My subject, the title of this
message is actually the last verse of our reading, it is more
blessed to give than to receive. It is more blessed to give than
to receive. But I debated about several titles,
the grace of giving, the stewardship of grace, some scriptural words
about giving, there are just a lot of titles that I could
have given, and due to a discussion that My son and I had, along
with some other men last night, I decided to bring this message
tonight. I thought it might be helpful
to you. Perhaps I've neglected to speak
on this subject as I ought. But here in Proverbs 30, there's
a scripture I want to read that is very meaningful, Proverbs
30, beginning with verse 7. I want you to mark up your Bible
a little bit. Don't be afraid to mark your
Bible. While I was sitting there, this scripture came to my mind,
and I couldn't remember where it was found. But I remembered
that I had it marked, and it was on the left side of the left
page down near the bottom. And that's the reason I have
to have the same kind of Bible every time. Don't change the
make of your Bible. Get the same kind every time.
It helps you find things. I don't know what chapter or
verse that is, but I knew it was on the left-hand side of
the left page in Proverbs down near the bottom, and there it
is. Proverbs 30, verse 7, two things have I required of thee. Deny me them not before I die. Remove far from me vanity and
lies. Give me neither poverty nor riches. Feed me with food convenient,
my allowance, what I need for me. lest I be full, and deny
thee, and say, Who is the Lord? Or lest I be poor and steal,
and take the name of my God in vain. Give me neither poverty,
lest I steal, and give me neither riches, lest I forget God." Now,
over in Acts 20, and that's what we're dealing with tonight, we're
dealing with the grace of giving, the stewardship of grace. But
in Acts 20, verse 35, Paul closes this farewell message to the
elders of Ephesus. He called together the elders
of Ephesus, beloved brethren. Their hearts beat as one. They
worshiped God together for a long time. He loved them, they loved
him. They knew that they'd never see
his face again. They knew they'd never hear him
preach again. And he knew that. He knew he was going to his death.
The Holy Spirit had told them he was going to his death. And
they knew this was the last sermon he had ever preached to them.
Don't you know how attentive they must have been? And don't
you know how determined Paul must have been to sum up his
ministry in that one message? Suppose, just suppose, Jay or
I or some of you other men, Joe, Bruce, Some of you fellows, Jim,
this, Bill, the last time you would speak publicly. You'd try
to sum her up, wouldn't you? Try to leave something with the
folks. Well, that's what he did. He left something with them.
He said back here in verse 19, he says, I've served the Lord
with humility. It's a grace we need to learn,
isn't it? Our gifts are borrowed. A man can receive nothing except
it be given him from above. Our gifts are borrowed. And the
same one who gave them can take them away. I serve the Lord with
humility. Who maketh thee to differ? I
am nothing. Paul says, I am nothing. And
then down in verse 20, he said, I kept back nothing that was
profitable unto you, neither for fear of men, neither for
the praise of men, neither for possessions or material gain.
I kept back nothing profitable unto you. And then down here
in verse 24, he talks about how they persecuted him and mocked
him and hated him, but he says, These things don't move me, and
I don't count my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish
my course with joy in the ministry which I have received of the
Lord Jesus, to testify of the gospel of the grace of God. In
verse 27, he said, I have not shunned or declared unto you
all the counsel of God. I didn't leave something off
because it was high doctrine or low doctrine. I didn't leave
it off because it ought not to be preached here or there. I
didn't leave it off because it would be offensive. I preached
it. I preached it. I've not shunned to declare unto
you all the counsel of God. And then in verse 33, he says,
I've coveted no man's silver or gold or apparel. I haven't
coveted what you have. I've coveted you. That's what
Paul is saying to them. He said, with these own hands
I ministered unto my necessities, and also for them that were with
me. And then the closing words of this great message. Paul spoke
of this, the fact he'd served among them with a consciousness
of his own unworthiness. He said, I come to you with fear
and trembling, and I've served the Lord with humility. And I've
not coveted anything you have. I've preached unto you what God
revealed to me. I've not shunned or declared
the whole counsel of God." And then he closed with this, "'I've
shown you all things,' verse 35, "'how that so laboring you
ought to support the weak.'" You ought to support the weak.
"'And to remember the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, how he
said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.'" Now, this
exhortation, as I look at it, is more blessed to give than
to receive. As I look at it, it's not limited
to money and goods, material goods. I think we'll do the statement
of injustice if we limit it only to money and only to material
goods. I think a lot of us would like
to perhaps limit it to that. We will pay our way. And we're
not going to put forth any effort along any other line. I remember
a preacher telling me one time that he was standing out in front
of the church one day, a church building much like this one.
