Well, good evening. Great to be here. Thanks for your invite. I was really excited that I was able to get out of Glasgow for work reasons, of course, as a minister tonight.
But just very exciting to actually be able to get in the car and use it after so long of being very, very local at home.
It's great to be back at Brunsfield to see some familiar faces, and I pray that God will bless us tonight.
Let me bring you some greetings just from the constituency of FIEC churches that I work for and represent across Scotland and beyond.
We've been trying to support churches over this strange time, over the last eight months, with some weekly webinars for church leaders across the UK,
trying to update them on the kind of various developments, but also just some of the challenges of leadership at a time like this.
And we've had a few separate Scottish webinars to update churches on particular guidance.
And I've been trying to send out some summary papers to pastors and others, which hopefully Graeme Shanks and others might have received here as well.
But God's work is going on, despite all the restrictions and limitations.
We're delighted that we welcomed into FIC family the new church plant out at South Queensferry, which I know you'll be very familiar with, Christ Church there.
The work in Aviemore is moving forward.
Of course, like everything else, it's been sort of strange and changed in many ways.
But it was great that Kenny Rogan and Leslie Rogan, the church planting family there, were able to buy a house in the town this summer.
That was a great prayer point for us.
And as Kenny said to me, he said, it's exactly where you would buy a house if you're looking at a map of Aviemore and wanted to plant a church.
So that's been a huge provision of God.
And we pray that will help them to make contacts and to get settled in the community.
And we've also been able this year to support revitalisation work in Mary Hill in Glasgow and a cross-cultural worker at Harper Church,
along with the just day-to-day and week-to-week kind of pastoral support and connecting of churches and ministries.
I just wanted to let you know that despite all the limitations, God is still at work, and I'm sure he is as well, in lots of ways.
Well, please do have your Bible open at that passage in 2 Corinthians chapter 8.
We'll probably flick over to chapter 9 as well, because both chapter 8 and 9 deal with the subject of giving.
You've been doing a topical series, I believe, and tonight's subject is we need to talk about giving.
So we're dealing with a taboo subject.
So maybe just as well as no children here tonight.
Indeed, it's a subject that the Times newspaper once called the last taboo in an article which was subtitled,
Why it's okay to talk about sex and death, but never salaries.
Or in other words, why talking about personal wealth is one of the last no-go areas in polite society.
It's a subject, of course, that we can feel uncomfortable about when we come to discussing it.
And to preach on the subject of giving, believe you me, feels like entering a bit of a potential minefield.
Listeners perhaps feel an edge waiting for the guilt trip or the high-pressure appeal.
Don't worry, there's not going to be one of those tonight.
And speakers feel anxious about looking self-interested and not least their own shortcomings.
And there are some good reasons why we might have that kind of discomfort as we come to a subject like this.
One of the great evils of the Western Church in recent decades has been the exporting of the prosperity gospel to Africa
and other parts of the developing world.
It's ministers on the God channels promising riches for those who just have enough faith.
It's a Christianity, of course, that ultimately produces guilt and, worst of all, disillusionment with Jesus.
And ministries, incidentally, that don't even believe their own theology.
They tell us that whatever you give, you will get back 10, 20, 30, 100-fold.
Which begs the question, why don't they just do that with their own money in the first place?
Get back that great increase and save us all the appeals.
As John Stott said, we have to have the courage to reject the health and wealth gospel.
Absolutely.
It's a false gospel.
So we're rightly cautious then to avoid any sense of a preoccupation with money.
But the other danger, of course, if we go to the other extreme,
is that we make money a kind of no-go area in church.
But money is a big issue in the world.
It's a big issue in our lives, let's face it.
It is a key component in everyday living.
So we would expect the Bible to have something to say about it.
And it does.
Lots, in fact.
Jesus talked five times as much, or rather the New Testament has five times as much teaching on money
as it does in the subject of prayer.
Jesus talked far more about money in his ministry than he did about sex.
So a church without regular teaching on money would be as negligent as a church who never taught about prayer.
So as we go into this subject, and we're going to just pick a few of the kind of main points out of these passages in 2 Corinthians tonight,
let's just clear the undergrowth a little bit and establish a few basic truths from the Bible.
And the first one is that the material world was created by God and is a gift to be enjoyed.
That means that having things and resources and being able to acquire things is legitimate.
Indeed, it is a blessing.
1 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 4.
For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving.
God, of course, blessed Israel with material things, good lands, crops, prosperity.
Heaven will be a real place.
There will be great plenty there to enjoy.
