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

This is week #3 of our series called How To Be Rich. This series is causing us to rethink everything we thought we knew about money and stuff. God is really turning some things upside down in our lives. And when He does that, it hurts. But it also launches us to a whole new level in our lives. Let’s pray for Him to do that again today.

Alright, week #3 of How To Be Rich. We’re talking about money. And this week, we’re going to talk about giving.

Now, we have new people here at ACC every single week. Every week we have people who come and check us out for the first time. Those of you who are new are sitting there thinking, “Great! Why in the world did we come to church today?” I get that. I really do.

I’m going to tell you up front that, if you’re visiting with us today, we don’t want your money. We’re not out to get your money. We’re not all about the money. If you don’t believe me, ask someone who’s been here for a while. Ask them, “Does this yahoo always talk about money?” They’ll tell you, “Nope. He’s a yahoo, for sure. But he doesn’t always talk about money.”

So go ahead and take that bullet out of your gun. “The church just wants my money.” No way, man. We’re thrilled and honored that you’re here today. And we don’t give a rip about your money.

But for the rest of us, I’ve got a question for you. When it comes to money and finances, how many of you would say, “I would love to be below average. I want to be at the bottom end.” How many of you say, “I want to be below average?” Probably none of us.

But here’s the thing…the sad news is that if you’re rich, and most of you are rich according to everything we’ve talked about in this series…the sad news is, that if you are rich, chances are very, very good that you are a below-average giver. That’s right. Studies are very clear that the more people have, the smaller percentage that they tend to give. And the less that people have, the higher percentage that they tend to give. It sounds crazy, but it’s absolutely true.

The average American gives only 3.1% of his income to charities. That in itself is tragic. The average American gives only 3.1%, but those who make way less than average, those who make below $10,000 a year…well below the poverty line…those folks give 5.2%.

Think about that. The average American gives 3.1%, but those below $10,000 in earning, they give, not 3.1%, but 5.2%. Amazing to think that many people that have much less than us give a much higher percentage.

We are rich. If you don’t believe me, remember some of the things that we’ve learned in this series. Only 3% of people in the world own a car. A lot of us have 2…3…4. If your household makes more than $45,000 per year, you are among the top 1% wealthiest people on this planet.

We are rich. God has blessed us in amazing ways. But this raises the question, “Why? Why did God make us rich?”

Now, let’s be honest. As we look at most people’s lives and try to answer that question based on simple observation, how would we answer it? Why did God make us rich?

If I answered that question based on what I see, I would say, “Well, it appears that God made us rich so that we could have more, and get more, and buy more, and consume more.” Based on my observation, that’s how I would respond.

I was in McDonalds this week. I was actually sitting at a booth working on this message. Some people sat down in the booth next to me and they started talking about the Monopoly game at McDonald’s. This annual contest just started this past week. Some of the big prizes are a new car, a vacation, and of course, cash. Up to a million dollars.

The people in the booth next to me were talking about this game. And they started talking about what they would do if they struck it rich in this game.

First of all, they were talking about how they were poor. They’re not rich right now. And I thought, “You just paid someone to cook your lunch for you. And you think you’re not rich?”

At that point, I started to feel guilty for eavesdropping on their conversation…but not guilty enough to stop, so I kept listening.

I heard these people start talking about what they would do if they won the million dollars. You know what I heard? Total selfishness. Absolute greed. I heard all about the different ways they would consume all this wealth if they would ever win it.

But that’s pretty much par for the course in our culture, isn’t it? Here’s what we’ve been hammering on every week in this series. We’re not talking about how to get rich because we are already rich. So the question is why did God make us rich? This conversation at McDonalds simply revealed what is in most of our hearts. We act as if God made us rich so would could simply consume it all.

It would be pretty rare to say, “Well, based on my observation in your life, it looks like God must have made you rich, not so that you could get more, but so that you could give more. I mean, I’ve watched you, and as your resources have increased, your lifestyle has remained relatively constant. Sure, you might have enjoyed a few things now that you didn’t in the past, but you’ve created margin, and you’re using this margin to make a difference in other people’s lives.” Saying something like that would be very, very rare.

God made you rich. Why did He do it? Let’s open the Word of God and allow the Lord to answer this question. In 2 Corinthians 9, the Bible says, “You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.” (2 Corinthians 9:11, NIV 1984)

You will be made…what? What does the Bible say? You will be made…rich. You will be made rich in every way, but then the Bible tells us why.

