If you would, open your Bibles
with me to Psalm 27. I know everyone already knows
that our Lord saw fit to call our pastor, Henry Mahan, home
this week. The visitation will be tomorrow
morning at 930, followed by a memorial service at 11 o'clock at Steen
Funeral Home on Central Avenue. I just am overwhelmed, so thankful. to think that Brother Henry now
sees face to face what he believed by faith for so many years, and
I am so thankful. And I thought a lot about our
pastor, my mentor, and the very best way that I can think of
for us this morning to honor his memory is seek to have a
worship service. That's what Wayne said in his
prayer to open our class. There's many things for us to
think about and be concerned about right now, but for two
hours, could we have a time of worship, of heart worship? Talking about Brother Henry and
having an emotional outflow of how all of us feel about him
would be heartwarming, but it would not be worship. And one
thing I know he taught us well is this is a time of worship.
This is the time that the Lord's to be worshiped, that the gospel
will be preached, and there'll be time for those other things
at the memorial service tomorrow. I pray that the Lord enable us
to worship and to remember, now we're a congregation and some
of ours are hurting. Carrie and Lucy and Sam and Ben
have lost their bopaw and he was a good one that night. I'm sorry, our hearts go out
to you, and we pray, Lord, comfort your hearts. All right. I also
heard this morning that Joyce Brown was taken to the hospital
in the middle of the night. We want to remember her. And
notice in your bulletin with everything going on, I hope you
don't miss these two items of scheduling, the time for Vacation
Bible School in June the 30th. Moose Parks and his wife Sandy
will be here to bring the – Moose is going to bring the message.
We'll have a time of fellowship afterwards. All right, Psalm
27. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is
the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? When
the wicked, even my enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat
up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Though a host should encamp
against me, my heart shall not fear. The war should rise against
me, and this will I be confident. One thing, one thing have I desired
of the Lord that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the
house of the Lord all the days of my life. Behold the beauty
of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple. For in the time of
trouble, he shall hide me in his pavilion. In the secret of
his tabernacle shall he hide me. He shall set me up upon a
rock. And now shall mine head be lifted
up above mine enemies round about me. Therefore will I offer in
his tabernacle sacrifices of joy. I will sing, yea, I will
sing praises unto the Lord. Hear, O Lord, when I cry with
my voice. Have mercy also upon me and answer
me. When thou saidest, seek ye my
face, my heart said unto thee, thy face, Lord, will I seek.
Hide not thy face far from me. Put not thy servant away in anger.
Thou hast been my help. Leave me not, neither forsake
me, O God of my salvation. When my father and my mother
forsake me, then the Lord will take me up. Teach me thy way,
O Lord, and lead me in a plain path because of mine enemies.
Deliver me not over into the will of mine enemies, for false
witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty. I had fainted unless I believed
to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait
on the Lord, give good courage, and he shall strengthen thine
heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord. All right, let's stand together
as Mike leads us in singing our call to worship. Ascribe to God these sons of
men, Ascribe with one accord, All praise and honor, might and
strength, To Him, the living Lord. Give glory to His holy
name, And honor Him alone, Give worship to his majesty and bow
before his throne. The Lord doth sit upon the floods,
their fury to restrain. He reigns above, both Lord and
King, and evermore shall reign. The Lord shall give His people
strength and bid their sorrows cease. The Lord shall bless His
chosen race with everlasting peace. Thank you. Be seated. Turn to number 385. Take the world, but give me Jesus,
all His joys are but a name. But His love abideth ever, through
eternal years the same. Light and death of mercy, O the
length and breadth of love, O the fullness of redemption, Wedge
of endless life above. Take the world, but give me Jesus,
sweetest comfort of my soul. With my Savior watching o'er
me, I can sing the billows roll. O the height and depth of mercy,
O the length and breadth of love, O the fullness of redemption,
Pledge of endless life above. Take the world, but give me Jesus,
let me view His constant smile. Then throughout my pilgrim journey,
light will cheer me all the while. O'er the height and depth of
mercy, O'er the length and breadth of love, O'er the fullness of
redemption, Pledge of endless life above. Take the world, but give me Jesus
In His cross my trust shall be Till with clearer, brighter vision
Face to face, my Lord, I see O the height and depth of mercy,
O the length and breadth of love, O the fullness of redemption,
Pledge of endless life above. 386, I made it easy for us. 386. It's a great hymn. All for Jesus, all for Jesus,
all my being's ransom powers, all my thoughts and words and
doing, all my days and all my hours. All for Jesus, all for Jesus,
All my days and all my hours All for Jesus, all for Jesus
All my days and all my hours Let my hands perform His bidding
Let my feet run in His ways Let my eyes see Jesus only, Let my
lips speak forth His praise. All for Jesus, all for Jesus,
Let my lips speak forth His praise. All for Jesus, all for Jesus,
let my lips speak forth His praise. Since my eyes were fixed on Jesus,
I've lost sight of all besides. So it changed my spirit's vision,
looking at the crucified. All for Jesus, all for Jesus,
looking at the crucified. All for Jesus, all for Jesus
Looking at the crucified Oh, what wonder, how amazing Jesus,
glorious King of kings Dames to call me His beloved lets me
rest beneath His wing. All for Jesus, all for Jesus,
resting now beneath His wing. If you would, open your Bibles
with me to 2 Corinthians, the book of Second Corinthians chapter eight. Beginning in verse one, second
Corinthians chapter eight. Moreover, brethren, we do you
to wit. We want you to know of the grace
of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia. How then in a great
trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty
abounded under the riches of their liberality. For to their
power, their ability, I bear record, and beyond their power,
