18 Nov Gospel People 05 – Abundance

2 Corinthians 9:6-15

⁶ The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. ⁷ Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. ⁸ And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. ⁹ As it is written, “He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.” ¹⁰ He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. ¹¹ You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. ¹² For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. ¹³ By their approval of this service, they will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others, ¹⁴ while they long for you and pray for you, because of the surpassing grace of God upon you. ¹⁵ Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!

Tonight, I want to talk to you about money. “Money, money, money, money, money.” Some of you can relate with it and some of you can’t. That’s okay. Tonight, I want to talk about giving in church. Let me make few disclaimers before we start. One, our church is doing fine. The church is not short on cash. By God’s grace, we are in a good position financially as a church. So this is not a sermon on “you need to give because the church is running low on cash.” Our church is 22 years old now. And for those 22 years, I cannot recall a single moment where our church is lacking financially. This is God’s church and God uses the generosity of the people in the church to continue to provide for all of the church’s needs. Praise God for it. Two, I am not trying to make money from you. I just want you to be clear on that. This is not a sermon for you to give more money to the church so the church can buy me a private jet and a mansion. I am not one of those preachers. I hope that’s obvious. I do not need your money to pay for my mansion. I don’t have a mansion. I live with my parents and I am happy about it. For now. Third, if you are unbeliever, this message is not primarily for you. So if you are here and you are not followers of Christ, that’s great. We love to have you with us. It is our prayer and joy to have you with us. My hope is that tonight you will get to see a glimpse of what we believe and may God uses it to attract you to himself. But if you call yourselves Christians, if you are disciples of Christ, then this message is definitely for you.

So, let me start by bragging about my parents for a bit. They are not here today so it is a good time for me to brag about them. In all of my life, up to today, I have yet to know anyone personally who is more generous for God’s cause than my parents. Lots of people don’t know this. If you know my mom well enough, then you know she is the very definition of an excellent accountant. If you know anything about excellent accountant, they are often seen as stingy. But they are not. They are just very precise with money. My mom is very precise with money. Until today, she still write down every single expenditure that our family spend to the very cent. I mean, if there is one dollar differences between the actual money and the report, she would spent the next few hours tracing that one dollar. She is very different from me. My mom used to make me write down all my expenditure as well. And if there is $50 difference between the actual cash and the report, I don’t fuss about it. All I did is get a cash receipt and write down “Random holy latte – $50.” Just out of curiosity. Raise your hand if you are more like me? Raise your hand if you are more like my mom? You must be accountant. Thank God for you. Anyway, my parents are the most generous people I know.

I remember clearly during our first few years in Sydney. We did not own a house at that time. We were leasing in West Pennant Hills. Then someone gave my parents $100,000. I think that was in 1998. $100 grand is a lot of money today but even more so in 98. But do you know what my parents did with it? They gave it to the church. Not the tithe. All of it. That’s crazy. Then a year or two later, some rich person gave my parents a brand-new apartment in Chatswood. At that time, it cost about $500,000. Now think about it. Our family did not own a house at that time. We were still leasing. My parents would love the idea of finally owning their own place. But do you know what they did with it? They gave it all to the church. All of it. They did not even take some of the money to buy me a PlayStation. I got my PlayStation and Tekken from other family who bought it for me. #lifeofpastorkid. My parents are radical in their giving to the church. And this is how I was brought up. I was taught to always prioritize God with my money. I learned from a very young age, one fundamental truth that continue to shape me today – God never owes anyone. You cannot out-give God. My parents are the living testimony of it and generosity became my DNA.

