Broadway Christian Church ? Columbia, Missouri

Morning Worship ? April 20, 2008

Fifth Sunday of Easter

Prayer of the Day

Loving and Giving God, in this hour of worship, speak to us, we pray, in ways that teach us and transform us, so that our lives may reflect the truth, that everything we are and everything we have is really yours, placed in our care for a little while! Amen.

Scripture

Luke 6:38

Whatever measure you use to give, large or small, will be used to measure what is given back to you.

Message

Live Generously

Rick Frost

As always, Good Morning to everyone. We’re glad you are here today. If you are a first-time visitor, or if you have been away for a while, we offer a special word of welcome. 

If you don’t know this, we are in a series, right now, because we are in the Easter season. We are focused on Easter, because of what happened the first Easter morning. Because of what happened on the first Easter morning, we are, in fact, Easter people. We are people called to live the Easter way, the Easter truth, and the Easter life. We know that is a very different way than most of the world. I submit to you, today, and would like to argue the point that it is the ultimate lifestyle. It is the lifestyle, as we said a few weeks ago, that starts with learning to live lovingly. Today we are going to talk about another Easter lifestyle, living generously.

Folks, generosity, as you know, is not a seasonal thing. It is not a special campaign, or a special appeal or request. For us, it is a lifestyle. It’s just what we do. It’s just what Easter people are all about.

Do you believe that? Oh, don’t overwhelm me with your response. OK? If you believe that, please say, “I do.”

[Congregation responds:] “I do!”

Congratulations! 

Unfortunately, it took me 35 years to get that. I’m going to tell you more about that in just a minute.

Let’s start by taking a look at Acts 20:35, where is says, “Remember the words of our Lord Jesus himself, ‘There is more happiness in giving than in receiving’.”

Do you believe that?

[Congregation responds:] “Yes.”

Happiness for us is based on living generously. That’s what I want you to get today.

Here are some key words from the Bible. I did not count these. I’m taking somebody else’s word for it. The word believe or believer is found 275 times in the entire Bible. The word pray or prayer is found 371 times in the Bible. The word love, lover, or loving is found 714 times in the Bible. The word give or giving is found 2,162 times. What is the Bible about? Where is the emphasis? It is real clear. It is on God and giving. They go together.

Generosity is not something that gets tacked on to the Christian lifestyle. It is not about an offering. It is not a response to a critical appeal. It is the essence of Christian living. Jesus was the ultimate giver. 

As we read just moments ago, in Luke 6:39, Luke remembers Jesus saying, “Whatever measure you use to give, [whatever that is] large or small, will be used to measure what is given back to you.”

Now, that is probably not news to anybody here today. Around here, we ask people to give all the time – to this ministry, to that project, to this need, to that concern. If you ever come to this church and somebody hasn’t asked you to give, or you haven’t been given the opportunity to give, I’m sorry. We messed up. I apologize. We let you down. The reason we let you down is because “the measure you give is the measure you are going to get back.” The measure we give together is the measure this church is going to get back together.

I’ve been doing stewardship sermons for 30 or 40 years. It’s always been about giving. It’s always been about what’s needed. It’s never been about the giver. It’s always about the gift. Yet, when I read Jesus’ words, I didn’t hear that. It said, if I heard it correctly, “If you give, you will get back.” That’s amazing, because for some reason, we don’t talk about that here.

If I give, what do I get back? That’s what I want to talk about today. There are seven things, seven benefits, if you will, of becoming a generous person – living generously – all year round, 24/7. This is what I suggest is the ultimate lifestyle.

Number One: Giving Makes Me More Like God.

Wow! Folks, God’s a giver. The Creator of all that is amazingly gives.

The Bible says, “God so loved the world that God gave.”

All that you are, all that I am, everything we have are gifts from God. 

Everybody here knows you can give without loving, particularly at tax time. You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving. You know that, too. Don’t you? So, if you are going to become more like God, and according to the Bible, “God is love,” then you are going to have to learn to be a giver, if you are not already.