You will be made rich in every way so you can be selfish and consume everything you make and not think about anybody but yourself. That’s not exactly what it says, is it?

You will be made rich so you can be generous. But don’t stop there. God has made you rich so you can be generous when? On every occasion.

And through us your generosity with result in thanksgiving to God. People will look at us, they will see our generosity, and they will thank God because of us.

Why did God make you rich? Why did God give you more? He gave your more so you could give more.

Let’s review our key statements. If you were here with us the last couple of weeks, we’ve kind of been picking up these statements along the way, and, and the first was this. “God has blessed me with more than I need. I am rich.” How do you know if you’re rich? God has blessed you with more than you need. If that’s true for you, then you are rich.

But then last week, we added to that thought. “But I will not trust in my riches, but in Him, who richly provides.”

It’s so easy to trust in our riches. It’s so incredibly easy to trust in money and stuff. We think if we just had more, if we just had a bigger stack, then we would be safe and secure and happy. We put our trust in our riches instead of in the One who richly provides us with everything we have.

Now, here is the part we’re going to add today. “Because I have more, I will give more.”

“God has blessed me with more than I need. I am rich, but I will not trust in my riches, but in Him, who richly provides. Because I have more, I will give more.” That’s how to be rich. It’s not how to get rich, because you already are rich. That’s how to be rich in a way that honors God.

Why did God make you rich? Well, one of the reasons is so you can give more. Now, that raises another question. “How can I learn to give more?” How can I learn to give more, because by nature, I’m selfish. By nature, I want to trust in my stack of money and say, “My stack will provide security.” If I don’t feel secure, I want more and think that will provide security.

Think about it…why does McDonalds do the Monopoly game every year? Because they make millions upon millions of dollars from this game. People who never go to McDonalds go to play this game because that carrot is dangling in front of them. That opportunity to “get rich” is right there on your McDonalds cup.

I actually went to McDonalds this morning. And I’ve got my game piece right here. And I’m going to peel it off right now. I have no idea what this is. According to McDonalds, I have a 1 in 4 chance of winning. So there is a 75% chance that I’m not going to win anything. But I’ve got it anyway. Here goes nothing.

[Talk about winning or not winning.]

Our culture is on an insane mission of acquisition. We don’t feel secure and happy and fulfilled with what we have, so we set out on a mission of acquisition. If I can just get more, then I’ll be secure and fulfilled.

God totally flips it around. God says, “You want to be fulfilled? You want to be secure? You want to be blessed? Then stop trying to get more. It’s not about getting more. It’s about giving more.”

That couldn’t sound more backwards and illogical to us. But the Kingdom of God is an illogical, upside-down Kingdom. God’s ways are never our ways. But His ways are true, even when they don’t make sense to us.

So, as God’s people, the question is how can I learn to give more? Because truthfully, if you are like me, as my income has increased, so has my lifestyle. And that’s usually what happens. If you get a raise, you think, “Okay, now we can get a bigger house. Or, if you get a tax refund, you think, “Okay, now we can go on that trip.” Or, if you get a bonus, you think, “Now, we can buy that HDTV.” We tend to think that more is for us. How can we possibly learn to be bigger givers?

We have to become intentional givers. We’re not going to be after the fact, or leftover givers. We are going to be intentional givers. We are going to become intentional and prayerful about what we give, because truthfully, if you look at our lives, most of us, we are intentional consumers.

We intentionally scheme about how we can consume. You may find something you want and say, “Okay, if I don’t eat for a week, I could buy this iPad. I am going to scheme so I can figure out how to get it.”

I’ve seen people who wanted a house, and so they thought, “If I borrow this money from my grandparents for the down payment, and then I get the raise, and we get a tax refund, and we get this low interest, and they’ll negotiate on us, and if I stand just like this, then maybe we can afford this house.” And they do all these crazy things, trying to get what they want. They scheme to consume.

It’s very rare that you ever see someone scheme on how to give. “If we kept our life simple, and if we downsize, and if we didn’t buy this thing, then…oh, this is so exciting…we could give more!”

How rare is that, because most people really don’t believe the words of Jesus. In Acts 20, the Bible reminds us that, “the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ” (Acts 20:35b, NIV)

If we actually believed that, we would be constantly scheming about how we could give. But instead, because we believe it’s more blessed to receive than to give, we scheme about ways to consume. Today, we’re reversing the trend. We’re going back to what the Bible says instead of what our culture says.

How are we going to learn to give more? We are going to become an intentional giver.

