Episode 336: Teaching Our Kids About Gospel Giving | +Quigg Lawrence

Introduction

What I wanna talk about today is what I taught my kids about giving. And I don't know if you have little children, but we kinda kept it simple. We had a board with three jars. One jar, so anytime they would get money, birthday money, Christmas money, maybe they had chores. So one jar was give to God. Second jar, Americans save. Third jar, spend. So give to the Lord, save, spend. But I wanted my kids to know more than that. I want to know I wanted them to really know who the owner was because until you transfer ownership, until you really understand that he's God, you're not. He's owner, you're not. It's always going to be painful to give to the Lord. Always. Always.

Here's a little scripture that wasn't in my sermon, but I want you to hear this. It kind of sums up Christian giving, faithful giving. It's Proverbs three. It says this, Honor the Lord. Honor. That's a concept we seem to have forgotten a lot about. Honor. Not dutifully do something. Honor. Honor the Lord. How do we honor him? Honor him with your wealth and the first fruits of all your produce. And then, after honoring Lord with the first fruits, then your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will be bursting with wine. And so, that is a principle that we stand on and we believe in. We want our kids to know that. Honor the Lord. Give him first fruits. Trust him. He's a provider.

My Time in Rwanda

Now, I want to take you to Rwanda. I was actually now, this is a little quiz for you. I was in Rwanda this week, and I took no airplane. How is that possible? I was literally legally in Rwanda speaking this week, but I never got on an airplane. Embassy. Embassy. Exactly right. So that was a privilege. And these are some of our friends at our sister church. And if you've been in Holy Spirit, you've seen this 25 times. You're gonna keep seeing it because it sums up, god not trying to extract, squeeze you like a lemon going through a squeezer, But the joy, honestly, the joy of people that know their god and know he's good and they want to give.

Do you see this? These people are really pretty poor. Their salaries are in that kind of 3,000, $4,000 for the whole family range. And yet, do you see the joy on their face? Now, let's contrast that with the next fellow. I get it, man. Until I actually knew the lord and actually knew that he was owner, I mean, I kind did what my dad did. You know, the offering plate comes. I never liked that. I need to dig down and you want to be sure, oh, I don't want give him the five. Let me see if I can get the one. If the five comes out, oh, no. Don't want put that one in. Let's get the one. I didn't have any joy because I thought it was mine. And it wasn't until I really, really, really, really transferred ownership and believed that the earth is the Lord's and all that is therein.

The earth is the Lord's and everything that is therein. — Psalm 24:1

Right? Psalm 24 verse one. The earth is the Lord's and everything that is therein. It was only then that I could say, lord, you're trusting me with your staff, and I want to honor you because I know you're way more generous than I am. I want you to be my provider. I don't want to be my own provider.

And so we had in our first church a little guy named Philip. We had this custom, and this is thirty six years ago, but we'd bring all the kids up during the announcement time, and they'd put money in a basket or a little plastic loaf of bread that would go to Bread for the World. And every kid would come up on their birthday, and Philip was turning 11. So what would Philip have to do when he turns 11? Put 11 pennies in the plate. Now Philip was cool with coming up for prayer and getting the notoriety and everybody singing happy birthday. He wasn't as excited about digging down in his pocket and getting his money, and you could see the pain. His face looked worse than that. He's with his two parents and his hand would start to go in his pocket, and the further would go down into his pocket towards those coins, the more miserable Philip looked. And you can see it, his hands started going down and back up, down, back up. And finally, his mother who's a country girl goes, Philip. And so Philip dutifully with no love or cheerfulness in his heart, digs down his pocket and throws 11¢ in the plate.

Now, do you think God was excited about that gift? You think he took any pleasure in it? Do you think Philip got any benefit from that gift? Absolutely not. Philip, unlike the Rwandans, Philip thought he was the owner. He thought it was his stuff, and it felt like the Lord was extracting out of him some of his money.

