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Somebody called you on the phone and said, I'm having a hard time being motivated to serve in gospel ministry, serve one another in the church.
Can you help me? What would you say? The person's a
Christian. They call you and they say, I know I should be serving other people, but I'm just struggling with ministry.
What would you tell them? Well, you could probably guilt them into serving.
What do you mean? You don't want to serve. You of all people, might be one approach.
I think I've used that approach before. Maybe you could tell them about who Jesus is and what
He's done for you and out of gratitude for free and full forgiveness, should be your privilege to serve.
That would be a good approach. How about this approach? Do you know, I've been right where you've been struggling to serve.
And let me tell you about something that's very motivational to get you to serve properly and correctly. Let's talk about the resurrection.
Let's turn our Bibles to 1 Corinthians 15 this morning. And I want to do the same with you. How do you motivate people for gospel ministry?
You talk about the resurrection, not just of Jesus's resurrection, but also of your own body being raised from the dead.
There'll be a day of accountability. There'll be a day of reward. And what you do on earth matters for eternity.
What you do on earth matters for eternity. And for you, a Christian, of course, we get tired.
Of course, we're weary in the work. Remember the phrase, I'm weary in the work, but not weary, what?
With the hearty of it. That's right. Weary in the work, but not weary of it. How? Well, I think about who
Jesus is. I think about my gratitude, my thanksgiving. And Paul here also says, because of the resurrection.
See, there's a paradigm that we've learned here. In the Bible, theology, what's true about God, leads to the right methodology, how we live our practical lives, which then leads to what?
Doxology. Some people listen. That's good. Theology leads to methodology, which leads to doxology.
And so if your methodology, your service for the Lord and to the Lord as you serve other people, since He's in heaven now, how do
I rectify that if I've got a faulty view of ministry? If I'm tired in ministry, if I'm growing weary in ministry, well, then we go to the right theology.
And as Hebrews chapter 12 would talk about, we consider Him, Christ Jesus, and what
He has done. And so we're working our way through 1 Corinthians. We're at the end of chapter 15.
We'll slide into 16 a little bit, and we're getting close. The plane is starting to land in 1
Corinthians. I'm going to miss my friend over the past three years. My Bible is just, pretty much every chapter looks good, except the chapters in 1
Corinthians, they're just worn. And you know, by the grace of God, we aren't the church of Corinth.
By the grace of God, I hope we never become the church of Corinth. So these are good reminders for us.
Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, if you were on an ordination exam and someone asked you the question, 1
Corinthians chapter 15, if I drive to your house in the middle of the night and I knock on the door and I don't say trick or treat,
I say, 1 Corinthians 15, here's what you should say. Resurrection. Okay, go back to sleep.
It's all about the resurrection. And it starts in chapter 15, verses three and four about Jesus's resurrection.
He was raised from the dead. It is a possibility in the world to have the dead being raised. And then we will be raised from the dead.
And Paul was answering the question in chapter 15, verse 12. People were saying, well, how can people be raised from the dead? If we go down to chapter 15, verse 50, that's what we looked at last time.
Basically the need for the resurrection body and then why we should be thankful we get a resurrected body.
So let's pick it up just in a little bit of review and we'll get to the point of ministry in just a moment.
If you don't have a Bible, you're going to need one. I'll never forget the day Steve Nelson told me the story.
He said, when I go to other churches and visit and I'm out of town and I'm on a business trip,
I drive and I get to the church a little bit early and I just sit in my car. And if nobody brings
Bibles into the church, I don't go to that service. Pretty wise counsel.
Now you have to say iPads, iPods, eye touches and all that stuff, but to have your
Bible, do you know what a privilege is to have the Bible in front of you? And so Paul says in chapter 15, verse 50,
I tell you this brothers, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.
Our bodies aren't ready for heaven right now. We would know that. Unbelievers would know that. Nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
In other words, we saw last week, transformation is needed. The people who have already died, their souls are in heaven with God.
Their bodies are in the ground. Their bodies need a transformation. And now Paul is addressing this fact.
The people who are alive when Jesus returns, their bodies, and if it's us, our bodies have to be changed too.
