"Real Giving"
Howard Vanderwell
Hillcrest CRC, Hudsonville, MI
February 2, 1997
Texts: I Kings 6:17; Luke 21:1-4
John Casey is a fellow preacher who tells the story of how he hated
those answering machines and vowed he'd never get one. Then when was going
on vacation, he called home to check with his teenage daughter who was
living at home and he got an answering machine and assumed he got the wrong
number and hung up. He dialed again, got another answering machine, assumed
he had the wrong number and hung up. He dialed a third time and his daughter
answered. She said, "did you call before?" He said, "Yea, but I got an
answering machine, so I hung up thinking I had the wrong number." "No,
we have an answering machine". His daughter proceeded to tell that mother's
birthday was coming up in a couple of months, so she bought mother an answering
machine for her birthday and if the truth was really known, it was because
she wanted to get the messages of her friends when they called. I think
that was a pretend gift, not a real gift. Don't you? But while I heard
the story it reminded me of Christmas many, many years ago. You see, when
I was young I was a fan of Glen Miller. I know I've just dated myself,
that's ok, but I like the big band sound and I like String of Pearls. Any
of you remember String of Pearls? You've just dated yourself. Well, one
Christmas I bought my father Glen Miller's String of Pearls on 33 1/3 rpms.
I don't think that was a real gift. It was a pretend gift.
We have a stack of clothes in
our bedroom, it's going to go to the mission. It keeps getting bigger and
bigger and one of these days we're going to call the truck and they come
by and pick it up. You know how that goes. There's some shirts there, some
trousers there, a couple of sweaters, I don't need them anymore. They're
worn out a little bit, styles have changed and besides my kids got be some
new stuff for Christmas and so I'm going to give them to the missions.
But I have to admit to you that's not real giving. It's pretend giving,
isn't it if it's just stuff I don't want anymore anyway. Then, what's real
giving? Real giving is when you don't give just from the extra and you
don't give just for yourself, you give with God first in mind. (Topic:
Giving) That's real giving. I want
to tell you the tale of two widows this morning, one of whom we read about
in 1 Kings 17, the other one we'll read about
in Luke 21. They have a lot to teach us about real giving. There's a lot
that these widows did not have in common. They lived about 800 years apart,
they lived about 100 miles apart, but they are remarkably similar. First,
just to remind you, widows had a very hard time in their society. They
were usually desperate, especially if you were a widow who was a single
parent. There were no insurance policies, there was no social security,
no help from the community. You were pretty much on your own. Not only
did you have very little, you were often a prey to unscrupulous businessmen.
Widows had a hard time in their day, they rarely had much at all.
Well, listen in to the story
of this widow in Zarephath. You need to know the background of the story.
This was a very dark time in the life of Israel. Ahab was King and if you
just scan some of the chapters before you will discover that the kings
came and went in Israel as fast as someone playing musical chairs and about
almost all of them it says, "they did evil in the sight of the Lord". God
decided that He ought to send Elijah to Israel and declare that a famine,
a drought, is going to take place as His way of punishing them for their
waywardness. So Elijah declares a drought. There will be neither dew nor
rain, it says in the first verse of chapter 17. For the next few years
and then Elijah has to escape as a refugee to be safe out in the country
on the otherside of the Jordan by the brook Kareth and God feeds him there
from the ravens bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the
evening. As the drought went on, the brook dried up. That's when our story
begins. He says to Elijah, go to Zarephath. Now Zarephath is way up along
the Mediterranean Sea, about 80 to 100 miles north and it's not Israelite
territory, it's Phoenician territory so these were aliens, strangers, outsiders,
and when he gets there, he meets a widow. A widow who's a single parent.
She has a son and she was in desperate straights. He meets her and he says,
"would you give me a little water please, I'm thirsty, it's been a long
walk and it's been hot and dry". As she goes to get some water, he says,
"how about a little bread please". She says, "well, you have to understand
I'm in pretty desperate straights, I don't have bread. I've got a little
flour in a jar and a little oil left and I'm about to go home and bake
a muffin. That's all will do. I've got some sticks for a little fire, we'll
bake the muffin. My son and I are at the point of starving, we're going
to eat the muffin and we're going to die". That's desperate. Oh, that doesn't
matter. Go home any way, bake the bread and give it to me. Preposterous,
isn't it? Then make some for yourself afterwards. Then he couples it with
a promise. "The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will
not run dry until the day the Lord gives rain on the land". You know the
story. She did and it did and he ate and she ate and the little ate and
he kept on eating, and she kept on eating, and the little boy kept on eating.
He kept living, she kept living, and the little boy kept living. How do
you explain that? I don't! I don't explain that. But I've heard the same
thing from a lot of people who've said, we've figured it all and we didn't
think we could give very much at all. We just couldn't afford to tithe.
