I would like to speak with you this morning about giving God what is right, and not what is left. The way some modern Christians give reminds me of trash day. Trash day at our house is on Tuesday. The big truck comes by. And so we start getting our collection together all week. Our Silk milk, when it gets empty, we crush the container. The Shredded Wheat boxes, banana peelings, apple cores; we just throw everything in there that we don't want, and they haul it away, and it's so wonderful. And anything that is left that we don't want becomes trash. And is donated to the city of Collegedale. I don't know what they do with our donations. But far too many Christians treat God in a very similar way. We give God what is left over.
Now let me illustrate that. In other words, when it comes time for the offering, we open up our purse or our billfold and we give God what is left. After we've paid the bills. And we really should do better than that. We should give Him the first. Or maybe we pay our bills with a check. We pay all the bills, and then it comes time to make out our check for the church and we see what's left, and we give of that. When really it should be the other way.
Come over here to Malachi the third chapter in your Bible. I would like for you to look at verse 10. Right before the New Testament. Malachi 3 and verse 10. And it says here, "Bring ye all the tithes into" what? "Into the storehouse." What is that? That’s the church. That's God’s house. "That there may be meat in My house, and" He says, "prove Me now herewith, sayeth the Lord of hosts if I will not open to you the gates of heaven and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it." Now, if you are not going to return to God an honest tide, I personally think you should not pay any tithe. Don't give anything for tithe. Unless it's an honest tithe. Because if you're going to be a robber you should be a good robber. Be the best you can be.
The tithe belongs to Who? Does it belong to me? No. It belongs to God. The offering is the appreciation that I give from my heart of what God has done for me, but the tithe doesn't even belong to me. I return it to God. In our denomination as a rule, one third of our church members carry about 90% of the financial load of the church. The next one third carry 10% of the financial load of the church, and the last third don't get involved in the giving. Could it be that two thirds are in the process, now think about this, of apostatizing from God? That when hard times come, the fair-weather followers may be the first ones to not darken the door again? I don't know. I believe there are hard times coming.
I don't know if you've been watching the news. I'm sure you have. There's a lot of things going on in this world. The stock market is up sharply and then way down, and it's like some of the roller coasters at Six Flags or somewhere. You never know. We are in serious times.
I was looking at the national debt clock. Have you seen the national debt clock? Sit there and watch it go. And these numbers are constantly changing. The last I looked at it, it was 9 trillion, 142 billion, 384 million, 770 thousand, 594 dollars and 27 cents. It goes up at the rate of about $8-$9000 a second. So while I was reading that off, it has changed, and you just can’t keep track of it. It's $30,100 per person. That's a lot of money. And we get behind by 1 point 47 billion dollars every day. We're going deeper and deeper and deeper. You know if the church acted like the United States government, the tithe would be 50% by now. Fortunately it's 10%. That's what God does. But a large percent of our nation's income is spent each year just trying to pay the interest on the national debt. It wouldn't surprise me to see some major depression again. Or at least a major recession. And when that happens will your faith hold? I personally need the blessing of God on my money. And I think you do too.
And there's an interesting text. I just was reading in the book of Romans. Finished the book of Romans this morning, and I would like for you to come to the eleventh chapter of the book of Romans and see with me something that I had seen before but when you read it in a different version of the Bible it just jumps right out at you sometimes. And my wife told me, "I might get you a new Bible for Christmas." And she's already got the one in mind. And I'm going to read it next year. I hope you’re doing the same.
But look at Romans 11, and I would like for you to notice verse 16. It says, "If the part of the dough offered as first fruits is holy then the whole batch is holy. Even if the root is holy, so are the branches." So, let's translate that into a little modern version. The New Century version of the Bible says this. "If the first piece of bread is offered to God then the whole loaf is made holy." So let's translate that on down into us. If you get your paycheck and you donate the first amount of it to God then all the rest of it becomes holy. It becomes blessed. If you give the first slice of bread to God the rest of the loaf is holy. If you give the first of your paycheck to God, the rest of it becomes holy, or blessed. And I need that blessing. And so I want to return an honest tithe to God. You see where I'm coming from? Because I need the rest of the loaf of the bread to be holy. I need it to be blessed. It'll go further.