Dead bodies or living bodies have to both be changed to be able to be in God's presence. He says in verse 51, and again, we're just going chapter by chapter, verse by verse, behold,
I tell you a mystery. You couldn't figure this out on your own until God disclosed His mind.
God revealed Himself. We shall not all sleep. Just a very tender way to say
Christians aren't dead dead. It's like they're sleeping. Only used of Christians.
But we shall all be changed. And by the way, it's going to happen quickly.
Verse 52, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet, that end times trumpet signifying it's over,
Jesus is here. It's a time of festivity and celebration. That trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised imperishable, the ones on earth, and we shall be changed.
It's a mandatory necessity. Verse 53, for this perishable body must put on the imperishable and this mortal body must put on immortality.
And then Paul is super happy that it's all God's work and there's victory over death. Now we are kids, we like to play with firecrackers, right?
Lay on ground. I can see Black Cat, Red Rocket, M80 instructions right now.
Lay on ground, light fuse, get away.
I think it actually said get away. They're imperative, get away. Flee. Flee. Remember those
Roman candles? You're not supposed to hold Roman candles like this.
That little piece of wood, you're supposed to put it in the ground. Little spike, little tent peg kind of thing and you put it in the ground, you light it and sometimes they had three shots, eight shots, 10 shots, you could probably pick those things up too and shoot people who were sleeping through sermons.
That would be effective. Well, here's a five -shot
Roman candle from Paul and you can just kind of feel him just happy and if you've been to funerals before,
I think you have. If you've contemplated your own death, I hope you have. You're gonna get the idea that the worst enemy that we have, death, has been conquered and with that,
Paul is happy and so let me give you these five Roman candle blasts of praise, or trumpet sounds if you like.
We saw four last time but there's five in the passage so let's quickly review the first four. Number one, praise
God because He keeps His word and fulfills all prophecy, found in verse 54.
The outline of the sermon is the outline of the text. That's what expository preaching does, exposes you to what the text means.
Verse 54, when the perishable puts on the imperishable, certainty, and the mortal puts on immortality, it's a certainty, then shall come to pass the saying that is written right from Isaiah 25, death is swallowed up in victory.
It was prophesied in the Old Testament. God is going to keep His word. This is not new to God.
He told of it in the Old Testament and death doesn't just get a minor wound in the leg from Christ's death, it's a complete victory.
When something's swallowed, when a predator swallows another animal, there's not a trace of it left. Paul just is happy and he's praising
God. God keeps His word. For you to go to heaven, your body to go to heaven has to be changed and God has prophesied that in the
Old Testament. Roman Candle Blast number two we saw last week. Why we should be praising
God that we get new resurrected bodies and if you've got a bad back or you've got cancer or you're going through chemo or just getting older and shrinking in size, whatever it might be, these are good words for your soul.
And the theology of death being conquered should lead to a methodological, doxological praise.
Praise God, number two, because there's victory over death. See that in verse 53? With taunting language, with two questions asked, you know what the answers are.
Oh death, where's your victory? I never really liked her as a singer, but when
I say these words, the old timers will know the song, Hit me with your best shot. Fire away.
How could you not listen to that song? It was on the radio all the time. But she's not on my iPod.
Oh death, where's your victory? Oh death, where's your sting? The stinger of death,
Jesus absorbed. That's where it is. Death is dead.
And here he quotes Hosea chapter 13. Rhetorical questions to taunt, to sneer at, to say death, victory.
No wonder it's so much easier, it's still hard, but easier to go to a funeral of a
Christian than it is to go to a funeral of an unbeliever. For this very fact, this is why.
The word stings also used in Revelation 9. They have tails and sting like scorpions.
And their power to hurt people for five months is in their tails. Jesus takes the sting of death.
The penalty for our sins, 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verses three and four, has been placed on Jesus.
Jesus the just dies for us, 1 Peter chapter three, the unjust. We were the sinners and He was the pure, holy man, and He dies in our place.
And therefore, since He absorbs a sin's penalty, then we don't have to absorb sin's penalty.
Don't you love these verses from Hebrews chapter two? Since then the children share in flesh and blood.
He himself likewise also partook of the same. Talking about Jesus. That through death
Jesus might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is the devil, and might deliver those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.
