Getting Off the Plateau
Giving Your Way to Blessings
Acts 20:35
In our morning worship time we are seeking ways to get off the spiritual plateau. Unfortunately, 80% of the churches in America are described as declining or plateaued. It is my conviction that churches must be described that way because of their pastors and members. How else could a church lose its presence and vitality if not through its membership?
We could try and blame it on circumstances or social and moral disintegration, but if we will be honest, the church has grown dull and lifeless because by and large, the pastors and members of those churches have lost their passion for the Lord.
Therefore the key to getting off the spiritual plateau is found in personal revival. And to that end, we are looking at some key components of church life. We began with worship. Everything must begin there. It’s all about Him and His will. Then we looked at our responsibility as a church member.
Next we talked about the place and importance the Bible is to have in our life as it guides and governs us. That leads to spiritual maturity as we grow in Christ and become what He has in mind for us.
And I hope you notice there is a progression found in those subjects. We begin with God, move through what it means to be rightly related to Him and His church, prioritize the place the Bible holds and let it develop us into spiritual mature followers of Christ.
So what comes next? I will admit to you I was somewhat torn on what to address next. My first thought was prayer. No doubt, prayer must play a vital role if we will revitalize the church. And we will take a look at our prayer life before we finish this series.
Then I thought about our service life and learning to use our spiritual giftedness in ministry. And once again, it’s hard to minimize the significance of the contribution you can make to the life of the church as God equips and enables you to serve. And we’ll explore that at a later time also.
But perhaps the very first Christian discipline that needs to be addressed is stewardship. One of the very first things I remember doing as a child at church, besides getting into trouble, was giving. I can remember my parents giving me some money to take to church so I could give to the Lord.
Now back then, we used a Sunday School offering envelope that had little check boxes on the front. There was a box for being present and bringing your Bible with you. You could check a box if you were staying for church and if you made contacts. NAd there was a box to indicate you were giving an offering.
I can’t tell you how much joy it brought to be able to check that box and give my offering to God. Somewhere along the way, if we aren’t careful, we’ll lose that joy and blessing that comes from being faithful and obedient to the Lord.
Statistics prove me right. Research shows that about 20% of church attenders give 80% of all the money that church receives. Another 30% give the other 20% and 50% give nothing.
Somewhere along the way, we’ve either forgotten or ignored or have never been taught the Biblical principles of stewardship. And as a result, the church very often struggles to do what God has called them to do.
In our own church, we have experienced a consistent decline in giving over the last few years. We have cut our operating budget over the last three years. Our current budget is $1,000 per week lower than it was in 2013, and we still aren’t meeting budget. In fact, this year we are averaging about $1,900 per week under our budget requirements.
So what contributes to that kind of situation? Why aren’t offerings better than they are? There are three primary factors.
First, we have experienced the loss of several faithful givers. We’ve had young families that were financially supportive who’ve moved out of town and we’ve said goodbye to a lot of faithful, giving members over the last several years who’ve died and gone to heaven.
Second, for whatever reason, younger members and those newer to the faith have not yet developed the discipline of giving, and third, some members get mad and quit giving.
Unfortunately, the significant loss of income we’ve experienced has hurt in two primary ways.
The first one is in staffing. We’ve absorbed the cuts by not giving salary increases and not replacing staff members. We’ve not given any salary increases in seven years in an attempt to keep expenses down and we’ve not filled the vacancies created when staff members resign.
That has resulted in cutting our expenses by almost $40,000. The downside is we have a gaping hole in our ministry when it comes to our youth and young adults. We desperately need to target reaching and ministering to young families and I have the name of a young man right now who is interested in the position, but it would be very difficult to pay a decent wage with things as they are.
The second area that is affected is our facilities. Two years ago God laid a plan on my heart to see a new parking lot and activities building constructed and to remodel our auditorium. We are limited on Sunday School space and this auditorium certainly needs our attention.
In the past, we’ve relied on dividend income from our investments to assist with the financing of these types of projects. We receive about $60,000 per year in dividends. This year, because our budget receipts
had declined, we earmarked $31,000 of that money to do projects that had previously been supported through budget giving and left the other $30,000 available in the event we built or remodeled.
