Trinity Baptist Church

 

One of the most wonderful words you will ever encounter is the word grace. . We normally think in terms of grace and its salvation aspect. We think about saving grace. We Baptist people, of all people, love to sing, "Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found. t’was blind but now I see." 

 

We understand saving grace. "For by grace are you saved through faith." The grace of God which is the favor of God which caused Him to send His son the Lord Jesus Christ to die on a cross for our sins, though we did not deserve it. So we understand that amazing grace is first of all, all about saving grace.

 

I think what we sometimes don’t think about in regard to Amazing Grace is how it connects with our daily life. But when you study the Bible you will discover not only saving grace, but also living grace.

 

For instance, Paul, in I Corinthians 15:10 said, "By the grace of God I am what I am." He was saying not only am I saved by grace, but my very life, my very existence is dependent upon the grace of God and anything I am and anything I do I do it because of the work of God's grace in and through my life.

 

Our life, as born again believers, is to be an expression of God's grace in our life. Therefore, we need saving grace, but we also need living grace.

 

 

 

We have to have God's grace if we are going to live the way we ought to live and be what we ought to be on a daily basis. That’s what makes James 4:6 such a wonderful verse. It is there we find james saying of God, “He gives more grace.”

 

I heard about a wealthy man who became interested in a

poor man and decided he would just meet his every

need. Every month the poor man would get a check from

the wealthy man that would completely cover everything

that man needed for that month. With the check there

would be a note that said, "More to follow."

 

That is exactly the way it is with God's grace. God's

grace saves us, then God gives more grace and makes it possible for us every day to live and to be what we ought to be. Grace is God's inflow into our life and then as God's grace works in and through our life, giving becomes the outflow of our life.

 

Now, almost everyone here this morning understands saving grace, and many are learning the benefits of living grace, but very few every think about giving grace. In fact, you may not have ever put the word, grace, and the word, giving, together. It may come as a surprise to you that the word, grace and giving, are connected together, but they are. 

 

And here at the Thanksgiving time, I wanted to take a couple of weeks and allow us to think about our stewardship of the wonderful resources God has entrusted to us. 

In II Corinthians 8 and 9 Paul is talking about the whole subject of giving. He's talking about the giving of believers in Corinth and he is encouraging them to give. But as you read through these two chapters you will discover that ten times, in those chapters, he talks to them about grace. So he puts God's amazing grace and the matter of their giving of their gifts in terms of amazing grace giving.

 

You will notice in verse 7 he says, "You are a blessed people. You have much for which to be thankful." Then he talks about the different things that were characteristic of their life.

 

But notice that he says, But as ye abound in everything, see that you abound in THIS grace also. He is talking about the matter of giving.

 

Here's the background of these two chapters as Paul wrote it to the Corinthian believers. The believers in Jerusalem were on some hard times. So Paul was taking up an offering from the other churches to be given to meet the needs of believers in Jerusalem. It was a financial bailout for the mother church in Jerusalem!

 

In particular, the Macedonian churches had responded to this appeal, and as Paul writes to the Corinthians, he lifts up as an example, the Macedonians.

 

And his point is that they have demonstrated God's grace in their life by their giving. He is using them as an encouragement to the people over in Corinth that they also will be faithful in their giving. He is talking about amazing grace giving.

 

That's what I want to talk to you about this  morning.

 

When you look at these verses that we are going to consider there are three words I want you to circle or underline in your Bible, which characterize amazing grace giving as I understand it.

 

 

The first word is in verse 2. It is the word, liberality, in my King James Version. In other versions it may be the word, generosity (which is also a good word).

 

Generosity should be a characteristic of our giving. We should be liberal in our giving. He's talking about the matter of generosity of giving and the whole matter of giving in general. Sometimes we don't like to talk about that.

 

I heard about two members who were talking and one of them said, "The pastor says we should give until it hurts. It hurts me just to think about it." There are some folks like that.

 

One member said to his pastor, "Pastor, I can give

$100 and never feel it." The pastor said, "Well, give

$200 and feel it." Don't give until it hurts, give until it feels good.

 

He is talking about their generosity and he says in verse 4 that they asked for the opportunity to give.