But we decided, let's do it anyway and trust God. And we brought enough.
How do you explain that? I don't. You don't have to, but there it is. (Topic:
Giving)
Let me tell you about another
widow. Would you turn in your New Testament to Luke 21.
You need to understand the setting here. This is in the temple in Jerusalem.
This gorgeous temple was the center of worship. The story really begins
at the end of chapter 20. Jesus is in the court of the temple. The big
outer court of the temple is where the Gentiles were and one of the inner
courts is where the women might be and that's obviously where He was and
in this court, that was called the women's court of the temple. There were
receptacles along the wall where you could toss in your offering envelopes.
That's where Jesus was standing teaching his disciples and the other people
were milling around. A lot of them were Pharisees and it says in verses
45-47 at the end of Chapter 20, the Pharisees were roaming around in their
long flowing robes making sure people saw them and ooed and aahed about
them and paraded their righteousness around and listened to them while
they prayed and Mark adds to the story and says they were tossing in great
big gifts in these receptacles and then Jesus said to them, watch out for
these people who give in such a gaudy display. Give so much and then want
a plague in their honor or least want it noted in the bulletin and then
he looked up and he saw the rich putting their gifts in the temple treasury
and he also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. I tell
you the truth, He said, "this poor widow has put in more than all the others".
All these people gave these gifts out of their wealth but she, out of her
poverty, put in all she had to live on. (Topic:
Giving)
Let me tell you about two copper coins a minute. I'm not going to take
a lot of your time and go into a whole lot of the details about their currency,
let me just tell you if you figure it all out, two copper coins (the footnote
in your Bible says two lepta) it would take 128 of them to equal the common,
unskilled laborers average daily wage. This is 128th of an average day's
pay. That isn't much. While he stood there, here's this contrast. The Pharisees
tossing in their large gifts, Mark called it, paraded around while they
do it and this poor widow, you know their plight in society, she must have
had such low self esteem she wouldn't dare through the middle of the court,
she sort of walked around the edge and snuck in through the crowd and didn't
want anybody to see very much so she just sort of dropped it in and quickly
walked away and went home in her shabby clothes on and Jesus says two things.
He says, "look what she gave, 128th of an average day's wage". The second
thing He says is, "she gave more". Here's this Pharisee tossing in a talent,
that's about 2 to 3 years wage and here's two lepta, she gave more. That's
extraordinary giving. When you bake a muffin and feed a prophet even though
you expect you're going to die with your son in an hour or two, that's
extraordinary giving. When you toss in two lepta and it's all you've got,
that's extraordinary giving. That's giving Macedonian style.
Do you remember our study of II Corinthians 8? The Macedonian's out
the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty,
welled up in rich generosity. That's real giving! Not from our extra, not
for ourselves first, no ulterior motive, just God first and trusting Him
for all of the rest. So with these two widows in mind, I want this morning
to add four more principles to our understanding of Christian stewardship.
Follow them very carefully, will you.
The first one is this. God measures our giving proportionally. I have
a quiz for you this morning. The offering went by twice this morning. Let's
suppose that you tossed in a check for $20.00. Let's suppose that a 7th
grader next to you tossed in 50¢ and the person in a row behind you
tossed in a check for $250.00. Who gave the most?
Another quiz. A Pharisee walks
through the inner court and tossed in a talent, 3 years wages. The widow
slipped in, tossed in, two lepta. Who gave the most? Remember Jesus words,
"I tell you the truth, that's Amen." Verily, verily, I really believe this,
AMEN. This poor widow has put in more than all the others. All these people
gave their gifts out of their wealth, but she out of her poverty put in
all she had to live on. Why does God measure it proportionately? He does
not measure it according to dollar amount. He measures it proportionately.
How is it compared to all the rest you've kept? That's God's question.
You know why, because that's a commentary on the status of our heart. The
proportion speaks to the status of our heart before God, the openness of
our spirit and the depth of our gratitude. The dollar amount never says
that. Financial reports don't give you a true picture of someone's giving
and that's why you see a congregational budget, that is, one budget all
size fits all is very unfair and very unbiblical. You can't say, here's
the whole budget for the year and therefore so much per family. It simply
isn't true and it isn't fair because we all have different incomes and
God measures not by the dollar sign, He measures it by the percentage sign,
proportionally. (Topic: Giving)
Second principle. Real givers give sacrificially. Now that's what stands
out in these two widows, isn't it? They are very striking examples of that.
Now remember, all she had was a little flour and a little oil and a couple
of sticks and was very open about the fact that this is our last meal.
We are starving, man. But, I'll still feed you first. That's the other
promise of God. Remember, two lepta, not much, but it was all she had.
