Would you turn to 1 Corinthians
chapter 16? And while you're turning there,
next Sunday evening, the Sharons will have a get-together at their
house after the service for adults. Adults. You can figure out what
that means. It's a good time. We love you,
kids, but it's a good time. But they're going to supply the
sandwiches. And if anyone wants to bring
an appetizer and they're going to watch some kind of football
game during that time. First Corinthians 16, I want
to read the first three verses. I've entitled this message the
joy. Of giving. Now concerning the collection
for the saints, as I have given order to the
churches of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of
the week, let every one of you lay by him in store as God hath
prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come. And
when I come, whomsoever you shall approve by your letters, then
will I sin to bring your liberality unto Jerusalem. Now, evidently
the church at Corinth had asked Paul about this subject of giving. As a matter of fact, they asked
him about several subjects. Look back in chapter seven. The Church of Corinth had written
Paul and asked him about several subjects. Chapter 7, verse 1. Now, Paul says, concerning the
things whereof you wrote unto me. And then he deals with the
issue of marriage in 1 Corinthians chapter 7. Chapter 8, now as
touching things offered unto idols. And he evidently dealt
with that issue, the issue of things being offered up unto
idols. Chapter 12, now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I
would not have you ignorant. They had asked these questions
regarding spiritual gifts. And then in chapter 16, he says,
now concerning the collection for the saints, they had asked
him about this issue of giving. Do believers need to be taught
to give? Do they have to be constrained
to give? No, they give because they want to give. Do believers
need to be taught to give? Yes, they need to be taught to
give. Yes, we do so because we want
to. We want to be givers. Every believer
in this room wants to be a giver, don't you? Whatever it is to
be a true giver, you want that. And every believer needs to be
instructed from the scriptures in this thing regarding giving,
the joy, I like that title, the joy of giving. You know the gospel is about
giving. I love that passage of scripture that Rich just read,
for God so loved the world that he gave. That's the measure of
his love, his gift. He so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten son. I love that passage of Scripture
in Romans chapter 8 verse 32. He that spared not his own son. That's an incredible thought,
isn't it? He that spared not his own son, but delivered him
up for us all. How shall he not also with him
freely give us? I like that word. give us all
things." Now, that verse of Scripture, it's more blessed to give than
it is to receive. In this thing of salvation, the
Lord is the more blessed. He's the giver. We're the receiver. Isn't that so? You know it's
so. He's going to be the more blessed one. Now, I just read
that passage of Scripture in Proverbs chapter 3. Will you
turn back there? You know, love is as love gives. It is impossible to love somebody
and not joyously give to them. If you love that person, you
enjoy giving them. Don't you enjoy giving things
to your spouse? Don't you enjoy giving things
to your kids? You enjoy giving things to people
you love. Now look here in Proverbs chapter
three. I just read this passage of scripture.
He says, honor the Lord. with thy substance." Don't you
want to do that? I want to honor the Lord with my substance. Whatever
He gives me, I want to honor Him with it. And with the firstfruits
of all thine increase, we give Him the firstfruits of the increase. What we give to Him, now listen
real carefully, this is very important for us to understand
what the Bible teaches about this subject of giving. What
I give to Him comes first. When I brighten out my checks,
this is what comes first. I give to Him the first fruits. I don't wait till the bills are
paid and see how much money I have left and then give on that. That's not giving. We only honor
the Lord in giving our first fruits, the first fruits of our
substance. is a joy. You know, you can't
out give God. Look at Proverbs chapter 3 verse
10. He says, so shall thy barns be filled with plenty and thy
presses shall burst out. with new wine. Now, I don't know
how to say this right. I hope I can say it right. You
know, when people have problems in their lives, when people have
financial problems, when people have the various problems people
have, generally you're going to find out that the people with
those problems are people who are not generous givers. That's very true. You see, this
giving thing trickles over into every aspect of our being, doesn't
it? I mean, this is not just talking about there's this subject
and there's that subject. No, our attitude about giving. And I'm not just talking about
what we put back in that box. I'm talking about our attitude
as a giving person. It trickles over into everything.
