Home
Sermons Sermon
Outlines Christmas
Outlines Easter
Outlines Funeral
Outlines Who Is God?
God's Word Tracts
Q & A Missionaries
Feedback Dr.
Hymers' Website 
|
“The
Sixth Benefit of Being A Church Member: In The Place of Giving” First
Corinthians 16.1-4 EXPOSITION: 1.
It is fitting on this PayCheck Sunday that we consider the sixth
benefit of being a church member, in this series of sermons I am
presenting. When
you are a church member you are in the place
of giving. 2.
At the urging of our church’s business manager more than three
years ago, we began an annual exercise in cheerful giving here at 3.
He had testified to me that God does wonderful things in those
churches that have an annual PayCheck Sunday, so we tried it.
Our own experiences with PayCheck Sundays for the last two
years show us that God really does love a cheerful giver. 4.
Please understand that our annual PayCheck Sunday is a completely
voluntary special offering that we take up once each year.
If you are a visitor to our church we have no expectation
whatsoever that you will participate in this offering.
If you are a member of our church
you are well aware that this offering is a free will offering, and is
not mandated by law or by any requirement that we lay on any church
member. 5.
It is something we do because we want to honor God, and because
we want this church ministry to rise higher, ever higher, as we seek to
reach the 6.
Though I will be all over the Bible this morning, in a sermon
that surveys God’s plan for a Christian’s giving during the age in
which we live, my text is First Corinthians 16.1-4.
When you find that passage
please stand for the reading of God’s Word: 1
Now
concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the
churches of 2
Upon
the first day of the week
let every one of you lay by him in store, as God
hath prospered him, that there be no
gatherings when I come. 3
And
when I come, whomsoever ye shall approve by your
letters, them will I send to bring your liberality unto 4
And if
it be meet that I go also, they shall go with
me. 7.
In these last days we find that, as in the times of Israel’s
judges, when “every man did that
which was right in his own eyes,” we have multitudes of
free lance Christians these days who behave as though God has no plan or
purpose for their giving, no order or rule for their charity, no
directive or design to govern their generosity.[1] 8.
However, in Paul’s day, even in the case of the troubled
Corinthian congregation, we have clear evidence that God’s place for a
Christian’s giving was his church.
Several important observations in our text, before brother
Isenberger comes to lead in song before this morning’s sermon: 1A.
First, CONSIDER VERSE ONE “Now
concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the
churches of 1B.
The first half of the verse informs us of the purpose of the
special offering Paul was seeking to raise for the Christians back in 2B.
Now notice the last half of verse 1:
“as I have given order to the churches of 1C.
To be sure, ordinary giving is to be done through ordinary
channels. And
the ordinary channel through which a Christian’s giving should be
directed is his church.
But what about extra ordinary needs that require extra
ordinary giving? 2C.
When that special need arises you should get with other
Christians and form a special organization, a parachurch ministry, to
collect money and address the problem.
Right?
Wrong. 3C.
Though the need was great and the offering was crucial, Paul’s
apostolic directive is very clear.
The offering was to be raised by churches and through
churches. Christians
are to give through their churches.
“as I have given order to the
churches of 3B.
And though hyper-independent pastors try to pretend that the
churches referred to in this verse did not do what they certainly did,
it is clear that the churches Paul spoke of actually cooperated in a
harmonious fashion with each other to accomplish the task set before
them. 2A.
Now, CONSIDER VERSE TWO “Upon
the first day of the week
let every one of you lay by him in store, as God
hath prospered him, that there be no
gatherings when I come.” If
verse one shows us the reason for special giving, and the means by which
such gifts are to be given, verse two shows us when
such giving should take place, where
such giving should take place, and by whom
such gifts should be given: 1B.
When? “Upon
the first day of the
week” That is, churches
should take up their offerings on the first day of the week, meaning
that Christians should do their giving on the first day of the week.
Why so?
Because that is when Christians gather for worship, on the first
day of the week. 2B.
Where? Where
would Christians give, some place other than where they gathered?
Paul writes, “lay by him in store . . . that there be no
gatherings when I come.” 1C.
The phrase “lay by him in store” means that the amount that
is set aside for this special gift should be set aside at home.
The phrase literally means “set by himself.”[2]
Thus, a Christian’s
special gifts should be well thought out, prayed about, and should not
be the result of someone tugging at your heart strings.
It is one thing for God to break your heart to give, and
another thing for someone to manipulate your emotions. 2C.
The offering begins at home, but it ends up at the assembly.