So there is nothing wrong with the appropriate possession and use and enjoyment of material things.
That's the first point.
The second point is that being rich is not wrong, neither is poor to be glorified.
There are many godly men and women in the Bible who were wealthy.
However, Abraham, Job, Philemon, contrastingly, the ungodly poor are never set up as role models.
As Andrew Boner Law very well put it,
far better a rich man seeking God than a poor man seeking riches.
But of course, wealth does, in a fallen world, present some real dangers to us.
It's one of the primary reasons that people turn away from God.
Wealth can easily create a self-reliance, a pride, a love of comfort that displaces God in people's lives.
And so we need to be wary of it and careful and cautious in our use of it and where our hearts go in relation to it.
But being rich in itself is not wrong, neither is poverty some great virtue in and of itself.
And then the third and final point as we go into this subject is that the New Testament sees financial giving as a barometer of spiritual health.
We saw something of that in the passage that was read to us by Ailey on the screen.
Paul writes,
I'm not commanding you in this area of giving, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others.
Paul is making a link there between their attitude to giving, their earnestness in giving,
and to the spiritual temperature, we might say, of their hearts.
Luke chapter 12 and verse 34 says,
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
That is, where your money goes tells you something about where your heart is.
That's the word of Jesus himself.
But not the order of that verse, which we'd had it on the screen,
but the order of the verse says, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
And in closer reading, we might think, is that not a little bit back to front?
Shouldn't the order be, where your heart is, there your treasure will be also.
After all, surely our money will follow our hearts and not vice versa,
as seems to be what Jesus says in Luke chapter 12.
But of course, Jesus never fumbles his words.
And I think there is something very practical in this about the order that Jesus puts it in.
Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
That is, where we put our money will influence and shape our concerns.
That is, our hearts.
If I choose to give money to a mission in India, then guess what?
I'm likely to find I'm a lot more interested and concerned about mission in India
than I might otherwise have been.
If I give a gift to the youth group, you know what?
The youth group is probably likely to nudge its way up my prayer list
because I've suddenly got a bit of an investment in it.
You see, one of the ways that you can start to shape your heart around heavenly things
is by making the very cold and practical decision to put some of your cash into them.
Where your treasure is, your heart will be also.
Now, God isn't some heavenly sheriff of Nottingham.
He is not obsessed with your wallets or just taking your cash for its own sake.
God, of course, owns the cattle on a thousand hills.
And as somebody has said, he owns the hills as well.
He is the self-sufficient one.
Acts chapter 17.
He has no need of anything.
He's the one who has made and gives everything to everyone.
In 1 Corinthians, Paul asked the question,
what do you have that you did not receive?
It's a rhetorical question, of course, isn't it?
Because the answer is nothing.
We enter the world naked and one day we will leave everything behind.
So God isn't interested obsessively in some kind of unhealthy way about your bank balance,
but he is interested in your heart.
He's interested in the kind of people that you and I are.
You see, the world around us sees the accumulation of money and possessions
as the yardstick of measuring somebody's worth and significance and value and importance.
We know that, don't we?
We see that all the time.
If you've got cash, you will get attention and status and prestige.
If you're poor, nobody's that interested in what you think or who you are.
But Jesus calls in his people to have a very different set of values.
Now notice at the centre of the passage that we read in 2 Corinthians chapter 8,
right at the heart of it,
where Paul is encouraging and indeed expecting that Christians will give of themselves financially,
he traces it all back to the gospel itself.
chapter 8 and verse 9.
We know this verse so well, don't we?
It's a great verse to memorise.
Paul says,
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, through his poverty, might become rich.
Jesus gave up his riches unselfishly, generously, out of love for us.
Our God is the great giver,
giving up even his own son, that indescribable gift,
as he has described at the end of chapter 9, for our welfare.
Our saviour and Lord Jesus Christ gave up even his own life for your sake and mine.
Think of it this way.
Your life and my life, if we're Christians tonight,
were rescued and turned around because someone who was rich
gave up that wealth in order to intervene in our lives.
Isn't that amazing?
There we were in spiritual rags,
and the richest person in the universe gave away his money
that we might be showered with blessings
and raised up to heavenly places.
Paul says it is this gospel truth
that should shape and direct us in how we use our wealth.
How amazing to be able to give away the resources,
the finance that we have,
so that other people might have their lives transformed.
That is the privilege and the purpose,
the prize of the money that you and I give to gospel work.
People hear the gospel.
They see the love of Christ in action,
and through that investment,
by the grace of God,
they too can move from spiritual ruin
to spiritual riches.
