[MUSIC PLAYING] Spirit Hacks-- Tips and Tools
for Mastering Your Spiritual Life. Good morning. Would you turn, in
your Bibles, please, to the book of Acts Chapter 2. It's sort of the
anchor text that we have been beginning with
in this little series that we call Spirit Hacks. And the idea behind
that is tips and tools for mastering your
spiritual life. Acts Chapter 2-- and
if you don't mind, put either a Bible marker or a
piece of paper at 2 Corinthians Chapter 9 in your New Testament. Acts Chapter 2, and 2
Corinthians Chapter 9. In all of my
Christian experience, there has been personality type. There has been a characteristic
that certain believers exhibit that I have always found
compelling, attractive. And that is the
trait of generosity. By that, I mean an engaging,
encouraging personality, somebody who is generous
with that encouragement, with their time, with
giving of themselves. You can spot it, and when
you see it, it's attractive. And it is that way, I think,
because that's how God is. It reflects the
character of God Himself. Wouldn't you agree that
we have a generous God? For God so loved that he gave. That's just part
of his character. He is a generous, giving God. I found it interesting that
the noted psychiatrist Dr. Karl Menninger, who found
the Menninger Clinic and spent years with
patients of all types, said generous people
are rarely mentally ill. Fascinating statement. Generous people are
rarely mentally ill. So I was on the
internet this week, and I found, in a little
section called lifehacks.org-- we're doing Spirit Hacks. This is called lifehacks.org-- a little article I
want to share with you. Not the whole article,
but this is an article called "7 Reasons
Generous People Are More Likely to be Successful." Number 1, generous
people are happy people. Makes sense. You don't find grumpy,
unhappy generous people. Sort of an oxymoron. So generous people
are happy people. Number 2, generous
people are more relaxed. The article explains
greed makes people tense. Number 3, generous people
are willing to work hard. Makes perfect sense. It's axiomatic. Number 4, generous people
are kind to people. Again, that makes sense. Generosity is all
about kindness. Number 5, generous
people are free people. The article explains greed and
selfishness imprison a person, whereas generosity
breaks those chains. Number 6, generous people
have better relationships. It's just a fact
that happy, kind, and generous people have
more friends, better friends, and stronger personal
relationships. And number 7, generous
people are confident people. It says insecurity comes with
greed, and not generosity. Well, in this little
series on Spirit Hacks, we want to help make your
walk with Jesus Christ a more satisfying experience. That is really the end goal. That is our bottom line-- to
make your walk with Christ a more satisfying experience. So today, looking at
Acts-- the second chapter-- we want to examine this trait-- this characteristic-- among
the early church at Jerusalem. It is there. In fact, because it is
there, it gives to us an evidence that shows
us these people have been changed by Christ. It's strong evidence that
he has invaded their lives and transformed their hearts. Now, let me just
make a statement about Christians in general. I have discovered that
generally speaking-- and I'm painting with a
broom, but on purpose-- generally speaking, Christians
are a generous people. That when Jesus
touches their heart, they just lose the
tightness in their living and their lifestyle, and
they become more relaxed and they become more generous. They become enlarged
people, if you will. And I'm not the only
one to notice that. The Barna Group, who
does a lot of research in Christian behavior
and thinking, says Christians are generous. And their article
said born again adults remain the most generous
givers in the country, and they're acknowledged to
be the most generous people on the planet. It's a very bold statement. In an article I
found by Sean Pruitt, he said beside the
Holy Spirit, there's no greater force in the
world than the church. When the church, filled
with the Holy Spirit, rallies around a cause,
nothing can stop her. And he rightly cites
the evidence as whenever there's a disaster, whenever
there's a catastrophe-- earthquake, flood,
fire, et cetera-- and people come in
to help, he said long after the movie cameras
or the news cameras have gone, Christians remain to
build up those lives and to rehabilitate
the community. While we're in Acts Chapter 2--
and it's the day of Pentecost in that setting-- the Holy Spirit has
come upon the church. It is their birthday. And as we examine
