Lon Solomon Ministries
Giving to God
I want you to take a Bible this morning, let's open it together, to the letter in the New Testament that Paul wrote the Church of Philippi, Philippians chapter 4. And if you didn't bring a Bible today, we have a copy of the Bible you can borrow. Right in the back of the seat in front of you, we're going to be on page 832, page 832, and our copy of the Bible, Philippians chapter 4, in your copy of the Bible. Now Rapartist Puff Daddy was recently asked what he thought life was all about. And in response, here's what he said. He said life is all about the Benjamin's baby, referring of course to the image of Benjamin Franklin on the $100 bill, what's life about, it's all about the Benjamin's. Now what's really said is that I think Puff Daddy probably has a pretty good pulse on American society, if they were asked that same question, USA Today did a survey recently, and found that if kids aged 7 to 12, get this, 80% of them think or daydream about being rich at least once a day, and what would it qualify, what would it take to have lots of Benjamin's, what would it take to be considered wealthy or rich, well in a related survey, USA Today found that 50% of Americans think that to consider themselves wealthy, they have to earn $100,000 a year. I thought man, they must have taken this survey in West Virginia, because $100,000 a year certainly doesn't make you wealthy in Washington, but regardless of that, you know, it's interesting when we look in the Bible that we find that the Bible talks about money all the time. In fact, money is a major issue with God. God talks more about money in the Bible than he does any other single subject. And the reason is because God understands that the love of money is an incredibly potent force in human society. Now today we want to continue with spiritual boot camp. We have two more messages to go today and next week, and then we're done. And in part 11, we want to talk about giving to God. We want to talk about what the Bible says about using our money and giving to the work of God. And really, friends, the whole idea of spiritual boot camp is we're talking about basic truths that are foundational to us becoming mature followers of Christ. And nowhere is that more true than when it comes to this issue of money. We will never become fully devoted mature followers of Jesus Christ unless we have a biblical worldview on this issue of money. Now one, if I may, one kind of disclaimer, if you're here and you're visiting with us, I want to let you know that we are very sensitive to the fact that the church talking about money is an issue with people. We understand that. And we don't talk about money very often here at McLean Bible Church. But we are going to talk about it today. Here's the deal I'm going to make with you though. We're going to talk about money, but I'm not going to ask you for a dime because the purpose of this message is not to fund anything. The purpose of this message is to educate us better as followers of Christ about how God teaches us to handle our money when it comes to giving to Him. So that's our deal. Okay? No, we're not asking for a thing. We're just trying to learn some principles here. But in that regard, I don't have time to cover everything the Bible teaches about money. We do have a tape series that I would recommend you pick up up in the bookstore. It's called handling money God's way. And we cover everything you want to know about money, consumer debt. We cover it all. We're not going to do that today because we don't have enough time. Today I've just picked one truth out of all that God says in the Bible about money that I want to go over with you. And I think, frankly, it's the most important truth that God teaches about money in the Bible. And that is that giving to God, using our money to give to God, is an act of worship. Now to show you that right here in Philippians chapter 4, let's look together at verse 18. Paul is in jail in Rome, and the Philippians have sent him a monetary gift. And here's what he says, verse 18. "I have received full payment and even more. I am amply supplied, now that I have received from a paphroditis the gifts that you sent. A paphroditis was the messenger who brought the money to Paul. Now however, I want you to see how Paul describes this monetary offering. He says, the end of the verse, they are, this money you sent me, they are a fragrant offering an acceptable sacrifice pleasing to God. A fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice pleasing to God. Now friends, to pick up the imagery that the Apostle Paul is using here, we need to remember he's using imagery that comes out of the Old Testament system of sacrifices. So we need to go back, and we need to understand something about the sacrificial system of the Old Testament to make this make sense. In the Old Testament, there were two kinds of animal sacrifices prescribed. Type number one were animal sacrifices that dealt with the issue of wrongdoing. When a person realized they'd done wrong in the sight of God, that there was a breach in their relationship with God, what that person would do is they would bring a sacrificial animal to the temple in Jerusalem. And the priest would kill that animal, the priest would take the blood from that animal and put it on the altar, and in response, God promised he would forgive the sin of the offerer, and he would repair the breach in their relationship. Now today in New Testament times, we don't do this. There's no longer any animal sacrifices for wrongdoing. The need for them has been eliminated because of what Jesus Christ did on the cross force. Hebrews, chapter 10, he, Jesus, offered one sacrifice for sin for all time on the cross. And by his one sacrifice, he, Jesus, has made perfect for all time those