It had a gable front on it, and it was wood. And there was wood
around the trim, but he was standing there with several men of the
church, prominent men, deacons, leaders of the church, four or
five or six of them. A conference was coming up. And
he said to one of the men who was incidentally retired, there
were two or three other men standing there who were able-bodied retired
men, and he said, you know, before the conference, I believe we
ought to paint the front of this building. It'd look better and
we could just get our buckets and ladders and paintbrushes
and come out here together and have some fellowship and paint
the building. And one of the leading deacons said, oh no,
oh no. He said, I give my tithe. And
he said, let the church hire somebody and pay for it. And
he said, that way it won't be a burden on any of us. We'll
let everybody share in it, you know. Well, see, that's limited. He did give. He boasted the fact
he gave his tithe, which he did. I've known him for 20 years.
And he always did give, but that's about it. And sometimes we'd
like to pay our way and not render any other service or any other
gift. So this verse cannot be limited
to paying our way. It's more blessed to give than
to receive. In fact, I believe it encompasses, the principle
of this text encompasses, Brother J., the giving of myself, the
giving of myself. And I mean by that this, I mean
words of encouragement, kind words of encouragement, words
of affection. I think we can plank down our money in the offering
plate, come in and sit, give money in the offering plate,
support missionaries, support the tape ministers, support the
TV ministers, support the pastors here and the young ministers
and all these things, and not encourage one another. Scripture
talks about exhorting one another, encouraging one another, expressing
appreciation for one another. Like Paul is always saying, I
thank God, brethren beloved, for you. I love you in Christ. Words of affection, words of
encouragement, words of exhortation, giving of myself, sometimes.
See, so money is a whole lot easier to give than ourselves.
It's a whole lot easier. We can throw the money down and
walk out. That takes one second. Giving myself sometimes takes
a little more effort. I'm talking about my hands to
assist. to assist someone. I'm talking
about my prayers to intercede. Have you carried somebody on
your heart today? Have you carried somebody on
your heart this week? Have you wept for them and prayed
for them and felt for them and grieved for them and interceded
for them? Well, giving money is a lot easier
than that. Prayer is hard work. Carrying
burdens is hard work. It's heartbreaking work. It's
burdensome work. But that's what I'm talking about.
My visits to comfort. My visits to comfort. The sharing
of my hospitality. Some of you miss a blessing because
you don't throw the doors of your home open to strangers and
to visitors and the folks who are passing through. It's such
a blessing to share your table and to share your bedroom and
to share your den and to share your living room and to share
the food God gives you and to see someone sit at your table
and enjoy. It's a whole lot easier to pay
somebody to take care of. But it's more blessing to give
than to receive. And so when I'm looking at this
verse, I'm not looking at a cash and carry plan. I know it includes
that, we'll get to that in a few moments. But I'm talking about
it's most blessed to give, to give of myself. And I really
believe this, I believe that the giving of prayer and the
giving of myself and the giving of my hands and my heart and
the giving of all my affections and the giving of my encouragement
brings a greater blessing than the giving of my cash. But primarily, I suppose, our
study will be taken up with the stewardship of goods, because
that seems to be most of the things that are implied here.
Turn to 1 Corinthians 13. But please give that some thought.
Please give that some thought. I'm saying this, that this scripture,
and I've said this so many times, and believe me, I'm not just
talking from theory. I'm not just talking from from
something that I read in a theology book. I'm talking from the scripture
and from experience, that if you make someone happy, you'll
find happiness. If you somehow, through your
efforts and your kindness and your affection and your reaching
out and reach out, if you can somehow bring pleasure and joy
and happiness to some heart, I just know if you are born and
you are safe and you have a heart at all, it will bless you. And this giving, this more blessed
to give, is not just materially speaking, it is more blessed
to give of myself than it is to receive, because in giving
I do receive. Many folks. 1 Corinthians 13.
And in chapter 12, Paul has been talking about what we call the
gifts. 7 or 8 or 9 gifts, whatever they are, the gifts of the Spirit.
And he says in verse 31 of chapter 12, we are to covet earnestly
the best gifts, and yet show you a more excellent way. A more
excellent way to do what? A more excellent way to worship
God. A more excellent way to preach
the gospel, a more excellent way to ministry. That's what
he's talking about. So what are gifts used for? The
gifts of healing, gifts of tongues, gifts of ministry, gifts of etc.,
etc., etc. I'll show you a better way to
minister the word. I'll show you a better way to
worship God. I'll show you a better way to serve other Christians.
Oh, I speak with the tongues of men and of angels and have
not love? He's just been talking about
the gift of tongues. I may speak with tongues, but if I don't
have love, I'm a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. And though
I have the gift of prophecy," he's been talking about the gift
of prophecy, interpretation and so forth, and though I understand
the mysteries and have knowledge and have faith, the gift of faith,
so that I can remove mountains, and have not love, I'm nothing.
And though I bestow my goods to feed the poor and though I
give my body to be burned and have not love, profit is nothing. So do you challenge my belief
that this more blessed to give than to receive encompasses myself
and not just my goods? I may give my goods. I may give
my goods. I may give my opinion. I may
give my advice. I may give my prophecies and
my sermons and my preaching. But if I have not love, I haven't
given one blessed thing. That's what he said. I haven't given one blessed thing.
till I can learn to give of myself." Because God doesn't build his
temple. You see, his temple is not built on gold and silver.
