GIVING AND RECEIVING – PART THREE

Friends, we are back to conclude the topic we started with last time. And that is: Giving and Receiving. And our text was taken from 2 Corinthians 8:1-7. That’s the text we are dealing with.
Last time, we asked the question: Why does God want us to give? And then we said that the nature of God demands that we give because God is a giving God. All of life depends on giving and receiving; and God has designed giving and receiving as a means of blessing or enriching His people.

And then we asked the question, what does God want us to give? And we said, first and foremost: ourselves; and then secondarily, our treasures. And we said that mundane and earthy things become heavenly treasures when we pass them through the hand of the Lord Jesus Christ.

A.W Tozer said that any temporal possession can be turned into everlasting wealth. Whatever is given to Christ is immediately touched with immortality. That’s A.W Tozer.
And then we said that time is our most valuable asset in producing treasures. And we must know that life is short. And we must be sensitive to opportunities to do good. And then we stop often to ask ourselves how we have spent our time.

Now we want to go into the last segment which is, How does God want us to Give?

PRAYER:
Father, thank You for the time You have given us to search the scriptures. And I pray that my friends in radioland will benefit from this message today, as you speak to the hearts of us all, in Jesus Name. Amen!

How Does God Want Us to Give?
This is important because the manner of giving is as important as what you give. How should we give? Let’s see according to the scriptures how God expects us to give.
i. God expects us to give practically.
God expects us to give practically.
In 1 John 3:16-18
1 John 3:16-18

16By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 17But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?
18My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.

Saying that we have given our lives to Jesus Christ without giving ourselves and our treasures to Him is an empty talk. God does not want us to love Him and our fellow men in words – but in deed: that is, practically; and in truth. God wants us to give practically; God wants us also to give proportionately.

ii. God wants us to give proportionately.
2 Corinthians 8:12-13
2For if there is first a willing mind, it is accepted according to what one has, and not according to what he does not have.
13For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened;

God wants us to give proportionately. Because God is fair, whatever He demands from us is always in proportion to what He gives us.
The tithe, for example, is a proportionate giving. We give different amounts as tithes; but in the same proportion which makes such giving equal.
Friend, if everyone gave and served and prayed exactly like you, will the church be healthy and empowered or would it be weak and listless? This is the question a Christian friend wants everyone of us to answer. You go against God’s sense of fairness if you belong to the family of God and fail to give your fair share in taking care of God’s business. Even a society frowns at anybody who tries to get something for nothing.

As Americans will always say, there is no free lunch. Reaping where you have not sown is stealing. No wonder God says that those who enjoy His blessings but keep their tithes from Him are robbing Him. And you can see that He uses even a harder word, because robbing is a harsher word than stealing. Someone said, so give to God according to your income or God will make your income according to your giving. God expects us to give practically, proportionately.

iii. God expects us also to give promptly.
When God called Abraham to sacrifice his son as a test in Genesis 22, we’re told Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son and split the wood for the burnt offering; and rose and went to the place to which God had told him. That’s Genesis 22:3.
Abraham rose early. He was about to give his son to God. And he did so promptly.

In the economy of God giving is time sensitive. You do not postpone the giving you should give today to tomorrow; for tomorrow may not come for you or for the recipient of your gift – or the potential recipient of your gift. It may turn out that giving delayed, like justice, is giving denied.
God wants us to give practically. God wants us to give proportionately. He wants us to give promptly. He also wants us to give expectantly.

iv. God wants us to give expectantly.
In Genesis 22:5: the test of Abraham when Abraham was tested with giving his son to God as a sacrifice.

Genesis 22:5
5And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.”

We! Abraham was about to give his son to God; and he was doing that expectantly. He expected to receive his son back even after he has sacrificed him. That is faith. Those who give expectantly give not from a sense of loss but from a sense of gain. That’s what Abraham did. And that’s the reason why a number of Christians cannot give as they are supposed to give, because they give from a sense of loss. If you were to give from a sense of gain you will give what God expects you to give; and you will give so joyfully. Since the law of sowing and reaping holds good for giving and receding those who give should expect to receive from God in response and in proportion to their giving – and that in more ways than one. Just like the farmer expects to harvest his crops, God expects us to give practically. He expects us to give proportionately. He expects us to give promptly. He expects us to give expectantly because that helped you to give. And God expects us to give willingly or volitionally.

v. God wants us to give willingly or volitionally.
2 Corinthians 8:12
12For if there is first a willing mind, it is accepted according to what one has, and not according to what he does not have.
If there is a willing mind! Willingly.

2 Corinthians 9:7
7So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.

False giving or giving obtained through trickery are unacceptable to God. The giving God accepts is one done willingly and deliberately. Giving is a choice – as you have purposed in your heart. Because it is as you have purposed in your heart that God will reward you. Some fund raisers in the church of Jesus Christ today are nothing but cornmen and women robbing people with religious pretense. Sometimes people are told to give with all kinds of false assurances. Do not force people to give to God.

vi. God expects us to also give cheerfully.

2 Corinthians 9:7 So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver

God loves a hilarious giver. How well do you receive gifts given grudgingly? God loves a cheerful giver, not a sighing hissing grumbling giver. Be happy to give to God as the king of the universe He is. Giving to God grudgingly is to insult Him.

Finally,

vii. God expects us to give graciously.
2 Corinthians 8:1
Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia

Grace! The grace of giving.

What some of us lack is the grace of giving, not what to give. This leads me to ask: have you really received grace of God, friend? Those who have received the grace of God which has brought them salvation cannot but give to God by the same enabling grace. This grace curbs our greed, our stinginess and our self-centeredness. This grace causes us to give to God practically, proportionally, promptly, expectantly, willingly and cheerfully.

May you know the grace and the goodness of giving to God from whom you have received so much.

PRAYER:
Father, thank You. We have come to the end of this discussion. And I pray, Lord, that You would minister Your grace to the hearts of my friends, that they may start from now to give as You would have them give and receive the blessings in store for those who give the way You God desire them to give, in Jesus Name. Amen!