To live
as Christ. He didn't say to live as me.
Look at me, be like me. Though He said be like me, He
says be like me as I be like Christ. Not good grammar. But it would rhyme, wouldn't
it? God is the master giver. He builds
the church as He sees fit. He gifts each of us as He sees
fit. Therefore, every one of us in
this room, listen church, is important to the other. Let me say that again. Every
one of us in this room is important to the other. And any of us who
just now in our mind said, no, I'm not is sinning. Now you're
like, well, now I'm worthless because I'm sinning in my own
mind. Quit it. He's reading my mind. No, I'm
just reading my mind. I think the same way you do. We are needed. We have to bear
each other's burdens. We have to minister as God has
equipped us. Quit looking at others and say,
I wish I could do like that. Quit looking at each other and
say, oh, I could just be like that. Especially when we're just
sort of hanging out in here a couple of hours a week because we don't
know each other hanging out in here. So be careful who you follow
out the door, because they may run you in a ditch. Not literally. Yeah. Sheila got tickled on that one. But what should we do? Test ourselves.
We should test ourselves with the reflection of Christ, not
each other. Don't look at those who are overcome with transgression
and say, man, I'm doing all right. Look at Christ and say, only
by His grace. Only by His grace. Why? So that we do not boast
in the contrast of our lives with others, but we boast in
the Lord as we boast in ourselves. Look at that text. It's confusing,
isn't it? For if anyone thinks he's something when he is nothing,
he deceives himself. But let each one test his own work and
then reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his
neighbor. See, that sounds like we say, look at me, I've got
it. But we know that's not true because it contradicts everything.
Even the context of what Paul would say to this letter. We're
boasting in Christ, but we're boasting in Christ about his
work in us, not boasting in us. in comparison to the lack of
the work of Christ in others, which is really not true. And
in a sense, when we boast in the work that Christ does in
us, we boast in our work. And it's not our work. It's a
gift of God to the praise of His glorious grace. For each
will have to bear his own load. What does that mean? That means
we will be responsible for the call of right living. In other
words, even though we see people and we're required to bear their
burden, friends, when we are in sin or we are in transgression
or we are in ministry or we're given an opportunity to serve,
we're responsible for that. We will, according to what the
Bible teaches, have a reward. And I don't want to get into
what this is. On Tuesday night, I might get expounded on this
some, but I don't really want to get into what the Bible teaches
on this because it would take an hour for me to just set it
up. For those of you who know what I think, you know where
I'm going. But we are rewarded for our obedience. We are blessed
by our striving. There is a reciprocation of our
investment in the ministry. We receive blessing from it so
that our burdens are our own. And we must understand that.
But we are not alone in those burdens. Do you see that? And then in verse six, which
many commentators just like to say, new subject is not a new
subject. Why? Because who's teaching this
letter to the church in Galatia? Pastors. Pastors teach the Bible by the
call of God to the church for their growth and maturity. But
we are also the church. And each of us have a role. And
so then Paul says, don't forget about this. It's not just here,
but I find it very interesting that it is in the context of
this. Let the one who has taught the word share all good things
with the one who teaches. And that's what we're going to
end today, because here's the reality of that text. And let me give a caveat. If
I were to outline this text that we've done today, it would be
humility. Testing. We're spiritual. We do it with gentleness, humility. Testing. We look at ourselves,
not at each other. Working. We labor for each other. We labor
for the work of the ministry. We carry, carrying. We carry
the burdens. We share. We share what? Ourselves. We share our lives. And then
reaping. And we get the benefit of that. And I hate teaching this because
it is something that scares me. Because I am fearful, and I'm
going to be honest, I am fearful that when I teach this type of
stuff, that you as the church will say, he's just after our
money. Why am I fearful of that? Because
I'm sinning! I'm sinning. When God called us to plant Grace
Truth Church, we came down here. And for most of you who don't
know, God provided for us the ability through gifts, through
my wife and through others, to help support us as we labor in
the Word. Why is that important? I know
a bunch of bivocational pastors. No, you don't. You know part-time
preachers? They're not pastors. And they'll
tell you that. There's a big difference. And
the Lord knows that there are, as Jesse will tell you, there's
a big difference of what you can do and what the Lord has
called you to do when you submit to that call, when you no longer
have to submit to the yoke of a company. It's impossible to
do both. But over the last year, my wife
and I, we've had to depend upon support of others. for a large
majority of that year. Why? Because every good thing
comes to an end. Nothing's permanent, nothing's
eternal, nothing's going to last, and God has been faithful to
that. Jesse, as of last week, was his
first week in full-time ministry. That is the most silly thing
I've ever heard, but that's what we call it. Jesse is now dependent
upon the support of others. And you know what that does for
men like me and for men like Jesse? It's humiliating. You know what's worse is when
we go into those places and every church that I've ever accepted
a call from, I've never asked about salary and all that stuff.