In 2 Corinthians 9, the Bible says, “Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” (2 Corinthians 9:7, NIV)

Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give. That is very important. Our giving is not reluctant. It’s not under compulsion. You know why? Because God loves a cheerful giver. Not a guilty giver. Not a grumbling, complaining giver. God loves a cheerful giver.

How do we give? We give cheerfully and we give intentionally. That’s what God means when He says that everyone should give what they have decided in their heart to give. In other words, you have a plan for your giving. You are intentional about your giving.

When it comes to our giving, we pray about it. We seek God’s will. “God, how do You want me to give? God, how could we give so that we could really make a difference?” We scheme about our giving. We prayerfully investigate what God wants us to do. We’re constantly asking, “How could we give more?”

Not because we have to. Because we get to. Not because we’re under compulsion, but because we are under grace. We give much because we have been given much.

How do we become bigger givers? We become intentional givers. That’s how to be rich. Let’s break it down into two thoughts, two ways to be intentional.

Number one, we will intentionally return to God what belongs to God. Let me say it again. We will intentionally return to God what belongs to God. The Bible calls it the tithe.

The Biblical principle is that God’s people tithe. They return 10% of their income back to God because it already belongs to Him.

In Malachi 3, God says, “Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me.

“But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’

“In tithes and offerings.” (Malachi 3:8, NIV)

The word “rob” implies ownership. If I rob you, I take something that belongs to you. I can’t steal something from you that isn’t yours. If I rob you, it means that I take something that is rightfully yours.

That’s what God says about the tithe. When we don’t return a tenth to Him, God says that we are robbing Him. We are stealing something that belongs to Him.

In a very real way, the tithe isn’t giving. It’s returning. It’s returning something to God that is already His. As God’s people, we will be intentional tithers.

Now, some of you may say, “I haven’t been trusting God in this way, but I want to. I want to honor Him. I want to believe His Word. I want to return the tithe to Him. But I’m really nervous about this. This is totally new territory for me and it scares me to death.”

God knows how tough this is for us. That’s why He went on to say this in Malachi 3:10. “Bring the whole tithe into the 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)

Do you understand that God specifically commands us not to test Him in other parts of the Bible? The Bible specifically says, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” But when it comes to tithing, God makes an exception to His own rule. It’s because He knows how tough this is for us.

Some of you are looking at your budget and you’re thinking, “There’s just no way. There is no way we can tithe.” Let me ask you this? Do you trust your budget more, or do you trust your God more? Do you trust what you see in your budget? Or do you trust what you see in God’s Word? When I read God’s Word, I see God saying, “Go ahead. Test me in this. You think you can’t make it if you tithe, but I’m telling you that you can’t even believe what I’ll do in your life if you make the decision to trust me in this.”

Who do you trust more? I realize that it makes no logical sense to tithe, but since when is God logical? I realize that it takes a lot of faith to tithe, but when does God ask us to do something that requires no faith?

If you’re standing on the edge, wondering if you should take the leap and start tithing, try it this way. Do it through the end of this year. That’s three months. Give God three months and see what He’ll do in your life and in your finances.

“But, you don’t understand. We’ve got all these bills. And then there’s the holidays that are coming. You know how expensive that can be. I just can’t do it right now.”

Do you really think that God can’t bless you because it’s the wrong time of year? Really? You’ve got a mighty small god, my friend. I’d like to introduce you to my God. My God can do whatever my God says He’s going to do. And my God has promised that if you trust Him and you bring the tithe to His church, He’ll bless you in ways that you can’t even imagine. My God can do that. I don’t know if your god can, but my God can.

Give Him three months. Commit to the tithe for the rest of 2011. See what God can do when you faithfully follow Him in your giving.

I’ll tell you what will happen. What will happen is you will see God prove Himself faithful to you. As you re-arrange your life around Him, you worship Him. You put Him first. You give Him ten percent, and you watch, as God will do more with 90% than you were doing with 100% when you were keeping it all for yourself. We are going to be intentional, and we will intentionally return to God what belongs to God.

The second way we are going to give intentionally is this. We will intentionally give more because God has given us more.

We are going to intentionally give more and more and more and more and more and more, because God has given us more, not so we could consume it all, but so we could use a significant portion to make a difference in this world.

Here’s what happens. If you find yourself resisting right now, it’s because something is broken inside of you. It means you don’t believe what Jesus said when it is more blessed to give than to receive. What you need to do is exactly what I’ve had to do, and that is to practice giving.