Unfortunately, we’ve had to use $xx,000 of that to supplement budget shortages. Simply said, if things stay as they are, it would be extremely unwise to obligate money to a remodel project and jeopardize the day-to-day operation of our ministries.
So what is the answer to those challenges? It is found in learning and applying the Biblical principles regarding stewardship.
Now while that is an exhaustive study that should occupy more than one sermon because of its importance, I just want to spend this morning exploring one primary verse of Scripture on the subject. It’s found in
Acts 20:35
I find it interesting that we have no record of these words in the four gospels, yet Luke tells us, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that Jesus Christ said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
It is such a simple thought composed of only nine words, seven of which contain only one syllable. Yet in one clear and succinct statement the Lord Jesus Christ summarizes everything the Bible has to say about the subject of giving.
As I look back over the years of my ministry, perhaps the greatest regret I have, among many, is that I have not preached and taught more about giving.
It seems as though no matter how much or how little you preach on giving, there are always some who say, “Every time you go to church, all they talk about is money.” Have you ever heard anybody say that? That is not a true statement. In fact, in our church, you hear very little about giving and money except to give you an opportunity to be involved in ministry and missions.
In fact, it occurs to me if anybody around here says that, our response should be, “If you’d come more often, you’d hear about other things also!” Maybe God has you showing up at those particular times because He’s not yet Lord of your wallet!
And when you think about it, if all you ever hear from your pastor and church is how you ought to give, you can’t find a better definition of what it means to be a Christian than that.
Giving is at the heart of the Bible. The whole Bible can be summarized in this matter of giving. The Bible says that God is the happy God. He is the blessed God. In John 3:16 you have the heart of God revealed when it says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son.” Giving is the secret of a happy life.
We find this over and over again in the Bible. All through the Bible we find the truth that if you want to be a happy person, then you must learn the grace of giving. You must learn what it is to have a giving life. It is the secret of happiness. It runs contrary to human nature. We don't think that's true. There's something in our human nature that says it is more blessed to receive than it is to give. A lot of people think that wealth is what will make you happy.
Back in 1992, authors James Patterson and Peter Kim published a book entitled “The Day America Told the Truth: What People Really Believe About Everything That Really Matters”. In that book they complied and analyzed the results of a national survey on the private views of Americans on such things as sex, crime, punishment, rape, the death penalty, and more.
In that survey, the question was asked, “What would you do for ten million dollars?” Twenty-five percent of those surveyed said they would abandon their family. Twenty-three percent said they would be a prostitute for one week. Seven percent said they would murder a stranger.
Somehow multitudes of people across the fabric of America have been convinced it is more blessed to receive than it is to give. Drive by the atrocities dotting Oklahoma’s landscape called casinos and you will find overwhelming evidence that people believe it is more blessed to receive than to give.
But in stark contrast to that, Jesus said if you want to be a happy person, if you want to be a blessed person, then you need to learn it is more blessed to give than it is to receive. Do we believe it? If we believe it, it will change our life and it will change the lives of those around us.
So if it is more blessed to give than to receive, what are we to give and what is the accompanying blessing?
First and foremost,
1. We Should Give Ourselves to the Lord
2 Corinthians 8:5
There it is in plain, old, black and white, easy-to-understand English. “They first gave themselves to the Lord.”
One of the oldest stories I can ever remember is the story of the little boy in a church service. The pastor had talked about the importance of giving. He didn't really have anything to give and as the offering plate came closer and closer to the pew where he was standing right there on the edge of the aisle, the usher brought the offering plate to him and the little boy said, “Lower.”
He put the plate a little lower and the little boy said, “Lower.” So he put the plate down on the ground and the little boy stepped into the plate. He gave the most important gift you will ever give to the Lord Jesus. He gave himself.
We are to give ourselves. That is the first gift you ever give to Jesus. That is the essential gift you give to Jesus. That is the supreme gift you give to Jesus. God is far more interested in your heart than He is in your pocketbook. God wants you to give yourself to Him, first of all. That is the number one gift you give to the Lord.
The Lord Jesus Christ wants you to give yourself to the Lord Jesus. If you have never been saved, He's not after your money. He is after your heart. If you have never repented of your sins and by faith invited Jesus Christ into your heart, you need to do that before this service is over. Give yourself to the Lord.
