Title:
Preacher:
Date:
Taking issue with God – Whose money is it anyway?
Neil Whitmill
Sunday 17th May 2015
Venue: FCC
What do you want the people to know?:
* God expects us to be sacrificial givers, just as Christ gave his life for us
* 10% may be helpful as a starting point, but may not. The heart attitude is central.
What do you want the people to do?:
* Reflect on our own giving and be prepared to make changes
INTRODUCTION:
Powerpoint facts
This morning I want to consider the subject of our finances.
The Bible has a lot to say about money;
In the Old Testament, especially Proverbs the wise and right use of resources is often
referenced. Something about money appears in almost all the New Testament letters, is a major
theme and reason for God’s judgement on the world in Revelation, and has significant chunks of
teaching in 2 Corinthians 8 & 9 and 1 Timothy 6.
Perhaps most revealing, Jesus referred to money and possessions more than any other single
topic. 11 of 39 parables reference money, and in Luke’s gospel one of every seven verses has
Jesus teaching on money and possessions.
Matthew 6v21: might be Jesus’ summary of all this weight on teaching about our approach to
wealth and poverty and money: "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."
In other words, what your money goes after is a signal of what your heart goes after. What our
hands do with our money shows what our hearts are doing with God. And what Jesus ultimately
wants is our heart.
Richard Halverson, former chaplain to the US Senate has said; ‘Jesus Christ said more about
money than about any other single thing because...Money is an exact index to a man's true
character. All through Scripture there is an intimate correlation between the development of a
person's character and how they handle money.’
This morning I do not want to go down the Christian cul-de-sac of tithing, but do want to discuss
three ways we can live abundant lives with the resources we have;
1. RESPONSIBLE - BEING A SENSIBLE STEWARD
2. RELATIONAL - BEING A GENEROUS GIVER
3. REALITY - BEING A SACRIFICIAL SERVANT
These areas are important because we are considering ultimately the question Control or controlling? – are you in control of your money, or is your money
controlling you?
1. RESPONSIBLE - BEING A SENSIBLE STEWARD
Mr Micawber’s often quoted statement ‘Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure
nineteen [pounds] nineteen [shillings] and six [pence], result happiness. Annual income twenty
pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds and six pence, result misery.’ Is a truism, even more
important in a time when most people and nations live on credit.
In Greece for example 26.5% of the working population was unemployed in 2014 and the annual
increase in debt was 177% of the entire GDP. No wonder there is misery.1
£54,197 was the average household debt (including mortgages) in November 2014 in the UK
By the end of 2016, the average personal debt, not including mortgages, in the UK is expected to
exceed £10k.
In November 2014 £163 million interest was paid on personal debt every single day!2
These statistics are but a few but are really shocking. The Bible is clear that all we have is
delegated or lent to us by God. It is his money and his house and his car. It is all his. In James
1:17 it says ‘Every good action and every perfect gift is from God. These good gifts come
down from the Creator of the sun, moon, and stars, who does not change like their shifting
shadows.’ But he has entrusted its good use to our care. We are to manage it well. Proverbs 21:5
says: ‘The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.’
Unfortunately many of us live in ways that are unsustainable, sticking our heads in the sand,
pretending that it will all be alright, instead of adjusting how we live to more suit our resources.
In Great Expectations, Pip's extravagant lifestyle, furnishing his rooms and wining and dining in
London, certainly has parallels to today's "buy now, pay later" mentality.
"So now, as an infallible way of making little ease great ease, I began to contract a quantity of
debt."
We may live in one of the wealthiest countries in the world, but we do have to distinguish
between needs and wants. Our first RESPONSIBILITY concerning money is to be a SENSIBLE
STEWARD of what we have been given.
Let’s not be silly. The fact of our birth, the date, location and family inheritance of our birth, are
not decided by us. We have been gifted all these – rich or poor we had little control over any of
them. However, what we do with what we have been gifted is our responsibility.
We often quote 1 Thessalonians 5:16 in different circumstances but now hear those familiar
words in the light of how we handle our money;
‘Give thanks to God in all circumstances’ – with riches or without, with plenty to spare or not
enough to go round – ‘for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.’
