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Giving Facts
We live in the most affluent society in
human history.

American Christians control 70% of
the world’s Christian wealth.

The average American Christian
gives 2.6% of his income.

Average giving by adults attending
U.S. Protestant churches:

$17 a week
$70 a month
$840 a year

• 96% of American Christians give
away less than 10% of their income.

• The younger a church-goer, the
less he gives (proportionately).

• 80% of the money given to the
American church is given by those
age 55 and older.

• Within 50 years, $100 trillion will
pass from older to younger.

The average Christian gives one
quarter the amount required by
one of three tithes commanded the
people of Israel…mostly poor, who
hadn’t experienced Christ’s
transforming grace or the
empowerment of the indwelling
Holy Spirit.
How is this possible?

The Average Christian in our
churches gives 30% less than the
average American gave in the
depths of the Great Depression.
• What does this tell us?
• What needs to change, and how?
• Who’s positioned to lead a giving
revolution?

Lack of Giving means lack of
• Impact: Church and Mission
funding
• Kingdom-mindedness
• Joy
• God’s blessing
• God’s grace

Money and Mirages
• Advertising’s job: Persuade you
that you need what you really don’t
• Convince you that you’ll be
satisfied with what can’t satisfy
Study: ―Six months after winning
lottery, winners were no happier
than if paralyzed in a car crash.‖
1999, 9.

Ecclesiastes 5:10-15

The More You Have…
Whoever loves money never
has money enough.

The more you have,
the more you want.

Whoever loves wealth is never
satisfied with his income.

The more you have,
the less you’re satisfied.

As goods increase, so do
those who consume them.

The more you have, the
more people (including the
government) come after it.

And what benefit are they to
the owner except to feast his
eyes on them?
more you realize it doesn’t
meet your real needs.

The sleep of a laborer is sweet,
whether he eats little or much,
but the abundance of a rich
man permits him no sleep.

more you have to worry
about.

I have seen a grievous evil under
the sun: wealth hoarded to the
harm of its owner.
The more you have, the more
you can hurt yourself with it.
or wealth lost through misfortune.
you have to lose.

Naked a man comes from his
mother’s womb; as he comes,
so he departs. He takes nothing
from his labor he can carry in
his hand.
you have to leave behind.
You Can’t Take it With You

Do not store up for yourselves
treasures on earth, where moth and
rust destroy, and where thieves break
in and steal.
But store up for yourselves
treasures in heaven, where moth and
rust do not destroy, and where thieves
do not break in and steal.
For where your treasure is, there
your heart will be also.
Matthew 6:19-21

• Don’t renounce treasure:
relocate it.
• Don’t abandon the idea of
storing up treasures for
yourself; put it where it’ll last.
• When it comes to treasures, be
smart, not stupid.

You can’t take it with you

but...

You can send it on ahead!

Sell your possessions and give to
the poor. Provide money belts for
yourselves that will not wear out, a
treasure in heaven that will not be
exhausted. Luke 12:32-34

Not that I am looking for a gift, but I
am looking for what may be credited
to your account.
Philippians 4:17

KEY #1

God owns everything;
I’m His money
manager.

God’s Ownership and
The earth is the Lord’s,
everything in it, the world,
and all who live in it.
Psalm 24:1

The land is mine and you are
but aliens and my tenants.
Leviticus 25:23

God’s Ownership
The silver is mine and the
gold is mine.
Haggai 2:8
You are not your own; you
were bought at a price.
1 Corinthians 6:19–20

My Stewardship
I’m God’s money manager
It is God who gives you the
ability to produce wealth.
Deuteronomy 8:18
It is required of a steward
that he be found faithful.
1 Corinthians 4:2

We will all stand before God’s
judgment-seat…each of us will give
an account of himself to God.
Romans 14:10-12
His master said to him, ―Well done,
good and faithful servant. You have
been faithful over a little; I will set
you over much. Enter into the joy of
your master.‖
Matthew 25:21

KEY #2

My heart always goes
where I put
God’s money.

Where your treasure is, there
your heart will be also.
Not a value judgment; a simple fact.
The law of vested interests:

Whatever we invest in, we care
about.

• Where we put money shows
where our heart is. But it also
determines where our heart
goes.
• Good news: the choice is
yours; you can put your heart
wherever you want to.