who put their trust in him. Now, where there is forgiveness like this, no sacrifices for sin are needed any longer. And as a follower of Jesus Christ, the reason you and I don't take a bull or a goat or a lamb and hop on a plane and fly to Jerusalem and kill it at some temple there. The reason we don't do that anymore is because we don't need to. Our sin has been paid in full once and for all, for all eternity by Jesus Christ on the cross. It's done. That's why Jesus said his last words on the cross were, "It is finished." So put, done. That's wonderful news. And if you're here and you've never trusted Jesus in a real and personal way, this is important information for you to have because it means there's no other offering that God's interested in you bringing. None of the others will work. Don't waste your time presenting God offerings to try to get him to deal with your wrongdoing that he's not interested in. Say, "What kind of offerings are you talking about?" "Oh, being good, trying hard, keeping attend commandments, doing a lot of religious activity, serving again to church." None of those things God says are acceptable sacrifices to pay for wrongdoing only what Jesus did on the cross. And if you're here and you've never trusted that, I want to urge you, give up, waste in your time, bringing God's stuff he's not interested in, bringing what he cares about and that is your accepting and embracing what Jesus did for you on the cross. That's it. It's done. Now, as followers of Christ, the Bible goes on to tell us that there is another category of animal sacrifice that went on in the Old Testament. And these were sacrifices that were brought for worship. What a person would do is they would bring an animal to the temple and the priest would kill it. Instead of taking the animal's blood and putting it on the altar, instead he would take the animal's meat and he would burn it as a fresh, as an aroma, as a sweet smelling aroma going up into the heavens to the nostrils of Almighty God. And as that aroma went up, God smelled it and God was pleased, not at the aroma so much as he was, at the attitude of the person who had brought that gift, a gift meant to express worship, devotion, loyalty and love for God. Now I can relate to this. Right near the gym where I go, there's a Chinese restaurant, right next door. And I get out and I'm walking into the gym and all I can smell is this Chinese food. It's torture. I mean, it's horrible. You know, I'm halfway up the gym deciding between the machines and the gym and the egg rolls at the Chinese restaurant. You understand what I'm saying? It is that the aroma that comes out of that place is unforgettable, overpowering, pleasing. Oh yeah. And if you can relate to that, you can understand that the aroma of these sacrifices were just like that to God because God looked past the sacrifice to the heart of the offeror and said, now I take, I take pleasure in that. You understand? Now today there are still worship sacrifices around. It's just that they've changed form. They've changed formats. Today Peter tells us, first Peter, chapter two, verse five, that as followers of Jesus Christ, we are to offer up spiritual sacrifices of worship to God. We're no longer to bring literal animals to a temple somewhere, but spiritual sacrifices. And you say, Lon, I wanted to offer up one of these spiritual sacrifices. What is it that I would do? Well, Philippians 418 tells us that giving to God monetarily is one of these spiritual sacrifices of worship. And let me tell you why. Friends, all worship is the definition of worship. It simply means doing those things that tell God he's number one in our life. That's all it means. Telling God he's first in our life. And there's no better tool to do this with than money. Because when we as followers give to Christ financially, we are telling him that he's our highest priority, more than money, that he's of the greatest value in our life, more than money could buy, and that he means more to us than all the Benjamin's in the world. And so that's all worship is. That's how we worship God with our money, because we're telling God he's number one. He's first in our life. Now, you know the three wise men who came to see Jesus did the very same thing, Matthew chapter 2 verse 11. When they saw the child with his mother Mary, they bowed down and worshiped him, the Bible says. Now, how did they worship him? Did they all get on their knees and sing how great thou art? I don't think so. How did they worship him? Look what it says here. They opened their treasures and they presented Jesus with gifts of gold and frankincense and myrrh, would you notice here, that giving monetarily to the Lord is called what worship? I mean, how much clearer could God make it than that? Now for many of us as followers of Christ, this is a brand new slant on giving the God. Many of us have grown up in homes, many of us have grown up in churches, or many of us are new followers of Christ, but we've heard or been taught that church offerings are the way we get money to pay salaries, the way we run programs, the way we send out missionaries, the way we do building programs. And when we're taught to give like this, our focus is in the wrong place. Our focus is on the church or on the programs or on the building or on the pastor. And many times we end up giving out a duty and out of obligation and sometimes even out of guilt, folks, there is no joy in giving like this. But this is not the biblical concept of giving at all. This is not the biblical worldview of giving the God at all. Exodus 35, Moses was taking up an offering to build the tabernacle out in the wilderness. And in that passage you go check it out, Exodus 35, never once did Moses refer to that offering as an offering for the tabernacle, never once. But seven