Number Two: Giving Draws Me Closer To God.

It is one of the benefits. It’s one of the things I get from giving.

Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also,” (Matthew 6:21).

That’s just the way it is. A question today: Where’s your heart this morning? Well, it’s where you money is. Where’s your money? If your money is in your boat, your house, your credit cards… If your money is in your business, your loans, your savings… If your money is in your investments, your spouse, your children, that’s where your heart is. Your money is where your heart is. Your heart is where your money is. That’s a truth. If you want to know where your heart is, just pull out your checkbook. Where’s the money? Treasure – heart; heart – treasure. They go together.

Folks, every time you give to God… Every dollar you dedicate to God and God’s work moves you a little bit closer to God. It is simply because that is where your heart is. They go together.

God is much more interested in you… God is much more interested in your heart, much more interested in you being close to God and God close to you than in raising dollars. You need to hear that.

Truth: giving, by definition, draws you closer to God.

Number Three: Giving Is A Victory Over Materialism.

You heard about what somebody did to the Declaration of Independence? Didn’t you? Somebody got hold of it, and they rewrote part of it. Now it reads, “Life, liberty, and the purchase of happiness.”

Materialism is a belief, folks. It is a philosophy. It’s a belief that you can purchase happiness. It’s a theory that the people with the most are the most happy. We all know that’s true. Right? It’s a belief that the people who have everything are the most happy. If you want to be happy, according to materialism, you have to get more. 

The cofounders of Google last week made $2,000,000,000 (Two-billion dollars) in 60 minutes, each. Get more!

While we all might like to have maybe a little bit more, just to see what that feels like, most of us know this truth: You may make a living by what you get, but you make a life by what you give.

The only antidote for materialism is giving. The whole world is saying to you, “More, more, more, more, more!” Generosity is saying, “Give, give, give, give, give.” Giving is the only thing that breaks the grip of materialism.

Have you ever heard of a guy named Michael DeBakey? Does that name ring a bell with anybody? Michael is the doc who pioneered by-pass surgery way back when. He is the first guy to put together a procedure for installing an artificial heart transplant. He is 99 years old. He says he has performed 60,000 heart operations in his career. Holy mackerel! 

In an interview he gave last week, he said, “The best lesson that my mother ever taught me involved going to an orphanage in our town where she and I went every Sunday after church. She would bake bread, and cookies, and would put some clothes and other items together, things we didn’t need any longer. One Sunday, however, she put one of my favorite baseball caps in the box. I protested, but she reminded me I just got a new cap yesterday. She said, ‘The child that is going to get this cap doesn’t have a parent to give him or her a new cap, and you do. You ought to be glad that you can give up a cap.’”

Of all the lessons that one of the great surgeons of all times remembers, he said, “I never ever forgot that.”

Isn’t that awesome? Awesome!

Giving is the antidote to materialism, folks. It teaches us to give away.

Deuteronomy 14:23 says, “The purpose of tithing (the purpose of giving God ten cents on every dollar that we earn) is to teach you always to put God first in your lives.”

That’s why the Evil One hates giving so much. That’s why the Evil One fights people who give so much, because when God gets put Number One, Evil loses always.

Number Four: Giving Strengthens My Faith.

Are you or somebody you love having a hard time believing in God, trusting God, or maybe just going through a hard time right now? Perhaps your confidence in someone or something, for a variety of reasons, has been shaken? Maybe some of the things you have relied on, depended on, maybe commitments you have made, just sort of seem to be crumbling a little bit? In short, your faith is weak right now? Somebody you know may be weak in faith? They don’t believe in God? They’re down. They’re depressed. If the truth be known, they don’t really care much right now. Do you know anybody like that? I do.

Do you know what God uses to fix that? Do you know what God uses to heal that condition? Do you know what God uses to strengthen a person’s faith? Dollars. You could have gone all day and never come up with that answer. Right?