Then it says, “They gave themselves to us by the will of God.”
Now He's talking about giving to God's people. We are talking about giving and giving in terms of our local congregation.
In particular, he is talking about giving to the Lord's work and His ministry through the local congregation.
Of all the needs churches have, perhaps this is the greatest thing that is needed in our congregation. If somebody asked me, “Preacher, what's the greatest need of Trinity Baptist Church in Ardmore, Oklahoma?” How would you answer if that question were asked of you?
My first answer would not be more members. We have a lot of members and as is true of all congregations, unfortunately, not all of the members are as involved as they ought to be. Not all the members are as faithful in the attendance as they ought to be. Not all the members read the Bible as they ought to read it. Not all the members pray as they ought to pray. Not all the members give as they ought to give. Not all the members witness as they ought to witness.
So the great need of the church is not more members.
Neither is the greatest need of the church money. I was thinking about the early New Testament church and how these early disciples had very little of material things. Yet they shook the Roman Empire to its foundations by their faith.
They had very little material things, yet they turned their world upside down with the gospel. The great need of the church today is not more members or more money. Instead it is more people who have invested their lives in the work of the Lord. That's what God needs. God wants us to give ourselves.
I have noticed in our culture, in recent years that more and more people approach church from the attitude of “what do I get out of it?” Sometimes people walk away from church and say, “I didn't get much out of the service today. I didn't like the music. I didn’t like the sermon. I didn’t like the buildings.”
When I hear that I always think of the family that visited a church and after it was over, they just ripped it all apart. The piano player hit wrong notes. The sermon was too loud and long. The people weren’t friendly. On and on they went until finally the youngest child said, “But you know it was a pretty good show for a nickel!”
Let me just encourage you, when you leave church today, just ask yourself, “What did I contribute today? Did I give something today? Was I a blessing today?”
Give yourself to the Lord through His church. Give yourself to the work of the Lord. There are a lot of ways you can give. You can give by using your musical talent to sing in the choirs. You can give by using your talent to teach in our Bible teaching ministry. You can give by giving your love for young people and working in our young people area. You can give by being willing to take your time and your turn in the preschool ministry, ministering to those precious preschool boys and girls.
You can drive the van. There are all kinds of ways we can give. People in our church ought to be blessed because of us. There is a load every one of us can lift. There is a burden we can bear. There is a sorrow we can share.
There is something we can do to be an encouragement to other people. Jesus said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Give yourself to the Lord.
Here’s the second thing:
2. We Should Give our Substance to the Lord
1 Corinthians 16:2
When we talk about stewardship, we begin with ourselves, but we don’t stop there. Our stewardship includes everything we have.
Children very often have the best and most logical approach to doctrine and theology. I heard about a little boy in his Bible class and for several weeks the teacher had been teaching them about stewardship and that it meant giving your life to the Lord. It meant giving your talents to the Lord. It meant giving your money to the Lord.
So the teacher asked for a definition of stewardship. Here's the way the boy in Bible class put it. He said, “Stewardship is like a great ship loaded with rich cargo of many things, going to many people, in many places. God is the owner of the ship and I am the captain of the ship.”
God owns everything. He is the owner of it all. You and I are trustees. You and I are stewards. That's what stewardship is all about. We are stewards of what God has given to us.
Now notice what this verse says about stewardship. It is a very practical, simple to understand instruction.
First, it tells us there is a definite time to give and it “on the first day of the week.” The Bible teaches us that we should be faithful to come to God's house on the first day of the week. That's the Lord's Day. It's the day we celebrate the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yesterday was the day of creation. But today is the day of resurrection. It's the 8th day, the beginning again day, the Lord's Day. He says there is to be a definite period of time.
The implication of that is there is to be systematic, regular, consistent bringing of our substance to the Lord. If you get paid once a week, then bring your offering weekly. If you get a monthly check, then figure out what it is, come to church on Sunday and bring your offering with you.
Why does the Bible teach this? It is because our giving is a matter of worship. That's why we take up an offering in the worship services. We believe that it is an act of worship. And when we bring our gifts to the Lord on Sunday, we are basically saying to the Lord, “Lord, this is an expression of my worship to you. This is my heart telling you how much you mean to me. It is given in recognition of all the many blessings you have given to me.”
