The Grace of God and Our Finances - Grace for Today, Pt . 5

♪♪ Announcer 2, In Touch, the teaching ministry of Dr. Charles Stanley. Next on In Touch, The Grace of God and Our Finances. According to the Scriptures, what strong desire, which motivates millions of people every day, if attained, will bring about the following consequences? And I want to read the consequences of this very strong desire. There are eight of them. Listen to this. And I'll give you the Scripture when we finish. First of all, it will tempt people to fall into sin. They will be tempted to fall into a trap. They will probably be mastered by some foolish desires. They will engage in harmful desires that will eat away at their character. It could plunge them into moral ruin. It could ultimately destroy them. It would cause them to wander from their faith. And it could cause many griefs to pierce their soul. What kind of desire would cause all of that to happen? In fact, it's the desire that motivates millions of people. Do you know what it is? The desire to get rich. The desire to get rich. 1 Timothy 6, verses 9 and 10 list all of those things, which he says are dangers for those whose desire in life is to get rich. Now, there's nothing wrong with being wealthy. Because there's some very, very godly people who are wealthy. Very, very generous people who are wealthy. And there's nothing in the Bible that says that God takes great pleasure in poverty or keeping people poor. The problem is the issue of balance. And that is, it's one thing to be wealthy and trust God.

It's something else to be wealthy and the wealth be your God. So, we're not talking about the fact that wealth is a sin. We're talking about the fact that when wealth is out of control, when it is out of sync with God's Word and His way, then there's going to be problems. And so, what we're saying in this passage is simply this, that here are eight dangers for those whose driving desire in life is to get rich. Well, what does all this have to do with the grace of God? Well, the Bible says we're saved by grace. We're to live by grace. In fact, if that's true, that there's not a single area of our life in which grace is not to have an overwhelming effect. And that is true in our finances as well as in every single area of our life. So, the title of this message is The Grace of God in Our Finances. And I want you to turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 9. And in this chapter, there are two chapters here that Paul spends almost the entire chapters dealing with this matter of giving to the poor who were in Jerusalem, there in Judea, who were undergoing difficulty and hardship. And in this passage of Scripture in 2 Corinthians, he lays out some principles for us, but he also explains to us what it means to be graced by God in our giving. Listen, beginning in verse 6. Now, this I say, he who sows sparingly shall also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully shall also reap bountifully. Let each one do just as he's purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed. As it is written in the Psalms, he scouted the broad, he gave to the poor, his righteousness abides forever.

Now, he who supplies seed to the sowing bread for the food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in everything for all liberality, which through us is producing thanksgiving to God. Now, I want us to look at this in light of two things. First of all, the first part of it is God's, listen, God's plan for gracing our finances. Now, I want to use that phrase, gracing our finances, favoring our finances, blessing our finances, getting personally involved in our finances. God has a plan for it, and secondly, he has a purpose. That's the two things I want to talk about. First of all, his plan for gracing our finances. And if God graces your finances, that means he is going to show favor and express favor toward your finances. So, one thing that's very evident in this passage here is this, that it is... God's desire to bless to grace his children financially look at these verses first of all he gives us the pattern in verse 6 about a sowing and reaping secondly he says he loves a cheerful giver well how are we going to give in order to give we have to have something to give who gives us what we have to give God gives us what we have to give so if God wants me to be a cheerful giver God must provide something for me to give so he's certainly for that and he desires to do that he says in verse 8 that he's able to make all grace abound to us always all sufficiency everything for an abundance for every good deed so not only here but go back if you will to Proverbs chapter 3 for a moment in the Proverbs chapter 3 notice what he says here and if a farmer back in those days were to read this I mean he'd be jumping up and down with joy but what is true of farmers is true in every single occupation in every work listen to what he says in Proverbs 3 verse 9 honor the