Don’t wait to take action until
your heart’s in it. Take action
so your heart will be in it.

Don’t let your giving follow
your heart. Give so your heart
will follow your giving.

Your heart is NOT where:
• your treasure used to be
• you wish your treasure was
• you hope or plan your treasure
to one day be
Your heart is where your
treasure IS NOW

How do we solve a problem of
hearts being in the wrong place?
Give, to put them in the right place.
• Ask: If I were the person God
wants me to be, what would I do
with God’s money?

• Do it now…then watch God make
you into the person
He wants to be.

The abundance of a rich
man permits him no sleep.
Ecclesiastes 5:12

Where your treasure is,
there your heart will be
also. Matthew 6:21

KEY #3

Heaven—the New
Earth—not this Earth
under the Curse, is my
home.

The greatest deterrent to giving?
The illusion that:
• this present world is my home

• I’ll only go around once on this
earth; I’ll live it up while I can
• this is my only chance to live out
my earthly dreams

But the saints of the Most
High will receive the
kingdom and will possess it
forever—yes, forever and
ever.
Daniel 7:18

No longer will there be any
curse. [Not: no longer will
there be any earth.] The
throne of God and of the
Lamb will be in the city, and
his servants will serve him.
Revelation 22:3

At the renewal of all things,
when the Son of Man sits on
his glorious throne, you who
have followed me will also
sit on twelve thrones,
judging the twelve tribes of
Israel.
Jesus, Matthew 19:27-28

―[Christ] must remain in
heaven until the time comes
for God to restore everything,
as he promised long ago
through his holy prophets.‖
Acts 3:21

They were aliens and strangers on
earth …looking for a country of their
own… longing for a better country—a
heavenly one, for he has prepared a
city for them. Hebrews 11:13-16
Our citizenship is in heaven.
Philippians 3:20
We are looking forward to a new
heavens and a new earth, in which
righteousness dwells. 2 Peter 3:13

Whenever I think about heaven, it
makes me depressed. I’d rather
cease to exist when I die. I can’t
stand the thought of endless boring
tedium. Heaven doesn't sound
much better than hell. I’d rather be
annihilated than spend eternity like
that.
An evangelical pastor

With a negative view of Heaven…
who’d look forward to it?
2 Peter 3:13

Who’d set their minds on it?
Colossians 3:1-2

Who’d want to store up for
themselves treasures there?
Matthew 6:19-21

Satan lies about Heaven:
1) He suppresses the central truth
of God’s ultimate redemptive victory:
the resurrection and the New Earth.
2) He covers up God’s coming
reclamation of earth, humanity,
nations and culture in the ―renewal.‖
3) He hides the promised reversal
of the curse and Messiah’s &
mankind’s eternal kingdom reign.

KEY #4
I should live
not for the dot,
but for the line.

The Dot: The Line:
Life on earth Life in heaven
Moses chose to be mistreated along
with the people of God rather than to
enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short
time. He regarded disgrace for the
sake of Christ as of greater value
than the treasures of Egypt, because
he was looking ahead to his reward.
Hebrews 11:25-26

He is no fool who gives
what he cannot keep to gain
what he cannot lose.
Jim Elliot, 1927 – 1956
1927

KEY #5
Giving
is the only antidote
to materialism.

The Physics of
Keeping v. Giving
• Mass, Gravity, Orbit
• Needed: A Shift in the center
of gravity; a Copernican
Revolution of Giving

People who want to get rich fall into
People who want to getand into many
temptation and a trap rich fall into
temptation and a trapdesires that
foolish and harmful and into many
foolish and harmful desires that
plunge men into ruin and
plunge men into ruin and destruction.
destruction.
For the love of money is aaroot of all
For the love of money is root of all
kinds of evil. Some people, eager for
kinds of evil. Some people, eager for
money, have wandered from the faith
money, have wandered from the
faithpierced themselves with many
and and pierced themselves with
griefs.
many griefs.
1 Timothy 6:9-10

Command those who are rich
in this present world not to be
arrogant nor to put their hope
in wealth, which is so
uncertain, but to put their hope
in God, who richly provides us
with everything for our
enjoyment.
1 Timothy 6:17

Command them to do good,
to be rich in good deeds, and to
be generous and willing to share.
In this way they will lay up
treasure for themselves as a firm
foundation for the coming age, so
that they may take hold of the life
that is truly life.
1 Timothy 6:18-19

KEY #6
God prospers me
not to raise
my standard of living,
but to raise
my standard of giving.