You see, when you give,
you are living out the gospel.
So if we think of Christian giving
as just another unwelcome tax,
if giving becomes a reluctant duty,
as Paul describes it in chapter 9,
verse 7,
something which is done kind of grudgingly
under some kind of compulsion,
if it's resented,
then we have totally lost sight of the gospel.
That's why Christian giving
isn't based on legalistic commands.
That's why Paul says there in verse 8,
I'm not commanding you.
This isn't something that you're going to be
dragged kicking and screaming to do.
But if you get the gospel,
if you get verse 9,
if you understand how God has used his riches
to transform your life,
then all of a sudden,
giving becomes something which is a privilege
and a joy and a blessing
to be invited to do.
Now, in 2 Corinthians,
Paul writes to encourage
and advise Christians
about their financial giving.
And in the instance of chapter 8
and chapter 9,
it was organizing a gift
to help struggling Christians elsewhere,
poor churches back in Judea.
But we also know from Corinthians
that Paul expected
that Christians would give financially
for other causes too,
such as the support of gospel workers.
that it was right
that appropriately gifted
and godly people
could be set aside
for gospel work
and paid for
by those they served
for the work that they did.
That is a good biblical principle.
Well, very practically,
just in the time that we have,
let me just highlight
three practical points
about giving
from these verses.
So very briefly then.
Firstly,
plan your giving.
Plan your giving.
Be organized.
Chapter 9, verse 4,
Paul says to them,
he says,
For if any Macedonians
come with me
and find you unprepared
in this matter
of organizing a gift,
we, not to say anything about you,
would be ashamed
of having been so confident.
So I thought it necessary
to urge the brothers
to visit you in advance
and finish the arrangements
for the generous gift
you have promised.
You see, Paul is saying,
you know,
get organized in this area.
You know,
do a bit of preparation.
You know,
plan ahead here
so it's not just
a complete disaster
or kind of muddle
when the time comes
to collect this money.
Because the fact is,
as you and I well know,
that if our giving isn't planned,
it probably won't amount
to that much.
You know,
a kind of piecemeal approach
of what have I got on me
on a Sunday morning?
Well,
it's not going to deliver much,
is it really?
Never good.
Or,
just, well,
what's left over
at the end of the month?
Well,
that's probably not going
to be very much,
is it?
That kind of approach
to giving,
kind of haphazard,
last minute,
you know,
end of the list,
is not,
verse 7,
to excel
in this grace
of giving,
is it?
That's why,
let me say,
practically,
a standing order
is really good.
It prioritizes
your giving.
Verse 5,
it kind of makes
that statement
that giving
for gospel work
is your first priority
or one of your first priorities.
It's first
to the Lord
there in verse 5.
To get that,
it doesn't have to be
everything you give,
but it might just be
that base amount
that you know
is regularly established
and will go out
come what may.
Likewise,
let me just say,
signing the gift aid form.
Please,
if you're a taxpayer,
do that
for your Christian giving.
It's not getting
a gift from the government,
it's just getting
some of your own money
back
that can then be used
for gospel work.
So plan your giving,
be organized.
Maybe that's the one
take-home thing
that somebody needs
to take away tonight
or somebody
who's watching this
online
is simply
to get onto
their laptop
later on
or tomorrow
and to set up
a standing order.
That would be
a great outcome
from this
in this area.
As simple as that.
But secondly,
let me say,
stretch yourself
in giving.
You see that
in verse 3.
He writes of these
Christians,
the Macedonian Christians,
for I testify
that they gave
as much as they were able
and even beyond
their ability.
Our culture
is often one of
great self-indulgence,
isn't it?
I'm worth it.
Me time.
It's 5 o'clock
somewhere.
I see that
in Facebook sometimes.
You know,
somebody puts a Facebook
post on,
you have stacked
the dishwasher,
time to open
the wine
and to chill out.
Wow,
that's quite
an undertaking,
isn't it?
we're very quick
to justify
ourselves
with all sorts
of luxuries
and treats.
And there's nothing
wrong with some
luxuries and treats
in life,
but we have to keep
that in perspective,
don't we?
Because you see,
there's a real sense
in the Bible
that this life,
this side of heaven
is wartime
for the Christian,
for the spiritual
battle that we're
engaged in.
There is so much need,
so much gospel work
needing resourced.
We live in a world
heading for judgment,
the clock is ticking,
and everywhere
Christian work
is cash-strapped.