Teaching Our Kids About Giving

So there you go. Next slide, please. Bottom line up front. What do we want to teach our kids? In fact, you are teaching your kids. You are teaching your kids. They're watching. We're modeling something for them. What are we teaching our kids? Are we teaching them legalism? Are we teaching them do whatever seems right in your own mind? Or are we modeling for them Christian gospel generosity?

I have to confess to you, in the early years, I'd always apologized, oh, it's tithing Sunday. I'm so sorry. This isn't tithing Sunday. This is generosity Sunday. But my apology is not apologizing to you that I have to declare the whole council of God's word. My apology is that for over a year, I haven't even spoken about money stewardship giving at all. Slip goes, hey, man. Don't you ever preach on that? And I'm like, well, you know, people hate it. So now, I apologize. I owe you that. And Matthew, the great commission, it says, teach them to obey everything that I've commanded you.

And so here's the here's the anchor verse. Second Corinthians eight, great chapter. Second Corinthians eight and nine are kind of the place you want to go if you want to know about New Testament gospel generosity, but here it is:

For you know the grace of our lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, king of kings, lord of lords. Though he was rich yet for your sake, he became poor and so that through his poverty, you could be made rich. — 2 Corinthians 8:9

And so that's our bottom line up front. If you can't remember anything else, remember Philip's face, remember the Rwandans' face, remember that verse.

Foundations of Giving

So where do we start? How do we unpack this thing? The first place we start, and this was super helpful. I actually taught this in Rwanda, and I really felt I prayed before I preached in Rwanda, like, Lord, what do you want me to preach on? And the Lord said, I want you to teach them about stewardship. I'm like, Lord, no way. These people have just come out of genocide. The average salary is about $1,500 or $2,000 a family, some lower than that. That almost seems cruel. Then the Lord kind of reminded me, he's like, What? You're more loving than me? You don't think it's loving to teach people God's ways and his principles? To teach people open hand rather than clenched fist? And so, in spite of my misgivings, I stood up and I taught him exactly what I'm teaching you today. A couple Americans hated it, but the Rwandans were like the Bereans. They searched the scriptures and saw if these things were so.

And then maybe six, seven, eight months later, bishop Nathan calls me, and he goes, Quigg, you're not gonna believe this. He goes, our church is on fire in a good way. People are coming. We're growing. It's healthier. Not just numbers, but it's healthier. Our budget's healthier. Our missions is healthier. Our bible studies are growing. He goes, I think by obeying God's word, you lit a spark where people transferred ownership from them being God to God being God. Something has changed in our people. And I just said, thanks be to God. Thanks be to God.

So the first thing we wanna learn is this. God's the creator. Does anybody have a real problem with that? If you do, that would be your issue, not God's. God's the creator. So where do we learn this? Is that just something I coughed up? Where do you learn that God is the creator?

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. — Genesis 1:1

Right? In the beginning, God created. He's the creator. We also see in the New Testament.

Through him all things were made. Without him, nothing was made that has been made. — John 1:3

Boil it down. God is the creator. And because he's the creator, he's therefore the owner. Do you believe that? Let's see what the scriptures say. Because God created all things, God's the owner. Let's look at these four scriptures. I kind of have them memorized. It's funny pastors tend to memorize these kind of giving verses.

The earth is the Lord's and everything that is therein. — Psalm 24:1

All the silver and all the gold is mine, says the Lord. — Haggai 2:8

All things come of thee, O Lord, and of thine own have we given it. — 1 Chronicles 29

Every good and perfect gift comes from above. — James 1:17

And so we see God's not only the creator, he's there for the owner, and scripture is clear. Old and New Testaments, he's the owner. The problem is a lot of times either we don't know that or we know it intellectually and just kind of put it on the shelf.

The Principle of Stewardship and Giving

So what's the deal? When I became a Christian, I got with a bunch of zealous, kind of far right people, and they just said, tithe, tithe, tithe, tithe. Fortunately, I read my Bible more than I listened to people. I read my Bible every single day for a lot because I wanted to. And what I've come to discover is the tithe was given before the law, during the law, and Jesus kind of backhands it. We'll get there. But that was never the goal.