I'm being honest with you. I'm not saying this to puff me
up, because I've always been scared if I mentioned it, they'd
think that's what I was after. Oh, we've called the man. We haven't
even talked to him about how he's going to be compensated. But it's not
compensation. Because the Bible says you can't
pay a man who preaches enough. But I say you can pay him too
much. You see what I mean? There's a difference. The point
is the value of the work is the most honorable work that can
be done. But in our culture and in our mind, when people who
are my spiritual mentors, when we came to Georgia, when we left
to go to California, and I had no idea what it was going to
look like. Well, how are you going to afford it? How are you
going to survive? I don't know. I don't know. Why does it matter? Do I answer God if it works out
or do I just answer the call of God? Just answer the call
of God. Paul says, I've had much, I've had little. I can do better
with little. I can endure both. How? Through Christ. But today,
I want you to see that when Paul has mentioned this, he is saying,
don't forget that there are pastors among you who sometimes are looked
at as they're preaching to you rather than learning with you.
And also don't forget that though very few times, because we see
in Paul's writing to Timothy and to Titus, that if pastors
are disqualified, they have to sort of step out, don't they,
for a season, maybe a day, maybe a week, maybe a year, maybe longer,
depends on why they're disqualified. If they've just got an attitude
for a couple of weeks, then let's correct it. If they've cheated
on their spouse, It may take years to restore. But it's easy to forget that
I'm part of the body or that Jesse's part of the body, you
know, because we're these preaching guys that are just we're doing
the work. So we're telling you how to do it at the same time
we're subject to it. As we are also supposed to be
what ministering to you, this is what most churches feel. We
don't have this problem. Most churches that I have pastored,
I've had to correct this, and it's usually taken about a year
and a half, where they think the pastor is the chaplain, is
the hospice nurse, is the marriage counselor. And listen, most of
the brothers I know shouldn't counsel a cat, much less a couple. Don't talk
to that man about, he's an exegete. He will hurt your feelings. Please
don't talk to, I told that guy recently, don't talk to that
pastor of yours about your marriage problems. One of my great mentors
through the years, one of my buddies in the faith, a fellow
pastor sitting in the back seat of my car decided he was going
to just get this great godly, prophetic-minded preacher's advice
on his marriage. And I'm like, shh, I'm driving,
he's back there like this, and the brother's right here, the
guy he's trying to get advice from is right here, 238 pounds, 6
foot 8, played ball for some big university. And I thought, dude, this ain't
the time for this. Another one of my pastors sitting
behind me in the car, we're driving, he wouldn't stop. What do I need
to do? Well, what happens? How do I
deal with my wife who aggravates the dog mess out of me? She's
always this, she's always that. And he says, from memory, quotes
the entire, I think, entire chapter 5 and 6 of Ephesians. And then this cat back there,
and of course the guy sitting next to him said, he wanted counsel. What he got was correction. And
it just about broke my car seat. But you don't understand. So
here's this. Don't you tell me! He jumps upside down with his
legs over in my spot while I'm trying to drive. Blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Quoting John and Romans and everything
else to him from memory. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah. As Christ loved the church. You die! You die!
