Tithing:Giving

We're going to be starting in the Book of Acts, probably next Sunday, but in the meantime, we've asked anyone who'd like to have a certain subject. The last one that was on the board here is, how do you do this with the subject of tithing? I wanted to talk about that this morning, maybe that's why not too many people are here this morning. They knew this was coming.

I'm glad you're here, you want to learn to be generous. We're going to talk about that subject this morning, and not talk about tithing much because actually tithing is not a New Testament concept. Tithing is an Old Testament concept.

Before we get into the scriptures, we'll learn some lessons here, I trust, this morning. Let's pray, and let's acknowledge the Lord. Heavenly Father, we humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God again and acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord.

That even now as we are here, He sits at the right hand of the Father. Everything, principalities, powers, everything is under His feet. Lord, we want to be under His authority, we want to be submissive, we want to have faith, we want to receive the Word of God with meekness, that it might be able to save our soul, that it might be able to bless our life.

So Lord, I acknowledge this morning that this is the truth that I have here in this book. This law is able to convert the soul. So Lord, I pray this morning for the conversion of our soul, that we could be more and more conformed into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Lord, make us generous and benevolent people. Make us like You in every way. And so we acknowledge You, thank You, praise You, and we pray Your blessing and favor upon the preaching of Your Word.

In Jesus' name, Amen. All right, so let's consider this subject here this morning, and that is the subject of tithing. And tithing, as I've shared, is not a New Testament concept.

It is an Old Testament concept that was under the law. Actually if you go and look up the word tithe in the New Testament, you'll only find it used about ten times, and three of those times, or two of those times, Jesus used it. He mentioned how the Jews and the Pharisees would tithe, mint, anise, and cumin.

And then another place it's used by the Pharisee is he looked down upon the publican, and he despised the publican, and he told God how he paid tithes of all that he possessed, and he wasn't like this poor publican down here, this despised one. And then it's used about five times in one section in Hebrews chapter 7, and it's referring to how Levi paid tithes in Abraham. It's talking about the Old Covenant, comparing the Old Covenant to the New Covenant.

And so, if you look up the word tithe, it's generally pointing us back to the Old Testament. And in all the letters that Paul wrote to the churches, Romans, Corinthians, Ephesians, all the letters, Paul does not mention this idea of tithing. Neither does he ever tell Timothy or Titus, who were to go and put the churches in order and ordain, and to answer the questions that the churches were having as they were beginning to be established, he doesn't say anything to them about tithing.

And so tithing is not a New Testament concept. Tithing is a principle of the Old Testament, but I think we can learn some things from the principle of tithing. Tithing is a principle of the law, and the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ.

The law was to show us, as Brother David mentioned this morning, the law was to show us the corruptness of our own hearts. The law was a mirror to show us our undoneness. The law was a mirror to show us our selfishness.

And so we would despise ourselves. We would realize, there's no way that I can be saved. I'm a despicable person.

I'm so self-centered. And then we would run to Jesus, and we would bow our knees, and we would say, Lord, have mercy upon me and save this wretched man or woman. And the Lord would save us.

So the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, and that's what the law was for. And so tithing was to show us how corrupt we are. I think this is amazing.

This is how corrupt human beings are. God says, I'm going to give you life. I'm going to give you breath.

I'm going to prosper you, give you the power and strength to get wealth, and all I want you to do is give me one in ten. Just give me ten percent of your income. That's all I want.

I'm going to bless your crops. I'm going to bless your fields. I'm going to give you sun and rain.

I'm going to do it all. I'm going to make it all grow. You couldn't make it grow.

I'm going to grow it for you, and after it's grown, I just want you to give me ten percent of it. And you know, those people in the Old Testament said, no, no. I want it all.

I want it all. You selfish people. You know, there's people like that today.

They're living by the grace of God. God gives them every breath. They work.

They labor. God gets nothing. Nothing.

That's selfish. Boy, is that selfish. Self-centered.

I'm not trying to get money out of you. This is funny. That's selfish.