And whenever someone is having problems, you can just write
this down. Whenever somebody's having problems,
they're having a problem in this giving thing. And it's always
that way. The Lord promises. And it doesn't
mean you're going to have financial prosperity if you give necessarily. You might. And you might not.
It might be that you're tight and up against it. But the Lord's
going to bless you. You can't out-give God. It's
more a blessing to give than to receive. That's what the Scripture
says. And we have this promise. I dare you. Try out-giving God. It can't be done. And He promises,
your barns will be filled with plenty. You see, honoring the
Lord with our firstfruits is a faith issue. Look, you're in
Proverbs, look in Proverbs chapter 11. I'm going to ask you to turn to a lot of
scriptures because I want us to see what the scripture teaches
about this subject. There is that scattereth, Proverbs
11, 24. There is that scattereth and
yet increaseth And there is that withholdeth more than his meat,
but it tendeth to poverty. The liberal soul, the generous
soul shall be made fat. And he that watereth shall be
watered also himself. That's a promise from the Lord. Now honoring the Lord with your
first fruits, as I said, is a faith issue and giving the first fruits,
which is the first of the crop. I'm saying I'm trusting the Lord
to take care of the rest. I love the way they were to give
what came out first to the Lord. Not to themselves, but to the
Lord. And in doing that, they were
saying, I'm trusting Him to take care of everything else. Now
let me give you some Scriptures that tell us the importance of
this thing of giving. Turn to 2 Corinthians 8. Verse 7, Therefore as you abound,
In everything, in faith, 2 Corinthians 8, 7, in utterance and knowledge
and in all diligence and in your love to us, see that you abound
in this grace also. This grace of giving is what
he's speaking of. I speak not by commandment. I'm not telling
you what to give or how much to give or when to give, but
by occasion of the forwardness of others and to prove the sincerity
of your love. Giving, what I give, how I give,
my attitude in giving, my generosity in giving is what proves the
sincerity of my love. Look in Galatians chapter 6, verse 6. Let him that is taught
in the word communicate or give Unto him that teacheth in all
good things, be not deceived. God is not mocked. In other words, if I'm not giving,
I am mocking the Lord. Turn back to Malachi chapter
3, the last book in the Old Testament. Malachi chapter 3. Verse 8. Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me, but you say,
wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. their
refusal, their withholding of tithes and offerings, God calls
it robbing God. You're cursed with a curse, for
you've robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes
into the storehouse that there may be meat in mine house, and
prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will
not open you the windows of heaven and pour out upon you a blessing
that there shall not be room enough to receive it. Now that's
the promise given to that person who tithes. Now somebody's obviously
thinking, does the New Testament teach tithing? Now, tithing is
giving 10% of your income. Does the New Testament teach
tithing? I have thought about this. I've thought about it.
I've thought about it, trying to see what the Scripture teaches.
And you know what my answer is? I don't know. I wish I could give you
a better answer than that. But I know that there are Scriptures,
for instance, the Lord said in Matthew chapter 23, He says,
you pay tithes of mint and anise and cumin. and you've omitted
the weightier matters of the law, then he says, these ought
ye to have done, and not to let the other undone. Now he says,
these ought ye to have done, and I think of Abraham coming
to Melchizedek. Now, Melchizedek is the Lord
Jesus Christ. I have no doubt about that. And
Melchizedek represents the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
what did Abraham do? He paid him tithes of all that
he possessed. Jacob did the same thing. He
paid tithes when the Lord made himself known to him. Now, I
like what Henry Mahan said about tithing. This is my favorite
thing I've ever heard about tithing. He said, if you tithe, you're
under the law. If you don't tithe, You're an
outlaw. So the only thing to do is give
more than a tithe. And I agree with that. I cannot let myself give less
than a tithe. I want to give more than a tithe
because I want to give more than what the law requires. I want
to give what grace motivates me to. And there is joy in giving. You see, if we're not faithful
in giving, we're not going to be faithful anywhere else. You
know, it's the this is what really manifests our character in our
heart. Turn to Luke chapter 16. Luke chapter 16. Now, the Pharisees that he was
speaking to were covetous men. They had a problem here, and
he said in verse 10 of Luke chapter 16. He that is faithful in that
which is least. Is faithful also in much. And
he that's unjust in the least is unjust also in much. If therefore
you've not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will
commit to your trust the true riches? If you've not been faithful
in giving, who's going to commit to your trust true riches? And
if you've not been faithful in that which is another man's,
who shall give you that which is your own? And don't you know
that every dime you have is another man's? It belongs to the Lord.
