Dale Partridge - Give Like You’ve Been Forgiven

00:00:00.000 Amen. Well, if you want to have your Bible open today, you can, because we have lots of scripture

00:00:08.180 to go through. You can follow along. You could also just listen along. Some people work better

00:00:14.400 that way than others. The title of this sermon, it's a topical sermon. And you know, I'm an

00:00:20.720 expository preacher, which means that I'm generally going verse by verse. But topical

00:00:26.480 sermons are actually helpful at times. The title of this sermon is, Give Like You've

00:00:31.100 Been Forgiven. And I've never actually preached a sermon on giving at Kingsway. In fact, I

00:00:38.020 think I've only preached one other sermon in the eight years of ministry on the topic

00:00:42.140 of giving. I haven't been intentionally avoiding that. I just really haven't had a passage

00:00:46.640 of scripture that I was going through that hosted one of these particular verses on the

00:00:53.360 topic of giving. So the question becomes, why are we talking about it now? Why are we having a

00:00:59.580 conversation about giving? Well, I'm going to give you three reasons and two of them I'm going to

00:01:03.560 give you now. And then one of them I'm going to give you at the very end of the sermon. Number

00:01:08.660 one, Jesus spoke about giving more than he spoke about faith and love and forgiveness. Isn't that

00:01:19.120 amazing? Jesus spoke about money, materialism, giving, these topics around finance, more than

00:01:28.500 he talked about faith and forgiveness. It's always an astonishing reality to me. If I was just to

00:01:35.220 preach on the Christological emphasis of his ministry, I should be preaching more about money,

00:01:42.160 not less. And so it was actually a conviction of me that I thought, wow, it's amazing that Jesus

00:01:46.860 speaks more about money and also things like hell. And we don't speak about those things enough

00:01:52.820 in the American church. Number two is that generosity is perhaps the clearest indicator

00:02:00.440 of your trust in God. It really is. When we get through the end of this sermon, I think you will

00:02:07.380 agree with that, is that generosity with money is perhaps the clearest indicator of your trust

00:02:13.320 in God. A Christian who withholds his money from the church, from the poor, from the other saints 0.93

00:02:22.300 in his fellowship, it reveals a heart that depends more on wealth than it does on the Lord. 0.79

00:02:29.920 In other words, where there is financial reservation, there is typically unbelief.

00:02:37.660 typically unbelief financial habits don't lie they they reveal it's why jesus said where your

00:02:46.740 treasure is your heart will be also it's that you can tell a lot about your heart by your treasures

00:02:58.220 by what you value by what you work for by what is most prominent in your life

00:03:07.340 Like Paul, who explained to the Corinthians that the reason he didn't take the offering that was given to him, though it was owed to him,

00:03:18.160 I want to give a little bit of clarity just on the motive and the reason for this particular sermon.

00:03:26.140 Since this church was planted, the elders have taken less than 10% of the total giving.

00:03:34.120 And today, right now in particular, none of the pastors are being paid at all.

00:03:41.440 I'm not saying that to boast about the pastors, and I'm not saying that to shame the congregation.

00:03:46.420 I'm saying that to bring clarity, because we live in a culture with a lot of Christians

00:03:51.260 who have come out of prosperity-preaching churches that have violated their congregations

00:03:57.820 or with elders who have misused funds.

00:04:00.720 And what I'm saying about that is that that's not us.

00:04:04.000 I think we've proved it so far over the last couple of years.

00:04:07.420 That is certainly not our motive.

00:04:10.360 Do I believe that elders should be compensated?

00:04:12.620 Yes, the scripture says that too.

00:04:14.460 The laborer is worthy of his wages.

00:04:17.180 Do I hope that our pastors can be paid and that one day our congregation has enough money

00:04:22.400 that we can, you know, care for the elders of the church and for the work of the ministry

00:04:28.500 and for a benevolence fund. Yes, I would love that. I would love that. But the motive for the

00:04:36.300 sermon is not personal needs. That's not why we're having a conversation about giving.

00:04:43.600 I want our church, I want you to be free from the love of money.

00:04:51.800 i really want you to be free from the dominion of money

00:04:59.840 now if you know me you know that does not mean don't make money um no i'm a big fan of

00:05:09.600 the men in our congregation owning businesses for their families uh being multi-millionaires

00:05:16.680 I'm fine with that. We know that the scripture says that it's not money that is evil, but the

00:05:26.680 love of money. Thomas Watson said, riches are called thick clay in scripture because they stick

00:05:37.640 so fast to a man's heart. They do. I'm standing up here before you saying, yes,

00:05:44.580 I know from personal experience, they do. They do. And in times like these, when the economy is not

00:05:53.480 great and you might have financial uncertainty, money can feel sticky. And you could find money

00:06:02.920 in a place in your heart that has a dominion or an enthronement that ought not to be. And so

00:06:12.560 So more than ever, a season like this, when things are tight, will expose more of your own heart.

00:06:22.260 Where do you put your trust in the Lord?

00:06:27.480 Now, you might be wondering, why did Jesus so frequently talk about money?

00:06:32.500 That was the first question that I asked when I started preparing this sermon.

00:06:35.560 I'm like, what's the purpose here?

00:06:37.500 Why is there such a unique focus on this particular topic?

00:06:42.040 And the answer is actually simple.

00:06:44.380 And it's here.

00:06:45.460 Because money, like God, has the ability to give you what you want.