the scene, there is a palpable sense of
joy, love, and purity and generosity-- and generosity. That is, they share who they
are, they share what they have, and they share it with others,
and they build each other up. And a result is that
that strong testimony attracts other people. On the day of Pentecost,
thousands came to Christ, but in the weeks that follow,
thousands more will come. And in part, I believe,
because of the generosity of that church. So we're going to look at,
in Acts Chapter 2, verse 42-- in that paragraph, again-- we're going to observe
three categories where their generosity was
displayed, and we're going to make these
principles for us today. Acts Chapter 2, verse 42-- let's get back to that. "And they continued steadfastly
in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking
of bread, and in prayers. And then fear came
upon every soul, and many wonders and signs
were done through the apostles. Now all who believed
were together, and had all things
in common, and they sold their possessions
and goods and divided them among all, as anyone had need. So continuing daily with
one accord in the temple, and breaking bread
from house to house, they eat their food with
gladness and simplicity of heart, praising
God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added
to the church daily those who were being saved." There were three areas in which
those early believers showed generosity-- time, talent, treasure. They were generous
with their time. They were generous
with their talent. They were generous
with their treasure. Let's look at all three, and
here's the first principle. Generous people are
open-hearted with their time-- open-hearted with their time. Indulge me and go back,
again, to verse 42, where we have begun this
little short series. And notice in that
verse the third word in. It's the word "continued." It's a time signature word. It shows what they did in
relationship to timing. And they continued steadfastly
in the apostles' doctrine, fellowship, breaking
bread, and in the prayers. Now, would you
agree that to do all of those things listed in verse
42 takes a commitment of time? It takes time to
meet with people. It takes time to
eat with people. It takes time to pray together. It takes time to be
exposed to Bible study. So they invested their time. Go down to verse 46. It appears again. So continuing daily with
one accord in the temple, and breaking bread
from house to house, they ate their food with
gladness and simplicity of heart. So this is being
open-hearted with your time. You see, not every gift
is a monetary gift, nor does it need to
be a monetary gift. Not every contribution is
a financial contribution. You can effectively
contribute time to a cause. You can develop a
schedule that allows you to invest your time in
a worthwhile, God-honoring pursuit. You can give time to
go on a missions trip. You can donate time to
distribute toys and food to the needy and poor
of the community, like we do during
Christmas time. It takes time to come
and greet or usher, or it takes time to invest
in the children's ministry and be an instructor there. All of that is a
contribution of time. Warren Wiersbe said, giving
is not something we do. Giving is something we are. This is who they were. These were believers who
were committed to investing time in one another's schedule. What I love-- and I have
Matt sitting right here in the front row. We have this thing
called Life Track, and we've been doing it since
last March, right, Matt? So since doing that,
where we expose people to four sessions
of Life Track, help them to discover their God-given
design, what their gifts are, what their strengths are. Then by the fourth week, we plug
them into different ministries and turn them loose to serve. And since we started in March--
so it's not even a year-- there have been
around 2,000 people that have made it all the
way through Life Track. So we got 2,000-- [APPLAUSE] --individuals--
here's the exciting-- who are investing their time. They're being so generous. You are being so generous
investing your time. Now, whenever you
bring up time, you've got somebody who's thinking,
yeah, it's what I don't have-- time. I wish I had more time. How can I be
generous with my time when I have no time
to be generous with? And I get you. I understand. We're all pressed for time. But I find it interesting
that Ben Franklin said, if you want to
get something done, ask a busy person. There are some people
that just manage to manage their time really, really well. And one of those standout
personalities is Jesus Christ. Wouldn't you agree