But few things happened throughout the years. For a start, my parents were accused of mishandling the church’s money. Those people had no idea how much sacrifices that my parents made for the church. But it made me realized one thing. Money is a very sensitive subject in the church. The topic of money is one that can easily be abused in the church. And that’s what happen out there. I started to see many scandals in mega churches that are related to money. Many super rich pastors abused the church money to buy private jet, mansions and 10 Mercedes. Not only that, but I heard it all the time in TV. All you have to do is turn your TV to some Christian channel and you will see some guy in a suit and tie that promises you that if you send money to support their ministry, then God will bless you with health and wealth. “Oh, I feel the anointing now. Yes Lord. What is it? Okay. The Lord has just spoken to me that if you send your money in the next 6 hours, God will bless you hundred times. So if you send $50, God will bless you with $5000. But it must be done in the next six hours or else you won’t receive the hundred fold blessing. Transfer now to the phone number listed below and email the receipt to getbrokenow@youdummy.com.” And here is what bewildered me. People buy into these lies. I mean, if we used the video recording of what I just said and post it on social media, I will have random people sent money into my account. So what happened in the last 50 years of Christianity is that there is this teaching called prosperity gospel that became extremely popular. The preachers of prosperity gospel promise that if you follow Jesus, then Jesus will bless you with health and wealth. They promise you get-rich-quick scheme by giving your money to them. The more you give your money, the more God will bless you financially. So now the message of Christianity changes from following Jesus and lose your life for the sake of Christ into following Jesus and become rich in life. And that makes me sick. It makes me angry. I want to smash my TV to pieces every time I see it. I think I need counselling for it. Because of it, I stay away from talking about money in the church. I want to get rid of this misconception that lots of unbelievers have on the church, “The church just wants your money. All they ever talk about is money.” So for 8 years of my pastoral ministry, not even once I speak about money and giving in the church. I did not change my mind on the fact that God is a generous giver. I still hold on to the truth that you cannot out-give God. God never owes anyone. And I try to imitate my parent’s generosity until today. But I chose not to talk about money in the church. However, when I was planning for the Gospel People series few months ago, God rebuked me. By refusing to talk about giving, I have sinned against God and I have sinned against you. I have sinned against you by withholding the blessings that God has prepared for you when you give generously. And I sinned against God because I am not faithful to his words. That is why tonight I want to talk to you about money and giving. It takes me almost 9 years of preaching to finally preach on money.

Do you know that Jesus talks a lot about money? Jesus talks more about money than he does about hell. And Jesus talks a lot about money not because he needs money. We need to be clear on that. God does not need your money! Just think about it. God created everything out of nothing. God created anything he wanted and as much as he wanted, and he did it all out of nothing. He doesn’t need raw material. He made raw material. He is not limited like we are. God did not create the universe out of existence but he called the universe into existence – ex nihillo (something out of nothing). He gets whatever he wants with a snap of a finger. There was one time where Jesus needed money to pay for temple tax and he told Peter to go fishing. This is really weird. What Jesus needed was a gold coin, not a fish. Yet when Peter caught the fish and opened its mouth, he found a gold coin. It tells us clearly that God does not need your money. Yet, isn’t interesting that Jesus talks so much about money? Here is the reason why.

Matthew 6:21 – For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Jesus talks so much about money not because he is interested in your money but because he is interested in your heart. If you want to know what is in a person’s heart, check their wallet. Check their bank statement. Your bank statement is a great indicator of where your heart is. You can know whether someone is truly saved or not by paying attention to their wallet. You can say you love God with all of your heart 10x a day but it means nothing if your wallet disagrees with you. So, my question tonight is, “Is your wallet saved?” One of the greatest indicator of true Christians is how they dealt with their money. And one of the biggest sin blind spot in the life of Christians is on the issue of money.