Slaves not just to sin, but to Satan and to death. For assuredly
Jesus does not give help to angels, but He gives help to the descendants of Abraham.
Therefore, He, Jesus, had to be made like His brethren in all things, so He could be our substitute, that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to make propitiation for the sins of the people.
Which leads Paul to talk about the law and death. Roman candle blast number three, or trumpet blast number three of praise, still in review.
Praise God that there's victory over sin and law. See it in verse 56. The sting of death is sin.
It's like death is personified and it's wielding the sword of sin. And when the sword is taken away, death has no weapon.
It's like fighting somebody without a weapon. And Jesus has taken away the weapon by assuaging
God's wrath that was due us, and He absorbed and He drank the cup and said, it is finished.
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. Now death is toothless.
Sin is pardoned. Where sin is pardoned, death has no sting. When you have redemption from the law, resurrection from the dead, the strength of sin is the law and it's been taken care of.
Number four, and finally in review, Roman candle praise, trumpet praise number four. Praise God that it's all
His work. Verse 57, if you had to get to heaven by being good, you couldn't.
If you had to get to heaven by raising your own self from the dead, you can't. So somebody else has to do it.
And you hear Paul just fires up. It's almost like a double shot here of Roman candle fireworks.
But thanks be to God. Not angels, not a priest, not a sacrament, not a baptism, not anything.
You get to heaven by one way and one way alone. How's that? Having water sprinkled on your head?
What does it say? But thanks be to God who gives us, and the text is in the original, who keeps on giving us the victory.
And then with His full name, as it were, with all His titles, our Lord, Sovereign, Jesus, Human, Christ, Messiah.
Through the Lord Jesus Christ. And He says thanks with using a really neat word that means grace.
Grace be to God. Thanks be to God. Resurrection of Jesus means that I'll be raised from the dead as well.
What's the response to death's death and assurance? If I could tell you based on the
Scripture, and I'm telling you now if you're a Christian, your body's gonna be raised from the dead, and you're gonna be in heaven for all eternity.
The resurrection's true because Jesus paid for your sins and was raised from the dead. You get to go to heaven.
What do you think I could motivate you to do knowing that's the case? Well, we come to the fifth trumpet blast of praise.
It's found in verse 58. Let me read you the verse, and then
I'll tell you the point. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the
Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. You now have a motivation to serve
God. Your bodies are gonna be raised from the dead. That's the point. What's your motivation to serve?
Resurrection. Of course it could be duty. Of course it could be guilt. Of course it could be
Christ's work. And here, the motivation is resurrection, the hope of the resurrection, a future reckoning, a future rewarding, a future accounting.
I could put it this way. If you don't serve and you're a Christian, you're in one of those slumps, kind of one of me slumps.
You know, it's all about me. I can't minister to other people until I minister to myself. I heard somebody talking like that the other day.
I just thought, I don't know what planet you're on, but it's obviously the me planet. And so,
I'm feeling that way. Then I want to move your methodology to theology, saying you're gonna be raised from the dead.
Resurrection matters. The hope of the resurrection makes certain that all your sacrifice, all your toil, all your sweat, all your ministry is going to be worth it.
Yeah, but I serve in the nursery and nobody seems to notice. God does. I serve in the kitchen ministry and I don't like to clean my own dishes, let alone other people's dishes.
God notices. I put up chairs. Nobody seems to notice.
Nobody seems to even say thank you. The Lord's work is worth it knowing I'm gonna be raised from the dead and on that judgment day, not for my sins, but for my work before the
Lord, God will reward me. Take a look at this. So then, my dear brothers.
He called them dear children in chapter four. He called them dear friends in chapter 10. Now, pastorally, the arm comes around.
The discouraged Christian worker says, you know what, it's all gonna be worth it.
It's worth it. Now, before he says, I want you to serve and I want you to work, he ties in something first.
See what it says in the text? Be steadfast and immovable. Paul never wants to disassociate the gospel with ministry.
Oh, I just have to serve, serve, serve, serve, serve, serve. You can think of Mary and Martha and stuff like that. But ministry is always hooked with the gospel.
So be steadfast in the gospel. Hold to the gospel. Don't forget the gospel. And then in light of that, you serve.
Go back to chapter 15, verse one. You can see the interlocking bookends of the end of the chapter and the beginning of the chapter.