they were willing of themselves, praying us with much entreaty
that we would receive the gift and take upon us the fellowship
of the ministering to the saints. And this they did, not as we
hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord. and unto
us by the will of God, insomuch that we desire Titus, that as
he had begun, so he would also finish in you the same grace
also. Therefore, as you abound in everything
in faith and utterance and knowledge and in all diligence and in your
love to us, see that you abound in this grace also. I speak not
by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness of others
and to prove the sincerity of your love. For you know the grace
of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your
sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be
rich. And herein I give my advice,
for this is expedient for you, who have begun before, not only
to do, but also to be forward a year ago. Now therefore perform
the doing of it, that as there was a readiness to will, so there
may be a performance also out of that which you have. For if
there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that
a man hath, and not according to that he hath not. For I mean
not that other men be eased and ye be burdened, but by an equality,
that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want,
that their abundance also may be a supply for your want, that
there may be equality. As it is written, he that had
gathered much had nothing over, and he that had gathered little
had no lack. But thanks be to God, which put the same earnest
care into the heart of Titus for you. For indeed he accepted
the exhortation, but being more forward of his own accord, he
went unto you. And we have sent with him the
brother whose praise is in the gospel throughout all the churches.
And not that only, but who was also chosen of the churches to
travel with us with this grace, with this gift, which is administered
by us to the glory of the same Lord and declaration of your
ready mind. avoiding this, that no man should
blame us in this abundance which is administered by us, providing
for honest things, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also
in the sight of men. And we have sent with them our
brother, whom we have oftentimes proved diligent in many things,
but how much more diligent upon the great confidence which I
have in you. Whether any do inquire of Titus, he's my partner and
my fellow helper concerning you, or our brethren be inquired of,
They are the messengers of the churches and the glory of Christ.
Wherefore, show ye to them and before the churches the proof
of your love and of our boasting on your behalf. Let's bow together
in prayer. Our Father, which art in heaven,
holy, reverend, is your matchless name. Lord, it's with fear and
trembling with awe that we bow before your throne of grace.
So thankful that we, by your grace, can come before a throne
of grace, a throne of justice to which no man can approach,
but a throne of grace. And in our Lord Jesus Christ,
we can call you our Father. And Lord, we know it's only because
of your will, your providence, your doing, and the salvation
of your people. And we are thankful. Father,
we're thankful that you've given us another opportunity to meet
together and to worship you, to hear your word read, to have
your word open to us. And Father, I pray that in this
hour that you would give us a heart of true worship, that you'd enable
us to forget about the goings on of this life. And Father,
let us worship thee. Let your gospel go forth, I pray,
in the power of your spirit. Bring glory to your name. Reveal
yourself to us this morning. Reveal the power of your mercy,
your grace to your people, to the preaching of your word. Father,
let us hear, let us believe, let us rejoice in Christ our
Savior. Father, I thank you. You've given
us this place. You've preserved and protected
for all these years. And Father, we pray that you'd
not leave us alone, but that you continue to cause your word
to go forward. Get glory to yourself in this
place. Get glory to yourself in calling
out your people, redeeming them, sustaining them, comforting them,
bringing them all the way to glory. And what we pray for ourselves,
Father, we deliver us from praying selfishly. We pray for all of
your people who are meeting together today. Bless your word. Bless
your people through the preaching of your word. Father, we we freely
admit we have so much to be thankful for, we can never begin to thank
you for your blessings to us. But in this flesh, we know we're
a poor and a needy people. We're continually dependent upon
thee. Father, for those who do give
thanks but are brokenhearted in a time of loss and suffering
and trial, we pray for them. We pray for the family, Brother
Henry, that you Bless them, comfort their hearts at this time. Be
with Doris and the children and the grandchildren. Father, we
thank you that in your mercy, your grace, you gave us a pastor
for all these many years. You made him faithful. You gave him the message and
made it clear. You blessed it. And Father, we're
thankful. Pray that you continue to bless
your word. We're not dependent upon men. We're dependent upon
thee. We pray you bless your word. We're dependent upon thee
to bless the hearts of those who are bereaved and those who
are hurting. We pray for Joyce and Carter and others who are
sick and need you especially, Father, be with them. We're thankful
to know you know what we have need of before we ask. But you
taught us to ask, so Father, we're asking for your help, your
mercy, and your grace, and your comfort. All these things we
ask, and we give thanks in that name which is above every name,
the name of Christ our Savior. My life, my love, I give to thee Thou Lamb of God, who died for
me, O may I ever faithful be, my Savior and my God. I now believe thou dost receive,
For thou hast died that I might live, And now henceforth I trust
in thee, My Savior and my God. I'll live for Him who died for
me, How happy then my life shall be! I'll live for Him who died
for me, My Savior and my God. Thou who died on Calvary to save
my soul and make me free. I'll consecrate my life to Thee,
my Savior and my God. I'll live for Him who died for
me How happy then my life shall be I'll live for Him who died
for me My Savior and my God Alright, if you would open your
Bibles with me again to 2 Corinthians chapter 8. I'm sorry. Well, hold your place
there. Let's begin in Numbers chapter 18. I apologize. Numbers
chapter 18. I titled the message this morning,
The True Meaning of the Tithe. In our Bible class, we've been
going through the portion of the Sermon on the Mount where
the Lord explains to us how it is that sinners are made righteous.