Everything you have belongs to Him. And you really believe that?
Isn't it wonderful to know that everything I have is His? It
just totally changes your perspective of things, doesn't it? I don't
have anything that's my own. It's all His. And our Lord said,
He that is not faithful in that which is least is also not faithful
in that which is much. Turn to Luke chapter 12, verse
13. And one of the company said unto
him, Master, speak to my brother that he divide the inheritance
with me. Boy, I tell you, there's been more messes over inheritances,
I guess. You find out what people are
like when they start giving out the money. And you just, I can't
imagine to think of all the problems that that has caused in families
and homes and so on. This is what's going on here.
Now look at our Lord's response to it. And he said unto him,
Man, who made me a judge or a divider over you? And he said unto them,
take heed and beware of covetousness. For man's life consisteth not
in the abundance of things which he possesses. You know, materialism
is totally overrated. It really is. Isn't it joyous
to simply rest in Christ? And you don't worry about anything.
When you're always worried about your stuff, it just makes you
miserable. A man's life doesn't consist in the abundance of things
he possesses. Materialism is totally overrated.
Now, I'm thankful for A warm home. I'm thankful for a car
that's comfortable and runs good and so on. I mean, I'd rather
have these things than not. But once again, a man's life
does not consist in the abundance of things he possesses. Really,
our life is in our relationship with Christ. And it's in our
relationship with one another. Isn't it a blessing to be friends
with the Lord's people? What a, what a glorious blessing. I feel so privileged to be part
of this assembly. I'm just so thankful, thankful
for you. That's, that's where you're, where you're, uh, I don't
even want to say where your happiness is because we're not even seeking
to be happy. We're seeking to do what's right,
but in doing what's right, we'll, we'll be happy. Now let's go
on reading. Verse 16, and he spake a parable
unto them saying the ground of a certain rich man brought forth
plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I
do? Because I have no room wherewith to bestow my fruits. And he said,
This will I do. I'll pull down my barns and build
greater, and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. And
I'll say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many
years. Take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. Now the
world's going to pack this fellow on the back. He's doing exactly
what he should do. They might put him on Fortune
500. I mean, this is a fellow they emulate. But what does the
Lord say? Verse 20, But God said unto him,
thou fool. This night, thy soul shall be
required of thee. Then whose shall those things
be which thou has provided? So is he that layeth up treasure
for himself and is not rich toward God. Now, Paul said to the Ephesian
elders in Acts chapter 20, verse 35, remember the words of our
Lord Jesus, how he said, it's more blessed to give than to
receive. Now I ask myself and I ask you
this question, would I rather give $1,000 or receive it? I know this, we're more blessed
in giving. Now turn back to our text in
1 Corinthians chapter 16. now concerning the collection
for the saints. As I've given order to the churches
of Galatia, even so do ye upon the first day of the week. Let
every one of you lay by him in store as God hath prospered him,
that there be no gathering when I come. Now, how much should
I give as God has prospered me? That answers that question very
easily, doesn't it? As God has prospered me. And I know this
about most of us. If we give as God has prospered
us, we'll be giving more than 10% of our income if we give
as God has prospered us. And it will be a thing of joy,
not paying a bill. It'll be a thing of joy. I love
that. This is one of the scriptures
we're going to end up with. God loves a cheerful giver, a joyous
giver. You think how much you enjoy
giving to people you love. You get pleasure from it, don't
you? You find it enjoyable. Not paying a bill. You know,
when we give, we give as unto the Lord. We're giving to Him
whom our soul loves. I'm not giving to pay the bills.