After all, the only way there would be no gatherings when
Paul arrived was if the offering had already been gathered.
And where is the offering gathered?
The offering is gathered where
the people are gathered. 3B.
Who? “Upon
the first day of the week
let every one of you lay by him in store.”
Understand that it is a free will offering Paul was raising
up, but he was very clear about the fact that every church member should
participate in it. 4B.
How much?
“as God
hath prospered him” God’s
people do not give the same amounts when they give.
God’s people give proportionally. 3A.
Finally, CONSIDER VERSES 3 AND 4 3
And
when I come, whomsoever ye shall approve by your
letters, them will I send to bring your liberality unto 4
And if
it be meet that I go also, they shall go with
me. 1B.
In verse 3, Paul assures the
Corinthians that their congregation would be free to send delegates
along with the offering, to make sure there was proper accountability
for the funds that were given. 2B.
According to verse 4, even Paul himself would accompany the
offering to its destination if it was deemed appropriate, and the church
delegates could accompany him.
And it turned out that Paul did lead the group with the
special offering to CONCLUSION: 1.
The entire topic is so very simple and straightforward that it is
a wonder so many people are so confused about it.
God’s place for Christian giving is to and through
local churches. 2.
God’s place for Christian giving is not TBN.
God’s place for Christian giving is not the 700 Club.
God’s place for Christian giving is not Voice Of The
Martyrs. God’s
place for Christian giving is not Jimmy Swaggart or Benny Hinn.
God’s place for giving is not directly to missionaries
or evangelists.
God’s place for a Christian’s giving is to and through
his church. 3.
Brother Isenberger now comes to lead us in a song before this
morning’s sermon. INTRODUCTION: 1.
Before we take up our PayCheck Sunday offering, I want to present
to you an overview of giving from God’s Word. 2.
Allow me to describe for you the principle, the plan, the
privilege, and the program for Christian giving to God through the
church. 1A.
First, THE PRINCIPLE . . . OF THE LESSER GIVING TO THE GREATER It
is right and proper and good for Christians to give to God.
Indeed, it is the way of things for the greater to receive
from the lesser, for the lesser to give to the greater.
How right and proper it is, then, to recognize God’s
preeminence and to worship God by giving to Him. 1B.
First, consider how the example of
Melchizedek and Abraham illustrates this principle. 1C.
Nephew 2C.
What did Abram do?
Genesis 20.14 informs us that Abram gave him tithes of all.
In other words, he gave to Melchizedek ten percent of the
recovered booty.
The event is also recounted in
Hebrews chapter 7. 3C.
What principle do we see in action in the life of Abram when he
met with Melchizedek and gave tithes to him?
The principle of the lesser giving to the greater. 2B.
Next, consider how the example of
Solomon and the queen of 1C.
The history of Solomon’s encounter
with the queen of 1
And
when the queen of 2
And
she came to 3
And
Solomon told her all her questions: there was not any
thing hid from the king, which he told her not. 4
And
when the queen of 5
And
the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the
attendance of his ministers, and their apparel, and his cupbearers, and
his ascent by which he went up unto the house of the LORD;
there was no more spirit in her. 6
And
she said to the king, It was a true report that I heard in mine own land
of thy acts and of thy wisdom. 7
Howbeit I believed
not the words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it:
and, behold, the half was not told me: thy wisdom and prosperity
exceedeth the fame which I heard. 8
Happy are
thy men, happy are these
thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and
that hear thy wisdom. 9
Blessed
be the LORD
thy God, which delighted in thee, to set thee on the throne of 10
And
she gave the king an hundred and twenty
talents of gold, and of spices very great store, and precious stones:
there came no more such abundance of spices as these which the queen of 2C.
This incredible woman had heard of Solomon, so she came to see
for herself. After
beholding the wonder of God’s blessings in Solomon’s life with her
own eyes, the Bible says that “there was no more spirit in her,”
meaning that it all took her breath away.
Her response was to then give
Solomon, already the richest man in the world, an offering of
astonishing value. 3C.
What principle do we see in action in the life of the queen of 3B.
Consider the Israelites giving to their God. 1C.
Did they not give animals to be sacrificed?[3]
Did they not give free will offerings?[4]
Did they not give offerings of wine and flour?[5]
Did they not give to support the ministry of the tabernacle and
the temple?[6]
Did they not give the materials from which the tabernacle
furniture was fashioned?[7]
Did they not give to support the priesthood?[8]
They gave and gave and gave to the God Who
has no needs, to the God Who owns everything. 2C.
