Giving back to God

Here's my sermon notes from Sunday. Hopefully these thoughts on tithing and giving are a review for most of you.

Giving back to God
Acts 5:1-11

Mention money or tithing in church…new people, “Oh it just figures”,
regulars, “I’ll just endure this…”

I purposely titled the sermon “Giving back to God” because…
Thesis: A godly attitude towards giving goes way beyond just our money. Everything we own belongs to God and we need to give all we have freely back to him.

This morning we’re going to look at one of the more interesting stories in the Bible from…
Acts 5:1-11
I chose this text because it’s easy for all of us to do this with the things we own, hang onto things too tight and keep too much for ourselves.
We get to thinking, “It’s my time, my car, my surfboard, my money, my kids, my house, my boat, my food…
It’s easy to want to keep it all to ourselves, isn’t it?
We review the “sharing lesson” in our house all the time…
We are born selfish and have to constantly break that habit.
Sometimes it feels good to hang on to our stuff tight.
We need to be reminded to have a loose grip on our possessions, so when God does take things back it doesn’t hurt so bad.
And God does take things back…from the trivial to irreplaceable.
The problem Ananias and Sapphira had was not that they didn’t sell their property, or even the fact that they keep part of the proceeds from the sale…but in lying in how much they had received. They wanted to keep it all to themselves.
This was an issue of dishonesty and greed.

Peter even reminds them in vs. 4, that at one point, this property was theirs, and after they sold it they had a chunk of money…these are the times God gives us to reflect on his goodness in our lives.
Am I being a good steward or caretaker of what I presently own?
Their sin was lying to God and the church saying they gave the whole amount, but holding back a portion for themselves and then trying to make themselves appear more generous than they really were.
Dishonesty and greed are bad enough by themselves, but when it happens publically in the church it looks double bad.
Then the dreaded “hypocrisy” word is used.
When a well-know leader in the church is caught stealing from the church or being dishonest in any way, that often does more damage for the cause of Jesus than almost anything else.
Lying to God will always get us in more trouble than lying to man.
Acts 5:4b, “You have not lied to men but to God.”
We can fool other people, but not God.

When it comes to giving back to God, we shouldn’t be wrestling with “Do I give from my gross or net, do I give 8%, 10%, 12% etc. etc.”
When we get selfish with our possessions, thinking we actually own them, then we “testing the Spirit of the Lord” as Sapphira did in vs. 9.
This story should cause “great fear to seize the whole church.”

Where did we get the concept of giving 10% of our income?
Leviticus 27:30, “A tithe or tenth of all you produce belongs to the Lord, it is holy to the Lord.”
However, if we were to tithe according to Biblical Old Testament standards it would be closer to 30%.

There were three tithes in the OT…
The first, called the Lord’s tithe… 10% of the harvest that went to support the priests and Levites since they were given no inheritance of land. (Numbers 18:21)

The 2nd tithe was on the remaining 90% that the people consumed themselves each year at the Feast of Tabernacles in a nationwide celebration of God’s provision. (Deut. 14:22-27) It was called the Festival tithe.

The 3rd tithe was the tithe for the poor. It was given every third year to help the poor and indigent. (Deut 14:28-29) One for the Levites, one for the people and one for the poor.

10% is a suggestion, a starting point.

2 Cor. 8:1-7, 9:6-8 9
God wants our giving (of all things) to be intentional, voluntary and cheerful, regular and proportional.

Intentional
• II Cor. 9:7a Plan ahead, know what you need to give that week or month.
• This helps us avoid the “Oh here comes the plate, I should probably throw something in” mentality like we saw in the opening video.

Voluntary and cheerful
• II Cor. 9: 6-8
• Giving our stuff back to God and his use should never be done out of guilt or coercion, God doesn’t need our stuff, he just wants our heart.
• God wants to teach us the joy of not being owned by our possessions or money.

Regular
• Not just because you were reminded of it today, so I’ll get serious about for a few months.
• Giving our stuff away needs to be a habit, a discipline. 1 Cor. 16:2

Proportional
• At different times in our lives, we can give more than others.
• Sometimes a little can mean just as much.

Conclusion: VIDEO “Hallelujah giving”