Lord from your wealth and from the first of all your produce you say but I'm not wealthy well wealth is whatever you have so when we talk about wealth we're just talking about whatever God has given us he says honor the Lord from your wealth from the first of all your produce so your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will overflow with new wine which is his way of saying God desires to grace his children to grace those who are willing to abide by his principles and so what he's saying in this passage is first of all God what God desires to do it secondly he's able look at what he says he says in this particular passage in verse 8 God is able to make what listen to this now he's able to make all grace that means all favor no limitations on the favor of God God is able to make all grace look at this abound that means just overflowing abound to you then look at these words always not sometimes having all sufficients in a little bit in everything not some things you may have an abundance not some an abundance for every good deed here is a God who sounds like he's on our side desiring the graces financially and secondly he says not only that he says I'm able to do it God and his omnipotence listen God and his omnipotence can take your financial situation no matter what it is and if you will abide by his principle God will grace favor you financially he says he he's able to make what all grace abound toward us financially now when we put his principle to work which we're going to talk about in just a moment we put it to work he says several things are going to happen verse 8 he says we're going to have sufficiency we're going to have enough he says not only that you're going to have enough to give away that's what he means when he says in this particular verse you may have an abundance for every good deed that is the good deeds of giving and and helping people in need you're going to have enough to give away he says not only that he says all the other areas of your life are going to be enriched look at this if you will in verse 11 you will be enriched in everything for all your liberality he says God isn't going to limit his blessing just the financial blessings he's going to also enrich you in other ways he desires he's able he says and when you abide by the principle

here's what I'm going to do now what's man's part well man's parts very simple and what he says here is that two parts the man's part man's man's actions and man's attitude now what is man's action here well let's look if you will at this sixth verse now this I say he who sows sparingly shall reap sparingly he who sows bountifully shall also reap bountifully now listen to me carefully I don't know how God could have made this any simpler and you see the truth is we believe that in certain areas but we absolutely either out of total unbelief or refuse to practice in every other area for example an employer hires you and and you do a good job if you do a good job than an employer ought to reward you bountifully that is if you do a good job on the other hand the employee likewise has a responsibility of doing a good job you see the whole principle of sowing and reaping is not just limited to money it has to do with every single area of our life if you want to have friends how do you have friends walking around mom and gloom and saying nothing and just keeping yourself to yourself no you have friends by giving yourself away and being friendly and what happens people with the most friends the people who the most friendly you want to be loved then give it away if it's you see love is never one-sided if you were if you really want people to love you you've got to give yourself away in love you want to get ahead in life then do whatever is necessary Be diligent in your work. Listen, this principle absolutely eradicates the idea of laziness, slothfulness, stinginess, and greediness. Listen to this. If you want to reap bountifully, you've got to sow the same way. And so, the whole idea of sowing and reaping is man's part. You see, God says, now here's my part. God says, I want to grace you financially. I'm able to do it. And if you'll allow me, here's what I'll do. Now, listen to what he says.

He says, let each one do just as he's purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves cheerful givers. He loves, listen, if he loves cheerful givers, he's just itching to grace those givers. What we have to get over is unbelief or thinking, well, is this going to apply to my particular circumstance? So, man's part is to practice the principle, but secondly, man's part is to have the right attitude. And what's the right attitude? He says the right attitude here is to be a cheerful giver. Because, you see, grace doesn't just involve my receiving from God. Grace also involves my giving for God. It's two ways. That's the way God operates. That's the way God intends for people's needs to be met. That to be met, listen, how many of you have ever received anything in a package that came straight from heaven? Anybody? No. You may have received many things. They all came through somebody. God blessed you through somebody. It may have been a job or it may have been something financially or some gift, but it came through somebody. And what he's saying is this is the way God operates. He operates through somebody. And so he says, sowing, reaping, joyfully, cheerfully, giving, and what happens?

God in turn blesses us. Now, that's the first part. But secondly, what is God's purpose in gracing us financially? That is, what does God really have in mind when he financially blesses someone? What does he have in mind? Well, it certainly isn't simply to make us prosperous, but two things are going to happen, he says in this passage, when you and I begin to practice the principle and allow God to grace us financially. He says, first of all, he said, our needs are going to be met. That's what he says here in this verse. He said, having all grace abound to you that always having all sufficiency in everything, first thing that's going to happen is that our needs are going to be met. Now listen, if your needs aren't being met, I ask you a question. Are you practicing the principle of sowing and reaping? Are you giving and trusting God to multiply that? Now, here's the problem. I want you to watch this. Here's the way most people operate. They say, God, here's my reservoir. Oh, Heavenly Father, you know I have needs. And so, they pray for God to fill their reservoir before the bills come in. Under pressure, living like this. Here's my reservoir, God. I want you to bless it. And sometimes, you look at that and it's about an inch deep and

