All You Can

John Wesley first called us to "earn all you can." Then, "save all you can." Now he takes it the final step with "give all you can." This message talks about the importance of learning how to give and how to be transformed into a generous person. After all, we serve a generous God.

Follow the link for audio http://www.mediafire.com/file/rd0qzsbquy4eaey/All%20You%20can.mp3

Read the text below.

“All You Can”
Brimfield Faith UMC / November 21, 2010
Proverbs 11:24-25

Over the past several weeks, we have been looking at the issue of money and financial stewardship. We have been misled by the world’s advice on finances and matters of money for too long. We have been taught by a consumer-driven society that we must earn and spend. We are slowly realizing that we have cause many of our current economic woes by the fact that we have spent too much and saved too little. If we are going to stumble our way out of this mess, then the church needs to regain a voice in the marketplace. We need to allow God to speak into our entire lives, including and especially our financial lives John Wesley attempted to do this in a 1760 sermon where he lays out three rules for the use of money. “Earn all you can. Save all you can. Give all you can.” As we attempt to reclaim the financial realm for the Kingdom of God, these three rules can guide the way for us.
The first rule is to earn all the money you can. And the second is to save all you can. Most of the world has no problem with these first two rules, but on occasion Christians have been taught to the contrary. Well meaning Christians warn against accumulating too much wealth or becoming rich. In fact, I was doing research this week and came across an article that suggested we pray that God doesn’t make us too rich. I thought how contradictory this is to what Wesley taught and really what God teaches. God wants to prosper us and bless us with godly money making approaches. Money isn’t the enemy and the danger is not in how much we have. The dangers of money arise when we set our hearts on money. We don’t have to be rich to have a love of money, in fact, many poor people struggle with greed and a love of money. Instead, a healthy, godly relationship with money starts with submitting our earning power and yielding our savings to the Lord.

GIVE ALL YOU CAN
The first two rules of money are just the starting point to using money in a godly manner. In Wesley’s sermon he says, “Let not any man imagine that he has done anything barely by going thus far, by gaining and saving all he can, if he were to stop here. All this is nothing if a man go not forward, if he does not point all this at a farther end…. Having first gained all you can, and secondly saved all you can, then give all you can.”
In God’s view money is not to be earned or saved simply for the sake of earning or saving. Money is to be spent, used, and given to further the kingdom of God and bring glory to God’s holy name. Money is not a virtue but rather a tool for us to utilize. This means we must be good stewards and caretakers of the resources that God has entrusted to us. Stewardship is yielding all of our resources to the Lord. As we work towards giving all that we can, Wesley suggests three priorities for our giving in this order.

Priority #1. Give to meet your family’s needs.
As you give, your first priority is to take care of your family and your needs. If you have earning wisely and saved smartly, in most cases there will be enough resources to meet your needs. You should make sure there is enough food, proper clothing, and adequate shelter. Make sure you spend enough on the family to keep all of them healthy and strong. As you seek to meet your family’s needs, remember the difference between wants and needs. You want to plan wisely for all of your family’s current and future needs as best as you can foresee.
I know many of you have struggled in this area, over the past several years. The reality is that even when we have been wise with our money, provision can be difficult. Nonetheless, I believe the Lord will provide as his word says in Matthew 6:32, “indeed, your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.” God provides for the birds of the air and he will provide for his children. I would speak blessings and encouragement to you. Do not feel guilty or shame. Do not feel failure. But I would encourage you to fully surrender your financial struggles to the Lord.

