JANUARY 10, 2021 SUNDAY MESSAGE
JOIN US LIVE AT 10 AM ON SUNDAYS!
COMMUNION:
(1 COR. 11:23B-26)
“The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.”
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
SAVE THE DATE: The 2020 Marriage Retreat is scheduled to be Saturday and Sunday, November 7 and November 8!
PRAYER REQUESTS:
We are hosting prayer team meetings for both the congregation at large and individuals to sign up for individual prayer.
SUGGESTIONS FOR WORSHIP:
Coty Miller’s own “Praise & Worship” Spotify playlist and “Praise & Worship” YouTube playlist (slightly different from each other), both of diverse music that are being constantly updated!
Bethel Music :
Bethel Music’s hours of live music YouTube Playlist, also being constantly updated
Bethel provides chords to most (if not all) of their songs here (just have to register email, but free!)
Live worship moments from the Upper Room YouTube Playlist
Journal writing! (I’m a writer too, so sometimes creative writing and writing my thoughts to God is my form of worship.)
Declare and worship with truth by singing and praying scriptures.
WORSHIP NIGHT! Dedicate a night to worship with friends and family, your house church or neighbors, those who need prayer, love worship, or just enjoy music through a video chat platform like Zoom. You can have one person leading at a time (switching off to whoever else wants to lead) while others sing along, pray, or prophesy, etc.
Serving your community, both online, in person, or both, is a great way to worship God, from spreading encouragement and God’s Word online to physically serving food to others. If you are able to go out and serve, click here for opportunities.
SERMON TRANSCRIPTION:
I mentioned last week that different social-economic groups develop a subculture with their own set of behaviors, expectations, and a language that gets used within the group. In the same manner, the community of believers - the church - has a similar phenomena and they even had a term for the language they use called “Christianese.”
We have become more aware of this and even the dynamics at work that can exclude those on the outside but here is a definition for “Christianese” as defined by wikipedia...of all places:
“terms and jargon used within many churches to function as religious terminology in everyday conversation. There are words, theological terms, puns and catchphrases utilized in ways that may be only incomprehensible outside the context of the church. The terms used do not necessarily come from the Bible itself.”
Some of these terms are just humorous though! Think about:
“Bapticostal”
Even Acronyms
“PTL” means Praise the Lord
EGR means “Extra Grace Required”
If dancing was allowed - and it wasn’t in my college - you had to Leave room for the Holy Spirit
One of the best: if you’ve gone to a summer camp, There are blue cabins and there are pink cabins, there will be NO PURPLES CABINS or PURPLING on my watch!
Some of these terms actually come from the bible and others are just a part of the subculture - not bad - but an outworking of the subcultural sphere of Christendom.
Today’s series is part TWO in our series on God and Finances called MONEY (Last week we talked the way it affects our hearts, we will cover the use of money inside the body of believers, and how we use it in mission) and, as you could imagine, inside the church, there is a lot of “Christianese” built into the way we talk about finances:
We have TITHES and GIVING,
and we have OFFERINGS and then there are sub-categories like LOVE offerings or GRACE offerings
Gifts, charity, Generosity
Benevolence
Community Purse
Cheerful Givers
Passing the plate, passing the SECOND plate, drop your offering in the Joy boxes in the back
Give online and via text
Give from the FIRST FRUITS (before or after taxes?)
We are supposed to be good stewards,
Have a healthy understanding of Ownership,
Generosity
Prosperity Gospel: churches who talk about it too much - “Big blessings Poppin’ the devil can’t stop it!”
Let me give you some options because it is possible that many you had DIFFERENT definitions for those terms and you were all right:
One option is that they refer to two separate things:
A tithe is _____ as opposed to an _______ which is ______.
OR they were synonyms...just a combination term for the moment in a church when they ask for your money...for charity!
This was INCREDIBLY APPARENT in the results of the Pop Quiz many of you filled out for us - some people were in lock step with the first def but others just defaulted with the more plain meaning of offering being “something that is offered”
Often, these words are used casually in the church or in a service:
And nobody DEFINES them
In fact, they can take on different meanings given the context and
What makes it even more confusing is that different churches will actually define and use them differently!
