REVIEW
In our current series called “Financially Faithful,” we are learning how we as Christians can be more faithful with our finances. And if you don’t think you can, think again. We all can stand to improve in this area because it is not one another that we are comparing ourselves against. No, our standard is the Lord and His Word. So, let’s go to another level and learn how to not just be faithful in our own eyes, but to have the Lord look at us and say, “Now that’s my good and faithful servant.” Amen? So over the past couple of weeks, we have been studying what the Bible calls the tithe. And over the course of the past couple of weeks, we have been answering several questions such as: 1.What is the tithe? 2.When is the tithe? 3.Why do we tithe? 4.Where do we tithe? We learned that the tithe simply means “tenth” – or, we might say 10%. So the tithe is not just some random amount that we decide to give a person, place, or thing. No, it’s specifically 10% of our increase, nothing more and nothing less. So the tithe is not an amount; it’s a percentage. Then we answered the question “When is the tithe?”, which is basically that question of whether the tithe was just under the law or do we have to tithe under the New Testament. And we learned that the principle of the tithe didn’t start with the law. No, Abraham tithed well before there was a commandment to do so. Not only that, but the tithe is mentioned in the New Testament as well. So tithing is not just something that was “under the law.” No, it was before the law and after the law. Therefore, tithing is an eternal statute that is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore. Then last week, we answered the question “Why do we tithe?”, and we learned that the simple answer to that question is because His Word teaches us to. That’s really the only reason we need to practice it. However, I think the best motivation for doing it is because it’s the right & honorable thing to do and because we love God and seek to honor Him by returning to Him 10% of what He has blessed us with. So this is the simple answer that should refute all other objections. For example, if a person gave me $1,000, I should have no problem with giving $100 back to them. However, if I don’t see that 1K as a gift – thinking I earned it – and don’t recognize who it is who gave it to me, then giving $100 to that person might not be my tendency. So this is why it is important for us to understand where every good gift and every perfect gift in our life comes from. Once we see that, giving back to Him becomes a much easier thing to do. But I offered you another reason why tithing is our responsibility as the people of God – We saw that not only should we tithe back to the Lord because it’s an honor thing; we should tithe because it is a holy thing. Yes, we learned that there are some things that the Lord specifically considers to be His, and the tithe is one of those things. In fact, when you study the principle of the tithe under the law, you’ll find that it essentially was a taxation of Israel. In other words, it was a system put in place by God through Moses for His people to pay for things in the kingdom of Israel. This is why you see the word “render” associated with it – because it is something one “gives back.” So this is why the tithe is still a good practice for us today. No, not because we have to or because of some rule or law, but because, first, we want to honor the Lord like Abraham did, and secondly, we know it consistently provides for the kingdom of God like Moses put into place. Then last week, we ended by answering the question – “Where do we tithe?” In other words, where does the tithe belong and where should we be giving it? And we looked at several Scriptures and determined what God’s Word teaches us regarding this … We saw from Malachi 3:10 that we are to bring all the tithe into the “storehouse,” and this word was used to describe the “treasuries” of the House of the Lord. And in this treasury of God’s house, I’m sure you found all kinds of valuable things including crops, fruit, meat, etc. along with gold, silver, and other monetary items. But we saw that the storehouse that the Lord told them to bring their tithes to was located in God’s “House” (See Malachi 3:10): Now God’s House is not to be misunderstood as just a physical building or Structure. Just because a building is called a church doesn’t mean it really is a church in the sense that God intended it. This is why we need to be led where we plant ourselves and where we sow our seed. Not every ministry & church out there, God approves of. The Lord told them in Deuteronomy 12:1-5 to bring tithes to the place where the Lord chooses, where His name is, and where He has chosen as His dwelling place. So that criteria describes that we bring the tithes to the place God’s tells us, first of all. But we also look for the ministries or churches that represent the Lord’s character & power and the ones where we sense the Lord’s presence. And we learned from Deuteronomy 26:12 that one of their tithes was specifically intended for the Levites, the foreigners, the orphans, and the widows – which we saw describes everything from the full-time ministry workers to the lost and the poor. And while we can all certainly be used of God to individually give to these things, the tithe being brought into the storehouse of God’s House is a means to taking care of a lot of these needs corporately rather than just individually. I bring this up because I believe that if you are a part of a good church that properly stewards their resources to take care of the needs of folks – both naturally and spiritually – then you don’t have to go seek out people who fit this category. You trust your local church to distribute to the appropriate parties. So based on what I read in the Scriptures and believe is wisdom from above, I believe the tithe predominantly belongs in your local church. And why? Because a good, healthy church contains “Levites” (i.e. workers that have devoted themselves full-time to the ministry). It also will take care of the strangers, widows, and orphans. It’s where your children & grandchildren are cared for. It’s where your pastor will visit you, call on you, pray for you, etc. It’s where the physical building is located where you can gather together with other believers. These are not things other ministries provide for you. So I for one, choose to “bring” my tithes to this here storehouse and trust the leadership team to distribute to the needs contained both in our gathering place and to the needs God puts on our hearts outside of these walls. This is where I tithe – because I believe HPC is good ground and is doing the work of the ministry. Amen. AN UNCHANGING ORDINANCE Now I want to finish up our look on the tithe this week by looking at the benefits of this particular type of giving. Yes, there are some very specific promises given to the tither that I for one hold on to. So let’s go over to Malachi chapter 3 and look at some powerful verses about the tithe and what’s promised to the tither. Let’s begin in verse 6 … Malachi 3:6-7 says, “For I am the Lord, I do not change; Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob. Yet from the days of your fathers, you have gone away from My ordinances and have not kept them.” Notice that He didn’t say, “For I am the Lord, and I like to switch things up sometimes.” Nor did He say, “For I am the Lord, and you never know what I am going to do.” No, the Lord does not change, and nor do His ordinances, precepts, and statutes. So when it comes to the principle of the tithe, unless we are specifically told in the New Testament that the tithe has been done away with, then it is wrong to assume that this statute has passed away. I mean, to say such things sounds eerily similar to saying tongues, healing, miracles, etc. have passed away. And I believe most of us would agree today that these teachings are “doctrines of devils.” So one just needs to be careful about talking about all the things that are repeated in the Scripture as “passing away.” In fact, if you study First Corinthians chapter 13 where they get these ideas from, you’ll find that the time frame when things like tongues, prophecies, etc. will pass away is when His kingdom has fully come in the form of the new heavens and the new earth. These verses are not even referring to a dispensation that has occurred yet. No, things like tithing, which was mentioned even before the law, in the law, and after the law is not to be presumed as having changed for us in the church. Now our motivation for giving it might have changed. Our heart in “rendering” it back to Lord might not be the same. But the fact is, it was, is, and always will be a good practice for the people of God. Not to mention, giving above and beyond 10% ought to be New Testament standard. Amen? Therefore, the tithe is just a bare minimum of what every disciple should be giving. And if that’s the case, then why are people squabbling about it? No, those are usually the people who aren’t giving 10% -- and I cannot see a way that those people who say we ought to just be led and purpose in our hearts when & how much to give are being led by the Holy Spirit and by a generous heart if they are not giving at least 10%. God does not change, saints! Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore! This is why I wholeheartedly believe that tithing is the same today as it was yesterday. Amen? Now the rest of Malachi 3:7 says, “Return to Me, and I will return to you, Says the Lord of hosts. But you said, In what way shall we return?” Now this phrase – “Return to Me, and I will return to you” reminds me of the New Testament verse that says, “Draw near to me and I will draw near to you.” (James 4:8). And this is an eternal statute as well – for when one decides to make the steps to draw near and return to the Lord, He will respond by meeting you somewhere in the middle. We see this with the prodigal son when he decided to return to his father’s house and the father ran out to meet him on the road. This is the Father’s heart! But when they asked the question – “In what way shall we return?” – The Lord immediately answered with what He said in verse 8 – “Will a man rob God?” and then proceeds to talk about them not giving tithes & offerings as prescribed in the Law. Did you know that one of the first things to go when someone departs from the Lord is their giving? It sure is! If you want to find out the condition of a person’s heart, all you have to do is look at their “treasure” – for where our treasure is, there our heart will be also. So once a person’s heart becomes cold towards God and the things of God, their money is usually one of the first places that gets affected. Likewise, one of the things that is the first to come when someone returns to the Lord is their giving. Why? Because once the heart is converted, gratitude is the natural response for the grace given. And therefore, giving becomes the natural response. Now that doesn’t mean that the person automatically knows about giving. This is where knowledge comes into play. We must be taught. We must be educated. Then information coupled together with a right heart will result in giving. DON’T ROB YOURSELF Now let’s deal with this response that God gave them to their question of how shall they return to Him. He asks a question – “Will a man rob God?” – and then He answered it by saying, “Yet you have robbed Me!” And I’m sure like many of us would have been, they were legitimately puzzled with this. They had never gone into the treasury of the House of God and taken from it. They had never stolen anything from His tabernacle/temple. So how on earth could they have “robbed” God? So when they asked in what way had they robbed Him, His response was – “In tithes and offerings.” But I’m sure their question was – How is us not tithing or giving offerings robbing God? Well, consider two things: Number one, as we learned last week, the tithe is the Lord’s. He said it was holy to Him – meaning, it was to be set apart unto Him and He viewed that first 10% as His. Therefore, they were simply “rendering” it to Him. So if they weren’t giving back to God what was set apart or consecrated to Him, what were they essentially doing? They were robbing God – that is, taking what was His and using it for themselves. Number two, even the offerings that they were instructed to give under the Mosaic & Levitical laws were not even what they purposed in their heart. They were prescribed. So God evidently viewed what they were choosing not to “render” to Him as stealing from Him. I wonder if God has the same mentality today? Are there things that God considers His today? Well, while we are not commanded to give specific offerings like they were, we have seen that tithing was and is still being practiced both before and after the law. However, I do not go