His temple is built on Christ the cornerstone and made up of
living stones, human people who give of themselves. If all there was to it was just
cash and carry, then God would build a silver and a gold temple,
but it's a living temple of living stones. Let's look at several
words. Now, I've jotted down, if you'd
like to take the outline down, I have tonight about seven words
in talking about giving. And I'm sure most of you know
this, but in 2 Corinthians, if you'll turn there, chapter 8,
if you would like, when you get home tonight, read the 8th and
9th chapters of 2 Corinthians. It has to do primarily with giving,
giving, giving, giving. Brethren, I'm talking about giving
of ourselves, our income, our gifts, our goods, our possessions,
all of these things, and of ourselves, giving. The first word is the
word grace. It's found in verse 7, the word
grace, the grace of giving. In verse 7, Paul says, Therefore
as you abound in everything, abound means to overflow, to
exceed. to accomplish a bound. You're bound in faith, you believe. This is a household of believers.
The Church is a fellowship of believers. We all believe. We're
growing in faith. I feel like we are. And utterance,
that's the ability to teach and preach. We've got some teachers
here. We've got some preachers. We've got some young men on Saturday
night that can bless and thrill your heart with teaching God's
Word. And many men here who are not preachers, you get together
and you talk and I listen to you and you bring out points
that are just such a blessing. It shows study and it shows God's
teaching and your learning. You're bound in utterance and
knowledge, you know the scriptures. And in all diligence, you're
faithful to the truth and faithful to the fellowship, you'd die
for what you believe. And you're bound in love to us,
that is you love God's preachers. You love God's missionaries.
There's no place on earth where a missionary or a preacher is
treated better than right here. There's no place on earth. I've
been to churches all over this nation and all over this world,
and there's not a place in this world where ministers and their
wives are treated better than they're treated right here, just
like an example Yesterday or Monday on a holiday, Elizabeth
Thompson opened the beauty shop and gave Betty a permit. She
didn't have to do that. It was her day off. But she did it because
she wanted to. And Walter's taken care of, and
everybody, I don't hesitate to invite a preacher here and know
that he's going to be taken care of. He's going to be, he'll go
away from here plumb blessed. You're bound in love to us. That's
what I'm talking about, to the apostles and preachers and missionaries. You're bound in love to us. All
right, watch this next line. See that you abound in this grace
also. What grace? The grace he's talking
about, giving. See that you abound in this grace
also. See that you overflow. See that
you exceed expectation. Now, there's no problem for me
to regard faith as a grace. No question about it. Preaching
is a grace. Knowledge is a grace. Faithfulness
is a grace. Love is a grace. Do you know
giving is a grace? It sure is. It sure is. It's also, see that you abound
in this grace also. See that you overflow in this
grace also. So that's the first word about
giving. It's a work of grace in the heart.
A man can no more be gracious unless he has partaken of God's
grace. He can't do it. It's God that
worketh in you, both the will and to do, his good pleasure.
So if you are gracious in your giving, it's because God has
made you gracious. It's a grace. It's not a work,
it's a grace. That's what it is. All right,
second verse 8, second word. And that is the word love. Now
he said, I speak not by commandment. Here's what he's saying. I'm
not ordering you to give. Oh, I wish I could have every
preacher in the United States out here sitting before me tonight.
The Apostle Paul says, I'm not ordering you to give. I'm not
commanding you to give. This is not a commandment. You're
not commanded. You're not forced. But by the
occasion of the forwardness of others, the example of others,
and to prove the sincerity of your love, you give. You see, if you're commanded
to give, now I want you to listen to this, and here's what's wrong
with what we call pledge cards, what we call tithing, what we
call duty giving. Here's what's wrong with it.
Now, if I command you, suppose Paul's an apostle. I'm not. I
can't command you to do anything. The apostles, I believe, could.
But even he wouldn't command him to give, Bob. Even he wouldn't
command. Suppose that an apostle stood
here before you with the authority of Christ vested in him and commanded
you to give, commanded you to share, commanded you to show
hospitality, commanded you to do it. Well, it wouldn't be love
at all that motivated you. It'd be that commandment. It'd
be a duty. Well, I'm doing it because I
was told to. That's why I'm doing it. And there'd be no blessing
there. None whatsoever. And then suppose,
here's what a lot of preachers use, they use the element of
fear. I've heard preachers say, if you don't tithe, God will
take it out the door in a casket. Have you heard that? I've heard
preachers preach that if a person didn't give to the church, that
their car would wear out or break down, or a house would burn down,
or the baby would get sick, or their savings would all be eaten
up by medical expenses. It would just go on and on and
on and on. Well, now suppose I give. Suppose I take out my
checkbook next Sunday and write a check for this church. Or suppose
that I serve someone next week. You need a hand, and I give you
a hand. I do it because I'm scared if I don't, God will make my
baby sick. Wouldn't that be terrible? That's
not love. Or, here's another motivation. The preacher says,
give, and God will reward you. Now, if you give 10% of everything
you have, they say, I promise you, God will bless you. Why
he says, they say, God will open the windows of heaven and just
fill you with blessings if you'll give 10%. Well, to begin with,
it's not true. And then second, it's a mighty
poor motive for giving. And thirdly, it would be a stench
in the nostrils of God for me to bring him a gift expecting
something from him in return. Now you put yourself, suppose
you have a birthday or a Christmas and some loved one comes and
brings you a gift and you take it and open it and he says, now
where's mine? And mine better be worth a little more than yours.