That's what the law was to show man how selfish you really are. Look at this. You know, you go back to the garden.

God was so benevolent and generous. He said, look, I give you all the trees in the garden. I don't know how many there were there.

Maybe 100 or 200 different trees and all the fruit. Adam and Eve, just give me this one tree. Don't eat from this one.

But they say, you've got to have that one. You've got to have it. And of course, the whole human race fell because of that.

Well, the Sabbath was another issue that I can bring up here this morning to show us our undoneness, and that is that God said, I'm going to give you seven days in a week, and all I'm going to ask for you is just one of those seven. Just one that you'll give it to me and honor me and not do your own thing, not do your own pleasure. I just want one day under the law.

That's all I'm asking. Ten percent of your money. One day out of seven.

Oh, people couldn't deal with that one. I can't give you one. I want them all.

Every one of them. I want to do what I want all the time. So you had all down to the Old Testament.

They would dishonor the Sabbath. They couldn't get it in themselves to give God one day. You know, people have a hard time with that today.

Still can't come up to the level of the law. One day. Just give God a day.

He gives you six. And He asks for one. So this idea of the law, you know, the tithe, the Sabbath, many of those things that were given in the law was to show man his undoneness.

Show man his selfishness. And if you're sitting here this morning and you have a hard time giving God one out of seven, you have a hard time giving God ten percent, you can be assured of this, that your heart is hell-bent on yourself. Good place for an amen there.

It is. Well, there's a New Testament concept that goes far beyond that. I hate to tell you this, but God's wanting more than ten.

And He wants more than one day out of seven. Actually, He deserves everything you've got. I'd like you to turn to 2 Corinthians.

We're going to look at 2 Corinthians here, chapter number 9. I'm going to show you here the heart of God. I could have brought this message last week because we talked about love being the fulfillment of the law. We talked about obedience last week and the motivation of obedience.

What the obedience that the Lord is looking for is an obedience that's motivated by love. I love Jesus so much that when He asks me to dress modestly, I'll go way above it! Remember what Jesus said when the man asked you to go a mile? Go how many? Two! I just go, I love Jesus so much. Any person that you love, you always go far above.

So, love the Lord Jesus Christ. And so here we're talking about giving. We're going to talk about some of the same concepts here this morning.

This is a New Testament concept of giving. Let's look at 2 Corinthians chapter 9 starting in verse number 6. But this I say, he which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly, and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man... Here's the New Testament standard.

Every man according as he purposes in his heart, so let him give. Here is the New Testament concept of giving. Every man as he purposes in his heart, every man who, and the word purpose there means to choose or to prefer.

Every man as he chooses. This is a free will offering. New Testament giving is a free will.

Giving. Every man as he purposes in his heart, so let him give. Giving is an expression of our love for Jesus.

And so when your heart is in love with someone, you give to them lavishly. So the Lord has opened things up. The law was given, the title was given to show how corrupt the human heart was that would drive us to Jesus and then the Lord would save us by His great mercy and we'd get up and we'd be filled with the Spirit of God and we would give lavishly now to Him.

Amen. He saved my soul. He's given me eternal life.

He's going to bless me forever in the ages to come. And so what wouldn't I give Him? If He wants 10%, I'll give Him 50%. I'll give Him 100%.

Because I love Him. So that's where the heart ought to be. Every man as he purposes in his heart, so let him give.

A great example of this is God so loved the world that He what? Gave. He gave His only begotten Son. He gave something of the greatest value He had.

He gave because He loved. His expression. Nobody had to command Him to do it.

Nobody had to draw a line and say you had to do this or make a rule. He simply loved humanity and therefore He gave everything He could. God so loved that He gave.

You so loved Jesus that you give. That's the New Testament. And of course, Paul reminds us of this in verse 15 at the end.

We're not going to read all the chapter. Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift. It all gets back down to that great gift that the Lord gave us.

And He gave it out of the heart of love. So we're to follow His example. So as we learned last week, love.

Love is the fulfilling of the law. I'm going to tell you this. You know, if you love someone and they say, just give me 10%, you say, oh no! No, limit it to 10%.