That's unusual, isn't it? They asked Paul if they could be a part of this fellowship of ministering to the saints.

 

 

In verse 3 he says that they gave beyond their power, beyond their ability, because they were willing to do it. That's what generous giving is all about. That's what liberality is all about.

 

Notice what liberality is NOT and what it IS.

 

Generosity is not something that comes because of outward circumstances. If you will look at the circumstances of these people, their circumstances were certainly not ideal.

 

Notice verse 2   

 

These people were in affliction. They were having hard times. He says they were in deep poverty. The word, poverty, means to be absolutely destitute. It’s the same word we studied recently in the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus said “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” It's a word that was used of a slave who didn't have anything and he didn't have any hope of having anything. Someone who has no choice but to beg.

 

Most of us are not in that circumstance this morning.

Most of us have a comfortable home to live in. Most of us have an adequate car to ride. Most of us have some decent clothes to wear. Most of us get three good meals a day. Most of us are well insured. We are well fed. We are well cared for. Those are not our circumstances. But here were some people who were having hard times.

 

Listen: Difficult circumstances are not an excuse for people not to give. Your circumstances are never an excuse for what you do or do not do in the matter of giving.

The devil got on my shoulder this week. Does the devil ever get on your shoulder? He leaned over and whispered in my ear, "now, looky here. You are going to start talking about giving and the economy is not doing too good. This is really a bad time for you to talk about giving. The stock market is going down. The cost of living is going up. Layoffs and shortages are going on. This is really a good time for you to talk about giving."

 

But I have found out that economic times are never the indicator of what people will or will not give. It is not something that is based on outward circumstances. And I have discovered that people who use hard times as an excuse not to give find another excuse when there are good times. 

 

In fact, I would submit to you that hard economic times is not the time to reduce or quit your giving, but the time to increase your giving. It is the most practical way that you ahnd I have to demonstrate that Our God is faithful; that we take Him at His word; that our trust is not in the stock market or the Dow Jones; that we serve a God is plenty able to take care of His children. 

 

That is a good lesson for individuals, and it is a good lesson for churches. You let a church get in a little financial tight, and the first thing many will want to do is cut the Cooperative program and limit ministry. Listen: when a church is doing the will of God, and is in the right spirit and is intent on honoring the Lord, God’s promise is to resource that church to carry out the ministry He has given to it. 

 

 

 

It’s His name on the line. It’s His reputation that is a t stake, and God forgive us when we go backward in fear, rather than forward with confidence in our God

 

Notice what an amazing equation you have. This is a strange amazing equation. He takes affliction and he adds to that deep poverty and it equals joy and riches of generosity. Isn't that an amazing equation? You don't give on the basis of difficult circumstances.

 

Nor do you give merely on the basis of your ability.

In fact he says in verse 3 that beyond their power or ability, they were willing of themselves.

 

Generosity is not something that is because of outward circumstances; it is not because of ability to give, but look at verse 5 and you will find the key to generosity.

 

verse 5

 

That's the real key to generosity right there. Generosity is not based on your financial ability. It is based on your spiritual attitude. Here were some people who were generous in their giving because they had first given themselves to the Lord.

 

The first gift God wants from any of us is to give ourselves to Him. I'll talk more about that later. But let me simply say to you that the greatest thing you can ever do is to give your life to the Lord Jesus

Christ and then give the details of your life to the Lord Jesus Christ and give the talents of your life and give the treasure of your life; give it all to the

Lord Jesus Christ.

 

 

When you spend money on a meal, it will last about 5 hours. When you spend money on a car, it will last for about 5 years. But when you give your money to the Lord Jesus Christ, it will last for all eternity because you are giving to something that can never die and can never end.

 

The first principle of amazing grace giving is generosity. When you understand amazing grace, when you understand what God has done for you, then from your heart there will flow liberality and generosity in your giving. That's the first word.

 

 

Now, look at the second word down in verse 8.

 

Mark that word sincerity. Amazing grace giving is characterized not only by liberality, but it is also characterized by sincerity.

 

Sincerity means true or genuine or legitimately born.

Sincerity, when it is a proof of love, is something which is legitimately born. That is, it has legitimate motives. It has legitimate reasons. Love always demonstrates itself by giving.