Read Exodus and Leviticus and you will find abundant evidence
that the Israelites were encouraged to give to God, and were told
precisely how to give to God.
Does not the principle of the lesser giving to the greater
apply when considering the Israelites giving to God?
Sure it does.
Should there be any surprise that God had a plan for His
people to honor Him with their gifts, rather than letting each man do
that which was right in his own eyes?
Not at all. 4B.
Thus, there should be no shock or surprise to see the same
principle operating during our own time. 1C.
If Abraham gave to Melchizedek as the representative of God, and
if the queen of Sheba gave to Solomon once she convinced herself that he
was the representative of God, and if it was God’s will for the Jewish
people to give in a directed way in days gone by, why should it be a
surprise to discover that the principle of the lesser giving to the
greater applies today? 2C.
Is God not high and lifted up?
Does He not reign in majesty supreme?
Is He not still the Lord God omnipotent?
But we have the additional advantage over those saints in
days gone by of knowing God through Jesus Christ as our Father.
Therefore, it must be granted
that showing our Father worship and homage, and giving to Him honor
through our gifts to Him, is a reasonable thing, a righteous thing, a
proper thing, a spiritual thing. 3C.
Though the verse was written three
thousand years ago, the principle of the lesser giving to the greater
still applies: “Honour
the LORD
with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase,”
Proverbs 3.9. 2A.
Next, THE PLAN GOD HAS ORDAINED FOR GIVING 1B.
For thirty three years the Lord Jesus Christ walked this earth.
But for only about three of those years did He conduct
public ministry and gather and train the disciples He would eventually
send to the uttermost parts of the earth.
It is oftentimes overlooked
that during our Lord’s earthly ministry it was possible for a believer
to give directly to Him. 2B.
Most people who have read the Bible remember that the wise men
who visited the Lord Jesus Christ in 3B.
Remember, He had no possessions except for the clothes He wore.
So, how did He survive?
Of course, He turned water into wine and multiplied the
loaves and fishes.
But those miracles were for the benefit of others.
It is in Mark 15.40-41 that we find evidence that there
were those few who gave to Him directly.
At His crucifixion mention is made of some women who
looked on from afar off, who had followed Him and had ministered to Him
even from the time He was in 4B.
But how was one to give to God before the birth of Christ, or
after the resurrection and ascension of Christ to the Father’s right
hand? During
those times before and after Christ’s earthly ministry God had in
place, and now has in place, a plan for institutionalized giving.
And what do I mean by institutionalized giving?
I refer to the Levitical system prior to the time of
Christ and to the church congregation after the time of Christ, an
organization through which to give to God. 5B.
When God is not in the midst of His creatures, in the way He was
when His Son Jesus Christ walked the earth, He establishes
representative institutions through which to work to accomplish His
will, from which to receive glory, and by means of which His people can
honor Him with their giving.
During this age in which we live God’s plan for His
people is to be members of churches of Jesus Christ, to worship Him in
conjunction with others in those congregations, and to give to Him
through the congregations.[10] 3A.
Third, THE PRIVILEGE OF GIVING IS RECOGNIZED BY CHEERFULNESS 1B.
I grant you that there are some who give to try and work their
way to heaven.
Great edifices have been financed by Jewish people doing
mitzvahs and by Gentiles attempting to buy their way into heaven.
But there is a genuine discernment that is reserved to the
spiritual child of God that recognizes the benefit, the blessing, and
the exalted privilege that enables a person to give to the cause of
Christ through the church. 2B.
As well, those who have been taught the Word of God realize the
awesome weight of personal responsibility that falls upon those of us
who know Christ.
Paul said it best in Romans 1.14:
“I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to
the wise, and to the unwise.”
So, if discernment is the possession of the spiritual, and
responsibility is recognized by those of us
who are taught, where does cheerfulness come in? 3B.
Second Corinthians 7.9 reads, “Every man according as he
purposeth in his heart, so let him
give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a
cheerful giver.”
The cheerfulness comes from the child of God recognizing
that giving to God is wholly of grace. 4B.
Imagine!
God giving to you life and ability and the means to give
to Him. And
then there is the recognition that the God Who owns the cattle on a
thousand hills and the wealth in every mine has condescended to actually
allow us to give to Him.
Astonishing.
No wonder there is joy and delight in giving.
And no wonder God loves such a cheerful giver for
recognizing that it is none of you and it is all of God to experience
this grace of giving. 5B.