I'm not giving out of duty. I'm giving as unto the Lord. Oh, may God always keep that
before our eyes. When we give, we're giving to
Him. When we're only giving back to Him a portion of that which
He so freely bestowed upon us. How much should I give as God
has prospered me? Look in verse 3. And when I come,
whomsoever you shall approve by your letters, them will I
send to bring your liberality. under Jerusalem. Now, when he's
talking about the amount that they gave, he calls it a liberality.
Now, I think this is very interesting. This word, liberality, is the
exact same word that is usually translated grace. Giving is a grace. You know, it takes the grace
of God to give, and it's the grace of God that enables us
to be cheerful givers and want to give. It's only the grace
that causes us to do that. Turn with me for a moment to
first hold your finger there and turn to First Chronicles
chapter 29. I love this passage of scripture, it's a prayer of
David after the people have given toward the construction of the
temple. He says, beginning in verse 12. Both riches and honor come of
thee. First Chronicles 29 verse 12. Both riches and honor come
of thee, and thou reignest over all, and in thine hand is power
and might, and in thy hand it is to make great and to give
strength unto all. Now therefore, our God, we thank
thee and praise thy glorious name. But who am I? And what
is my people that we should be able to offer so willingly after
this sort? For all things come of thee,
and of thine own hand have we given thee. For we're strangers
before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers, and
our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there's none abiding.
O Lord our God, all this store that we've prepared to build
thee in house for thine holy name, cometh of thine hand. It's
all thine own. It is a gift of your grace. I
know also, my God, that thou triest the heart and hast pleasure
in uprightness. And as for me, in the uprightness
of my heart have I willingly offered all things. And now have
I seen with joy the people which are present here to offer willingly
unto thee." This is a gift of grace, isn't it? David's saying,
who am I that the Lord would enable thee to give willingly
like this? Don't you know that anything
you do for the glory of God is the gift of His grace? You know
it didn't come from you. It didn't come from that rotten
heart of yours. It came from His grace. Every believer knows
that. Now turn with me to 2 Corinthians
chapter 8. 2nd Corinthians chapter 8. Now
in this passage of scripture, Paul. Uses two whole chapters to talk
about this thing of giving. Now look in verse one of 2nd
Corinthians chapter 8. Moreover, brethren, we do you
to wit. We want you to know of the grace
of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia. Now when he tells
them about the grace of God that was bestowed upon those churches
at Macedonia. You know what he talks about?
He talks about this grace of giving. You want to know what
grace is? Here it is. How that, verse two,
how that in a great trial of affliction, the abundance of
their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their
liberality. Now, these were very poor people.
They didn't have much money. Somebody says, well, I intend
on giving when I have more. Not. That's the only way I know
how to answer that. It's what you give now, not what
you intend to give. It's what you give now. These
people were very poor. But yet, through their deep poverty
abounded the riches of their liberality, for to their power
I bear them record, yea, and beyond their power they were
willing of themselves, praying us with much entreaty that we
should receive the gift and take upon us the fellowship of the
ministering of the saints. They pressed this on Paul. Paul
didn't have to beg them about this and conjole them about this
and try to make them feel guilty and so on. No, they were willing
of themselves to do this. And this they did, verse 5, not
as we hope, but first gave their own selves to the Lord and unto
us. by the will of God, insomuch
that we desired Titus that as he had begun, so he also would
finish in you this same grace also. You see, this is a grace. Paul says, see that you abound
in this grace also. Now, here's what must come first
in giving. Look in verse five. And this
they did not as we hope, but they first gave their own selves
to the Lord. and unto us by the will of God.