as far as saying one is robbing God if they don’t tithe or give offerings because we do not have commandments to do so like they did under the law. However, like with Abraham, it is something we practice out of our love & honor for the Lord, not out of a grudging obligation. So if I do not tithe, I don’t see it as me robbing God, but I do see it as me robbing myself. Yes, if I choose not to honor the Lord with 10% of my increase, I am robbing myself of the privilege and honor of giving a sacrifice back to the Lord that is a sweet-smelling aroma, holy & acceptable in His sight. I am robbing myself of the opportunity to give to my Creator and Savior with a thankful heart for all the blessings He has already bestowed on me. If I don’t tithe and give offerings, I am the one being robbed; not God. Therefore, it is in my best interest to honor Him with my financial gifts. He even went as far as saying in verse 9 that “You are cursed with a curse, for you have robbed Me, even this whole nation.” Usually, people read this as the curse of God coming upon them, but that’s not exactly how it works. He’s not in the cursing business; God’s in the blessing business. However, when one departs from the Lord and from His ordinances, they open themselves up to being cursed – for the absence of light is darkness. So the withdrawing from light Himself will naturally result in darkness. TRY ME! Then in verse 10, the Lord says, “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this …” You know, you will be hard-pressed to find another example in the Scriptures where God invites us to “try Him” (i.e. test Him). He’s usually not too keen on us testing Him. But in this case of the tithe, He readily invites us to test Him on it. Now I don’t encourage one to do it with the attitude of – “Well, I’m willing to give it a try to see if God will indeed give me a return on my investment.” Do it for the right reasons. Don’t do it because of what it will do for you. Do it because it’s righteous. Do it because it’s honorable. Do it because you love the Lord. Amen? POURING OUT A BLESSING But He said to try Him now in this and see – “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.” Now the phrase “windows of heaven and pour out” can certainly be used to describe the opening up of the atmospheric heavens and rain being poured. We see it used this way in Genesis 7:11 when describing how God opened up the heavens to flood the earth. But it is also used to describe how like rain is a blessing from God, heaven’s blessing is poured out, like He goes on to say in this verse. And again, it’s important to understand that for their predominantly agricultural society, the abundance of rain was definitely a blessing. So the rain was symbolic of the natural resource that created increase in their fields. Rain likely won’t do that for you. For example, if we start tithing, having the forecast change to rain might not be a blessing to us. In fact, for some people that work outside for a living, it might be considered a curse. So what I see the windows of heaven opening up and God pouring out a blessing on us describing is, God’s favor & blessing coming from heaven on whatever type of ground that our increase comes from and supernaturally bringing forth that increase. So if your increase comes from the stock market, we can expect some kind of blessing on our investments to see increase. If your increase comes from sales in a particular vocation, then you can expect opportunities & favor to increase. The list goes on. But the bottom line is God’s blessing is released from heaven on the tither to see increase in their life. This is what the Lord described in Deuteronomy 8:18 when he said it is He who gives us the “power” to get wealth. Church, we need God’s strength to increase financially. We could work our fingers to the bone and burn the candle on both ends, but it’s God’s ability that will yield the best results. In this example, you can till the ground and plant seed all day long, but if the Lord doesn’t give you rain, then all your labor will be in vain. We need God’s blessing upon our hard work. And this is what is promised to the tither. Tithing doesn’t replace hard work and setting your hands to something. But it does release blessing on what you set your hands to, and blesses it. Amen So no, this doesn’t mean that God is going to open the windows of heaven and start raining down money on you. However, what it does mean is that God will send His blessing on whatever you set your hand to and whatever it is that produces your harvest and supernaturally bring that increase. And the cool part about it is, you won’t always be able to put your finger on how these blessings are coming in your life. The bread will supernaturally multiply in your basket. The sandals on your feet will supernaturally last longer. You might not be able to put your finger on it, but it seems like your money is just going further. This is part of the blessing on the tither – It released God’s blessing on us and our things to create increase. So much so that – “That there will not be room enough to receive it.” Did you know that this is EXACTLY what happened to tithing Abraham? The Bible says that God blessed him with so much that the land could not hold him (Genesis 13:6)! This is why he and Lot had to split up. It was because of God pouring out on him such a blessing that the land did not have room enough to receive it. That sounds like Malachi 3, doesn’t it? That same blessing continued to the sons of Abraham as well … We learned that Jacob had instilled in him the principle of tithing (See Genesis 28:22), which undoubtedly was passed down from his grandfather. So while we are never told that Jacob’s father, Isaac, tithed, it is clear that he did. Why, you ask? Because look at the blessing that was on his life: When he dwelt in Gerar, God blessed him so much there that even in the year of famine, he reaped a hundredfold harvest. The Scriptures teach us that “The man began to prosper, and continued prospering until he became very prosperous” (Genesis 26:12-13) to where even when the Philistines stopped up his wells, he was able to find another one. Like the cork that always rises to the top, he was the blessed of the Lord! But my point is that the blessing on the Patriarchs’ lives was a literal fulfillment of the tither’s blessing. They knew how to honor the Lord with the tenth of their increase, and they were so blessed that the land couldn’t hold them, and they were envied & hated by the other nations of the land. So the tithe is one of the means by which heaven’s blessing is released on our lives. Again, we might not be able to quantify it. It might not be something that we can explain. But God’s blessing will multiply our seed sown and increase the fruits of our righteousness. No doubt! But it’s important to know this – God’s blessing is generally not going to come straight from Him. He uses other people oftentimes to bless us. Jesus taught us this in Luke 6:38 – Give and it shall be given unto you, pressed down, shaken together, and running over shall men give into your bosom. He didn’t say “shall God give into our bosom”; no, He said men shall give it to you. So just know that when God is blessing you, it will sometimes happen through other people. And sometimes, they won’t even know why they are doing it. But you can! When you see these things from Malachi chapter 3, you’ll know exactly why this person just had it on their heart to do good to you. It’s God’s blessing being poured out on you! Amen. HE WILL REBUKE THE DEVOURER But wait! There’s more … Not only did the Lord promise to pour out the blessing from the windows of heaven, but He also said, “‘And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, so that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field,’ Says the Lord of hosts;” Now the literal “devourer” that they were concerned about was all those pesky pests that liked to devour their harvests. But this obviously means more than just locusts or other insects & animals that tended towards consuming their crops. This describes the devourer—that is, the devil and his minions. You see, the devil is ultimately the thief, destroyer, and devourer. Sure, natural things like insects, animals, and people can exhibit the same characteristics, but at the root of it all, the devil is one who steals, kills, and destroys. So when the Lord says, “And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes …” we are seeing the Lord stand in the gap between our increase and the devil’s desire to consume it. Have you ever had situations where maybe you received some windfall in your life like a financial gift of some kind but as soon as you received that money, unexpected bills arose that drained you of that money? Maybe it was that you were believing God for a new car, and then someone comes out of nowhere and gives you a chunk of money that will help go towards that new vehicle. However, at the same time, you receive that money, something breaks in the house that requires you using that money on it instead of going towards the new car. Well, a lot of times, that’s the devourer. It’s like having holes in your pockets. One step forward and two steps back. Well, the blessing of the tither is that the Lord will rebuke the devourer for our sakes. In other words, on our behalf and for our behalf. So no more one step forward and two steps back. More like one step back and two steps forwards and having another pocket or two to hold more. So the devil cannot destroy the fruit of our ground. No, we have a hedge around us like Job did originally. He doesn’t have access to our stuff. It’s like having a fence up around us. So all of our fruit is protected from being devoured. But the devourer doesn’t just consume fruit that comes up. In some cases, he keeps fruit from ever being produced. This is why the Lord said, “Nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field.” So all of those things in our life that don’t like to “work,” we can speak to them and declare that our vines will not fail to bear fruit! Amen! MIXING FAITH WITH GOD’S PROMISES But let me end by saying this, that when it comes to the promises of God, it is important that we don’t just view God’s promises as something we sit back and watch Him perform. It’s extremely important that we mix faith with the promises of God (See Hebrews 4:2). God can give us His Word – He can say many things – but if His people don’t mix faith together with His Word, we can miss out on some good eatin’. So these specific promises we have learned about – take & use them! Especially when it seems like they are not happening. That’s when a person of faith will apply these things – when they don’t see it – for they walk by faith and not by sight! No, this is not all just something that we need to expect God to do while we sit back. Under our new & better covenant, we are taught that we all our kings & priests. Yes, we’ve all been anointed and given authority. Therefore, the power to bless is in our hands & mouths! The power to rebuke the devil is ours as well! So the idea of just letting God do all of this isn’t completely New Testament. We need to cooperate with and work together with Him on these things. So let me give you a couple of examples: When you tithe, bless your tithe. Speak over your gifts (spouses, do these things together) and proclaim in faith that you are honoring the Lord with these gifts and use Scripture to remind God of what He has said. And when it comes to time where it seems like the devil has come in to devour your harvest, stand up in faith and rebuke Him. The Bible teaches us that you and I are to resist the devil and he will flee from us (James 4:7). So when he is infringing on our property, we run Him off. We do this by saying something to the effect of – “No sir! Not today, satan! I’m a tither and you have no right to devour my harvest! My finances are blessed, not cursed. So, get!” This is how we mix faith with God’s promises to the tither. And when we tithe in faith, receive the blessing of the tithe by faith, and resist the devourer by faith, we will more consistently see the manifestation of the promise for the tithe. Amen.
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REVIEW