God uses dollars to strengthen faith. Did you know that? Just listen to what God says in Malachi: “Come on. Bring it on. Test me. Try me. Prove me. I dare you. Here’s the deal. You give and see if I don’t bless you more in return” (3:10). 

Those aren’t my words. That is God’s word to Malachi.

Folks, this is the only place in all of Scripture where the Bible says any of us are invited to test God. Did you know that? God says, “Bring it on. Test me on this. You give and see if God won’t bless you. See if I won’t throw open the floodgates of heaven so much that you won’t have room for all of your blessings.”

One of my favorite couples in this church are tithers. Now, if you are new to church and don’t know what a tithe is, it is ten cents on the dollar. They are wonderfully generous people. It is a way of life for them. 

Now, the reason I’m not using their name is because it wasn’t always so. He was brought up in another state, never went to church as a child, and was never taken to church as a child. He didn’t have anything taught to him like we are talking about today. Word has it that he was very much a rounder when he was growing up. He went down a lot of wrong paths in his younger years, but he got lucky. He got lucky early on in his life. You know what the luck was? He ran into a beautiful woman who took him to church with her. As a young, adult male, he came to the place where he gave his life to Christ, and he began a new lifestyle. It was an Easter lifestyle.

He and the young woman married. The first decision they made as a couple was to tithe. They had absolutely nothing in those days. It was hard, but they took God at God’s word. They started out giving ten cents on every dollar they earned, every dollar that came their way, and the blessings started to come. All you have to do is sit and listen to them talk about 50 years. It is more than I can tell you about right now. They taught their children to tithe. They’re trying to teach their grandchildren to tithe. That’s a little harder. 

Today, they, themselves, tithe 20 per cent of everything they receive. They can hardly contain all the fun they are having. It’s phenomenal.

Folks, there are a lot of promises in the Bible. You know that. But with every promise in the Bible, you also need to know there is a premise. God says, “You give, and I’ll give to you.”

We say, “Let’s wait a minute, Lord. Let’s turn that around. You give to me, and then I’ll give to you.”

The Lord says, “No. That’s not the deal. You prime the pump. You give first.”

Why? Because it is going to take an act of faith for you to do that. That’s how your faith gets stronger. A step at a time; a leap of faith. Giving strengthens our faith.

Number Five: Giving Is An Investment For Eternity.

Now, we have all heard, “You can’t take it with you,” but some of us don’t know you can send it on ahead. Did you know that? You can! That’s true.

Timothy tells us, “Give happily to those in need, and always be ready to share whatever God has given you. By doing this, you will be storing up real treasure for yourselves in heaven… it is the only safe investment for eternity” (First Timothy 6:18 – LB).

Point: The Bible says, “Every time you give, you are making an investment, not only in the future, but in eternity.”

Number Six: Giving Blesses Me In Return.

I think that is pretty good news. 

Proverbs 22:9 says, “Generous people find themselves blessed.”

Psalm 112:5 says, “Good will come to those who are generous.”

Folks, we are not honored, in this life, for what we get out of life. We are honored for what we give in this life. It’s a law. What we plant, we are going to harvest. What we harvest is what we are going to plant.

Proverbs 11:25 says, “A generous person will prosper.”

The more you give away, the more you get back in blessings. Do you believe that? Not too many of us do.

Let me tell you a story. She is a licensed social worker. She spends her time working with children at risk. If anybody knows that work, you know what kind of work that is. It is tough stuff. Her whole life has been geared around giving. She’s a very giving person. 

She lives in a state very, very far from here. She’s just been diagnosed with breast cancer in an advanced stage. She is 33-years of age.

She says, “Issue number one is my survival.” What the docs told her is that with chemo, and radiation, and with years of hormone therapy, the odds are in her favor. That’s good. But she says, “The most difficult for me is not survival. It is my fertility.”

According to her docs, all this treatment she is getting is not conducive to having a baby. Solution: harvest and freeze some of her eggs at age 33, and then have them waiting for her when she turns 40, if she does. 