Look at Deuteronomy. In Exodus 20, verse eight it says, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." Then in Deuteronomy chapter 8 and verse 18, the word ‘remember’ is used again. And here's something else God wants us to remember. And I want to read this in the King James. It says, "But thou shalt remember", Deuteronomy 8:18, "remember the Lord thy God, for it is He that giveth thee the power to get" what? Money? "Wealth." He gives you the power to get wealth. Every one of you can get wealth. As long as you don't run down to the store and spend at all it will be accumulating. God wants His people to have wealth. But He warns His people, remember that after you've gotten your houses and your IRAs and your 401(k)s and so forth. After you've gotten your silver and your gold and your lands, remember that they came from Me. I gave you the power to get those things. And I think maybe that is the trouble with America today. We forget the source where our blessings come from. We have become self-sufficient here in America. And that could be the cause of a family's personal problems as well. A lot of the marital problems that we have in America today are caused by financial woes. So when you put God second, you actually go down yourself. You put yourself at the last. Are you in the process of apostatizing, or are you faithful to Jesus? Are you among the one third or the two thirds? If you prayed for a raise and God gives you that raise then automatically His tithe gets a raise and His offerings get a raise.
A wealthy man who lived in Texas decided to give his dad a really neat Father's Day present every year. And so the first year he gave him a paid course on hang gliding. The father never forgot that. The next year he gave to his dad a record collection of Slim Whitman. But he figured this year I'm really going to outdo myself. I'm going to give my dad he gift he will never forget. And so he found a bird. A rare talking bird. Somebody had taught this bird how to talk. He could say some of the words in five languages. What a bird. He could sing a portion of The Yellow Rose of Texas standing on one foot. The son paid $10,000 for that bird, and had it shipped to his father special delivery for Father's Day. And a week later he called his father and he said, "Dad, how did you enjoy your Father's Day present this year?" And his father said, "It was delicious." He consumed it upon himself. And if God gives you something special don't consume it on yourself. He consumed the gift. He could have enjoyed it. He could have shared it with others for years to come, but he consumed it.
When God gives you a raise in your paycheck do you consume it on yourself? Or do you share it? Do you give some back to God? It belongs to Him. Do you give some as an offering? You know, every raise that we get, should increase our giving by exactly that percentage. If you get a 3.9 cost-of-living raise, your giving should go up 3.9, your tithe should go up 3.9, right? So that if God wants to bless His church, all He has to do is give you all a raise, and the church is blessed accordingly. God's plan is best. And you will never read in the Bible that Jesus was not a faithful tithe payer. He was. He was not a robber. I don't think it's God’s plan for the church to raise money through bazaars and fairs and walkathon's and bake sales and so forth. And it's not God's plan for people to just give whatever they want to give as far as the tithe goes.
Can you imagine the United States government sending you a gift at Christmas time? They send me a book every Christmas. The day after Christmas, December 26 or 27 I get this thick book. It says form, what is it, 1040, and it's getting thicker and thicker every year. A free book to read.
How would you like it if on December 27, or the first legal day after Christmas that you would receive in the mail from the IRS a Christmas card. We’re sorry we’re late, but this is a gift you're going to enjoy. This year at April 15 just send in whatever you would like. Whatever the Lord impresses, or Uncle Sam impresses you to give, just send it in. How long do you think the government would be able to operate? I don't think it would work.
Now we don't pay tithe, we return tithe. We don't pay tithe to support ministry, or the pastor. Otherwise the tithe is a tax and God is a tax collector. We don't do that. We return the tithe because we love Jesus and because Jesus loved us. You can read in the New Testament. Jesus was a tithe payer. Paid tithe of mint and anise and cumin. He believed in tithe paying. I can't afford to do less than Jesus did.
The Georgia Cumberland conference has a publishing department. The director of that is here today. One of the members of our church. And they have neat little stories, and I would like to share a story that I found in the news letter the other day. And I would like to tell you that this illustrates exactly our plight of giving. You see, we need to be more faithful in our giving. We really do.
And there was a man and his three children, and they went out to the park. It was on the edge of town there beside the highway. There was a ball field, and he was watching his eldest play ball, and the other two were playing kickball. And the man was sitting there, and here was a fragrant with a shopping cart and all his belongings piled in the shopping cart. And the vagrant was sitting on a park bench near the highway. The vagrant started to come over toward him. And he thought, "Oh boy. I'm going to have to see if I have any money, you know, and he's going to ask me for a donation." Well, he went on by and went over to the drinking fountain which was beside the man and got a drink. And never did the man think of offering him some water. He had some, a cooler there. He had nice bottles of cold water. He didn't even think of offering the hobo one of those. Finally the man went and sat back down, and he looked at the man, and he thought, “I wonder how old he is. I wonder how he became a tramp. A homeless person. How did that happen?”
