Are You Saved? # 11

Ephesians 4: 1 ‘I encourage you to live the kind of life which proves that God has called you’

Last time we were saying that following our salvation, we have a continuing responsibility to provide evidence that our salvation is real

In this Series we are learning about the evidences that prove that our salvation is real

So far:

1/ Our Salvation Testimony

2/ An Obedient Life

3/ Real Worship

This time:

4/ Generous Giving

Jesus said that the thoughts of the unbeliever are dominated by the pursuit of money and possessions

Matthew 6: 31b-32a, ‘’they say, what will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers’’

Jesus illustrated this truth by telling a short story about a man who spent his whole life in the pursuit of money and possessions

Luke 12: 16-19

A lot of people reading this could easily think that Jesus was giving us good financial advice about how to accumulate money and possessions for the future - No, Jesus was warning us against accumulating money and possessions for the future

Just look at the self-centeredness of the man in the story:

Instead of seeking guidance from God about his future, he consults with himself and decides what’s best for himself

Luke 12: 17a ‘He said to himself, ‘What should I do’?

The only concern this man had, was for himself – his thinking was completely dominated by the pursuit of money and possessions

X 10 in this short passage he refers to himself, his own needs and his future

His only ambition was for his own financial security

Luke 12: 19 ‘And I’ll sit back and say to myself, “My friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! Eat, drink, and be merry!”’

For a lot of people this sounds like a great plan doesn’t it!?

Sorry, no. God condemns this kind of thinking

Luke 12: 20-21

Jesus also said this, Luke 9: 25a ‘what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his soul’

One of the clearest evidences that someone is really saved is seen in their willingness to ‘let go’ of their pursuit of money and possessions and instead pursue God

Jesus said, Matthew 6: 24 “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money”.

The Apostle John said this, 1 John 2: 15 ‘Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you’.

So, are you serving money, or God?

Some Christians foolishly think they can do both – pursue money and possessions and serve God at the same time, hoping that no one will notice and hold them accountable

We are all familiar with the Bible narrative about Annanias and Sapphira

Acts 5: 1-10

Annanias and Sapphira sold some property and said they would give all the money to the work of God; but they didn’t, they gave most of the money to the work of God and kept some of it for themselves

They lied about it!

The Apostle Peter confronted Annanias about his lie and he fell down dead - then Peter confronted Sapphira about her lie and she too fell down dead

How many times have you read this narrative?

Me? Countless times

One of the last times I read this narrative, I saw something in the text I had never noticed before:

When Annanias fell down dead and then Sapphira came in, the Apostle Peter showed her absolutely NO empathy about the death of her husband and went on to confront her about their lie and she fell down dead too

Today, if a person or a couple did this exact same thing, most Churches would be very happy about the money and say nothing about the lie

What would we do if this happened in our Church and the husband fell down and died in our Service?

• All our great nurses would try and revive the man

• Our congregation would gather around the shocked widow and offer love and comfort

• Our caring Pastors would be on the job with counselling and support

• There would be no limit to what we would do for this poor widowed woman

And what would happen if the wife fell down dead too right after her husband?

• Everyone would be in shock I suppose

But here in the narrative, none of that happened: The Apostle Peter was not happy with Annanias and Sapphira and confronted them both about lying to God and showed NO empathy for either of them

And look how God vindicated Peter

Acts 5: 11-16

Here’s the lesson for all of us, don’t lie to God, the Lord takes the issue of money and possessions VERY seriously – and so should we

Yes, we need to earn money to pay our expenses and save for the future – but, we need to serve God FIRST!

We also need to learn to give generously - giving generously invites God’s blessings upon our finances

Proverbs 11: 24-25 ‘Give freely and become more wealthy; be stingy and lose everything. The generous will prosper’

Testimony:

On Sunday night November 20th 1982 Jennifer and I gave our lives to Christ and in the middle of the next week, after my wages got paid, I went to the Bank and drew out $30 for our giving.

Do you know how I remembered that?

After I drew out the $30, I went to my vehicle, sat in the car and put the money into an Offering Envelope and as I was doing that an Elder from the Church we got saved in walked by my car, he saw me and came over and said to me, “Are you getting your giving ready for Church”? I said, “Yes”.

For the last 40 years Jennifer and I have been giving generously to the work of God – we never miss

Do you know why? Our thoughts are NOT dominated by the pursuit of money and possessions but by the pursuit of God

Testimony: R.G LeTourneau

Was a Christian; an inventor and businessman in the U.S in the early part of the 1900’s

In 1915 he started manufacturing heavy earth moving machinery but by 1927 his business had failed

He started to seek the Lord about his business and felt the Lord saying to him to ‘hand over’ his business to God

LeTourneau did that and started giving 90% of his business earnings to the work of God and lived on the remaining 10%

Then, LeTourneau’s business began to succeed

In 1946 he set up a University to help educate returning WW2 veterans

He also set up the LeTourneau Museum and Archive

And in 1959 ALONE, he gave $50, 000,000 USD to the work of God

LeTourneau said this, (its) ‘Not how much of my money I give to God, but how much of His money I keep for myself’

Finally:

Have you resolved the money and possessions issue yet?

Maybe I can help you do that today - Remember this:

We serve a generous God

James 1: 5a ‘our generous God’

God has generously forgiven our sin

Isaiah 55: 7b ‘turn to our God, for He will forgive generously’

God has generously poured out His grace upon us

Romans 5: 20 ‘But as people sinned more and more, God’s wonderful grace became more abundant’.

God has generously provided all you need

2 Corinthians 9: 8 ‘God will generously provide all you need’

We owe Him everything and if we would willingly ‘let go’ of our pursuit of money and possessions and instead pursue God, the Lord will bless us!