So we started out in our current series on the subject of finances by addressing certain mentalities that we are to possess in order to be more “financially faithful” to the Lord. Yes, the way we think is what I consider to be the most important part of faithfully stewarding our finances. Most recently, we learned how we are called “stewards”, and a “steward” literally is described as one who handles the affairs of another. It is defined as a person who manages another person’s property. So you could describe a steward as what we would call today a “manager.” So, last week, we started looking at the primary ways that we can steward or manage the finances that God has blessed us with. And we learned that one the most obvious & primary ways that a Christian can be faithful in the stewardship of their money is in how we give! Yes, it is very apparent that God is huge on the concept of giving because of the plentitude of Scriptures on the subject. Therefore, giving must be one of the main ways that we properly steward His monies, and what He considers us being faithful with those finances. And we started talking about the various types of giving, and began talking about what is both the most controversial and the most important kind of giving – the tithe. I see the tithe as being the first and most foundational type of giving that God’s people honor the Lord with. And what we did was we answered a couple of questions regarding the tithe – the questions of “What?” and “When?” We answered the question “What is the tithe?” by defining the term tithe and found out that it simply means “tenth” – or, we might say 10%. So the tithe is not just some random amount that we decide to give a person, place, or thing of God. No, it’s specifically 10% of our increase. Now I had someone challenge me this past week that according to their understanding of the Scriptures, the Israelites were only told to give their tithe like twice a year. Well, that was because their tithe was from their harvest. So if you only have two harvests a year, then yes, you only need to tithe twice a year. But if your “increase” comes in 12 or 24 times a year like it does with most of us that earn a paycheck, then your “tenth” is given that many times a year. My point is that your tithe comes off of your financial increase, whatever that looks like. But we answered another important question last week, and that is – “When is the tithe?” This question is the biggest one because so many people ask – Was the tithe just under the law or do we have to tithe under the New Testament? Well, first of all, you don’t have to do anything. You don’t have to tithe. You don’t have to give offerings. But you also don’t have to have God open up the windows of heaven on your life and pour out a blessing that you don’t have room enough to receive it. Nor do you have to have the Lord rebuke the devourer for your sakes. You don’t “have” to have any of this in your life, but you do get to. You see, a law-based mentality says, “I got to do this to get that.” But a grace & faith-based mentality says, “I get to do this because I’ve already got that.” And that certainly goes for tithing. Don’t look at it like – What do I have to do? No, tithe like Abraham did well before there was a law, and give him a tenth because of all the ways that the Lord, your Melchizedek, has blessed you. That’s the right way to give the tithe – like our father of faith, Abraham, did. We also saw how the New Testament gives us a couple of examples of tithing as well – both with Jesus saying in Matthew 23:23 that the tithe is something we ought to do and with the Book of Hebrews dedicating some precious Scriptural real estate on the idea of tithing. So we learned that tithing is not just something that was under the law. No, it was before the law and after the law. Therefore, tithing is an eternal statute that is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore. Now this week, I want us to answer another couple of questions. Like we answered the “What?” and “When?” last week, today, let’s answer the “Why?” and “Where?” questions. WHY DO WE TITHE? Let’s begin with the question – Why do we tithe? Well, that question can be easily answered with this – Because we love God and seek to honor Him by returning to Him 10% of what He has blessed us with. Like we said, this is why Abraham tithed in our first Biblical example. He didn’t tithe because He was commanded to. It was an honor thing by giving a tenth of the spoils of his victory to the Lord’s High Priest, Melchizedek. So this is the simple answer that should refute all other objections. For example, if a person gave me $1,000, I should have no problem with giving $100 back to them. However, if I don’t see that 1K as a gift and don’t recognize who it is who gave it to me, then giving $100 to that person might not be my tendency. So this is why it is important for us to understand where every good gift and every perfect gift in our life comes from. Once we see that, giving back to Him becomes a much easier thing to do. But I want to offer you another reason why tithing is our responsibility as the people of God – Not only should I tithe back to the Lord because it’s an honor thing, I should tithe because it is holy thing. Do you remember the story of when Jesus was tested by the Pharisees regarding the payment of taxes to Rome? And how Jesus responded to their question of “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” with “Render unto Ceasar the things which are Ceasar’s and unto God the things which are God’s.” (See Matthew 22:15-22)? Now the subject here was taxation. And just like it was with the Jews then, it is that way with folks now – we do not want to believe that we owe a certain amount to our government. However, Jesus was advocating the payment of taxes to Rome just like Romans 13:7 reiterates – “Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor.” So the Bible is clear that it is the duty of the people of God to “render” (i.e. pay off or give back) taxes to whom they are due. Now I know a lot of people don’t like this subject and one of the reasons is because they don’t agree with how our government handles our tax money. But consider how much worse of a government system the Jewish people were under than even us. I mean, they were in bondage. They didn’t have many rights at all. It was an oppressive system to where they were being severely taken advantage of with their taxation. So as bad as you and I think we have it here in the United States with how our government handles our tax money and how much they take, it is not a fraction as bad as the Jews had it when Jesus said, “Render unto Ceasar the things which are Ceasars.” So I for one choose to pay my taxes willingly without offense in my heart in having to do so – believing God that my tax money is going to good & useful things and not the part that’s being wasted and going to bad use. But I want you to notice that Jesus did not just say, “Render unto Ceasar the things that are Caesar’s …” He also said, “And (render) unto God the things that are God’s.” So apparently Jesus thought that just as it is our duty to render taxes to our government because it is theirs, He also thought some things are God’s. What do you suppose that is? Well, under the law, God revealed to Israel how the tithe was different than their other forms of giving. He said in Leviticus 27:30 – “And all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord’s. It is holy to the Lord.” Therefore, the tithe is holy unto the Lord. This means it is separate, different, and set apart unto God. And in this passage, it says that the tithe “is the Lord’s.” So I believe that one of the things that it is our duty to return unto the Lord is that holy thing called the tithe. It’s not for our consumption; It’s for His use. Now we made the point that under our new & better covenant, everything that we have is the Lord’s – for we died, and our life is hidden with God in Christ Jesus. Yes, we were crucified with Christ, and it is no longer we who live, but it’s Christ living in us and through us (Galatians 2:20). So, as the Scriptures clearly state, our life is not our own anymore. We were bought with a price! Therefore, all the gold, silver, etc. is His – meaning, all of our money is something we simply are stewarding for Him as we aim to live our lives seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Now most of us will “amen” all of that, but I’ve yet to really meet anyone who acts like that is true. No, most of us spend the money we’ve earned like it’s ours to do whatever we want with it. If we want a bigger house and we’ve got the money in our account to do it, we get it. If we want a new car and our income justifies getting it, we will go buy it. Very few people inquire of the Lord and ask Him something to the effect of – “Lord, is it okay if I use your money to buy this for myself?” And guess what? While we certainly ought to be led by Him in how we steward the money we’ve been blessed with, it’s not something we have to ask permission on. God has entrusted this money to us to steward properly, but that doesn’t mean He’s against us using any of it for our own personal needs & desires. We just need to be open & willing to give any of it away when He tells us to do so. Not only that, we also need to have a heart to honor Him with what He has blessed us with by tithing, giving Him offerings, and taking care of those in need. This is how you and I properly steward God’s finances. You see, there are a lot of citizens of heaven who do not want to believe that it is our duty to “render” tithes to God. But if you study the principle of the tithe under the law, you’ll find that it essentially was a taxation of Israel. In other words, it was a system put in place by God through Moses for His people to pay for things in the kingdom of Israel. And while I do not personally look at tithing like I do paying taxes, I do come at it with a similar mindset – that it’s not mine to do with whatever I feel like. Like paying taxes, I realize it takes money for a government to run and the taxpayers’ money is what provides the means of the provision & protection we need in our land. Likewise, the tithe serves a similar purpose in that it takes money for the church to operate. Those that preach the gospel should live of the gospel. Any worker in the gospel is worthy of his or her wages. Churches & ministries have the same overhead as other places of business. Therefore, our Father’s business needs money to operate. Therefore, the principle of the tithe is good for the church today the same as it was good for the kingdom of Israel then. So this is why the tithe is still a good practice for us today. No, not because we have to or because of some rule or law, but because, first, we want to honor the Lord like Abraham did, and secondly, we know it consistently provides for the kingdom of God like Moses put into place. WHERE DO WE GIVE THE TITHE? Which leads me to the next question we need answered – “Where?” In other words, where does the tithe go and where should we be giving it? Let’s look at several Scriptures and determine what God’s Word teaches us that the tithe was for and where it was to be given … Now all of these verses are going to come from the Old Testament and specifically are references to the law, but don’t let that offend you. This is not to be viewed as “law or legalism.” But how many of you know that the law was not a bad thing. In fact, the apostle Paul said that the law was good. No, it wasn’t the problem; we were. People’s misuse of the law is what became and still today becomes the issue. But how many of you know that things that were prescribed under the law, we’ve come to discover are good & healthy things? For example, resting one day out of seven is good for us. Eating pork & shellfish is not necessarily healthy. Likewise, tithing is a healthy financial habit, not something that justifies us or makes us holy. But it’s just a wise principle for faithfully handling our finances. Amen? Let’s begin at the end of the Old Testament, in its last Book … Malachi 3:10 says, “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this, Says the Lord of hosts.” Now the phrase “all the tithes” refers to all the various tithes that they were prescribed to give under the law. Did you know that just as there wasn’t just one Sabbath, there wasn’t just one tithe? Well, don’t worry. I’m not going to get into all of that when I know that some of us are having trouble swallowing just one tithe. LOL! Now the “food” that He was describing was actual food. In fact, the Hebrew word was primarily used to describe meat that came from an animal’s prey. So does this mean that you and I are supposed go obtain some ribeye, prime rib, tenderloin, etc. and put it in the offering/ice box? No, and let me deal with this for a moment … One of the main arguments that the “anti-tithing” people make against tithing is that they make the point that it wasn’t money. And guess what? They are technically correct. What the children of Israel primarily tithed was crops, fruit, livestock, grains, meat, and drink. But this is what these people are missing – The Lord told them to tithe these things because that’s what their increase came in the form of. They weren’t bankers or working in a trade where physical currency was where their bankroll lied. No, they were primarily an agricultural society, so like a farmer in our day and time might grow corn, the corn didn’t become cash until they sold it. And in some situations, the