A Dozen Ways to Give Less

Ever think like that?

Ever look at church giving as one of the areas to cut back on?

Don’t feel guilty about it.  Everybody has been tempted to think about it from time to time.  After all, when it comes to charitable giving, Christians definitely lead the pack.

But how do we find the courage to follow the Lord, not only in our thoughts and words, but in our actions, including in our giving?

Look at the example of the Apostle Paul.  Living as a Christian was a struggle for him.

I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.  For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.  Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.  For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.  What a wretched man I am!  Who will rescue me from this body of death?  Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!  So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.  Romans 7.18-25

It is obvious that Paul looked to God and the work of God’s Son, Jesus Christ, for forgiveness for all the times he had failed to live the Christian life.  But it is also obvious that Paul struggled mightily himself, because he was forgiven, to overcome the sin within.  Part of that struggle was to recognize what he was up against.  Maybe it’s time for us to follow Paul’s lead and confront our fears when it comes to giving and apply God’s Word of Promise.

So, what are we afraid of when we are tempted to give less?  In the next four weeks we are going to look at a dozen ways (if we listen to them) to give less to God.  We are going to also look at a dozen responses God gives us to fight the temptation to let our sinful human nature call the shots.  And, above all, we are going to hear repeatedly the message of God’s forgiving love to us, for we all have fallen short of what our inner being intends.

1. When I have less needs, I’ll give more.

What, exactly do we need?  A lot!  There’s a house, there’s food, there’s a car and gas and insurance!  What about the future—don’t I have to be a wise steward of my money and put away for retirement?  And the taxes seem to keep going up, always!  Right now, I’m strapped!  With my situation in life, I can’t keep going like this, but thankfully, the kids will be moving away pretty soon and the house should be paid off in a few more years.  When I have less needs, I’ll give more.

Yes, things cost more, but we also get more.  You might be surprised how steady things cost in terms of percentages.

Let’s give it a shot.

Guess how much the average percentage the following took out of an average family’s budget in the US in 1998. (DON’T PEEK ON THE NEXT PAGE)

NOW peek on by following this link Average American Budget 1998  and fill in the table with the chart’s figures.

OK.  Let’s go to a high priced area of the country, 21% higher than the national baseline (Dallas TX).  And, for good measure, let’s add four years to the figures.  That should skew them, huh?

What would be your guesses for living in the Seattle-Tacoma area in 2002?   (DON’T PEEK ON THE NEXT PAGE)

NOW peek by following this link  Seattle-Tacoma Budget 2002 and fill in the table with the chart’s figures.

Is there any significant difference?

No, all either unchanged or only a change of 1%.

What does that say about expenses relative to income?

Expenses stay the same relative to income.

According to our sinful human nature, will we ever need less?  Explain.

No, we will always want more and better.  If we have more money in our pocket, we will want an expensive car.  A millionaire lives in a house that takes about 1/3 of his income, the same as a middle class guy in a two-car garage.

What light does this Bible passage shed?

The leech has two daughters. ‘Give! Give!’ they cry.  Proverbs 30.15

There will never be a time when the sinful human nature will say its had enough.

Let’s say the Seattle couple has just paid off their house.  He is 61 and she is 59.  Where are they going to put that 34.4% of their weekly paycheck if they follow only their sinful human nature?

They will put that extra money to work pleasing themselves, more entertainment and clothing, perhaps.

Consider this passage—

The Lord does not let the righteous go hungry but he thwarts the craving of the wicked.  Proverbs 10.3

Where might that 34.4% of their paycheck end up going?

Hospital expenses and paying lawyers’ fees for a messy divorce.

There was a time in Paul’s life when he was absolutely needy—he was in jail in Rome (at his own expense!) and had nothing coming in!  His words tell us something about needs and reveal this isn’t only an “apostolic” virtue!

Read Philippians 4.10-20

What is Paul’s secret when he is in need or when he has plenty to go around?

He’s learned to be content with whatever he has.

What does that secret weapon of his allow him to do?

He can do anything through the help of God who gives him strength.

How had Paul supported himself earlier in his life, say, when he was preaching the Word in northern Greece?

He had worked himself, as a tent-maker.

The kicker is the Philippians were the most poverty-stricken church of all the churches Paul started!  Paul says so himself!

We want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches.  Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.  For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability.   (2 Corinthians 8.1-3)

Who was the gift from the Philippians really given to?

The Lord.

Should we really be talking about “giving to the church?”  Why or why not?

No, we really should be talking about giving to the Lord.  He is the one who first loved us that we respond to him in love.

If not, then what role does the church have to play in our offerings to God?

The church is only the avenue of spending that offering we have given to the Lord.

What wonderful  promise does Paul make to the Philippians?

God will supply all their needs.

Do we have that promise or was it only a promise to the Philippians?  Prove it from what you know about the Lord’s Prayer.

God promises to take care of us and supply all our needs, too.  Jesus taught us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.”  That’s God’s promise that he will take care of our daily needs.  We may foolishly want more, but he promises to give us what we need.

2. I’ll give what I have left over.

We’ve all done it.  Got paid Friday night.  Went out to dinner and other activities.  Saturday was time for the week’s shopping—groceries, clothes.  Maybe another night out on Saturday.  We get to church and when the offering plate is two pews ahead of us, we peek into our wallet and empty it out into the plate as it goes by—one five and two ones!

Give a couple of reasons why that is not a good way to live.

We may have something unexpected pop up on us during the week before payday and we won’t have the money to cover it.