he lived a busy life? There were always
pressing needs around him, always a leper who
wants to be healed, or blind, or mute, or deaf, or
theological wrangling or issue. Wherever he went,
there were people that wanted a peace of Jesus' time. And as we read the
gospels, we discover he was generous with his time. Which begs the question,
how could he be? How could he say, toward the end
of his ministry-- and he did-- Father, I've done everything
you've wanted me to do. Now, I'm going to tell
you the answer to that. There's a little paragraph
I'm going to read to you in the gospel of Mark--
just a few verses-- that gives us insight
into how he managed time. This is Mark Chapter 1. I'm reading from verse 35. Let me read it to you now. "In the morning, having risen
a long while before daylight, he went out--" and
don't get guilty yet-- [LAUGHTER] "--he went out and departed
to a solitary place, and there he prayed. And Simon and those who were
with him searched for him. And when they found
him, they said to him, everyone is looking for you. So he said to them, let
us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also,
because for this purpose I have come forth." And he was preaching
in their synagogues throughout all of Galilee
and casting out demons. There's a couple of little
hints in what I just read to you that shows us
how Jesus mastered his time. First, Jesus was able to
be generous with his time because he was generous
in his time with God. Forget about early
in the morning. Yours could be late at
night, or middle of the day. Doesn't matter when. But the point is he could
be generous with his time because he was first
generous in his time with his Heavenly Father. When you spend time
with God, that's where you get
oriented for the day. You take a deep breath. You catch your breath. You get a game plan. You're sharpening your
axe before the day of chopping begins. Or at the end of
that day of chopping, you're sharpening the ax. So the generosity in Jesus'
life began in generous time spent with his Father. That's number 1. Number 2, Jesus said no so
that Jesus could say yes. He said no to certain
things so that he could say yes to other things. Now, there's a secret
in there for you and I. I think we need to learn
to say no to certain things so that we can say
yes to other things. No is a holy word. No, I can't do that. No, I won't do that. Yes, I will do this. Yes, I will do that. Jesus did not respond
to every need. At the end of his
ministry, he said, I've done everything you
wanted me to do, Father, but there were plenty of
people unhealed, untouched by Jesus from his ministry. Remember when Mary and
Martha called for Jesus because Lazarus, their
brother, was sick? You've got to come, and
you've got to come now. What did Jesus do? He didn't come. He delayed on purpose. And when he got there,
they reprimanded him. If you'd have been here, my
brother wouldn't have died. OK, so I'm going to
raise him from the dead. That's more important
than me being here to heal him before he dies. Watch this. [LAUGHTER] Or John the Baptist,
who insisted that Jesus be more vociferous,
more vocal, more demonstrative in his ministry and really
prove that he was the Messiah, and Jesus didn't do that. Or how about this? In the book of Acts
Chapter 3, there's a lame man at a
gate in Jerusalem in the temple who had been
laid there every single day, and he had been
lame since birth. You know why that's important? It shows me that Jesus walked
past him and didn't touch him, because he walked into those
courts and into those gates on a few different
occasions, and if the man was placed there every
day since he was young, Jesus obviously walked
by him and did not heal him so that we have a
lame man in the book of Acts who needs healing. Why didn't Jesus touch him? Why didn't Jesus respond
to Mary and Martha? Here's why. Jesus learned the
difference between following the urgent versus
following the important. Sometimes there are demands
that seem so urgent, but you manage your time
by devoting your time not to what's urgent,
but to what's important-- to what God has called
you to do at that time. So this is where learning
no so that you can say yes comes into view. The urgent says, Jesus,
you got to help him now. The importance is I'm
going to the next town. Let's go. Because the disciples
come, and they said, people are looking
for you everywhere. He didn't say, well,
bring them here! I've got to fix what ails them! He said, let's go. He learned the difference
between what is urgent and what is important. So here's the question
for you and I. What is crowding our time that