commodities never become cash. For example, I remember on one of my trips to India, going to rural area to hold a meeting in the church, and outside of the church, there was a goat tied up. In my ignorance, I asked one of the church workers why they had a goat at the church, and he said that it was one of their members’ tithes. But the difference with us here in the United States, is that we live in a society that mainly deals with cash. We don’t deal in corn or in cattle, but in cash. So to be so literal as to say that we are doing it wrong because the Lord specifically told them to tithe these other commodities is wrong. Not to mention, I doubt that those that make that point are tithing the things that they were told to under the law. No, most people who bring this up are just looking for excuses and loopholes to avoid doing the thing that their flesh doesn’t want to do. But no, the word “storehouse” in Malachi 3:10 literally described the “treasuries” of the House of the Lord. You find this in a bunch of other Scriptures where this Hebrew word for “storehouse” was used. And in this treasury of God’s house, I’m sure you found all kinds of valuable things including gold, silver, and other monetary items. So the tithe can be one of many things, depending on what is of value in the specific place & time that the child of God is living in. And with most of us, that would usually be physical currency. Now if you want to donate Bessy, Fluffy, or Big Blue (That’s the name of Bruce’s truck) to the church, we will gladly accept them. But I will say, we prefer money so that we don’t have to spend our time exchanging these items for cash. But I want you to notice that the storehouse that the Lord told them to bring their tithes to was located in God’s “House” (See Malachi 3:10): Now God’s House is not to be misunderstood as just a physical building or Structure. Just because a building is called a church doesn’t mean it really is a church in the sense that God intended it. This is why we need to be led where we plant ourselves and where we sow our seed. Not every ministry & church out there, God approves of. In Deuteronomy 12:1-5, the Lord clearly showed them that they were not to worship Him with the idolatrous things that the people had. But in verse 6, He said that they were to seek the place where the Lord God chooses – meaning, you don’t choose to worship in the place, manner, etc. that you choose. No, you seek the place that God tells you to. In other words, you don’t go to church where you want. You don’t praise & worship Him in that place the way you want. You always seek to do His will, not your own. Verse 8 reiterates not doing what’s right in your own eyes. In verse 5, notice that He said that they would go to the place where He has “put His name for His dwelling place” and verse 6 said that this is where their tithes were to be brought. This is very important because when we choose the specific “House of God” that we sow into, we need to make sure His “name” is on that place & people. And I am not talking about that they have some nice fancy sign that has Jesus’ name on it or that they have a big cross or steeple. No, when the Bible speaks of the name of God it is referring to the representation of God. In other words, it refers to His character, nature, power, and authority. So when the Word of God teaches us to tithe to the place where God has chosen to put His name, it is telling us to tithe to the place that God’s character, nature, authority, and power is represented. In our example, He is talking about a body of believers where they correctly represent His nature and character and where they believe in and demonstrate His authority and power. This would exclude many churches today that believe that the gifts passed away with the apostles or that God is some ruthless tyrant who only loves you when you are perfect. In other words, God needs to be well-represented. The other qualification that we see in Deuteronomy 12:5-6 is that the place we tithe to needs to be a place that God has chosen to put His name “for His dwelling place.” In other words, God’s presence and anointing needs to be present there. Some churches you go into have just such an atmosphere that is charged with the presence of God. Some ministers just operate in and even usher the anointing of the Holy Ghost into a service. These are the churches and ministries that God has chosen for His dwelling place! So from these two principles we can learn that we need to tithe to the ministry that is rightly dividing the word of truth—accurately representing the nature and power of God—and also to the ministry that is anointed and carries the ark with it wherever it goes. Now, of course, this does not limit us to a local church, but I personally like to give all or the majority of it to my local church because it is a consistent amount that they can budget and my offerings go to other ministries that I feel accurately represent the Lord and carry His presence. So it is clear that the tithe goes to the storehouse (i.e. the treasury) of the House of God. Now most of us automatically equate a church building as being the House of God, but that’s not 100% accurate. The house of God used to be one building. It started out being the tabernacle. Then it became the temple. Now, we are the house of the Lord. Our body is the temple of God. Why? Because He dwells in us. There are many New Testament Scriptures that state that we today are God’s house (See Hebrews 3:6, First Peter 2:5, First Timothy 3:15, etc.) Yes, we all are His tabernacle/temple, and we all are kings and priests unto our God. And this is why, when you study the law, that you see the tithe being intended for individuals and not just an “organization” of some kind. Now if you go through the many verses in the law that instructed Israel concerning the tithe, you will see that the tithe was meant to go to specific individuals. For example, in Deuteronomy 26:12 for the year of tithing, it went to the Levites, the foreigners, the orphans, and the widows. Now the Levites are the ones that did most of the “ministry work.” In other words, they were the ones responsible for all the natural work like setting up the tabernacle, taking it down, carrying it, manning the fires, etc. This sounds a lot like the staff in churches & ministries, right? Now the priests were the ones who represented God for the people and the people for God. They offered sacrifices and did what we might call the pulpit & podium parts of the ministry. This would be comparable to the five-fold ministry gifts in the church today. Amen? And when you study the tithe in depth, you learn that the Levites were commanded to take a tenth of the tenth that they had received from the people and give that to the priests. And why did God set it all up this way? Because as most of you know, the Levites did not have an inheritance among the people. They were not allotted land like the other tribes were. And the reason being was because as we might say today, they were in “full time ministry.” So because God had called this tribe to serve Him in this capacity, He made provision for them through the tithe. This is why you see in the New Testament so many instances where the apostle Paul had to defend this right that those who preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel (See First Corinthians 9:14). Which is, of course, proportional. A person who preaches or ministers in some other capacity 2 hours a week is not supposed to “live of the Gospel.” No, one lives of the Gospel in proportion to how much ministry is a part of their life. But my point is that the main thing that you see the tithe being used for in the House of God is for the “Levite” – those who are called & anointed to full time ministry and live to serve the people. Even Nehemiah had to set the people straight because the Levites were working out in the fields because there was no provision in the House of God. I wonder how many churches & ministries are violating this principle by having their “ministers” out there working secular jobs while having their hands full with the ministry. More than the Lord would be pleased with, I can assure you. But this is not the only purpose of the tithe – we see it is also to be distributed to the “foreigners/strangers, the fatherless, and the widows.” Now I see the foreigners/strangers as a type of the “unbelievers.” In other words, this is those who are (as Paul called them) “… aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise …” (See Ephesians 2:12). So God’s intention for the tithe was to help with what we would call “evangelism” – that is the spreading of the Gospel and bringing people with no hope into the kingdom of God. Finally, the tithe was for the “fatherless & widows.” These two demographics of people represented the most poverty-stricken individuals because back in their day, a widow and an orphan were in serious trouble with no husband or father. So this refers to the poor and to those with legitimate needs. So if the tithe is for these individuals, how do you suppose is the best way to do this? Is it for you to individually go find every widow and orphan out there who has a need? I don’t believe that is what God had in mind. One of the reasons this isn’t practical is because one might be duped into giving to someone who claims to have a need, but they are just working the system, etc. This is why it’s nice to be surrounded by a church family who knows & sees things you might not. For example, like every church, we’ve had people who come here because they are looking for a handout and they go around poor-mouthing to others within the church. And because so many of you have such big hearts and desire to give to the poor as the Lord commanded, you have emptied your wallets and given them what they say they needed. But if you knew what the church leadership knew and had already gone through, you might have realized that this person wasn’t the best ground to sow into. So what’s the lesson here – it’s that God has put this organization called the Church in place to properly steward these things for God’s people. Not meaning that you don’t ever take it in your hands personally to give towards any of those needs. That’s not what I’m saying. But the tithe being brought into the storehouse of God’s House is a means to taking care of a lot of these needs corporately rather than just individually. I can attest that High Point Church is a good steward of your tithe and has been used in my close to 10 years of being here to distribute to a multitude of poverty-stricken people, to the true widows within our walls, and to orphans outside of these walls. We give! We sow! As Galatians 6:10 tells us – we do good to all, especially to those of the household of faith. Amen. For example, I have a personal ministry that I had before I came to Pastor this church, and guess what it does? It tithes just like we are talking about. But we tithe to a specific ministry that is geared towards feeding the poor all around the world and distributing materials all around the world. I know this individual well. In fact, he was one of my instructors at Charis Bible College. But do you know why I tithe our ministries 10% to him? It’s because he takes care of a lot of these things that the Lord told the Jewish people to give the tithe to. In other words, I trust His stewardship and believe that I am fulfilling taking care of specific things that I might not personally be privy to. I bring this up because I believe that if you are a part of a good church that properly stewards their resources to take care of the needs of folks – both naturally and spiritually – then you don’t have to go seek out people who fit this category. You trust your local church to distribute to the appropriate parties. Now if you don’t trust your local church to administrate your tithe properly, then you might be at the wrong church. You need to know those who labor among you, so that you can give in faith to the house of God where He has planted you – believing that they are properly stewarding your tithe by taking care of its “Levites” (i.e. those who work full time within the church), the “strangers/foreigners” (i.e. the unbelievers), “the fatherless & widows” (i.e. the poor and those with legitimate financial needs). Amen? CONCLUSION And there are many other Scriptures I could take you to that teach where the tithe goes, but the bottom line is this – God is not interested in us just going through the motions and checking off boxes. He looks at the heart! So what He wants is a people that purpose in their heart to do the honorable thing. But the fact is, God obviously considers the tithe as a holy thing. He sees it as the thing that we “give back” (i.e. render) to Him. And as long we are giving it in the right heart – in love and by faith – He is pleased. Now based on what I read in the Scriptures and believe is wisdom from above, I believe the tithe predominantly belongs in your local church. And why? Because a good, healthy church contains “Levites” (i.e. workers that have devoted themselves full-time to the ministry). It also will take care of the strangers, widows, and orphans. It’s where your children & grandchildren are cared for. It’s where your pastor will visit you, call on you, pray for you, etc. It’s where the physical building is located where you can gather together with our believers. These are not things other ministries provide for you. So I for one, choose to “bring” my tithes to this here storehouse and trust the leadership team to distribute to the needs contained both in our gathering place and to the needs God puts on our hearts outside of these walls. This is where I tithe – because I believe HPC is good ground and is doing the work of the ministry. Amen. REVIEW
