621-2 HEAVEN’S LAW OF SUPPLY AND DEMANDJuly 26, 1981
Pastor Henry F. Kulp
It is obvious that this message is going to be about giving. It has to do with money. I am sure you cannot say I preach an awful lot about money. I am certainly not trying to squeeze your pocketbooks, or your wallets, but as a faithful minister of God, I must present the matter of giving.
1/ I wonder if you realize the Bible has much to say about the believer and his giving. It has as much to say about giving as it has to say about any other doctrine in the Bible. That is true in both the Old and the New Testament—it is true in the Pauline Epistles.
2/ I want you to notice the phrase—God loveth a cheerful giver. Doesn’t God love everyone? Doesn’t He say in John 3: 16 that God so loved the world. What does it mean that God loves a cheerful giver?
3/ Before we answer that question, let us see that God is a Giver. John 3: 16 says God so loved that He gave. So love and giving are inseparable. It is impossible for one who loves to fail to give—he will automatically give.
4/ I Corinthians 13: 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.
Giving without love is no use in the spiritual realm, and though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned and have not love—now notice, it profiteth me nothing. God gives because He loves, and if we are to give we also must know love.
5/ SO, THE BASIS OF GIVING IS LOVE. GOD TAKES NO RECOGNITION OF GIFTS THAT ARE NOT GIVEN IN LOVE.
6/ I Corinthians 2: 12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
Why has the Holy Spirit been given to us? For many reasons, but why has the Holy Spirit taken up His abode in our bodies? Here is one of the reasons—that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Notice how God gives—freely, without a reason, Not that we deserve it, but He gives it to us with love.
7/ You can measure a person’s love for you by the way they give to you, and, of course, this is not just money. You can measure God’s love by the way He has given, and is giving to you.
8/ II Corinthians 9: 6 But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.
Here we have two words that are very interesting, Sparingly and bountifully. There are two classes of sowers and, of course, the question must be answered, to which of the two do you belong? Or, which of the two do you want to belong?
9/ The Greek says, he who keeps on sowing. This is Paul’s picture of the Christian giver—the sower has the business of sowing, and all Christian giving is sowing. We literally are all farmers and our great business is sowing and reaping, and do you realize it looks like you are throwing it away when you sow. But you are not, and, of course, sowing implies a harvest.
10/ Now we have to ask the question, where does the sower get the grain in the first place? He can’t make it, God has to give it to him. Whatever you have physically, whatever you have financially, God has given it to you in the first place.
11/ There are three possible attitudes you can take toward what God has given to you.
1/ God has given you whatever you have and He gave it to you outright, and does
not expect you to do anything with it to help His cause.
2/ We have stolen from Him, it is ours and we just don’t care.
3/ He has loaned it to us to use as He sees fit. Most people live as if what they
have is solely theirs and they can use it any way they want, and forget about God.
12/ Does God need our giving? Yes, He does—He really doesn’t have to, but He has made things so He does need us in our giving. You take the spread of the Gospel, He could print the Gospel in the Heavens, He could have angels fly shouting it from the Heavens, but He doesn’t. He could print the Gospel in the Heavens, but he doesn’t. The Gospel will only go where we take it and the folks we tell about it. God has put Himself in the position where He needs us to spread His Gospel. Then, also when it comes to giving, God owns everything, but He needs us to give that His work might go on. There is no question, God could print money and scatter it and hand it down to those who are doing His work, but He doesn’t do it that way.
13/ Luke 16: 1, 2 And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man, which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods. And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward.
Here Jesus Christ said to His disciples, there was a rich man, which had a steward, and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods. Whose goods? His master’s goods, and he called him and said unto him, how is it that I hear this of thee. Give an account of thy stewardship, for thou mayest be no longer steward. We must see that we do not waste what God as given to us. He holds us accountable here and now for the way we use that which He has given to us.
14/ The principle is what you sow, you are going to reap. By the way you sow. God lets you say in advance what way and what kind of a harvest you are going to reap. If you sow sparingly, that is just a few grains, you certainly are not going to produce barn fulls in the harvest. You know at sowing time what size of harvest you are going to have.
15/ Under the Gospels, did you ever notice how they were to give?
Matthew 19: 21, 22 Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.
Here we have the rich young ruler, and he is told, go and sell what thou hast.
Compare that with Luke 12: 33 Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth.
Sell what you have and give alms, and then, of course, the same thing was true in the Book of Acts.
Acts 2: 45, 46 And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,
But God doesn’t ask you to sow or give that way today.
16/ II Corinthians 8: 12 For if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and not according to that he hath not.
Here we have the principal—we are to give according to what we have, and, not what we don’t have. The way we give is determined by what is left over. How much do we spend on ourselves. The Lord doesn’t want us to say, if I had $25, I would certainly give it. It isn’t a matter of what you don’t have, but what you have. He wants to know how much you’ll give out of what you have got. That’s different, isn’t it?