Priority #2. Give to support the household of God.
As I read Wesley’s sermon, he suggests that once we have provided for our family if there is anything left, that we give to the church. I found this interesting because he doesn’t say you should give to the church first and then attempt to provide for your family. I think there is a fine line to walk when it comes to giving to the household of God and providing for your family.
While there isn’t a magic formula, the act of giving to the Lord is an important faith practice. In Proverbs 3:9-10 it says, “Honor the Lord with your substance and with the first fruits of all your produce; then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine.” When we give to the Lord, we learn how to trust God and how to receive blessings from him. The spiritual attitude of giving to God is more important than the act itself. We, then, should be less concerned about how much or how little we have to give. Instead, we should have a desire to give as much as we can to the work of the Lord through his church.
The legalist asks what is the minimum that is expected of me and shoots for that. In contrast, the Christ-follower seeks to give cheerfully. They get excited about giving to the work of God in the Church. Personally, I give to this church because I love the work that God is doing in this place. I am energized by the way lives are being changed, the way people are being healed, and the way the community is being transformed. I see it as a privilege to be able to participate in that and to support it. I would give more if I were able. I hope and pray that same excitement motivates you to give to the household of God.
A quick side note on tithing to the church: In antiquity, a tithe was, “The dedication of a tenth of agricultural products, of livestock, of goods gained in trade, or of booty to the worship of a deity or to the persons who served that worship” (Eerdman’s Bible Dictionary). For Christians tithing is the spiritual practice of giving 10% of our income to the Lord. The tithe is not a legalistic amount, but rather a reference point and starting place. Therefore, I wouldn’t concern yourself with whether a tithe is 10% before or after taxes.
In Matthew 23:23 Jesus chastises the Pharisees for missing the point of tithing. He says, ““Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. It is these you ought to have practiced without neglecting the others.” Tithing helps us to keep our hearts focused on the Lord and allows us to participate in the mighty works of God.

Priority #3. Give to help those in need.
One of the questions that I frequently give to people is about giving to other organizations. They typically want to know if they can count the money they give to other charities and Christian organizations towards their tithe. Since we have already established that tithing is not a lealistic act, I cannot give you a hard and fast answer, although, I would hedge towards, no. My reasoning is as follows. First, Scriptures encourage us to give a tithe to the Lord. Second, we know that the Church is the body of Christ in the world. Therefore, the primary way we give to the Lord is through the local church. On a personal note, I would argue that our church is going to benefit more from the $50 a month you send to charity than that charity is going to. Plus, you are going to see the harvest reaped for the money you sow into this place.
Now this isn’t to say you shouldn’t give to other charities and organizations. If fact, Wesley would encourage us to do so, after we have provided for our family and given to the church. It is at that point that we should give whatever else we have for the good of humankind. Giving for the sake of others is important. In Proverbs 19:17 it says, “Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and will be repaid in full.” If you have a heart to give to the poor, which I hope you do, then I would encourage you to earn, save and spend so that you have enough left to make these contributions.

GIVE ALL YOU HAVE
If you live into these priorities to giving and spending our money, you may begin to realize that there isn’t much left. And that is the point. The rule to give all we can is actually the call to give all you have to the Lord. Stewardship means we yield all of our financial decisions to the Lord. We make choices with the Lord’s purposes and will in the forefront of our minds. As we do this, our motivations regarding money begins to shift and our hearts are changed. We realize the point isn’t to give a certain percentage but rather to become generous people.
We come to understand Proverbs 11:24-25: “Some give freely, yet grow all the richer; others withhold what is due, and only suffer want. 25A generous person will be enriched, and one who gives water will get water.” Giving isn’t about getting your money, it is about transforming your hearts and making you in to the image of God.
We are being called to become generous people because we serve a generous God. If we don’t learn this, the message of giving is scary for many of us because we operate out of the wrong mindset. We live in a world of scarcity and fear. We are told we don’t have enough, that we aren’t going to make it, that the world is crashing down around us. We fail to hear the message of God. Instead, God wants us to hear the message of provision, abundance and trust. God wants us to move from a place of scarcity to a place of abundance, from stinginess to generosity.
The end goal of giving is to reach a place of true generosity. These is no greater blessing in life that to live out of generosity. It truly is better to give than to receive. Generosity comes out of a place of trust in the Lord. It brings joy and contentment. It focuses on others and doing the Lord’s work. Generosity is the linchpin of honoring God with our finances. It begins out of an acknowledgement that God has given us everything. It is a response to Romans 3:24, “they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,” God gives to us freely and we response to his generosity we live lives defined by generosity.
I hope is that you become a person defined by generosity and that we become a church defined by generosity. People’s lives depend on it. Through our generosity, we can partner with God to change lives and transform communities. We can participate in the mighty acts of God in this place.
Let’s pray for God to give us generous spirits and the provision to give generously with our finances.