You see, if we enshrine tithing, giving one tenth of all the Lord puts in your hand as the goal, we may feel good, we may feel religious, but we may not be honoring the Lord, honoring the Lord. We may not have actually transferred ownership.

Hey, God, I'll give you 10%, but don't mess with the other 90. — Personal paraphrase

Back in the old days before I had heart issues, I would go to what's a little place in there? They changed names like every three years. Wilco. Wilco. Then it was Hass, then now it's something else. I would go there in the morning and get a big gulp, that's really healthy, big gulp and a pack of nabs. And then along about three, amazing after all that caffeine, I got tired again. And I get another big gulp and a pack of nabs.

Now that's a terrible diet. One day as I was coming out of the store, I was very proud, know, and that night tied to our church, we give offerings elsewhere. I was feeling really good about myself. And the Lord just kind of whispers, Hey, it's not that I've been grudged you having those, you know, terrible toxic big gulp in the crackers twice a day, but could you at least involve me in the conversation of how you spend the other 88%?

In other words, Quigg, you've kind of locked off that other stuff. The other 88%, that's yours, this is God's. He's like, no, it's all mine. Involve me in the conversation.

What I want to say is, tithing may be a principle, but it's not a rule. It's like a Young Life camp when they say, Hey, teenagers, guess what? The great news is there are no rules this week. And all the kids are, Rah. But then the young lifers says, however, there's some strong suggestions. And what I would say here is these are more than strong suggestions. These are principles of life. God is not lacking anything. He will not be happier or richer if you give to him or not, because he knows the truth that he owns it all anyway. He's trying to open our hands and bless us. Bless us with real spiritual blessings.

And so again, we're not going to focus on tithing, tithing, tithing because that never was the goal. The goal was always bigger and grander and more open and something you don't use a calculator for.

Old Testament and New Testament Teaching on Giving

Alright. Let's look at real quickly giving in the Old Testament. Okay. Very good place to start. The first time anybody gives something, who is it? Aside from the Lord doing the garden of Eden.

But in with people, what's the first gift given? Abel. Cain. And the Bible says, in the course of time, Cain gathered up some stuff and brought it to the Lord. But Abel brought the first fruits of what he had, the fat portions, the good stuff. He brought the first and the best, the fat. And it says a very sobering thing. It says, the Lord had no regard for Cain's offering, but for Abel's he did. The Lord regarded Abel because he gave out of faith, he gave out of love, he gave him out of trust. Cain did it out of duty, and the Lord had no pleasure in it.

So that's the first thing we see in giving. Alright. What about Abram? What do we know about Abram? Again, there's no rule book. When we read about Abram, there's no Bible. There's no scripture. And yet the scripture records after a battle, he comes and brings the spoils, and he wants to give a tenth of all the Lord gave him to the high priest, Melchizedek. Melchizedek was a priest and he was a king of Salem. He's the foreshadowing of Jesus, the great high priest and so, again, no rules, no law, no gun to the head, nobody's extracting anything out of him. He wanted to give. It's in the heart of men. Sometimes it'd be selfish, but it's also in the heart of men to want to give to their creator. We see this even in other religions, but we see Abram giving a tenth of all that the Lord gave him. How about in Genesis, another patriarch? What's his name? Jacob, also known later known as Israel. Jacob, we don't know if he actually followed through, but he vowed. He said, whatever the Lord puts in my hand, I'm gonna give him one tenth of it. So if you wanna know where tithing comes from, that's where it came from. Abram. And now we see Jacob making a vow to do this, not because of a rule, but because they love God.

