Pursuit 2022

At the first of the year, we started our Pursuit Series for 2022 sharing about seeking first God’s Kingdom for our lives.  The greatest tragedy of life is so many are willing to settle for less than the best; to accept mediocrity, insignificance, the petty when life could have purpose and fulfillment. What one receives depends on one’s priorities because one’s priorities will affect one’s personal, business, spiritual and social life. When our priorities are right, our life will be fulfilled, confident, and rewarded. When they're wrong, our life will result in that which is meaningless.  We can allow the world to set our priorities by what is popular and important; the ambition to pursue everything that appeals to you, to the flesh or the second option is to allow God to set your priorities.  This is the priority that takes the pressure and anxiety out of life.  This priority is the key to a life that is lived in harmony with the will and purposes of God.  Whatever the option may be, the bottom line is the choice is yours to make and initiate!  So, we looked at two incredible invitations that God gave to us.  One is found in Isaiah 55 and the other is given in Matthew 6 by Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount about seeking God and His Kingdom.  So, I asked the question, what is it, that is very important to us?

Last week, we looked at something that God gives to us daily – OPPORTUNITIES!  God desires for you and I to make the most of the opportunities he is giving us.  Opportunities can be missed either because they aren’t recognized or because they are rejected. The opportunities God gives us seem to fall into one of two categories:  opportunities to show our love for Him and opportunities to show our love for others.  Most opportunities fall into three categories: Opportunities to Evangelize, Opportunities to Empathize and Opportunities to Energize.”  So, Paul tells us that we must make "the most of every opportunity." and he gives a reason, "because the days are evil."  I wonder what good things God has planned for us in the year 2022!  

This morning, I would like for us to continue our Pursuit series and look at something Jesus says about “Generosity.”  Matthew 10:8b “Freely you have received, freely give.”  Luke 6:38 “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.”

There is a great misunderstanding that is puzzling:  it is the mistaken belief that in order to have more, we must hold on tightly.  EX: if we are going to have more money, we must keep more or hold on to it tightly.  However, an open hand represents an open spirit; and when we have an open spirit, some of the money in our hands will get away, but when we have a closed hand, nothing can get in.  For anything to get in, you must have an open hand.  “There are men who gain from their wealth only the fear of losing it.” (Antoine Riveroli) Have you ever met or been around a person that the more they received, the more paranoid they were about losing what they had?  The reason they were holding it so tightly is because they believed it was their only security.  Jesus wants to become our security.

When God created us, He gave us the responsibility of being His asset manager.  Genesis 2:15 “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.”  Psalms 24:1 “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.”  There is a principle that we need to understand: that everything belongs to the Lord (gifts, talents, resources, time, etc.) and we are simply to manage all that He has put in our possession.  God owns it all!  We are simply managers or stewards.  We must not get confused about who we are: we are asset managers and not owners!  When we get confused about who owns what’s in our lives, then we make mistakes about how to handle what really belongs to God.  We do not own possessions; we simply manage them.  

Once we understand that we are not the owners, but that it all belongs to God; it is easier to give away.  It is always easier to give what somebody else owns away.  EX: If someone gave you some money to give away, it is easy to give it away; but once you hold onto it for several weeks, it becomes harder to give it away.  Why?  Because you have become emotionally attached to it!  Most secretaries have no problem writing a business check because it is not their money.  But if the owner of the business were to tell them to write one of their checks to give away, it would be much more difficult for them.  It is much easier to give away that which we know is not ours.  

Now, at church, when we hear the term steward or stewardship, we usually begin to think in terms of offering, tithes, or a building program.  The word steward is an old English term that simply means one who manages another’s financial affairs.  So then, why does God’s Word tell us to give?    Is it that God needs our resources, our talents, our time, etc.?   No!  What God desires is a relationship with His children who are walking in love, trust, understanding, and in the power of His Holy Spirit.  The natural by-product of such a person is generosity.  