00:06:52.400 Okay?

00:06:52.820 Money, like God, has the ability to give you what you want.

00:06:57.560 It's why Jesus in Matthew 6, 24 says,

00:07:00.500 No one can serve two masters.

00:07:03.460 For he will either hate the one and love the other,

00:07:06.920 or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.

00:07:09.920 You cannot serve God and money.

00:07:14.220 How do you balance this?

00:07:16.120 Because Jesus is basically saying money is a rival master to him.

00:07:22.420 Money is a rival master to him.

00:07:27.940 And as we know, again, money is not evil in and of itself.

00:07:32.620 Paul says to Timothy, for the love of money,

00:07:34.920 the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.

00:07:40.820 It is through this craving, he says, that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.

00:07:51.420 Doug Wilson, this week in a sermon that I was listening to on the topic of giving, he said, quote,

00:07:59.360 Having lots of money does not matter. What matters is that God has a lot of your heart, which is indicated by how you manage your money.

00:08:09.920 God doesn't mind his people having money. He minds money having his people.

00:08:15.400 And it's trickier than you suppose to keep your money from having you, end quote.

00:08:20.680 I agree. It's not easy. Money is an effective rival. Money is an effective idol.

00:08:34.040 Money is an effective temptation.

00:08:36.640 dethroning money is hard this isn't just for the adults it's for the teens

00:08:46.420 who are getting into the place of earning money when you don't have much it's hard to give what

00:08:52.860 you have away dethroning money is hard and it's hard because in dethroning money what are you

00:09:03.220 really dethroning? Security, control, comfort, pleasure. These are the things that are really

00:09:16.200 behind that idol. You love security. You love control. You love the power. You love not to

00:09:27.020 have to lean by faith on God. That's the flesh.

00:09:35.320 This morning, my hope is to allow the scriptures to help you dethrone money. And I think I can say

00:09:42.940 at almost any degree, every single one of us has struggled with this at some point and will

00:09:48.540 struggle with it at some point in the future. We would, when I say we, I mean the elders of

00:09:56.220 Kingsway want to see faithful stewards of all that the Lord has entrusted you. We want to see

00:10:04.760 a commitment and conviction around giving that comes from joy. We don't want your unjoyous giving.

00:10:12.140 We don't want your, you know, your reluctant checks. No, we want hearts that love the Lord,

00:10:21.320 that are given in response to the gospel.

00:10:23.640 I don't care how much it is.

00:10:30.460 Let me offer you a few points.

00:10:35.040 Number one, God paid our debt.

00:10:39.540 Colossians 2, 13 through 14 says,

00:10:41.660 And you who were dead in trespasses,

00:10:43.980 God made alive together with him,

00:10:46.000 having forgiven us all of our trespasses

00:10:48.020 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us.

00:10:51.000 with its legal demands. It's one of my favorite passages of Scripture.

00:10:55.520 Jesus, in the parable of the debtor,

00:10:58.980 he reminds us, those who have been forgiven much

00:11:02.180 must not withhold forgiveness from those who owe little.

00:11:08.320 But the great message and lesson of the parable of the debtor

00:11:12.700 is the incalculable, enormous debt that you have been forgiven.

00:11:21.000 Now, God has not only forgiven a great debt, but he has also given us a great blessing.

00:11:32.420 I want you to turn right now to Ephesians chapter 1, verses 3 through 14.

00:11:37.580 Turn to Ephesians chapter 1, verses 3 through 14.

00:11:51.000 Paul says,

00:12:21.000 Verse 11.

00:12:51.000 inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things

00:12:55.280 according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were first to hope in Christ might be to the

00:13:02.280 praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of salvation,

00:13:08.520 and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our

00:13:14.340 inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory.

00:13:23.080 2 Corinthians 8 verse 9 sums up what Paul just said in one verse.

00:13:34.080 2 Corinthians 8 9 it says,

00:13:36.800 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich, yet for your sake

00:13:43.540 he became poor so that you by his poverty might become rich.

00:13:48.720 What an amazing passage of scripture.

00:13:52.900 I'm going to read it one more time.

00:13:54.620 For you know that the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,

00:13:57.340 that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor

00:14:01.120 so that you by his poverty might become rich.

00:14:06.860 Amazing.

00:14:07.380 how many millions of things has the Lord given you

00:14:14.520 just ponder that for a moment how many millions of things has the Lord given you

00:14:23.920 from the salvation of your soul to the peace you have in death from the breath every single breath

00:14:33.040 you've taken, every heartbeat that's ever happened, to every bite of food you've ever

00:14:37.440 had, every drink of a drink you've ever had, all of it is part of the millions of blessings

00:14:44.440 the Lord has given to you.

00:14:49.160 God is infinitely generous, infinitely generous.

00:14:56.320 I want you to think about this for a minute.

00:14:57.880 to receive all that you have received in the gospel

00:15:02.940 to receive Ephesians 3 through 13

00:15:07.400 or 1, 3 through 13

00:15:09.740 to receive all of that

00:15:11.620 and to be hesitant

00:15:14.640 to give to the kingdom of God

00:15:18.480 is an atrocious crime

00:15:21.580 I am the recipient of so much

00:15:26.340 yet I don't want to give back any.

00:15:31.680 It is an atrocious crime.

00:15:36.640 Giving is in response to the gospel.

00:15:41.680 It's a response to the gospel.