There is an act of worship involved. Another reason the Bible says we are to do it on a consistent basis is because regular giving has a way of clearing the selfishness from our heart.
By nature, we tend to be selfish and selfishness is the antithesis of Christianity. You can’t always be thinking about your needs and your stuff and what you want and what you have to have and be like Christ. And consistent, habitual, planned intentional giving has a way of dealing with the selfishness that tries to take over our lives.
Regular giving to the Lord will also help you learn to manage your finances. One of the most important things I can do for you, as a Christian is to help you handle your finances. You may have a financial planner that advises you, but if your planner doesn’t follow Biblical principles, you’ll both wind up losing.
I don't claim to be a financial expert, but I believe the Bible and I know what the Bible has to teach about giving and if I can teach you what the Bible says about the importance of giving, I'll help you in your financial planning. When you learn to give the Lord a tithe of your income and offerings over and above that income that forces you to put yourself on a budget and plan your spending.
When you are guided by a budget, then you learn to prioritize your spending. When you give the Lord His and you put yourself on a budget, then you learn not to spend money on things that are not necessary. You learn to be responsible in the whole area of your giving. I'm doing a great favor to a lot of you people today if you will just take this to heart and begin to give God His gift first and then budget everything else and ask God to provide your need.
There is so much involved in the simple admonition to bring your gift to the Lord’s house of the first day of the week. There's a definite period of time.
Now only on the first day of the week, but he says, “Let every one of you.” That means there are definite people involved in this matter of giving. And the people he’s addressing are the membership of the church.
He is saying that everybody is to participate. All of God's people are to give. I have been astonished as I have studied giving in the church fellowship. It is absolutely astounding to me that there are people who claim to be saved and members of a church who never give anything to the work of the Lord or the support their church.
And sadly, they never realize what a loss that is and how they’ve robbed themselves of blessing. The instruction couldn’t be any clearer. “Let each one of you lay something aside”. God wants us all to participate God wants all of us to get the blessing.
There's a definite period (the first day of the week), a definite people (every one of you), and there is a definite place.
Notice the phrase, “lay something aside”. In the KJV, it reads, “Lay by him in store.” That has Old Testament flavor to it. God instructed His pele through Malachi to bring their tithes to the storehouse.
In the Old Testament, the temple was the storehouse. The people brought their gifts to the storehouse and it was distributed accordingly. In the New Testament the storehouse is the local church.
Now, there are many good places to give your money. There are many good causes you can support. But none of them replace the church. They may support the church; they may share the vision of the church; they may complement the work of the church, but our first and foremost gift is given in the local church where you are a member.
You know what's going on here. You can be involved here. You get the financial report here. It's where you get fed. It's where you come and hear God's Word. It's where you come and the music is a blessing. It’s where you support and can be involved in mission around the world. Be obedient to God’s Word. “Lay something aside” by bringing your gift to God's house.
Giving involves a definite period of time, a definite people, a definite place and a definite percentage.
The next phrase suggests our giving is proportionate to how God has prospered us. If God prospers us more, we give more.
We believe that the starting point of giving for a believer is tithing. That's the entry point of giving.
Again, the roots of that are found in the Old Testament and the discipline of tithing.
Somebody says, “That's in the Old Testament.” Well, Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” That's in the Old Testament, too. Should we throw that one away also? Malachi 3:10, in the Old Testament, says, “bring the tithes to the Lord.” What we have there is a principle given by God to guide our giving.
Someone says, “But that was under the law.” Well why would a Christian under grace want to give less to the Lord than a Jew gave under law? There is a definite percentage involved.
Now according to verse 2 in our text, the reason God instructed the church to bring their offerings to the Lord’s house every time they got together was so they wouldn’t have to take up offerings when Paul arrived.
In other words, if the church is doing what it’s supposed to be doing with its money, you won’t have to talk about money all the time. You can meet every need in the congregation. Everything God wants a church to do can be done when we give the Lord our substance.
We give ourselves to the Lord, we give our substance to the Lord and
3. We Should Give our Story to the World
Acts 20:20-21
Paul is telling the church what’s he’s been up to in ministry and in these verses, he’s specifically talking about telling the story. We have a story to tell also.