1 Corinthians 15, one. Now, I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preach to you, which you received and which you stand.
And if you're standing, stay steadfast. And by what you're being saved, if you hold fast to the word
I preach to you, unless you believed in vain. You want to serve the
Lord, friends? And by the way, we've got some awesome servers here at Bethlehem Bible Church. I'm so thankful. I want to say proud.
I guess there's Paul using pride in a good way sometimes for those who are under his ministry. But for those of you that are struggling, or maybe you're in one of these me -planet moments or something,
I want to tell you, listen, there's nothing like serving other people. But before I tell you that, I want you to say, listen, this gospel that's been entrusted to you and the church about Christ dying on behalf of sinners being raised from the dead, you can't let go of that.
Can't abandon that. Stand firm in it. Hold on to it. White -knuckle grip it.
Get caught up in all kinds of weird other teachings. Because if you lose the gospel, you lose everything.
And then what does the Bible say? Always abounding in the work of the
Lord. Hold on to the gospel. Don't move from the gospel. See, when
I first got saved, I thought the gospel was to get you into heaven and then you just went and did your own thing. Got that over with.
Got the gospel over with. Now it's time to big things like ministry, helping other people. Paul would not let that happen.
It's not the altar call. I'm glad we got that over with. ABC's of Christianity. Admit you're a sinner, believe in your heart, and confess with your mouth.
ABC, you're in. I am? Yeah, okay, good. Go serve. Paul won't let them lose it.
And the Corinthians were losing it because factions, sexual sin.
Your body's going to be raised from the dead because of the gospel.
So therefore, in light of that, you serve. Now what is the work of the
Lord? Paul talks about being a fellow worker in chapter three. He says he works harder than any in chapter 15.
Chapter 16, he says, Timothy does work in the gospel. What is working in the gospel?
Let me give you my new favorite definition that I found in a commentary. Here's my favorite definition of gospel work.
Any activity that one would not naturally engage in were it not for their faith in Christ.
Isn't that good? Before you were saved, did you like to preach the gospel? You like to meet people and tell them about forgiveness?
Tell them about Jesus? Well, if you did, I don't know what category to put you in.
When you first get saved, everything changes, and then you realize this is important. So work of the ministry would certainly include preaching, evangelism, praying for people's souls.
You say, well, I would give people meals before I got saved. How about that one? That doesn't seem to fit your definition.
Well, it's not my definition. Oh, sorry. But what's a motive to serve?
Well, before it was kind of a common grace motive. I know I'm supposed to help other people and I want to help. I mean, this week with Kim being sick, we've got so many meals, so many meals.
It's just been wonderful. I mean, what treasure is showing up at the door today? It's kind of fun.
I hope those who have given food to the Ebendroths say to themselves, and I hope the dads are saying to the mom and the kids, and they're all kind of putting everything together and saying, you know, we want to love other people like the pastor and his wife, but this is for the
Lord. I'm serving the Lord. You might serve people with food when you're unregenerate, but you wouldn't serve them for the glory of Christ Jesus.
This is for God. I do this for God. God, this is my offering to you.
And ministry is hard. Remember when Paul said, if we have hope in this life only, we're of all people most to be pitied in chapter 15, verse 19.
Why'd he say that? Because it's burdensome sometimes in ministry. It's persecution in ministry.
And if ministry is not worth it, then we're to be pitied, but it is worth it. And look at the promise that God gives for all those serving as Christians.
Verse 58 goes on to say, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the
Lord. Hard work that Paul does, labor kapia 'o to the point of sweat and strain.
If you were helping Dave Jeffries move in yesterday and you were sweating, that's kapia 'o. He says it's going to be worth it.
By the way, that's why I like to tell married couples, let alone young married couples, if you love one another and you get married and then you build your marriage on the marriage itself, it's going to crumble.
And this is God's kind way of saying, the train's off the track.
Frustration, anxiety, anger. When the train's off the track, it's a good thing.
When you take your finger and you touch the hot stove and you go, ow, you don't say, God, I can't believe you gave me nerves.
No, it's God's good way to say, listen, you do that, ouch.
And when your marriage goes off the track, you have to realize the marriage built upon its own self is going to crumble because marriages can't be built on themselves.