No, I want to give you 50%. Why are you limiting me? Well, we'll get back to love here in just a minute. But faith is another reason why we're supposed to give.

Faith. Look at verse 6. I taught this in the children's lesson. But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly.

And he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Faith is another reason, a motivation to give. Why do you go out and plant a garden? Because you have faith.

You hope that that garden will produce greater things. And so faith. Why do I give? Because God says if I give, He'll give me more in abundance.

So love and faith. Love and faith, by the way, are fruits of the Spirit. The Spirit is love and faith.

Those are fruits of a Spirit-filled life. And so we believe God's Word and we respond to God's Word, maybe because of our own selfish interests, but we respond to God's Word because I want to see God reward me. I want to put one seed in the ground and get a hundred seeds back.

I want to sow and reap. And the Bible teaches sowing and reaping. I sow bountifully because I want to reap bountifully.

So you see this principle in nature that I taught the children. God shows us, you put one seed in the ground, you get a hundred seeds back. You put one seed in the ground, you get 200 back.

Everywhere you go, you put one in, you get a lot more back. So I'm teaching you, sow, sow. By the way, we're not going to talk about it, but you know one of the reasons why people don't get much back from the Word of God is because they don't sow a lot of the Word of God in other people.

You sow the greatest seed of all is the Word of God. You sow the seed out, what's going to happen? You're going to get God to give you back the seed. That's why the Bible says that He that wins souls is what? He's wise.

He's wise because He is putting seeds out and God is giving Him wisdom back. He's giving Him seeds in return. And so if you don't put anything out, guess what? You don't get anything back.

You don't sow anything. You don't reap anything. And so if you want to reap the Word of God, you want God to show you His Word and make you wise, you need to give it out.

So it's a principle of nature. Luke 6, 38 Give and it shall be given unto you. Good measure.

Press down. Yesterday I was doing a job down in Columbus. Brother David and I put a little cement pad in front of the door and we put some topsoil down, planted some grass seed.

I went down there yesterday and took the frames off and took some straw and hay from our barn. And I took it off the floor in our barn and took some of these grain sacks and I was stuffing hay and get as much as I can. I kept pressing it and pressing it to try to get as much as I can in.

That's this idea of God will give you in response. He will press it down. He will get as much as He can in the sack.

Shake it together. Whenever I buy cereal, I have this plastic container at home. My wife has a couple of them.

You pour cereal into that container and it doesn't all get in. What do you do? Shake it. That level just slows down.

Put more in. Start shaking it. Shake it down.

Get more and more. The Lord says, I'm going to press it down. I'm going to shake it down until it's running over.

Shall men give unto your bosom? For with the same measure that you meet withal it shall be measured to you again. That's a promise. You know, if someone had faith, man, that would make them a generous person, wouldn't it? Wow! God is going to respond to me as I respond and give to others.

So think about this. If you believe these verses in the New Testament that you reap what you sow and God wants to give unto you, shake down, press together, and running over, why would you want to be limited to 10%? Why would you want to be under the law and be limited to 10%? Wouldn't it be awful? Some of you know something about investments. Brother Cleats is not here this morning.

He's an investment advisor. Can you imagine having an investment that guarantees you a 300% return and you are only limited to be able to invest 10% of your money? That would be a frustration, wouldn't it? I can only give 10%? Even though this thing is a guaranteed 300% return? So it's like God looking down and saying, listen, I'm guaranteeing you a big return. Why are you talking about 10%? Why are you making these laws about 10%? That doesn't make sense.

Verse 7, let's keep reading here. Every man according as he purposes in his heart, so let him give, not grudgingly. I gave.

I gave. I gave. Not grudgingly.

The word grudgingly means grumbling or murmuring. Do I have to do it? Yeah, all right. Yeah, all right, I'll do it.

Let me ask you this. If you love Jesus, would you do it? Would you give grudgingly? How many of you ever loved someone and what you did for them you did grudgingly? You never do that to the person you love? And if you had faith that you would reap much more when you sowed, would you actually give grudgingly? You know, give grudgingly because you don't think you're going to get anything back. I'm not going to reap anything from this so I grudgingly give.