00:15:48.600 And perhaps it is the most wildly disproportionate

00:15:52.720 exchange the world has ever known.

00:15:57.140 God says, basically, I'm going to give you the universe, the kingdom of heaven, eternal life, grace, every spiritual blessing.

00:16:03.120 And in return, I want a grain of sand.

00:16:07.700 And many of us go, I can't give up that grain of sand.

00:16:13.060 I can't give it up.

00:16:18.060 I need it.

00:16:20.920 I won't get by without it.

00:16:26.920 Which leads me to my next point.

00:16:29.140 Number two.

00:16:31.100 God owns what you have.

00:16:36.400 1 Chronicles 29, 11 through 12, speaking of God says,

00:16:40.440 For all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours.

00:16:44.860 Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all.

00:16:48.700 Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all.

00:16:56.340 Haggai 2.8 says, God is speaking.

00:17:00.120 He's saying, the silver is mine, the gold is mine, declares the Lord of hosts.

00:17:05.740 All of it is the Lord's.

00:17:10.140 All that you have.

00:17:11.560 Think about this for a moment.

00:17:12.940 The clothing you're wearing.

00:17:15.660 The cars you drive.

00:17:17.660 The phones you have.

00:17:19.940 Your houses, your children, your body, your jewelry.

00:17:25.040 Your salary.

00:17:27.060 All of it comes from the hand of the Lord and is the Lord.

00:17:37.920 James 1.17 says,

00:17:39.620 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights.

00:17:47.080 Now, according to Scripture, we are stewards, not owners of what we have.

00:17:51.580 Okay, that's a very important point.

00:17:53.080 We are stewards, not owners of what we have.

00:17:56.340 It doesn't mean that the things that we have don't matter.

00:17:59.620 It doesn't mean that we don't pass down those things that have been stewarded to the parents down to the children.

00:18:06.200 A wise man and a godly man leaves an inheritance to his children's children.

00:18:12.740 What it means is that it's not yours.

00:18:15.460 It is yours to care for.

00:18:17.520 God has entrusted what you have to you.

00:18:19.980 now there's not a rigid formula here and i don't want you to make a rigid formula but i've observed

00:18:29.900 a pattern over the years and i've had several friends over the years who have been extremely

00:18:35.740 generous and i've watched their lives and i've had other friends that i've watched that have

00:18:42.560 struggled with generosity and i have made some observations christians who work hard

00:18:48.020 who work hard. I'm talking, they have no complaints. They are, they are in it. They're

00:18:53.280 not lazy. They're working hard. And those Christians who work hard and give generously

00:18:59.460 often experience God's blessing. And I'm not saying just financially. I'm just saying their

00:19:04.820 lives are wonderful. Their lives are put together. There's joy filling their home. They have

00:19:10.300 beautiful and blessed children. Their needs are cared for. Some of them, yeah, are very well off

00:19:16.580 financially. But there's actually a proverb that backs this up. It says in Proverbs 11, 24 through

00:19:22.060 25, it says, one gives freely yet grows all the richer. Another withholds what he should give

00:19:29.580 and only suffers want, end quote. There it is. It's a general principle. It's a proverb. It's

00:19:36.460 proverbial. It's not a formula. I'm going to game the system. Let's just start giving to come become

00:19:43.740 rich. That's not about that. That's not what God is talking about. When someone works hard,

00:19:51.340 yet withholds the generosity. In my experience, they tend to remain financially stagnant.

00:20:01.100 And I've been there. I've been there. Now, why? Because God doesn't entrust more to those who

00:20:10.140 are faithful who are not faithful what they already have. There is another principle in

00:20:15.760 scripture that we see this. Jesus says one who is faithful in very little is also faithful in much

00:20:22.420 and one who is dishonest in very little is also dishonest in much. If you can't give 10 percent

00:20:30.220 of your five thousand dollar salary then why would we ever expect you to give 10 percent of

00:20:35.820 your $20,000 salary. And that's a really good ethic to think about when you're young. You're

00:20:42.300 a teenager. You're just getting into money. If you can't give the $28 of your 280 bucks,

00:20:49.880 then the Lord doesn't trust you with money. And as you grow and more, you're going to be just

00:20:57.580 as stingy as you were with 28 bucks that you would be with 28,000.

00:21:04.880 Giving must start at the very bottom and actually as you watch the Lord scale that because you

00:21:11.640 have been faithful with little, you will be trusted with much.

00:21:16.200 It is a biblical ethic and principle.

00:21:18.520 God is watching not just what he gives you, but how your heart handles what he gives you.

00:21:32.080 Which leads me to the third point.

00:21:34.780 Giving is to God, not to man.

00:21:39.380 This is a very important paradigm.

00:21:42.460 And I'm talking specifically about giving to the church.

00:21:45.100 But giving to the church is giving to God.

00:21:50.620 It's not giving to man.

00:21:53.320 Now, many Christians hesitate to give to the church or to a particular gospel ministry or maybe even to the poor

00:22:01.600 because they're unsure whether how or when or how wisely that money might be used.

00:22:11.240 that's not the framework that the scriptures give us when it comes to this type of giving

00:22:19.360 for example in the case of the widow's might that's in luke 21 1 through 4 jesus doesn't

00:22:27.620 commend her for being a discerning giver a discerning investor he he praised her for her

00:22:34.680 faith. She gives all that she had, trusting God, not the temple system, not the priests on how

00:22:42.180 they're going to deal with the money. She's trusting the Lord with the outcome.