 

Sometimes if you want an interesting Bible study, just see how many times love and giving are put together.

 

John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that he GAVE his only begotten son."

 

In Galatians 2:20 it says, "To him who loved me and gave himself for me."

 

In Ephesians 5:26 it says, "Christ loved his church

and gave himself for it."

 

Giving is always a demonstration of the sincerity of our love. Having made that statement in verse 8 I want you to notice he gives an illustration of the proof of the sincerity of love in verse 9.

 

The great illustration or example of the sincerity of love demonstrating itself in giving is the example of the life of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

 

It says, "Though he was rich." That tells us about His prosperity. Think about how rich the Lord Jesus Christ is.

 

He is rich in possessions. Think about this whole universe. Think about every star and every planet and every galaxy and every speck of cosmic dust in this world. It all belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ. You imagine as many worlds as you can imagine, flung out into infinite space. However many worlds you can imagine, they all belong to the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

I was reading in Psalm 50, a statement God makes in verse 10-12. He says, "For every beast of the forest is mine. The cattle upon a thousand hills. I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fullness thereof."

 

Jesus Christ is rich in possessions. He owns it all.

 

 

 

Not only is He rich in possessions, the Lord Jesus

Christ is rich in power. Think about His power. He spoke the world into existence. That is the power of His creative Word. The Bible says He upholds all things by the word of His power. Jesus Christ is sustaining things by the word of His power. He is rich in power.

 

He is not only rich in power, He is rich in position.

 

The Lord Jesus Christ existed in eternity in glory. He and the Father and the Holy Spirit co-equal, co-God together. He is great in His position. The angels

fall down and worship Him. Though He was rich.

 

Then notice His poverty. "Yet for your sakes, He became poor." Think about the poverty Jesus Christ experienced. Think how poor Jesus Christ came to be when He came into this world. Jesus came all the way from plenty to poverty. 

 

This statement, "when he became poor" is a statement of His incarnation. It is a statement that He left the ivory palaces of glory and He came into this world of ours to live and to die on a cross for our sins. It was really a riches to rags story.

 

We know about rags to riches stories. We hear those from time to time. We hear of somebody who started off with nothing and they wound up with everything. Jesus Christ started off with everything and wound up with nothing. His was riches to rags story.

 

Imagine when Jesus Christ left the portals of glory and the angels in astonishment watched as He came.

 

 

Imagine as the Lord Jesus Christ took that golden crown off His head and He took those silver slippers off His feet. Imagine as He came down the stairway of the stars and down, down, He came until He came to a cow stall. There He was born as a baby in a little manger. He, Who upholds all things with the word of His power, is now upheld by the arms of a Jewish girl. 

 

Where did He sleep? In a cow trough. Think about the one who dug the fountains of the waters of the deep. He asks for a drink of water. Think about this Lord Jesus Christ who had everything in heaven and yet He came to this earth and He had to borrow a penny to pay His taxes.

 

He had to borrow a cradle to be born. He had to borrow a boat to teach His lessons. He had to borrow an upper room to gather with His disciples. He had to borrow a tomb to be buried. It was a riches to rags story.

 

The worse kind of poverty to see is to see somebody who has known better times. Here's the old gentleman whose suit is tattered and torn. It was a fine suit in its day, but now it's kind of worn out. The old gentleman says, "Aw, I've known better times."

 

He makes his way to the parking lot. There's an old worn out tattered Cadillac that will just barely move.

He opens the door and sits down and says, "Aw, I've known better times."

 

When the Lord Jesus Christ came down to this world,

"He who was rich became poor." He could have said, indeed, I have known better times."

 

Why was He doing that? To prove the sincerity of His love.

 

Not only His prosperity, not only His poverty, but also what was His purpose?

 

Why did Jesus who was rich become poor? To prove the sincerity of His love, to prove that He really loves us. "For your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich."

 

That means, in one stroke, He became poor. And in one stroke, you became rich. He did it for your sake. He became poor for your sake. He left heaven for your sake. Why? To prove the sincerity of His love.