times, you know what he called it, an offering for the Lord. Because Moses wanted these people to understand that even though they were going to use the money to build the tabernacle, that was incidental. They were not giving to the tabernacle. Moses didn't want the tabernacle being the focus. He wanted them to understand they were giving to the Lord. And the Lord was the focus of their giving. And you know what? The Bible says they gave so much, Moses had to go and ask them to stop giving. Those friends, any time we give to God, not to a building, not to a church, not to missionaries, not to programs, but we give to the Lord, every time we believe that the hand that's passing that offering plate is a nail scarred hand, what we find is that we give in a more generous and in a more excited way. It puts joy into our giving when we're giving to the Lord and not to church or programs or buildings. So whether we're putting a check in the offering plate, whether we're sending money to missionaries, whether we're giving to our new campus fund, whether we're helping to buy another house downtown by not a costume for our house project, whether we're giving to our benevolence fund, it doesn't matter. Our attitude needs to be Lord, I'm giving to you. What's done with the money is incidental. I'm giving this to you to let you know, God, that I love you, and that you mean more to me than anything in the world or anything this money could buy. This is for you, Lord. Now, you say, "Lon, that's wonderful. Understand that? God bless you. That's great." But I got a question, and you know the question, don't you? All right, everybody ready? Okay. One, you don't look like you're ready. One, two, three, okay, that was good. So what? You say, "Lon, so what?" You say, "I hear what you're saying, I understand that, that's great." But what difference does this really make to my everyday life? What difference does this make to the way I manage my money, Monday to Saturday? I mean, bring this down and put some handles on it for me so I know what this really means for me. Love to do that, and I will do it right now. You know, I don't get to watch daytime TV very often because I'm not home watching it. But I was sick a while back and I was in bed, so I had the TV on and I watched my favorite daytime program, The Price is Right. I love that show. I love that show. That is a fabulous show. And so I'm the one that I was watching. Bob Barker had the three contestants there ready to spin the big wheel, and of course he explains it to him. Now if you spin it the first time and you get a dollar, you get a thousand bucks, and then you get a bonus spin, and if you get a dollar again, you get ten thousand bucks for eleven thousand dollars, and I guess they had extra time on this show because he stopped for a moment and asked each of the three contestants, "If you won eleven thousand dollars, what would you do with it?" Well, the first contestant was a young lady, and she said, "If I won eleven thousand dollars, I would take a trip around the world." The next contestant was a young man, and he said, "If I won eleven thousand dollars, I would buy me a Corvette." Now I hate to tell him this, but I don't think you can buy a Corvette for eleven thousand dollars. But anyway, he was dreaming, so what the heck. And the third contestant was a middle-aged lady, and she thought for just a second and said, "If I win eleven thousand dollars, I'm going to put it in the bank and save it so my children can go to college." And I thought, "Wow, isn't this interesting?" Just by telling us how they would spend their money, these people revealed an awful lot about their value system. Did you pick that up? An awful lot about their priorities and who they were. The first two contestants made it clear their value system was completely self-centered. Why? What were they going to do with the money? They're spending on them. While the third contestant said, "Oh, no, my value system is not centered around me, it's centered around my children, centered around my family, meeting the needs of other people, not myself." And I sat there and I thought, "You know what, isn't this interesting? How we spend our money is very revealing." You know that? It's like a barometer of where our heart is, and this is true for us as followers of Christ. The single most revealing indicator of where our heart stands as followers of Jesus Christ, I believe, is how we spend the money God has put at our disposal. If you really want to see where a person's love relationship with Jesus really stands, don't look at the hymns they sing when they come to church. Don't look at the prayers they pray. Don't look at the number of church services they attend each week. Don't look at how many times a day they say praise. What? Because all of that stuff is so easy just to pace going. If you really want to look at and see where a person really stands in their walk with God, look and see how they spend their money. Because that's the area where we tend to fake it the least. And that's why I say, "You show me the financial statement of a follower of Jesus Christ. Show me their 1040, and within about five minutes I can pretty well tell you whether that person is really using their money to worship God or whether they're not." You say, "Well, I don't understand what you're saying, but where is that line? I mean, where is that threshold? If you were to look at my financial statement or far more importantly, if God were to look at my financial statement, how much would I have to be giving to be over that line? How much would I have to be giving for God to look at my finances and go, "Now, that's worship. Now, I'm excited about that. How much would I have to give? Do I have to tithe? Do I have to give 10%? Do I have to give more? Do I have to give