So we started out in our current series on the subject of finances by addressing certain mentalities that we are to possess in order to be more “financially faithful” to the Lord. Yes, the way we think is what I consider to be the most important part of faithfully stewarding our finances. And how many of you know that there is a lot of “stinking thinking” out there regarding this subject? That’s why we’ve looked at God’s will concerning us being blessed and His desire to prosper us. We have looked at how God has redeemed us from the curse of the law, which includes poverty, and how He has redeemed us for the blessing of Abraham. We also BBQed certain sacred cows about these things that religion has taught us. And most recently, we looked at how a Christian should view everything we possess and how we handle it … We discovered that we are called “stewards”, and a “steward” literally is described as one who handles the affairs of another. It is defined as a person who manages another person’s property. So you could describe a steward as what we would call today a “manager.” Now a point I didn’t bring out last week, but that is important to understand is how good managers / stewards are paid well. We see this in Luke 8:3 where we are taught that Jesus had many women who followed Him, one being Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward. And this Scripture tells us that these women provided for Him from their substance (or, resources / possessions). Now why do you suppose Luke made the point of who Joanna was the wife of? It was to show us how this provision was not just minimal; it was significant – because you have to know that Herod’s steward was paid well. Well, in the kingdom of God, it’s similar. The Lord’s stewards who are wise & faithful get paid well too! GOD IS GIVING So now that we’ve spent some time attempting to renew our minds to truths concerning money and the kingdom of God, let’s move into more of the nuts & bolts of being faithful with our finances so that we can perhaps increase our “pay grade” in our stewardship. Yes, as promised, we are going to move into some of the practical parts of our financial stewardship this week— seeing how important of a role this plays in us seeing a multiplication of the monies God has given us. Amen? Now one of the most obvious & primary ways that a Christian can be faithful in the stewardship of their money is in how we give—for giving is such a huge thing to God! The Bible teaches us in the very popular verse, John 3:16, that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. So our very salvation was provided because God gave us something (more accurately, Someone). But it is very apparent that God is huge on the concept of giving because of the plentitude of Scriptures on the subject. Therefore, giving must be one of the main ways that we properly steward His monies, and what He considers us being faithful with those finances. For example, if I were to ask you – Why do you work a job? Or better yet, why does God think you should be working? – What would your answer be? Well, the Bible teaches us in Ephesians 4:28 – “Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need.” Here Paul gives us the motive we should have for working. He says that it should be so that we would have something to give to those who have need. What a revolutionary concept! We don’t work primarily to meet our own needs, but we work to meet other’s needs! For example, if your occupation is that of a carpenter, then your main reason for working should be to build furniture for people who have need of furniture. How many of us truly have this attitude in our jobs? Very few, unfortunately. But this is the example that Jesus gave us and that the early church practiced as well (Acts 2:45 & 4:34-35). Someone might say, “What about my bills? I’m just barely making it as it is!” Well, your job is not your source. God is your source! And I guarantee you, if you put God’s work first, which is meeting the needs of other people, then all these other things will be added to you (Matthew 6:33). But we see here that giving is the primary reason that we are to be working to earn money. Therefore, it seems very obvious to me that giving is the number one priority in being financially faithful. Amen? So let’s start talking about the various types of giving, and this week, I want us to begin talking about what is probably the most controversial and what I consider to be the most important kind of giving – the tithe. This will be one that we probably spend two or three weeks on because there are more questions surrounding it than some of the others. So let’s begin this week by answering a couple of questions. WHAT IS TITHING? You know, the word tithe has almost become a religious cliché in many Christian circles. I’ve found that to a lot of Christians, the term “tithing” is used synonymous with giving. In other words, while they might refer to giving to other people as simply “giving”, they don’t refer to giving to the Lord the same way. Then they call it “tithing” to the Lord. But is “tithing” just anything we give to the Lord? Absolutely not! If you asked many believers what the word “tithe” literally means, most could not tell you. Sure, they know it relates to some religious action of giving to the Lord and His church, but they don’t know specifically what it is. The word used for “tithe” just literally means “the tenth.” We like to say today that it is giving 1/10 or 10%. A tenth of what? 10% of our increase or income. Therefore, technically you cannot “tithe” 5%, 15%, 25%, etc. The tithe is only a tenth and anything less than that is not a tithe, nor is anything above and beyond that 10%. But again, so many Christians plunk some dollars they have in their wallet or spare change they have in their purse in the offering and leave thinking that they "tithed." No, to tithe means we specifically gave a tenth of our increase, whether that be once a week, once a month, etc. It is not putting a ten-dollar bill in the offering like you were tipping a waiter or waitress. However, tithing is similar to how some do tipping. A lot of people look at their bill at the restaurant and then break out their handy calculators and figure up to the penny what 15% is. That’s because these people have been trained that 15% is the standard amount that we should tip our waiters or waitresses. Of course, there are probably some of us that tip based on the job they do. So if they didn’t take good care of your table, you might not tip them anything, much less 15%. Then there are others here that I know don’t even take the time to figure up the tip percentage, but just tip well more than the standard 15% because they have a heart to be a blessing to the waiter or waitress. But here’s what I want you to understand today – tithing is not like tipping. Yes, general giving can be treated like we tip at a restaurant, but if we are giving the tithe, then we are specifically giving 10% of our income to the Lord. Now let me say that this does not mean that we need to become so legalistic about it that we figure out to the penny what 10% is and write a check for $113.37. Like it is with the aforementioned tipping example, rounding up and being extra generous is the right heart to have. It’s like I’ve had people ask questions like – “Pastor, do I have to tithe on my gross income or on the net?” – meaning, they want to know if they are to base their 10% on what they make before taxes or after taxes. Well, the answer I like to give to that is this – What kind of harvest or blessing do you want for your tithing? Do you want a net blessing, or do you want a gross blessing? In other words, do you want a blessing that a net will hold, or do you want a blessing that is a net breaking blessing? I for one, want the net breaking, ship sinking, and cup overflowing type of blessing! Amen? But to answer the question more specifically – It’s not about what you have to do. It’s about what you get to do. And I for one choose to tithe on the gross because technically that is what my job is paying me. And whatever our government decides to take from me in taxes was part of my income. Therefore, I tithe on the gross because it’s technically what I made. Not only that, what this does is it then frees me up that, come tax return time – if I am one of the ones who actually gets a refund – I am able to give part of that as an offering to the Lord because I already tithed on it. I like that option! IS TITHING FOR US TODAY? So now that we have covered what tithing is and how we give it, let’s now start answering the big debate – Is tithing something that Christians are to practice? In other words, was it just an Old Testament principle or is it also a New Covenant principle? You know, the principle of tithing has been under attack for years in the Body of Christ. People have spent a lot of time trying to give us countless reasons why tithing is of the law and, therefore, is not something that is practiced in the church today. And one of the statements that you hear from people that are “anti-tithe” is that the principle of the tithe was under the law. So since we are now under grace and not under law, tithing is not for us today. These people only refer back to the Torah to cite the examples & principles of tithing. But these people don’t know how ignorant they are. Sure, tithing was a part of the law, but it was a statute established well before the law. So just because something began in the Old Testament doesn’t automatically make it “law.” Didn’t the apostle Paul use Abraham as an example time and time again to teach against justification by the law? He sure did! His argument was that when Abraham was around, there was no law. Yet he was said to be justified by his faith in God and not by His works. Well, guess who the first person to tithe in the Bible was? It was Abraham! Not only did Abraham tithe, but his grandson Jacob committed to tithe to the Lord as well in Genesis 28:22. So tithing preceded the law in these two examples, showing us that tithing was not just a part of the law. It was something that was practiced before there was ever a command to do so. So this idea that tithing is only Old Covenant is also false. So when someone asks me “Do we have to tithe?” I like to answer – “No, you don’t have to tithe, but you also don’t have to have to have God’s blessings poured out on you, to where you don’t have enough room to receive it. You also don’t have to have the devourer rebuked for your sake. There’s a lot of things you don’t have to do.” Also, I would answer that question with – “Abraham & Jacob didn’t have to tithe either. But they willingly offered their 10% in a way to honor God for the things He had done for them.” So no, we shouldn’t go into this with the attitude of do I have to do this or do that. Tithing is not about law. It preceded the law, and is about faith, honor, and love. NEW TESTAMENT EXAMPLES Not to mention, how many of you know that there are a couple of New Testament verses that also talk about tithing? In Matthew 23:23, Jesus said, “Woe to you, scribes and pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.” So Jesus was addressing these religious leaders and how they were tithing, but while they were fulfilling their religious duty to tithe off of every little thing, they were neglecting the more important parts of the law such as righteousness, mercy, and faith. How many of you know that what is of the utmost importance is, are we practicing what is right in God’s sight (i.e. righteousness), are we walking in love (i.e. mercy or covenant, steadfast love), and are we walking by faith (for it is impossible to please God without faith)? But even though things such as righteousness, love, and faith are the most important parts of our walk, Jesus made the point that “these you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.” In other words, while we certainly “ought” to do these weightier matters, we shouldn’t do them at the cost of tithing. So