Well, his girl was playing softball, and the dad was back watching the game again and watched for some time. And suddenly as he was absorbed in that game he heard his son, his older son, yelling out, “Eric, stop!” And he jerked around, and there was Eric chasing the kickball. The kickball was going toward the highway and Eric just following right behind it. The highway was full of cars. A lot of traffic. And this man jumped up and he screamed his son's name and began to run the 40 or so yards over to where his son was. His son was running toward the highway. The dad knew he could never catch him, and suddenly he noticed the tramp. The tramp jumped up from the park bench, ran, and got between the son and the ball and blocked his path and stopped him. The ball went on out into the highway, and was hit by several cars. Well, at that moment, the father ran up and said, “Sir. thank you so much for saving my son's life. I'd like to give you some money.” “Oh no, sir. I just did this. I just wanted to help, you know.” Finally he did accept some of the money. And the man thought, you know ironically here is somebody that just a few minutes ago I wouldn't have even given a bottle of water and now I'm willing to give him all the money I have. That is amazing.
How much do you appreciate Jesus? Jesus came to this world and Jesus was homeless. He gave all He had. He saved us. He stood between us and death. He saved our lives. And we need to be responsive to Him. John 3:16 says, "God so loved the world that He" did what? "He gave." And He gave a very valuable gift. And if you believe in Him, if you just simply have faith in Him, you trust in Him, you believe Him, accept Him as your Savior, you’re saved. You have eternal life. That's a substantial gift.
Somebody came into first church this morning, one of my elders, and said, “How can you measure the spirituality of this church?” I said, “It's very easy. The giving.” God so loved that He what? Gave! That's the measure right there. If God loved us and didn’t do anything about it what would the love be like? So that's what we need to focus on.
There was a church board one time. They were having some financial problems in their church. They took their pastor, and they went out to a restaurant, and there at the restaurant they discussed what to do. The giving was way down, the debts were piling up. They had some big problems. And at the end of all this they finally finished their meeting, they finished their meal. The waitress delivered the bill. And the treasurer started, he pulled out his calculator, and started to determine what 15% was. He said, “Okay, it's going to be this amount. And each of you can pay your share.” And they all pulled out their purse and their billfold and paid their share, 15%. And you know, the pastor thought, “That is something. She means more to us than God.” Because in their church, about 2% was the amount that was being received. And yet they would give this lady 15%, because they wanted her to be impressed, or they, I don't know why they did that. I don't understand that. And yet their church was going bankrupt. God gives us the Bread of Life. God gives us the Water of Life. God is our waiter. We surely ought to tip Him.
Luke chapter 12 verse 24 says, "Consider the ravens. For they neither sow nor reap, which neither have a storehouse nor a barn, and God feedeth them. How much more valuable are ye than the fowls?" God will care for you. You say, “Well, I can’t afford to be faithful to God.” Yes you can. He’s faithful to you. He’s faithful.
Not long ago… You realize that the Church treasurer is privy to the books of the church, and so is the pastor. And not long ago, I reviewed the giving of our church. And I was pleasantly surprised at the number of members of this church that give 10% for tithe and another 10%, the same amount, for an offering every time. I was just so pleased about that. I thought that is just phenomenal right here in our church. And I'm sure that it's not easy for them to do that week after week, and month after, year after year. It's not easy. But they are giving God, not what is left, but what is right. And they’re being blessed. I daresay many of them have their homes paid for. They have been richly blessed. They give God the first slice, and the whole loaf is blessed.
We need to have a regular giving pattern. You know, I have a regular time, every day, to brush my teeth and to wash my face. I have a regular time to take a shower. I have a regular time to shave. But I do not have a regular time to wash my car. And it shows. And if you don't set aside a regular time to do your giving you won't get around to it. It'll show.
God so loved the world that He gave. He gave. And I appreciate Jesus. Jesus didn't give us leftovers, and let's not give Him leftovers. Let's give what is right, and not what is left. Give from a full heart.
You know, in effect, when you give your money… you know what money is? Money is a condensation of your life. Would you agree to that? When you get your paycheck… How many of you get a paycheck? We don't. Do you get a paycheck? It's electronically deposited. We never even see, we don't even get to sign it anymore. But when you get your paycheck, or your receipt of electronic funds transfer, that is the amount that you receive for, let's say, 40 hours of work. Those 40 hours now are condensed down into that amount of money, and so that amount of money now represents that work that you did. That's part of your life. Money represents life, and when you give money to God, it's like you're giving your life. You're giving of yourself to Him. And when Jesus came He gave His life for us. And because of God's love, when Jesus died on the old rugged Cross, in effect, I think the Father died on that cross too. I think His heart was broken. And when you give money to the church, you give money to God. It's like you're giving your life. Money is life. And so you give yourself. And the motivation for giving is your love for Jesus Christ.
At this season, at this Christmas time we want to give presents to each other, but let's give the first slice to God. And give Him what's right and not what's left.
Let's sing our closing hymn. 672. Give Of Your Best To The Master.
Hymn of Praise: #132 O Come All Ye Faithful Scripture: Responsive Reading #785 Hymn of Response: #672, Give of Your Best to The Master
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McDonald Road Sermon transcribed by Steve Foster 12/15/07