less? I mean, is this from my gross or from my net? I mean, what is the deal here?" Well, let's answer that question in closing this morning. I want you to turn back with me to the gospel according to Mark. Mark chapter 12, it's page 718, if you're using our copy of the Bible, 718 Mark chapter 12. And here in this passage, Jesus is going to answer your question. And what this passage is going to tell us is that God's method of accounting is radically different from ours. So watch. Mark chapter 12 verse 41. And Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were being put. And he watched the crowd putting their money in the temple treasury. You get the scene here, right? Jesus sitting on a stool or somewhere, and he's watching everybody come into the temple and make their financial gifts to God. And many rich people, it said, were coming in and throwing in large amounts. As a matter of fact, Matthew chapter 6 said that many times when these people come to do it, they'd actually blow a trumpet and announce themselves before they came. Rabbi so and so is here to make his magnanimous, beneficent offering to God. I mean, could you imagine what kind of sideshow this must have been? And Jesus is just sitting here watching this, not the slightest bit impressed. And then it said a poor widow came in and put two very small copper coins in the treasury worth only a fraction of a penny, a penny. I don't know about you guys. I don't even like pennies. When I get my changes, this is the truth. I tell them to keep the pennies. I don't even want the pennies because what's a penny worth? I mean, good grief. You stop. If you saw a penny on the ground, would you stop and pick it up? I mean, I used to, but I'm too old now. It takes too much trouble to get down and get back up again for a penny. It's like, forget it. It's not worth it for a penny, maybe a dollar, not a penny. So I just walk by pennies on the street. I don't even amount of paying attention to them. And this woman's gift wasn't even a full penny. And Jesus was thrilled to death. Look at this. Calling all of his disciples to him, Jesus said, Hey, come here, guys. Come here. Come here. Come here. Come here. I tell you the truth. If you're into the treasury, then all the others, you said, but why? She didn't. All those other people came in and put thousands and thousands of dollars in there. She didn't even put a penny in here. What is Jesus talking about? Ah, but you got to understand, friends, remember what we said? God's method of accounting is different than ours. We notice the outward amount. We're impressed with the outward figure. You see, people get thousands of dollars and we go, we get to heaven, I bet you they're going to get a lot. God's not impressed with that at all. God owns a cattle on a thousand hills. Money does not impress God. What God was impressed by was the cost of the gift. See the rabbis, their gift didn't cost them anything. All these rich people, their gift didn't cost them a thing. They weren't going to go without dinner. They weren't going to have to go without clothes. They weren't going to have to go without transportation. They made sure whatever their giving was. It might have looked like a lot from the outside, but it stayed under the threshold of costing them a thing. But this woman, she gave what did Jesus say? All that she had. That's what Jesus said here. She they gave out of their wealth, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on. She didn't know where dinner was coming from. It cost her something to give, and that's what impressed Jesus. The point is friends, God measures our giving, not in terms of how much we give, but in how much it costs us to give what we give. Why? Because giving is worship. And if it doesn't cost you anything to give, how are you communicating to God that He's number one in your life, that He's worth more than money if it's not costing you a thing? That's why David, the great king of Israel, said, "I will sacrifice to the Lord nothing that doesn't cost me." It's going to cost me something, or it's not worth giving to God. You know, Fred Smith, of Fred Smith Associates in Dallas, Texas. I read an article by in which he gave a little speech, and I want you to hear what he said. Here's what he said. And by the way, Mr. Smith is very well off, quote, he said, "I read a rather unusual seminar once in which the majority of those present were millionaires." Just for the fun of it, I described tithing, giving 10%, as using an Old Testament teaching to help the rich get out of giving. It was quite a shock to the participants, and they didn't seem to want to want to discuss it in any great length. I firmly believe, he goes on to say, that tithing for well-off people is an escape from giving. I'd be very happy if the Lord would tell me I'd fulfilled my responsibility if I gave 10%. When I worked for $6 a week and I dropped $0.60 in the offering plate, I believe I was giving something pleasing to the Lord then, but I'm not sure that the Lord is excited about my giving one-tenth of a six-figure income. You say, "Lon, are you trying to tell me that even though I'm given hundreds and thousands and maybe even tens of thousands of dollars to God, that he may not regard it as worship?" Is that what you're telling me? Friend, that's exactly what I'm telling you. What I'm telling you is that every one of us needs to draw a box. A box entitled, "What is costing me to give God what I'm giving him?" A box that's entitled, "What am I doing without that I would like to have and could otherwise afford if I weren't giving to God what I'm giving to God?" And friends, if there isn't anything in that box that I'm here to tell you that you're giving no matter how much it is, I don't care what the outward amount is, if there's nothing in that box