They have to be built on the service and ministry of Christ Jesus the Lord. And where a couple wants to minister together and serve the
Lord together, then that train is on the track again. So you say, well, we got all kinds of marriage problems.
I think a good way to start is to say, let's start building our life on the ministry of Christ Jesus the
Lord. This actually here, I'm turning this into a family seminar, I know.
But you have to always throw something in the second service that the first service people didn't get. Because some of you come to sermons.
I have to give them something. This is a figure of speech. You've heard of metaphors before, similes before.
This is called a litotes. L -I -T -O -T -E -S. Say, I don't care what a litotes is.
Oh, yes, you do. Because if you like the Bible, you like figures of speech. I'm convicted again because I pretty much think poetry is dumb.
And then I realize I better repent of that because Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Song of Solomon, it's all poetry.
Somebody ever ask you, do you like poetry? You better say, yes, I do. I like poetry. And I like figures of speech.
A litotes means an understatement in which an affirmative is expressed with negative results.
Like what? To say our labor isn't in vain, a litotes means it's going to be rewarded.
Your labor is going to be rewarded. That's the point. And one of my favorite all -time stories of ministry is of a man named
Thomas Platter. And he followed Zwingli, the Zurichian reformer.
That's a word. He worked all day, blue collar guy, and wants to study the
Bible at night. Wants to study languages at night. How do you study languages at night? Especially when you work all day long, calluses on your hands, you fall asleep.
So you know what he did? This just makes me think of the resurrection, how it motivates. He just put sand in his mouth at night.
Because if you're going to fall asleep with sand in your mouth, that means you're going to chew too hard. So you have to chew just the right amount to kind of swirl it around in your mouth.
You should see your faces right now. And it's in your mouth, and you're just kind of slowly biting, slowly kind of just flossing your teeth with sand.
And that's how he stayed awake. Who would do that? Knowing your toil is not in vain.
Thomas Platter believed in the resurrection. I think we've got a new ministry coming up at the church.
Dentists of the congregation rejoice. The resurrection really matters.
Sometime this week, just go on a walk and think, you know what, one day I'm going to stand before God, and there's going to be an accounting. And what I did before Him, for Him, behind the scenes for Him, it's all going to pay off.
My other favorite story is about an African missionary who was asked if he really liked his work.
He said in great shock, by the way, do I like this work? No, my wife and I do not like dirt.
We have reasonably refined sensibilities. We do not like crawling into vile huts through goat refuse.
But is a man to do nothing for Christ he does not like? God pity him. Liking or disliking has nothing to do with it.
We have orders to go and we go. Love constrains us. And might
I add, the resurrection constrains us. Paul says, you have assurance.
You're going to be raised from the dead, so serve. Jamal said, he is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.
The resurrection. Say, well, Mike, that's all fine and dandy and everything, but I really need something practical.
There are some people that always are hankering for the practical. I just need a to -do list. I know there's all this doctrine here and everything.
You know, doctrine divides and the letter kills and the spirit gives life. And I just, I want practical.
Come on. Chapters one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14.
Over the last three years, I want practical. Please tell me what to do. Sometimes I think to myself, did
I just really do that? I kind of like see myself up here. This is weird. So friends, for those of you that love practical, in light of what
Jesus has done in your place, in light of the resurrection, in light of all this, let me just tell you the most practical thing you could do.
At the top of the list, the most practical thing, Paul says, you know what? Let's talk about practical.
Practical lovers of the church unite. And Paul said, here's practical.
What about your giving? Sure got quiet in here all of a sudden.
Now give me the other practical. Let's take a look at it. Chapter 16, verse one. In my good moments,
I realized that Jesus talked more about money than he did about heaven and hell combined.
In my good moments, I realized at least a third of the parables are about money. In my bad moments, I hate to talk about money from the pulpit because I don't like unbelievers to come in and say there's just one more guy trying to talk about money.
He's got some vested interest. He wants more money himself. But we go verse by verse and the topic is money and therefore we'll talk about money.
I like you, I'm under the text. Chapter 16, verse one. Now concerning the collection,
I hope you draw an arrow from the end of 58 to the beginning of 16 .1. He's answering the question of the
Corinthians but it's tied together here at least by the last verse to this verse. Now concerning the collection for the saints.