Well, that's not, if a man truly loves, He'll share. If he truly loves, he'll give.
That's what Paul says in this verse. I'm not going to command
you. I'm not going to command you to give. But I'm going to
prove the sincerity of your love. That's what we're going to do
in this manner of sharing and giving and serving and giving
of yourself and helping and praying and assisting. We'll find out
if you really love that person. I just guarantee if you love
someone, you're going to pray for them. And their burdens are
your burdens, and their heartaches are your heartaches, and their
joys are your joys, if you love them. Christ said, if you love
me, you'll keep my commandments. He just said, I know that you
will. And that's the second word about giving. It's a grace. It's
a grace. We're selfish by nature. We're
born greedy. We're born covetous. We're born
selfish. We're born with the first words
we learn is me, I, me, and mine. That's about the first words
we learn and the ones we use most frequently. I told somebody
one time, if you take a group picture of a church and give
them out Sunday, everybody in here would look for himself first
on the picture. And you know, if it wasn't a good picture of
us, we'd say, this is a terrible picture. It might be a good picture
of everybody on there. But I had my eyes closed. Looked
like the fellow could have waited a little while longer. We'd rather
everybody else look bad than us look good. Isn't that selfish?
So it's a grace. And you say, well, I just can't
get that spirit of giving. Well, you get it the same place
you got faith, from the Lord. You get it the same place you
got love, from the Lord. Now, here's the third word. Look
at verse 12. And that is the word, willing. Willing. Are you with me? He says in verse
12, For if there be first, a willing mind, if there be first a willing
mind. That's where it starts, a little
word first. Do you see that little word F-I-R-S-T? First. A willing
mind. Don't, please. And I believe
I can truthfully say this, and I believe I can speak for God,
I believe I can speak for the Thirteenth Street Baptist Church.
Any gift or any assistance or any help or any service you render
or any song you sing or sermon you preach, that you present
or give to this congregation or to the kingdom of God unwillingly
and reluctantly, I believe I can say for every one of us, I'd
just as soon as you not do it. I'd just as soon as you not do
it. Because this is what he says about giving, there must first,
first be a willing mind. Let's go back to Exodus and see
where this all started in this matter of giving. Exodus 35,
there must be first. And you fight that battle first
in your own heart. Let's see if there is, it's like
working in the conference. You ladies who prepare food to
bring to the conference. If there's not a willingness,
don't do it, because God's not going to bless that. There must
be first a willingness. You men who work about the building
here and who do things, setting up tables and taking care of
conferences, don't do it if there's not a willing mind. When you
leave home, you say to your wife, I've got to go down there and
do this, you know, please stay home. Everybody would be better
off if you did. There's got to be a willing mind.
You ladies who serve in the nursery and take care of the children
while mothers enjoy the service, don't do it. Just please resign. Please do that. If there's not
a willing mind. You who teach classes, if there's
not a willing mind, please resign. Let somebody in there who has
a willing mind, who wants to witness, who wants to teach,
who wants to serve Almighty God. Please! Because what you do is
you rob us all of a blessing. Because God's not going to bless
reluctant service. God's not going to bless that
type. He's not going to do it. If I come in his pulpit reluctantly
or give reluctantly, it brings God's wrath upon the whole outfit.
He's not going to bless it. That's the first little word.
And Moses just kept saying that. Turn to Exodus 35. Let me show
you the verse 4. And Moses spake unto all the
congregation of the children of Israel, saying, This is the
thing which the Lord commanded, saying, Take ye from among you
an offering unto the Lord, whosoever is of a willing heart. Let him
bring. Now, which word did he use first,
bring or willing? He said willing. Then you bring.
And I'm real serious about that thing, don't do it if you're
not willing. I'm just serious as I can be. Just as serious
as I can be. First be willing, please. And
I beg of you, in your gifts, please don't give unless you're
willing. First, a willing heart. Because God doesn't need it,
we don't need it. The kingdom of God doesn't need
it. You're the one that needs it. Look down at verse 21. And
they came, every one whose heart stirred him up, and every one
whom his spirit made willing, and they brought the Lord's offering."
They brought the Lord's offering. Verse 22, And they came, both
men and women, as many as were willing-hearted. See, he just
keeps on walking on that, doesn't he, Jerry? Well, let's just walk
on it. Our Lord said, No man takes my
life from me, I willingly lay it down. He wasn't coerced to
the cross, and you won't be coerced to his cross either. You'll come
willingly. Look down here at verse 29, if
you will. The children of Israel brought
a willing offering unto the Lord, every man and woman whose heart
made them willing to bring all manner of work which the Lord
had commanded to be made by the hand of Moses. That's a big word,
isn't it? But you know, our Lord, if you
want to read later, Mark 12, verse 41, our Lord stood by the
treasurer I didn't see this until just recently. Somebody brought
this out. I don't remember, one of the men here mentioned it.