Jesus said right in the Book of Matthew that we “ought” to be tithing just like we ought to be walking in love, walking by faith, and walking in righteousness. Now I know that some people will hear this and immediately come up with some rebuttal like – “Well, Jesus was talking to these Jewish leaders who were still under the law.” That’s a legitimate point, but I’m not one who likes to try to find out what parts of the New Testament are not New Covenant. I think you can get in danger that way. In fact, in Luke 16:16 we have a statement that Jesus made that perfectly describes the dividing line between the Old and New Testaments. It says, “The law and the prophets were until John. Since that time the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is pressing into it.” You see, when Jesus referred to “the law and the prophets” this was just the terminology that the Jews used in their day to describe what we refer to as “the Old Testament.” The reason for this is because to the Jewish mind (who Jesus was preaching to) the Scriptures pertaining to their covenant mainly consisted of the law (i.e. the books of Moses) and the prophets (i.e. Isaiah, Jeremiah, the minor prophets, etc.). Of course, there were other books that chronicled their history (i.e. Joshua, Chronicles, Kings, etc.) and others that consisted of their poetry (i.e. Psalms, Proverbs, etc.), but the terminology that they used to describe what we call “the Old Testament” as a whole was “the law and the prophets.” So essentially Jesus was saying, “The Old Testament was until John …” Until John who? Until John the Baptist, or you could say, until John the Baptist came on the scene. You see, when John the Baptist arose in the wilderness preaching repentance, Jesus was saying that this is when the preaching of the New Covenant began to be declared. But Jesus did not call it the New Testament, the New Covenant, etc. What did He call it? Well, let’s look at that verse again: “Since that time (since the time the Old Testament had been declared and since the time John came on the scene) the kingdom of God has been preached…” So just as Jesus referred to the Old Testament as “the law and the prophets” He also used a different terminology to refer to the New Testament. And what terminology was that? He called it the kingdom of God! So what can we gather from this? Again, we can gather that the kingdom of God is not just “a” message of the New Covenant; the kingdom of God is “the” message of the New Covenant! We know this because in this verse (Luke 16:16) the New Testament is called the kingdom of God! So my point is that from the time John came on the scene, this is when the kingdom of God began being preached. Therefore, New Testament teaching did not just begin after Jesus’ resurrection, it began when John the Baptist came on the scene preaching “Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand.” Therefore, that blank white page you have in your Bible that divides the Old Testament from the New Testament is accurate. New Covenant doctrine did indeed begin in Matthew’s Gospel. So Jesus’ words in Matthew 23:23 are not just being spoken to those under the law, but are words of life for any who will call on His name. THE ORDER OF MELCHIZEDECK But Jesus wasn’t the only one who touched on the subject of tithing in the New Testament. The Book of Hebrews also talks about tithing – in the example of Abraham & a man named Melchizedek. Now if you just casually read through the Book of Hebrews, you’ll see a particular statement repeated time and time again. The one that says, “You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.” This phrase is repeated, not one, not two, not three, but SEVEN times. Now if it’s in the Word one time, it’s important. If it’s in there two or three times, then it’s really important. In fact, two or three witnesses in the Scriptures means that it is established. But if something is mentioned in there SEVEN times, how important do you think it is? It’s not just important; it’s perfectly important! Now this statement is an obvious reference to Jesus being our Great High Priest without beginning or end, like Melchizedek typified. The writers of Hebrews had been building their case that Jesus is better than angels, better than Moses, is a better covenant, and now, in Hebrews chapters 5-7, is better than Aaron & Abraham. You see, Hebrews was teaching us that Jesus was not made a high priest forever according to the order of Aaron, but according to Melchizedek. So because Melchizedek was before the law, the high priest lineage that Jesus is presently coming from is not of the law, but under an order that was before the law. We are talking about Genesis, not Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy, or Numbers. So this was tithing in the beginning. So Abraham either learned tithing from it being a cultural practice of that day or he learned it from the same place that he learned faith from, God. He wasn’t tithing to keep a rule or to be justified by his works. This is how far people are off and how ignorant they show themselves when they say, “Tithing is under the law.” No, tithing was before the law, it was during the law, and it continues after the law. Tithing is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore. So through these three chapters, we are told a lot of this man named Melchizedek, and how Abraham tithed to him and was blessed by him. However, there wasn’t a lot told us about him in the Book of Genesis. Now when you read all of these verses in the Book of Hebrews that talk so much about Melchizedek and tithing – that’s a whole lot of precious New Testament real estate to be devoted to something that doesn’t apply to us anymore. Amen? But let’s look at a few verses in Hebrews 7 … Hebrews 7:1-3 says, “For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, to whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all, first being translated ‘king of righteousness,’ and then also king of Salem, meaning ‘king of peace,’ without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, remains a priest continually. Now we have very little in the Scriptures about this man named Melchizedek. His story was recorded in just three short verses found in Genesis 14:18-20. Here’s what we know: We know that Melchizedek brought out bread & wine (interestingly enough, being a type of the Lord Jesus, he provided the same elements as the Lord did for His Last Supper). He then blessed Abram, and after that, Abram gave him the tithe from his increase. Now notice that Abram was blessed BEFORE he tithed. Not only that, but Abram got this victory BEFORE he tithed. We don’t tithe to get blessed or to get the victory; we tithe because we are blessed and we’ve already got the victory. Amen! You see, it’s important that we understand this because everything in the life of faith in Jesus is done from the standpoint of grace. Jesus did it all! He has already loved us. He has already forgiven us. And He has already blessed us! Now we don’t do anything, including tithing, to try and get God to bless us. We tithe because of the victory we already have in Christ Jesus and because we seek to honor the source of that victory. But again, really the only two things we see about Melchizedek is that he received Abram’s tithes and he blessed Abram. So if he was a type of Jesus, and Jesus is after that order FOREVER, then both tithing & blessing are what Jesus still receives and does today as He did yesterday. Then the writers of Hebrews go on to say in Hebrews 7:4-6, “Now consider how great this man was, to whom even the patriarch Abraham gave a tenth of the spoils. And indeed those who are of the sons of Levi, who receive the priesthood, have a commandment to receive tithes from the people according to the law, that is, from their brethren, though they have come from the loins of Abraham; but he whose genealogy is not derived from them received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. Now beyond all contradiction the lesser is blessed by the better.” So the point we are seeing in these verses is this: The fact that Abraham gave the tithe to Melchizedek proves that he was greater/better than Abraham. Know this – whoever you tithe to is who you are declaring how great they are. Now don’t think carnally about this. As you are about to learn, when you tithe, you are not just tithing to a person or place. You are tithing to Jesus. Therefore, it’s not a man of God or a work of God that you are giving to; it’s God who you are honoring and calling great! Amen! Then “behold” (i.e. check this out!) … Verse 7 goes on to say, “Here mortal men receive tithes, but there he receives them, of whom it is witnessed that he lives.” Notice that this verse does not say that here mortal men RECEIVED tithes, indicating that they only did this in past. No, this is present tense, so this New Testament verse is acknowledging that tithing is a present ministry here on the earth TODAY. But get this … Then we are told “but there He receives them.” So guess who we are giving to when we tithe? Jesus! Yes, He receives our tithes there. Now of course that doesn’t mean that our money magically gets transferred to heaven’s bank account. No, it goes to a work of God here on the earth where physical money is useful. But in reality, your Great High Priest is receiving your tithe. Now it does need to be said that the motive by which we give it is key in both what He receives & how He receives it. This is a point we will touch on next week. But the main point I want you to see this week is that one of the most important mentalities to have when we tithe to the Lord is that He receives them in heaven. Therefore, when I tithe, I am not just giving to some physical person, place, or thing. I am giving it to the Lord Jesus Christ, my Great High Priest, and in doing so, I am declaring that He has blessed me & given me every victory. And I am also declaring His greatness and honoring Him in my giving. Then Hebrews goes back to how Jesus is greater than the Levitical Priesthood by saying in verses 9-10 – “Even Levi, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, so to speak, for he was still in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him.” This bodes well for my Levi then, doesn’t it? This means he gets a lot of the blessing that I will from when I was paying tithes when he was still in my loins! LOL! THE SAME YESTERDAY, TODAY, AND FOREVERMORE So here is the point I want you to get today, saints: Tithing is not just something that was under the law. Not only that, but tithing is acknowledged in the New Testament as well. So tithing was both done by faith (Abraham) and recognized by grace (Jesus). Therefore, It was well before the law was ever established and it has remained well after the law was fulfilled. So tithing is not a commandment. It is an eternal principle that remains the same yesterday, today, and forevermore. So don’t be carried about with teachings that say otherwise. Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore.” Then in verse 9, we see how the writers of Hebrews immediately refer to not being carried about with various and strange doctrines. So what is a good, solid way to not being carried about with different teachings? It is by understanding the prior verse – that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore. In other words, like the Bible says about God, He does not change. Now Jesus is called what in John 1:1? The Word! So might we say the WORD is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore? You see, there are a lot of people who believe that the Word of God is not the same. There are those who say that this part of the Bible is not for us today. Others say that another part is not for us today. We need to be careful with that. God does not change, so why would we tend to think that the things He said changes? Now the fact is that while God does not change, we have. What I mean by that is that God has always been the same from Genesis to Revelation, but the way that He deals with His creation has had to change over time. And that is important to understand when reading your Bible because then you’ll know what parts of it are a part of God’s eternal nature & statutes and what parts were intended only for a specific group of people. But when it comes to the way God and His Son are, they are the same. They change not. Therefore, the way they are and the things they say don’t change. Understanding this will do what? It will keep you and I from being carried around with different kinds of strange teachings – some of which have said that tithing is not for us today, that it is only of the law, and that it’s not New Testament. People like to say that tithing is not for us today, that it’s passed away. Well, that sounds a lot like healing has passed away or tongues and the other gifts of the Spirit are passed away. No, church, Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore, and this goes for His statutes, ordinances, and doctrine that we have clearly laid out for us in the Word. Therefore, tithing is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore. It is not a rule; it’s honor. It’s not law; It’s love. REVIEW
