This morning we begin a two sermon series that recalls the theme for our 2006 Stewardship emphasis, "Because We Have Been Given Much". Those words are followed by the phrase "we too must give." Today I want to talk with you about our response to God’s providing for our life. The response that we are to have to all that God has done for us is one of giving. Next week I want to talk about the way that God responds to our giving and that is by being a resource for us that meets the needs we all have in our lives.

I’m glad that each year we take these Sundays in November to talk about giving because it gives us time to celebrate the faithfulness of our church in our giving as well as be challenged for the future needs that our church faces. We have much to celebrate as far as the response of our church to giving. This year our church has given in excess of $2.4 million to both the general budget of our church and to our "Building Tomorrow…Today!" building fund! That is something to celebrate! While our budget giving is not at the pace we projected I have confidence that this will improve in these next weeks.

Today I want to simply look at what does the Bible really say about giving. By doing this you'll be able to evaluate wisely how you should make your commitment to our church for 2006. It’s wrong for me or anyone else to try to convince you to give if you don’t understand why or how. This way you can evaluate things by the Scripture. As you look at what Paul has to say about giving from 2 Corinthians 8-9 you understand that motive is more important than amount. He's much more interested in the quality of the giver instead of the quantity of the gift. He's saying attitude in giving is much more important than amount. 2 Cor. 9:7 says, "Don't give reluctantly or in response to pressure. For God loves the person who gives cheerfully."

Giving is a responsibility. But more than that, it's a response to God’s providing for us. I want to share with you three reasons that our giving is a response to God’s provision for us. Our giving is to be a response to God three ways: It's to be a response for what God has done for me in the past, what he is doing for me in the present and what God will do for me in the future. In 2 Corinthians 8:7 Paul writes, " Since you excel in so many ways—you have so much faith, such gifted speakers, such knowledge, such enthusiasm, and such love for us—now I want you to excel also in this gracious ministry of giving. God wants us to grow in giving, as much as you grow in faith, in love, in knowledge. He wants us to grow in giving, too.

One thing that giving does for us is that it allows us to express appreciation for past blessings (2 Cor.9:7, 12). That's the first reason and it's the greatest reason. Giving is my response of gratitude for yesterday's blessings. It's the highest motive. 2 Corinthians 9:7 says" Each man is to give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion. For God loves a cheerful giver. ... Then later in verse 12 he says, "This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people but it's also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God." The number one reason we give is out of gratitude for past blessings.

We know that God is the source of all that we have. He's the source of our life. He's the source of our abilities. He's the source of all the natural resources. He's the source of everything. We give because God first gave to us. 2 Corinthians 8:9 "For through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, though he was rich, yet for your sakes, He became poor so that you through His poverty might become rich." God says we give because God first gave to us. We give because we have been blessed beyond our wildest imaginations.

During the time that the evacuees from Katrina were being sheltered in our CAC there were some of the people who wanted to show us their appreciation for what our church and community did for them. One night a man named Lynn worked with Kim and made Red Beans and Rice. A mom from Alabama sent us a card thanking us for taking care of her son and sending him home. A senior adult woman stood up on her last Wednesday night with us and told us all how much she appreciated what we did. A few weeks ago I was at Popeye’s and saw some of the evacuees who had been at our building and an older woman named Miss Beatrice came up and kissed me on the cheek. Why did they do that? Because they wanted to find a way to say thank you for the things that were done for them!

The opposite was true as well. Some people were ungrateful for what we did for them. They complained about the food, the housing, the city, and the fact that we are a dry county--all kinds of things. When they were ungrateful it created resentment. Why? Because the response to someone showing you his or her kindness is to say "Thank you"!

When we give to God, we express our appreciation to God. We're saying, "God, I love You. I care about You. I'm grateful for all You've done." In 2 Cor.8:8 Paul says, "For I'm not commanding you. But I want you to test the sincerity of your love." God says our giving proves our love. No matter what we say, what we do with our money tells what we really value in life. If you truly want to tell God thank you then you will do it in, through and by your giving! The first reason we give is not because we're under pressure but simply because we want to express appreciation for God's goodness to us.

The next reason that we are to give is that giving allows me to examine my motives in the present (2 Cor. 8:5). It helps me to look beyond my own needs, my own self. By nature, we are basically self-centered. We have a tendency to only think, "What's in it for me?" What giving does is help us examine that motivation. Periodically, I need a values check up. I need to look at my motives and my values and my priorities and ask, "Am I just living for myself or is there somebody or something else for which I’m living." When Kathy and I give our tithe to this church it is a reminder to us that God's the source of all I have and that I'm just a manager of that. Giving helps me express appreciation for my past but also it helps me clarify my priorities and values in the present. It helps me examine my motivations and my priorities.