They're not made righteous by keeping the law for themselves.
Sinners are made righteous by Christ keeping the law for us.
He's the only one who could keep it. And Lord shows us how much
we need him. He shows us we've broken every
commandment of the law by teaching us that the law is spiritual.
The law requires obedience in the heart. The even desire sin
is to break the commandment. So we're guilty of breaking all
of the law of God. And the Lord used a few examples.
He taught us the true meaning of thou shalt not kill, thou
shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not swear an eye for an
eye and love thy neighbor. And we saw that the true meaning
of all those commandments is look to Christ to keep it for
you and run to Christ for the forgiveness of your sin. That's
the true meaning of every commandment of God's law. And I felt led
at this time to bring a message on giving by looking at the true
meaning of the tithe. And before we even get into the
message, let me tell you what the true meaning of it is. It's
a look to Christ to keep it for you and to run to him for the
forgiveness of your sin. Let's look at the law of the
tithe here. Numbers 18. Here's, here's what
the law has to say about the tithe. Numbers 18 verse 20. And the Lord spake unto Aaron,
Thou shalt have no inheritance in their land, neither shalt
thou have any part among them. I am thy part and thine inheritance
among the children of Israel. And behold, I've given the children
of Levi all the 10th in Israel for inheritance, for their service,
which they serve, even the service of the tabernacle of the congregation.
God commanded 11 tribes of Israel. to give a tenth of everything
that they had, everything that they ever made, and to give it
for the support, to give it to the Lord. They were giving it
to the Lord, but it would be used for the support of the tribe
of Levi. The Levites took care of the
tabernacle and the temple. They took care of the surface
of the Lord, and they were not to have other jobs to make money
for themselves. They were supported by the tithe
given by the other 11 tribes. So the tithe was a tax, wasn't
it? It was a tax the Lord commanded, this exact amount to be given
to support the Levites. And just like every other commandment
of the law, the tithe was done away with when Christ died. Now,
in the New Testament, the church is told to give offerings, not
tithes, but offerings. Well, all right, what's the difference
between tithing and giving an offering? Well, the difference
is the motive behind it. Now look at 2 Corinthians chapter
8. I want to give you 10 key words,
and I promise you I'll be brief, 10 key words on giving. You write these 10 words down
and go back and look at them from time to time. I believe
there'll be a help to you on this matter of giving. And the
first word is grace. Grace. Giving is a grace. It's not a tax. It's a grace.
Second Corinthians eight verse one. Moreover, brethren, we do
you to wit. We want you to know of the grace
of God bestowed upon the churches of Macedonia. See, giving is
one of the graces, just like kindness and gentleness and meekness
and faith. Giving is a grace. And God had
bestowed this grace upon the churches of Macedonia. Now, giving
comes naturally to a child of God. Wanting to give comes naturally
because God's given a new heart in the new birth. It's a giving
heart. But this is also true. This grace,
just like all the other graces, must be taught. We've got to
be taught this grace. And I can tell you, I'm very
thankful that this congregation is so generous. I just don't
know anybody more generous than you all. I'm so thankful. I had
basically finished this message this week and I was contacted
by two people from other places and both of those people told
me, Frank, that congregation is so generous. I said, I know,
I know, I'm thankful, I'm thankful. But I wouldn't be a good pastor
if I didn't take the time to teach this grace from time to
time. We've got to be taught. We need
to be encouraged to continue being gracious, that we're not
ungenerous, that we don't rest upon our laurels. We need to
be reminded of this grace of giving because of how prone we
are to becoming selfish and holding back, aren't we? Our young people
need to be taught this grace. Well, Titus had been there to
Corinth teaching and he had begun teaching this grace of giving
to the church there in Corinth. Now that teaching had begun in
Corinth, but now Paul wanted to see it grow and continue.
This is what he's talking about this grace in verse six. It's
so much we desire Titus that as he had begun to teach this,
now we want him to also finish in you this same grace. You need
be taught this. Therefore, as you abound in everything
in faith and utterance and knowledge and in all diligence and in your
love to us, see that you abound in this grace also. Well, the
way we're going to abound in this grace, is by God's pastors
teaching it to us. And Paul was thankful. Titus
was willing. Paul said, I had this in my mind. I want to talk
to Titus about this. I want to tell him you to go
down there and finish this. And Titus already had the same
thing going on in his mind before he even talked to Paul. Look
at verse 16. But thanks be to God, which put
the same earnest care into the heart of Titus for you. And indeed,
he accepted the exhortation. He accepted this request from
me that he go finish this teaching, but be more forward of his own
accord. He went into, he was going of
his own accord before I even asked him. That's what Paul's
saying. And he was going because this grace has to be taught.