Don't you! Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You know, pastors
aren't necessarily the best counselors. And counselors aren't necessarily
the best pastors. What's the point? I'm saying we have a skewed
idea sometimes about what the pastor is supposed to be doing.
What does the Bible command me to do? to pray and study the
Word before everything else. Well, that's a simple life. Okay. Do it. If I could give it up, I would.
What about you, Jesse? Can't give it up. Sometimes I
despise the Word of God. And in the same breath, love
the Word of God. I don't throw them anymore because I don't
want them to tear up because I can't afford to buy new Bibles. But
you know, back in the early days when you've got these little
cheap paper bags, you just chuck them. Pick it up. I did that to a lot
of A.W. Pink's writing in the beginning.
Pick it back up. But we can't forget that shepherds,
though we have a role and a duty, we have a ministry. But the body
itself has a ministry to each other, including the shepherds. And the Word of God is administered
to the church for equipping the saints. He focuses on these elders
who teach scripture. Now, there are other types of
overseers. There are other types of overseers. They all must be
able and willing to teach, but not every shepherd preaches,
do they? They could, but they're not called
to that. Some elders do different things. And so there is a sense of burden
that we have, that I have as a man, that Jesse has. How do
we deal with being the flock, part of the flock, but also having
the burden and the responsibility of overseeing the flock? We have
to be able and willing and have the time to pursue that and to
be available for it. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm
not saying don't call me for counsel. I'm an intermediate
counselor. And this is going to sound funny,
in a major profit. Just being funny. But it is about the Word
of God. Call me. Call each other. Invest in each other's lives
in that way. But don't forget that we each have a responsibility.
And Paul says that this time for study, this investment, This
time for prayer, this time for preparation for the Word of God
and for the saints prohibits active careers and employment. It does. It prohibits. It prohibits
it. It cannot happen. It is an impossibility
to be an effective shepherd under the yoke of labor and among the
church in teaching and preaching while also being restricted under
the covenant of a job. They said, well, Paul said tent
making. Listen, tent making is important for seasons. Tent making
is also important sometimes when things are tough. But tent making
was Paul's decision because he gave up his right for support. He did. Why would he point this out here?
Because we are easily forgotten, those who labor in the Word.
We provide, what? Greatly for the flock. See how
this sounds so self-serving? I hate this sermon. But the Word
of God provides greatly for the flock. Why are you here? For
me? Please, please don't tell me
that. And if you are here for me, just
smile and tell me you're not. I should be here for Christ.
And you should be here because you're drawn to the Word of God.
And by the power of God, Christ enables me to teach it to you.
to equip you in it, to shepherd you under it. And I'm a nothing. If I die, there are greater and
mightier mouths that God could use to do the exact same thing. But it is our duty as the church
to bear each other's burdens, and pastors, unfortunately, depend
on others to carry their burdens. The church prayerfully depends
on pastors to carry their burdens. And the list goes on. And so
you're thinking, okay, this is a sermon about giving. That's
where it ends. And now it goes about doing good
to each other, which is inclusive. So Paul just sandwiches that
in there. And I can imagine that this early church, as those pastors
read that, I'm not reading that to them. Just like I would do. It's one of the main reasons
I've never preached through Galatians, since I've been at Grace Truth.
Well, not main, but you know, I'm like, eh, this is a good
one. And I know I keep laboring that. I want you to understand
it is a fearful thing that our culture has caused in the life
of the church because of the way people abuse the honor and
the privilege of giving to the needs of the church. So what
should we do? Well, the Bible teaches several
different things as it comes to giving. Let me take the next
10 minutes and let me show you what most people think and then
what the Bible says about giving. Most people teach out of Malachi
3. You can go there if you want.
But most pastors, and the way I was taught, is that in Malachi
3, giving is this. Bring your tithe wholly into
the storehouse of God. Do not rob God. How do I rob
God, you say? Through your tithes and offerings.
