Amelia Church of Christ - Christian Church in Amelia, OH near Cincinnati in Clermont County

Welcome to the second week in our LIE$ series. In this series, we’re debunking and destroying some popular lies that people buy into about faith and their finances. Some people like to believe that they can completely separate their faith from their finances. I’m not sure where that idea came from, but it didn’t come from the Bible. Money and matters of faith are welded together in the Scripture.

Last week we talked about the lie that says, “The church only wants my money.” It’s true that this has been the case in some churches and with some televangelists, but that’s not what we’re about here at Amelia. I told you last week that I’m not impressed with it. I’m not going to treat you better than others if you make the big bucks. I’m not going to beg for your money. That’s not the way we operate here at Amelia.

But there is another lie that usually goes in lock step with this thinking. People say, “The church only wants my money. But God doesn’t care about my money.”

God doesn’t care about my money. That is a lie. That is a Lie. That is a LIE!

Jesus talked about money in 25% of his teachings. He talked about money more than he talked about heaven and hell combined. This is obviously a big deal to the Lord. Your money matters to God. And today we’re going to explore a couple of reasons why.

God cares about your money because it confirms what you value. If something is valuable to you, it’ll show up in your expenditures. You invest in what is important to you.

I’ve got friends who invest money in their motorcycle because it is important to them.

I know people who always buy the newest, cutting edge technology. They stood in line for the iPhone. They bought a Chumby. (If you don’t know what that is, then you’re not one of these people.) These folks will stand in line the next time the next big thing comes out. Technology is important to them.

I’ve got friends who will spend a lot of money for their morning cup of coffee. I love coffee, but lately I’ve been hearing that apparently my coffee is no good. Apparently the coffee that I buy at the grocery store is already stale. So what I should do is buy these fresh beans that are a lot more expensive. I need to roast them myself because all the flavor leaves the beans within a few minutes after roasting. And then I should grind them myself. But I’m not done yet. My $25 Mr. Coffee coffeemaker is no good. I need to throw that out and go buy some super-expensive contraption to brew my coffee. And the coffee filters? You need to special order them. The ones in the grocery store are too waxy or oily and they change the flavor of your coffee. So if I go spend all of this money, I can actually have a good cup of coffee.

I love coffee, but not as much as these people do. I brew Folgers in my Mr. Coffee with store-bought filters and that suits me just fine. I don’t love coffee enough to make that kind of investment. It’s not that important to me.

I’m not saying any of this is wrong. You drive a motorcycle? Fine. You go in for new technology? No problem. You chuck out some serious coin for your coffee? Ok.

I’m not saying any of it is wrong. I’m simply saying that we invest in what is really important to us. And that’s why our money matters to God. Because our money confirms what is important in our lives. It is a practical demonstration as to what we deem as valuable.

Jesus said as much in Matthew 6 when he said, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21, ESV)

Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. To find out what is important to me, you don’t have to look any further than my budget. I can say that something is important to me. But if it’s really important, it’ll go beyond saying. It’ll be expressed through spending.

Money is one of the only tangible pictures that Jesus gave us to figure out the condition of someone’s heart. It’s one of the few practical ways we have to gauge what someone values in their heart.

Last week I shared some uncomfortable statistics about the number of Christ-followers who regularly bring a tithe to God. Remember that a tithe means bringing 1/10th of your income back to God. On average, less than 3% of Christians in our country tithe. Less than 3% bring a tithe to their church. Now if you were to ask the average Joe or Jane Christian, “Is your church important to you?” I bet most of them would say, “Of course! My church is very important to me.”

Not according to the formula that Jesus gave us. Jesus said that your treasure follows your heart. And when a Christ-follower is content drop a fiver in the plate every week, that is a not-so-subtle message of just how important the church actually is to him.

But then the opposite is true as well. When a Christ-follower is an extravagant giver like we talked about last week, when they bring the tithe or even beyond, their generosity communicates exactly what is important to them. Because their treasure is indicative of the state of their heart. The church is highly valued to them.

But it goes beyond what you think of the church. Remember last week we said that ultimately when you give, you’re giving to Jesus, not the church. Ultimately, your money indicates where God ranks in your heart. It’s an indicator of how important Jesus is to you. Is that harsh? Maybe. Is it true? Absolutely.