Also remember Jesus words concerning servants graced with different gifts ‘because you have
been faithful with little, you will be given much.’ (Luke 19:15-26)
Yes our first RESPONSIBILITY is to be a SENSIBLE STEWARD.
If you are struggling with finances then get help. Talk to someone. Don’t ignore it, resolve it!
1
2
http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/eu/countries/greece_en.htm
http://themoneycharity.org.uk/media/Debt-Stats-Full-January-2014.pdf
2. RELATIONAL - BEING A GENEROUS GIVER
Secondly, being sensible with our finances is not the end of the story for Christians. In fact, I
would argue that our common humanity should demand more of us than simply sorting out our
finances so we are not constantly amassing greater and greater debt, especially when we live in
an area of such relative affluence.
I was looking at the incidence of malnutrition in children under 5 across the world cross
referenced against the % of annual income spent on food. It should be no surprise that in
Pakistan where 45.4% of income is spent on food that over 40% of under 5s are malnourished,
compared to the UK where 8.9% of annual income is spent on food and the incidence of
malnutrition in under 5s is so low it is not even recorded as 1%. In a world where there is enough
food to feed twice the current 7billion people each year it is a disgrace to humanity that statistics
of this magnitude can exist.
How does God view this discrepancy? What does he say about those in need?
Ps.41:1 "Blessed is he who considers the poor; the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble."
Prov.19:17 "He who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord, and He will pay back what he has
given."
Prov.22:19 "He who has a generous eye will be blessed, for he gives of his bread to the poor."
Prov.28:27 "He who gives to the poor will not lack, but he who hides his eyes will have many
curses."
Prov.21:13 "Whoever shuts his ears to the cry of the poor will also cry himself and not be heard."
Isa.58:6-12 Is this not the fast that I have chosen:... Is it not to share your bread with the
hungry, and that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; when you see the naked,
that you cover him... then your light will break forth like the morning... your righteousness shall
go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call and the Lord
shall answer...
Let’s go back to our key verses for this series. They are found in Luke 10:27-28; ‘You must
love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’
And, ‘Love your neighbour as yourself… 28 Right!” Jesus told him. “Do this and you will live!”
Jesus also demonstrated time and again that anyone and everyone is our neighbour – think of the
Good Samaritan, or the Spirit sending Paul to the gentile world.
You see God lives in constant relationship as Father, Son and Spirit, and it is into this relationship
that we are invited. Jesus came to bring us the opportunity of a new relationship. This is an
incredible and generous act of love. We do best when we remember we are part of a human
family and give generously to those in need.
Consider the story of Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens ‘A Christmas Carol’, his lack of
generosity robbed not only those around him, but himself too.
Jesus said to his followers ‘The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they
may have life, and have it abundantly.’ (NRSV)
Whatever else you do this week, having become a sensible steward, resolve to be a GENEROUS
GIVER, to develop RELATIONSHIPS using the resources you have been gifted with to bless
others.
3. REALISING - BEING A SACRIFICIAL SERVANT
There is much discussion between Christians about how much should someone give in their ‘tithe’
to the Church, should ALL giving go to the church or can giving to another organisation be part of
my ‘tithe’, and also is giving supposed to be a percentage of income before or after tax and NI
etc.?
These questions miss the point by a million miles!
Jesus is our model in this life. He came to show us how to live and he gave up everything for us.
Christ, the Son of God, emptied himself for us. He sacrificed all he was for us. If we are truly
followers of Christ then we too are called to give sacrificially. Listen to the commendation of Paul
about the Macedonian Christians;
And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the
Macedonian churches. In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme
poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and
even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of
sharing... (2 Corinthians 8:1-4)
Their generosity was not because they were wealthy. They weren’t. It was driven by a desire to
show what Jesus was and is like: generous so it hurts.
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he
became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich. (8:9)
They wanted to ‘excel in the grace of giving’ (8:7) Their generosity was not because they were
wealthy. They weren’t. It was driven by a desire to see God’s kingdom advance.
This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also
overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have
proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of
the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. (9:1213)
Sacrificial giving changes lives. When Helen and I sacrificed my secure and good Head teacher
salary to come and work for the church God made provision of nearly £200 a month from others
to supplement what we had. When there wasn’t enough to pay the bills, God provided the money.