about a foot wide, and you think, God, I don't have all my needs. You know what God's trying to get us to do? You have to watch this. What God wants us to do is to take this reservoir and change it. He wants us to turn it up like a channel. So, a reservoir may be an inch deep. A channel can be a thousand miles long. What God wants to do, he wants to grace our finances. But listen, as long as I have the reservoir attitude, God, this is for me, and I need to be prosperous, and I need to build up my security, and Lord, you know how much I need, and God, my needs, me, myself, and I, and my family, and all the things that I want to do, and my goals, and my purposes in life. You know what God's waiting for? He's waiting for you to turn that little reservoir about an inch deep into something big enough for him to run a whole load through. And as long as I see it as mine, I limit what God's going to do. And this is why he says here, listen to this now. Grace is, he says, and God is able to make all grace abound to you, that always having all sufficiency yourself in everything, you may have what? You may have not a little reservoir, but an abundance for every good deed. Now, what is God's primary purpose for gracing us financially? It is in order to make you and me generous people. That's the reason.

And as we said before, if you're generous with your love, you'll get it back. Generous with your time, God multiplies it. Generous with your friendship, you're going to have friends. Generous with your money, God's going to, he's going to financially bless you. It's every single area of life. And that's what grace is all about. Grace, listen, grace isn't just a word. Grace is a lifestyle. Grace is a way of life. It's living, listen, it is living by faith under the abundance of Almighty God, forgiving me the most important abundance I need, forgiveness and cleansing and righteousness and holiness and joy and peace and finances and relationships, you name it. God is willing to just pour it out, to grace us in every single area of our life. And finances just happens to be one of them. But let me ask you a question. If I were to ask one of your friends and called you by name and I were to say, I mean, somebody who's close to you or somebody in your family, if I were to say, is so-and-so, would you consider them a generous person? Would they have to say, well, or would they say, by all means? Or would they say, generous, are you kidding?

Isn't that interesting? Stingy people are pretty evident, aren't they? Generous people. Listen, he says he loves generous folks. Why? Because they're acting like Jesus. When are you and I the most like him? When we're giving ourselves or what we have away, that's what he did. You see, Jesus didn't walk around trying to be prosperous. Jesus didn't even have a reservoir. That's all he, he was a channel and he had a channel. And that's what we're to be. And that's what we're to be like, not reservoirs, but channels. Giving what we know, giving what we have to give, giving of ourselves. That's the way God operates. That's the way he wants us to operate. Listen, he said that he predestined you and me to be conformed to his likeness. What was he like? He was a giver. And as a giver, look how the Father honored him. Here's what I want you to say, it has nothing to do with dollars and cents. It has to do with an attitude. And the attitude is simply this. God says, when you get in this attitude, I'm gonna run so much through your channel,

you're gonna get blessed, everybody else is gonna get blessed. And besides that, there are gonna be many other characteristics which I'm gonna come to in just a moment. So I wanna ask you a question. Now watch this one. Do you have the courage to be generous? Well, let's just take something simple. Do you have the courage to walk up to somebody with a big smile and give them a warm handshake and tell them your name? Or do you say, well, they don't wanna know me. Are you waiting for somebody else to do all the handshaking? When's the last time you told somebody and you really meant it, I really love you? Or do you say, well, I don't wanna get sentimental. You see, what we don't, we're so hung up oftentimes and so within ourselves, God can't bless us and nobody else can get through. God wants to grace your life. He wants to make your life a channel of blessing to someone else. When is the last time you just gave somebody that you knew that person was in financial need and you gave it to them? You didn't make any big deal out of it, you didn't go telling a bunch of folks about it, you just gave because you cared. Would you be considered a generous person?

You know what he's saying in this whole passage, there are two chapters of it. He says, my purpose isn't to prosper my children, my purpose is to make my children generous. And then what happens? The prosperity is the backlash of that. As we give, listen, as we give to others, he said, we're going to be enriched. There's no way to give without being blessed. But if I'm only giving in order to receive, if that's my only reason for giving, I got the wrong purpose in mind. Will you receive? No doubt about it, that's the whole principle. He says, as we sow, we're going to reap. And so he says, we're going to abound in this. The key word is generosity. Now, let's think about something and I want you to get your pencil out and I want to give you two lists of things that I want you to think about in your own finances and your own generosity. When God graces our finances, listen, God's going, he's going to invade our finances with his power and something's going to happen. And I think there are six results that are here in this passage. Six results are going to happen to you financially. Now listen, the result of grace giving, that is with this whole perspective of being generous,