 

The good news is that when you come to the Lord Jesus Christ, though you are poor, you can be made rich through the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how you have to come to Jesus anyhow. You have to come as a poor lost sinner. You don't come to the Lord Jesus strutting in your spiritual prosperity.

 

The Bible says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God." You come as a poor, lost sinner.

 

But when you walk down that aisle, receiving Jesus

Christ as your Savior, you can truly say, "I'm going to know better times." After you are saved, everything belongs to you now. You wake up in the morning and say, "Oh, Lord, thank you. My sun is shining good today." When you look at the trees you say, "Lord, my trees are pretty today." When you look at the cattle on a thousand hills you say, "Lord, my cattle are doing well today. I'm knowing better times."

A crippled, Christian hobbling along one day says,

I'll know better times. A dying Christian says, one day I'll know better times. Why? It's because of the sincerity of His love.

 

That is what amazing grace giving is all about. It proves the sincerity of our love. Jesus proved it.

 

Jesus Christ gave His head for us and they put a crown of thorns on it.

Jesus Christ gave His hands for us and they drove nails into them.

Jesus Christ gave His feet for us and they drove a spike through them.

The Lord Jesus Christ gave His eyes for us and they spit on them until He couldn't see.

Jesus gave His face for us and they plucked His beard until the blood ran down His cheeks.

Jesus Christ gave His side for us and they jammed a spear into the side.

Jesus gave His back for us and they beat Him with a whip.

Jesus Christ gave His heart for us and it bled water and blood as He died on the cross for us.

 

That's the proof of love. How sincere is your love for the Lord Jesus Christ? Is your love for Jesus Christ real? Is it true? Is it sincere? No wonder we sing that hymn, "Love so amazing, so divine. Demands my life, my soul, my all." Proving the sincerity of your

love.

 

A church proves the sincerity of its love by its budget. You will get a copy of our church budget in a couple of weeks. The vision a church has and what a church does with its budget proves the sincerity of its love for the Lord Jesus Christ.

The gifts that we give, as individual Christians, prove the sincerity of our love for the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Amazing grace giving. The first word is the word, liberality or generosity. The second word for amazing

grace giving is sincerity. 

 

Now, there's a third word.

 

III. EQUALITY.

 

We discover in verses 10-15, these Corinthians had made a a commitment. The Corinthian believers had promised that they were going to give to this offering.

 

Now apparently they had not been keeping up with it as well as they should. They made their pledge and now Paul says, it's time to come through. You made your promise, and you need to keep it.  

 

There are a lot of people who have never made a commitment to tithe and give. It's an amazing thing to me how people will promise everywhere else but won't make a commitment at church.

 

You get your house ready and the electrical department says, "We'll turn on your power, but you have to promise that whatever that power costs every month you'll pay. And we’re going to ask you to prove your commitment by making a deposit." "Oh, good, where do I sign?" Why? You want your electricity turned on.

 

Then you want to buy a car. They say, "We'll let you have this car, but it's going to cost you this much and you have to pay so much every month." 

You say, "Oh, man, I can hardly wait. It’s just what we’ve been looking for. Where do I sign? And you make a commitment to that deal.  

 

Then at church, “I’ve just never made a commitment to tithe. Why do people do that?

 

Some are just stingy. They have never fully understood the grace of God, and His commitment to bless and provide, and from a very fleshly, earthly perspective they see know way that 90% will go farther than 100% and they just flat refuse. The world is all about them and their needs, and they have no interest in helping others or being involved in ministry. 

 

To you, I say: You need to come to a fresh understanding of the grace of God and what He did when He saved your sorry self, and from a grateful, thankful heart learn to give.

 

Others say, "I'm just afraid if I make a commitment I can't live up to it."

 

Let me ask you a question. What kind of God do you

have? Do you think that God is going to expect you to do something you can't do?

 

Look at what he says in verse 12

 

That's simple enough.

 

God says -if you have it fine. If you don't, then that's fine.

 

 

 

God does not expect of us what we cannot do. God doesn't expect you to give that which He does not enable you to give.

 

Look at verse 13

 

There’s the word I want you to mark. The word equality. That's the third word that characterizes amazing grace giving.

 

The word just simply means fairness; being fair in the matter of our giving. God wants us to be fair.