Now, there is a problem with that. The drugs, they say, that are needed to administer to get the eggs are really bad for the cancer. Long story – short: fertility doc and oncology doc get together. They figure it out. They’re going to do it. 

Now, here is the good news. This fertility stuff, as you may know, is generally not covered by insurance. It is a very, very expensive endeavor. Fortunately for her, the clinic she is working with has been very generous. There’s that word again. Initially they were going to donate all of her medications, which is really, really pricey stuff. But then they called her after her first appointment, and they told her, “We want to donate the whole procedure.”

Generous people will, themselves, be blessed.

Number Seven: Giving Makes Me Happy.

Jesus says, “There is more happiness in giving than in receiving.” 

Didn’t we go through this period where they said, “Give until it hurts.” That’s the most stupid thing I ever heard. You don’t give until it hurts. Does anybody give because it hurts? No! You give, because it feels good. Right? 

It is a source of joy. The happiest people on this planet are givers. 

First Chronicles 29:9 says, “The people rejoiced… for they had given freely and whole heartedly to the Lord.”

Do you know why Broadway Christian Church is a happy church? It’s because the people of this church are incredibly generous. When our people know what the need is, what it’s going to take to get it done, our people get it done. I’ve been here 23 years. I’ve watched it.

Now, for those of you who haven’t been around, our leaders have been telling us for weeks now, that we have a huge challenge facing us this year. We are going to have to step up, and we are going to do that because of these reasons. 1) We have to start making a monthly house payment on space we created for the Christian education of our children and our youth. Awesome space. It is the very same space that can hold numerous events like we had just last week – the Habitat for Humanity sale, where we raised thousands of dollars to help other people. 2) We have $100,000 worth of commitments to ministries outside of our walls that we are going to pay, and we are going to support next year. 3) We have some major-league expenses with securing the best leadership in this country for the next 20-year chapter of Broadway’s history. That’s expensive.

All of that is to say we need an additional $140,000 plus on top of what we are already giving for the ministry of this church next year. I don’t know how to say it any plainer than that. But you know what? I believe it is going to happen. I believe it is going to happen, because when the leaders of this church do it, the people follow. The leaders and the people of this church decided this has to happen, and we are going to make it happen. It is an incredibly generous group. This group gives freely and whole-heartedly to the Lord.

In doing so, I think we have learned some secrets. I want to share with you five secrets I think we have learned over the years. If you are new with us, maybe you’ll get them.

One of the secrets we have learned as a community is there is a way to get a whole lot out of giving. To enjoy the offering. How many of you love the offering time? Isn’t it fun?

Here are the secrets. I have five of them.

Secret Number One: Easter people know how to Give Willingly.

We learned it a long time ago. Giving is a matter of willingness and not worth. It’s not about wealth. It’s about willingness. It’s an attitude. It’s not an amount.

Second Corinthians 9:12 says, “If the willingness to give is there, your gift is acceptable according to what you have, not according to what you don’t have.”

Folks, $50 to one person is like $500 to another, which is like $5,000 to another, which is like $50,000 to somebody else. It is not equal gifts. It is equal sacrifice. A sacrifice is this: it’s anything really valuable that you give for something more valuable. That’s what sacrifice is. That’s a secret. Our people have learned to give willingly.

Secret Number Two: Give Generously.

Second Corinthians 8:3-4 says, “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 in this service to the saints.”

I have actually witnessed a wonderful lady joyfully giving a 50-cent a week pledge to the Lord through her church. I know, for a fact, that love-gift was more generous than another individual who gave $50,000. What a privilege it is to pastor a church with people like that. Giving is an opportunity. It is not an obligation.

Secret Number Three: Give Joyfully.

If you can’t do it joyfully, forget it. We don’t want it. Don’t do it. Tear up the pledge card. Forget it. It’s OK. That’s critical. If you can’t do it joyfully, forget it.

Other than Tammy, who keeps the books here, God is the only one who knows what anybody in this church gives. That’s the way it has been for 50 years, and it is going to be that way to the end, I hope. 