Do you know that greed is one of the seven deadly sins? Paul even says that if you are greedy, you will not inherit the kingdom of God. Translation: If your wallet is not saved, then neither are you. Let me show it to you. 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 – Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. Paul puts the sins of greed on the same list as practice of homosexuality. We often talk about how sinful LGBTQ is but do we realize that the greedy will also not inherit the kingdom of God? But here is the problem. No one thinks they are greedy. In my 8 years of pastoral ministry, I never have anyone come up to me and confess their greed. I have people comes up to me and say, “Yos, I need help. I have a problem of lust and I need you to pray for me.” But never, “Yos, I need your help. I think I just want too much stuff. I’m very greedy.” Why? Three reasons. One, because there is no clear line that defines greed. Let’s say you committed adultery. You know exactly where the line is and when you have crossed the line. You don’t commit adultery and say, “O my gosh. I did not realize I committed adultery.” It’s clear. You “wonk-wonk” with someone who is not your spouse. But you can’t say the same thing about greed. There is no clear line that tells you that you are greedy. Two, because you always find people around you who spends more than you. If you spend $3000 on Chanel bag, you don’t have to look hard to find someone who spend $30,000 on Hermes bag. Three, we live in a culture that idolize personal safety and comfort. Saving money and making personal investment for the future are seen as the wisest thing to do. And they are not wrong. Don’t hear me saying that making personal investment for the future is wrong. But there is no clear line between wise investment and greed. So no one thinks they are greedy. You can’t measure greed from the outside. Because greed and generosity is not a matter of external behaviour; it is a matter of heart. You cannot force someone to become generous. You can give $1 million but if your heart is not there, you are not generous. A generous heart is one that joyously and proactively seeks ways to give out money for the purpose of God and benefit of others. It’s not about the amount but about the heart.

Our passage for today is a portion of the longest treatment on the topic of giving that you can find in the Bible. Paul spends 2 chapters just to talk about money. Let me give you the context. There is a famine in Jerusalem. The people in the churches of Jerusalem are in need and Paul goes to different area of his ministry in Asia Minor to raise money to help the churches in Jerusalem. Paul wants the church in Corinth to give generously to help their brothers and sisters in Jerusalem. And it is interesting to note that Paul did not command them to give generously. You cannot command generosity. But rather, Paul appeal to them on why they should give generously.

So, three things I want to talk about from this passage. How we should give; why we should give; how much we should give. And in the last point, I want to answer the question about whether we should tithe or not. If you do not know what tithe is, tithe is the practice of the Old Covenant on giving 10% of your income to God. So, is tithe still applicable today for us who live under the New Covenant?

How we should give

2 Corinthians 9:6-7 – The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

We give generously. Pay attention to the strange mathematic in verse 6. Paul says that if you sow less, you will reap less. If you sow much, you will reap much. This is a strange mathematics. Let’s say you have $10 and you give $2, how much do you have left? $8. Now compare that with you have $10 and you give S1. How much do you have left? $9. Now which one leave you with more? Giving $2 or $1? This is not a tricky question. I hope none of you get this wrong. $9 is more than $8. Correct? This is mathematic 101. The world says that in order for you to have more, you need to give less. The more you give, the less you have. But Paul introduces us to a new kind of mathematic. God’s mathematic. And in God’s mathematic, the more you give, the more you have. In this new mathematic, 10 minus 2 is greater than 10 minus 1. How? We will talk about the how later. But the important lesson is that the way God operates is very different from the world. The world teaches us that in order for us to be happy, we need to have more. The more we have the happier we will be. This is basically the point of every single advertisement you see. All of them are saying the same thing. If you just buy this car, if you just buy this hair product, if you just buy this cloth, then you will be a king. You will be irresistible. But the gospel operates differently. The gospel says that the more you give, the happier you will be. Happiness is not found in having more but giving more.

We give intentionally. Paul says for you to give as you have decided in your heart. This is important. It means that our giving is not sporadic and occasional. We plan ahead of time on how much we want to give and set aside our giving. What I see happening a lot of time is that we do not plan our giving ahead of time. So, when the time of offering come, you open up your wallet say, “Oppss. I’m sorry God. I really want to give but my wallet is empty. Too bad. Maybe next time.” Or, “Oh God I really want to give more but all I have in my wallet is this leftover money from lunch. Well, here you go. Krincing.” This is not the attitude that we should have in giving. Just think about it. If you are invited by a Prime Minister of Australia to join his celebration, would you bring your left-over gift and give it to him? What makes you think you are honouring God by giving him your left-over lunch money?