Who grudgingly gives money when they think they're going to get ten times back? Ten times more. You don't. It's a matter of faith.

It's a matter of love. It's a matter of our heart. It says not grudgingly, nor of necessity.

Now this is interesting. The word necessity means being constrained to or you know you wait for some situation where there's a major distress. If things really get bad, I'll give.

But if they go without food for three days, then I'll do something. In other words, you're being forced or constrained. If there's a real need, I'll give.

Think about this. If you love someone, let's say you love your wife, your husband, do you wait until they're in real need, real distress before you give? Do you only give your wife flowers when she's crying and weeping and oh, she's having such a horrible day, it's time to give her flowers? How about giving her flowers every other day or every other couple of days just because you want to give her flowers because you love her? Be a good idea, right, Brother Chris? And so giving is not to be grudgingly, nor does it have to be some need. If you love someone, you don't wait until there's a need.

You just shower them with giving and with love. If you had faith that you would get more in return, would you wait to give until there was a great need? No, you wouldn't. Again, it's faith and love.

Faith and love. These are the things that ought to motivate the heart. We're talking to the heart this morning.

We're not talking about drawing a line. I'm going to talk about drawing a line here in a minute. God is not interested in drawing lines.

He's interested in getting the heart. Because look at verse 7 again. Every man according as he purposes it is in his heart.

There's that word heart. So let him give, not grudgingly or of necessity, for God loveth a cheerful giver. God loves a cheerful giver.

So if you're thinking of it from the Lord's perspective, He's looking down at your giving and He really loves it when your heart gives out of the joy of giving to Him because you love Him and because you have faith in Him and His Word. By the way, cheerful is this word in the Greek. Anybody know what English word comes out of that word? Hilarious.

God loves a hilarious giver. I've told you this illustration before, but I was teaching on this passage many years ago. My grandmother's church.

It was a friend's church. My grandmother invited me. They didn't know what they were getting into back then.

I was a Baptist, Bible thumper. But anyway, I preached there, and I wasn't a very rich person obviously, but I got $51 bills, and then we came to this hilarious thing. I just came out into the auditorium and started throwing money all over the place and laughing and carrying on and just hilariously giving.

She used that as an illustration. Don't get your heart up this way. I'm not going to do it here.

Don't get your hopes up. And that principle, the pastor then, I'm walking out and all these children are running for money and picking it all up, and of course their parents were telling the kids, you better give it back into the offering. We take an offering for Him.

You give it all back. So I go out the door and they hand me this offering. It's got all my money in it and a lot more.

Just see the principle worked. You give hilariously and look what came back to you. God loves a hilarious giver.

It's a hard attitude. I love Jesus, and so I love giving to Him. I love Jesus, so I love giving to His work.

I have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. I have faith in His word, so I'm excited to give. Can you imagine? I know this principle sits there and we read it, but can you imagine living in a world here where every time you invested $10 into something, by the end of the day you got $100 back? What would you do? This is exciting.

If you like money, you put $10 in, I'm going to put $50 in, and at the end of the day you got $500 back. How many of you would be excited about investing at that point? Guaranteed. How many of you believe God's word? Now, no, I'm not some faith preacher up here.

I don't have an airplane I'm trying to buy so I can fly around the country, but I'm just trying to encourage you to believe and to love the Lord. It's all about love. It's all about faith.

Now, I'll tell you this story. Maybe you've heard me tell it. This goes way back.

I'm living in Houston, Texas. This is before I met Dan and Martha. Way back before my marriage.

I'm a single guy. I'm saved at 19. I'm probably 21, 22.

I'm getting my heart right. I never really knew the word well when I was first converted the first two or three years. I'm at a Baptist church.

They're preaching. Some guy is out preaching. Chris Carter is his name.

He's the pastor of the church I'm a part of. And he's preaching on giving. And in my little simplistic heart, I see that, man, if I give to God, He will give back to me more.