keeps us from what's important? It could be as simple as
some time-wasting activity. You love watching those
cat videos on YouTube. You're always on that screen
that's causing relationships to suffer because of it. Ephesians 5:16, Paul
said, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. What a concept. Let's buy that time back. Let me figure out, in my
day, what I can cut away and say no to so that I can
say yes to something else. So generous people are
open-hearted their time-- time. Let's move to the second. Generous people are
open-minded with their talent-- their talent. Go back to verse 42,
and please notice it says they continued
steadfastly in whose doctrine? It says the apostles' doctrine. What that means is
the apostles are the guys doing the teaching
in the early church. That's all that means. That's their gift. That's their strength. If they went through
Life Track, by the end, we'd plug Peter into this role-- you do doctrine, Peter. You're good at it. So they continued steadfastly
in the apostles' doctrine. Look at verse 43. "Fear came upon every soul,
and many wonders and signs were done--" through whom? You can talk to me. The apostles. OK, so now I'm
getting a profile. What are the apostles
doing in the early church? Well, they taught people truth--
the doctrine-- and God used them to be agents of healing. Signs and wonders were
done through them. That doesn't mean that they did
everything, because by the time we get to Acts chapter 6,
there are needs that come up and the apostles
go, I can't do that. And we're going
to give ourselves to prayer and the
ministry of the Word, but you bring other
people to do that. But that's what the
apostles did here. They're not the only group. Look at verse 45. It says, "And they sold
their possessions and goods and divided them among
all, as anyone had need." So now you have
people with means-- they have possessions. You have to own
possessions to sell them. Right? Makes sense. So people with means are
selling their possessions and sharing with others. So now you have gifts
like the gift of giving, hospitality,
encouragement, as well as the gift of teaching
and miracles that the apostles are doing. Here's my point. There is a pooling
together of talent. You see that? A pooling together of talent. You have different people
using different gifts for the same cause. This is being generous
with not just your time, but your time and your talent. You find your strengths. You maximize them. You give your time
and your talent, and magic happens
when that happens. I have a letter from a
dear lady in our church. She sent it to me a while back. She was 84 years old when
she wrote this letter. An 84-year-old
widow said, "I have debated writing this
letter, but I truly feel you will be interested. At the present time, four
generations of my family are regular attendees at
Calvary of Albuquerque. Three generations are
volunteering here. My son and
daughter-in-law have gone to Calvary almost
from the first days and have been
dedicated volunteers for more than 15 years." She goes on to say, "My
11-year-old great-granddaughter has become a dedicated
volunteer also." She's right. I was very interested
in reading that note-- that somebody generous
with time and talent plugged in, involved. And like so many others of you--
and thank you for doing this-- who come and they
just don't come. When they come on a
weekend, besides stuff they do during the week,
they come to two services-- one they sit in, and
one they serve at. That's just a generous
example of giving. Later on in the New Testament,
in 1 Corinthians 12, Paul speaks about
using our talents. He calls them spiritual gifts-- rightly so. He says, in 1 Corinthians
12, verse 4, now, there are different
kinds of spiritual gifts. So think about that in
terms of the book of Acts. Apostles-- teaching,
signs and wonders. People of means selling them,
pooling their resources, giving the gift of giving
and hospitality, et cetera. Also, it says the Lord added
daily to the church-- verse 47-- those who were being saved. So there's an open-mindedness
to bringing in new people, discovering what those new
people's gifts and talents are, and employing them,
using them as well. It's the concept of
the body of Christ-- the body of Christ. Also in 1 Corinthians 12--
the text I just mentioned-- that's what Paul says. He says, you know, the
church is like a human body. Now, listen to what he
writes-- and I'm reading, now, out of the New
Living Translation to make it a little more lively. 1 Corinthians 12,
verse 14 through 17-- yes, the body has many different