Now these people belong to the Lord. They gave themselves to
the Lord. I hope by the grace of God I'm
doing that right now. Lord, here am I. Present your
bodies a living sacrifice. Lord, here am I. And this must
come first. Our gifts are meaningless if
this gift doesn't come first. Have you ever seen parents who
do not do their responsibilities as parents and to try to compensate,
they start trying to shower their kids with gifts. They don't do
what they should as parents. They don't correct them. They
don't lead them in the right way. And so, well, here's what
I'll do. I'll buy off their affections and I'll give them all this stuff.
And all you end up doing is hurting them by doing that. That's no
give yourselves first to the Lord. I've seen people in a religious
setting. They try to buy a favor by how
much they give. And it's amazing. I've found
times where people, they'll have a way of letting me know what
they give, you know, to show how much I'm helping out and
so on. Don't do that. Don't do that. I don't want to know what
anybody gives. And it's such a mercy for me
to not, I never know anything about any of the finances here.
As far as who gives what, I don't want to know. But give yourself
first to the Lord. Now look in verse 8. I speak
2nd Corinthians chapter 8 verse 8. I speak not by commandment,
but by occasion of the forwardness of others and to prove the sincerity
of your love. Now, if I say. I want to give
more in the future. I just can't do anything right
now. All I prove by that is I'm insincere. That's it. Giving
proves the sincerity of your love right now. Look back in
verse 2. How that in a great trial of
affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty
abounded under the riches of their liberality, their generous
giving. Look in chapter 9, verse 6. But
this I say, he which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and
he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. That's
how I'm to give, bountifully. Bountifully, not sparingly. If
I sow sparingly, what am I going to do? I'm going to reap sparingly,
aren't I? But if I sow bountifully, I'll reap bountifully. And this
thing of giving, and this helped me so much. Generous giving. is not really so much seen by
what you give, it's seen by what you have left over. Now do you
remember that poor widow? What did she give? How much did
she have left? She, oh, she. And the Lord commended
her for that. And that she just threw too much
into the box. That is not going to help anything.
If somebody would throw two cents into that box back there, it's
not going to help as much. But yet the Lord said, and he
looks at the heart, he looks at the attitude. He said she
had given more than they all. Now that my attitude towards
giving is, is if it's all the Lord's. If it's all the Lord's
anyway, it's easy. to give. In true giving, there
is a willingness. Look in 2 Corinthians 8 verse
3. For to their power I bear them record, yea, and beyond
their power they were willing of themselves. I didn't have
to push them about this. They were willing of themselves.
Look in verse 11. Now therefore perform the doing
of it, that as there was a readiness to will, so also there may be
a performance also out of what you have. For if there first
be a willing mind, it's accepted according to that a man hath,
and not according to thee hath not." There's a willingness.
If you don't want to give, don't give. The Lord doesn't need your money.
You know, he says the cattle on a thousand hills are mine.
If I was hungry, I wouldn't tell you about it. If somebody doesn't
want to give, by all means, do not give. Your money certainly
is not needed. You know, the Lord's got a lot
of money. He's got a big bank account, and He doesn't need
what's mine, and He doesn't need what's yours. And if somebody
doesn't want to give, I say don't give. But look at the way the
Macedonians gave. Look in verse 3. of chapter 8. For to their power I bear record,
yea, and beyond their power, they were willing of themselves,
praying us with much entreaty that we'd receive the gift. Now
what was being said here, Paul was saying, you're all giving
too much. You're giving too much. You're going overboard here.
That's what he was saying. But they wanted to give anyway.
Now that's the attitude of giving. It's a willing mind. Now if I'm giving as unto the
Lord, I'll certainly be willing. Look in verse 13 of this chapter
eight for, I mean, not that other men be eased and you burden,
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 an equality. Now, what
that's talking about is everybody's to give. Paul said in 1 Corinthians
16, 2 in our text, let every one of you lay him up in store
as God has prospered him. We're not to look to others to
give. We're just to think about ourselves. You don't need to
worry about what I give. I don't need to worry about you, but
everybody's to give. It's a blessed privilege. Let everybody give. And we're to give sacrificially.
