Portions

God’s Portion
April 13, 2008
At Lord of Life we believe that tithing is a critical component of living obediently. It is a mark of discipleship that separates the pretenders from the contenders. It is the evidence of a life that has been touched by the gospel of Jesus and truly trusts in God’s provision.
At the heart of Christian giving and tithing is principle of proportional giving. What proportional giving is, is giving in accordance with the Lord’s blessing. When the Lord’s blessing is much, we return much. When the Lord’s blessing is less, we return less.
Just as an example. Lord of Life’s mission tithe is 12%. Our tithe is measured according to the Lord blessing. If the Lord should give us $100, our tithe would be $12. If the Lord should give us $1000, our tithe would be $120. If the Lord should give us $1,000,000, our tithe would be $120,000.
The principle is that we give back to the Lord in proportion to the way that he has blessed us. And it is important to keep in mind it is in proportion to what the Lord blesses us with. Not a portion of what we have left over at the end of the week or the month.
I know that I have practiced that form of giving before. I would get my checkbook out at the end of the week. After I had went shopping for groceries, after I had filled my car with gas a few times, after I had paid my utility bills, after I had spent a few bucks on a night out on the town, I would look to see what I had left, and determine if I could afford to give God a portion of that left over.
Proportionate giving is the exact opposite of that. Proportionate is taking a portion right off the top, not the left-overs, but the first-fruit - whether it be 10%, 12%, 15%, or even 20%, and turn it over to the Lord.
Proportionate giving is not determining if I can afford to give back, but rather trusting in God to be faithful to his promise.
Proportionate giving is described for us in a couple of different places in the Old Testament. One place is in the reading from today in Genesis 12:20-22 where Jacob says, “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear so that I return safely to my father’s house, then the Lord will be my God and this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.”