When we asked our children if they felt they had missed out on things because we didn’t have the
finances, they said they hadn’t really noticed.
Your generosity can be someone else’s salvation – LISA testimony.
Sometimes God provides in unexpected ways – ALUN testimony.
Spencer met a young man they have been supporting in Uganda through schooling and as he
recounted the encounter with this man, Spencer welled up, knowing that such a small thing as
some monthly money had transformed another human beings life.
The truth is our overflow is meant to be a blessing.
I was reading about a man named Jonathan Ruffer who runs an investment company and earns
the average UK median annual wage (about £26,000) every day! He’s also a Christian and speaks
of the joy he gets from giving his money away. In the last 2 years in three grants alone he has
donated £34million pounds and yet although he gives millions of pounds away his fortune
continues to grow. This is what he says about money;
'There are only three things you can do with it - spend it, save it or give it away.
'For the rich, saving is much more dangerous than spending, because you can see how empty
spending is, but it's harder to see that saving also is. What a lot of money does is poison you.'3
For most of us in this place we are supremely rich in comparison to the majority of the world. Our
preoccupation with things, rather than relationships demonstrates how far we still need to travel
with Christ to reach perfection. None of us want to be left walking away saddened because Jesus
has told us to go sell what we have and follow him.
Charles Dickens in Nicholas Nickleby wrote it this way "For gold conjures up a mist about a man,
more destructive of all his old senses and lulling to his feelings than the fumes of charcoal."
What about the practicalities – what does this giving look like for me?
Well firstly, are your finances under control? Are you living without accruing more debt?
Secondly, God’s people were always expected to be generous and bring a proportion of their
increase (their income) into the storehouse. This meant giving it to someone else for their good –
originally the Levites and priests AND part of that giving was given to the poor and needy.
Are you living this sort of generous lifestyle? Or do you make all the decisions about who will get
blessed with your money? When we want to make all the decisions about our giving, we are
choosing to act in God’s place. We are allowing our good stewardship to turn into something that
controls us.
At FCC we have always suggested that as a guide a tenth of our income given into the church is
probably a helpful and challenging start. However, whilst suggesting or requiring a 10% tithe can
be helpful as a guide, it can also be unhelpful. It potentially prevents us giving like Christ wants
us to give because 10% of our income will have little effect on our standard of living and bring no
cost to bear on ourselves. It fails to reflect Christ’s generosity in giving himself completely. We
can quickly view it as a ceiling to stop at once reached (not a floor to spring from) and so fail to
be generous or sacrificial. For those among us who are poor, a 10% requirement demands
beyond their abilities when the church and richer Christians should be giving generously from
their abundance to support these individuals, leaving them feeling disappointed or guilty. So to
say 10% is a useful, if not undisputedly a biblical standard, can be unhelpful for both the rich
(who are not made Christlike in their generosity but permitted to give in a way that is
unchallenging) and for the poor (who are given a greater burden to carry instead of having their
burden lightened).
Instead we need to move away from setting a figure or percentage as a required ‘tithe’ and
toward using a person, Jesus and the gospel as our model to emulate with our resources.
Therefore each one must give as he has made up his mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion
3
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1371799/Money-Why-wealthy-Investor-bought-paintings-worth-15m-gave-back.html#ixzz3aDvLxxPp
but sacrificially, generously, and like Christ who gave even his life so we could have life. What is
God calling us to? For some that sacrificial level may be 2, 5 or 10% of their income, but for many
it could be 20, 30, 50% or even higher as we seek to show the world that our treasure is not
money but Jesus. Then we will truly be living the REALITY of SACRIFICIAL SERVANTS and
following the master.
Your money; your decisions?
Are you in control of your finances, or do you need to sort them out? Don’t ignore it, resolve it!
Are there ways you could be wiser with how you manage your money? How much is used wisely
and how much is wasted foolishly?
Where could you be generous this week with £5, 50, 100 or 1000, and how could you do it
discretely so God is even more praised?
What does your attitude to money, desire for it and use of it, reveal about your heart? Where
does your use of money locate your heart in relation to Jesus?
Generous: How much money should you be giving away to the church and to others?