Last week we pulled some tough words of God out of Malachi 3. In Malachi 1, we find some more hard words of God.

“When you bring blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice crippled or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Try offering them to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Would he accept you?" says the LORD Almighty” (Malachi 1:8, NIV)

God’s people in the Old Testament were commanded to bring animal sacrifice to seek forgiveness from God and to offer worship to Him. So it stands to reason that they were commanded to bring the best of the best from their flock or herd.

In fact, in the book of Deuteronomy, God says, “If an animal has a defect, is lame or blind, or has any serious flaw, you must not sacrifice it to the LORD your God.” (Deuteronomy 15:21, NIV)

But apparently some Israelites forgot this command, because they got the bright idea that a lame, diseased, or crippled animal would please God just as much, and they could hang onto to the best of their flock to sell for themselves.

God’s response is simple. The governor wouldn’t accept these flawed animals as tax payment. Why should I accept them in worship?

The principle here is simple: when we don’t offer God the best portion of our resources, he takes that very personally. Offering God less than our best is tantamount to saying that there are more important things in your life than God.

When we withhold the tithe, when we refuse to give generously to the Lord, we need to understand that we can’t explain that one away. God is serious about generosity and when we refuse to be obedient in this area of our lives, he’s gonna get ticked off.

God goes on in Malachi 1. “Oh, that one of you would shut the temple doors, so that you would not light useless fires on my altar! I am not pleased with you," says the LORD Almighty, "and I will accept no offering from your hands” (Malachi 1:10, NIV)

The temple is where the Israelites worshipped the Lord. The fires he mentions were used in giving God burnt offerings. The fires were very central in Old Testament worship…and in this case God calls them useless. They’re useless because it’s all show. It’s all window dressing. Our treasure follows our heart, and these people were guilty of keeping the best of their treasure for themselves while they gave God whatever was leftover.

And when they did that, God said, “Just close the temple (or the church) doors. Close ‘em up. Don’t even come back to worship me, because your worship is useless. It’s all show. It’s window dressing to cover up a heart that is very far from me.”

You think your money doesn’t matter to God? God says that, without generosity, without extravagant giving, everything else is useless. If that offends you, don’t take it up with me. I didn’t write this. God bluntly says that, “If you refuse to honor me with your giving, just close up shop and go home.”

More harsh words from God. "But you profane [My Name] by saying of the Lord's table, 'It is defiled,' and of its food, 'It is contemptible.' And you say, 'What a burden!' and you sniff at it contemptuously," says the LORD Almighty.” (Malachi 1:12-13a, NIV)

The Lord’s table in these verses probably refers to the table where animals were sacrificed to the Lord. And yet some people saw bringing an offering to God as a burden. They treated it with contempt.

God gets hot under the collar when we treat giving to Him as a burden. When we say things like, “[Huff!] I’m not going to tithe. I don’t have to do that. I can’t believe this preacher is talking about my money. How dare he?” That type of attitude toward giving is going to get God’s attention, but it’s not the kind of attention you’re looking for.

Our attitude toward giving is paramount. Remember, this isn’t a money issue. It’s a heart issue. If it were just a money issue, God would take your money regardless of your attitude. Restaurants, stores, and corporations take money from nasty, critical customers all the time. Because at the end of the day, the money is what matters most. It doesn’t matter how the money was given, just as long as it was given.

But God’s economy is different. If you’re going to huff and whine and gripe and complain about your giving, then don’t give. Because it’s obvious that your giving is not an overflow of a thankful heart. You view it as a burden. As a chore. As an unpleasant duty. And if that’s the case, God just says, “Keep it. I’m after a generous attitude. I want your heart. And if you’re going to treat giving like that, just keep your money.”

Let’s listen to God wrap it up. "When you bring injured, crippled or diseased animals and offer them as sacrifices, should I accept them from your hands?" says the LORD. "Cursed is the cheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord. For I am a great king," says the LORD Almighty, "and my name is to be feared among the nations.” (Malachi 1:13b-14, NIV)

The word “cheat” jumped out at me this week. Notice who it’s directed to. Anyone who has an acceptable animal to give but instead gives God something less…God calls him a cheat. Anyone who has been blessed by God but refuses to bless God by giving generously…they’re a cheat. And the cheat shouldn’t expect God to accept his piddley offering.