He didn't stand to see what the people gave. I know he commented
that a lot of people brought great offerings, and the widow
brought the mites, and he said she'd give an awl. But the word
used there, if you want to read it later, in Mark 12, verse 41,
it says, Our Lord stood there and watched how they gave. How
they gave. Not how much, not what. He watched
how they gave. The quantity is not important
at all. Because God owns the cattle on a thousand hills. I
wish everybody could understand it's not the quantity of our
gifts, it's not the amount of our gifts at all. It's the spirit
in which we give. It's not the gift. The quantity of the gift It is
the motive of the heart. Now, watch this next line, 2
Corinthians 8, verse 12. I want you to see something else.
Now, this is very important, very important. And I'm going
to destroy most people's idea of giving, most of these fundamentalists
and modern evangelists. I'm just going to tear it up
right here. Now, watch this, 2 Corinthians 8, verse 12. It
says there must be a willing mind. This is under the same
word, willing. It is accepted. According to that a man hath,
and not according to that he hath not." There's no way in
this world that I can sign a card saying what I'll give to the
Lord next month. I don't have it. I don't have
it. I know there are a lot of churches
who have what we call a faith promise missionary week, and
this is how that operates. They give everybody in the Church
a card, and this is popular among what we call Grace Churches.
Everybody gets a card. Lloyd would get a card, Woody
would get a card, Buddy Iams would get a card, all you fellows
would get a card. Jim Terry would get a card. And you'd go home, the preacher
would tell you, now we're going to have a special Sunday next
Sunday. And you take your card home, you and your wife pay about
it. And you and your wife see what you're willing to believe
God for. Now, this is the language. I've
been in these meetings. I know what they say. And they
put a lot of pressure on you, too. And they say, if you give
a whole lot, the car won't break down. And Carolee's washer won't
break down, because she don't use it enough for it to break
down. But it wouldn't break down. She did use it, you know. But
a lot of good things will happen. It wouldn't happen. A lot of
bad things won't happen. It would have happened. And this
is the motivation. So you take your card home and
you say, Now, honey, let's give $50 a week above what we gave
last week. Now, it looks like a lot of good faith there, doesn't
it? But you are giving what God hasn't given you. You're presuming
on the mercy of God. And it's not faith at all, it's
foolishness. Because you listen to that verse
again. He says, First, there must be a willing mind, it is
accepted according It is accepted according to that a man hath,
and not according to that he does not have. See that, Herman?
You don't give what you don't have. You give what you do have. You give what God's given to
you. You give the first fruits of this year's harvest. You don't
give next year's harvest. That's foolishness. There may
not even be a harvest next year. And that's what's wrong with
pledge cards. That's what's wrong with faith promise. We give and
it's accepted according to what you have and not what you do
not have. We need to look at these things.
Turn to 2 Corinthians 9. As I told you, chapter 8 and
9 deal with giving. Let's see word number 4. There
is generosity. Generosity. 2 Corinthians 9,
verses 5 and 6. Look at it. Therefore I thought
it necessary to exhort the brethren that they would go before unto
and make up beforehand your bounty," or your blessing, your offering,
whereof you had noticed before that the same might be ready.
In other words, Paul sent word to them, we need this now, and
you take it up and have it ready when the men get there as a matter
of bounty, not of covetousness. But this I say, he that soweth
sparingly shall reap the same way. And he that soweth boundlessly
shall reap the same way. Somebody said one time there
is a good Good bit of likeness between giving and sowing seed
in a garden. When we sow seed in the garden,
we usually get what we sow. In other words, I plow up my
garden. I'm sowing wheat or oats or rye. And I go out here and
I get a little handful, John, and I, you know, put a little
seed out there. Well, that's what I'm going to
have, a little harvest. What did you get today? Nothing. But here goes a man who invests
everything he has in a whole sack of seed, and he goes out
and just sows the seed, just puts it out there. That's what
it's saying. I'll show you that in Galatians.