parts, not just one part. It's not just a head or a mouth. It's a body. If the foot says, "I'm
not a part of the body because I'm not a
hand," that does not make it any less a
part of the body. Now, I just want you to picture
what Paul is actually writing. Sometimes we read the
Bible, and we're just a little bit too stuffy. Imagine your foot talking. "I'm not a hand." Whoa, my foot just
spoke, and it's upset that it's not a hand. Paul says, if that happened,
it's still a part of the body. And if the ear says, "I'm
not a part of the body, because I'm only an
ear and not an eye," would that make it any
less a part of the body? Now, here's where I want
you to actually picture what Paul is saying. Suppose the whole
body were an eye. Are you picturing
a 6-foot eyeball? [LAUGHTER] Suppose the whole
body were an eye. How, then, would you hear? Or if your whole body
were just one, big ear-- yuck-- [LAUGHTER] --how would you smell anything? Here's his point. The church is like a human
body, and every part of the body is needed. In the church, in
the body of Christ, there are no vestigial organs-- unnecessary organs,
unnecessary parts. For a long time, doctors
used to debate whether or not the appendix was a vestigial
organ-- that you may or may not need it. And they argued that-- they said something along the
lines of the human appendix is part of our
evolutionary past, and we no longer need it today. But then further research showed
that that may not be true-- that actually,
the appendix could be seen as the physiological
gatekeeper that separates the sterile part of your
bowel from the unsterile, bacteria-laden part. I won't get into more
detail than that. You get the picture. It's not a vestigial
organ, they're now saying. In the church, there
are no vestigial organs. Every single person, part,
gift is absolutely necessary. Now, one of the reasons
churches malfunction is because certain gifts
are placed on pedestals. Certain gifts, certain people
are regarded as important, others not so important. And the result is gift envy. Well, I wish I had that gift. If I had that gift,
I'd be important. If I could sing like
him or speak like her, that would be important. So you essentially,
then, have feet wanting to be hands and
ears wanting to be eyes. Now, the comparison Paul
makes is pretty easy to see. The hand is something visible
and seen, regarded, usually, as important, because
what you do with it-- you work with your hands. You don't work with
your feet, typically. You don't shake feet. You shake hands. You don't wave with your feet-- typically. Don't do it to just
show me you can do it. [LAUGHTER] You do it with your hands. Your feet are covered. You don't pay much
attention to them. You do pay attention to a hand. Same with an eye and an ear. When I first met Lenya,
I noticed her eyes. They're beautiful. I didn't go, man, that
chick's earlobes are awesome. [LAUGHTER] Because ears are ugly-- but important. They convey sound just
right into the inner ear. So back to the
early church, they are open-hearted
with their time. They're open-minded
with their talent. Third and finally,
they're open-handed with their treasure. That takes us to verse 45. We should just look at it again. They sold their
possessions and goods and divided them among
all, as anyone had need. Now, here's what I want
you to notice about that. Nobody told them to do this. You don't have Peter
saying, thus saith the Lord. Sell everything you have. Now, I'm telling you
why that's important, because people have read Acts 2
and said, oh, Acts Chapter 2-- the early church-- was a form of communism. This is pure communism-- people
selling and distributing. No. This is not communism. This is "common-ism." And there's a difference. Communism says
what's yours is mine. "Common-ism" says
what's mine is yours. One is compulsory, it's
forced, it's regulated. The other is voluntary. I want to do this. And so that's what it was. I made a discovery,
over the years. I've taught the
Bible a long time, and I have discovered that
money is an important topic in the Bible. Now, I knew it was
in there, I just didn't know how much
it was in there. In fact, to be quite
honest, until recent years, I didn't understand
the proportion was quite what it is. I've discovered that money is
the main subject of over half of Jesus' parables. Here's the math. Out of 29 parables
that Jesus taught, 16 deal with a person's
relationship to money. In Matthew, Mark, and Luke,
1 out of every 6 verses deals with the topic of money. In addition, 1 out of every
7 verses in the New Testament deals with this topic. Here's another perspective. In the Bible, it offers