00:22:50.300 Giving to the church isn't primarily about trusting the pastors. What are they going to

00:22:55.400 do with it? It's about trusting the Lord to multiply what we offer because we've been faithful

00:23:01.860 to him. It doesn't remove the responsibility to be faithful as pastors of a congregation and to

00:23:09.500 spend that money according to the will of God. But that is a different concern to worry from

00:23:17.040 the clergy, not from the laity. Men are often focused on strategic return, and I think it's

00:23:28.040 actually a good thing. Men should be caring about where you put your money that it might actually

00:23:33.360 multiply. Honestly, I have a serious question. Honestly, what better investment can be made

00:23:43.680 than investing into the kingdom of God?

00:23:48.400 Truly, what better investment can be made than investing into the kingdom of God?

00:23:53.980 what could matter and affect and impact your family more

00:24:00.320 than the health of your local church i mean there's not many things

00:24:07.040 sure your your house needs to be in order sure you need to have a place to sleep and you need

00:24:13.160 to have clothes on your back and you need to have food to eat but i'm talking outside of the

00:24:17.940 necessities of life, what better investment could there be that's outside of the local church?

00:24:27.560 Think about how much it impacts your home. Think about how much it impacts your family.

00:24:32.980 Think about how much it impacts your children over the decades.

00:24:39.820 I don't know if you've forgotten, but what life is like without a great local church,

00:24:44.060 it leads to an incredible amount of pain.

00:24:51.260 It leads to so many of the problems that happen later in life.

00:25:00.940 America's churches used to be thriving communities

00:25:03.360 with beautiful buildings and lots of resources.

00:25:06.680 This is something that was very true about a hundred years ago.

00:25:10.320 Now, unless you're some sort of mega church

00:25:12.340 with pandering to the culture of the world.

00:25:17.200 If you're not that, you're often a church that's in some sort of strip mall

00:25:20.860 with underpaid pastors that are barely getting by.

00:25:23.760 In fact, there's actually a conversation on the internet right now.

00:25:26.340 There's not enough young men that want to be pastors

00:25:28.800 because it's just basically an opportunity to be poor

00:25:33.520 and not even be able to cover the needs of your family.

00:25:38.440 There's a call for young men to come into the pastorate.

00:25:42.340 There is a drought of young men willing to come into the pastorate.

00:25:50.520 What happened? 1.00

00:25:54.200 We go downtown and we see these beautiful buildings, beautiful, and they're either empty or they're owned by the gays. 1.00

00:26:02.220 What happened? 1.00

00:26:03.300 Why can't we walk by almost every beautiful building

00:26:08.820 Every beautiful church

00:26:11.040 Is liberal

00:26:12.440 And these faithful churches are now stuck in these tiny cinder block buildings

00:26:20.100 Barely getting by

00:26:23.340 What happened

00:26:29.140 That answer is so complex

00:26:30.900 I could do a whole sermon on it, but I'm going to give you at least one answer.

00:26:34.220 It's multifaceted, but one of the central reasons to keep the focus on giving is America's transient Christianity.

00:26:45.860 America's transient Christianity.

00:26:49.960 I think the information age has been part of this.

00:26:54.840 Now everybody thinks they're a theologian and is willing to divide over the smallest doctrine

00:26:58.960 because I know my Bible now, and I can divide on the most ridiculous thing. 0.83

00:27:05.080 I heard last night a young man who was trying to date a woman on a Christian dating app, 0.93

00:27:10.480 but she wouldn't date him because she is a KJV-only proponent.

00:27:16.160 So she's now forsaking marriage because she thinks that the KJV-only is the only translation.

00:27:23.240 We have gotten down to such precise doctrine that we're willing to divide

00:27:27.040 on so many splintered efforts

00:27:29.300 that we have no longer had the structure

00:27:31.840 to have a unity that's lasting.

00:27:39.220 You add that many believers are so easily offended

00:27:43.520 that they've never learned how to commit

00:27:46.080 to an imperfect congregation

00:27:47.860 as they're walking through trials

00:27:50.800 or they're walking through whatever goes on

00:27:53.140 in a particular church body.

00:27:55.220 So what do they do?

00:27:56.360 they leave. The average church goer right now in America is less than two years. You stay at a

00:28:03.140 church for about 18 months to two years, you get offended, you get frustrated, you get wanting,

00:28:08.840 you know, something different, you can't stay, you feel stagnant, you move on. And that pattern

00:28:14.840 happens over and over and over and over again. Years ago, churches had graveyards connected to

00:28:22.680 them. Do you understand what that means? We had graveyards in the back. It's because grandma and

00:28:32.300 grandpa were buried there and this is our church and mom and dad will be buried there because this

00:28:36.940 is your church and you will be buried there because this is your church. And do you not think

00:28:41.940 that they had problems? Do you not think that they bumped and had conflict with people? Do you not

00:28:48.440 think that they had friction? Do you not think that they

00:28:52.440 had theological discussions? But for

00:28:56.260 some reason, they stayed. They stayed

00:29:00.220 committed.

00:29:07.400 In this model

00:29:08.440 of two years, the two-year model,

00:29:12.440 this is what happens.

00:29:16.040 The first year, they're sitting there trying to decide if they can even, this is going to be their church.

00:29:22.020 And if they decide if they even trust the pastors because they've been so wounded by other churches

00:29:26.120 and they're so, you know, hesitant for whatever reason to give their money.