It has to be taught from the scriptures and has to be taught
by example. We'll see this in a minute. Paul
used examples of other people giving as a, as a way to teach
this grace of giving. And I thought, Some of you have
heard it before, but I thought I'd give you an example of giving. It was about the very first offering
that was ever taken up at this congregation. I remember it vividly. We were meeting in a funeral
home. They weren't charging us rent. We had no expenses. John
was the pastor. I was teaching the class. John was still working full time.
We weren't paying him anything. We had no expenses. And we didn't
know if we'd be there next week. We didn't know what the Lord
was going to do with this thing. So we weren't taking up any offerings of any
kind, but Jim Bond wanted to give. I mean, it just, he was
two footed. It just bothered him. He wasn't
given an offering. And he kept saying about taking
up an offering. John and I kept telling him, we're just, we don't,
we just don't know. We don't have any expenses. We're
just not going to do that right now. One Sunday, we were staying after
service, Jim took my hand, pulled it out, and he put some cash
in my hand and physically closed my fingers over top of it. And
he said, now there, I gave that, and you're just going to have
to do something with it. And I don't care what you do, he
said, you give it to the missionaries, you give it to the other churches
that might be in need, you save it for when we do have expenses,
but I don't care what you do with it. I gave it, and you've
got to do something with it. Well, I went and gave it to John.
Don't you know what Jim said? And John said, well, I guess
we've got to do something with it. The next Sunday, John brought
a little wicker basket and didn't say a single word about it, and
just set that little wicker basket on a table. When we left that
place, that basket was full of offerings, and John didn't say
one word about it. People just gave. Now, that's
a good example for us. I just gave. I don't care what
you do with it. You're going to do something with it, but
I don't care what. Because I'm going to give. I want to give
to the Lord. That's a good example for us
to follow, isn't it? And look at, why did that happen?
Why did that happen? Why was that in Jim's heart?
Why was that such a strong desire of his? And then we put out that
basket. Everybody just wanted to give. Why did that happen?
Because God put that grace in the hearts of his people. And
the Lord's the one that's able to make it to abound. Look at
2 Corinthians 9 verse 8. And God is able to make all grace
abound towards you that ye, always having all sufficiency in all
things, may abound to every good work. This giving is a grace. It must be taught and the Lord
is the one that's able to make it to abound. All right, the
second word is sacrificially. Giving is done sacrificially.
Verse 2, 2 Corinthians chapter 8. How then in great trial of
affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty
abounded under the riches of their liberality. Where are their
power? I bear record. Yay. And beyond
their power, they were willing of themselves. The word power
Paul uses there is their ability. Now the churches at Macedonia
at this time were in a severe time of trial. They'd all lost
their jobs. They'd lost their homes for the
gospel sake. They're homeless, unemployed.
You know what they did? They took up an offering. Think
of that. They took up an offering. I don't
know how much they gave, but Paul said they gave what they
could. And Paul says, actually, he said, kind of looked at it,
they gave more than they could afford to give. They gave sacrificially. Now, what on earth would possess
somebody to give like that, sacrificially? Well, I can tell you the answer.
It's looking to Christ. How did the Lord Jesus Christ
give to his people? Self-sacrificially. He gave himself
to be sacrificed. And he didn't just give some
of what his people needed. He didn't give them 10%. He said,
you know, all the tithes is 10%. So I'm going to give them 10%.
If he'd done that, we'd be damned. He didn't even give 99.9% and
say somebody else can give the rest. He gave his people everything,
everything they needed to be accepted of God. Christ gave,
Christ the Savior gave according to his power, according to his
ability. He was the only one able to save. He's got all power to save, so
he gave it. that his people might be redeemed.
We couldn't be redeemed any other way. Well, when I look at it
in that light, how can I not give sacrificially? He's looking
to Christ. All right, the third word is
yourself. Tithing just had to do with money and with goods.
Giving goes deeper than your money. Giving is giving of yourself. Look at verse four. Paul says,
praying us with much entreaty that we would receive the gift
and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints.
And this they did not as we'd hoped, but first gave their own
selves to the Lord and unto us by the will of God. I hear these
homeless, unemployed people took up an offering and they gave
it to the apostles. And, you know, you might think
they were kind of reluctant to take it and they insisted you
take this offering. And Paul said, you know, really,
we hope that they would give because that's what believers
do. But Paul said they gave a whole lot more and we hope that they
would. And here's the key, look what they gave first, Paul says.
First, they gave of their own selves to the Lord. See, tithing
just required 10% of the profit from your farm. Tithing just
required 10% of what you can make from your little shop somewhere,
you know. But giving requires giving yourself to the Lord,
giving your whole self to his surface. Now, what would make
somebody give like that? Just one thing. It's looking
to Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ, when he
gave his people, he didn't give them a package of righteousness. He didn't give them a box of
holiness. Christ the Savior gave himself
to redeem his people. body and soul. He gave his body,
didn't he? And he made his soul an offering
for sin. Christ gives himself to his people
so that he is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. Well, when I look at it in that
light, I feel motivated, don't you? To give generously of my
time, my money, my talents, Looking at Christ the Savior motivates
me to want to give my life to his service. And yet that doesn't
just apply to the pastor now. That's all every believer. We've
given our life to his service. There's things you've got to
do every week, don't you? You've got to go to work to support
your family. You do all these things. But if we do them in
service of the Lord, that's giving ourselves what we're doing to
help the furtherance of the gospel. by looking to Christ our Savior.