So we have started out this new year with a new teaching series on the subject of finances, and I am calling this series, “financially faithful,” because God requires faithfulness from His people in every area of our life, including our finances & possessions. We’ve started off looking at what I consider to be the most important part of faithfully stewarding our finances, and that is, the way we think about these things. You see, I’ve come to find out that our lives will oftentimes reflect the way we think. In other words, as the Scriptures teach us, as a man thinks in his heart so is he. Therefore, we need to correct any wrong thought patterns concerning finances because if we’ve got some “stinkin’ thinkin’” in this area, it will impact our financial lives. For example, there are certain people out there who have the mentality that you spend all you have, you run up those credit lines, and live for today’s pleasures. This is why, statistically speaking, people who win the lottery don’t hold on to that windfall for very long. The same goes for some young professional athletes who come out of very poverty-stricken situations and get signed to huge contracts. A lot of them also go broke. Why? Because of how they think about money. Therefore, our attitude, mentality, and way of thinking about finances can greatly determine how much of it we attract or repel, keep or lose, etc. And this works both naturally and spiritually – meaning, not only does it work in the world, but if one has a wrong belief system about Christianity & finances, then it can also greatly impact this area of our lives. So a couple of weeks ago, we started off this renewal of our minds concerning the spiritual side of finances by looking at the subject of prosperity and asking the question – Does God desire for us to prosper? And we discovered that it is clear in the Scriptures that God indeed has pleasure in the prosperity of His people. In fact, we saw how He told us to continually say this about Him in order to magnify this aspect of Him (See Psalms 35:27). And it’s simply logical as we made the point that there is no parent on this planet who doesn’t want for their beloved children to be successful, thrive, or flourish. No, we all what our kids & grandkids to prosper in every area of their life, including their vocation, finances, and possessions. And our Heavenly Father is no different. Now as we saw in Third John 2, the Lord certainly wants our soul prospering, first and foremost. Kind of like you and I want to have a good relationship with our kids more than anything. So if they started prospering in this life and then didn’t have any more time for you, then you might not be too pleased with their prosperity, right? But if they are doing well in life and they maintain good fellowship with you and aren’t hurting themselves or others with their prosperity, nothing could be much more pleasing than this to any good parent. Amen? Therefore, our hearts need to be okay with this truth that God wants His children to prosper – especially when there are so many Scriptures that back up God’s will to bless the financial lives of His children – because if we don’t embrace this truth, our lives can reject it. Amen or Oh me? Then last week, we looked at some of the Bible verses that many of us have heard over the years in church that seem to contradict this way of thinking that God desires for His children to prosper. We covered the story of the rich, young ruler – the guy who came to Jesus asking how he could inherit eternal life and Jesus eventually responding with telling him to sell all he has and give it to the poor. Well, we learned from that story that Jesus was just getting to his heart in telling him to do this. In fact, we don’t see Jesus asking anyone else to do this during His ministry. So it was apparently just a thing where Jesus knew that this guy loved his possessions, and this was keeping him from fully giving his life over to God. But this isn’t the only stumbling block from the Bible that people use to disarm the teaching of financial prosperity. We looked at another section of Scriptures that has been used to counter the prosperity gospel. These are where those sayings come from like – “Well, the Bible does say that money is the root of all evil” or “I mean, the Bible speaks of being content with just having enough.” So we looked at these verses in First Timothy chapter 6 and discovered that they are not speaking of a Christian’s calling to be poor, but rather of a sober, balanced view of money as believers. We learned that money is not the root of all evil, but rather, it’s the love of money. In other words, it’s not money in and of itself that is bad; it’s the way people can misuse it and think about it that is bad. In one verse, we saw how it was those who desire to be rich that the Scriptures condemns. You see, wealth and prosperity can either be a great asset or a great enemy. If we would not serve money but rather let it serve us by being a blessing to others with it, then wealth would not be able to choke our spiritual development. It is only when we allow money to deceive us into thinking, for instance, that we have to have it or that it is going to make us happy that it becomes error. Therefore, it is trusting in riches and mishandling it in other ways that will hinder our growth and fruitfulness. So we defined what true prosperity is, what it means to be content with such things as we have, and how to use money for the advancement of the kingdom – which is all beautifully described in verses 18-19 when Paul exhorted those who have money is to make sure they are using it to do good, and to give & share. Why? Because of the reward and how it affects us throughout all eternity! Amen! Therefore, there is a general, right way to think about money in order to be good Christians who properly handle our finances. Amen? REDEEMED FOR THE BLESSING Now today, I want us to continue our emphasis on how the way we think & our belief system are super important to becoming more financially faithful. This week, I’d like us to look more into how we see ourselves, how we think in our hearts, etc. So let’s talk today about the mentality that we need to have regarding ourselves and financial increase by looking at an extremely powerful passage of Scripture – Galatians 3:13-14. I for one, have spent a lot of time in the past talking about these verses and how we have been redeemed from the curse of the law, and we can see how this certainly included poverty & lack. But in verse 14, I want you to notice that not only do we see how we have been redeemed from the curse of the law; we also see how we have been redeemed for the blessing of Abraham. That means that the same blessing that was on Abraham’s life has been given to every born-again believer. Amen! Galatians 3:9 says, “So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.” Some translations describe him as “faithful Abraham.” So all of us who are of faith are blessed along with the father of faith, Abraham. And again, this is not just any blessing; this is same blessing that Abraham was blessed with. So what is this blessing of Abraham? Many read this to say, “the blessingS of Abraham” – thinking that being blessed is just having a lot of stuff. But this is something that we need to renew our minds on because there is a difference between being “blessed” and having “blessings.” Being blessed is the empowerment to prosper and obtain blessings, but the blessings are not the root of the blessing. They are simply the fruit of the blessing. We are told in Proverbs 10:22 - “The Blessing of the Lord makes one rich and adds no sorrow to it.”Notice that in this Scripture, the blessing of the Lord is separated from riches. We, likewise, need to separate the two because the blessing is not wealth; it is the power to get wealth (Deuteronomy 8:18). You see, the blessing of the Lord is an intangible thing. If our house were to burn down today, we are still blessed. Abraham’s blessing is not a donkey, a camel, a tent, etc. It is the root of the things he possessed. So the blessing of the Lord is an intangible thing that affects tangible things. To the Jews, they understood the blessing because they grew up in it. We here in the United States don’t understand it as well. We like to label blessings as things, but they did not see it that way. A great example of the blessing is found in the life of Joseph … In Genesis chapter 39, after Joseph was sold by his brothers, it starts off in verse 1 by saying, “Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt. And Potiphar, an officer of Pharoah, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him down there.” Have you felt like you are “down there?” So picture what was happening here … Joseph was in his lowest state. He had just been betrayed by his brothers and sold into slavery for 20 shekels of silver. Now he, being stripped of his tunic of many colors, was standing stripped of his coat that represented his favor, being sold into slavery. So for all intents and purposes, Joseph looked as though he had been stripped of all favor and had hit rock bottom, being sold into slavery. But then in Genesis 39:2we are told that the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a successful man! The King James Version translates it that he was a “prosperous” man. Mind you, this statement was on the heels of him being in the lowest place of his life. This seems to echo to me what the angel Gabriel said to Mary in Luke 1:28before she would give birth to Christ, experiencing the manifestation of the favor. He said, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women.”Again, this was told to her before she even had a clue what God was going to accomplish through her! So what we need a mind renewal of is that it is still the truth even if none of our current circumstances line up with it yet. So here is the lesson we need to learn from this: Even if everything in our life seems to be falling apart and we are in our lowest state, God is still with us and, therefore, He still sees us as prosperous! Amen! Therefore, we need to see ourselves the same—as blessed and prosperous! Our circumstances do not determine whether or not we are blessed; God’s Word determines that we are blessed! Amen! In fact, the Greek word for “blessing” is eulogia – which is derived from the word logos which means “word.” So you cannot separate God’s Word from His blessing. And until we learn to receive God’s Word, we won’t be blessed. His Words are what blesses us—that is, us putting faith in His Words! The blessing of the Lord works in our lives as we mix faith with it. Like we have seen in Galatians 3:9, Paul taught that ultimately those who are blessed with the father of faith, Abraham, are those who are “of faith.” WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE BLESSED? So what does it mean to be blessed? To be blessed describes “divine empowerment.” It means to be favored, empowered, enabled, and destined to succeed. In the Bible, there are several words that are usually translated as “blessing” or “bless.” The Hebrew word most often translated “bless” is barak, which can mean to praise, congratulate, or salute, and is even used to mean a curse. Genesis 1:22 is the first occurrence, when God blessed the sea creatures and birds, telling them to be fruitful and multiply in the earth. Likewise, in verse 28, God gave the similar blessing to Adam and Eve, adding that they were to exercise dominion over creation. When God called Abram to go to the Promised Land (Genesis 12:1-3), He promised to bless him, make his name great, and through him, to bless all the families of the earth. The blessings here are plainly associated with happiness and welfare, both for Abram and others. God is not the only one who pronounces blessings. When Rebekah left her family to become Isaac's wife (Genesis 24:60), her family blessed her by saying “may you increase to thousands upon thousands; may your offspring possess the gates of their enemies.” When Isaac was ready to die, he pronounced this blessing on his son, Jacob: “May God give you of heaven's dew and of earth's richness— an abundance of grain and new wine. May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and may the sons of your mother bow down to you. May those who curse you be cursed and those who bless you be blessed” (Genesis 27:28-29). In the New Testament, there are two primary Greek words translated as “blessing.” The first being makarios, which carries the meaning of happiness. The Beatitudes of Matthew 5 and Luke 6 describe the happy state of those who