So, why does God command us to give?  John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  God is a giver.  You and I were made into His image, so therefore, God made us to be givers.  When Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the garden, sin nature made us self-centered and selfish.  When we go through the act of giving, it changes us and portrays us just a little more like Him.  You cannot say that you are Christ-like when you are not giving.  The more we give, the less we think about us and the more we become like Christ.  Giving portrays us more Christ-like, it moves us to become less selfish, and less selfish people have more tendency to prosper and have quality relationships.  Proverbs 11:24, 25 “One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. 25A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.”  The more you release the more joy you experience.  

Another reason God asks you to give is because it is a reminder of ownership.  When we give, we are saying that we like things, but we understand God owns it all. 

Giving is also an act of our praise and worship.  God loves a cheerful giver.  

It is also spiritual warfare when you give.  Malachi 3:11 “I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not cast their fruit,” says the Lord Almighty.”  God fights for you when you give and rebukes the devourer.  

Instructions for giving:

God’s Word instructs us to give a tenth of our increase. This is pre-law, that is, before Moses was ever given the law.  This was a principle of God long before the Law came.  (Genesis 14 and 28)  It is also seen in the New Testament in Matthew 23:23 where Jesus tells the Pharisees that this is what they should have been doing.  

God’s Word also instructs us to give it first – first fruits.  Twenty-two times in Proverbs alone talks about first fruits.  Proverbs was written to an agricultural based culture, so when you are doing a harvest the first tenth of the harvest goes to the local church (storehouse) which is a New Testament representation of the Old Testament storehouse.  The purpose!  To take care of ministry, orphans, and widows (which include single parent moms of which 57% of them live in poverty).  

Offerings are different than the tithe.  Offerings are above the tithe and are freely given from surplus.  After you take care of your family, then you give freely as the Lord directs you.  1 Timothy 5:8 “But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” 

Never give with the motive of having what you give returned.  In Malachi 3:10 we have the promise of the blessing.  “Bring your full tithe to the Temple treasury so there will be ample provisions in my Temple. Test me in this and see if I don’t open up heaven itself to you and pour out blessings beyond your wildest dreams.”  Blessing does not necessarily mean material things, though that could be included.  Material things are not always a blessing.  There are many blessings that are not tangible.  The point is you can’t lose by giving.  

A person shows generosity by giving of their time to serve others.  Isn’t that what Jesus showed us by his life on earth.  

Conclusion

Deut. 28:1 – 14 “If you listen obediently to the Voice of God, your God, and heartily obey all his commandments that I command you today, God, your God, will place you on high, high above all the nations of the world. 2All these blessings will come down on you and spread out beyond you because you have responded to the Voice of God, your God:

3God’s blessing inside the city, God’s blessing in the country;

4God’s blessing on your children, the crops of your land, 

the young of your livestock, the calves of your herds, 

the lambs of your flocks.  5God’s blessing on your basket and bread bowl;

6God’s blessing in your coming in, God’s blessing in your going out.

7God will defeat your enemies who attack you. They’ll come at you on one road and run away on seven roads. 8God will order a blessing on your barns and workplaces; he’ll bless you in the land that God, your God, is giving you. 9God will form you as a people holy to him, just as he promised you, if you keep the commandments of God, your God, and live the way he has shown you. 10All the peoples on Earth will see you living under the Name of God and hold you in respectful awe. 11God will lavish you with good things: children from your womb, offspring from your animals, and crops from your land, the land that God promised your ancestors that he would give you. 12God will throw open the doors of his sky vaults and pour rain on your land on schedule and bless the work you take in hand. You will lend to many nations but you yourself won’t have to take out a loan. 13God will make you the head, not the tail; you’ll always be the top dog, never the bottom dog, as you obediently listen to and diligently keep the commands of God, your God, that I am commanding you today. 14Don’t swerve an inch to the right or left from the words that I command you today by going off following and worshiping other gods.