The Joy of Giving

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Today is the first Sunday of our Giving Review at JPC. Each year we take a couple of weeks to look at our use of money as individuals and as a church, which is so important as evidenced by the words of Jesus we have before us this evening. Look at v19-21. Here is the ultimate giving review laid down by Jesus Christ himself.

“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.”

It’s so easy to become attached to money and possessions especially when you have more. This week it was reported that the American businessman Donald Trump is to sue an author because the writer had claimed that Trump was only worth $250m, while Trump believes he’s worth $1bn! No doubt he’s concerned about the value of his stock but his earthly treasure store is clearly so important to him and he takes it to heart when it’s alleged he has less than he actually has. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

But what about us? Where are our hearts? It is reckoned that at this past Christmas we, as a nation, spent almost the same as Kenya’s GDP for the whole of 2005 on presents. It is also reckoned that consumers in Britain are in debt to the tune of 1.15 trillion pounds. This is due to strong growth in secured lending for home purchases and a rise in borrowing on credit cards. Materialism is still gaining ground. Greed is supposedly good. Storing up for ourselves treasure on earth is most people’s pursuit. Witness the Metro Centre’s car parks every day, the use of e bay and the relentless adverts on television enticing us to desire the latest must have ‘gorgeous’ Jaguar car. Back in September there was a report claiming that the rooms of some students today contain: a laptop, I pod, digicam, mobile phone, PSP, wireless broadband, TV, DVD, DAB radio etc. It didn’t mention a bed or books! Worldly wisdom on money and possessions says more, more, more. Here in his Sermon on the Mount Jesus turns that wisdom upside down.

But to what extent are we as Christians caught up in storing up for ourselves treasures on earth? Are we any different? These words of Jesus have deeply challenged me again this past week. As I’ve looked round at all the accumulated stuff in the house and at the assets, I’ve had to ask myself, where is my heart? Jesus is quite clear here about the dangers of the love of money and of divided loyalties. V24: You cannot serve both God and Money. Or as Billy Graham put it: “A cheque book or credit card is a theological document – it shows who and what you worship.” So what does Jesus’ teach here about how we’re to use the money God has given us? How are we to give wisely?

Firstly Jesus says, in fact, note, he commands us:


1) Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth

This is not an optional extra or just for those who are called to go and live where there are very little material goods. Jesus commands us not to store up treasure for ourselves on earth. Indeed a better translation might be, ‘Stop storing up treasures for yourselves’. Break your cycle of accumulation. Why? Because earthly treasures don’t last, as Jesus states in the next part of the verse. ‘Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.’ Those fashionable clothes soon become unfashionable or wear out and even if they last the moths will get them in the end. The latest gadgets soon become yesterday’s gadgets and will not work with the latest operating system. The treasure that you’ve had your heart set upon for weeks finally arrives but after just a few days it doesn’t satisfy. The new shoes become tatty and faded. The new clothes are spoilt by a stubborn stain. The new gadget is already superseded. The new car loses a third of its value as soon as you drive it off the forecourt. You see the word rust has a more general meaning of ‘that which eats away’. Inflation eats away at your savings. Stock market falls eat away at the value of your shares. In 2000 a friend of mine had their shares valued at £20,000. By 2003 they were worth £1000. As Paul wrote to Timothy (1Timothy 6:17):

“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.”

Our earthly treasure is also liable to be stolen, whether through on line credit card fraud, house burglary or car theft. Apparently one of the fastest growing targets for thieves are those wearing ipods in the street. Gadget lovers beware! Yes in one way or another earthly treasure gets destroyed. So why spend so much on it or why put so much money away? And anyway we can’t take it with us when we die. Paul again writing to Timothy reminds us that:

“…we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.” (1 Tim. 6:7)

Rather,

“if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.” (1 Tim 6:8).

Now wouldn’t that be radical? Yet it’s what many of our brothers and sisters in Mburi, Kenya are content with.

Jesus also commands us not to store up treasure on earth for ourselves because he doesn’t want our hearts being stolen away by a love for our money and possessions. This is something we’ll come back to in v21. But there are serious issues here. Even life and death issues. In the parable of the sower, Jesus said that some people, “like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.” (Mark 4:19)

And Paul warns us in 1Timothy 6:9&10 that:

“People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”

That’s not to say wealth in itself is wrong. Note from 1 Timothy that it’s not money but the love of money that is a root of all kinds of evil. And note what Jesus says, “Don’t store up treasures on earth for yourselves.” It’s the selfish pursuit of wealth that we must turn our backs on. There is a need for some Christians to be creating wealth legally and without exploiting anyone to fund more Christian ministry. And in these verses Jesus doesn’t prohibit us making sensible provision for the future (indeed elsewhere in the Bible we’re told to provide for our relatives and to enjoy the good gifts of our Creator), but he does prohibit us being like misers who hoard and materialists who always want more.