Oh, how marvelous God is that He gives to me the ability to give
to Him, that He gives to me the desire to give to Him, that He gives to
me the means through which to give to Him, and that He has so graciously
overcome my natural stupidity and selfishness that I do, in fact, give
to Him. 4A.
Finally, THE PROGRAM THAT IS RECOGNIZED BY BAPTISTS It
is a sad fact that in these last days so many Baptist preachers have the
reputation of being ignorant buffoons.
It was not always so.
It was once recognized, and is still true, that Baptists
have a greater understanding of the divine program for this age than
other movements have been blessed by God to know.
That program, of course, is the true nature and function
of the church congregation as God’s institution for the propagation of
the gospel of Jesus Christ. 1B.
Baptists recognize that one of the features of this age is an
organized ministry. 1C.
An organized ministry is not unique to this age.
God instituted an organized ministry under the
dispensation of the Law, with a clearly defined priesthood, as well as
well established roles for both kings and prophets. 2C.
Such organization did not exist prior
to the giving of the Law to Moses on 3C.
But most Christians these days are of the opinion that when the
Lord Jesus Christ left earth to ascend back to heaven He left without an
established church, without a well-defined pastorate, and without clear
instructions for every Christian’s involvement in ministry.
They view the church as a nebulous abstraction that was
brought into existence after the Lord’s ascension. 4C.
But among Baptists there are those of us who see the Lord Jesus
Christ establishing the church while He was yet on earth, directing His
disciples to be involved in the church, and authorizing His church to
resolve disputes between brethren and discipline those who could not be
reconciled. 5C.
In the New Testament we see what the qualifications are to be met
by those aspiring to pastoral ministry, what roles such men are to
occupy in the lives of other church members, what tools are given for
their use in the ministry, and what their relationship is to the Savior
they serve. 6C.
So, this Protestant notion of a church begun on the day of
Pentecost, that consists of all believers everywhere in some ethereal
mix of spiritual abstraction that frees them to do what they want to do
when they want to do it how they want to do it, is nonsense.
The Lord Jesus Christ created, organized, and left behind
when He went to heaven His church.
Baptists have historically been careful not to
over-organize, but they recognize that in the Bible God’s program is
organized into church congregations.
This is something Protestants do not see as clearly as Baptists. 2B.
Baptists also recognize that one of the features of this age is a
staffed and financed ministry. 1C.
First Corinthians 9.1-14 is Paul’s argument that, just as the
priests who ministered in the Temple were supported by the offerings
given then, and just as the ox that treads out the corn should not be
muzzled to prevent it from eating from the field it toils in, so gospel
ministers should be supported by the ministry they invest their lives
in. 2C.
This reality is not recognized by cultists such as Mormons or
Jehovah’s Witnesses.
Neither was it recognized by the Brethren denomination
that rose up as a rebellion against pastoral oversight, or even the
Quakers. And
while those men who serve in the gospel ministry should avoid the
dangers of denominational control, such as can be seen in the Roman
Catholic and Episcopalian and Lutheran denominations, so should they
avoid the complete undermining of their calling and position that is
found among Brethren congregations, Quaker congregations, and the home
churches here in the United States that exist only to avoid real
pastoral oversight. CONCLUSION: 1.
What is a Christian to do?
There is a gospel ministry to underwrite.
There are gospel ministers to support.
There is a Great Commission to undertake.
There is God to honor and glorify.
There are missionaries to support.
There is a 2.
My friend, here is where the benefit of being a church member
comes in. Being
a member of 3.
You honor Him with the first fruits of your increase, advance the
gospel, fulfill the Great Commission, staff and support the gifted man
who has responded to God’s call on his life, and you can do it all
with a cheerful heart attitude. 4.
Now, let’s take up our PayCheck
Sunday offering and count it before we dismiss in prayer and go home. [1] Judges 21.25 [2] Fritz Rienecker & Cleon Rogers, Linguistic Key To The Greek New Testament, (Grand Rapids, MI: Regency Reference Library, 1980), page 446. [3] Leviticus 1.2 [4] Leviticus 22.18, 21, 23 [5] Leviticus 23.13 [6] 2 Kings 12.4-15 [7] Exodus 35.20-29 [8] 2 Kings 12.16 [9] Matthew 2.11 [10] Ephesians 3.21; Acts 4.32-5.11; 1 Corinthians 16.2 |
|
Home
Sermons Sermon
Outlines Christmas
Outlines Easter
Outlines Funeral
Outlines Who Is God?
God's Word Tracts
Q & A Missionaries
Feedback Dr.
Hymers' Website |