Simple faith. I remember I had my paycheck, $400 and some dollars. I said, Lord, I'm going to give it.

I needed some for my bills. I paid my bills. Everything I could get, boom, went right in there.

Simple act of faith. Some of you are waiting for me to tell you that the next day I got a check for $5,000 in the mail, right? Well, as you know, it didn't work that way. I'll tell you what.

I've been blessed all my whole life. My wife and I will tell you, my children are here. We've never had financial issues.

We've been blessed. We were blessed. I look back and think that maybe that was a part of the very beginning, just a simple act of faith.

Simple faith. God, you said I love you. I'm just going to pour it out on you.

So many people struggle financially because they're selfish. They have no faith. They don't believe God.

So if love and faith are your motivation, then there is no limits. You don't want any limits. This tithing thing, why would you confine me to 10 measly percent? I love Jesus.

I'm going to give Him 50. I have faith in Him. 10% only reaches this amount.

I want to give 50%. 80%. Can you imagine being in love with someone and only being able to give 10% to that person? 10% of your love to them.

I want to pour out my love on you, but I can't. I have this law that says I can only give you 10%. Imagine having faith in an investment and only being able to invest 10%.

And so that's New Testament giving. Love and faith want no limits. Love and faith want no lines.

People say, what is the line? You ever heard someone say that? What's the line? What's the line for what I have to give? You know, 10% is kind of a line. We like lines. People like lines.

Laws, lines, standards, rules. Tell me what is the line. God's up in heaven saying, I don't like that line stuff.

I like you just giving out of your heart as you're purposing your heart to me as an act of love. Forget this line stuff. The law drew a line, right? So my paycheck this last week was $361.72. What do I do? I give God $36.17. But I don't want to round it up.

I've got two. That's down. I'll keep it down.

Because that's the line. Now let me ask you a question. Does that exemplify love? Is that a love thing that happens there? Or is that a faith thing that happens there? No.

You tell me what's the line. And I'm going to stay right there. Now I don't know if anybody's ever had this happen in your relationships, but you ever had someone say to you, you know, your husband or your wife, say, hey, what's the line for me? What do I have to do for you? What's the limit? And I'll keep it that and under.

That doesn't build relationships there, does it? It's not something that represents love. So people say, what is the line for modesty? Everybody's wanting to know what's the line. How high can the dress go? Or how much can I show on my neck? What is the line? Can someone give me that line? Because I want to push the line.

Well, that heart's not right with God. Would you agree with that? It's not right with God. The problem is not the line.

The problem is the heart. What is the line for the head covering? I mean, what hairline here? Can we go farther and further back? Where is the line that's acceptable? Well, you don't need a line. If you love Jesus, right? What's the line for giving? Is it that 10%? Is that the line? Well, unfortunately, in the Old Testament, if you let man alone, there's no salvation, there's no Holy Spirit in him, he can't even get to the line.

He doesn't even want to come up to the line. And maybe some of the real spiritual people came up to the line, but they drew the line at 10 and that's it. No more.

But in the New Covenant, when God saves your soul and gives you eternal life and He fills you with the Holy Spirit of God, you want to go way above the line. Did I get an amen there, Brother Dan? Amen. So, it's not about drawing the line.

It's about love. Lines are for hardened hearts. Lines are those who want to be under the law.

The Bible says the law is for the lawless. We learned that two weeks ago. Love doesn't want lines.

Love doesn't want to be limited by lines. Love wants to go far above lines. And that's the problem with making lines.

That's the problem with standards. That's the problem with rules and regulations. They limit people.

People who love Jesus don't need that. People who have faith in God, they don't need that. Because their heart is in love.

And unfortunately in the church, most have left their first love. And so preachers are up here banging on 10% and only getting 5%. And trying to run the budget on 5%.

Praise God we don't have a budget here. Praise God we don't have a mortgage here. We don't have much need.

So we put a box back there. We don't have much need of finances. But I know that God still wants us to lavish Him with sacrificial gifts.