After working through that section of Malachi, is there anybody that still believes that God doesn’t care about your money? He cares about your money because it’s directly linked to your heart. What he wants is your heart. All of it. And when we don’t give generously, when we withhold the tithe, when we don’t give God our best, it’s a sign that our heart isn’t fully his.

On the other hand, when we live a life of generosity, when we bring the tithe or even beyond, it’s an indicator that our heart is beating with the same rhythm as God’s heart. Now we can’t be legalistic about this. Giving your money doesn’t guarantee that your heart is fully God’s. But it is an indicator that God is doing a work in your life and that you’re striving to please him. It’s an indicator that your heart belongs to the Lord because, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

A second reason that God cares about your money is because it reveals what you trust.

Jesus told a story in Matthew 25 about three servants who had different amounts of their master’s money to manage. One was given five talents, one was given two talents, and one was given one talent. A talent wasn’t a coin, but a weight that was applied when weighing precious metals. We don’t know exactly what the actual worth would have been, but it was very substantial.

The servants with five talents and two talents invested them. They risked the money in order to gain more. The last one played it safe with his one talent. He didn’t risk it, but he buried it in the ground for safe keeping.

Interestingly, at the end of the story, the servants who had risked their money were rewarded by their master. The conservative one who took no risk was severely punished. In fact, Jesus called him worthless.

When it comes to stewardship or giving, if we’re not risking something, then we’re missing the point. If your giving isn’t stretching you, if your giving isn’t a faith-risk, then it’s not yet reached the level of sacrifice. If we’re conservative, if we play it safe in our giving to the Lord, then we don’t have to trust him because there is no risk involved.

I love the way the Message reads in Matthew 25. The servant who buried his talent in the ground gave it back to his master.

"The master was furious. 'That's a terrible way to live! It's criminal to live cautiously like that! "'Take the thousand and give it to the one who risked the most. And get rid of this "play-it-safe" who won't go out on a limb.” (Matthew 25:26a, 28, The Message)

Giving to God means aggressive risk taking. It means that you bring a generous gift to God because you trust that he’ll take care of you.

Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 9, “Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” (2 Corinthians 9:6-7, NIV)

It clearly illustrates risk and reward when it comes to our giving. If we sow sparingly when we give, we shouldn’t be surprised that our life will be blessed sparingly. If we give generously, we can expect to be blessed generously.

That doesn’t mean that we give to get rich. We don’t give to get anything. We give because we love God. We give because God gave. But God has promised that his blessings are released in our lives when we live generously.

And then Paul goes on to talk about our attitude. We already saw in Malachi that if we whine and gripe about giving, then God would rather we wouldn’t give at all.

Here in the New Testament, God says that our giving isn’t about compulsion or duty. It’s about joy. God loves a cheerful giver.

The Greek word for cheerful in this verse is the word hilaros. This is where we get our English word “hilarious.” This is the only place in the New Testament where you’ll find this word. Literally, the Bible says that God loves a hilarious giver.

A couple of different ways to look at that. One, hilarious giving is joyful giving. The opportunity to give should make us downright giddy. It’s a hilarious, joyous, laugh-out-loud kind of thing. How would that change the way that our offering collection looked here at Amelia? People are dropping their tithe in the plate and they’re just flat out giddy about it. Laughing hysterically. Some people would say, “That would be irreverent.” No, that would be a picture of hilarious, Biblical giving.

There is another way to look at this. Hilarious giving is risky giving.

We are challenging everyone who calls ACC home to bring the tithe next Sunday, November 18. Whatever your income is for that week, we’re challenging you to follow the Biblical principle and bring 10% of that to the Lord on that Sunday.

For some of you, that will be a stretch. For others of you, it’s simply a ridiculous proposition. It’s laughable. The thought of you tithing is hilarious. Exactly.

That’s the kind of givers that God is looking for. Risky givers. People who give to the point of hilarity.

You know what that looks like? It looks like the single lady on a fixed income who came up to me last week and said, “I’ve never tithed before, but I’m going to give it a try.” That’s a hilarious giver.

It looks like the young couple who told me that they haven’t yet gotten to the generous level of giving that they want to offer, and so they decided to get serious about selling a vehicle to get rid of that big monthly payment. They’re doing that so they can free up more money to give to the Lord. That’s a hilarious giver.