God’s Grace:
Lightning

Our Giving:
Thunder

As thunder follows
lightning, so giving follows
grace.
The more God’s grace grips
you, the more you give. The
more you give, the more God’s
grace grips you.

At the present time your plenty
will supply what they need, so
that in turn their plenty will
supply what you need. Then
there will be equality, as it is
written: ―He who gathered much
did not have too much, and he
who gathered little did not have
too little.‖
2 Corinthians 8:14-15

It’s God’s will that we not have
too much OR too little.
He distributes unequally, so
those with too much can give to
help those with too little.
When we give, we solve two
problems—others having too
little, and our having too much.

9:10
Now he who supplies seed to the
sower and bread for food will also
supply and increase your store of
seed and will enlarge the harvest of
your righteousness.
God gives us bread to meet our
needs, and seed to plant where it
will bear eternal fruit.
Do you ever wonder why God
prospers you financially?

He will also supply and increase your
store of seed and will enlarge the
harvest of your righteousness. You
will be made rich in every way SO
THAT…______________________
you can be generous
on every occasion
___________________.
2 Corinthians 9:1011

Test me in this [giving: not
only of tithes, but freewill
offerings] and see if I will not
throw open the floodgates of
heaven and pour out so much
blessing that you will not
have room enough for it.
* Malachi 3:10

Jesus said, ―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.‖
Luke 6:38

8 Forit is by grace you have been
saved, through faith—and this not
from yourselves, it is the gift of
God— not by works, so that no one
can boast. 10 For we are God’s
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus
to do good works, which God
prepared in advance for us to do.
Ephesians 2

….remembering the words the Lord
Jesus himself said: ―It is more
blessed to give than to receive.‖
Acts 20:35

Keep remembering that our Master
said, ―You’re far happier giving than
getting.‖ Acts 20:35, The Message

We come in naked and broke. We
may be dressed when we go out,
but we’re just as broke. Warren
Buffet? Going to go out broke. Bill
Gates? Going out broke. Tom
Hanks? Going out broke. Steve
King? Broke. Not a crying dime.
All the money you earn, all the
stocks you buy, the mutual funds
Stephen King

you trade—all that is smoke and
mirrors. It’s still going to be a
quarter-past getting late whether you
tell the time on a Timex or a Rolex.
So I want you to consider making
your life one long gift to others. And
why not? All you have is on loan,
anyway. All that lasts is what you
pass on….

We have the power to help this
needy world. Why should we
refuse? Because we’re going to
take it with us? Please.
A life of giving repays. ….So I
ask you to begin giving, and to
continue giving. I think you’ll find
in the end that you got far more
than you ever had, and did more
good than you ever dreamed.
Stephen King

The irony of Warren Buffet, Bill
Gates, Stephen King, etc.:
People without Christ can discover
the truth of His principles and
enjoy the short-term happiness of
giving—while many of God’s own
people are enslaved to stinginess
and debt, robbing God and living
joyless fruitless lives.

The most generous Christians
of my acquaintance have been
always the most happy, and almost
invariably the most prosperous. I
have seen the liberal giver rise to
wealth of which he never dreamed;
and I have as often seen the mean,
ungenerous churl descend to
poverty by the very parsimony by
which he thought to rise.
Charles Spurgeon

Men trust good stewards with
larger and larger sums, and so it
frequently is with the Lord; He
gives by cartloads to those who
give by bushels. Where wealth is
not bestowed the Lord makes the
little much by the contentment
which the sanctified heart feels.
Charles Spurgeon

2 Cor. 8:9
For you know the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ, that though he
was rich, yet for your sakes he
became poor, so that you through
his poverty might become rich.

The richest person in the universe
became the poorest. He took the Hell
we deserve to give us the Heaven we
don’t deserve. We can never outgive
God.

• Strategic question:
Five minutes after I die, what will
I wish I would have given?
• Strategic plan:
Spend the rest of our lives
closing the gap between what we’ll
wish we would have given and
what we are giving.

Why are so many
Christians afraid to die?

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