So I directed the churches of Galatia. So you also are to do. I'm not telling you anything different,
Corinthians. On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside, store it up as he may prosper.
On Sunday, he didn't call it Sunday because that's like sun day, moon day.
So he calls it the first day of the week. He's not giving it a pagan term there. It's fine if you want to call it Sunday but this is just what
Paul's doing. Each of you is to put something aside, store it up as he may prosper so that there will be no collecting when
I come. And when I arrive, I will send those whom you accredit by letter to carry your gift to Jerusalem.
See, the church was suffering in Jerusalem. If it seems advisable that I should go also, they will accompany me.
Martin Luther said there are three conversions in this life. Conversion one, your mind. Conversion two, your heart.
Conversion three, your purse. Okay, for you men, your merce, your wallet.
What do we do with our money? It's a big issue. It's an important issue.
It's a very practical issue. Now here in chapter 16, we're gonna get into this more next week.
But Paul just is gonna give some greetings, talk about travel things. He mentions a lot of people and a lot of places and actually a lot of commands.
12 imperatives and 24 verses. It's like James, every other verse is an imperative. But these first few verses, he wants the church at Jerusalem to be taken care of.
Why? Well, famines were popular. Well, I don't want to talk about famines. Famines were regularly occurring,
Acts 11. The people in Jerusalem, true or false, were persecuted for their faith. We see that even back with Stephen in Acts in the early chapter.
And so if you're a Jew and all of a sudden you say to yourself, I'm now kicked out of the synagogue. I'm kicked out of the market.
I'm kicked out of my family. You can imagine the Jewish Christians who were persecuted needed money. And so Paul knows about that.
And I think he, for that reason, wants to have the money sent. By the way, Romans 15, verses 26 and 27 talk about, wouldn't this be a good thing that the
Jews and the Gentiles could come together in solidarity and unity through something like this?
Right, you have the Gentile -based Corinthians and the Jewish -based Jerusalem church.
And here's a gospel ministry that brings them together, both Jew and Gentile. Plus, I think
Paul doesn't want pagans to out -give the Christians. And so Paul says, I want you to have a collection and I want you to do this in a very specific way.
Do you notice what the text here says? The collection, they knew about it. They asked Paul, they wrote him a letter.
Now concerning, Paul answers this question. We don't know the question, but we get the answer.
Paul says, now concerning the collection. So they knew what it was. This is not any A collection. This isn't a normal weekly giving.
This is the collection. And then he says, put something aside, store it up. Really cool word here, thesaurus it up.
What's a thesaurus? It's a treasury of words. Store up some treasure for these people, as he may prosper.
Richer people giving more than poor people. Nothing on, you know, not a certain percentage that you have to give.
When you come to worship on the first day, remember Christians now don't worship on the seventh day.
They worship on the first day. Jesus was raised on the first day. Jesus ascended on the first day.
The apostles Acts chapter 20 verse seven, get together on the first day. When you get together on that day for the weekly remembering of Jesus, the commemoration of Jesus, give some money, special gift for the
Jerusalem saints. Well, that was for them.
What about for us? In the time that I've got left, let me give you some principles for giving in light of this passage directly and indirectly.
Directly, this is a one -time offering for the Corinthians to give to Paul. So he makes sure it gets to Jerusalem.
But what about just giving in general? I wanna say that it's important that we talk about the topic because this is related to your spirituality.
Show me someone who doesn't give sacrificially and I'll show you a immature, spiritually stilted
Christian. I wonder when the offering plate goes by, if you could pray this prayer.
I found this from an unknown author. Probably he's an unknown author. He didn't wanna get kicked out of the church he pastors.
So he said this, Lord, this is what you say when you put the money in the offering. I wonder if anybody said this just moments ago.
Lord, what we say or do doesn't really matter. Here is what we really think of you.
Amen. This is what I really think of you. Boom. And see, giving, before I give you some principles, it has everything to do with faith, doesn't it?
It's not giving and faith or divorce. Giving and faith go together because if you say to yourself, after I pay off my 401k, after I pay off the bills, after I save up for retirement, after I save up for Disneyland, after I save up for all these other things and pay my own bills, if there's any left over,
I give to God. That's not New Testament giving at all. New Testament giving is more, do you know what?