It’s the older gentleman who told me that he and his wife blew by the tithe years ago. In fact, they’ve doubled it. They’re giving 20% of their income to the Lord. They are hilarious givers.

That’s what God is doing in our church family. Isn’t that awesome? People use certain words to describe our church family to me all the time. They use words like loving, exciting, friendly, warm, and encouraging. I think God is going to add a new word to describe our church: generous. I want to be known as a church whose heart beats with generosity. And with hilarious givers like that, it’s gonna happen!

Your money reveals what you trust. When you withhold your tithe from God, it shows a lack of trust. But when you bring the tithe or even beyond, when you take a risk, when you get the point of hilarious giving, it demonstrates a heart that trusts in God. A life that is fully and finally in God’s hands.

God is looking for hilarious givers. People who are willing to be ridiculed by others for their generosity. People who are willing to take a hilarious risk by giving generously to the Lord. People who are willing to obey the Biblical command to bring the whole tithe to God.

Let’s allow Jesus to speak to us again. “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19-21, ESV)

Where is your treasure? We spend a great amount of time and energy building up our treasure. We take great care to fatten up our piggy bank. And giving to God, that kind of gets in the way of our plan. A tithe? 1/10th of my treasure? 10% of my piggy bank? Now that’s downright hilarious, which is exactly why God has issued the challenge.

Tithing makes no logical sense. It doesn’t. You’d be hard-pressed to find a financial adviser who would tell you, “Tithing. Now there’s a sound money decision.” Tithing makes no sense to our world. Giving generously to God seems ludicrous to them. It’s a hilarious notion to our culture.

But then again, it didn’t make sense when God revealed his plan to save us from our sin. It involved some seriously hilarious giving. God gave the life of His Son so that the price of our sin could be paid in full. Did that make sense? No. Was it logical? Not at all. But loving means giving. Generous giving. Extravagant giving. Hilarious giving.

Knowing the ludicrous gift that God gave us, what is our response?

Our response is to break the bank. Go above and beyond. Get crazy. Give hilariously. Break the bank. Bring the tithe.

“But I’ve worked hard to build this bank. And God’s doesn’t care about my money anyway.” Wrong.

You know what God is saying to all of us? He’s saying, “Little pig, little pig, let me in!”

That’s not bad, is it? I wish the joke was mine, but I’ve got to give Steven Furtick props for thinking that one up.

God is saying, “Let me in. Let me do a work in your life. Let me bring blessings to your life that you didn’t expect. But to do that, you’ve got to take a risk. You’ve got to trust me.”

We read this last week, but look again at what God said in Malachi 3. “Bring the whole tithe into my storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.” (Malachi 3:10, NIV)

Tithing is trusting. It is trusting God’s promise in Malachi 3.

Did you catch the phrase in the middle of the verse? “Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty. The LORD Almighty. That’s not there by accident.

It could have just said, “Test me in this,” says the Lord. But no, it says, “Test me in this,” says the LORD Almighty.

This forces the question: do you believe that God is almighty? Do you believe that he is omnipotent, all-powerful? If you do, doesn’t that make it easier to trust him? If you’re faithful to bring to the tithe, the LORD Almighty promises to bless your life. Do you believe he can do that? Are you willing to go beyond lip-service and put that belief into action?

Break the bank. Bring the tithe.

Next week, we’re challenging all our people here at Amelia to get hilarious in their giving. To break the bank and bring the tithe. I want to reiterate from last week that this isn’t for our guests. If you’re visiting with us today, I’m thrilled that you’re here…and I don’t want a red cent from you.

But God is challenging all of us who are plugged into this church family to break the bank and bring the tithe next Sunday. It’s gonna be an exciting time. I can’t wait to watch God throw out his hysterical blessing as we become hilarious givers.

God does care about your money because it confirms what you value and it reveals what you trust. Your money is directly linked to your heart, which is what God is after more than anything. He wants your heart. He wants you to be a sold-out disciple of Jesus, allowing him to impact every area of your life.

For some of you, your money isn’t the issue because you’ve never given your life and your eternity to Jesus. You’ve never made him the Lord and Savior of your life. Until you make that decision, nothing else matters. If you need to talk and pray with someone about this decision, we invite you to come today.

Mike Edmisten

Tags: LIES, giving, heart, Malachi 1, Matthew 6, money, risk, tithe, tithing