Pastor Wayne Cordeiro
March 18, 2007 - W0711

Today, I am going to talk about something that we all believe; however, my goal or challenge is not in making you believe it more but to move you closer to living what you believe. Sometimes how we live is far different from what we say we believe. A non-Christian friend of mine once said that he did not hate what we believe, he just hates when we did not live by what we believe. Gandhi said that if all Christians truly lived like Christ then there would be no Hindus.

God promises the blessings of Heaven if we live as we say we believe and follow Christ. As the Bible says, “If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them” (John 13:17). God promises a blessing if we do what we know to be right.  In other words, it is a two-step process. We must “Listen to counsel and accept discipline, that you may be wise the rest of your days” (Prov. 19:20).

WISDOM COMES FROM TWO PLACES

So what do we need to do to have wisdom the rest of lives?  Well the first thing is to…

1. Listen to God’s counsel.

That’s what daily devotions is all about.  It’s about reading God’s words daily and letting it that soak into our lives, so when we’re faced with situations or circumstances, we can draw upon our knowledge to know what to do.  That is why we strongly encourage daily devotions here at New Hope.  Then the second thing is…

2. Accepting the discipline necessary to apply His counsel.

One of the keys to success is doing what is right even when you do not feel like it. Strange as it may sound, living contrary to what you feel like doing is sometimes the way to success. Living only by what you feel can lead to laziness and greed. On the other hand, the by-product of discipline is commitment, for example, commitment to your children, marriage and church.

In this day and age of living for and taking care of oneself, many are not disciplined and do not demonstrate commitment.  As a result, people are less dependable and trustworthy.  For example, you may be inspired by a sermon on forgiveness but when you get home and the feeling has worn off, you make excuses for not forgiving someone. Some people have to feel good and only then will they do good.  In contrast, others do good first and then they feel good about it later.  That is the kind of people we want to be.  The definition of commitment is staying true to a worthy decision long after the emotion that sparked the decision is long gone.  We want to be that kind of church that is disciplined to God’s word and committed to His ways, even when there are challenging (including “not feeling like it”) so we can win over the hearts and lives of others who experience the grace of God’s through us.

Today we are talking about one of Life’s essentials.  If you’re missing it in your life, then something is very wrong. The life essential we’re talking about is giving. I know a lot of people don’t like it when I talk about giving but think of it like this…A doctor often uses his finger to press various parts of your body and asks if it hurts. Does this hurt? No.  Does this hurt? No. Does this hurt? Ow! If he finds a spot that hurts, he doesn’t necessarily stop. In fact, he often presses it a few more times to confirm that’s where the pain is. He’s not pressing that area specifically to cause you pain; rather, he presses the area because he knows that it shouldn’t be causing you pain and your reaction is helping him to identify the problem so he can address it.

So when we talk about giving, think of it like a spiritual check-up. God presses on our head and asks if it hurts. No, praise God. God presses gently on our eyes. No pain, thank God. God squeezes our hands…we’re okay. But then he presses on our wallets and we scream! Ouch! Stop doing that! Sometimes God allows adverse changes in our financial circumstances that hurt, but sometimes the pain serves to let us know that we have put our finances above God. Think about it, it would not hurt so much if money meant less to us. God wants us to be good stewards by being givers. Remember, He was pleased with the poor widow who only gifted 2 copper coins because to her it was a great sum yet she was willing to give it all up for the Lord.

THE BOTTOM LINE

There are true heavenly riches that God will bestow on you but there is a boot camp where you prepare for what He wants to give you.

“If therefore ye have not been faithful in the use of unrighteous mammon,

 who will commit to your trust the true riches?” (Luke 16:11 KJV)

In other words, if you cannot be trusted to steward or handle money well, then how can God trust you to handle or steward the true riches of Heaven? The way we use money is like boot camp training for handling the true blessings of God. He wants us to be ready to steward powerful blessings like the gift of the Holy Spirit, the ability to inspire and change lives, or to lead others. Money itself can turn into another God or idol for us if we do not steward it well. Many people choose their career not by what God wants for them but by how much money that career will make for them. We have to control money by stewarding it rightly.

So that’s it? This sermon is just about giving? No, that’s not it.  This sermon is about having and becoming.

The Dead Sea is very rich with minerals.  It is 1300 feet below sea level with pillars of salt rising from its floor. The Pacific Ocean is 4% salt but the Dead Sea is 24% salt. The Pacific is alive with fish and plants. The Dead Sea is …  well … dead! Rich in minerals but still very dead. Scientists say that the only way it could have life is if an outlet was dug thereby creating a flow to the ocean from the Dead Sea therefore becoming a conduit rather than a cul de sac. Looking at it another way, in order to have life the Dead Sea must become a giver! Life is a lot like that.  You have to be a giver in order to have an abundant life. This is true for all aspects of life. If you want your marriage to be full of life then you must give to your spouse. If you want your business to be successful, you need to work hard at it.  If you are a giver, you will have an abundant life and become more Christ like.