All right, the fourth word is love. Verse eight, Paul said,
I speak not by commandment. I'm not commanding you to do
this, but by occasion of the forwardness of others, by their
example, and to prove the sincerity of your love. Now Paul says,
don't y'all give, because somebody's commanding you to give now. You
give in love. Give in love for God, Give out
of love and thanksgiving for God. Give, give out of love to
the Savior who's given you everything. Now, love gives. Love always
gives. Love always acts. Love is never
inactive. Nobody's ever had to tell me,
I mean, growing up, my mother did tell me someday when you're
married, buy your wife a Christmas present, buy your wife a birthday
present. She did tell me to do those things. But nowadays, nobody
has to remind me of that. Nobody has to remind me, Jay's
birthday's coming up this month. Nobody has to remind me our anniversary's
coming up this month. I'm gonna get her a present.
I love her. It's just, I can't not. You know,
there's times we've said, now, we're not going to do anything
for anniversary this year. I can't help it. I can't help
it. And she can't either. She said, no, no. Frank, we said
we weren't going to do that this year. But then she bought something
for me, too. Because love cannot. Love gives. Nobody has to tell me just every
so often, you know, give her a token of your love because
I love her. Well, somebody's thinking, well,
preacher, if you don't tell people, you better give 10%. They might
not give anything. Whatever. God's people will. God's people will. Because God's
given them a heart that loves them. And they can't not. They just can't not do it. You
see, it's looking to Christ, looking to him makes us love
him. Look what Paul says in verse
nine. For you know, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that
though he was rich, yet for your sakes, he became poor. that ye
through his poverty might be rich. You who believe, you know
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. You know how he suffered and
how he died for your sin. He did it as your substitute
because he loved his people. He loved you. You who believe
he loves you enough to take your sin and his own body upon the
tree, to have his father turn his back upon him and to suffer
and die and shed his blood to put away your sin. He did that
because he loved you. Doesn't that make your heart
overflow in love for him? Doesn't that make you want to
give an offering out of love? It's not much. It doesn't compare
to him. I want to give something, don't
you? Because look how the Savior gave. You think of Him in glory. He's the Prince of Glory. He's unspeakably rich in glory. He's the Son of God. And He gave
up all that glory to appear in human flesh, in the weakness
of our flesh. How He humbled Himself to do
that. Does it make you want to give?
Does it make you love Him? He's unspeakably rich in righteousness
and holiness because that's His nature. But on the cross, how
did He appear? He appeared stripped of all of
His righteousness. He appeared in poverty. He appeared
being made sin for His people and suffering and dying as their
sacrifice. And He did that so that His poverty-stricken
people could be made rich, so they could be made the righteousness
of God in him. Oh my, when I look at it in that
light, my heart's thrilled to give out of love, to think he
would do that for the likes of me. Oh, my heart's thrilled to
give something in return, just out of love for him. Now the Jews, they got good at
creative accounting. They found ways that they made
up rules that they could do to get around the tithe. Just like
folks do today, you know, their creative deductions that they
do in their 1040 they send into the government. Well, here's
the fifth word on giving. It's do it. Do it. Verse 10. And herein I give my advice,
for this is expedient for you who have begun before, not only
to do, but also to be forward a year ago. Now therefore perform
the doing of it. That as there was a readiness
to will, so there may be a performance also out of that which you have.
Now the church at Corinth, I mean, you know, they weren't being
selfish in withholding in this matter of giving. They'd been
intending to take up an offering and send to these folks in need
to help their brethren. They'd been intending to do it
for more than a year. But apparently there had not
been an opportunity to send it. So they thought, well, I'm just
not going to collect it right now because we don't have any
ability to send it right now. There wasn't a mail service.
You couldn't send the mail or wire transfer or something. So
they thought, well, we have opportunity to send it, then we'll collect
it. And Paul tells them, now is the time to give. And the
same thing is true for us. Now is the time to give. Don't
wait until later. You know, don't wait until this
and this and this happens or don't think, well, when I get,
you know, this bill paid or I get a raise at work, you know, then
I'll give. No. Give now. Give what you have. Give what
you can right now. Don't make an empty promise.
Just give now. Do it now. And as always, what's
our example? What's our motivation? Why would
we do that? It's our Lord Jesus Christ. The
Father, before He created anything, He purposed in Himself to send
a gift. He purposed in Himself to send
His Son, to save His people through His obedience and through His
sacrifice as a man. That had been purposed in eternity. And then in the fullness of time,
at God's appointed time, you know what He did? God sent His
gift. At the right time, Christ came incarnate and He did exactly
what He purposed to do. He saved His people from their
sins. He established righteousness for His people by obeying the
law for them. He redeemed His people from their sin by suffering
and dying and shedding His blood for them. That was no empty promise. God fulfilled what He purposed
to do. And when I look at it in that light, I want to give
now. I want to give now, don't you?
