“God shovels it in, and I shovel it back…but God has a bigger shovel.”

“God shovels it in, and I shovel it back…but God has a bigger shovel.” R. G. Letourneau

The Physics of Keeping v. Giving

Mass, Gravity, Orbit

Needed: A Shift in the center of gravity; a Copernican Revolution of Giving

Question: Are we headed away from our treasures or

toward them?

Once you grasp true grace giving, tithing becomes a

moot point.

2. Tithing isn’t giving.

3. Tithing is ceasing to rob God.

1. Tithing isn’t the end-all of giving.

4. Tithing is giving’s training wheels.

• We live in history’s wealthiest society • We know the grace of Jesus • We have the indwelling Spirit…

But we can’t give as much as God required of the poorest Israelite, who didn’t know Christ or have the Spirit?

Does grace lower the bar of set by the law? Or does it raise it?

Giving less than a tithe?

The church should be: A grace-saturated culture of joyful

contagious giving that begs for the privilege of giving. Where we never talk each other out of giving because “that’s unwise.” Where we follow the example of the poor widow, not the rich fool. Where we model for our children and grandchildren the grace and joy of Jesus.

Ask yourself:

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 you to be.

Strategic question:

Five minutes after we die, what will we wish we 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.

Stephen King 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

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

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.

6 So we urged Titus, since he had earlier made a beginning, to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part. 7 But just as you excel in everything —in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us—see that you also excel in this grace of giving.

7 But just as you excel in everything [work, sports, hobbies, parenting] …see that you also excel in this grace of giving.

You can excel in giving—do it bigger and better than in the past. You can give: • More

• More often• More strategically

What have you been doing to excel in your giving? What steps have you been taking to raise the bar?

Have you been providing a model of generous giving by what you do with your time and money? How are you helping your kingdom teammates excel at giving? Do you have giving accountability?

Gift of teaching: get better as you use it; people know what it looks like.Gift of giving: get better as you use it; people don’t know what it looks like.

Rom. 12: gifts of prophecy, serving, teaching, encouragement, giving, leadership, mercy.

Grace of giving = gift of giving

We know the church’s prayer warriors.

Where are the giving warriors?

• What gifts would you expect God to grant widely during a time of unprecedented physical and spiritual needs?

• In such a time, what resources would you expect God to entrust to His people with the gift of giving?

Eternal Rewards in relation to the use of our money and

possessions

Questions

What questions or concerns do you have about the doctrine of eternal rewards?

Why do you think this doctrine has been so neglected or misunderstood?

I value all things only by the price they shall gain in eternity.

John Wesley

I place no value on anything I possess, except in relation to the kingdom of God.

David Livingston

He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.

Jim Elliot

I have held many things in my hands and I have lost them all. But whatever I have placed in God’s hands, that I still possess.

Martin Luther

And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that 1) he exists and that 2) he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Hebrews 11:6

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever….

Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize.

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

2 Timothy 4:6-8

Hebrews 11:13-16 All these people were still

living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that

they are looking for a country of their own….If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

Hebrews 11:13-16

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

Romans 8:18

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

Philippians 4:17

The Believer’s Judgment in Heaven

Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.

John 5:28-29

Revelation 20 Then I saw a great white throne

and him who was seated on it. …And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books… The sea gave up the dead

that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Revelation 20:11-15