We give willingly. Yes, we give intentionally but we do not give reluctantly or under compulsion. We give willingly. What matter is not the amount of your gift but the attitude of your giving. Jesus does not care how much you give if you do not give it willingly. There was one time where Jesus and his disciples are observing people during offering times. Imagine that. “Disciples, we are going on an excursion today.” “Where to Teacher?” “We are going to the temple and observe people giving their offering.” This is the sort of thing that you get to do if you are Jesus’ disciples. Many rich people come and you can hear the sound as they open their money case and drop the money into the offering box. “GABOOK.” They don’t have cheque or wire transfer at that time. Then come a poor widow and you can also hear the sound as she opens her old money pouch and drops her money on the offering box. “Krincing.” All she can give is two small copper coins. Jesus turns to his disciples and asks, “Which one do you think give more? Gabook or Krincing?” The logical answer is Gabook right? However, Jesus says that this poor widow has given more than all those rich people combined. Because the rich people give the left-over out of their abundance but the widow gives everything she has. It’s not about the amount but it is about the heart.

We give cheerfully. God loves a cheerful giver. God does not want you to give begrudgingly. He wants you to give cheerfully. The Greek word for cheerful is hilarios from which we have the word hilarious. The point is not that we should laugh our head off as we give but giving should be fun. Giving should be exciting. You should look forward to the opportunity to give. So, when you come to church, the offering time should not be awkward. Offering time is not a time where the usher holds a bucket or a bag in front of you and you try to avoid eye contact with them, pretending that they are not there. Oh yes, I know, I’ve been there and I’ve seen you do the very same thing. Offering time should be a part of worship that we look forward to. We should be the kind of people who says, “O my gosh. I can’t wait for the offering time. I get to give to God. Oh, what a joy and privilege it is to have the opportunity to give what I have for the purpose of God and for the benefit of others.”

We should give generously, intentionally, willingly and cheerfully. Now some of you think I am crazy for saying all of that. Don’t write me off too quick. Let me tell you why we should give.

Why we should give

First, we will reap bountifully. This is God’s mathematic. So, you have a choice whether you want to receive less or receive more.  The more you give, the more you will receive. And let me make it very clear. It is God’s desire to bless you with more. God loves to give more to those who gives more. There is more. Is it okay for me to say that or is it too much? Do I sound like a prosperity preacher? It does not matter. One thing that the prosperity preacher gets right is that God loves to give more to those who gives more. It is an undeniable principal that those who sows bountifully will reap bountifully. In fact, it gets even better. 2 Corinthians 9:8 – And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. God is able! For what? Listen to it. ALL GRACE. ALL SUFFICIENCY. ALL THINGS. ALL TIMES. It does not get any better than this. God never owes anything to anyone. You cannot out-give God. When you give generously, intentionally, willingly and cheerfully, God promises that he will take care of you. Whatever your need, physical, emotional and spiritual, God is able to make all grace abound to you so that you will have all sufficiency in all things at all times. God is the God of abundance. He is able to provide for all of your needs. There will not be a moment where his grace is not abound for you. You will always have enough. But that’s not it. God is not only God of enough. God is the God of more than enough. The promise is not you will reap enough but you will reap bountifully. God will give you more than enough.

However, it does not stop there. Otherwise I have successfully become a prosperity preacher and you should leave this church. Get this. The sentence is not finish yet. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. Listen to me Christians. God gives you more than enough not in order for you to have more but so that you can give more. The purpose of more is so that you may abound in every good work; not to enrich yourself. Piper puts it this way, “God gives enough for us, abundance for others.” This is where the prosperity preachers get it very wrong. The blessing of God is not intended for us; it is intended for the purpose of God and benefit of others.