So, depending on your tradition/background, these words may be defined DIFFERENTLY.
So, we are going to define the way WE are going to use them at CGNE.
I want to do that by looking at what the BIBLE ACTUALLY SAYS?
Which are biblical and which are just another part of the christian subculture?
We won’t have time to answer them all but we will take time today, to look at a few of them...
Before we jump into the scriptures, let me give you one definition right out the gate:
The word “GIVING,” for our purposes is going to be an umbrella term.
A general, or non-specific reference that applies to any resource we might surrender for another reason in a church context: including TIME, TALENT, TREASURE (another Christianese term!)...in this context treasure or money resources.
As we talk about “GIVING,” we will be jumping around a little bit but, first, let’s look at the word “tithe” - open your bibles to Malachi 6:1-12, we will start there!
As you’re turning there - I want to say thanks to those who filled out the POP QUIZ, it was a fun test to help us gauge our own congregation which was as diverse as you might expect from a church called Common Ground where many different traditions are represented.
I’ll be throwing in some of the results in the message today…As we look at the Malachi ch. 6, I want you to know that GOD has a TEST of His own and you and I participate in taking this test on a regular basis.
One of the sources I used for my research, said it like this:
“You take this test every time you get paid - if that’s weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, or some other irregular form of payment - every time you get paid, you are taking a test.” This test asks:
Who do you THANK first for your income?
Who do you TRUST first for & with your income?
Who do you WORSHIP with your income?
Hold on to that, Mal. 6 says this…
“6 “I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. 7 Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty.
“But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’
8 “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me.
“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’
“In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. (and here’s the word) Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. 11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the Lord Almighty. 12 “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the Lord Almighty.”
The word “tithe” literally means “a tenth portion” so 10% and it can refer to anything you want including resources. In a financial context, it refers to 10% of one’s resources.
In the OT case, crops produced or livestock assets were, to some extent, synonymous with monetary income today.
This probably isn’t revolutionary material if you’ve been a part of a church but, I have a couple observations that may be new to you!
FIRST, there is an important distinction in their proximity to the production of their income.
It keeps them directly connected, and acutely aware, of the source of their provision which is God!
In the same way, we are removed and ignorant of the process of farming (sowing/ cultivating/ harvesting) we are removed and ignorant of the level of reliance needed for the elements, seasons, and other factors in producing a good harvest and, by extension, the one who provides those things.
If you hands are buried deeply in the farming soil, they will also spend significant time clasped in prayer for rain, for no pests, for enough sun (but not TOO much) to grow your crops!!
Direct relationship between faith and production that most of us just don’t have today!
SECOND: this agreement takes place within a COVENANT RELATIONSHIP:
Remember Covenants were about both relationship AND responsibility which is why YHWH is using the language of “blessing and curse”
because there are consequences to breaking the covenant.
If you don’t remember, waaay back in the Gospel Story Series, a covenant was made between God and the descendants of Abraham:
The Suzerain/Vassal Covenant is one who is clearly greater in stature, power, wealth, land, etc and another who is lesser creating a FAMILY tie which
was like a Father/Son relationship and require submission on the part of his weaker party.
The suzerain has authority over the vassal providing:
Land which was worked & cultivated by the vassals.
In return, the vassal was expected (read: NOT optional!!) to pay a percentage of the production, 10%, back.
SO, EVEN HERE WE SEE THAT THE OWNERSHIP PRINCIPLE IS SET within a covenant relationship, YOU DON’T OWN ANYTHING YOU HAVE. IT IS ALL THE POSSESSION of GOD and you are merely the STEWARD.
TWO DEFINITIONS:
OWNERSHIP, in the context of Biblical Finances, refers to the understanding that all you have (not just a portion but ALL of it) is borrowed from God which means that...
STEWARDSHIP is the act of managing the resources God has entrusted to you with intention that you would DO with it as HE would do with it Himself.