Then here's the sixth word, it's willingly. Tithing was done because
you had to. Giving is done willingly. Look
at verse 12. For if there be first a willing
mind, it's accepted according to that a man hath, not according
to that he hath not. Now tithing was required. Giving is not required at all. Giving is done willingly. And
if giving is done willingly, God will accept it. Now God's
not going to accept a tithe. If you think, oh, if I give 10%,
God's going to be happy with me, because that's the law. If
you're doing that to try to please God, he's not going to accept it.
Because you know, that's works, isn't it? Thinking, oh, if I
do this, God will be happy with me. That's works. But God accepts
giving that's done willingly. Not because he's requiring us
to, but because we have to. I hate to use the example of
me personally, but I got another one for you. And I bet a lot of wives are
this way. She would not accept me saying I love you if she thought
I was saying it because I had to. She wouldn't accept it. And
we got married. You know what Henry asked me?
He said, Frank, will you love her? Will you cherish her? And he said it just like this.
Do you promise? I mean, it was like, Yeah, I
do. I mean, he was like, yes, I do. I promise to love her. And he said, all right, you're
married. He's asked Jan the same thing. And you know what he didn't
ask me? He didn't say, now Frank, do
you promise the rest of your life to tell her two times a
day you love her? All he said was, we love her. He didn't say
you've got to tell her two times a day. And I'm glad he didn't
say that, because if I'd have said two times a day, Janet,
I love you, she'd know, and I'm checking off my promise that
I made, you know? And she'd say, he's not doing
that willingly. That don't count. That's what she'd say. But if
I tell her from the heart, honey, I love you, she accepts that
willingly. That's what God does. It's willing. It's just like we said in our
lesson this morning. It's our attitude. Well, what
will make me willingly part with my money? What will make me willingly
part with myself? What will make me willing to
give myself to serve the Lord and not do other things that
might bring me something in this world? Just one thing. It's looking
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ our Savior gave himself
willingly. He willingly went with that mob. And he made sure they knew it.
He knocked them down twice just by saying, I am, before he went
with them. Just so you know, you're not
taking me against my will. I'm going willingly. And he gave
his back to the smiters. He gave his cheeks to those who
would pluck out his beard. And Pilate said, don't you know
I got the power to deliver you or to crucify you? He said, no,
you don't. You have no power over me at
all. And you're going to send me to the cross because it's
my will, not yours. I'm going willingly, not because you're
making me, I'm going willingly. And when it came time for him
to die, nobody took his life from him. He gave it up willingly. And he did that for the likes of me. I look at it in that light. I
want to give. Doesn't that make you want? If
that doesn't make you want to give, nothing will. My arm twisting
and threatening and nothing will. You've seen the Savior. Nobody
have to force you. You'll be willing to give. All
right. The seventh word is ability.
Verse 12 says, For if there first be a willing mind, it's accepted,
according to that a man hath, not according to that he hath
not." Now, I tell you what, you just give what the Lord's given
you. Give what you got. Don't give what you don't have.
Don't sign a pledge card. Don't buy church bonds or something. Wayne, you were there, you might
remember. Remember we signed a mortgage on this building and John said,
we're going to be old men when this thing gets paid off. And
the woman said, the mortgage woman. She said, no, you won't,
no, you won't. You'll have bake sales and rummage sales and you'll
sell church bonds and things, you know, and you'll get this
thing paid off early. And we all just said, hmm, yeah, yeah,
yeah. And you know, we never have.
We never have. Not one time. I remember Brother
Henry would say so often, don't you have time pledge cards? Don't you sell church bonds?
You give willingly. And last I checked, I believe
this is so, you know that mortgage is not getting paid off a bunch
early, but it is getting paid off some early. And we haven't
had one bank sale and not one pledge card. Just give what God
enables you to give. Well, how will I determine that? How will I know, you know, How
do I know what my ability is? You know, you might think my
ability is higher than me. Well, I'll tell you what, when
you want to make that determination, give what you got, take what
you do. You look to Christ. He's given
you everything happening. Spiritually, he's given you everything. You need to stand accepted before
God and everything else you got physically, materially, in this
world, everything you have. It's been a gift God's given
you. And when we give, all it is, is just returning a portion
back to God. He already gave to me first.
Well, when I look at it that way, I find it's a joy for me
to give. Give what God's given you. Right? The eighth word is everyone.
And giving is just like tithing in this way. Giving is for everyone. Verse 13. For I mean not that
other men be eased, and ye be burdened. This was a large church. He's not saying I'm burdening
you to have to give a larger gift. He says, but by quality,
that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want,
that their abundance also may be a supply for your want, that
there may be equality. Everyone is to give. I don't
care who you are, old and young, rich and poor. You know, we don't
just depend on people to give who, you know, are in their prime
years of earning and they got good jobs and they got plenty
of money to give. Every believer gives. Every believer
benefits from the blessing of giving. Every believer benefits
from this grace. And, you know, I say giving is
for the old and for the young. Maybe I feel like I ought to
say this because of false preachers. You, especially you widows, you
hear false preachers say, I just send in all your social security
check. Don't you dare. Don't you dare. No, no, no. Giving
is for everybody, but give what God's given you. If it's not
that much, then you just give what God's given you. Now, we're
not we're not praying on people here to try to get some people
to just give what God's given you. It's a blessing to you to
be able to give this whatever it is that God's given you. Well,
how should I determine? Giving is for everybody, so okay,
I should give. Well, how am I gonna determine
what I'm gonna do here? Well, I'll tell you what, you
look to Christ. What did God the Father give?