Second, we are stewards of God’s gifts. 2 Corinthians 9:9-10 – As it is written, “He has distributed freely, he has given to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.” He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. We need to understand that there is no such thing as ownership in front of God. Everything we have belongs to God. God is the one who gives it to us. Here Paul is giving us a picture of a bread. You might say, “I baked this bread.” And Paul replies, “Yeah but how do you get the bread?” “It’s from wheat.” “Yeah but where do you get the wheat?” “From the seed.” “Okay, but where do you get the seed?” Do you see that? Paul’s point is simple. God is the one who provides seed to the sower. It is a gift of God. Everything we own is gifts from God. There is nothing that we can rightly say to God, “It’s mine.” “But I worked hard to earn this money. I was the one who worked overtime and earned this money.” Yeah, but who gives you the brain to think? Who gives you the talent that you have? Who gives you opportunity that you have? In fact, who allows you to be where you are today? Have you ever considered how different your life would look like if you were born in the jungle of Himalaya?

Everything we have is given by God. We do not own any of it. But a lot of time what we do is we act like a little kid who just got a new toy. Imagine me taking little Yo-Yo out on a shopping. We go to JB Hi-Fi and I buy him the latest PlayStation, PlayStation 10. And I tell him, “Little Yo-yo, I’m buying you this PlayStation because you are my son and I love you.” At this time, I’m like the best dad ever for little Yo-yo. So, I let little Yo-yo carry the box and hug the box all the way home. Right now, all little Yo-yo can think about is go home and play the latest Super Mario Kart. So, we get back home to the house that I own that I let little Yo-yo lived in, set up the PlayStation that I bought for him, connect it to the TV that I paid with my money, and I leave him in a living room to play Mario Kart while I eat KFC in the kitchen. After I finish my KFC, I get back to the living room and say, “Little Yo-yo, big Yo-yo wants to play as well. Can daddy have a turn?” You know how will he response? I doubt he will say, “Sure my precious dad. This is the PlayStation that you bought for me with your money and I am playing it in a house that you own with a 50” TV that you paid for. It is only right for you to play anytime you want. It is all yours.” Unless little Yo-yo is Jesus, he won’t say that. The more likely response will be, “No. It’s mine!” “What do you mean it’s yours?” “It’s mine dad.” “Well yeah, I just paid S1000 for it an hour ago.” “Yeah and now it’s mine.” And I’ll be like, “Are you kidding? I just paid for it and gave it to you. Nothing is yours. All you have comes from me. In fact, you own nothing. Get your hands off my PlayStation. What? You hungry? You think KFC is free? Go get a job!” Okay, maybe that’s a bit too much. But isn’t that what we do with God a lot of time? “It’s mine!” And God is shaking his head in the heaven, “Are you kidding? I gave that to you and you won’t give me some?” God is the owner of everything we own. We are simply stewards of his gifts.

Yet God is not only the owner of everything we have, but God is also the one who multiplies our resources as we give generously. God is both the one who supplies and rewards our giving. We do not own anything nor does God owe us anything. Here is a question that I want you to consider. “Based on what God has given you so far, if you were God, would you give you more money?” – J.D. Greear. Christian is someone who says “Everything I have I owe to God.”

Third, our giving makes much of God. 2 Corinthians 9:11-14 – You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. By their approval of this service, they will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others, while they long for you and pray for you, because of the surpassing grace of God upon you. What we are doing by our giving is we are promoting the glory of God and produce thanksgiving to God. Your giving is not about you; it’s about God. If you are stingy with your money, it tells people around you that God is a taker. But if you are generous with your money, it tells people around you that God is a giver. God receives the glory through your gift because God is the ultimate giver. He is the one who gives you everything you have and multiply your resources as you give. The more we give the more people see God as the great Giver. It’s like the royal wedding. When Prince Harry married Meghan Markle, the wedding celebration is outrageous. It expresses the wealth and the greatness of the royal family. The more outlandish the celebration, the greater glory the royal family received. Your giving shows others how much you value God and it brings glory and thanksgiving to God. And again, I am not talking about the amount. God receives more glory from a high school student who puts the only $20 he has than when Bill Gates puts $1 million cheque into the offering box.