One of the main aspects of this relationship is that the Vassal should remain loyal to their suzerain…
anything else would be considered treason or marital unfaithfulness resulting in a curse or rewarded with blessing.
One of the first things that happens when loyalties begin to falter? They stopped paying the obligated dues back to God - the tenth percentage or the tithe which is an indicator that the relationship, their trust in Him, was not doing well
...which is exactly where we find God’s people!
ALL of this is the reason the passage STARTS with “I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. 7 Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty.
Since giving to God - per their Covenant agreement - was not optional, withholding this was considered “robbery” to God and a consequence was given, in the form of a curse.
He is calling them BACK into COVENANT FIDELITY with Himself who has never changed or compromised HIS end of the COVENANT.
So God has lifted His blessing not to PUNISH but as a means to get them to restore their relationship with Him
Matt. 6:21 “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
So to recap, if you follow God,
OWNERSHIP: you acting from the knowledge that EVERYTHING YOU OWN BELONGS TO GOD
TITHE: refers to “a 10% portion” of your finances given for a specific cause. What Cause?
...Often people will simply say “the church.” but it’s not that simple: The TITHE they gave was similar to taxes for the Nation of Israel and it was for:
the support of the priests and those who were separated out for the temple work
The support of religious feasts and festivals that took place in the community
The support of those in need (specifically strangers, orphans, and widows)
This is what a their tithe offering was used for in their nation!
So we think, well isn’t that idea just an Old Testament thing? Outdated Religious Decree specifically for the Nation of Israel that doesn’t apply to us today? That’s a great question! What do you think? YES/NO?? Again, it’s not that simple!
You see, here is where we are going to flip this thing on its head because
We used to give the Tithe to the Levites and priests but now we are ALL priests with Jesus as our only High Priest according to the New Testament.
AND, when Jesus comes on the scene, he came to FULFILL the requirements of the Law so, technically, we have been released from the obligation of the tithe.
You think, “well THAT changes some things” and it certainly DOES...BUT:
...before you go celebrating that 10% gain too quickly (assuming you were doing it), once I tell you where this is going, you might wish for the OLD “Rule of the Law” again because, at least laws are clear!! Because the NT brings us into the tension of a relationship!
Let me talk about those two things in the order I brought them up:
1. FIRST, Leadership in the church today is set up in all kinds of different ways.
It IS true that we have no Levites and priests any longer and we are ALL priests with Jesus as our only High Priest according to the New Testament.
BUT, there are still leaders that we designate in the church (Elders, Deacons) and some, if the church chooses, pays them to be able to devote their time specifically for church leadership.
They have a new job description according to Eph. 4:11 to EQUIP the priesthood of believers for the work of ministry.
There are many verses in the New Testament that call us to support those who preach and lead within the church (Matt. 10:10; Luke 10:7; 1 Cor. 9:6–14; 1 Tim. 5:17–18).
And there is precedent in the Bible to pay leadership for their time/work!
If you CHOOSE to be a part of a congregation of believers that organizes this way, there is a communal obligation to partner with them financially for:
the support of leadership,
The support of members in need (Benevolence)
the community hub...whatever that looks like (lights/mortgage/etc)
The mission and work they choose to do in the community (we will talk about MISSION more next week).
The Bible says Partners should designate a portion of their finances, however you arranged your budget, BEFORE the designation of other funds. This principle is called “first-fruits” WHY? It’s a way of prioritizing your heart via your treasure.
2. SECOND, it is my understanding that, since Jesus came to “FULFILL the requirements of the Law, we have been released from the obligation of the tithe.”
...and a NEW law - the law of LOVE - has been inaugurated and the example for this new GIVING principle is “God so LOVED the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whoever believes in Him may have everlasting life.”
GOD gave away his most precious resource extravagantly, sacrificially, and generously. He didn’t calculate out 10% of His Son. His great LOVE FOR US compelled Him to do whatever it would take to redeem the enemies of God back to Himself.
This is about a relationship…
and relationships aren’t as clear-cut as a calculable percentage.