Gave His Son. Gave His Son. I believe I can
give something, don't you? And I look at it that way. And
look at Mark chapter 12. You know, this thing about giving
is for everyone. Don't you think that your gift
is so small that it won't matter? It matters. Look here at Mark
chapter 12. These are the words of our Savior
himself. And Jesus sat over against them,
verse 41, Mark chapter 12. And Jesus sat over against the
treasury and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury.
And many that were rich cast in much. And there came a certain
poor widow And she threw in two mites, which make a farthing.
And he called unto him his disciples and said unto them, Verily I
say unto you that this poor widow hath cast more in than all they
which have cast into the treasury. For all they did cast in of their
abundance. But she of her want did cast
in all that she had, even all of her living. Now that was the
smallest offering I reckon given that day. And the Lord of glory
was impressed by it. And that's accepted because giving
is for everyone. All right, here's the ninth word. It's honesty. Our offerings are
to be handled with honesty and transparency. Verse 18. And we have sent with him the
brother whose praise is in the gospel throughout all the churches.
Many people in the churches knew of this particular brother, knew
him well, knew his reputation. And not that only, but who also
was chosen of the churches to travel with us with this grace.
He's traveling with us while we've got this gift with us,
which is administered by us to the glory of the same Lord and
the declaration of your ready mind. Avoiding this, that no
man should blame us in this abundance, which is administered by us,
providing for honest things, not only in the sight of the
Lord, but also in the sight of men. And we have sent with them
our brother, whom we have oftentimes proved diligent in many things.
but how much more diligent upon the great confidence which I
have in you." Now, this several men, Paul had taken up this gift
they'd collected, and Paul sent several men together to take
care of it. And he didn't do it because he
didn't trust them. No, he trusted them completely with this money.
He did it this way so nobody else could accuse them. skimming
off the top and keeping it for their own use because if there's
multiple people involved, you know, there's accountability.
And that's the way we handle the money around here. You know,
we have financial statements every month that account for
every penny we take in and every penny that we send out so that,
you know, we remain above reproach. I'm very, very careful with the
church's money. I never spend the church's money
unilaterally. You know, there's something that
I think that we should do, I want to do. This is what I always
do. I talk to Wayne, I talk to Dan, I talk to Eric, and I talk
to Luke, and tell them, fellas, this is what I want to do, and
you fellas, you think about it, and tell me what you think about
it. And you know, I don't know how many times I've done that,
but never one time have they come back and say, you know,
that's a bad idea. You know, we don't have the money. They've
always said, yeah, let's do that. Sometimes they say, maybe we
should give some more. And then I put it before the
church, you know, this is what we're going to do. So nobody
thinks I'm using God's money for my own benefit. I saw a clip
of a video the other day of some false preacher on television. and all the time begging for
money. And apparently people are sending it to him. He got
three or four leer jets. And somebody caught him in a
parking lot, a reporter did, trying to ask him, how can you
justify buying all these things for your benefit? Well, that's
a good question. Real good question. People ought
to be asking that. Well, I want you to know, this is how we handle
it. Money's got to be handled honestly
for God's glory, not anybody's personal gain. And then the last
word is purpose. Purpose. Now this is what people
want to know. How much should I give? Just somebody tell me what I
should give and I'll give it. Well, I can't tell you that.
Only you can determine that. You give as much as you purpose
to give. 2 Corinthians 9, cross the page
here, verse 7. Every man according as he purposeth
in his heart, so let him give. Not grudgingly or of necessity,
not because he has to, For God loveth a cheerful giver. Each
person should just give what you purpose in your heart to
give. And you know what? That number may be 10%. And if
that's what you want to give, by all means, give it. And this
was interesting to me. I thought about this. Maybe there's
nothing wrong with somebody giving 10%. Before the law was ever
given, Abraham and Jacob tied. They gave 10%, not in order to
keep the law, but this was just the number they determined to
give. Now, me personally, I think we
ought to give more than the law requires, but everybody give
what you purpose to give. Here's another Henry T. quote. He said, give a penny more or
a penny less than 10% so you don't fall in a trap of trying
to tithe. And he also said this. He said, if you tithe, if you
give 10%, you're under the law. And if you don't tithe, if you
don't give 10%, you're an outlaw. How do you come up with stuff
like that? I wish I could do that. If you tithe, you're under the
law. And if you don't tithe, you're an outlaw. Just give what
you've determined to give, what God lays on your heart to give,
and then give it. You know, somebody said, If you
tell people that, aren't you afraid church will go bankrupt?