Notice this is what Paul's talking about. He's bragging on these people and their generous giving. In 2 Cor.8:5 he says they did it in the right way. "They did not do as we expected but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God's will.’ First they gave themselves, their lives, to God. Then they gave their offering to help out other people. That's the priority. God says, "Don't worry about giving Me your money if I don't have your life. I don't need your money." We give not because God needs it but because we need to give. It keeps us from being selfish. It keeps us from being scrooges, from being self-centered and thinking we're our own God and the whole world revolves around us.

Glen Davis plays basketball for LSU. Last year he was SEC Freshman of the Year. Glen Davis weighs 309 lbs. and averaged 13.5 points and 8.8 rebounds per game as a freshman. On August 28^th, the day Katrina crashed in to the city of New Orleans the severely injured were taken to the LSU campus and were housed at The Maravich Center, which is the LSU Tigers home court. Coach John Brady got his players immediately involved in serving those who were injured. What Glen Davis did was extend his arms to be a human bracket to hold the IV bags for injured people. He held blood, plasma, whatever they needed and he did it for a long, long time--until he was to leave.

Glen Davis was changed that night. He said, "That was an experience that will stay with me for life. It changed me in ways. I wake up every day appreciative of the life I have…There will never be a day in my life that I don’t think about that night and what I saw. I can tell you this, I am going to embrace happiness and enjoy life to it’s fullest. I was just trying to help someone who needed help, to make a difference in life." (Source: Arkansas Democrat Gazette, Nov. 1, 2005)

Glen Davis had his priorities changed because he gave and his life will never be the same. Giving does that for us. It changes us and causes us to reexamine our motives and purpose for life. Let me say to you that nothing will cause you to reexamine your motives and priorities like committing to tithe to this church. When you choose to say I am going to give back to God 10% of my income it will force you to rearrange your motives and priorities. If you want a good reality check on what your priorities are, then make that one choice. Giving, especially a decision to tithe, will create opportunities for us to see where we are with what really matters.

So why do we give? Because of guilt? No. Because of pressure? No. Because of sob stories? No. Because, number one, we express appreciation for past blessings. And number two, we examine our motivations in the present. It helps us keep our priorities straight.

The final reason that giving is our response to God’s providing is because it allows us to enlarge our expectations of the future (2Cor. 9:6) Giving focuses our actions three ways: gratitude for the past, keeping my values and priorities balanced in the present and it is also a demonstration of faith into the future. Through our giving we enlarge our expectations of what God wants to do in the future.

In 2 Cor.9:6 Paul says, "Remember this, whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. And whoever sows generously will also reap generously." He's using the analogy of a farmer. Several of you are farmers. You know quite well that what you harvest depends on the level of your planting. If you have 1000 acres to plant and you only plant on 500 then you would be pretty foolish to take your combine to the 500 you didn’t plant and expect there to be anything other than weeds. If you plant effectively then you harvest effectively. This is a principle taught all through scriptures.

I believe that giving is the number one way we demonstrate faith in the Christian life because nothing is more important to us than our money. So the place where we are most affected about our faith is in our giving. Giving shows our faith. Giving means making an investment for the future. How do you invest for the future? Simple. Every time you give cheerfully you're investing for the future. God says, "I see your giving not just as gratitude for the past and not just as helping you maintain your balance in the present. But I see it as an investment for the future."

Malachi 3:10 demonstrates this principle when he talks about tithing, "Bring the whole tithe [the ten percent] into the storehouse that there may be food in my house. Test me in this, says the Lord [God says, I dare you! He's laying down a challenge. I dare you to try it] and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have enough room for it" Do you believe that verse? If we don't, we might as well cut it out of the Bible. God says, "I dare you! I dare you to try and see if you can out give Me. The more you give back, the more I bless your life. I will bless you in return."

All of this is saying, "Whoever sows sparingly reaps sparingly. Whoever sows generously will reap generously." It is saying, "Your giving determines what God can do in your life." That is a fundamental principle of stewardship. God says we reap what we sow. Our giving determines what He does in our life.

What are you expecting God to do in your life? How much do you want God to bless your life? How much are you expecting God to act? If you want the answer to that question, if you want to know how much God is able to do in your life this next year, just look at your giving. The Bible says we reap what we sow. God says you give as an act of gratitude, as an act of keeping your priorities in order, and as a statement of faith saying, "I believe that God is going to bless me this year, so I will give to Him."