number one, God will enrich us as we enrich others. Here it is, verse 11. I won't read all the verses again, I'm going to give you two lists. Verse 11, he will enrich us as we enrich others. That's the law of God. Number two, When we give with a grace spirit, other people's needs will be met. We'll meet other people's needs. We'll become that channel. Number three, that's verse 12. Number three, we're certainly gonna be more like Jesus. When we start having a generous spirit and grace-giving, we're gonna be like Him. Number four, God's gonna use us to motivate other people to give. You would be surprised at the people in sharing their testimonies of what motivated them to start getting out of debt and started to giving. It's what they heard and listened to somebody else say about what was going on in their own life, their personal testimony, motivate other people to give. Number five, it will unite God's people. In verse 14 and 15 of this chapter, he talks about, he says that they were so blessed that they yearned for you because the surpassing grace of God in you because of what they'd given. So, God just brings them together. Listen, is it not true that in a family where everybody's

generous, there's this wonderful sense of oneness? If you got one or more stingy people in a family, you got a problem. There's always conflict. Don't step on that. That's mine. Don't come in here. This belongs to me. Don't do so and so. What you have is you have conflict. But when you have, well, you can have that. Well, take some more of this. Well, sure. That's fine. But you have a wonderful spirit of unity. And so, one last thing, and that is it glorifies God. When you and I start practicing grace giving, God gets glorified. He gets exalted. He wants to bless us. Now, how do I know when I'm really practicing grace giving? God, I just want to thank you and praise you that all that I have, no longer in this reservoir, I've put it all in the channel. Now, how am I going to know when I am really giving in the spirit of grace and it's grace giving? Well, if you took the eighth chapter of this same book, second Corinthians chapter eight, if you took the eighth chapter and you outlined it, this is what you would find. So, I want to give you five statements here that really is

an outline of chapter eight, but it's all about, listen, it's all about how you can know when you are really giving grace giving. That is, I mean, this is just a favor of God. This is just a spirit of generosity. He says, number one, we're going to give in spite of our circumstances. That's the first sign that it's grace giving. I'm not checking to see how much I have and how much I'm going to have left and be sure that I'm going to be able to do all the things I want to do, but Lord, in spite of my circumstances, I'm going to give. That's when the grace of God really begins to work in a person's heart financially and the flow begins. I give, first of all, in spite of my circumstances. Secondly, I'm going to give enthusiastically. I'm going to be excited about it. He says, God loves a cheerful giver. We're talking about being excited about something. And you think about, here's somebody in need or the work of the ministry or something, and you have the privilege of being a part of that. He says, not grudgingly, not under compulsion, but he said, cheerfully, joyfully, enthusiastically. God is waiting on us to grace us financially. And I simply ask you, do you have the courage to do it? Do you have the courage to do it? All right, enthusiastically. Thirdly, to give as Jesus gave. That's what the whole message last week was about. To give as Jesus gave, sacrificially.

And that's how I'll know when I'm giving, I'm giving with grace giving. I'm going to give in spite of my circumstances. I'm going to give enthusiastically, and I'm going to be willing to give sacrificially. And the fourth thing is I'm going to give it willingly, generously, cheerfully. I want to do it. And fifthly, I'm going to do it by faith. God, I can't see my way clear at this, but I'm going to do it anyway because that's what you said do. My friend, there are no exceptions. You just have to decide, do I want God to grace my finances or do I not? If I were a single and I were in debt, before I walked out of this place, I mean, when I stood up at the invitation, I'd say, God, are you listening? Because I want to tell you something, and I'd make a commitment before I walked out of this place, that beginning today, I invite God to invade my finances with grace. And I start with principle number one, I start to sow. If I were just married, I'd get my wife on her knees and say, honey, beginning today, this is it, grace will rule and reign in our hearts when it comes to finances. If I were a teenager, I'd do the same thing. A college student, you don't have a lot of money, you're sort of making it through school and your parents don't give you a whole lot, they can't afford to give you a whole lot, then start practicing it. You're not too old and you're not too young.

You know why? Because that principle is you. Universal and it works anytime all the time with anybody and everybody It's just that simple Now I just simply ask you a question You want God's best You want God to grace you financially You want to be debt-free You want the best God has to offer You want to be a blessing to lots of folks You want to be a channel and you'll never be able to measure how far that channel goes You want to bring glory to God and exalt the Son of God you want to be more like Jesus? You want to have more enthusiasm and excitement in your life. You want to have more joy in your life and more cheerfulness You want you want you want to enjoy listen you enjoy the spirit of generosity. That's something you enjoy A Friend all of that is yours for one decision Lord God by faith I will You