You don't have to give it here. You can give it elsewhere. Let's keep reading here verse 8. And here's the promise that God says to you.

Notice these all's and every's and abounding always. God is able to make all grace abound towards you that you always having all sufficiency in all things may abound to every good work. Simply put, if you're generous, God says I'll take care of you real good.

As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad, He hath given to the poor, His righteousness remaineth forever. God will reward those who have a benevolent heart and a benevolent spirit. Verse 10, Now He that ministereth seed of the sower, both ministereth bread for your food and multiply your seed sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness.

That's a children's lesson. God will multiply your seed sown. In other words, you sow one of those little guys, God will bring you back a fruit that's got a hundred of them in it.

He'll multiply your seed sown. And so, truthfully, as a Christian, we ought to learn to be sowing seed, sowing kindness, sowing money, sowing the Word of God, sowing, sowing, sowing. Because you'll find in a year or two, five, ten, you're going to start reaping a harvest.

God is able to do that. And notice here, verse 11, Being enriched in everything to all bountifulness, which causes through us thanksgiving to God. Here's the bottom line.

When we see God rewarding us and honoring our faith and our love to Him, then it comes out of our heart, Thank You, Lord! Amen. Thank You, Lord! Lord, You have blessed us with so much. Thank You, Lord! The thanksgiving goes to the Lord.

And then keep reading. For the administration of His service, verse 12, not only supplies the want of the saints, but is abundant also by many thanksgivings unto God. Here's what happens.

When you're generous with other people, those people thank God. It's actually talking about four saints down in Jerusalem. Paul was going to get an offering from the Corinthians and that would go down to Jerusalem and the people there would thank God for it.

And the people here who sent it, they would be blessed by God and then they would thank God for the blessing. So here's two thanks. Here I am generous and I give.

And God gives back to me and I say, Thank You, Lord, You're so generous to me. I've sown and now I've reaped and I thank the Lord. Then those people who I gave to, they also thank the Lord.

Thank You, Lord, for these people helping us out. That woman that we built the house for down in Honduras. Thank You, God.

Thank You, God. So God gets thanks on both ends. The giver thanks God because he gets a blessing in return and the one who gets the gift thanks God.

Let's see what happens if you're stingy. You keep your money and so therefore you sow nothing, you get nothing back. No thanks to God.

And you never give anything out. That person doesn't thank God either. There's no thanks at all.

God gets no honor, no praise if we keep our resources in our wallet. And we're not givers. So no cheerful giving leads to no thanks from us or from those who we gave to.

But verse 15 says, thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift. Now I want to see, and we're going to see this here as we go through the book of Acts, but I want to look here this morning at Acts 2 because when men are filled with the Spirit of God certain things happen to them and there is this giving thing that occurs when you're filled with the Holy Spirit. In Acts chapter 2, there's two examples here of the early church being filled with the Spirit of God and how they gave immediately upon being filled with the Holy Spirit.

In Acts chapter 2, here Peter gives this sermon on the day of Pentecost and I'm going to pick up in verse 41. Then they that gladly received His Word and were baptized, in the same day there were added to them about 3,000 souls. These are new converts.

And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine. Here's what happens. Obedience, and in fellowship, and in breaking in bread, and in prayer.

And fear came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. And all that believed were together and had all things common and sold their possessions and goods and parted them to all men as every man had need. You see, right in the midst of this being filled with the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, there is this generosity.

Excuse me. There is a generosity that comes out of their hearts. You know, Peter in his sermon didn't preach about some line that needs to be drawn.

You know, New Testament, now we have a new line. You have to sell everything you own. No, he didn't say that.

He just said every man as he purposes in his heart and when people were filled with the Spirit of God, they said, I'm going to sell my houses and lands and I'm going to give them away. Cheerful giving came out of being filled with the Holy Spirit of God. There was no rule necessary.

There's no law. There's love. I love Jesus.

He just saved my soul. He's given me the Spirit of God. The love of God is shed abroad in my heart.

I am going to give. And I don't believe they sold their own house. I believe there were people who had extra houses, extra lands.