Your pledge card is a statement of commitment of your response to God’s providing for your life. One of our problems is that we are so inconsistent about commitments. We make commitments in all areas of life. Yet when it comes to making a commitment to God, we say, "I don't believe in tying myself down." We make financial commitments in every other area but we say, "I couldn't make a giving commitment to God." In essence we're saying, "I'm trustworthy enough to make payments on my house and car and other loans but I cannot be expected to keep a commitment to God." That's inconsistent.

So how do you make a commitment for 2006 that shows that your giving is a response to all that God has provided for you? First, you need to pray about all of your finances. There are places in all of our lives that we have allowed greed or the lust for the material to distort our finances. So you first need to talk to God about where things are out of balance. The next thing is to make a commitment to tithe regularly to the budget of First Baptist Church. That may take you sometime to get there this year but I believe that once you do that there is a freedom that comes to your life that nothing else can give. You may have to rearrange some things. You may have to actually sacrifice something to do it.

1 Corinthians 16:1-2 Paul tells us the practical characteristics that should guide our giving. Our giving should have three characteristics. "Now, about the collection for God's people. Do what I told the Galatian churches to do. On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income, saving it up so that when I come, no collections will have to be made." Paul says three things here about giving.

1. It ought to be regular. It ought to be systematic. "On the first day of every week..." Every Sunday -- that's the first day of the week, once a week -- you set it aside. Make it regular, systematic. For our family it is every two weeks.

2. It ought to be planned. Don't just do it based on your emotions. "... you should set aside a sum of money." It ought to be thought out, planned. You ought to set it aside. Now understand that Kathy and I learned the hard way that if you don’t set that amount aside first then you’ll struggle with doing it. If you wait to write a check to the church after you pay your bills you won’t tithe and you will merely throw God the leftovers and what’s left over won’t be much. Make your giving part of your plan.

3. It ought to be proportional. "... in keeping with his income..." Has God blessed you a lot? Then you ought to give a lot. Has God blessed you little? Then give a little. It ought to be in proportion. It ought to be a percentage. That's what tithing is all about. Tithing is the starting point -- ten percent I'm giving back to God. If you've never given in a percentage, maybe that's what you ought to consider. Pray about that. But there are others of us who have been tithing for years and God says, "I want you to grow in the grace of giving." We should be going beyond that, as Paul says.

Let me summarize what I'm saying. Giving is so simple. We give to express our appreciation to God for the past. Next we give to examine our motivations and our present priority. It reminds us to put God first. But more than that there's a future element to it. Our giving freely allows us to enlarge our expectations. I'm not asking you to make any kind of decision today. I think giving is something you ought to think about. I think it's something you ought to consider. I'm going to ask you to take the next two weeks and consider: How much do I believe God? How much am I grateful to God for all he has provided for me? Where are my priorities? Ask God to help you set up this kind of regular program -- regular, planned, and proportional. Let God do it.

In 2004 Sports Illustrated ran a story on a long-time player in the National Basketball Association, Manute Bol. Bol stood out even among his giant peers. At an imposing 7-feet 7-inches tall, Bol rose from anonymity in his homeland of Sudan to international celebrity in the NBA. At that time Bol was in poor condition, both physically and financially. On June 30, 2004, Bol was thrown from a car in a traffic accident. He suffered a broken neck, broken left wrist, shattered kneecap, a massive head wound, and several internal injuries. Four months later, he was still hospitalized and with no means to pay for his treatment.

Why was a man who earned millions of dollars in his career having trouble paying his hospital bill? One might assume Bol was simply another professional athlete who squandered his savings. But Bol is penniless for a much different reason. In the Sports Illustrated article, Steve Rushin told, "He's given his life savings—his salary averaged $1.5 million a year during his 10-year NBA career—to his countrymen." Even when Bol participated in a celebrity boxing match, defeating William "The Refrigerator" Perry, Bol sent every dime of the $35,000 proceeds to a fund for Sudanese orphans.

While Bol was hospitalized from the car accident, lying in traction, Bol told Sports Illustrated, "God guided me to America and gave me a good job. But he also gave me a heart so I would look back." (Steve Rushin, "Broken but Blessed, Sports Illustrated (10-18-04))

I am not asking you to give so that you are penniless. I am asking you to remember that God has given you a heart to look back on all that he has done for you. Then when you do let your response be to give back to him because of his providing for you!

btippit@fbcjonesboro.org