On the contrary, the definition of greed is keeping everything you get. This definition reveals that not only can the rich be greedy but so can the poor or even the homeless if they hoard everything they find. It doesn’t matter how much (or little) you have. If you are greedy, God cannot bestow great riches on you because He cannot trust that give you will steward them well.

So how do we become Christ-like givers and prevent our possessions from ruling us? First…

1.     CHOOSE TO BE A PEOPLE OF THE TITHE.

The reason is, “The purpose of tithing is to teach you always to fear the Lord your God” (Deut. 14:23 NLT). This means to put the Lord first in all things. If you want His blessings in dating, marriage or business then put Him first in your dating, marriage or business. Putting Him first makes us people of the tithe.

You come from a long line of givers even if you cannot trace your lineage back to a Bible hero because everyone of you has been adopted into the family of Christ. In ancient times, corners of the field were left unharvested so that the poor could come and harvest or glean what had been left behind and thereby give thanks to God. In later times, the profit from one acre out of ten was used to finance spreading the word of the Lord.  In modern times, we give one-tenth of our salary as a tithe to God. We must chose to be people of the tithe and God will be glorified through it.

And if it makes you feel better, don’t forget we cannot outgive the Lord!  A while back, my wife and I decided to give an old car of ours to another pastor and I wondered how much the Lord would bless us for this giving, so for 3 months I kept track of all the unsolicited gifts we received after giving away the car. The car was worth only $4000 but we received $9,800 in unsolicited gifts in the three months following donating the car! Once the giving starts, a life of abundance begins.

If you are still reluctant because you don’t know what you can afford to give, this second piece of advice is for you…

2. START SMALL BUT START NOW.

As the Bible says, “When you make a vow to God, do not be late in paying it” (“…don’t delay in following through” … NLT) (Eccl. 5:4). You don’t have to start out big.  Start by just dropping the 7 cents you get as change in the charity jar on the convenience store counter. Learning to give is like beginning to exercise.  If you do not have an hour to exercise, then just go for a 5 minute walk to start out, then do a little more the next day, and a little more the day after that. Soon you’ll be walking a half hour or hour a day and you’ll feel great! Similarly with giving, start out by giving just a little but the trick is to start giving now. Over time, with practice and repetition, you’ll start to see and feel the results (God’s blessing) and it’ll encourage you to do more.  Then the third and last advice I have for you is…

3.     DESIRE GOD’S GREATEST GIFTS!

Do not focus on material wealth because God has far more to offer you. Do not give solely because the Bible tells us to, and do not give just because God promises He will bless you in return. It is written, “And if you are untrustworthy about worldly wealth, who will trust you with the true riches of heaven?” (Luke 16:11 NLT) We also know that God bankrupted Heaven by sending His beloved Son to die for our sins so that you and I have a chance to spend the rest of eternity with Him in Heaven. God gave His all for us and the more we give, the more we become like Him so…

We give, not for what we can get but more for what we can become.

I have been told that when I speak and make certain gestures that I look just like my father (he was a very handsome man!) Well, giving is something like that – it makes us become more like our Heavenly Father.

Years ago, when I was preaching in Hilo, an elder named Gene used to invite me out and pay for my lunch every Tuesday. At first I delighted at the thought of a regular free meal but after a few years, I felt the desire to reciprocate but Gene turned me down. No matter how I tried he still insisted on paying.  As time went on my desire turned into a burning passion to pay! Because of Gene’s example of giving, my heart changed from wanting to get a free lunch to wanting to give them instead. I was transformed from a taker into a desirous giver. This is an example of what the Bible says, “We love because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19).

How many times did Jesus pay for our sins? Because of His giving, our hearts should change. When that change happens then God says we are ready for His true gifts.

Not only must we believe in Christ but we also must live what we believe. We must listen to God’s counsel and accept the discipline to put his counsel into action. The bottom line is that if we want to be blessed with the riches of Heaven then we must prove we can steward God’s lesser gifts first. We have to choose to be people of the tithe which means that we must put God first in all things. We have to start small but start now in following God’s word. Our goal should be to attain God’s greatest gifts and not simply to attain the earthly ones. We should give not because we will be rewarded but because giving transforms us to be more like Christ.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Have you ever gone against God’s counsel?  Why and what was the result?
2. What did Pastor Wayne mean when he said that sometimes we have to go against what we feel in order to achieve success?
3. How can giving money away make you richer?
4. What are you doing to be a person of the tithe? In your finances?  In your relationships? At work or at school?
5. One piece of advice for those who are having difficulty with giving is...start small but to start now.  How can you begin small but now?
6. What does it mean, "We give, not for what we can get but more for what we can become?" 

"All scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong with our lives. It straightens us out and teaches us to do what is right. It is God’s way of preparing us in every way, fully equipped for every good thing God wants us to do.” (2 Tim. 3:16-17 NLT)

Sermon Notes Ministry: Debbie Chang, Leighton Loo,

                                                Doreen Rabaino & Jay Tsukayama