Are you rich? Not spiritually, but materially?

92% of the world depends on:

• Walking.
• Bicycles.
• Anything with wheels.

92 percent of the world would give anything to have that car! 

  

We could feed and nourish the entire world with about 20 billion dollars a year.

  

  

The Bible’s concept of rich assumes:

• Basic Shelter, food, and clothing.
• Basic Shelter: One room.
• Basic Food: Bread and Vegetables. Meat is luxury.
• Clothing: Not a closet full.

If you have these things and still have money left over. You are rich!

  

From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.

-Acts 17:26

  

“What now? Since I am blessed, What now?”

• Am I accountable?
• Is there some sense of responsibility?
• Where to from here?

We are the Fortunate ones.

  

As I lay there, I realized how much of my life focused on trivial things. During those seven hours, I did not think about how many books I had sold, or what kind of car I drove, or how much money I had in my bank account. All that mattered boiled down to this: What have I done with my life? Am I ready for what’s next?

-Philip Yancey

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. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.

-1 Timothy 6:17-18

  

Who are the rich ones?

• Do you have more than you need for survival?
• Do you have food to eat?
• Roof over your head?
• Water to drink?

Then you are rich!

You are in the top five percent of wealth in the world!

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.

-1 John 2:15-17

  

The lust for everything does not come from God.

When we are in bondage to our desires, who wins? Satan. Why? Distraction from the things that matter.

  

How should those of us who are rich live in order to:

• Defeat the enemies plan.
• Focus on our calling.

We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.

-2 Corinthians 5:20

• And to avoid distraction and ultimately salvation.

Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.’ When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, ‘Who then can be saved?’ Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’

-Matthew 19:23-26

  

Jesus gives specific instructions to the rich:

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

Perpetual Joy: Found only in God.

Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.

-1 Timothy 6:18

“Do good” is Agathoergeo: General word: Nobel and Excellent

Not good deeds: But ultimate good.

• Not feeding the hungry, clothing the poor, or good acts of kindness.
• Ultimate good: Helping people far from God come near.

Follow God’s example, (Be Imitators) therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

-Ephesians 5:1-2

To be rich in good deeds…

Rich: Abounding, abundant (not hoarded).

  

To be Generous!

Eu-meta-dotos: Generous: liberal-bountiful

This is the word that describes Jesus’ attitude toward us.

Believers are to act toward others with the same generosity that God has given us:

• What did God give? His best!
• What He treasured most.
• What He loved most.
• What was most precious to Him. He gave that away!

  

What is the most precious thing to us in the affluent West?

   

As Christ-followers we are given a clear command, not a suggestion.

Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.

-1 Timothy 6:18

  

Command them to DO good not BE good.

  

  

He expects us to not be average in good deeds.

When the command is given to be RICH in good deeds!

The message is to be:

• Extravagant in doing good! Reckless good!
• To leverage my stuff for the sake of the world in a way that only rich people can do.

Why? Because rich people have extra time and extra money.

The more expendable time and income you have, the less percentage you give away in service to others. The less extra time and income you have, the greater the percentage you give away in service to others.

  

Rich people have so much extra time that they have to think about how they are going to fill it with personal stuff.

God says you have extra time for a reason. Ask yourself:

• How can I leverage my time for something other than me?
• How can I be rich in good deeds?

‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.’

-Luke 9:23

  

1. “Tithe” means one-tenth or ten percent.

  

2. “Tithe” describes the immediate gift of 10 percent of your income at your first opportunity.

First fruits! Not last left-overs. Not slim pickings!

  

3. “Tithe” is off the top of what God places into your hand.

Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine.

-Proverbs 3:9-10

  

4. “Tithing” is a universal principle.

...Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the LORD. But Abel brought fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favor.

-Genesis 4:3-5

Sacrilege:

“Taking something that is sacred and using it profanely.” vs “Sacrilege is the act of taking something that means little or nothing to you and giving it to God.”

  

5. “Tithing” is a thermometer of spiritual vitality.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

-Matthew 6:21

  

If you value the Kingdom of God and Jesus’ work in the world, your budget sheet will reveal that.

  

6. “Tithing” is the starting place for New Testament giving.

Tithe and Offering

Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. But you ask, 'How do we rob you?' In tithes and offerings.

-Malachi 3:8

Tithe: The tithe is one-tenth of your total income.

Offering: The offering is what you give above and beyond what is required.

  

New Testament giving goes beyond the tithe because it is motivated by something else…

Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.

-2 Corinthians 9:6

  

The tithe is the poor man’s cross.

  

When people say “I can’t afford to give,” here is what they are really saying: “I can’t afford to give without burdening myself.”

Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.

-Galatians 6:2

  

How can you bear someone else’s burden without burdening yourself?

  

We want to be rich in good deeds.

  

What are you doing with your life?

What are you doing with everything God has given you?

Birds have feet, and they can walk. They have claws, and they can grab on to a branch. They can walk; they can hang on. But they are made to fly. That's the characteristic action for a bird. And until they fly, they are not fully themselves. All the grace and beauty of being a bird is lost.

-Eugene Peterson, “Run with the Horses”

  

We were made to be generous.

  

Take Action by:

1. Budgeting.

2. Distinguish between “wants” and “needs.”

Then he said to them all: ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?’

-Luke 9:23-25

3. Receive the blessings that come.

‘Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,’ says the Lord Almighty, ‘and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.’

-Malachi 3:10

One adult swallow got alongside the chicks and started shoving them out, towards the end of the branch, pushing, pushing, pushing. The end one fell off. Somewhere between the branch and the water, four feet below, the wings started working and the fledgling was off on his own, then, the second one. But the third one was not to be bullied. At the last possible moment, his grip on the branch loosened just enough, so that he swung downward, then, tightened again—bulldog tenacious. The parent was without sentiment. He pecked at the desperately clinging talons until it was more painful for the poor chick to hang on than risk the insecurities of flying. Some of you with older children are getting ideas right now. The grip was released, and the inexperienced wings began pumping. The mature swallow knew what the chick did not, that it would fly—that there was no danger in making it do what it was perfectly designed to do.

-Eugene Peterson

You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me.

-Malachi 3:9

  

  

  

  

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