The Law and Tithing

So eventually, in the course of time, God gave the law to Moses. He gave him the 10 commandments. And Moses wrote Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, the Torah, the law. Now, did tithing start in the law? Well, we just heard about Abraham and Jacob. Did the tithe start with the law? No. It was before, and it was done freely from the heart. But now, what began freely from the heart began to be regulated and expanded. And so what did a did a Jew give? What was a faithful Jew commanded to give? See, I'd kind of like to know it. What did a faithful Jew have to give? It was no longer could give, it's kind of have to give. He had to give 10% of everything he had to the priest of the Levite. He had to give the first fruits. The thing about giving first is you don't know if the rest is coming, right? We've heard the country music song, sometimes I have too much month at the end of the money and so if you give first, you really are like, lord, you really are going to have to be my provider and so, under the law, the Jew gave a tithe every year. Oh, wait. There's more. He gave a tithe a second tithe. Whew. Second tithe. And that was for religious assemblies and gatherings and worship celebrations. Can you imagine people that want to worship God that passionately that they would give 10% of their income? What a party foreshadowing the party to come. And so 10%, another 10%, but wait, there's one more. Every third year, they would take up a third tithe and that would be given to help the poor. In addition to alms, you had two tithes every year. Every third year, they gave 30%. So if you make a big deal about tithing, 10%, what I would say, even the Jews knew that was never the goal. It was never the finish line.

Also, the law commanded, or at least mentioned, commanded three free will offerings. Actually, three of those offerings were totally free will. You can do this if you want, you don't have to. But two of the offerings were actually commanded. If you sinned, you had to give a sin offering. If you trespassed on your neighbor's land, you had to give a trespass offering. And so the Jew under the law, 20% every year, 30% every third year, and then there were free will offerings, and there were also alms. So that's what it was.

Jesus and Tithing

What about Jesus? You often hear and you can go today. If you don't like giving, don't like tithing, you don't like whatever. You can find a thousand websites that say tithing is legalism. In one sense, I agree with them because it's never been the goal. It's never been the goal. But what about Jesus? Did he say anything about tithe? What did he do himself? Jesus was a faithful Jew. The scriptures say he never sinned. So a faithful Jew who was under the law, what did he do? Every year, how much did he give minimum? 20%. How about every third year? Minimum Jesus gave? 30%. And how about alms? The truth is the Bible says Jesus had no place to even lay his head. It says, though he were rich for your sake, for your sake, he became poor. That through his poverty, you would become rich. And so Jesus, again, dutifully as a Jew. He's under the law. Okay? He's keeping the law. I guess it'd be a better way to say it. He's keeping the law. But he was even more generous than that, and it was all his stuff anyway. And so Jesus did that. But but did Jesus ever say we are to tithe? Because again, that's not the bull's eye, but what did Jesus say? Do you know? The Pharisees came and they were so proud of themselves about their giving. Hey, look at us. Make a big show of their giving. And they go, Hey, what? You know what? We not only tithe on the things the law says we have to, we even go in the cabinet. You know, spices in your cabinet. They've been there thirty five years and you haven't used most of them since then. Yeah. Some of them I can't pronounce, but he they tithe even on their spices. And Jesus is like, wow. Impressive. Jesus didn't say not to tithe. Again, from his perspective, every Jew would give 20% every year, 30% on the third year. They had free will offerings and had alms. So you think he's that impressed that somebody gives 10% of their spices? So, Jesus basically goes, he doesn't basically go. He says, this you should have done. In other words, give me a tenth back to the Lord. You should have done. He goes, but what I'm really concerned about, what I'm really concerned about is the weightier matters of the law. The justice and mercy. That's what I'm really concerned about. But he kind of backhanded the tithe. He didn't make a big deal over it.

The Heart of Giving and Jesus' View

Does Jesus care what you give? Does he care? I mean, he's so loving, so good. Do you think he really cares? And plus, we all make different salaries, right? He he absolutely cares. He cares. Not because he lacks anything but because we lack something. He knows that our natural inclination is to do this, and he wants us to do this. He wants us to have the joy of the Rwandans, not the misery of Philip.