17/ I Corinthians 16: 1, 2 Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come. Here God says, upon the first day of the week, let everyone of you lay by him in store as God has prospered him, that there be no gatherings, no collections when I come.
Again, the principle is here, as God has prospered him. How has God prospered you this morning? Have you given to God in the way that you prospered?
18/ II Corinthians 9: 7 Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. Here again we have our principle. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart.
19/ INDIVIDUALLY Here we read two words that are important— every man, Every believer. No believer is exempt. Every believer let him so give. The Holy Spirit is speaking to each one of us who names the Name of Jesus Christ. There can be no exception. God expects every believer to give to His work, no matter how much he has, or how young or how old he is.
20/ WHAT RIGHT DOES GOD HAVE TO ASK US TO GIVE? Because we are His, He owns us. We are slaves of His, and as slaves, He has the right to tell us what to do—there is a double ownership that God has.
(1) Psalms 24: 1 The earth is the LORD's, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. This is by His creative ownership. He created us, and we
belong to Him, and He has a right to tell us what to do.
(2) I Corinthians 6: 19, 20 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the
Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.
We are His by means of redemption. We were on the slave market of sin and He bought us with His precious blood, and now He has the right to tell us just what to do, especially with our money.
21/ Then, you will notice the next word in our text is As He purposeth. This is a very strong word in the Greek. It has the idea of determination—To do something by deliberate purpose.
22/ PURPOSETH IN HIS HEART Here is a key that we cannot overlook. The foundation of all giving in the Bible is found in the Old Testament Exodus 25: 2 Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering: of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take my offering.
You have to understand that giving is not a small thing. God wanted to be in their midst, He wanted to have a house to dwell in, a sanctuary, and in order to have that sanctuary, He put Himself in the place where men had to first give the materials, and then make them, then erect the building. You see God could have spoken and there would have been a tabernacle in the wilderness, but God doesn’t do things that way. He gave the pattern to Moses, and He gave the Holy Spirit to men and women in Israel who were to perform and make the things necessary, and then He says, you take an offering from every man that giveth it willingly from his heart.
It is not to be given grudgingly as we have in II Corinthians 9: 7 Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.
Literally that is from grief. No one is to be sorry about giving anything to the Lord. You should never say, I am sorry I gave so much. You should say, I’m glad I have given, I wish I could give more. Nor again should it be from compulsion, feeling that one is forced to give, that he is being robbed, that someone took advantage of them.
23/ I heard of a church not too far from here where they have “March Offerings”. And that is someone gets up front and they march from their set and they give. I don’t have any gimmicks like that, I don’t believe in that sort of thing. That is, compulsion, it also is exalting the person who gives. Everyone can see how much he gives. If a man gives anything grudgingly, you are saying, we don’t want it—the Lord doesn’t want it—the foundation of giving is love and a willing heart.
24/ FREELY This is how God gives to us, and He expects us to give to Him. Freely is the Greek word, DOE RAY ON, and it means without a cause, without a purpose. Rom 8:32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? He has freely given us all things, and I think we should say, Lord, we don’t expect you to give in return to us. We know that You will, but we are willing to give freely.
25/ Then we are to give, CHEERFULLY. When God gave His Son He didn’t give Him with a frown on His brow. But, rather, He gave Him cheerfully and freely, and the Holy Spirit is a Gift from God, so is salvation a gift from God, and all of this has been cheerfully given to us, and we should say, another opportunity to give to God so His work might go forth.
26/ God loves a cheerful giver, right where we started. And we ask the question, doesn’t He love everybody? Saved and unsaved? Of course He does. Doesn’t He love every believer whether he gives or doesn’t give? Of course He does. God does say a cheerful giver is one that God loves. Every person, every believer is the object of God’s love, but when a man opens his pocketbook and supports the work of the Gospel, he becomes a special object of the love of God. This is the way to receive a special blessing from God.
27/ Exodus 35: 21 And they came, every one whose heart stirred him up, and every one whom his spirit made willing, and they brought the LORD's offering to the work of the tabernacle of the congregation, and for all his service, and for the holy garments.
How did the Israelites respond to the call of God to build this Tabernacle? And they came to one whose heart stirred him up and everyone whose spirit made willing. Their giving was so lavish it became necessary for Moses to issue a decree to stop them.
Exodus 36: 6 And Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the offering of the sanctuary. So the people were restrained from bringing. And the Scripture says, so the people were restrained from bringing. I am sure these people did not give what they could spare. They gave because they had a desire to give.
28/ II Corinthians 9: 15 Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. Here God tells us, thanks be unto God for His unspeakable Gift. Here is a real motivation for giving, when someone gives to you, you want to give to them.
AMEN
Ref: 07/26/1981/ 621-2 HEAVEN’S LAW OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND / 09/11/2020
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