00:29:31.560 And then the second year, once they kind of start to settle in,

00:29:34.980 they still hold back because deep down they suspect that they're not going to stay once they get offended in a few months.

00:29:40.800 That's a real thing.

00:29:43.900 That's a real thing.

00:29:45.300 They never developed that historic, long-term, deep investment mindset that was happening in America a hundred years ago.

00:29:57.220 Do you know how much money, even in a better economy, those buildings cost to build?

00:30:01.440 They weren't cheap.

00:30:03.220 Okay, they weren't cheap.

00:30:07.760 They didn't develop that historic mindset, the kind where you plan to leave part of your estate to the church.

00:30:15.300 The kind where you pull your investments out just so you can give to the church.

00:30:22.980 The kind where you cut expenses and you work extra hours just so you can give to the church.

00:30:30.520 That doesn't exist that often today.

00:30:33.340 I will say we had a family here for a period of time that has moved on, unfortunately.

00:30:37.500 But there was a short season where they were retired and they picked up extra jobs just so they could give more to the church.

00:30:50.660 It is an amazing perspective to have that has been so lost on a generation.

00:30:58.100 that kind of giving where you're going i'm going to give for this to this church for the next

00:31:07.000 several decades i'm going to invest in this place this is part of my financial legacy

00:31:13.660 the kingdom of god in this local church again think about this for a second

00:31:19.940 it's hard to think that way if you think you might leave in a few years

00:31:24.540 but if you go i'm going to stay outside of absolute flat-out heresy being preached from

00:31:32.280 the pulpit that has been discussed and still not repented of i'm going to stay i'm going to stay

00:31:39.840 long term i'm going to anchor in settle in those churches again if you go back and you look across

00:31:46.940 the west is a really bad example but you go to the east coast and you're seeing these beautiful

00:31:50.500 churches, they were filled with hundreds of families that put in thousands upon thousands

00:31:57.180 of dollars through faithful giving to build a multi-generational legacy.

00:32:05.380 That's how a church is built. I don't care if it takes 50 years. I just want it to start

00:32:12.060 happening. I want us to have that perspective. I want us to anchor in, settle in, lock in.

00:32:20.500 Be covenantally minded.

00:32:23.440 Do whatever you can to stay.

00:32:26.600 Do whatever you can to work through offenses.

00:32:30.880 Do whatever you can to not move away.

00:32:37.860 Number four.

00:32:41.340 Giving is a trust in God's provision.

00:32:47.280 Deuteronomy 8, 17 through 18 says,

00:32:49.480 Beware lest you say in your heart

00:32:52.000 My power and my might

00:32:54.000 And of my hand have gotten me this wealth

00:32:56.320 You shall remember

00:32:58.220 The Lord your God for it is he

00:33:00.100 Who gives you power

00:33:01.800 To get wealth

00:33:02.640 Man

00:33:04.720 How easy is it to forget that

00:33:08.240 Do you want to know how you got all the money you have

00:33:12.120 It's the Lord

00:33:14.080 Luke 6 38 says

00:33:17.880 give and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over

00:33:22.380 will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it, it will be measured back to you.

00:33:30.640 Deuteronomy 6.16 says, the Lord commands, you shall not put the Lord your God to the test

00:33:38.020 as you tested him at Massah. Jesus actually talks about this passage again in Matthew 4.7,

00:33:45.940 saying that testing God is essentially, typically, normatively forbidden.

00:33:54.140 But then you have in Malachi, and I did a pretty extensive study on this,

00:33:57.720 but I can't share everything with you, but Malachi 3, when speaking about giving,

00:34:02.700 God makes a remarkable exception.

00:34:04.440 It's the only time in the entire Bible that God says that you can test Him.

00:34:09.660 He says, bring the full tithe into the storehouse,

00:34:14.140 and thereby put me to the test if I will not open the windows of heaven for you

00:34:19.260 and pour down a blessing until there is no more need.

00:34:25.220 Now, with an American, Baptistic, individualistic mindset,

00:34:29.980 we think, oh, that's just talking about the Old Testament.

00:34:32.200 That doesn't mean that it applies to us.

00:34:34.800 But with the Presbyterian understanding of the covenant of grace,

00:34:38.600 you realize that this is just earlier church history.

00:34:41.880 The church didn't begin at Pentecost.

00:34:43.600 The church began with Adam and Eve being redeemed in Genesis chapter 4.

00:34:46.980 And that all of the members of the church are added to the church through the covenant of grace.

00:34:51.000 And they were looking forward, pointing forward and preparing for the cross.

00:34:55.000 And we are over here looking backward and looking back at the cross and what Jesus came.

00:35:00.100 And we're all in one people of God, one covenant of grace.

00:35:04.080 All of us being saved by grace through faith in Christ.

00:35:07.380 And we're looking about how the people of God related to giving in the old covenant.

00:35:10.700 and how the new covenant people of God should be relating to God through our giving.

00:35:17.820 Whether you want to call it principle, whether you want to call it command, I don't care.

00:35:21.000 What I'm saying is that there is a principle in the Old Testament that God says,

00:35:24.420 test me in this particular matter.

00:35:28.800 This is the only place in Scripture where God invites us to test him.

00:35:32.960 And again, it's not presuming on return.

00:35:35.660 It's presuming on covenantal obedience.

00:35:40.700 It's not like some sort of cause and effect mechanism.