Bring your whole tithe into the storehouse that your, what, barns
may overflow. But what's that mean? Who is
receiving that message and who's speaking it? Malachi is a prophet
of God sent to the people of who? Israel. And what was Israel's call and
command? They were to do what? Worship
in the temple. And there are Levites who got
no land. They have no possessions. They
have no way to plant food. They've got no way to raise cattle
or not cattle, but sheep. They've got no way to be in the
textile industry. Why? Because they have nowhere
to set up. They live around the temple. They take care of the
temple. They did the work of the temple. They were the priesthood.
And in Malachi, the priest, they had been so forsaken, the worship
of God and temple worship had been so forsaken that the people
who were grain farmers didn't bring any grain for the priest
to eat. And the people who had textiles
didn't bring any clothes for the priest to wear. The people
who had sheep didn't bring any lambs for the priest to eat on. And so it was just a constant.
So the priests were not able to do their duties. And so God
sent Malachi to say, bring it back to the way it should be.
Bring your tithe, which is a 10% tithe on your gross three times
a year. But that's not what he said.
No. Are you going to make $10,000 this year? Then this first season,
I want you to bring $1,000. In the second season, I want
you to bring $1,000. In the third season, I want you to bring $1,000.
That's what a biblical tithe is. It's 30%. Now, does it matter? No. Did
everybody in the Old Testament during that time give like that?
No. They gave what they could. And they gave 10% of what they
had. But these people who were very wealthy, they did what they
could do. Why? Because they wanted their
temple to continue to be open. Now here's the error. New Testament
pastors love that. They love that because they're
able to say, you must give to take care of our building and
our grounds and our pastoral staff and everything else that
we need. Because God says if you don't, you're robbing Him.
Don't do that. Put the Lord to the test and
see what He'll do. And by ignorance, they come around
make you assume that that means that God will then give you more
money if you give money. Isn't that the way it works?
That's where the word-of-faith top seed money stuff started
to come from, Malachi. But friends, what parallel does
the temple of the Old Testament and the church of Jesus Christ
have? One's a shadow of the truth.
And what parallel does the priesthood have with the shepherds of Christ,
church? None. I'm not like the priest. Christ is like the priest. They're
like Christ. Christ is the priest. They're
the shadow of that. They're gone. That's gone. Malachi
is gone. Hot dog, we're off the hook.
Now you're off the hook of compulsion, beloved, and you're off the hook
of being mandated and being contrived to give your money, to give your
time to the church. 2 Corinthians chapter 9 is the
answer. Look at it. The point is this. He's talking with them about
a gift. Collections. He's going to Jerusalem. I mean,
he's trying to get a collection for some people there in Jerusalem.
Why? Because there's needs sometimes
that are even outside our body of faith. There are needs sometimes
that happen that are urgent. Somebody gets sick. Somebody
has a car accident. And financially it hurts. We
have to have financial needs. Sometimes there's a need for
prayer. Sometimes there's a need for this, there's a need for
that. So when I say needs, but specifically in 2 Corinthians
chapter 9, there was a collection that they were going to be taking
up for Christians in Jerusalem who were being persecuted, who
had nothing. Listen, and Paul is saying you are wrongly instituting
this collection. I imagine they were walking around
with the collection plate going, what are you going to get? Every
time they fellowshiped at someone's home, well, there were costs,
they ate together, there were all sorts of things they had
to do. And so it was just natural. We all get together and we sort
of divide up the cost of how things are. Some people have
a lot, some people have nothing. People have nothing, give nothing.