And they said, what's this? I've been selfish all my life trying to hoard this to myself. I'm a Christian now. God's given me eternal life.

Get rid of this stuff. People have needs. Get rid of it.

I had to think of the last prophet in the Old Testament, Malachi. If you go back to Malachi, Malachi is the last prophet about 450-500 years before actually this time of the day of Pentecost. And one of the things that's emphasized in the book of Malachi is you've robbed God.

Prophet Malachi told the people you've robbed God. And they said, how did we rob God? And the prophet said, because you're robbing God of the tithe and the offering, you're robbing God. You're not giving Him at least 10%.

Now these people are converted and they're filled with the Spirit of God and they're giving far above. There's no mention of the tithe. Look over to Acts 4. One more example.

In verse 31, And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness. And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul. Neither said any of them that all of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had all things common.

Verse 34 Neither was there any among them that lacked for as many as were possessors of lands or houses, sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, and laid them down at the apostles' feet, and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need. And so the Holy Spirit of God moves them to sell their belongings, to give their tithes and offerings or give their offerings. By the way, in here there's no rule, no law, no standard.

Just the Holy Spirit of God and a love for Jesus. And you know, God looked down upon this kind of giving. He said, I like it.

I like it. This is the cheerful kind. I don't like these givings at 10% that were under the law.

That was just to show how sinful man is. But I'm going to save him. He's going to be so gracious for salvation.

I'm going to fill him with the Spirit of God that's going to give him the fruit of love. And he's going to respond to me in love and give generously. Amen.

Well, there's a man here in verse 36 named Barnabas. I think it's the same Barnabas that traveled with Paul. It says in verse 36, and Joseph, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, which is being interpreted as the son of consolation.

He was an exhorter, a Levite into the country of Cyprus, having land, sold it, and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet. Here's a God that has a good heart. Barnabas.

He's converted. He's filled with the Holy Spirit. He says, I've got this piece of ground over here.

I don't really have any use for it. And so I'm just going to sell it. And here's the whole deal.

Here's the whole thing. $5,000 you can have it. I've got more important things in life.

I met Jesus. Hey, that's a good testimony there, Barnabas. Barnabas was a cheerful giver.

God rewarded him. He traveled with the apostles. But now there's another couple here that I want to call to attention here.

We'll spend more time on them as we go through the book of Acts. But here's another couple that had a heart issue. Again, it's a heart issue.

Look what happens. Chapter 5, verse 1. But a certain man named Ananias with Sapphira his wife sold a possession. This is in the midst of this happening here.

And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles' feet. Now you go on and hear the story. I'll show you here in a minute.

But this man sold his land for 5,000. And I'm just making this up. Then he decides I'm going to keep 2,500 and I'm going to go and tell the people and represent that we sold 2,500 and we're giving everything.

We're giving it all. Just like everybody else, we're just selling our property and giving it all. But he pockets 2,500.

Now that's a noble thing to sell your property and it's a noble thing to give 2,500. But look what happens. Verse 3, But Peter said, Ananias and Sapphira, why has Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost and to keep back part of the price of the land? You know, you're deceiving here.

You're keeping back, and I'm just making this up, half of it. Keeping back part of it. You've got 2,500 dollars in your pocket and you represented that you gave it all.

Now notice verse 4, While it remained, was it not thine own? You didn't have to sell it. And after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? You didn't have to bring the money down here. Every man as he purposes in his heart, you didn't have to do this.

You could have kept it. You could have kept the money. God's not judging him because he didn't give it all.

He could have kept it and God would have been happy with him. If you want to keep it, that's fine. But God judged him because he lies.

He deceives. Verse 4, While it remained, was it not thine own? And after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. And by the way, in the midst of a powerful situation where the Holy Spirit of God is spilling people and you are acting as a deceiver, that's a dangerous place to be.

And it concerns me. You know, we can be deceivers in the midst of each of us here and nothing happens. The large part, I think, is because the power of God is not here.

