Sermon | Expect to be Blessed

 EXPECT TO BE BLESSED
The Generosity Ladder – Week 5
By Andy Manning

INTRODUCTION

At Church Acadiana we’re all about reaching the lost and making disciples.  When it comes to parents, we want to reach parents for Christ, and then equip them to disciple their kids in the home.

The next step in our journey as a church is to build our first building – an equipping center where we can equip people for ministry, for evangelism, and equip parents to reach their kids.

To build this equipping center we have to raise $350,000.  So as a church, we are embarking on a capital campaign for the next two years to raise the money.

How are we going to raise the money?  We are asking everyone in our church in increase their giving for the next two years.  Whatever you have been giving, double it, triple it, for the next two years.

Next week is the final sermon in this series, and we want you to come prepared next Sunday with your Commitment Card to make a pledge to give whatever the Lord is leading you for the next two years.  If possible, we’d like for you to give 10-20% of your total gift next Sunday – Commitment Day – and then give the rest through recurring gifts over the two years.

This is obviously going to take radical, sacrificial generosity on our part.

To prepare us for this challenge, we are doing a sermon series on generosity called “The Generosity Ladder.”  Why that title?  A ladder helps you get to a higher level.  The goal of this series is to lay out the steps that a person needs to take to go from a stingy attitude to a generous attitude.  So far we talked about stewardship, and tithing, and giving more than a tithe.

One of the main hindrances to generosity is fear.  It is the fear that when I give, I lose.  If I give, I will be poorer.  But the Bible teaches the opposite.  When you give, you gain.  When you give, you win.  Giving is not an expense, it is an investment.  

TWO WAYS GOD WILL BLESS YOUR GENEROSITY

1) Heavenly rewards.

Whatever you invest in God’s kingdom will translate into heavenly rewards.

Matthew 6:19-21 “19 Don’t store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal.”

This passage says there are three things you should do with your wealth.

Store it up.  Amass it.  Accumulate a large amount.  Grow it.  Built it up.  This is a command to store up your money.  

Store it up for yourself.

Store it up in heaven.  

The people of this world store up money for themselves in this world.  There’s a problem with that:  It doesn’t last.  Moth and rust will destroy it, or thieves will break in and steal it.  Money has tendency to fly away.  Not only that, but you can’t take it with you when you die.

Quote “He who dies with the most toys still dies -- and never takes his toys with him.”

Thus, instead of building up wealth for yourself on earth, store it up in heaven.  Because in heaven, it won’t fly away; and it won’t be stolen.  In other words, you can’t take it with you, but you can send it ahead.  You can’t take your money to heaven with you, but you can send it ahead.  There is a way to invest your money in this life so that it is waiting for you in the next life.

How do you store up heavenly treasure?  Invest in God’s kingdom.  Give your money to kingdom causes.  Give to the church.  Give to missionaries.  Give to the poor.  Notice how Paul tells Timothy to instruct the rich Christians in the church.

1 Timothy 6:18-19 “18 Instruct them to do what is good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and willing to share, 19 storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of what is truly life.”

There are two keys that determine everything about your eternity.  Belief and behavior (Bruce Wilkinson).

Belief.  Your belief unlocks the door to eternal life and determines where you will spend eternity.

Behavior.  Your behavior, such as how you invest your money, unlocks the door to reward and determines how you will spend eternity.

Eternity will not be the same for every Christian.  Our destination will be the same, but our reward will be different.  The Bible says we should use our earthly money to build up our heavenly and eternal rewards.

When you give to kingdom causes, like the church, you are not losing, you are gaining.  You are storing up eternal riches.

Randy Alcorn “What we keep we will lose.  What we give and share and do in Christ’s name will ultimately come back to us in heaven, in a far better and permanent form.  Anything we try to hang onto here will be lost.  But anything we put into God’s hands will be ours for eternity.  If we give instead of keep, if we invest in the eternal instead of the temporal, we store up heavenly treasures that will never stop paying dividends.”

Jesus told a story to illustrate this point in Luke 12:16-21.  A rich man’s land was very productive.  So, he tore down his barns and built bigger ones to store all of his grain and goods.  And he said, “I’ve got plenty to live on the rest of my life.  I’m just going to take it easy and enjoy myself.”  But that very night he died.  What happened to all of his wealth?  He had to leave it behind.  So a few verses later Jesus explained.  

Luke 12:33 “Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Make money-bags for yourselves that won’t grow old, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.”

Instead of storing up all of your treasure on earth, where it won’t last, invest in God’s kingdom causes, and in so doing you will store up an inexhaustible treasure in heaven.  

We all face a similar struggle.  What do we do with our possessions?  Do we give them to God and to kingdom causes, or do we store them up for ourselves?  Remember.  Whatever you keep for yourself will be lost.  Whatever you give to God is invested.  It is kept for you in heaven.

Henry P. Crowell, affectionately called “The autocrat of the Breakfast Table,” contracted tuberculosis when a boy and couldn’t go to school. After hearing a sermon by Dwight L. Moody, young Crowell prayed, “I can’t be a preacher, but I can be a good businessman. God, if You will let me make money, I will use it in Your service.”  Under the doctor’s advice Crowell worked outdoors for seven years and regained his health. He then bought the little run-down Quaker Mill at Ravanna, Ohio. Within ten years Quaker Oats was a household word to millions. Crowell also operated the huge Perfection Stove Company.  For over forty years Henry P. Crowell faithfully gave 60 to 70 percent of his income to God’s causes, having advanced from an initial 10%.  That’s a man who caught the vision of using his earthly treasure to store up eternal treasure by giving to God’s kingdom.  