People have a lot, give some. And it was just sort of a shared
cost. the Christians in Jerusalem had a need and there was a shared
cause that the Church of Corinth wanted to help share it with,
just like we would do a mission project, send some money for
aid, which I will talk to you guys in a minute about after
our service. Paul is saying, you know what,
I've been trying to tell you about how this works and how
this gift is going to be used and how it's going to help us
and help the other apostles and help the church planters and
help the people. It's about helping all the work of the gospel. But
it's a purpose for me to tell you about these things. Look
at verse 1 of chapter 9. The ministry for the saints, for I know your
readiness. So you see the context of that
right there? There's a readiness that these Christians in Corinth
had that want to help the ministry and the church of Jerusalem. I know your readiness of which
I boast about you to the people of Macedonia, saying that Achaia
has already since last year, been ready since last year, and
your zeal has stirred up most of them." So they're like, oh
wow, they're giving? Can you imagine? The Corinthians are ready to
help? Wow, there's a God in heaven. Because they were incestual last
year in temple worship. pagan worship, all sorts of stuff,
suing each other. Now they're ready to give to
mission work, to support the apostles. Wow! It stirred them
up. But I'm sending the brothers
to you that are boasting about you would not prove empty. In
other words, you've been telling us and we've been telling others,
now they're coming to take the money. They're coming to take
the money. so that you may be ready as I
said you would be. Otherwise, if some Macedonians come with
me and find that you're not ready, we will be humiliated to say
nothing of you for being so confident. So I thought it necessary to
urge the brothers to go on ahead of you and arrange in advance
for the gift that you promised, so that may be ready as a willing
gift, not as an exaction. So here it is, this willing gift,
and I know that things might have changed, but I'm going to
send some brothers up there to go ahead and stir this up and get it together
so that you don't look like idiots and liars when they show up and
go, what? We didn't say that. Because that's
the temptation, isn't it? The point is this, whoever sows
sparingly will also reap sparingly. What's that mean? It means this,
if you invest in your life and things that are eternal, you
will reap eternal benefits. What's the eternal benefit of
supporting mission work? The growth of the gospel and
people's salvations. But if you don't care and just
sow your own fleshly lives, then that's all you'll reap. And when
you die, it dies with you. I mean, that's the point. And so we invest in that which
is eternal, but whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must Do what? But verse
seven, here's the key. Each one must give as he's decided
in his heart. Now look, each person in that
church must give as he has decided in his heart. That means it's
a heartfelt matter. It's an issue of conviction,
but it's not an issue of compulsion. It's an issue of of character
and desire and ability. I can do this. See, so for us
to be told not to pay our utilities when we were 23, sitting in the
dark, was wrong. It was wrong. We should have
said, okay, this week, we didn't make anything, we're going to
give some anyway, but we're going to pay George Powell. We're going
to do that. And then we would have been right.
Not reluctantly though. You know, I really don't want
to give this gift. I really don't want to help.
I really don't want to do this, but I know I need to. I don't want
to be looked at wrong. Stop. Don't. That's the reality
of it. Not reluctantly. Don't do it.
Don't do it under compulsion. Don't let a pastor or a televangelist
or a missionary stand there and tell you that you don't love
him or love the Lord or don't have faith because you won't
do what he wants you to do. What has the Bible told you to
do? What is God saying for us to do? Don't do this reluctantly. If you're reluctant, don't do
it. If you're still working it out, stop. Don't do it under
compulsion. That's why we don't pass plates.
I stopped that stuff within six months of getting to California.
And the plate, I mean, passing the plates, and all these men
walking down the aisles, and plates going everywhere, and
checkbooks writing, and pocketbooks zipping, and all that. And I
just got through preaching. I'm thinking, you ought to be laid out in all,
man. And you all are balancing your bank statements. And so
I said, let's do this at the very beginning. They didn't like
that. I said, well, the heck with this.
The plates went up and I put a box in the back. Oh, and you
would have thought, I don't know, called their babies ugly. Because
I did. And I had a woman one time, after
I put the box up, and it sort of caused some frustration, thanked
me that the box was up, that it made her feel more at ease
about when she was going to give, because nobody was watching her.
Well, a couple of weeks later, because it was such a point of
contention, I said, oh my gosh, we'll have the box for those
who want the box, we'll pass the plates for those who want to
pass the plates, and you can do what you want to do. Hallelujah.
