“Having, First, gained all you can, and, Secondly saved all you can, Then give all you can.” —from a sermon in the Works of John Wesley
Gain All You Can
In regard to finances, there are generally two mentalities driving people to two extremes: poverty and greed.
God wants to bring us to a place of contentment and generosity. Before we can be generous, we must have something to share.
Deuteronomy 8:11-20 “Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end. Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. And if you forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish. Like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God.
Save All You Can
If you are going to save successfully, you must also have a plan to get out of debt.
Debt:
Romans 13:8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.
We can not escape the trap of debt when we do not control our impulse to nickel and dime ourselves to death.
How Good Is Your Money Game?
Proverbs 21:17, 20 Whoever loves pleasure will be a poor man; he who loves wine and oil will not be rich. Precious treasure and oil are in a wise man's dwelling, but a foolish man devours it.
Didn't Jesus say not to worry about saving money?
Matthew 6:19-24 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money." No. He was a Jewish Rabbi in agreement with all of the wisdom of Proverbs, which says the following: Proverbs 13:22 A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, but the sinner's wealth is laid up for the righteous.
What He is saying is not to let the desire to reach a certain goal keep you from your ultimate devotion which is generous obedience to Christ.
What does it mean to serve money as your master?
It means to look to money as the source of your security, stability, happiness and salvation.
It is through the practice of worshiping God through your tithes and offerings that He frees you from the idolatry of looking to your job or people as your god, rather than Jesus Christ.
Give All You Can
People have the false idea that they should begin a life of generosity when they have accumulated enough. However, it is a deception to feel like you will ever have enough if you do not live by Christ's standard of contentment.
“There are two ways to get enough. One is to continue to accumulate more and more. The other is to desire less.” - G.K. Chesterton
Where and how does God say giving should begin?
Deuteronomy 26:1-15 When you have entered the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance and have taken possession of it and settled in it, take some of the firstfruits of all that you produce from the soil of the land the Lord your God is giving you and put them in a basket. Then go to the place the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name and say to the priest in office at the time, “I declare today to the Lord your God that I have come to the land the Lord swore to our ancestors to give us.” The priest shall take the basket from your hands and set it down in front of the altar of the Lord your God. Then you shall declare before the Lord your God: “My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down into Egypt with a few people and lived there and became a great nation, powerful and numerous. But the Egyptians mistreated us and made us suffer, subjecting us to harsh labor. Then we cried out to the Lord, the God of our ancestors, and the Lord heard our voice and saw our misery, toil and oppression. So the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror and with signs and wonders. He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey; and now I bring the firstfruits of the soil that you, Lord, have given me.” Place the basket before the Lord your God and bow down before him. Then you and the Levites and the foreigners residing among you shall rejoice in all the good things the Lord your God has given to you and your household. When you have finished setting aside a tenth of all your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, you shall give it to the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied. Then say to the Lord your God: “I have removed from my house the sacred portion and have given it to the Levite, the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, according to all you commanded. I have not turned aside from your commands nor have I forgotten any of them. I have not eaten any of the sacred portion while I was in mourning, nor have I removed any of it while I was unclean, nor have I offered any of it to the dead. I have obeyed the Lord my God; I have done everything you commanded me. Look down from heaven, your holy dwelling place, and bless your people Israel and the land you have given us as you promised on oath to our ancestors, a land flowing with milk and honey.”
The tithe is a mechanism through which you continually renew your covenant with God, reestablishing the trust that you have in your heart toward Him in regard to His provision and protection (i.e. - Old Testament times' covenants with kings). It is for your benefit to free you of the idolatry in your heart, looking to another god or savior.
Proverbs 11:24 One gives freely, yet grows all the richer; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want.
The place that I will show you...
The church is not a charity like the Red Cross or Habitat for Humanity. Though wonderful organizations like these found their beginnings through the motivation of Christian benevolence, they do not replace, supersede or divide the portion that belongs in the house of God alone. It is a place of consecration where, by the command of God, our hearts are shaped in worship as we give the first and the best of our time, talent and resources to Jesus for His direct, unadulterated Kingdom/gospel purposes in the earth.
I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver.
- Maya Angelou
Old Testament tithe or New Testament generosity?
Matthew 5:17-48
The writers of the New Testament make reference to the fact that we are not under the law of sin and death for our reconciliation (to be counted innocent in the sight of God) because of Jesus' atoning sacrifice for us. Jesus perfectly fulfilled the Law for us (Romans 8:1-5), paid the penalty for our rebellion on the cross and rose from the dead for our justification (Romans 4:25). However, through Christ, we now have a greater expectation to the law of the spirit of life (being led by the Holy Spirit), which leads us to the eternal principles that were at the heart of the law, rather than the letter. This calls us to greater righteousness, not less, as some would suppose.
The Old Testament tithe to the local storehouse is to be the floor, not the ceiling of our generosity. As we saw in The Sermon on the Mount, Jesus always took the law to a higher, not lower level. Do you think that Jesus would want you to be more or less generous in the New Testament? Use the tithe, the tenth, as your starting place to know, "at minimum," I should do this...
Should I wait until I'm out of debt or reach all of my financial goals before I begin?
No.
You don't make up for years of disobedience by perpetuating it. You begin with obedience now as a mechanism to invite God to reverse the curse. Additionally, if this is your first time learning about this, you develop a lifetime of trust by taking the first steps of obeying what you now know.
Generous like Jesus Christ:
Joy comes as a result of having Jesus' perspective, when you know that the sum total of your life is part of a larger story. Do not let the longing for individual desires weigh you down. You must live for and give yourself to something, to someone, bigger than yourself to truly find authentic, sustainable, increasing joy. The only lasting, eternal cause is Jesus Christ and His everlasting Kingdom. Let's meet Jesus at the cross today and allow Him to produce His promises in our lives by the power of obedience to His wisdom and Spirit.
Second City Church- Designer God Sermon Series 2015