From the top, I give money and I'm just gonna have to trust God by faith that He's gonna get me through because I need this money.
This is sacrificial giving. So you say, well, money doesn't have anything to do with faith. It has everything to do with faith.
Show me a weak giver and I'll show you someone who has little faith. So let me give you some principles.
Number one, we're gonna have to go faster. That's not the first principle. Principle one, there's nothing wrong with Sunday offerings.
And everywhere I turn, people say, you shouldn't give the plate passing part of the service.
Well, to me, that's just worship. Charlie gets up and says, what? Now let's worship as if songs are worship?
No, songs alone aren't worship. Songs are worship. That's why he says, let's continue to worship. And when we pass the plate, we are worshiping.
Look back at 1 Corinthians 16, two. On the first day of every week, they didn't have a problem passing the plate and neither should we.
Some churches here just a few years ago, New England Chapel and Franklin Mass, they don't pass the plate because they think it would produce less revenue.
Sage Mound Baptist Church in Houston, they put a central collection basket in the church building.
They don't pass the plate. By the way, you can either go put money in it or take money out. That's an interesting concept.
Bethany Congregational Church in Foxborough, Mass, is going to ask their board of directors for permission to stop taking the offering at the contemporary service.
So we give here, when the plate goes past you, you say, I give this to the
Lord's work as worship. Number two, notice how the leaders talk about money. At least
Paul, the leader here, openly, honestly, above board. That's how
Christian leaders should talk about money. Matter of fact. Number three, in light of that, there should be no coercion, pressure, or manipulation from Christian leaders to get
Christians to give. See how Paul did it there in verse two? So that there will be no collecting when I come.
Hey, Paul's here. He's gonna see what we give. Let's give a lot more. I'll never forget the time
I went to Los Angeles for a baptism. Lady in our Bible said he got saved. She wanted to get him baptized, and she was in Hollywood, so she wanted a
Hollywood kind of church, a typical Baptist church. We went there. She was baptized in the name of the Father, and the
Son, and the Spirit. So far, so good. They had an offering. Okay, pass the plate. And then the pastor said,
I've got a special need. I think it was a car he needed. Maybe his car broke down. And so he stood right down there with a big bucket, and every row had to go out to walk up to give money in the bucket.
And it wasn't one of those secret kind of buckets with a little slit in the top. It was a big open -faced, like a trick -or -treat bucket or something.
I don't know. It should have been a pumpkin as far as I was concerned, a big yellow -orange bucket. So walking up to put that money in in front of the pastor,
I thought, I gotta get out of here. I gotta try that. No, I didn't think that at all. By the way, you've given me so much food.
Kim and I food this week, one after another, after another, after another, where there's no place to put the food.
So after the service, we're gonna have a special offering for that new refrigerator for Pastor Mike and Kim. It'd be perfect.
Can't have your pastor with a small refrigerator, can you? Aren't you embarrassed by that? Embarrassing to have your pastor go through that.
No gimmicks, no emotion, plan giving. That's so you don't get sucked into the whole thing.
Because I don't want your money to be given to the church and to the Lord's work if it's not out of faith, if it's not out of love, if it's not out of appreciation, if it's not out of a sacrifice.
Keep your money. That's why Paul says in 2 Corinthians, God wants what kind of giver? A cheerful giver.
Next number, I think it's number four. Oh, this is a fun one. We might have to end with this one. I don't know. Fourth principle, indirectly derived from 1
Corinthians 16. The percentage for your giving in New Testament times is.
Right, everybody wants to know what percent do you give. Tithe is 10%. Is that gross or is that net?
The New Testament percentage for giving, and the good news is it's just a round number, easily divisible.
I think you'll remember it. The New Testament, you're like, oh, enough already, tell me the number. I know, I'm building up.
This is the art for you to remember. The percentage for New Testament giving is 100%.
And I'm not kidding. Turn your Bibles to 2 Corinthians 8. My friends, you see the shocking answer to New Testament giving is not 10%.
It's 100 % because when you give yourself completely to the Lord, all the money follows.
