Preparing for the Lord's Day
Spiritual Training: Christian Giving
- Daylight saving time ends this Sunday, turn your clocks back on hour.
- As we have enjoyed in the past, our Sanctuary Choir will be singing the Prelude before the welcome and announcements. Please arrive early to the Sanctuary to prepare your hearts for worship.
It is a pervasive issue. If you make $50,000 a year it seems that you need $55,000 to survive. If you make $80,000 you feel like you need $88,000. If you make $100,000 it seems as though $110,000 is what is needed to meet all your commitments. Living beyond our means is the norm for a majority of Americans. With healthcare, mortgages, student loans, insurance, retirement contributions, children’s college, and daily life there never seems to be quite enough money to meet all our obligations. The stress of finances can become overwhelming. To make matters worse this week you received a letter from Rivermont asking you to make a faith pledge to financially support Rivermont in 2020. With so many obligations and so much financial strain how can one even consider adding another cost to the budget?
Throughout the Bible we consistently see that the Lord calls His people to worship Him through the act of giving. In the Old Testament the principle of the tithe was established as the standard for their giving. The tithe is a gift of one-tenth of a person’s income. The Lord promised that as the people faithfully gave the tithe that He would faithfully provide for all their needs. With the coming of Christ and the establishment of the Church the principle of proportional giving continues. The Lord expects that His followers will faithfully and sacrificially give to the work and mission of the Church. As we give in faith, we are assured that He will continue to supply for all of our needs.
To make the commitment to give you do not need more money. Rather you need a new heart in relation to money. Those who give sacrificially are rarely those who make more money than those who do not give. Trust not wealth is the dividing line. Those who trust in the Lord’s care are willing to give a significant percentage of their income to the work of Christ. Those who do not trust keep all for themselves. And the continual witness is that if you make $50,000 and give $5,000 a year then $45,000 becomes more than enough to live on. However, if you don’t give then the full $50,000 is never enough.
The discipline of Christian giving is the means that God has given by which we loosen our grip on the world and learn to trust the Lord for our daily bread. Through giving sacrificially to the work of the gospel and the advancement of Christ’s Kingdom you will grow in your dependence upon Him and in your experience of His care for you. Therefore, we encourage all of our members to prayerfully make a commitment to the Lord and to Rivermont to give as the Lord has directed you. To come prepared for the sermon take time this week to read and to meditate upon 2 Corinthians 8:1-15, Proverbs 3:9-10, Malachi 3:6-12, Matthew 6:2-4, Luke 21:1-4, Acts 11:29-30, 1 Corinthians 9:14, 16:1-3, and 2 Corinthians 9:6-7.
This week we will celebrate that sacrament of the Lord’s Supper during our worship service. As we receive the elements of bread and wine we look in faith to the Lord Jesus Christ. For as we physically receive the signs of the Lord’s body and blood, spiritually we feed upon Him and all His benefits. Our hymns for this week include “The Earth, with All That Dwell Therein” “My Worth Is Not In What I Own,” and “For All the Saints.”
If you’re going to be out of town this Sunday, let me encourage you to listen to the sermon online (usually posted by Monday afternoon) or you can download the REPC podcast, which will be delivered to your mobile device.
A Liturgical Note:
In the Church liturgical year, November 1 is designated as All Saints' Day, on which Christians traditionally remember with thanksgiving the life and witness of the faithful Christian men and women who have gone before us, following Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. In the Communion Prayer this Sunday, we will remember those saints of this congregation who have died since November 1, 2018. This is not a prayer of intercession for them, but a prayer of thanksgiving for their life and faithful witness, in the assurance that Christians who have preceded us in death are "away from the body and at home with the Lord" (2 Corinthians 5:8).
Sermon Information:
Text: 2 Corinthians 8:1-15
Title: Christian Giving
Outline:
- Christian Giving Must be Based on the Work of Christ
- Christian Giving Must Follow the Example of Christ
- Christian Giving Must be with Joy
- Christian Giving Must be for the Poor
- Christian Giving Must be for the Church
- Christian Giving Must be for the Gospel
- Christian Giving Must be in Submission
- Christian Giving Must be in Proportion
- Christian Giving Must be with Planned Regularity
- Christian Giving Must be Worship