REMEMBER, the law still had a purpose. It wasn’t USELESS it was just not fullness of love, it was just a temporary guardian:
Galations 3:24-25 says:
24 So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. 25 Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.
It’s like a child who has a chaperone to help keep him in line but NOW that you have grown up into maturity then you won’t need the help of the law to tell you to give 10%...
B/C LOVE will compel you to give MORE than that
Because you KNOW none of it belongs to you anyways...
Because you KNOW generosity is the target.
Because you KNOW love drives you and not the rule of the law.
Just like any loving relationship, giving money/time with those close to you, you don’t check off a list (10 for them and 90 for me) and say I did my obligation.
The requirement of such things has been removed so that a mature heart could be allowed to take over.
2 Cor. 9:7 says it like
7 Each one must give as they have decided in their heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
Jesus displays it
The community of believers in Acts ATTEMPT to do it
The Philippian Church is one of the Bible’s BEST examples of it!
So what are we obligated to do? We are obligated to live a lifestyle of Generosity driven by Love and to DISCIPLINE ourselves to get there (maybe you need a rule applied to your life until it becomes normal)! Just like any discipline...
...and Just like any discipline, It is an exercise that helps you too.
GIVING away money is GOOD for you!!
It helps to remove your heart from it’s inevitable attachment to it.
It helps you to remove your identity from your financial placement
It’s a Spiritual Discipline that shows maturity for those who follow God
Dave Ramsey:
“The Bible tells us that tithing is a way to show that we trust God with our lives and our finances. But the tithe wasn’t put in place for God’s benefit—He already owns everything. He doesn’t need our money. Instead, tithing is meant for our benefit because sacrificing a portion of our income helps us look outside our selfishness and makes us more aware of the needs of others...Tithing is an act of faith that helps us keep our priorities straight. It reminds us that we don’t own anything in this life. God is in control, and we’re only managers of what He’s given us.”
So WHERE DO YOU START?
The reason we took so much time in Malachi if we were going to God puts a level of importance on it (relational, robbed, consequences, restoration) that should not change in the New Testament.
Even though the law was just a shadow of the fullness of God’s expectation which could only be fulfilled by Jesus, it still provides us with an outline or basic framework to model after.
The tithe concept wasn’t just a number grabbed out of the air.
It gives us a sense for a Biblical expectation that we should be designate a 10% portion of the money God has trusted us with for the work of the Kingdom
One of the Jewish-Roots Communities I worked with used to challenge us by saying “10% is a good STARTING POINT to begin moving you towards generosity” Still challenges me!
SO USE 10% as a gauge and BEGIN BY ASKING GOD, “HOW DO I GET TO GENEROSITY?!”
NOT LEGALISTICALLY
(AVG 2-3% for christians) if you’re under 10%, you should be asking Jesus, am I under shooting, and
BUT continually asking, “am I doing this out of guilt/compulsion or is my heart joyfully giving?
For the FINAL REFLECTION, I WANT US TO GO TO GOD NOW and pray that HE would speak to us regarding this matter…
AS WE CLOSE...IS GIVING A TEST?? YES, because we know that “where your treasure is, your heart will be also” then it is a test of the heart. And everytime you get paid, you DO have a decision to make with your heart.
So the action step for you today is to look at your budget and ask yourself:
This test asks: WHAT DOES THE WAY I SPEND MY MONEY SAY ABOUT...
Who do I THANK first for my income?
Who I TRUST first for & with my income?
What/Who I WORSHIP with my income?
Is this plan what Jesus would do with his money? Is it loving?
Does this plan display generosity?
There is freedom in this new law but there is a challenge in it all. Freedom from COMPULSION but a challenge to move towards generosity that simultaneously has the power to change ourselves - and remove our hearts from the entanglement of riches - and do a LOT OF GOOD for the WORLD around us! May we listen to God and be disciplined enough in our giving to make a difference.
COMMISSIONING:
As Jesus said in John 20:21,
"Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you."
Go, be the Church!
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Amen.