So the question is not what percentage do I give out of my paycheck? The question is, have
I given myself completely devoted to God? Romans chapter 12, verses one and two.
And if you give yourself, then the numbers will all work out. I'm not saying for sake of clarity, you must give 100 % of your paycheck to the church.
That's not what I'm saying. Don't even give it to the church anyway. You give it through the church to God. But the number for giving that you should be thinking about is not 10%.
You're not Israel, not under some tithe, no Levitical tax, no priestly tax, no
Old Testament Malachi gun to your head. You're robbing God if you don't give 10%.
2 Corinthians chapter eight, verses one to five says, we want you to know brothers about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia for in a severe test of affliction.
We're talking about the same thing that was happening in chapter 16, 1 Corinthians. Their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.
For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints.
And this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first. That's where I get the number.
100%, they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us.
You see that number? The churches of Macedonia were begging Paul to let them give generously.
Giving yourself first to the Lord. The puzzle for sacrificial giving is solved by that very statement.
If Jesus possesses you and all you own, including your money and you're sold out to serve,
I never look at what you give, but if you are a sold out minister for the gospel, lay minister,
I know your giving is excellent. You're not under Old Testament tithe.
If you want to give 10 % as a good place to start, great. But the percentage of New Testament giving is 100 % because you're to give yourselves to God.
And lastly, I just can only make a few minutes comments on this. Paul expected the collection to be substantial and God expects your giving to be sacrificial and substantial.
Philippians chapter four says, but I have received everything in full and have an abundance. I am amply supplied having received from Epaphroditus what you have sent me, a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well -pleasing to God.
I'm gonna give it to God and it's a sacrifice. Sacrifices are supposed to hurt. A fragrant aroma.
That'd be a good question, by the way. If I was gonna try to guilt you, when you put the money in earlier today in the offering plate, did you say to yourself, boy, this is,
God has given me the ability to work and to cash a check and to do all this, the mind and everything else. He's given me riches and work and God, here's a fragrant aroma.
And wonderfully, second Corinthians chapter eight says, as you grow, you'll give more. As you consider Christ, you'll give more.
Let's just finally leave here and first, second Corinthians chapter eight, let's look at verse eight and following it and we've got to wrap it up.
I could tell you that money doesn't last. God owns it all. I could tell you that if you sow sparingly, you're going to, what, reap sparingly.
I could tell you that if you give bountifully, second Corinthians nine, God is going to be able to meet your needs.
But I think the best, you wanna know about sacrificial giving, just think of who Jesus is and that will be helpful.
Second Corinthians chapter eight, verse nine, for you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, not talking about money on earth, foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the son of man has nowhere, what?
To lay his head. Jesus said to that man, you wanna follow me? Go ahead, I'm homeless.
And the guy didn't wanna, who wants to follow a homeless man? This isn't talking about riches on earth.
This is talking about the eternal son and the riches of the Godhead. And then he cloaks himself with frail humanity.
He was rich, yet for your sake he became poor. Right, he humbled himself to the point of death, even death on a what?
Cross, Philippians chapter two. For your sake he became poor, so that you, all in the context of giving, chapter eight, chapter nine, giving to Jerusalem, that you by his poverty might become rich.
How do you motivate Christians to give? I have friends who have told me that their employers who have been
Christian schools have called them in to say, we know how much money we pay you because we're your employer, and we look to see how much money you've given because we have those receipts, and you are not giving 10 % off gross, and you better do it or you're fired from teaching at the
Christian school. Is that how you motivate people to give? You know what that would motivate me to do?
I'm gone. So how do you motivate Christians to give?
It's simple. The resurrection's true. You are gonna be raised from the dead.
So lay up treasures in heaven. Let's pray.
Father in heaven, what a joy it is to be reminded that you care for us, you love us.
Your son sacrificed everything for us. And Father, I rejoice so many great givers at Bethlehem Bible Church.
I pray, Father, that you would help us all grow and learn. And Father, that you would be pleased by what we give to you through the ministry of this church.
Father, protect us from selfishness and from avarice, from greediness.
Help us to share. And Father, in light of thinking about 1 Corinthians 6, everyone here, with few exceptions, would be considered rich in the
New Testament. We have so much. Father, help us to let go of the things on earth easily.