The Bible says that God’s primary interest is not in the dollars. It is in the attitude.  The question I have for you today is, “Are you excited about what you are giving – what your gift is going to empower this church to do next year?”

Second Corinthians 9:7 says, “God loves a cheerful giver.”

I looked it up. Literally, cheerful is translated hilarious. “God loves a hilarious giver.”

How many hilarious givers do we have here? Are you a hilarious giver, or when the offering comes around – when the pledge cards come around – do you say, “Oh, gosh. Here we go again?” This place is about hilarious givers.

I saw a bumper sticker the other day. It said, “Tithe if you love Jesus, because anybody can honk.” Now, that’s hilarious. I love it. That person is generous. That is a generous, joyful giver.

Secret Number Four: Give Thankfully.

When David was king of Israel, he went to the Temple. He met with the people. He asked this incredible question: “How in the world can I repay the Lord for all God’s goodness to me?” (Psalm 116:12).

I look around this room, and I see Davids everywhere.  There is not a person here who does not have some incredible things to be thankful for. 

I know, as wild and as crazy as it is, it is still a privilege to live in the United States of America. It is still a privilege to live in mid-Missouri. It’s a real privilege to live in Columbia. It’s a huge privilege to be a part of this community of faith. But with privilege comes something that a lot of people have forgotten. That is called responsibility. Giving is a chance to give back, folks. Every single time you make a gift, you are saying by that gift, “Thank you, Lord. Thank you for my life. Thank you for today. Thank you for my friends, my family. Thank you for my health, my job. Thank you for my dreams, my opportunities. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.”

That’s what your gift means. Did you know that?

Secret Number Five: Give Expectantly.

Second Corinthians 9:6 says, “Remember this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will reap generously.”

Now, that is obviously not true just for farming and gardening. The Bible says it is true for absolutely every single facet and area of your life. The only real question then, if that is true, is, “How big a harvest do you want?”

Here’s a little ditty for you: “Giving is not a debt we owe; giving is simply a seed we sow.”

I like that. “Giving is not a debt we owe; giving is simply a seed we sow.” Give expectantly and just see what God does, because generosity is what Easter people are about, folks. It’s a lifestyle.

Now, here’s the hard part. Where do I start?

I wish somebody had just been able to stand up and say to me, years and years ago, what I am about to say to you. 

Where do you start? I was 35-years-old and an ordained pastor in the Christian Church – Disciples of Christ. The truth of the matter is I did not give one red dime to my church. Here’s a little game I played in my head. Here’s the game: I said to myself, “Self, you give your time. You give your energy. You give your talent. Indeed, this is what you do all your life, everyday. You give your life to God. God doesn’t need my money.”

Somebody said, “Do you tithe to your church?”

I was 35-years-old, and I was embarrassed to say… Actually I didn’t. I lied.

What’s the starting point? What should I do first? I don’t care if you are 35, or 15, or 75, or 105. If you haven’t started yet, consider this. If you don’t get anything else out of today, just get this. 

Second Corinthians 8:5 says, “They first gave themselves to the Lord.”

That’s where it starts. Nowhere else.

Folks, God does not need your money. But God clearly wants what your money represents. The bottom line is God wants you. The truth is God does not have you unless God has your money, too. That is the truth.

So, where does it start? How do I get started? Maybe it starts with a prayer.

Pray with me for just a second.

Lord, I’ve heard a lot about generosity today, and my head is swimming with all of the things you have to say about giving. Even though I don’t understand it all, I get the part about my heart. So, I guess what I want to say is, “Lord, I’m really beginning to see that all that I am and that all that I have really belongs to you. That’s not just about my time, my energy, and my talent. It’s about my money, too. So, sign me up, because I’m yours. Tell me what you want me to give, and I’ll do it. Just help me live every day generously.”

And we all say together… “Amen.”

Benediction

Giver of all, thank you for our daily bread. Thank you for blessings that are beyond measure. Shape us in your image, giving us grateful, generous hearts. Amen.