500 verses on prayer. It offers less than
500 verses on faith. And yet, there are over
2,000 verses on finances. Would you say it's
important in the Bible? Now, why is that? Why does the Bible, why does
Jesus speak so much about it? Here's why-- I believe-- because your
relationship to finances, my relationship to
finances is a gauge-- a gauge-- an outward
gauge of spirituality. Not the gauge, not
the only gauge, but certainly, it is a gauge. Even Jesus said where a
man's treasure is, there will his heart be also. You want to find out what's
important to a person, take a tour of their checkbook. That'll give you an indication. Where a man's treasure is,
there will his heart be also. Martin Luther used to say there
are three conversions a person needs to experience-- a
conversion of the head, a conversion of the heart, and
a conversion of the purse-- pocketbook, wallet. And he said, of all three,
the last one's the hardest. Charles Spurgeon,
whom I quote a lot, said with some Christians,
the last part of their nature that ever gets sanctified
is their pockets. Well, with that in mind, now
turn-- and we'll close here-- 2 Corinthians, Chapter 9. 2 Corinthians Chapter 9. I'm having you turn
there because it's the famous section where
the apostle Paul writes several chapters about
financial giving. You probably know the setting. The church in Jerusalem
was struggling. The churches in the
Gentile world could help. So Paul goes around to take an
offering from Gentile believers to give that as a monetary gift
to the church in Jerusalem. It's his third
missionary journey. So in 2 Corinthians Chapter 9-- I'm just going to take
a few versus-- verse 6, "But this I say-- he who sews sparingly will also
reap sparingly, and he who sews bountifully will also
reap bountifully." Trust me when I say the
context of chapter 8 and 9 is the context of
finances and giving. That's what it's about. "So--" verse 7-- "--let each
one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly
or of necessity, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all
grace abound toward you, that you, always having all
sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance
for every good work. As it is written,
'He has dispersed abroad, He has
given to the poor; His righteousness
endures forever." In these two chapters,
principally, Paul is giving us a
theology of giving. And let me give you
a few pointers on it. First of all, when you
give, give intentionally. That is, with purpose. Look at verse 7. "Let each one give as he
purposes in his heart." This indicates that
you've thought about it. It's not impulse. Isn't (BEGRUDGINGLY) OK. You have given premeditated
thought-- purpose. That thought comes
out in verse 5. I neglected to read that. Let's go back. 2 Corinthians 9, verse 5-- "Therefore, I thought
it necessary to exhort the brethren to go
to you ahead of time and prepare your
generous gift beforehand, which you had previously
promised that it might be ready as a
matter of generosity and not as a
grudging obligation." So think about it, prepare
it, purpose in your heart what you're going to do. Not out of impulse,
but out of purpose. Paul wanted them to have
the right motivation, and to have the
right motivation, you have to give it
personal thought. Now, your giving is absolutely
none of my business, and I don't make it my business. In fact, I make it my business
to not know your business. So I never go to the
Accounting office, say, hey, so tell me
the top 10 tithers. [LAUGHTER] Who are the top 20 givers? Or what is-- I don't do that. Why? Because that's between you
and-- not me, but you and Him. You purpose in your heart. That's why I don't tell you
to pledge this or pledge that, because that is a matter
of the heart before God. So give intentionally. Another pointer-- and we're
putting these up on the screen, here-- give joyfully. Give joyfully-- verse 7. So let each one give as
he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity. That word means not with grief. And I can just
hear people, when-- sometimes people take
offerings, they put their hand in their pocket-- oh, good grief. No, it's not a good grief. There should be no grief. It should be pure joy. Not grudging, not of necessity-- for it says God loves a
cheerful, or joyful giver. In other words, do it
because you want to do it, not because you have to do it. And if you don't want to do
it-- if you don't want to give financially, if you
don't want to share-- here's my counsel to you. Keep it please. Keep it and spend
it all on yourself-- or change your heart. But if your heart