There's a story in the Bible where Jesus sits opposite the temple. As he sits opposite the temple, he notices people going out to put their money in the temple box giving to God. And he saw a lady and then he saw a bunch of Pharisees. And the lady comes up there and what does she put in there? She's a poor lady. She had 2 pennies, two copper coins, two mites. And can I be honest? I'm so sore and old now. Sometimes when I go to Wilco or some other place and I see a penny on the ground, I'm like, I ain't sure I'm going bend down and pick that up. That's just requiring way too much body effort. Now if it's silver, bend down and pick it up. But this lady, all she had was 2 copper coins. She came and humbly gave 2 pennies, big whoop de dew. And right behind her comes Pharisees and they're dumping a wad of cash and letting everybody know it. Lots of money they're giving, not little coins, big wads of money. And Jesus commends the woman. She says, she's the one who trusts me. She's the one who loves me. She gave out of her poverty. You guys gave out of your excess and also to be seen by men. She gave because she loved me and because she trusted me. And so he commended that kind of giving.

Tithes, Offerings, and Alms

Here's here's we only got two about two more points. Both the Old Testament and New Testament differentiate between tithes and offerings. Tithes and offerings. And again, I would say it's tithes, offerings, and alms. But for this purpose, we'll say tithes and offerings. There's a difference. Malachi says, hey, you guys are robbing me, says the Lord. How are we robbing you? In tithes and offerings. Tithes and offerings.

And so what I hear from a lot of folks is, oh, yeah, I tithe. And I'm like, well, first of all, that's never the bull's eye. There's there's not an iron iron curtain, a titanium block to keep you from giving back to the Lord more than that. But if you're giving 10% of what the Lord puts in your hand, of all your increase, then the question I always ask is, where are your offerings going? See, what I hear often is, well, I give some to my church. I give some to Young Life. I give some to Virginia Tech. I'm not sure I would do that for, you know, for the Lord. If you're gonna give to Navy, maybe, but okay. Seriously, but I mean, this whole idea of like, I'm gonna take my tithe and I'm gonna figure out where I want to give it. And hey, the places that recognize me, I'll probably give them more. It's different. There's a tithe, there's an offering, and they're alms. And so they're differentiating the New Testament. Where are you giving the Lord's tithe? Historically, both Old and New Testament, you bring it to the priest and to the Levite, to the storehouse, if you will. In in the New Testament, they laid the money at the feet of the apostles, and they have the sacred and solemn responsibility to steward that well in a godly way. Okay.

And you maybe say, hey, here's the thing, Quigg. There are a lot of rich people in the church, and I ain't one of them. Does anybody have a season in your life where you're like, It's just kind of tough? Yeah. Yeah. Maybe student loans, maybe you spent too much on Amazon, so easy to click that button, whatever. Maybe you had medical bills, and you think, we'll let some of the rich doctors or lawyers do it. Here's the incredible news. You don't have to give what you don't got. That's bad English. You don't have to give what you don't have. The bible says to give in proportion to the way that the Lord has blessed you. That's it. So that there may be fairness. So giving is to be proportional.

Summary and Call to Action

So in summary, we could go on for five five more hours, but you don't want hear anymore. This is what I want to leave my kids with. One, when you give to God, you want to give in a way that honors him. You want to do so with a cheerful heart that acknowledges his ownership. Give first, not last. Point one. Number two, give joyfully. Give like the Rwandans, not like Philip. If you give like Philip, just keep in your pants because God doesn't want it. Number three, know that you're stewarding the Lord's money. It's a sacred thing, and that he will one day call us to account for how we took care of his stuff. You may not like that, but it's true. The parable of the talents make it so clear. There will be a day of accounting. God says, hey, what did you do with my stuff? Did you do it to build my name and my kingdom? Or did you use it selfishly for yourself?

Last thing is this, you gotta start somewhere. Right? You don't wanna just go, give, give, give, be generous, be generous, be generous. Sometimes, you gotta lower the ramp and allow people to begin stepping forward in faith. So if you're giving the Lord zero, trust him this year for 2% as a holy offering. Giving them two percent, say, Lord, I don't know how it's going to work out. I'm going have to spend less. I'm going to trust you for four. If you're giving four, try 6. 6, try 8. 8, try 10.

+1, +2, etcetera. The call is not to be a tithe. The call is to be generous and to honor the Lord. If you're not there, today is a great day to begin. Let those who have ears to hear, hear. Amen.