By Dr. Rebekah McCloud

Good morning Grace. So glad to be home with the Saints of God this morning. Today my topic is “A Little Piece of Money.” The scriptures I will read will be from the New International version of the Bible.

During preparations for the hurricane, I got some cash. Among it was a $20 bill that had the word tithe written across it.  I put it in the collection plate here at church. The next week, I went to the mailbox. Lying on the ground was half of a dollar bill. These two incidents transported my mind back to 1972.

When I went off to college, my Grandma Daisy gave me what she called a little piece of money. It was a $20 bill that she wrapped up in a “hanskit” and attached a diaper pin. She said, “pin this in your brassiere. You never know when you might need a little piece of money.”

In 1972, $20 was a lot of money. It had the same buying power as $117.49 does today in 2017. It was a sacrifice for my Grandma to give me that gift. I appreciated that $20 then and even more so today.

You see, I was the first of Grandma’s family to go to college. She was proud of me. She didn’t quite understand what college was, but she knew I was a smart girl going somewhere to get smarter. Out of the goodness of her heart, she gifted me, she invested in me, and she planted a seed in me. Amen.

Luke 6:38, a familiar scripture says, “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”  And Proverbs 21:26 says the righteous give and do not hold back. No doubt, Grandma knew these scriptures. Amen.

The Bible is full of examples of those who freely gave:

• A poor widow gave two mites; that was all that she had. The Bible said her gift was greater than all the others that were given (Luke 21:1-4).
• Mary Magdalene and other women helped support Jesus and the apostles (Luke 8:1-3).
• Joseph, a wealthy man, provided his own tomb for Jesus (Matthew 27:57-60). Nicodemus supplied expensive spices for the burial (John 19:39).
• Philemon opened his home for church meetings (Philemon 2).
• Another widow made a cake of bread for Elijah from her last bit of flour and oil. As a result, her bowl of flour was not exhausted, nor was her jar of oil emptied (1 Kings 17:13).

Grace, will you give and trust the Lord to fill your bowl and your jar? Philippians 4:19 says, “My God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” Psalm 1: 1-3 tells us if our delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his laws we meditate day and night, whatever we do prospers. And, Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart.”

I recently read a piece by Bob Diffenbaugh.[1] He said some things I found interesting. “Tithing was a practice specified in the Old Testament law, and was not carried over into the New Testament. Our Lord never required it, nor did His apostles and the church ever practice it. We are not under law, but under grace. Now some of you may use this as an excuse for not giving, and that would be wrong. If in the Old Testament, a portion belonged to God, in the New Testament everything is His, and we are stewards of it, who will some day give account for (of?) our stewardship (cf. Luke 19:11-27; 1 Cor. 4:1-5; 2 Cor. 5:10).”

Let me share with you 10 of his thoughts on giving:

1. Giving is to be properly motivated.
2. Giving is never done out of constraint, but always done willingly and cheerfully.
3. Giving is to be done thoughtfully and purposefully
4. Giving is to be carried out realistically and proportionately.
5. Giving is a blessing to others in that it expresses our deep love for them in Jesus Christ, and in addition, it meets very real needs.
6. Giving is a witness to the unbelieving world of the reality of the life-changing power of Jesus Christ, a power which even conquers a man’s wallet.
7. Giving brings praise and glory to God, especially the praise which goes up to God from the one who is ministered to.
8. Giving not only demonstrates Christian fellowship, but in many ways it deepens it.
9. Giving is a great blessing to the giver for he has the great joy of knowing he has been God’s instrument to minister to His own.
10. Giving is a great blessing to the giver for he has the opportunity to see God provide for his own needs as a result of his generosity.

These ought to make you go, Hmmm! Law or grace, above all, we are stewards. Amen. For homework, think back over your life and answer these two questions: 1. When have you given a little piece of money and in return God has provided for you? 2. Can you trust that the Lord can take the little piece of money you give (the tithe, the 10%) and return it to you ten-fold? Here’s a bonus question: Are you ready for the Lord to pour a pressed down, shaken together and running over blessing into your lap? Church, God is able to make all grace abound to you.

Remember Proverbs 11:24-25. It says “There is one who scatters, and yet increases all the more, and there is one who withholds what is justly due, and yet it results only in want. The generous man will be prosperous, and he who waters will himself be watered. Amen.

_______________

[1] Deffinbaugh, B.  (2004). The New Testament Church—Its Finances at https://bible.org/seriespage/new-testament-church—its-finances.

 

10/15/17