is not changed, spend it all on yourself. And once your heart
gets changed and you want to do it because
you see the benefit of it and you get the blessing
of it, then do it, because God loves
a cheerful giver. Did you know that this is not
just a New Testament principle. It is a biblical principle
extending far back into the Old Testament. Second book of the
Bible, God tells Moses, take an offering from my
people for the Tabernacle. You remember those days. Exodus 25-- the Lord says,
speak to the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering. That's God taking an offering. Speak to the children of Israel,
that they bring me an offering. From everyone who gives it
willingly with his heart, you shall take my offering. You get the qualification? Want to do it, it's willing,
it's from the heart. That's the offering. By the way-- can't resist this. It says, "God loves
a cheerful giver." You've heard me tell
you this before. The word "cheerful" is hilaron. It's a Greek word. Hilaron is where we get the
English word "hilarious." God loves a hilarious giver. Now, how many hilarious
givers do you know? I know a few, and
they're happy people. They're awesome folks. Their whole life is
that disposition-- but very few. But here's what it tells me. I know God loves
everyone, but I'm told here that God has
a special place of love in his heart for
a generous person. God loves a hilarious
or a joyful giver. And here's why I think that is-- because that's how he is. When God sees somebody generous,
he goes, that's how I am! I love that, and I
love you for that. That's his personality. So give intentionally. Give joyfully. Third tip-- give proportionally. Proportionally to what you
have and what you make. Here in this text, Paul
says, like a farmer, he who sews or plants seed
sparingly will reap sparingly. He who sows bountifully
will reap bountifully. But it's always in proportion
to what a person has. Listen to one book prior-- 1 Corinthians chapter 16. Paul's talking, here,
about the same collection, but in a different book. He said, on the first day of
the week, let each one of you set aside a sum of money
in keeping with his income, saving it up so
that when I come, no collections will
have to be made. It has to be-- or should be--
in keeping with your income. I always get asked
this question-- well, how much should I give? I don't know. How much should you give? I don't know, pastor,
how much should I give? I don't know. How much should you give? [LAUGHTER] Have you purposed
something in your heart? Have you gone before
the Lord with it? I don't know your income. I don't know your proportion. So where people
usually want to land with this question is 10%-- that's the tithe. But then people say, yeah,
but is it 10% of the gross, or is it 10% of the net? Come on, purpose
something in your heart. But be careful. If you're going to go by
the Old Testament tithe-- which is baseline
for a lot of people-- what you need to understand
is it's far more than 10%. There was not one
Old Testament tithe. There were three, if
you know your Torah. And the Old Testament
tithe, which managed the government of
Israel, was about 23% or 27%, depending on what
commentary you consult. So you should give
proportionally. It's a matter of the heart. One person it's this amount. With another person,
it's that amount. That's between you and God. But let me give you
a couple examples. Have you ever heard
of Kraft cheese-- anybody here? Raise your hand if you've
heard of Kraft cheese. OK, I've just spoke your
love language, some of you. [LAUGHTER] You heard angels when I
said "Kraft cheese--" which is a little scary to me. But anyway, Kraft
cheese corporation was started by a guy
named James Kraft, and he was a Christian believer. And he decided that he
would give 25% of all of his earnings-- corporate earnings,
personal earnings from that corporation-- to
Christian causes-- 25%. And he said, the only
investment I ever made, which has paid consistently
increasing dividends, is the money I've
given to the Lord. So that's where I
see the benefits. Everything I give to the Lord. That's a generous heart. Let me give you another
example, but on the extreme. You've seen
bulldozers, and you've seen those big,
earth-moving gadgets that pick logs up and move great
pieces of earth and rock and stuff. Most of those have
their roots in a guy by the name of R.G. Letourneau. He invented most
of those machines. R.G. Letourneau held
300 patents by the time he died-- personally. He invented these things. He had an enormous
corporation, and he decided that he would give
not 10% of his income, but he gave 90% of his income,