The writer Craig Blomberg
in his book on giving
neither poverty
nor riches
quotes a survey
that was done
of Christians
in the United States
and Christians
were asked
if they knew
that their income
next year
would be 10% less
than it was this year,
where would they cut back
in terms of outgoings
and their finances?
And the number one answer,
and I appreciate this
is the United States,
but the number one answer
was they would
eat out less.
Well, why not
miss one of those meals now?
Not all of them,
but maybe one or two now,
and give the money
to a Christian cause,
to Christian ministry.
I think there's lots
of examples of my own life,
and I'm not standing here
as some great guru
in the subject of giving.
There are lots of examples
in my own life
where I could be
a little bit more modest
and use the savings
to invest in gospel work
that will last for eternity.
So stretch yourself.
Thirdly,
give spontaneously.
It's great to have
a standing order.
I want to just
underline that point.
It's very sensible.
It's very helpful.
The church
or Christian ministry
can then plan
on the basis
of a stable income.
But there are times,
of course,
when we can make
that extra special gift,
isn't there?
Maybe we have a windfall
or some savings
come to fruition.
And before we just
splurge it
on some big extra treat,
just think about
who could be helped
by that gift
or perhaps a share
of that gift.
The missionary
who needs a new car.
The ministry
that needs
a new data projector.
The repair
in the church
that never has
been able
to get done.
And let me say
that in those
kind of spontaneous
extra gifts,
there is something
very liberating,
something particularly
joyful about them.
Those are the gifts,
I think,
when we really learn
the truth
of that old saying,
giving will never
impoverish you
nor withholding
enrich you.
Or,
as Paul puts it
in verse 15,
the one who gathered
much did not
have too much
and the one
who gathered
little
did not
have too
little.
Now,
giving generously
and sacrificially,
this is an important
qualification to the above,
is not about,
however,
giving irresponsibly
or recklessly.
We have to live
within our means.
You see that
in verse 12
of chapter 8.
He talks about
there,
the end of verse 11.
Now,
finish the work
so that your eagerness,
so that your eager
willingness to do it
may be matched
by your completion
of it
according to
your means.
For if the willingness
is there,
the gift is acceptable
according to what
one has,
not according to
what one
does not have.
That means
that we should
never get into debt
in order to give.
And we should
never neglect
our primary commitments
in order to give.
Our children
should never
go hungry,
put it that way,
because we're giving
to some other
Christian mission.
But all of this
in proportion
to our wealth
and our income
can give something,
even if it's just
the widow's mite.
In the Old Testament,
the Israelites
were commanded
to give 10%
of their income
to God.
That was to the
temple
and the priests
and all the things
that were needed
to resource
God's worship
and work
in the world.
Now there is no
such legalistic
commandment
as we've already
noted for Christians.
But many Christians
have nonetheless
found it quite a good
guide for giving.
Indeed, if anything,
we are so much
more blessed
as Christians,
so much more aware
of God's goodness
that it would be
strange in one sense
to want to be
less generous
than an Old Testament
Israelite
was asked to be.
That, of course,
is very much
for your conscience
and your heart.
Of course,
not everything
that you might
give financially
to the Lord's work
might just go
to one particular
ministry
or one particular
place.
You might give
directly to support
a particular
Christian organisation
that you have
a heart for
or an interest in
or a particular
missionary
that you have
a relationship to.
That's good
and fine.
But let me
encourage you
just as we
come to the end
to make the
local church
a priority
for your giving.
Make that
the heart
of your giving
for the simple
reason
that the local
church will
only be supported
by its members.
The world
will help
fund many
good charitable
causes
but it won't
fund the local
church.
It won't fund
the gospel.
Only Christians
will do that.
We can't expect
local churches
elsewhere to fund
what we could
pay for
here.
Greenview,
my home church,
is my primary
responsibility
when it comes
to my giving
along with
the other
members there.
Let me finish
by quoting
a great
Christian author
of the last
century,
A.W. Tozer.
And we'll
close with this
and just the
final verse
from verse
7 of the
passage.
Tozer says
this,
As base
a thing
as money
often is,
yet it can
be transmuted
into everlasting
treasure.
It can be
converted into
food for the
hungry and
clothing for the
poor.
It can keep a
missionary actively
winning lost men
to the light of
the gospel and
thus transmute
itself into
heavenly values.
Any temporal
possession can be
turned into
everlasting wealth.
Whatever is
given to
Christ is
immediately
touched with
immortality.
faith in
faith, in
speech, in
knowledge, in
all earnestness
and in our
love for you.
See that you
excel in this
act of grace
also.
And may God
bless these
thoughts from
his words.
to
wie
you
can
see that
here's a