The whole 2 Corinthians 9, now I'm turning to Galatians. Here's
a verse that's been quoted by every preacher, every preacher
in the United States, when he's talking about sin. Once a man
saw it, that shall also reap. Don't you dare. You ever heard
that? They go out here and warn these fellas, he's going to reap
what you sow. No, you're not. I'm not. Christ has borne my,
he's reaped my sins and paid for them. I'm not going to reap
what I sowed. I'm going to reap rewards and blessings and glory
and a crown of righteousness. And I didn't sow that. I didn't
sow that. I didn't sow any glory. I didn't
sow any life everlasting. I didn't sow any mercy, but I'm
going to reap it. But this has got nothing to do
with that. Now, let's look at it. Just look at Galatians 6. Now, let him that is taught in
the word, that's you, communicate unto him that teacheth. That's
me. That's preachers. That's those who minister the
word. That's all who minister in the kingdom of God, in all
good things. Don't be deceived now. God is not mocked. Whatsoever man soweth, that shall
he reap. He that soweth to his flesh, he shall of the flesh
reap corruption." In other words, if you use everything for your
own selfish pleasure, for your own material gain, for your own
comfort, for your own luxury, and you don't sow it to the spirit
and the spiritual world and the spiritual kingdom and the spiritual
realm, you're going to reap. Yes, sir. You put all your money
in the stocks. As they grow, you can build your bigger house,
buy your bigger farm, drive your bigger car, wear your nicer suit,
buy your whole wardrobe. You'll have the flesh reap corruption,
and then it'll all fade away. Corruption. It'll all rot and
decay and pass away. But what's the next line? He
that soweth to the spirit, Shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well-doing,
for in due season we'll reap, if we think not. Therefore, as
we have therefore opportunity, therefore, what did Barnard say
one time, when you see therefore, see what is therefore? He's talking
about what went before. Therefore, as you have opportunity,
let's do. Do you have any opportunity?
Let's do good unto all men, especially. under them who are of the household
of faith." Now, don't ever use that verse again, going to somebody
and wagging your finger under their nose and saying you'll
reap what you sow. Not if you mean by that that if he matches
for pennies, he's going to go to hell. That's not what that's
talking about. That's talking about just what he's talking
about. He says if God's blessed you and you use it for the good
and comfort and joy of others, you'll reap it. That's right. And if you use it for yourself,
ignoring the pleas and needs of others, then you've got troubles,
because all of this flesh is going to decay and rot and go
into nothing. Now, the fifth word, that word
was generosity or generously, liberality, sowing to the flesh
or sowing to the Spirit. Chapter 9, 2 Corinthians, verse
7. The word is voluntary. Voluntary. Every man according as he purposeth
in his heart. No one sets your percentage.
And there have been places and offended people because all their
lives, I remember when I was a boy at the church of which
I was a member, made much of the 10% deal. Of course, they
made nothing of the Sabbath day, and that's under the same dispensation,
you know. But they made much of the 10% thing, and I was taught
that every dollar I made was a paperboard to put aside 10
cents. Well, I hate to shatter our playhouses,
but the Apostle Paul bucks that pretty
strongly. He surely does. Every man as
he purposes in his heart. I don't purpose for you. I don't
purpose for you. No one sets your percentages.
We're to give not reluctantly. We're to give not grudgingly.
We're to give not, listen to it, not of necessity. You know
what it says? Not of necessity. Not of necessity. We're to give
not because it's expected, but we're to give God loves a cheerful
giver. Now I'm going to tell you what's
wrong with the tithe. I'm going to tell you what's
wrong with it. In the Old Testament dispensation,
they had the tithe of the crops and the tithe of the mint and
anise and cumin and money and all these things that went to
the support of the temple and so forth, and that was a national
people, that was an earthly people, that was an earthly king, that
was a typical people. Now here's what's wrong with
the tithe. It's not proportionate. Now, that's our next word. Turn
to 1 Corinthians 16. There's nothing proportionately
about it. You say, yeah, everybody gets 10 percent. Now, wait a
minute. That's not proportionately and that's not with equality.
Look at 1 Corinthians 16, verse 2. Now, in verse 1 of 1 Corinthians
16, Paul says, Now concerning the collection for the saints,
he says, I've given orders to the churches of Galatia, you
do the same thing, upon the first day of the week. Let every one
of you lay by him in store." I guess you'd call that systematically,
Jay. That's every Sunday, every Lord's
Day upon the first day of the week. Let every one of you lay
by him in store. That doesn't mean storehouse
tithing now. I know some fellas built an old
doctrine on that, storehouse tithing. You give it to the church
and nowhere else. I tell you this, this church
has a freedom to designate. Last month some of you designated
a thousand dollars to the missionaries. I sent two hundred dollars to
five different missionaries because you had them on your heart. Let me give you an illustration
of what I'm talking about. You pray about your gifts. I know the expenses of this church
must be met. And I know systematic giving
by all of our people together. And the pastor, if he can't lead
in the giving and do, he's got no business asking the people
to. But now, suppose you've got a burden about some mission.
I remember, I was down in Mexico and I was talking to Walter at
Kevin. Bob was a little boy. This was
years ago. And Milton Howard's wife was about to have a child
and she had some kind of disorder, RH negative blood or something,
where the baby died when it was born. And I said, Milton, where's
she going to have that baby? He said, well, ought to have
it in Houston is where she ought to have it. I said, well, our
church will pay for it. You bring her on to Houston.
You bring her on to Houston. And this church will pay for
it. Somehow we'll take care of it. Five, $600 back then. And
so he was so grateful. And he got Claudia and brought
her back to Houston to have her baby. The baby died. But anyway,
he met a pastor in Memphis, Tennessee at a conference. Milton walked
in the room. And he met a pastor of a church in North Carolina.