and lived on 10% of his income. He reversed the
90%, 10% principle. Now, understandably,
his 10% was huge compared to if you or
I tried to do that. But he decided
that I can do this, and I can invest this into-- he
wanted to get the gospel out, and he wanted to invest in
causes that got the gospel out. He was so passionate
about seeing people saved and discipled
and trained and sent, and he gave 90% of his
income to such causes. That was his proportion
before the Lord. So give intentionally, give
joyfully, give proportionally. Fourth and finally--
we close on, this really quickly--
give expectantly. How does a farmer give? Expectantly. He sews seed in the ground. Why does he do that? Because he thinks he's going
to come up at harvest time and see something grow. Now, if he goes, I'm just
going to put in a little bit-- well, you're going
to get a little bit. But if he goes, I
got a lot of seed, and I'm going to
spread it around, he's going to see a huge return. If a farmer is
miserly in sowing, he'll be miserable in reaping. So give like a farmer-- with expectancy. Now, I am not preaching a
health and wealth gospel here. If you know anything
about my theology, you know I'm 180
degrees from that. However, here is a
true biblical principle that is as true in
the spiritual realm as it is in the physical realm. Listen to what Jesus
said in Luke 6:38-- give, and it will
be given to you. Good measure, pressed down,
shaken together, running over will be put into your bosom. For the same measure
that you use, it will be measured back to you. There it is. Same principle. This is Proverbs 11:25-- the generous soul will be
made rich, or will prosper, and he who waters will
also be watered himself. Proverbs 22, verse 9-- a generous man will
himself be blessed. Proverbs 3, verse 9-- honor
the Lord with your possessions, and with the first fruit
of all your increase so your barns will
be filled with plenty and your vats will
overflow with new wine. Here's the same
principle, and it's this-- you can never out-give God. Try it. I dare you. Try to out-give him. Give, and it will
be given to you. Bless, and you'll be blessed. God is generous with
those who are generous, so give expectantly. I close with this. One of the greatest
illustrations on giving can be seen when you go to
Israel, and on the same day, we show you the two inland
bodies of water-- the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. It's remarkable. You'll start the morning
at the Sea of Galilee, and you'll notice the
Jordan River feeds it. You'll go down to the Dead Sea,
and you'll see the Jordan River empties into it. But the Sea of Galilee is
green and filled with life. The Dead Sea is-- well, it's
named Dead Sea for a reason-- because everything in it is
dead and everything around it is barren. So you wonder, what's the
difference between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea? Easy. Sea of Galilee has an
inlet and an outlet. Dead Sea has an
inlet, no outlet. It only collects. It only takes in. The difference is not
the source of water. It's the flow of water. One takes in, but gives out. The other just takes
in, takes in, takes in. The rest of that
water in that body evaporates into the sunlight. I think that's an
illustration of the believer. We should be generous
as a characteristic of a transformed life
with our time, our talent, and our treasure--
for a simple reason. None of it's ours. It's all His. He is the giver of life and
the giver of all things. We are merely stewards. And Father, with
that stewardship, we ask your wisdom. We pray, Father, that we-- as Paul said we should-- we should give with purpose,
with joy, in proportion to what you blessed
us with so far, and with the expectancy
of seeing return on the investment-- spiritually
especially, but also in other ways. So Father, we commit our
time, our talent, our treasure to you for your glory,
and ask for your wisdom as we flesh out these principles
in days and weeks and months and years ahead. We pray that generosity,
like the early church, would mark us. Thank you, Lord, for such
generous, benevolent, kindhearted,
open-hearted people who always rise to meet
needs in the community and needs with school
children, projects that go on. Thank you, and bless
in Jesus' name. Amen. We hope you enjoyed this message
from Skip Heitzig of Calvary Church. How will you put the truths
that you learned into action in your life? Let us know. Email us at
mystory@calvarynm.church. And just a reminder, you can
support this ministry with a financial gift at
calvarynm.church/give. Thank you for joining us for
this teaching from Calvary Church.