We'll get a merry-go-round for people who want to throw it in
there, whatever we want, bullseye, you can launch it out of a potato
gun, I don't care how you want to do it, whatever makes you
happy, I'm just tired of the argument, you know. I didn't
get angry and slam the thing, but, you know, whatever. I'm
easy. We'll do it all. We'll do it all. You want to
walk around with a check card and we'll just give you a receipt
right... No, I did not do that. So we got that going and then
the people who were passing the plates went around like they
always did and just sort of watched. And this woman who had shared
that with me, I saw her put something in the plate that day. Not that
I was watching, but I was just noticing her. I was like, how
is she going to react to this? After the service, she came up to me
in tears. She says, I need that $20 back. I said, sister, what? She says,
I wasn't about not to give. This man's standing over my face
and waiting for me to get my money out. That's compulsion.
But I wept inside that this woman was compelled to do what she
could not do. She says, I can't. That's all I have for the week.
And so I sent her up to the table and I said, go take out as much
as you need in cash. And you thought, I mean, you'd
have thought I was the devil. I mean, I could feel the stares. What is he doing? Giving the
woman what's due her. Y'all gave it. It ain't y'all's
anymore. It's hers. She had the need. You know. And so that's
why we do what we do. I've never really explained that
to anybody. That's why we don't pass a plate. That's why I don't say,
and if you have your love, all friends, or your checks, People
who feel compelled to give by their conscience or by the Lord,
they will ask. They will ask. Because He says,
for God loves a cheerful giver. And what's really awesome about
that story is that that woman did become a giver. And I'll never forget the first
time she actually got up from the service and walked to the
back, and she's giddy. With the check in her hand, she
goes, Pastor, I'm given. And she's just like, wow, this
is a great dance here. I mean, you know, she wasn't
compelled anymore. God is able to make all grace
abound to you. So that having all sufficiency.
In all things, at all times, you may abound in every good
work. You see that? All grace abound to you. Means that everything that God
is, all the power of his love, all the power of his ability
abounds to you, to me. So that having all sufficiency
in all things at all times, that means anything that we need,
we have sufficiently all the time in everything So that we
may what? Abound in every good work. And that's the truth. That's
the teaching of what giving is. And yeah, it's about sustaining
who we are as a people. It's about supporting men like
Jesse and myself and others who may be called by God. It's about
finding another spot so we can actually have the families that
like to visit with us show up. But most important, it's about
worship. It's about worshiping God and investing in something,
not a thing, investing in a people for the glory of God. And it's
not just finances. As Paul showed, it's not just
supporting the pastor. As Paul showed, it's doing all
good work, as you'll see next week. It's supporting anyone
as they have a need. It's praying. It's giving God
the sufficiency that is His. It's giving Him the opportunity
because Christ has been given that we may do the work of the
ministry. And beloved, I will tell you
with the greatest of sincerity, there has not been any other
station of my life that has been more fulfilling and more joyful
than the station that I'm in right now in ministry. I promise
you that. And as many of us have taught
in the last year, why is there so much suffering? Because we're
real people. And we're learning to be a little
more intimate than we used to be. We're learning to be a little
more open than we used to be. I've had an unstated policy for
years that I did not want to bombard visitors when they come
in the church. I think we're going to change
that. Stay tuned. Friends, I love you, and I pray
that what God's Word has taught you today will set you free to
worship, set you free to give of yourself, of your treasure,
of your talents, set you free to be a people that have joy
above all things. And I want you to know too that
we need to all be more focused on making our needs known. I
love you, Father, and I thank you. I thank You so much, Lord,
that You're able to sustain me in times like these. That You're
able to sustain each of us in these difficult seasons. That
You're able to come with us and help us to grow. Help us to learn
how Your Word teaches us exactly what we need. And Father, I thank
You that You have placed us together this very day, this very moment.
To see. Not just the beauty and the majesty
of the gospel. But the fruit of it. In our own
lives, as we relate to each other, as we grow, as we worship. As
we live day by day. Considering each other. Loving
each other. Giving to each other. Hoping
in you. As we leave and go into the darkness
of this world and shine brightly, the holiness of your nature,
of your heart, of your mind through Christ alone. In Jesus name,
amen.