The example of the Macedonians wasn’t only to motivate us today but was to motivate and convict those of the Corinthian Church.
6 So we urged Titus, just as he had earlier made a beginning, to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part. 7 But since you excel in everything – in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love, we have kindled in you – see that you also excel in this grace of giving.
You see, the Corinthians were a gifted group of people who excelled in pretty much everything but giving and Paul knew that despite their great skill and talent, they would never become what they could until they also learned “this grace of giving”. See, it’s basically impossible to grow in spiritual maturity without committing one’s giving to the Lord.
“God can have our money and not have our hearts, but He cannot have our hearts without having all our money”.
This isn’t to say that you can’t serve God without giving 100% of your money, but it’s more about the mindset. Its like that one Aunty in church who said “Where do you think that money came from? It’s not even yours, it’s your parents’. Who provided your parents their job? Who gave them the ability to earn? It can only be God, but still you want to struggle to give it back to him; that which was already his?”
Jesus said in Matthew 6:21, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”. A large part of the New Testament is dedicated to warnings, many of which are directly from Jesus, which inform us more about money than sexual immorality, violence or even Heaven and Hell.
Classic example, Mark 10. Jesus asks a rich man to sell everything he has and give to the poor for he’ll have treasure in heaven. Sounds like a nice little deal. But his face fell, and he went away sad, because what he had wasn’t little, but he had great wealth, and couldn’t imagine giving it all away. Now Jesus looked around and told his disciples, ‘It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.’ I don’t think it is necessarily tied to the amount in your account, but rather where your trust lies. Jesus promised him riches in heaven, but the man believed more in the one’s which he could see right now. Relying on wealth and riches to carry you through life can almost as a spiritual handicap.
Matthew 6:19-20.
19 ‘Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.
Matthew 6:24.
24 ‘No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.
Now I want to say, please, do not take this to mean you can’t have money and serve God, or that you shouldn’t aim for success and wealth. The key isn’t to completely separate yourself from society and leaving the wealth of nations to others (I mean if all that money should be in anyone’s hands, it’s best to be in mine as a Christian… I’m joking, I think). The key as Paul says is the grace of giving.
It’s more than a simple tithe. To be honest, it is more than money. A millionaire can transfer £10,000 every week to the Church account but be unwilling to give their time and attend services.
As seen in Mark 10, there’s times when you’ve gotta give till it hurts.
I’ll tell you about one scenario that happens to me way to often. It’s time to give offering and I check my wallet and I can just see only one hefty note. Now I didn’t plan to give that much but now I have to decide between giving or keeping it. I know it’s gonna hurt and I may have to adjust tomorrow’s spending, but today, right now, I’ve gotta give.
I’m gonna leave you with a quote from C.S Lewis:
“If our expenditure on comforts, luxuries, amusements, etc, is up to the standard common among those with the same income as our own, we are probably giving away too little. If our charities do not at all pinch or hamper us, I should say they are too small. There ought to be things we should like to do and cannot do because our charitable expenditure excludes them.”
My Sunday Skl 