There were no other lepta left in her pocket and she talks to me. That's
sacrificial giving. Doesn't it remind you again of those Macedonian's?
Out of their extreme poverty, their generosity welled up.
You want a couple of other examples. Exodus
33 and 36, 35 and 36 is the story when Moses
got all of the regulations for Israel. They were traveling the wilderness,
he got all the regulations from God on building the tabernacle so God could
be honored in His place among them and they could worship. Then the call
went out, we need your help in building the tabernacle. Exodus 35 says
the people had a heart to give and help and willing men and women alike
came. They brought their jewelry of all kinds, brooches, earring, rings,
ornaments. They brought gold as a wave offering. They brought blue, purple,
scarlet yarn and fine linen, goat hairs, rams dyed red and hides of sheep
and cows. They brought linen they had spun with their own hands, they brought
onyx stones, they brought gems, all kinds of things. They brought so much,
this is the story it says in Chapter 36, they brought so much Moses finally
said, "hey, stop it". (Topic: Giving)
So the people were restrained from bringing more because they
already had was more than enough to do all the work. Please, don't give
any more! I preached a sermon on that once I remember entitled "The Dream
Church". I read that story and thought, WOW, those Israelites
really were wealthy weren't they to give all of that jewelry, that
gold, that silver and all of that wealth. NO, where did they come from?
400 years in slavery, you know what they had in the bank? 400 years in
slavery and where were they? Wandering like nomads in the wilderness. This
was the whole extent of what they must have had. That's sacrificial giving.
Another one. II Samuel 24
is one of the stories in David's life. David
was overwhelmed with gratitude for grace of God to him and he said to his
prophet Gad, "we need to build an altar and we need to sacrifice to God.
He's been so good to us, we just need to celebrate. I'll tell you what.
Let's do it over there in Aruna's field. Let's ask him if we can his field
and Aruna said, "you bet! Let's celebrate together and I'll you what. I'll
joy in your thanksgiving. You may have the field and here's my cattle,
my ox and my sheep, you can have anything you want to give the sacrifice
to God" and David said, "NO, I'm going to buy the field. I'm going to buy
the oxen. I'm going to buy the sheep. I'm going to buy the ox yokes for
the wood for the fire and he said, "I insist on paying for it. I will not
sacrifice to the Lord burnt offering that costs me nothing". (Topic:
Giving) It has less value if it
costs us nothing. I have to admit to you this morning what I'm going to
give to the mission truck when it comes has very little value because it
costs me nothing. I'm only casting off the cast-offs. This is real giving
and that leads us, doesn't it, to the closing question. Does that seem
unreasonable to you? If it seems unreasonable to you that God expects us
to be sacrificial in giving to His Kingdom if that seems overly demanding
to you, may I ask you to think for a little while about He gives to you,
about how much He sacrificed in sending His son to earth to suffer, to
go to Hell, to bear the curse. May I ask you to think about just how much
Jesus sacrificed for you? It really is in line with exactly what He's done
himself. Real giving is sacrificial. It involves some probing questions
for us, doesn't it? It does for me too. It's been a long time since I've
really, really sacrificed. Oh, I suppose I could say if I didn't give to
the Kingdom of God, I'd have a bigger nestegg built up for retirement and
I'd probably have a boat and a cottage over the years, but really I have
to be honest with you and tell you, those are all extras anyway. I really
have not sacrificed much in my giving. I'm convicted of that this morning
and I want to think about if you've sacrificed much in your giving.
That's the second principle which leads us to a third one, genuine giving,
real giving, involves managing our life style. You see these two principles
we've talked about so far, that God measures it proportionately and real
givers give sacrificially, those are hard ones to live by. There hard ones
to live by and they are hard to live by because you and I are living in
a culture, middle class American culture that is constantly pushing us,
pushing us. I select those words deliberately. Pushing us to buy more and
to buy more unnecessary things. Every newspaper you read, every magazine
you buy, every time you turn on the radio, every time you watch television,
the message is drilled thousands of times a day into your mind, "you ought
to have this, you ought to buy this, you want this, you want to buy this
and you don't even have to make payments for 1 ½ years, just go
get it". We are under incessant pressure that way. A
couple of years ago when we were vacationing in Florida we pulled up in
a little strip mall and, dressed in our crubbies from vacation, and a young
couple pulled up in a very nice car next to us and dressed in their finest
and next to them was the most beautiful, little, bright, red convertible
sports car and she stepped out of her car with her husband and said, "Oh
honey, we need that", and it just drooled from her lips when she said it.