00:35:44.260 You know, it's more like the principle of the harvest.

00:35:51.320 What you sow into God's kingdom will bear fruit.

00:35:56.700 And I think we see that in 2 Corinthians 9.6.

00:36:00.080 It says, whoever sows sparingly, this is talking about giving to support pastors, by the way, this passage of Scripture.

00:36:06.380 It says, but whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly.

00:36:09.960 And whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.

00:36:13.820 Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion.

00:36:20.040 For God loves a cheerful giver.

00:36:26.600 This is a remarkable text of scripture because there are very few investments that come with guaranteed returns.

00:36:35.640 Very few.

00:36:37.160 God says, you invest into this kingdom, there will be a return.

00:36:41.480 In fact, if you just invest a little, you'll have a little return.

00:36:44.060 If you invest a lot, there will be a lot of return.

00:36:47.600 And again, it's not talking just about financials.

00:36:50.240 It's talking about blessing.

00:36:51.940 Could it include wealth?

00:36:52.920 Certainly.

00:36:54.680 But again, we're not playing cause and effect.

00:36:56.240 We're not trying to game the system.

00:36:57.340 We're not trying to get rich by giving.

00:37:00.220 We're trying to give so that we might receive, so that we might give again.

00:37:03.980 the reality is this people who love generosity and truly get to the heart of generosity

00:37:10.840 they learn the gift of blessings that come in generosity so they will actually make money

00:37:18.220 for the pure purpose to give it away

00:37:21.860 that is a shift in mindset

00:37:27.660 giving is an opportunity to follow christ god is generous and giving allows us to be like god

00:37:43.400 you want to be like christ you cannot be stingy you want to be like christ you cannot

00:37:50.960 Not trust in the Father's will and provision for your life.

00:37:55.840 Jesus is the ultimate giver.

00:37:57.660 He's the ultimate sower.

00:37:59.120 He's the ultimate sacrifice.

00:38:00.860 His entire life was giving.

00:38:09.260 Now I'm going to move to a conclusion here,

00:38:12.040 which is a little bit longer than normal, but bear with me.

00:38:20.960 under the old testament we were commanded and i say we because i'm talking about god's people

00:38:28.460 old covenant new covenant together god's people were commanded to give a tithe we know that's a

00:38:35.840 ten percent there's so many arguments around this but under the lord's leviticus 27 30 talks about

00:38:42.740 this and this is a type of kingdom tax it was a type of tax on the kingdom of israel

00:38:49.460 And that tax would go to support the temple, the priests, and the poor.

00:38:55.980 It was divided up really into thirds.

00:38:59.020 The temple, the priest, and the poor.

00:39:02.040 Now, I want to make one point very clear, because a lot of people don't know this,

00:39:05.640 but the tithe was distinct from offerings.

00:39:08.780 The tithe was the giving.

00:39:10.500 It was the standard.

00:39:12.820 It was the expectation.

00:39:14.300 offerings were in addition to.

00:39:23.460 Now, what is really shocking about this

00:39:26.880 is that I went on the internet

00:39:28.540 and I started looking up videos about tithing.

00:39:32.920 Now, a couple years ago, I held this same position

00:39:35.460 and I don't hold it anymore.

00:39:39.240 If you search tithing on YouTube,

00:39:43.400 you're going to find a thousand internet pastors giving sermons or giving lessons about why tithing is not a new covenant practice.

00:39:56.640 I found two people who did not teach that way, and it was Doug Wilson and Dave Ramsey.

00:40:03.940 Okay?

00:40:05.740 And it was really shocking to me because I searched church history.

00:40:11.400 I have a lot of resources that I use as I prepare sermons, and I have access to a lot of content and documentations and libraries that I have found over the years so I can quickly find information when I'm preparing a sermon.

00:40:23.380 Now, I went through church history, and for thousands of years, I'm talking, well, I guess it's if you count the Old Testament, but even about 1900 years, the church practiced tithing.

00:40:38.140 they did not reduce it to this circumstance of well tithing was an old testament practice under

00:40:47.720 the law of israel but new testament realities is just giving in fact you should give more

00:40:52.940 you should give more than than 10 that is always the argument that you'll find on the internet

00:40:58.440 but the reality is this is what happens tithing was the church practice for 1800 years giving

00:41:04.960 has now been replaced in the last 80 years this conversation really in the last 30 years that we

00:41:10.600 just give instead of tithe and instead of giving 10 really it turns into something if we're being

00:41:15.920 honest about two percent that's really what's happening so i saw the works of irenaeus i saw

00:41:24.640 cyprian i saw jerome by the 8th and 9th century fascinating by the 8th and 9th centuries under

00:41:30.600 Charlemagne, tithing was law under most Christian nations. You had to tithe. In fact, it was part

00:41:37.920 of your tax system because the churches were actually connected to the state. So you had

00:41:43.160 state churches and state churches were actually, the state would give the churches land and they

00:41:48.340 would help build those buildings. And the taxes from the people giving 10% of their money would

00:41:54.080 actually go specifically to the church we think democracy is good in fact in this area it's not

00:42:01.060 it's really not and again even in the words of uh the national documents under charlemagne

00:42:11.980 a third was for the poor a third was for the clergy and a third was for temp or a building

00:42:17.020 and temple maintenance.