Remember, we’re talking about getting off the spiritual plateau. Perhaps what would help more than anything else is for the church to go tell the story of Jesus.
Jesus said it is more blessed to give than to receive. Did you ever think about that in terms of the story of Jesus? We have a story to give. It's a simple story. It's a story about how God so loved the world that He sent His Son Jesus. How that Jesus Christ was born in a little manger in Bethlehem. It's the story about how this Jesus grew up to be a man and he never sinned. It's a story about how this sinless Jesus one day was carried outside the city of Jerusalem.
They nailed Him to a cross and on that cross, He paid the price for your sins and my sins and the sins of the whole world. It's a story how that they put Him in a tomb and three days later He rose again from the dead. He is alive forevermore. It is a simple story. It is so simple that little boys and girls can understand it. Yet, it is so sublime and so profound that the wisest of men are lost in the wonder of it. I'm going to keep telling that simple story.
It's a stirring story. There is no story that so stirs the hearts of people as the story of the Lord Jesus Christ dying on that cross for our sins. It causes homes to be changed. It causes lives to be renovated and renewed. It causes families to be put back together. It causes the shackles of sin to be broken and the grip of habits to be released in the lives of people. It is a stirring story.
And it is a saving story. Anybody who will hear it and believe and act upon it -will be saved.
There's something about giving this story that means more to you when you give it away than any other time. When you tell the story of Jesus, you receive a blessing like nothing you will ever experience.
We have a hymn in our book that I've sung all my life. One of the lines goes like this. “I love to tell the story, tis pleasant to repeat. What seems each time I tell it more wonderfully sweet. I love to tell the story, for those have never heard the message of salvation, from God's own holy word.”
Perhaps the greatest blessing we can every receive is when what we’ve given results in others coming to know Jesus and being ministered to in His name.
If you were paying attention in history class or ever took an economics class, you probably know the very first billionaire in America was the founder of Standard Oil Company, John D. Rockefeller, Sr. What you may not have learned was the story behind his wealth.
He was the son of an itinerant medicine peddler and bigamist who wandered in and out of his son's life. His mother was a devout Baptist who taught her children to serve and honor God. When he got his first job, it paid $1.50 per week. He said he took the money home and showed his mom. She spread it out on her lap and explained the tithe and told him what she expected him to do. He went to church that weekend and took his tithe with him.
He grew to be a tremendous man of God, faithfully teaching Sunday School and supporting his local church and giving to mission causes all over the world. He was millionaire at the age of 23 and a billionaire, by the age of 50.
He spent the last forty years of his life creating foundations that had a major impact on medicine, education, and scientific research.
His foundations were instrumental in the discovery of penicillin, cures for current strains of malaria, tuberculosis and diphtheria along with an enormous amount of other discoveries. They also pioneered the development of medical research and were instrumental in the eradication of hookworm and yellow fever.
He gave $80 million to the University of Chicago, turning a small Baptist college into a world class institution by 1900. His General Education Board was especially active in supporting black schools in the South. He founded Spellman University, named after his wife, designed primarily to educate black women.
When asked the secret to his wealth, he said, “God gave it to me.” In fact he believed and taught that the ability to make money is a gift from God to be developed in order to make as much as possible, and then the money is to be used wisely for the good of mankind. He eventually gave away half of everything he made totaling more than $555 million during his lifetime.
He said, "I never would have been able to tithe the first million dollars I ever made if I had not tithed my first salary, which was $1.50 per week."
He had learned it is more blessed to give than to receive!
Several years ago a little girl named Mary go the greatest surprise of her life when she got a dollar bill for her fourth birthday. She carried the bill about the house and was seen sitting on the stairs admiring it.
"What are you going to do with your dollar?" her mother asked. "Take it to Sunday School," said Mary promptly. "To show your teacher?" Mary shook her head. "No," she said. "I'm going to give it to God. He'll be as surprised as I am to get something besides pennies."
Maybe it’s time you surprised God by giving more than the leftovers or nothing at all. And in the process maybe you’ll bet the biggest surprise of all when you learn it is more blessed to give than to receive.
Let's pray.