 

Notice that there is certainly some suggestion here of percentage giving. In verse 12 he says, "It is accepted according to what a man has."

 

In I Corinthians 16:2 the Bible says, "Upon the first day of the week, let everyone of you lay by him in store, as God has prospered him." How can giving be fair giving? He is saying there should be an equality in giving.

 

You sit here this morning and you come from all kinds of economic situations. One of the things I love about our church is that we are a true people's church. We are across the spectrum in our church. On any given Sunday, you can see people sitting on the same row where one has had educational opportunities, others never got to finish school. Or on any given Sunday, you can see people who may live in a pretty fine home and others who live in a modest apartment. The ground is level at the foot of the cross. Isn't it wonderful that when you come to the Lord Jesus Christ you are all one in Him?

 

 

The Bible says there can be equality in the matter of our giving. How can that be? One person may give a big offering. Others are on a fixed income. Another one has a big executive job. Another is a common laborer.

 

How can we give on an equal basis? Here's how. Verse 12 says, "according as you have." "Upon the first day of the week, lay by in store, as God has prospered." 

 

It seems to me that he is suggesting a percentage.

That brings to mind the principle of tithing. 

 

Tithing simply means that you give 1/10th of your income to the Lord's work; to your church. If I give a tenth and Bro. Jimmy gives a tenth and you give a tenth, in terms of a percentage we are all equal. It is a fair way. We all equally give if we give on the basis of giving the Lord his 10%.

 

He goes on a little bit more and says in verse 14 that he wants this equality to b such that if somebody is in abundance, that will balance off somebody else who is in want. Then if the day comes that this one is in abundance and this is in want, they will pick up the slack. In other words, they will equal out this situation.

 

Now, you may be doing real good right now. Somebody else may not be doing so good right now. So the Bible says, "let there be an equality." The Bible is saying, “See to it that when someone else is going through hard times, you make up the difference. One of these days the shoe might be on the other foot.”

 

The Bible says, "Truly riches have wings and fly away."

 

Somebody says, "Stock market is down and I've been losing a lot of money." Well, it's just all on paper. Don't worry about it. It'll come back. If somebody else is not able to give the way they like to give and you are able to give, then you give and the day may come when you may not be able to give. Then they can give. Let there be an equality.

 

Look at verse 15. "As it is written." He is quoting from Exodus 16. "He that had gathered much had nothing over: and he that had gathered little had no lack." 

 

Equality. What's the background of that? In the Old

Testament wilderness experience the children of Israel had an unusual nutrition program. God sent them manna out of heaven. Every morning. 

 

Every morning God's people were to go out and gather that manna. They were to gather what they needed for their family. Here's a family with just a man and his wife. They gathered a certain amount for the two of them.

 

Here's another family with a man, his wife and their four children. They gathered enough for themselves and for their four children. Only a day's need is what they were to gather.

 

But you know what happened? Some of them got greedy. They said, "We don't know what's going to happen tomorrow. This manna has been coming every morning just like God said it would, but who knows what tomorrow will bring.

We may hit a depression. Heaven may go into recession. So, we better not only get just enough for today, but we better store up some for tomorrow." 

 

So that's what some of them did. They gathered more than they needed for that daily provision. So they had some manna left over. So they put it back in the refrigerator and the Bible says that leftover manna bred worms and rotted. Some of God's people had a whole bunch of rotten manna because they hoarded it.

 

Any of God's people here this morning that have rotten manna? Any of God's people who haven't been giving according to amazing grace giving. It takes us all. Our giving must be characterized by liberality, generosity. It must be characterized by sincerity. We prove our love by our giving. Then it needs to be characterized by equality. All of us have to do it.

 

If you are a Christian, I want you to begin praying. Make it a matter of definite prayer every day about your giving and what God would have you to give. If you are not a Christian, I'm not interested in you giving money. That's not what we are here about.

 

If you gave some money this morning, that's fine. That was your decision. That's not my point. If you are here and have never received Christ as your Savior, we are not interested in your money. But I'll tell you what we are interested in. we are interested in you giving yourself to the Lord. The first and greatest gift you'll ever give to the Lord is yourself.

 

Let's bow our heads in prayer.