00:42:21.620 After the Reformation,

00:42:23.000 we had this thing called

00:42:23.800 the separation of church and state. 0.79

00:42:25.540 And we separated the churches 0.63

00:42:27.320 from the states

00:42:28.500 because the churches violated

00:42:30.840 their role in the state.

00:42:33.700 We would have the church

00:42:34.920 that was now administering

00:42:37.900 capital punishment

00:42:40.200 and we had the state

00:42:41.800 administering the sacraments.

00:42:44.460 They had confused these areas.

00:42:47.020 not because it was wrong to have necessarily a state church or a church that was supported by

00:42:53.000 the state but it was wrong in the sense that they had violated their spheres of sovereignty 0.62

00:42:57.940 and as a result the puritans came over to america and what do we do we're going to have a separation 0.83

00:43:03.120 of church and state and now our duty as the church is to disciple the state to support the

00:43:08.560 church but what has happened does the does the state support the church at all not really we do

00:43:14.180 get a tax break and that's about it. But when you look back through church history and you start

00:43:18.960 seeing that nations used to give 20 acres to a church and give tons of money to build these

00:43:24.940 great churches, you go, wow. You start evaluating the system that we play in today and if it's

00:43:33.580 actually effective. Now, 1 Corinthians 9, 13 through 14 says to new covenant Christians,

00:43:39.820 Hang with me here.

00:43:41.080 It says, do you not know?

00:43:42.860 This is Paul.

00:43:43.480 He's talking to New Covenant Christians about giving.

00:43:48.940 He says, do you not know that those who minister the holy things eat of the things of the temple?

00:43:53.880 And those who serve at the altar partake of the offerings of the altar?

00:43:58.340 Verse 14, he says, even so, the Lord commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel.

00:44:07.280 Did you catch that?

00:44:09.720 Do you see how they did in the Old Testament?

00:44:12.340 Even so, the Lord has commanded those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel.

00:44:19.140 That's basically the ethic that's being taught there.

00:44:21.660 God's kingdom, by the way, cannot function on 2%.

00:44:28.180 Is God poor? Does God need our money?

00:44:33.360 No.

00:44:35.820 He wants our faithfulness.

00:44:38.520 Think about this.

00:44:39.680 Look at the church.

00:44:40.980 Look at the church today.

00:44:42.400 Is the church doing well in America?

00:44:47.060 It's hard to tell because you've kind of grown up in a really terrible generation of the church.

00:44:51.620 I read a lot of books from 1900 and back.

00:44:58.160 Almost all of these beautiful buildings that you see, they're like 100 years old or more.

00:45:03.360 We're looking at the decaying remnant of a society that understood generosity to the church.

00:45:17.600 Our church can't function on 3%, 2%.

00:45:20.920 Our school that we want to build can't work on 2%.

00:45:24.880 It can't.

00:45:26.220 malachi 3 8 through 10 it says will man rob god

00:45:35.040 yet you are robbing me but you say how have we robbed you in your tithes and offerings

00:45:44.400 you are cursed with a curse for you are robbing me the whole nation of you

00:45:50.760 bring the full tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house 0.98

00:45:55.860 and thereby put me to the test

00:45:58.760 says the Lord of hosts

00:45:59.660 if I will not open the windows of heaven

00:46:02.840 for you and pour down for you

00:46:04.920 a blessing until there is no more need

00:46:06.860 you don't

00:46:08.860 know this but I get a call every

00:46:10.820 single week for the last two years

00:46:13.120 from people

00:46:14.640 asking us for money

00:46:15.980 people in our community

00:46:18.780 I get messages

00:46:20.980 every week I get phone calls

00:46:22.820 every week I talk to a lot of them

00:46:25.220 They ask if we can give them a gas card.

00:46:27.180 They ask if we can help them pay their rent.

00:46:29.140 They ask if we can give them food.

00:46:31.120 And I have to say no to them almost every single time.

00:46:34.060 99% of the time.

00:46:35.780 Because we have no benevolence fund.

00:46:40.880 We have $6,200 in our account right now.

00:46:44.560 It cannot function this way for long.

00:46:46.800 we need to get to a place where we are faithful with our finances.

00:46:59.320 And it gives me the reason for the sermon.

00:47:02.720 That third reason.

00:47:05.040 Since we planted King's Way,

00:47:07.980 we've kept an offering box in the back.

00:47:12.320 And we've not passed the plate.

00:47:15.440 We've not done that practice.

00:47:18.720 At first, the offering box in the back felt like this kind of humble, low-pressure approach.

00:47:27.280 But when you look at it, it's actually quite modern.

00:47:32.880 Over time, I think unintentionally, this whole movement of putting the offering box in the back, we're not the only people to do that.

00:47:41.080 It's turned giving into this kind of private, optional transaction that's just spirit-led,

00:47:49.060 if I can possibly do it at this particular time.

00:47:54.340 And the problem is that Scripture doesn't present giving that way.

00:48:00.000 Scripture presents giving in a corporate, joyful, public act of worship.

00:48:06.560 Let me explain to you.

00:48:07.740 you might be thinking but hey doesn't scripture say shouldn't let your left hand know what your

00:48:13.340 right hand is doing it does say that jesus warns against this showy self-glorifying giving

00:48:23.060 but he's talking about those passages he's talking about giving to the poor

00:48:27.860 this is a very important distinction hang with me

00:48:32.100 Matthew 1, or Matthew 6, 1 through 4.