Because people won't give 10%. They'll give less than 10%. They'll
give 2%. Well, whatever. Give what you
determine. Believers won't now. And you
know how I know that? God's given them a heart to give. Their heart is not motivated
by their own selfish desires. Their heart's motivated by God's
grace. They'll give. They'll give. I don't worry one
bit about it. And in determining what you should give, you might
want to consider verse 6 of chapter 9. But this I say, he which soweth
sparingly, shall reap also sparingly. And he which soweth bountifully,
shall reap also bountifully. Now, this isn't teaching. You
know, people, false prophets say, oh, so you sow your seed
money, and you know, you get so much more back than what you
gave. That's not what this is teaching at all. That's investing. And if you're interested in that,
play the stock market. That's investing. If you put
a bunch out there, you may get a bunch back. I don't know. But
this is what applies to everything we do. I don't care what it is.
Everything we do, you children, if it's your schoolwork, if it's
people, men and women on the job, if it's your relationships
with people, I tell you what, you're going to get out of it
what you put into it. That's right. If you don't put much
into your schoolwork, you're going to get an F. Isn't that
right? If you don't put much into your
job, probably not going to get a raise, probably not going to
get a promotion. You just get out of it what you put into it.
Well, how does that, what does that have to do with giving and
this blessing of God? Well, I'll tell you what, if
we put our time and our effort and our love and our care into
this ministry, God's going to bless it, going to bless it.
And we're not going to, this is not, I'm not saying, and God's
not saying we're going to be blessed with a bunch of money.
We're going to be blessed with the gospel. Isn't it a blessing
to have the gospel here? I'd like to see it remain. I
sure don't want to see it leave because we went bankrupt. I'd
like to give to help that. We're going to see a growth in
grace. I'd like to grow in grace. Wouldn't you? The only way we're
going to do that is by hearing the gospel preached. We'll be
blessed in the service of the Lord. That's the blessing he's
talking about here. So if you want that blessing,
just give what God's given you. Give out of love. and give cheerfully. If Lord's laid it on your heart,
give it. And don't you worry one thing
about it. Don't worry. I might need this later. You know, what am I going to
do then? Don't do that. Because I tell you, this is also true.
I've seen this over the years. People who are generous givers
tend not to have money problems. And people are just so tight
and hang on to it, tend to have money problems. You just take
that for what it's worth, but that's what I've seen. But end
of verse 7 says, God loveth a cheerful giver. Well, you know, I don't
think somebody who's investing, who's giving, hoping that God
gives them more in return, and they're watching their bank,
oh, is it going up? Is it going down? I don't think that person's
a cheerful giver, do you? They're not cheerful at all,
you know, watching their, if their bank account rises or falls,
they're miserable. They're not giving at all. But
God loves a cheerful giver. He loves someone who finds it
a joy in giving. And the key to giving is found
in verse 15, 2 Corinthians 9. This is a very good place for
us to close. This is the key to all giving. Thanks be unto
God for his unspeakable gift. God gave the gift of his son and the value of that gift. The grace of that gift, the love
in which that gift was given is unspeakable. That doesn't
mean we can't speak about it. It means our language can't tell
the value of it. Can't tell the love of it. Can't
tell the grace of it. God gave sacrificially. He gave
His Son. Christ our Savior gave sacrificially
Himself. And He gave cheerfully. He went
for the joy that was set before Him. He endured the cross. He
did it cheerfully. Well, that motivates me. Don't
you? To give sacrificially, to give
cheerfully, to give willingly. And if hearing of Christ crucified
doesn't make you want to give, nothing will. Christ is our Savior. First and foremost, He's our
Savior. But in preaching the gospel, Declaring the Savior
will also see him as our motivation in all things. And if that's
the case, the pastor and the treasurer are never going to
have to worry, is there going to be enough money in the bank
account for what we need to do? Not if God's people are giving
cheerfully and willingly. I hope that will be a blessing
to you. Let's bow together in prayer.
Father, we thank you for your word. Father, I pray that you
would reveal Christ the Savior to our hearts, how we need you. It's just your unspeakable gift. It's unspeakable. We can't begin
to say how desperately we need, we must have the Lord Jesus Christ. We beg of you for your mercy
and your grace and your love and your pity. Father, I pray
that you give us a heart that would be a willing, cheerful
giver. Not because we're trying to get
anything back from the Lord, but out of thanksgiving for all
you've given us, for all you've done for your people. How we
thank you for the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. And I pray
that you would enable each soul here this morning to leave here
rejoicing in Christ our Savior. Having all of our hope, all of
our confidence, all of our joy, in who He is and how and what
He's given to us. It's in His blessed name we pray
and give thanks. Amen. Let's stand and sing 393, 393.
I've been a teacher. Take my life and let it be consecrated,
Lord, to Thee. Take my hands and let them move
at the impulse of Thy love. at the impulse of thy love. Take my feet and let them be
swift and beautiful for thee. Take my voice and let me sing
Always, only for my King Always, only for my King Take my lips
and And let them be filled with messages for thee. Take my silver and my gold, Not
a mite would I withhold, Not a mite would I withhold. Take my love, my God, I pour,
At Thy feet its treasures store. I will be ever only all for Thee,
ever only all for Thee.