Jim Elliot “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”  

Randy Alcorn “When you leave this world, will you be known as one who accumulated treasures on earth that you couldn’t keep?  Or will you be recognized as one who invested treasures in heaven that you couldn’t lose?”  

2) Earthly provisions.

Whatever you invest in God’s kingdom will be multiplied back to you.

Stephen F. Olford “God multiplies our actual resources when we learn how to give sacrificially to Him and His work.”

There are a number of verses to back this up.

Proverbs 3:9-10 “9 Honor the LORD with your possessions and with the first produce of your entire harvest; 10 then your barns will be completely filled, and your vats will overflow with new wine.”

Proverbs 11:25 “A generous person will be enriched, and the one who gives a drink of water will receive water.”

Malachi 3:10 “Bring the full tenth into the storehouse so that there may be food in my house. Test me in this way,” says the LORD of Armies. “See if I will not open the floodgates of heaven and pour out a blessing for you without measure.”

Luke 6:38 “Give, and it will be given to you; a good measure—pressed down, shaken together, and running over—will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.”

Quote “If you want to be rich, give; if you want to be poor, grasp!  If you want abundance, scatter; if you want to be needy, hoard!”

There’s a story in the Old Testament that illustrates this point in 1 Kings 17.  God commanded the prophet Elijah to go to Zarephath to stay with a widow and her son, and God commanded the widow to provide for him.  But when Elijah arrived, he found the widow to be extremely poor.  They were literally starving due to a severe drought and famine.  Elijah asked for a cup of water and a piece of bread.  The widow said, “I only have enough floor and oil to make one more meal for my son and me; we were going to eat it and then die.”  But Elijah persisted.  He said, “Don’t be afraid.”  First, give me a piece of bread, and then bake some for you and your son, and God promises to provide for you.  “The flour jar will not become empty and the oil jug will not run dry until the day the LORD sends rain on the surface of the land (1 Ki 17:14).”  At this point the woman was at a crossroads.  She could live on fear, or faith.  Fear said, “If you give your bread to God, you’ll have less for yourself.”  But faith told her, “If you give your bread to God, He’ll bless you and provide for all your needs.”  What did the widow choose?  She chose faith.

1 Kings 17:15-16 “15 So she proceeded to do according to the word of Elijah. Then the woman, Elijah, and her household ate for many days. 16 The flour jar did not become empty, and the oil jug did not run dry, according to the word of the LORD he had spoken through Elijah.”

That’s the place we all live – at the crossroads of fear and faith.  Fear says, “If you tithe, if you give to the capital campaign, you will have less; and the economy is already bad.”  But faith says, “Whatever you give to God’s kingdom will be multiplied back to you.  

Stephen F. Olford “Giving is not self-impoverishment but self-enrichment.  The Lord Jesus affirms that giving is an assurance of gaining.”

WALK THROUGH THE COMMITMENT CARD

Next Sunday is Commitment Day.  We are going to turn in our Commitment Cards.  During the closing song, I’m going to ask you to walk forward to turn in your Commitment Card.

First, let me walk you through how to fill it out.

On the left side, fill out your name and contact information.

The middle column is for non-tithers – those who don’t yet give 10% of your gross income to the church.  If that’s you, then the middle green section is the part for you.  Don’t fill out the right white section.

If you are a non-tither, then I want to challenge you to make a two-year commitment to one of three options:

If you don’t give regularly, then commit to becoming a Beginning Giver, giving 1%-4% of your gross income to the church.

If you are already give 1-4% of your income to the church, then commit to giving 5-% percent.

If you already give 5-9%, then commit to give a full tithe.

So, if you are not a tither, then I don’t want you to donate to Build to Equip.  I just want to challenge you to increase your regular giving.

If you are already a tither, giving 10% or more of your gross income to the church, then the far right section is for you – with the Build to Equip Logo.  For you, the challenge is to give over and above your regular offering to Build to Equip.

So, each time you give, you would give your regular tithe to the general fund, and then a certain amount to Build to Equip.

Let’s talk about how to fill out that far right section.

Let’s start with the first blank (which is highlighted).  If you are giving an initial offering today, like Lydia and I are giving a $25,000 gift today, then write that amount in the first blank.

In the second blank, write down the extra amount that you plan to give to Build to Equip on a regular basis (weekly, monthly, or yearly).  This is not your regular tithe.  This is the amount above your tithe.  For Lydia and I, we give on a monthly basis, and we plan to give $609.90 each month to the campaign.

Let’s move to the third blank.  Add up what you plan to give on a regular basis over the course of two years, and put it in the third blank.

The fourth blank is the sum of the two highlighted blanks.  This is the total amount you are pledging to give to Build to Equip.

So this we I want you to pray.  Ask the Lord how much He wants to provide through you.  And then come prepared on Sunday with your Commitment Card filled out.

And don’t be afraid of giving.  

As we have seen today, there’s a generosity-principle that runs throughout all of Scripture:  You can’t outgive God.  Giving is not losing, it is gaining.  The more you give to God, the more you will get back.  When you give, you can expect to be blessed.