Does our giving to God’s work reflect Jesus’ command here? In other words are we giving willingly and generously, realizing that in the end earthly treasures are a dead loss? Or does our use of money and attitude to possessions mean that we are disobeying Jesus, not trusting him for the future, short-changing his church and so hampering the growth of gospel ministry? Now we praise God for the amazing generosity towards the Gateshead project shown so far. In fact the giving at JPC last year as a whole was miraculous. As Paul said to the Philippians, “I always thank God for you and for your partnership in the gospel.” But £300,000 is still needed for the church plant in Gateshead. If I’m being honest one question I’ve been asking of myself since the gift week and therefore this question is also directed at me, is this, ‘Is that £300,000 still in our pockets?’ I know that I’m still learning to give sacrificially. Maybe many of us are. So let’s get practical from Jesus’ teaching here. If all the believers here tonight gave an additional £600 each – which is £12.50 a week for the rest of this calendar year, which is the cost of a curry for two, then the target could be reached and that part of Gateshead could begin to be reached. For some that would be sacrificial, for others of us, it would not. Some will be able to give more than that, some less and some won’t be able to give any extra.

Now please I’m not trying to twist anyone’s arm – what you give is between you and God - but Gateshead is definitely doable if we forsake a curry or two a week for the rest of the year. Let’s not store up treasure or even calories on earth but let’s obey Christ and do his will. Curry’s are nice but being involved in God’s work is infinitely better and the blessings it brings! If you do want to do that then simply pick up a Gateshead Project giving card from the welcome desk, piano or on your way out and fill it in. As some of us were reminded in Home Groups this past week the Philippians gave again and again to get the gospel out in supporting Paul. We need to do the same to get the gospel out from JPC, Gateshead and around the world through our mission partners.

The faith target for the work at JPC in 2006 is faith stretching too - £870,000. But we cannot afford to let the work here stand still and go backwards. Especially at a time when there is so much opposition to the Christian gospel, from the religious hatred bill to be voted on in the House of Commons this Tuesday, from the media and in many of our schools and colleges. Last week Birmingham University CU was suspended from the Students Union for not being politically correct and inclusive enough. Yes God is greater and the gates of hell will not prevail against Christ’s church but generous giving for the growth of the church is an important part of getting the gospel out at such a time as this and a part that we need to play. We cannot afford not to reach out with the love of Christ to students. We cannot afford not to develop the ministry to children and young people. Do we want the next generation to grow up with Richard Dawkins’ world view or an Islamic worldview or do we want them to know the truth of the biblical Christian worldview and Christ himself?

And we ourselves cannot afford to store up treasure on earth. It’s detrimental to our spiritual health. Where is my heart? Where is your heart? Where is our treasure? “No-one can serve two masters. You cannot serve both God and Money.” And again £870,000 is not as large as it sounds when you consider that it’s about £1000 per head of the over 18 members of the congregation per year or £20 per head per week, which is about 2 CD’s per week, with, of course, some able to give more and some less. Look at v20. Jesus commands us to store up for ourselves treasures in heaven instead, which is my second heading:


2) But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven

Why? Because heavenly treasures do last forever, they cannot be destroyed, corroded or stolen. Inflation cannot devalue them and thieves cannot touch them. Look at v20:

“But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.”

What are heavenly treasures? Essentially they are the eternal rewards that come the way of believers when we put Christ first, before money and possessions. What are these eternal rewards? The Bible is not totally explicit but from Paul’s letter to the Philippians and Jesus’ parable of the talents later on in Matthew’s Gospel we know that they are to do with knowing and serving Christ. How do we store up these treasures in heaven? By investing in heaven and not here. By being obedient to Christ and his word. In these verses Jesus is talking about money. V24 makes that clear. So part of investing in heaven is by giving sacrificially to God’s work and therefore also to the needs of others. 1 Timothy 6:18-19 says this:

“Command those who are rich [which is almost all of us] 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.”

So part of storing up treasure for ourselves in heaven is in filling out the response form that you have with the JPC giving literature you’ve been sent. That literature suggests a starting point of 5% to JPC and 5% to world mission. But as we grow in faith then that percentage should rise. But this is not about giving to get as such, this is about giving ourselves first to the Lord, and giving the money we have (that all comes from God in the first place) willingly, generously, cheerfully to the Lord’s work, in response to God’s indescribable gift to us and in the knowledge that our giving will make a difference in this world and will be credited to our account both here and ultimately in heaven, as Paul puts it in Philippians 4:17. Where are you investing? How are you investing? How much are you investing? How much harvest do we want?

But let me make two things very clear before my third, final and very brief point. First, this is not about earning our way to heaven. It is impossible for us to earn our way to heaven. The only way to God and therefore to heaven is through faith in Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord. Who here tonight needs to put their faith in Jesus Christ for the first time? He loved you and died for you. 2 Corinthians 8:9 says of Jesus that, ‘Though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.’ That is his grace which he wants you to know. Our giving is in response to that.

But, second, it is about our priorities and putting Christ first. Where our treasure is does reveal where our hearts are. So to come back to Jesus’ command not to store up for ourselves treasures on earth but to store up for ourselves treasures in heaven, the ultimate reason why we should invest in eternity is given by Jesus in v21, which is my final heading:


3) For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also

Where is your heart? Where is mine? Where is our treasure? Many of us think we can keep our treasures on earth whilst our hearts are in heaven. Jesus says that’s not possible.

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