Who here has ever worried about money? We have all worried about money! If you have never worried about money then you are superhuman and you should really be up here giving the message.
No matter how much money you have or don’t have. No matter how you control your spending there has certainly come a time when you have worried about money in your lifetime.
You worried about having enough to pay the bills and the debt you have accumulated. The student loans, the mortgage, the utility bills. You worried about having enough to live the life you envisioned. You’ve worried about money for your children and that they would have enough. Not to mention paying for college.
Maybe you have worried about money for your business or your employer. Maybe you have worried about money for your church. I know that every Monday morning, I check my mailbox to see the returns for Sunday. I confess I worry if there will be enough there to pay the staff, the mortgage, and the fulfill our mission tithe. Some of you, every week you look there on the back of the bulletin how did we do the week before. Are we ahead or behind?
If are on my email distribution list and joining me in reading through the Scriptures – we read last week in Luke 12:22-31. By the way, you can sign up to receive my weekly emails on our website: www.lolchurch.net
22Then Jesus said to his disciples: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. 23Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. 24Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! 25Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life[a]? 26Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?
27"Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 28If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith! 29And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. 30For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.
Seek first his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. All of these other things. This is God’s promise.
If you are like most people reading this section of Scripture you are thinking that this is a lot easier said than done. You can tell me not to worry, but everything I see around me is screaming at me to worry and worry and then worry some more. Do not worry. You have got to be kidding me.
One of the biggest reasons that we don’t give back to the Lord his 10%, is because of a lack of faith. We live in fear that we are not going to have enough. We fear that we are going to run out of money at the end of the week or at the end of the month.
Withholding our tithe is a way of saying, “God I don’t trust that what you have given me is enough. So what I am going to do is to take part of your portion, so that I can make sure that I have enough.”
This message series is called “The Journey to Financial Freedom.” The lack of ability to tithe is a sign financial slavery. As we move towards tithing and proportional giving we are moving towards financial freedom and I am confident we will never look back.
Financial Freedom results from trusting God. Our mindset will determine our actions. If our mindset is a lack of trust – it will result in the action of worry and holding on tightly to whatever we can get our hands on. Yet, if our mindset is one of trust it will result in actions fueled with confident, living obediently to God’s commands.
My daughter has a knack for picking out McDonald’s. She can spot one from a mile away. I like to surprise and stop sometimes. I will get her an order of French Fries. It makes her so happy. But then I will reach to take on for myself and she will quickly pull them to herself and say: “mine! No Daddy, you can’t have any. These are Abby’s.” Little does she realize that I have the ability to get her more. But she hold on so tightly, because from her perspective that is all that is available. How much are we like that. We say, “No God, mine, you can’t have any.” When all the time he is able to give us so much more than we have.
Let’s believe today. Let’s trust that God will meet all of our needs. Not just some needs, but every need. Just as Jacob believed that God would provide for his every need and that he would deliver him from every trial and tribulation. And his promise was, Lord because you are so good to me, I am going to give back to you my the first 10% of every blessing you pour out.
There may be a few of you who are familiar with the Brooklyn Tabernacle. The Brooklyn Tabernacle is a large, large church. A mega church in the heart of Brooklyn, NY.
But the Brooklyn Tabernacle did not start out as a large church. It started out as a very small church. In fact it was a dying church. When Pastor Jim Cymbla took over this church it worshipped less 20 people.
In his book Fresh Wind and Fresh Fire, Pastor Cymbla recounts the offering his first week at the church. $85. The mortgage of the church was $232 not including utilities and other expenses. He shared that the first time the mortgage payment came due there was $160 dollars in the checking account. This was $72 short of what was needed.
But he believed God to provide. He could not believe that God was going to shut him down so soon. So he waited for an unexpected check to arrive in the mail. But when the postal carrier arrived all there was in the mail was bills and junk mail. He says he went to his office depressed until he remembered that across the street at the post office the church had a PO Box. He went over there and opened the box, and guess what. Nothing. It was empty.
Maybe this time God had let him down. He walked back across the street to the church and opened the door. There laying on the floor, dropped in the mail slot was a blank white envelop. No name, no address. It had not been there three minutes before, but inside was two $50 bills. Enough to pay the mortgage with $28 left to spare.
God was faithful. And God came through. It is further assurance that we are not the ones who pay the bills for our church, for our families, or for anything, but it is God who pays the bills. He is the one who comes up with the cash and finances what he promises and orders.
It is time we stop worry about getting by, but start believing God for abundance. Rather than worrying about paying the bills obligations, it is time to start believing for God’s blessing that we can be a blessing to others.
You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. 2 Corinithians 9:11
Here is the promise – you will be made rich. God desires to make you rich. Sometimes that richness comes in love, sometimes in faith, sometime in something very practical and that is money. But always, God desires to make you rich in the Holy Spirit. But here is the premise – so that you can be generous.
God is not going to make you rich so that you can say, hey look at all this money I’ve got. Look at my car, look at my clothes, look at my house. But God will make you rich, so that through you, others can say, hey look at Jesus.
Today, I am going to declare us to be a believing church. For the last two years we have fretted and worried about the finances. We have worried about the ability to pay our mortgage and to pay our staff. We have often come around towards the end of the month and we have wondered where is the money going to come from.
I even look at the offering from the first week this month. I wonder where we will be at the end of the month. We are going to stop worrying about where we are going to get the money from, and start trusting in God’s provision.
Time, and time, and time again, God comes through. I really wish he would stop coming through at the last minute – but I know he does that so that we know it is him – and nothing on our part.
God is the one who pays the bills. He pays the bills for our church. He pays the bills for our families. If we are committed to living holy lives that honor him, there is nothing that we shall fear.
And more than that, we are going to start believing God for more. We are going to believe God not only to maintain the ministry here in this place, but we are going to believe God to expand the ministry in this place and to take it to a new level. We are going to believe that God is going to use our tithes, he is going to use us to build his kingdom in an unprecedented way.
Call me young, call me stupid, call me ignorant, call me nieve – but I am going to believe that God is going to use the ministry of Lord of Life Church in an unprecedented way, to do things that have never been done before. To reach people in our community with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I want to invite you to join me in believing God for this. There is no greater privilege or honor in all the world than to be servant of God.
We have come through the desert, maybe we are still in the desert, but God brought us to the brink of the promise land that we are about to enter. A land that is flowing with milk and honey. There have been so many lessons we have learned in the desert. But when we enter the promise land we will be all the better for those lessons that we have learned.
When the people entered the promise land there was a place that was assigned to each of them. You have a place in the land flowing with milk and honey.
Today, I am aware that there is a number of you who are out of work. The income is not flowing in like you need or like you would want. There are others of you who may be employed but business has been slow. Maybe you are a realtor or you are in construction and the market just is not moving.
You find yourself worrying and fretting about the future and about provision. But we are going to rebuke the demon of unemployment and underemployment. We are going to rebuke the demon of fear and worry about finances.
No longer will we be enslaved to the worry and fear of finances. I am going to invite you to come forward this morning. We will boldly pray and rebuke that fear. And at the same time we want to pray that God will abundantly provide gainful employment for all his people so that they can be generous on all occasions and advance the work of the kingdom like never before.
Maybe God has moved you out one job to give you a better job.
Maybe you were working in a job situation where you faced great temptation. And God’s Word promises us that he will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear. Maybe God took you out of that situation so that he can put you in a better situation where you will be surrounded with godly people and not face the overbearing temptations you had once faced.
Maybe the provision is not there because you are not honoring the Lord with your wealth in the way that you ought. And maybe the Lord is not interested in allowing you to maintain the lifestyle that you are pursuing.
Maybe the provision is not there just because you have not cried out to God. You have thought to yourself, “I can make it on my own.” I don’t need anyone else.
But I want to tell you something. God is attracted to weakness. He cannot withhold himself from those who cry out to him in desperation.

Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
24 I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him."
25 The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;
26 it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the LORD.

God comes through. We can be confident that when we have God’s desires and interests at heart that he will fit the bill.
As the praise team comes on the stage I want to invite our elders, staff, and others to come forward. We want to pray for you this morning. If you are unemployed, under-employed. If you are worried about God’s provision. The bills are piling up and you don’t know how to pay them.
As we sing this next song come forward. We are going to pray for you that God will give you enough. No ushers to direct you. As the spirit moves in your heart just listen to that voice and come forward. Come forward.