We all know that if you want to get better at something, you have to practice.

I was not a good giver, but over the years I practiced and I have become better at giving. It’s now something that I enjoy, something that’s easier for me to do. Now, I am a joyful giver. I used to be a reluctant giver, but now, it’s honestly a joy for me.

In 2 Corinthians 8, the Bible says, “But just as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us—see that you also excel in this grace of giving.” (2 Corinthians 8:7, NIV 1984)

Just as you excel in everything else, see that you also excel in this grace of giving. We are going to make it a goal to be great givers. To excel in our giving. We want to be generous. We want people to look at us and say, “I thank God for you, because you know how to be rich. You know how to be generous.”

I don’t know what that would mean for you. Maybe, you’ve been a tither for years, and giving ten percent’s just second nature. You don’t even miss it anymore. It took faith at first. But now it doesn’t even take faith to do that. It’s just easy.

For you, maybe your giving needs to go to 12%. 15%.

So, here is what I would suggest. One of the most effective ways to be an intentional giver is to be a percentage giver. Decide ahead of time what percentage you are going to give. You pray about it. You think about it. You scheme and negotiate ways so that you can give more.

The first 10% always goes to God through the local church. That is a given. That’s for beginning givers. That’s where we start. We start with the tithe.

Then, we scheme how we can go above the tithe. You scheme about moving from tithes to offerings. After the initial 10%, you start praying and thinking about scheming about other ways you can be a blessing. Maybe your family sponsors a child in a third world country. Maybe you start supporting a missionary. We support missionaries through our church. Maybe you decide you want to start sending a personal check to them as well. Maybe you decide that you’re going to give to a local organization that is feeding the poor in our own community. Our church does that. Maybe you want to go above and beyond and do it personally, as well.

Whatever God calls you to do, be intentional about it. And there is no better way that to pre-determine a percentage that you’ll give. If you do that, it will force you to be an intentional giver.

Craig Groeschel told a story about a woman he met in a third world country. He said, “I’m still having a difficult time internalizing what this lady did for me. I was in another country, a third world country, in a, you might call it a house, but it was more of a hut or a shack. It was a place where this lady lived. It just basically had a roof. It was smaller than my bathroom, no concrete floor, a dirt floor. Her toilet was a hole out in the yard.

Well, this lady knew I was coming for sometime, and she was very excited to give me meat. She heard I loved meat, and so we sat down, and she put this meat in front of me. I was looking at it, and you know, I’m trying to be polite, because she obviously had worked on this, and I’m wondering myself, “I wonder what this was.” You know, did it bark, or something?

I’m wondering, “What is this? I don’t know what it is,” but I’m eating. It didn’t taste very good. I was trying to be polite, but I was thinking, “This definitely isn’t T-bone steak.”

But when she walked out of the room, Craig said that his translator asked him, “Craig, did you notice how this lady didn’t have any meat?” I said, “Well, yeah. Why is that?”

The translator said, “Because she’s been saving for months to have enough money to buy that meat for you. She hasn’t eaten meat personally in well over a year.”

This lady planned and schemed and prayed about how to be a blessing to Craig. According to the world’s standards, she is very poor. According to God’s standards, that’s how to be rich.

I want to be that way. I don’t want to scheme on how I can get more and more and more. I want to ask God how I can be more intentional, because God has blessed me with so much.

God has blessed me with more than I need. I am rich. But I will not trust in riches. I will trust in Him who richly provides. And because I have more, I will give more.

That’s how to be rich. We will not give like average people. We will give like only a rich person can give.

We’ve been talking about giving all morning. Let me tell you about the greatest giver who there ever has been. His name is God, and He gave something far more valuable than money. He gave His Son.

In John 3:16, the most famous verse in the entire Bible, it says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16, NIV)

For God so loved the world that He what? He gave. God is an extravagant giver., He gave His only Son, Jesus, to die for our sins.

Jesus came to forgive our sins, to reveal the love of the Father to us. The problem is, we look for real life in things, and money, and status, and material blessings in all the other places, and we miss the real life that God intended for us in His Son, Jesus.

But today can be the day of change for you. You can make Jesus the Savior and Lord of your life. You can accept His grace. You can be forgiven. You can be baptized and receive the new life that God has planned for you.

God gave you His best when He gave you Jesus. God is a giver. And He wants to give you, not just eternal life, but a brand new life here and now.

Mike Edmisten

Tags: generosity, giving, How to Be Rich, money, riches, tithe, wealth