Look in 2 Corinthians 9, verses 5 and 6. Therefore, I thought it necessary
to exhort the brother that we would go before and to you and
make up beforehand your bounty wherever you had noticed before
that in the same might be ready as a matter of bounty and not
of covetousness. But this I so he would sow a
sparingly shall also reap sparingly and he would sow it bountifully
shall reap also bountifully were to give sacrificially. Now, I
love what what David said. When Arunah, I don't know how
to pronounce his name, but you can read about it there in 2
Samuel 24. When he came up, David wanted to offer a sacrifice.
And our owner said, look, you can have all this for free. I'm
not going to charge you anything for this. David said, no, I'm
going to pay for it all. I think there's nothing more irritating
than a religious person coming up and saying, do you all give
discounts to churches? Do you all give discounts to religion?
No, I'm not going to do that. That's dishonoring to the Lord
to hear a preacher begging for money. I can't stand to hear
a preacher begging for money. Can you imagine me going out
and begging people, can you give me money to help do God's work? Well, there's no faith in that.
Can you imagine going out there? Can you give me money to help
support my family? I'd be so ashamed if I had to
go out and beg like that. I'd have to leave town. I couldn't
stand doing something like that. David, OK, I'm going to take
advantage of this and take this for really cheap. No, he said,
I'm not going to offer to the Lord that which costs me nothing. I'm not going to do it. Paul
said, or whoever wrote Hebrews said in Hebrews chapter 13, verses
5 and 6, but to communicate, which means to give, and to do
good, forget not, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. I don't give him the leftovers.
There's no real giving if there's no sacrifice involved. And isn't
it a joy to sacrifice in that sense to the Lord? He's our Redeemer. All we're saying by that is we
believe you're going to take care of us. and were to give purposely. Look in verse 7 of chapter 9,
2 Corinthians. Every man according as he purposeth
in his heart. Now there's how much you're supposed
to give. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart. So let him give, not grudgingly
or of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver. Now that word cheerful means
joyous, hilarious. You actually laugh in joy in
getting to do this. And I love that scripture, God
loveth a cheerful giver. I want to be somebody God loves,
don't you? I want to be a cheerful giver. And whenever I realize
that everything I have is His, and He's going to take care of
me, and it's just a blessing, It's easy to be a cheerful giver,
isn't it? God loveth a cheerful giver. Now, but to do good and
communicate, let's turn to Hebrews 13. Need to be reminded of this evidently.
Hebrews chapter 13, verse 15 and 16. By him, therefore, let us offer
the sacrifices of praise to God continually. That is the fruit
of our lips giving thanks to his name, but to do good and
to communicate or give, forget not. Can a believer forget to? Evidently. Evidently. So we're given this
reminder. but to do good and to communicate,
forget not, for with such sacrifices, God is well pleased. Do you know when I give? You know, my attitude isn't always,
you know, I'd love to think that every time I give, I've got this
cheerful, hilarious attitude. Sometimes I just write out the
check without even thinking about it. It's my duty. I wish I'd
never do that. I wish I could always enter into the joy of
this. It's a joyful thing. I want to close by looking at
Luke chapter 19. Luke chapter 19, verse 1. And Jesus entered and passed
through Jericho, and behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus,
which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich. And he sought to see Jesus, who
he was, and could not for the press because he was little of
stature. And he ran before and climbed
up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was to pass that
way. And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him,
and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for
today I must abide at thy house. And he made haste, and he came
down, and he received him. joyfully. And that's the only
way the Lord has received. Joyfully. And when they saw it,
they all murmured saying that he was gone to be guests with
a man that's a sinner. And Zacchaeus stood and said unto the Lord,
he wasn't talking to anybody else. He didn't mean for anybody
else to hear this conversation. He's speaking to the Lord who
saved him. Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the
poor. And if I've taken anything from
any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold. And Jesus
said unto him, this day of salvation come to this house for as much
as he gave like this. No. For as much. As he also is a son of Abraham. For the son of man has come to
seek and to save. that which was lost. Salvation
didn't come because He gave. He gave because salvation had
come. Let's pray together.