And the pastor looked at him and said, what are you doing
in the States, Milton? He said, we came up here, my wife's having
a baby. He said, since when did we pay you missionaries to come
to the States to have your babies? That's grace, isn't it? Milton
said, I couldn't have a litter of puppies on what you'd give
me. I like that. I'm just glad you weren't there. He words things stronger than
that. But anyway, Walter said to me, he said, I said, what's
wrong, Kevin? He said, he's got a hole in his
eardrum. And it's got to be taken care of. It's got to be. He's
going to lose his hearing. And I said, well, we got this
project with Milton's wife and baby, and I just can't take another
right now, but we'll take care of it, Walter. God will open
the door. He'll open the door. So Milton's wife had the baby
and paid for her, and he left the States, and I left home on
Sunday morning and started over here at the church, and I'd made
up my mind that morning I was going to ask the church Let's
do something about Walter's boy." And I walked in the tape room
over there and one of the men came by and he said, Henry, he
said, I had Walt on my heart always. I've been burdened about
him, troubled. Is something wrong with Walt?
I said no. But he said he needs something
because I just can't get him off my heart. Well, I said he
needs about a thousand dollars. His boy's got trouble. What's
his boy's trouble, I told him. He said, we'll take care of that.
Now see, that's what I mean by designation. If you think, if
we could get, if we could, you say, I just don't think to do
things for people. If we get out of this little old circle
that's about a foot in diameter and project our prayers and project
our thoughts and project our affections away from me and my
wife and my son John and his wife and us four and no more,
we'll get those feelings. That's right, isn't it, Jerry?
It's absolutely right. So this thing, proportionate.
Now, look at here. He says, "...upon the first day of the week, let
every one of you lay by him in store." How? Comma, "...as God
hath prospered him." Now, this boy right here, what am I going
to give? I'm going to give as God prospered me. If I've had a slow week, then
I'm going to give as God prospered. If I have a good week, I'm going
to give as God prospered. That's how I'm going to get it.
Now, here's what's wrong with Tyler. Here's a widow who gets $5,000
a year. About that. She's required by the Southern
Baptist Church or whatever, Nazarene or whatever, to give 10%. That
leaves her $4,500 to live on, doesn't it, Ronnie? $4,500. That's
to buy, that's to pay her, that's to pay her house rent and her
groceries and her utilities and her food and everything. Here's
a man that makes $50,000 a year. 10%? How much he got to live
on? $45,000. To pay his rent, pay his utility,
buy his groceries. She got $4,500. Is that equality? That's not equality. That's not
even proportionately. It's not even fair. And it's
not grace. And I ain't going to preach it."
Now, that's just the way it is. That's just the way it is. Turn, if you will, to 2 Corinthians
8. Let me show you something else over here. And if anybody
asks you about tithing, you just tell them that that's what Moses
taught. Moses taught a few other things,
typically, symbolically, that are not binding on believers
today. 2 Corinthians 8, verse 13. Now, watch this. Now, I mean
not that other men be eased and you burdened, but by an equality,
by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a
supply for their want. Your abundance may be a supply,
Joe, for somebody's want. That's the reason God gave you
the abundance. Not that you might slip him ten percent, but that
you might more abundantly meet somebody's needs. You're in better
position to meet their needs. That's the reason I said if we
bought these houses back here, I would expect some men to give
very sizable contributions according as God's prospered them. I would
expect someone else to give smaller contributions according as God
has prospered them. That's grace giving. That's New
Testament giving. That's spiritual giving. Tithing
is law giving. By an equality, circle that word. And now at this time, your abundance
may be a supply for their want, and that their abundance also
may be a supply for your want, that there may be an equality.
There may be equality. That's what we're talking about
proportionately. As God enables me to give, I
give. And this is it. Somebody says,
well, don't pass the plate. Everybody knows what you're giving. Now,
wait a minute. There's no need to hide this
thing. You know exactly what God gives
me each week, what I have. It's in the financial report.
What gives me sneaking around, slipping my gift back here behind
the pulpit somewhere? And it doesn't matter. We know
that there are widows in this church who give. Everybody, every
one of you, he said. You say, I can't afford to give.
You can't afford not to. That's right. If you're a little
paper boy, you can't afford not to give. If you love Christ and
you want to share in the ministry of the gospel, everyone. Yeah,
but I can't give as much as others. You're not expected to. You're
not expected to. And anyone who expects you to
has got a problem themselves. We know what we're capable of
doing. We know what each other are capable of doing. And we're
brothers. This is a family. We don't need to hide from one
another and sneak around and do our, I know, giving us to
be, and here's the next word. Turn to Romans 12. Romans 12. But now this takes care, this
takes care of the plate or the box or whatever. In Romans 12,
verse 8, listen to this. Back here in verse 6. Let's go
back to Romans 12, 6. Having then gifts, differing
according to the grace that's given to us. Are you with me?
Our grace differs. I think Russell May's gifts are
different from mine. I don't imagine Russell will
be pastor in this church next year. That's not his gift. I
tell you, he's the best, most faithful, competent finance committee
man that you find anywhere. That's his gift. He's faithful.