We may be tempted to spend the money on unessential things, like partying, rather than paying the essential things like rent and utilities.

It is all based on our whim rather than our reasoned planning.

It doesn’t put God first.  He is the last on the list of accounts payable.

Who is coming first with that type of thinking?

Self.

Who is supposed to come first in our lives?

God.

We’re in Philippians, so just go back a few pages.

Read Philippians 2.5-11

Give some reasons why Jesus should come first.

He is God, equal to the Father and the Spirit!

How did Jesus show he did not come first?

He humbled himself and made himself nothing, becoming a servant to his Father’s will.

Did God the Father let him needlessly suffer because of this self-sacrificing attitude?  Explain.

No.  Jesus did suffer, for he had to suffer to pay for the sins of the world, but the Father did not let him needlessly suffer.  God exalted him and gave him all glory and power, honor and might in heaven.

How can we show God comes first in our life when it comes to our offering?

Give to God a generous offering, putting his will ahead of our own.

Will a selfish person ever have anything left over to give to others?

No, he will always want to spend everything on himself.  It is the nature of selfishness to know no limits.

Well, let’s say that there isn’t anything left over!  We’ve got a young, married couple with no kids yet.  They are trying to put together some money for a down payment (and give next to nothing to the Lord through their offerings to church).  A financial consultant sits them down and they discover they are spending 25% on entertainment/personal expenses.  What will he advise them?

Cut down on the frivolous spending so you can have money for what is really important.

Why would this also be great advice for getting their offerings in order?

Put God’s kingdom first and there will be enough to take care of the rest of your needs.

3. I’ll give it away later—when I’m dead!

This is perhaps the summation of the other two ways to give less.  I can almost see a commercial.  Hey, let’s make our own!

Run the Commercial!

Scary, huh?  Better not show that to some outsiders—they may think we are serious and use the ideas for their pitches for money!

It might be a better thing to regularly give offerings, generously and freely to the Lord now.  Then we’ll have some living benefits, like rejoicing at our cooperation in the spread of the Gospel, discipline in our Christian lives, having a say in what areas of ministry our congregation is going in to and praising God for the results he works through those offerings.

Discuss meeting our responsibilities as Christians by waiting until we are dead to give in light of the following story.

Joseph Johanson had gotten his house in order at an early age.  He wanted to do right for his children, growing up on the Lutheran plains of eastern North Dakota, so his will set up an educational trust fund for them.  Upon his death, the fund would meet all tuition and expenses for their enrollment at the College of Sven and Ingrid.  It was the college he had gone to (his church body, the Norwegian Lutheran Fellowship founded it in the late 1800s hoping it would be a Norwegian rival to that east coast school, William and Mary, but the demographics of eastern North Dakota just worked against it), but by the time Joseph Johanson met his maker, his children were a little old to attend college.  And besides, the College of Sven and Ingrid had closed long ago.

Joseph Johanson, being a good steward of his possessions, had stipulated that, if his children could not take advantage of this generous living educational trust, his legitimate grand-children could, if they wanted to, go to Eastern North Dakota State University.

His sole grandchild, a bright boy, found himself accepted by MIT and since it was outside the scope of Joseph’s educational trust fund directions, the kid had to borrow heavily to finance his undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate education in Boston.  At the end of it all, armed with his Ph.D. in multi-discipline engineering and a student loan of $450,000, he decided he couldn’t pay his bills in his chosen field.  So he remembered an elective he took in his sophomore year—Statistical Understanding of Crisis Knowledge—Energy Related Systems (S.U.C.K.E.R.S) and sold his patent for cold fusion extraction of hydrogen from sea water off the Louisiana coast to provide a reliable source of hydrogen for automobiles.  It was an interesting patent because of all its ramifications—he could pipe the hydrogen in existing oil and gas lines right to filing stations, it cost nothing to extract the hydrogen, $1.25 a barrel and with a 50% markup for profit and another 50% for transportation costs, it would come out to be to 4 cents a gallon at the pump and would give an average 25 miles per gallon.  And the oxygen extracted from the sea water would be percolated back into the Gulf of Mexico to reoxygenate that 600 mile dead zone at the mouth of the Mississippi in an effort to bring back the shrimping boats to Louisiana.  Anyway, he sold that patent to the Emir of Yabbadabbadoo to cover his educational loans and buy himself a seat on the Chicago Futures Exchange where he is buying and selling oil futures and is making a killing on the speculation.  He seldom makes a bad move, because he gets up in the middle of the night to listen to the morning business news on NNS, Norwegian News System, which broadcasts in Norwegian and is two hours ahead of the BBC’s English broadcasts.  Because he is the only American with such head-start, exclusive knowledge, he has made so much money that he is planning on retiring at the age of 45 and buying his own, private, security-gated island somewhere in the Caribbean near Aruba.

But once in a while he wonders, how clean would the air would be, how much more money Americans would have in their pockets and how fresh the Creole shrimp would be in the French Quarter if only his grandfather’s educational trust fund had permitted him to leave MIT debt free?

John Johanson has shirked his responsibilities to his progeny.  He could have given some of his money to his children for their education before he died.  There evidently was more than enough to go around.  But by refusing to amend his trust to take into account their needs, he was hiding behind a cloak of piety and financial responsibility in order to stiff them.

He also proved to be penny wise and pound foolish.  His great-grandson could have made a huge contribution to the world, had he not been forced to look out for himself.  In the process, he has turned out worse than his great-grandfather, for what he has gotten by dubious means, he now intends to spend solely on himself.

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