Now haven't we all said that in so many ways. We've lost track of what
we need and what we want. We really don't know the difference anymore between
what we need and what we want. Social psychologist today are talking about
a new disease in middle-class America. They're calling it "affluenza" and
it's a disease that afflicts children who grow up in families that have
too much and because they have so much and can buy so much and can play
with much pretty soon they become bored with it all and they turn to other
far more illegitimate things. It's the disease of affluenza that afflicts
us.(Topic: Affluenza) Sometime
ago earlier in my ministry a man that I worked with and learned to love
and in many ways became a mentor of mine was an imminently successful businessman
who made in one year more than I make probably in five to ten years. He
was just phenomenally successful. I will not tell you why because then
you could identify him and I don't want you to do that but he would talk
very openly about the struggle that it involved. He would talk openly about
determined he was to avoid an extravagant life style, which would have
been so easy for him and he said to me very openly one day, "my goal in
life is to live off my tithe so I can give the 90%". I've lost tract with
him and I don't know if he has or not but he was a man of his word and
I trust that he's doing his best to do that. (Topic:
Giving)
Well, all of that is by way of saying, if we're going to give proportionately
and sacrificially, genuinely real giving, we're going to have to manage
our lifestyle well because this is a culture that will let it run away
with us so we get to the point of saying, "well, I can't".
That leads us to the fourth principle. Freedom in giving flows from
trust in God. There are two things that are opposites. Freedom in giving
flows from trust in God. The opposite of trusting is calculating. Calculating
deals with hard number. It adds, it multiplies, it subtracts and divides.
Calculating adds things up and says, "well, I guess that's about what we
can do". Trust doesn't do it that way. Trust claims the promises of God
and goes on that. Let me tell you another story from our life. Early
in my ministry in my very first church I made $5,500 a year and I got paid
every other week. I know I'm dating myself but you know that anyway. I
got paid every other week, and we sat down with that paycheck and we were
in the process of starting a family and we had some debts from school that
had to be paid off and we had other responsibilities and we would pay them,
pay them, pay them, and then at the end of that would try to decide if
we could still tithe or not. Sometimes we did, sometimes we didn't. Probably
most of the time, we didn't. But even when we did, there was no joy in
it, there was no freedom in it. It was a burdensome thing we had to do
because we were making the mistake of calculating instead of trusting.
(Topic:
Tithing)
We've learned since that time and I'll share some of that with
you in the next couple of sermons.
Let's go back to these two widows. If they calculated, you know what
they would have done? The widow at Zaraphath should have said, "man, you
want bread? You're nuts! I've got a boy, God gave me a son and he's starving
and I need to feed that boy and I've this much flour and this much oil
and it's only enough for a muffin, I can give you nothing and God wouldn't
expect me to give you anything". The widow in the temple would say, "well,
let all of you people give. All I've got are two lepta left and I've got
to live. I've got to live!" If they calculated, neither of them would have
given a thing. But, they didn't calculate, they trusted. They had promises,
specific promises in which they put trust. You want to hear the promises.
The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry
until the day the Lord gives rain on the land. That's a promise.
You want to hear another one? Proverbs 3, "honor
the Lord with your wealth, with the Firstfruits
of all your crops. Then
your barns will be filled with overflowing and your vats will brim over
with new wine". There's a promise in there.
Did you hear it? Malachi 3:10, that's for next week. "Bring the whole tithe
into the storehouse that there may be food in the house. Test me in this
says the Lord almighty and see if I will not throw open the floodgates
of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough
for it. There's a promise in that. Matthew
36:33, "seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness and all these blessings
will be given to you as well". That's a promise. But, what do you
do when you get promises of God. You have to make two decisions. One, can
God lie? You have to answer that. Decide whether you think God can lie.
Two, can God be trusted or not? Can God lie and can God be trusted or not?
Freedom in giving flows from trust in God and so let me review those four
with you a moment. God measures our giving proportionally. Real givers
give sacrificially. Genuine giving involves managing our life style and
freedom in giving flows from trust in God. Now I have two tasks for you
this week. Next Sunday morning we will talk about Malachi 3 and the teaching
of scripture concerning tithing. Next week I'm going to have cards available
for you and I'm going to ask everyone of you to make a covenant before
God about the matter of tithing. About how you will respond it and what
you will do. In order to do that, I hope you will put some information
together this week. You have received information from the church about
just how much you've given this past year and I hope you are getting near
doing some work on your income tax preparation. From that, come next week,
in your mind with information about just what percentage of your total
income you have last year and as yourself, "is it a tithe? Is it more than
a tithe or is it less than a tithe". Come with that and be prepared to
make some kind of covenant before God next Sunday morning.
Secondly, adopt as a personal
policy that you will make no major purchase, I would think $200 or more,
until over at least a few days you have sought God's permission in prayer
as a way of expressing your obedience before Him. (Topic:
Material Management) AMEN. |