When the power of God is at a certain place, people aren't deceivers. And you find that out here when the Spirit of God is there. Verse 5, And Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and gave up the ghost, and great fear came upon all them that heard these things.

And the young man arose and wound him up and carried him out and buried him. And it was about the space of three hours after when his wife, not knowing what was done, came in. Now notice what Peter asked.

And Peter answered unto her, Tell me, whether you sold the land for so much, did you really sell it for 2,500? And you represented, you gave everything. I'm going to give you a chance here. Did you really sell it for 2,500? And she says, Yeah, for so much.

Then Peter said unto her, How is it that you have agreed together? Tempt the Spirit of the Lord. Behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door and shall carry thee out. Wow.

Get that happening in a church. See what happens. People will be, Whoa, get rid of my deception, huh? Then she fell down straightway at his feet and yielded up the ghost.

And the young man came in and found her dead and carrying her forth, buried her by her husband. And great fear came upon all the church, for as many as heard these things. Now, here's the amazing thing.

Here's a couple that actually sold their property and gave half of the value of the property to the church and they died for it. Can you imagine that? They sold it, gave half the property, the value of it, a big offering, and yet they died. You know why they died? Because their heart was beset.

You can give $2500, you can give half the price, you go sell a piece of property and you can sell it for $50,000, come into the church and say, Here's $25,000, everything that we sold it for, it's all right here, we're giving it all. You can lay $25,000 here, we can be happy for the money, and you be a deceit. Right? And God judged them because He didn't need the money.

God doesn't need the money. You know, God's not in heaven, oh, begging for that extra penny or two we needed for the church budget. He's not concerned about the money, He's concerned about your heart.

And that's what this example tells you. God is looking at the heart and even if they gave half of the price of the property, if their heart was deceptive, God judged them. That's why the Lord, when He stood there at the treasury, when He saw people coming in and this poor woman gives a couple of pennies, this lady, her heart is to give as much as she can.

It doesn't matter the amount. Well, these people gave a half, but they were killed because of their heart. It's not right.

God is interested in your heart. And that's why I don't believe that we ought to draw lines, try to get people to give so much, or dress a certain way, or have this line or that line. God is looking for a heart.

He's still looking for a heart. A heart that wants to do it. A heart that loves Him.

A heart that is responding to faith. I love to see when people read and they say to dress in modest apparel, so I'm just going to dress in wonderful modest apparel. I love that.

I love that expression of just love. Faith. Let me close with this.

I've shared this with you before, but it's still something we need to remember, be reminded of. This church, and every church, is for Him. It's not for us.

We tend to think that this is for us. And so we organize things to make us feel good. But actually the church is His bride, and His body.

And what we need to do is we need to organize the church in such a way as to please Him. And I'll tell you what, it sure would have pleased most churches if they had got that $2,500 for half the land. They just said, Woo! This is wonderful! Hallelujah for the offering! It pleases us! We can pay the budget and we can get on down the road.

And they would have gone on and been thankful for this half of the offering. But it didn't please God. It didn't please Him.

And we're concerned about meeting the budget and we're concerned about how everybody dresses to make us feel good. And we're concerned about all these things for our sake. Not going to work.

What we're here to do is to get you to a place where you have a heart that loves Him and wants to respond to Him by faith. And so you by faith do what you do because it pleases God. Without faith it's impossible to please God.

For me to force you to do things doesn't please God at all. It may please you and me, but it doesn't please Him. We're here to please Him.

Not ourselves. And so giving. I'd like to see my own heart.

I'd like to see your heart. Be generous. Be generous.

Listen, if you don't have much and you're always scraping it, that's not always a sign that you aren't a giver, but give and it shall be given unto you. And some of you as young Christians need to just put the principle in practice. Start expressing your faith in the Lord.

Start expressing your love for Him. Don't be bound by a tithe. That's small.

That's little. That's Old Testament. And if you're not even to the 10% level, you need to acknowledge you're selfish, self-centered.

That needs to be addressed too. So let's be generous as every man purposes in his heart. So let him give.

Let's pray and then we'll open it up for any questions.