of what it's costing you, your giving has not reached the level of worship in the sight of God yet, because you haven't got to where the widow is yet. You just wear all the rich people are. You say, "Well, what kind of things should go in that box?" Well, I don't know, maybe a new car or that motorcycle you've always wanted or redecorating your house or a new dress or a new suit or a new sports equipment or maybe a stereo or a computer or a palm pilot or whatever, a vacation home. I don't know, but there ought to be some things in the box that matter to you that you would love to have, that you're drooling to have, but you're giving to God at a level you just can't have them right now and it's okay because you'd rather worship God than you would have everything you ever wanted. Now if that's where you are, guess what? It doesn't matter what you're giving, what the dollar amount is, you're worshiping God. And for some of us, to cross that threshold, we only need to be given two percent of our income to God. Some of us, to cross that threshold, maybe only need to be given one percent of our income to God. And for some of us, as Mr. Fred Smith mentioned, 10 percent in name close, in name close. My wife and I went out last night after being at the other location and we had dinner. And I said, "Hey, just out of curiosity, what's in our box?" She said, "You know, I was really thinking about that." And we sat there at the table and we said, "Okay, Lord, what's in our box that we're doing without because of our giving to you?" It was a very, very interesting and worthwhile discussion that we had there at the table. And I think you ought to have a discussion like that with your wife or with your husband or if you're single, you ought to have that discussion with the Lord and say, "What's in my box?" It might take you a minute to think, but friends, if after you think for a few minutes, you can't put anything in there, then I say, "You know what? You're not in giving yet where you need to be. I don't care what the amount is, you're not there yet." You say, "Well, Law, you must be nuts. Are you completely nuts? You're a preacher and you're standing up here telling people they don't have to tithe. You're standing up here telling people they don't have to give 10 percent. I have some people come to me, friends, who are in such financial trouble. I tell them at this moment in time, God doesn't want you to give anything. Don't you give a cent to God. You need every cent you've got and more just to meet the needs of your family and they come first right now. God is pleased. He knows your heart. Don't give God a cent." You say, "What kind of preacher are you?" That's the craziest thing I've ever heard of in my life. How in the world the income of this church is going to drop right off the end of the table. You tell people like that. No, we've been telling people stuff like that for 20 years. You know what? We have found the income of this church has gone up because what we're trying to do is free people, free people, so that they're giving to the Lord not out of duty, not out of obligation, not out of guilt, but they're giving out of love and they're giving out of devotion. I believe the more people understand the joy and the excitement that comes from giving to God correctly, the more they want to give. That's what I've found to be true in my life. When you just free me and say, "Law and the only thing you need to worry about is make sure you got stuff in the box." Man, I find I want to give more than when they used to preach at me. You better give 10 percent. You better give 10 percent. Well, I'd give my 10 percent walk away, but there was no joy in that. Man, it gives me joy to give more than 10 percent if I can, to see if I can't give God as much as possible. To trust God, to provide funds I can give to Him that I don't even have. That's fun. That's exciting, but you've got to be freed from this old system to be able to do that. Well, friends, I hope I've given you a whole different perspective this morning on what it means to give to God. We've just covered a little bit, like I say, of what the Bible teaches about money, but the most important thing I want you to walk out of here with today is an understanding that giving to God is worship and in order for it to meet that criterion, there has to be something in the box. So I suggest to you go talk to either the Lord or your spouse or whatever and say, "What have we got in the box and if we haven't got anything in there, we need to get something in there." May God help you do that, let's pray. Lord Jesus, thanks for talking to us today about a sensitive subject we know money is. And Lord, you know my heart, I'm not trying to talk anybody into giving anything more. Some of these people here need to give less because of the fact that they have families to take care of and they've lost jobs and they've gone through marriage breakups and maybe suddenly there's been illness in the home. Lord, I thank you, you're a flexible God, I thank you that you are willing to individualize your care for each one of us and as our circumstances change, Lord, you're willing to accept that and you understand. Free us from guilt, free us from obligation and duty in our giving. Liberate us, God, to give to you out of love, devotion and worship and grant that we might be people who are determined no matter how much you give us God, there is always going to be something in the box so we can keep sending the message to you that you are number one in our life, not our own gratification, but you. Thanks for talking to us today, Lord, in ways that will change how we spend our money, I believe, help us to change and spend our money in a way that pleases you. And we pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO] [BLANK_AUDIO]