Fourth, we have received God’s inexpressible gift. 2 Corinthians 9:15 – Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift! I love the word inexpressible. Some translations translated as unspeakable or indescribable. What happens here is Paul actually decided to create his own word. You will not find this word elsewhere in New Testament. The point is, we have received a gift from God that is too good to be true that word cannot describe. No language can praise it enough. And that gift has a name. The name of the gift is Jesus. Listen to what Paul said earlier. It is a life changing verse for me. 2 Corinthians 8:8-9 – I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich. Paul is very clear that he does not want to command giving. But he wants you to consider what God has given you and prove that your love is genuine. Paul wants you to consider the gospel. Think about the gospel. And Paul puts the gospel in economic terms. Think about Jesus. Jesus was extremely rich. Jesus owned the heaven and the earth. He created everything. He was lavished in glory, majesty and perfection. He had no need whatsoever. He had all the riches in the universe, and yet he became poor. He became mortal. He became weak. He left his glory and walked on earth for 33 years as a man who did not possess anything. He was rejected by his own and he died as a criminal. He was the richest being in the universe and he became the poorest of criminal. Why did he do it? He did it for you. He did it for me. For our sake he became poor, so that by his poverty we might become rich.

My friend, you might not think you are rich. You might not feel rich. But let me tell you. You are extremely rich. You are the heirs of the created world. The riches of Bill Gate and Warren Buffet combined have nothing on what you already have in Jesus. At the cross, Jesus purchased for you riches that will last forever. So, if you don’t feel like giving, don’t stop there. Consider the gospel. Think about the grace of Jesus for you until it melts your heart and overwhelms you with joy. God has given you Heaven’s very best. The gospel alone can make us radical givers. The gospel alone can make us sacrifice many good things for the good of others.

How much should we give?

Some of you might be asking, “Okay Yos, just tell me the bottom line. How much should I give? 5%? Or 7%? Or should I tithe?” I want to answer this question with the example of Macedonian churches. Because I think if you are asking that question, you are asking a wrong question. Giving that is motivated by guilt will not last. What God wants from you is not giving out of guilt but a heart of generosity. 2 Corinthians 8:1-4 – We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints. Can you see what is happening here? Paul is encouraging the church in Corinth to give using the example of churches in Macedonia. And unlike the church in Corinth, the Macedonian churches were extremely poor. They were living in extreme poverty. But yet when the opportunity to give came, they begged Paul that they may take part in giving. Are you serious? In their poverty, they begged that they may take part in giving money for the church in Jerusalem. And not only that, they did it out of abundance of joy. This does not make any logical sense. Extreme poverty plus severe affliction equals abundance of joy and wealth of generosity. What happen? The grace of God. The churches in Macedonia experienced the grace of God. That’s what happen. The grace of God changes their heart from seeking after their own welfare to seeking after the purpose of God and benefit of others.

So, how much should we give? Should we give tithe to the church? Let me answer it this way. No, you should not give tithe to the church. Tithe was an Old Covenant tradition that God set up to support the needs of the priests and the temple. I personally don’t think tithe still applicable to us today. If tithe was still applicable, Paul would have mention it in these two chapters. But Paul does not want to command giving. Paul seeks generous heart that has been transformed by the gospel. So how much should we give? Let me give you a better question. In the light of what Jesus had done for you, in the light of knowing that everything you have is given by God, how much do you think you should give? I cannot answer that question for you. It is your heart that must answer the question. But here is what I know. Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe. If that is true, we do not give tithe to God. We give so much more. Tithe is not the end of giving but it is the beginning of a generous heart. For Christians, tithe is the starting point of giving.

Discussion:

1. Explain why Jesus talks so much about money and why no one thinks they are greedy.
2. What is the difference between Mathematic 101 and God’s Mathematic in relation to giving?
3. “We give intentionally.” Explain and give examples of how we can apply this.
4. Read 2 Corinthians 9:8. What does it teach us about God and the heart of God?
5. Question to ponder and discuss. “Based on what God has given you so far, if you were God, would you give you more money?”
6. Why does our giving reflects the character of God?
7. Why Paul never commands the church to give generously? How does he appeals to the church in Corinth to give? Why?
8. “Tithe is not the end of giving but it is the beginning of a generous heart.” Agree or disagree? Explain.