00:48:36.440 He says, when you give to the poor,

00:48:39.440 sound no trumpet before you, 0.97

00:48:41.400 as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, 0.96

00:48:44.060 that they may be praised by others. 0.96

00:48:46.040 Truly I say to you, they have received their reward.

00:48:48.980 But when you give to the poor,

00:48:50.900 do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,

00:48:53.920 so that you may be giving in secret.

00:48:56.300 And your Father who sees you in secret will give you your reward.

00:48:59.880 when you give to the poor

00:49:02.640 don't boast about it

00:49:04.800 but this teaching is about

00:49:08.900 private charity

00:49:10.300 not your giving to the church

00:49:12.240 it's a warning against boasting and self-aggrandizement

00:49:17.360 not faithfulness to support the local church

00:49:20.140 I remember as a kid

00:49:21.540 raise your hand

00:49:23.340 how many of you have been in a church that passed the plague

00:49:25.580 most of us

00:49:27.580 the reality is

00:49:29.840 it has been a long time

00:49:32.400 over the last maybe

00:49:34.160 20 or 30 years the plate has gone away

00:49:36.460 in many churches

00:49:37.440 1 Corinthians 16 1-2

00:49:40.460 says now concerning the

00:49:42.420 collection for the saints as I directed the churches

00:49:44.260 of Galatia so you also

00:49:46.300 are to do

00:49:47.220 it's a command he's like I'm not even giving you an option

00:49:50.400 he's like I've commanded the churches of Galatia

00:49:52.320 get an offering ready I'm commanding

00:49:54.380 you to do that as well

00:49:55.540 he says in the first day of each week we're on the first

00:49:58.420 day of each week, right? Or on the Lord's day. Each of you is to put something aside

00:50:02.500 and to store it up. He's using that storehouse language again.

00:50:06.880 When it comes to giving, it was a corporate

00:50:09.720 moment, a corporate command and a corporate setting. It wasn't some

00:50:14.040 spontaneous secret act that

00:50:18.300 we make it out today.

00:50:22.120 It doesn't have to be that. It is your duty

00:50:26.400 to give to the local church, especially if you're a member of a particular church.

00:50:33.720 Even in the New Testament, Jesus pointed to the widow's mite.

00:50:38.560 Well, how did he do that?

00:50:39.780 Well, because it was visible.

00:50:41.600 You could see that she's giving there, right in front of everybody.

00:50:49.540 And so today, many Christians have come to see giving as a private expression of generosity

00:50:54.140 rather than a shared duty of worship.

00:50:58.420 Our job here is to bring our tithes.

00:51:05.180 It's to bring our offerings to the Lord.

00:51:09.140 For what?

00:51:11.400 Well, it's a response to the gospel.

00:51:14.540 It's a response to the work of the Lord

00:51:16.600 given to you in the gospel.

00:51:18.680 so you're going to see in a moment that we have added these two plates here

00:51:29.020 and we are going to have an offeratory and many of you give online many of you give in the giving

00:51:39.580 box our hope is that we could make giving a little bit more public and our hope is that

00:51:48.500 we can offer alternative ways to giving and so joseph did you have it on the back of the seats

00:51:54.720 so we have also in the back of the seats if you don't have cash with you i would actually

00:51:59.060 encourage you to bring cash one is that it saves us actually a good amount of money when it's done

00:52:04.680 in cash versus the three percent or whatever they take on the digital but on the backs of the chairs

00:52:13.620 you can actually put your phone up boom and it brings up our giving page and you can give right

00:52:17.780 there. But we're going to do an

00:52:19.960 offeratory. We're going to sing. We're going to praise

00:52:21.920 the Lord. And we're going to ask

00:52:23.840 that you would be faithful in your giving.

00:52:26.300 And our hope is that

00:52:27.860 we would be faithful with those

00:52:29.820 funds to build this congregation

00:52:31.800 to the glory of God for the sake of

00:52:33.820 the gospel, for the expansion of

00:52:35.920 the kingdom in this city

00:52:37.340 so that for generations to come

00:52:39.480 we might be able to do an ongoing

00:52:41.720 and holy work here in Prescott.

00:52:44.120 Amen? Amen.

00:52:45.960 Let's pray.

00:52:47.780 Father, we thank you, Lord, for all that you have given us.

00:52:57.420 Lord, we ask that you would help us to dethrone money.

00:53:01.620 Lord, that we would trust you.

00:53:05.600 That you would be our provider.

00:53:09.000 That we would depend on you.

00:53:13.900 Lord, we ask that you'd help us to be wise with our finances.

00:53:17.780 that we would understand biblical principles around money.

00:53:23.760 Father, we ask that you would help money to not become an idol for our church.

00:53:33.200 Lord, even in the quiet parts and the corners,

00:53:36.680 Lord, that we would be a generous body of believers.

00:53:41.540 And Lord, that you would do that work silently and sanctifyingly and quietly.

00:53:45.680 in each of us, Lord, that you might do a great work here in this town.

00:53:52.400 Father, we repent also of anything that we've withheld.

00:53:58.240 We repent of anything that we have selfishly kept that is yours.

00:54:05.000 Lord, we ask for forgiveness of that.

00:54:08.340 We ask that you would give us an increase in faith

00:54:10.740 that we might learn to rest in you.

00:54:15.680 In Jesus' name, amen.

00:54:18.320 Amen.

Dale Partridge - August 04, 2025

Give Like You’ve Been Forgiven

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