Tell him something to do two weeks from now and forget it.
It'll be done. It's his gift. Different one of you have different
gifts. Gifts, prophecy, preaching, that's a gift. Preaching is a
gift. Or ministry. Let's wait on our
ministry. See verse 7, or teaching. Some
of you got gift of teaching. He that exhorteth on exhortation.
He that giveth. You mean preacher that I can't
preach, and I can't teach, and I can't do it, but I can give,
and that's a gift? You bet your boots it is. Who
gave it to you? Who gave it to you? Who maketh
you to differ? What do you have you didn't receive?
You didn't make it yourself. God gave it to you. Giving is
a gift right along with preaching. This is our ministry, ladies
and gentlemen. Not my ministry. God can replace
me just like he can replace you. No problem whatsoever. Spurgeon's
dead. Galen's dead. Luther's dead.
Whitfield's dead. Orr's dead, and the gospel goes
on. And I'll be dead, and the gospel will go on. You will too.
He that giveth, let him do it with simplicity. Now, Jay and
I worked that word over today, didn't we, Martha? The three
of us in there. What is this simplicity here? It's the virtue of one that's
free from pretense. Give as one that's free from
pretense, without self-seeking. That's what it means, Jim, without
self-seeking. That's hard to do, too. Do you
know that? It's not easy. It takes grace. not to seek something
in return, not to seek praise, not to seek self. Anything, just
give, hoping for nothing in return. Give, not hoping for usury. Just give. Not self-seeking and
free from pretense. Oh, to be able to give and to
serve, as our Lord said, as unto the Lord. And read on there,
he says, he that ruleth with diligence, he that shows mercy.
You mean to show mercy to someone with cheerfulness is a gift? Yes, sir. We have exaggerated preaching
in the kingdom of God to the point that we have discouraged
the real gifts of God. We really have. These musicians,
that's gifts. These song leaders, that's gifts.
People that pray, that's a gift. Folks that have a warm, kind
handshake and word of greeting, that's a gift. A man that forgives
another, the man that there's a disturbance in the church and
he pours water or oil on the troubled waters, that's his gift.
Isn't that right, Cecil? Got a gift. We got some men around
here that's got that gift, too. They've settled me down many
a time. Just hold it, preacher, just hold it right there. That's
a gift. Use your gift. And because you can't get up
behind a pulpit and shout doesn't mean you're not important in
the kingdom of God. You're so very important. Love. You mean love's a gift to show
love to someone? That's right. All the way down. So many gifts. But what I'm pointing
out is he that giveth, let him do it without pretense. Let him
do it without sounding a trumpet. Let him do it without self-seeking.
Let him do it as unto the Lord. And turn to Hebrews 13, and let
me close this message with this word. Hebrews 13, verse 15 through
16. Now it says here in Hebrews 13,
verse 15, By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise
to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving
thanks to his name, but to do good and to communicate forget
not, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. God is well
pleased. Don't you like that? To do good
and communicate, don't forget, for with such sacrifices God
is well pleased. And we go back and pick up the
sacrifice of praise, the fruit of our lips giving thanks, to
do good and to communicate not. These are all that which is well-pleasing
to God. What shall I render to my God?
For all his kindness shown. My feet shall visit his house,
my songs address his throne. Among the saints that fill his
house, my offering shall be laid. There shall my zeal perform the
vows my soul in faith to him hath made. how happy all his
servants are, how great his grace to me. My life, which he has
made his care, Lord, I commit to thee. Now I'm thine forever
thine, nor shall my purpose move. Thy hand hath loosed my bonds
of pain and bound me to thee with thy love." What belongs
to the Lord? Really, when you sum this whole
thing up, what part is God's part and what part is my part?
It all belongs to the Lord. I'm His, my family, my home,
my children, my wife, my friends, my health, my savings, my salary,
it all belongs to the Lord. And I want Him to make me a good
steward of His grace. I don't mean that we are to take
what God has entrusted in our care and act foolishly. God doesn't use foolish men,
He uses wise men. wise, generous men, wise, merciful
men, wise, gracious men, wise, spirit-led men. And I believe
if we spend enough time before the throne and be willing to
act as God gives us his leadership, that if we will to do his will,
we'll find it, if we wait on him. Our Father, Only you can anoint
this message and these words we read from the scriptures and
make them a blessing to us and make them understandable to us
and make them to result in Christ's glory and the good of this church
and this congregation. Be our teacher in this hour and
let us all with a quietness of spirit look into the things which
have been said. into the scripture that had been
read and where it crosses our tradition and our custom and
our habits and all of these things. Lord, give us a surrendering
heart, a submissive heart, a willing heart to give of ourselves. Take me, Lord, and use me. Use
me to make somebody happy. Use me to relieve somebody's
pain and heartache. Use us. Cast ourselves, not just
our money, which is not ours but thine, but ourselves, on
the altar before our Lord Jesus Christ. In his name we pray,
amen.