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, but it's a good time. We love you kids, but it's. 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. 1 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 send 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 7. 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 rather, and 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
the 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'm writing 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. And that 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 a 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. 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 tightened up against it. But the Lord's
going to bless you. You can't out give God. It's
more blessed to give than to receive. That's what the scripture
says. And we have this promise. You can't. 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 first fruits 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 increases. 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 firstfruits, as I said, is a faith issue.
In giving the firstfruits, 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. And
let me give you some scriptures that tell us the importance of
this thing of giving. Turn to second Corinthians, chapter
eight. Verse seven, 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 six. Verse six. 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 eight. Will a man rob God? Yet you robbed 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 ice 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, this is what really manifests our character and 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 that 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 to
him, Master, speak to my brother that he divided inheritance with
me. Well, 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 say,
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 to 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. And 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 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. I don't 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
be happy. Let's go on reading. Verse 16, 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 pat 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 to 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 hast 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 a thousand
dollars 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 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 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. And 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, then 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. He only 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. Here 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, 1 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 are strangers
before thee, and sojourners, as were all our fathers, and
our days on the earth are as a shadow, and there is none abiding.
O Lord our God, all this store that we have prepared to build
thee in house for thine holy name cometh of thine hand. It's
all thine own. It's 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 1 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 and the ministering of the saints.
They pressed this on Paul. Paul didn't have to beg them
about this and condole 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, inasmuch
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.
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. So don't do that. Don't
do that. I don't want to know what anybody
gives. It is 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
2 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've proved by that is I'm insincere. That's it. Giving proves the sincerity of
your love right now. Look back in verse two. 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 nine, verse six.
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. It's not really so much seen
by what you give, it's seen by what you have left over. And
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 two bites
into the box. That just aren't going to help
anything. If somebody would throw two cents into that box back
there, it's not going to help us much. But yet the Lord said,
and he looks at the heart, he looks at the attitude, he said,
she hath given more than they all. Now, 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 the hath not. There's a willingness. Now,
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 would receive the gift.
Now what was being said here, Paul was saying that 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
8. For I mean not that other men
be eased, and you 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 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, or 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, where have you had noticed before
that in the same might be ready as a matter of bounty and not
of covetousness. But this I sow, he which soweth
sparingly shall also reap sparingly, and he which soweth bountifully
shall reap also bountifully, were it to give sacrificially.
Now, I love what what David said when Aruna, 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 Aruna 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? Y'all give discounts. 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? Can you give me money to help
do God's work? Well, there's no faith in that.
Can you imagine going out, 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. Okay, 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 about that is we believe you're going to take care of
us. And we're 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 someone 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 there, 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 to the press, because he was little
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 going to be guest 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 forasmuch
as he gaze like this. No. Forasmuch as he also is a
son of Abraham. For the Son of Man is 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.