find their purpose and fulfillment in God. As in the Psalms, the best life is available for those who love and fear God and order their lives according to His Word. Romans 4:6-8 ties this happy blessing to those whose sins are forgiven, for they know the relationship to God has been restored. Eulogeo focuses more on good words or the good report that others give of someone and also describes the blessing that we say over our food (Matthew 26:26). This word is where we get our English word “eulogy,” in which we speak well of one who has passed away. Ephesians 1:3 blesses God for all the blessings that He gives us in Christ, and First Peter 3:9 instructs us to bless those who mistreat us, because we were called to receive a blessing from God. Tying all of these threads together, we see that a blessing is a statement of goodwill and happiness that is said about another, as well as the condition that fulfills those good words. God's original design in creation was for His creatures, including mankind, to experience prosperity, peace, and fulfillment, but that design was ruined when sin entered the world. Statements of blessing are a wish for God to restore His favor on others or a declaration of His inherent goodness. The ultimate blessing that God has given is the new life and forgiveness that comes through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. The material blessings we enjoy from day to day are temporary, but the spiritual blessings available to us in Christ encompass time and eternity, as well as material and immaterial things. As the Psalmist said, “Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God” (Psalm 146:5). Now while it is hard to nail down one good synonym for the word “blessing,” I think the perfect antonym for the word “blessing” is a curse. Being blessed is the opposite of being cursed. So what does it mean to be “cursed?” It means to be damned, doomed, jinxed, to have bad luck, bedeviled. Now be careful about becoming too educated on the curse and curses. Some groups of Christians are so curse minded that they end up living in the curse. They are highly developed in faith for curses. There are these groups who always emphasize different kinds of evil spirits, curses, etc. And while I understand that there is a time where we need to talk about these things, they should be few and far between. If you and I spend more time focusing on and talking about all these evil spirits out there than focusing on and talking about the Holy Spirit, guess what kind of spirit you are going to have show up at your meetings? That’s right—those evil spirits who are being celebrated. No, saints, all you need to really know about the curse is that you are redeemed from it! But a point I want you to see here is that the blessing is primarily transmitted through words. This part is clear when we study the way God blessed people & things. In fact, we see the same in the blessing of Abraham because this is how God blessed him ... We see in Genesis 12:1-3that when he called Abram— “Now the Lord had said to Abram: ‘Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.’” Now a lot of these promises certainly included Abram being blessed financially too. Let’s not over-spiritualize this. Yes, it was God’s blessing on Abraham which is what caused him to increase financially. And this did not hurt his relationship with God either. Even though he was “very rich” (See Genesis 13:2), His commitment to following the Lord did not wane. Notice how Genesis 12:1 says, “Now the Lord had said to Abram: ‘Get out of your country, from your family, and from your father’s house, to a land I will show you…” These words “had said” are very significant in this respect: they were words given well before there was ever even a blade coming up out of the ground! And do we not see this throughout Abraham’s life? God would give him grand and glorious promises of what He was going to do for him and then, sometimes a quarter of century later, he would see the manifestation of them. You see saints, God “has said” many things to us! He has promised us that the blessing of Abraham is on our lives, that He wills for us to prosper in all things and be in health, that He has pleasure in the prosperity of His servants, etc., etc., etc. But like it was with Abram, we will not see the manifestation of them until we start seeing ourselves as blessed! You see, Abram had to have his name changed from Abram to “Abraham” and then the fruit of the blessing began to come into fruition in his life. In other words, God had to change this man’s identity before he could receive the promise! Likewise, we need to change our identity as well! We need to start seeing ourselves as a blessed, highly favored, and prosperous man or woman of God. Then when that new identity is formed within us, we change our confession: no longer am I just “Lonnie Willis Dickerson III,” identifying myself by my old name; now I am “Trey Blessed Dickerson!” Saints, this is how real this needs to become to us—that just as we are Trey, Robert, Minton or Shannon; we are blessed! It is who we are! We are just as much blessed as we are who we are! Amen! THE ROOT OF THE BLESSING So like Galatians 3:13 says, we have received the blessing of Abraham. Now you can see the fruit of this blessing throughout his life, but if you want to see a specific description of what it entails, you need look no further than Deuteronomy chapter 28 where both the curse of the law & the blessing of the law are described. Now one might think that the blessing of the law was different than the blessing of Abraham, but I don’t believe there is – for as Romans 10:12says, “For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him.” Yes, just like He is the same God to the Jews as He is to the Gentiles, He is the same God to the Jews as He was to Abraham. On top of that, this “same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him.” In other words, He’s the same to all who call on Him, from Abraham thousands of years ago to the church in the 21st Century – and if He’s the same, then His blessing is the same. Amen? So let’s take a look at this blessing that God promised to the sons of Abraham in Deuteronomy chapter 28… Beginning in verse 1, the Lord through Moses said, “Now it shall come to pass if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today…” Then he goes on in verses one through fourteen to describe the blessings that will come upon them and overtake them. Then if you look at verse 15, notice what He says then – “But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these (what?) CURSES will come upon you and overtake you.” So in verse 1, the Lord said that if they would diligently obey His voice and observe carefully all of His commandments that all these blessings would come upon them and overtake them, but then in verse 15 he said, if you do not do these things then all of these curses would come upon them and overtake them. But what I want us to do here is ask a legitimate question – because people will read these passages in the dark and not through the light. How many of you know that it’s really hard to comprehend what you are reading if you are reading without the proper lighting? And while I do not subscribe to some of the preachers’ teachings out there that say we need to throw out the Old Testament, I do believe, however, that we need to see the light of the New Testament in order to truly comprehend the Old Testament. In other words, by truly seeing the Light of the world—Jesus— through the New Covenant, we can then begin to see Him in the Old Testament. As it has been so well put – The Old Testament is Christ concealed; the New Testament is Christ revealed. You see, the reason I say this is because people will read verses like this in Deuteronomy chapter 28 and they will say, “Ok, so if I will just obey God’s voice and observe carefully all of His commandments, then I will be blessed and not receive these curses.” But how many of you know this is not what God was trying to teach us here. Answer this for me: According to Galatians 3:13, Who is the Redeemer? In other words, who paid the price and ransom to free us from the curse of the law? Now I know that if you asked this question to a thousand Christians, you would likely get a 100% of them responding with the obvious answer – Jesus Christ. However, if you listen to them over an extended period of time and ask them pointed questions like how do we walk in our forgiveness, righteousness, healing, deliverance, prosperity, you will get the vast majority of them telling you all the things we must do to receive these blessings. Well, what does Galatians 3:13 say again? It says, “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law.” So notice how the apostle Paul here specifically says that it is Christ who has redeemed us. You see, how could Jesus justifiably become the curse of the law for us? It was because He perfectly fulfilled this stipulation – He completely obeyed the voice of His Father and the Holy Spirit, He totally and carefully observed ALL of God’s commandments and His statutes. So because Jesus perfectly, totally and completely fulfilled these stipulations and then hung on the Cross and willingly took the curse of the law anyways, then we, who could not keep all of the law and deserved its curse, can justifiably be redeemed from the curse of the law. Now that is shouting ground right there! Amen! So the way Deuteronomy 28:15 needs to be understood is from the New Covenant basis of Galatians 3:13—that Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the Law, not we ourselves. So again, this verse was coming from the standpoint that, yes, you must do these things – obeying the voice of the Lord and observing carefully all His commandments and statutes – in order to be blessed. But if Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, then the cost is not laid on our shoulders. He paid the ransom for us to live free from the curse. Amen! Therefore, Christ, and Christ alone, has redeemed us from the curse. It’s not Christ PLUS something else. It is Him and Him alone. So when we mix faith with this instead of trying to accomplish it like the Jews were supposed to, then we will start seeing more of the fruit of it. THE FRUIT OF THE BLESSING Now as we begin looking at the different examples that the Lord used to describe how they were going to be blessed in Deuteronomy chapter 28, we need to understand that He was referring to the specific things they could relate to because they were primarily farmers and shepherds. Therefore, we will have to look at the specific things He said, and see how they relate to our current lifestyle & culture. So let’s look at this first example from that perspective: What does it mean to be “blessed in the city and blessed in the country”? (Deuteronomy 28:3) This basically just describes whether we are in one kind of area or another, we are to be blessed. Now by understanding who it was that He was referring to, you can tell why He said this. Why? Because these farmers and shepherds by trade might have been able to see themselves as blessed “in the country,” but they might not have been able to see themselves blessed “in the city.” You see, some people just seem to have a hard time if they are in a particular situation and cannot see themselves successful in something that is outside of their familiarity or comfort zone. While they might do well if they are in the “city” which is where commerce, people, technology, etc. surround them, they don’t do well in the “country” where things operate a little differently. On the other hand, some people just seem to be “cursed” no matter what their situation is or where they are at. They fail in the man-made places, and they fail in the God-made places. The Bible tells us that Isaac sowed in the year of famine and reaped a hundredfold harvest (see Genesis 26:12). This was in the worst economic situation imaginable, and he didn’t just “make it,” he actually prospered and prospered greatly! I am reminded of the story of Abraham and his nephew Lot: When the strife came up between their herdsman, Abraham gave the choice to Lot which land he would take. Of course, Lot pitched his tent towards Sodom (i.e. the city) while Abraham took the lesser land. Do you know why? First off, because Abraham loved Lot and preferred him above himself (this is the way the blessed man or woman will act), but also because Abraham knew God’s blessing was upon him and it didn’t matter who had the better land. He was going to be blessed no matter where his “lot” was (pun intended). Amen! Someone will say, “Well, I just have a tough time if I work out of town where I don’t know people, etc.” No, don’t say that! Rather say, “I’m blessed no matter where I am! I’m redeemed from failure no matter where I am positioned! Amen!” You see, this is why you see the strange inconsistencies in people who win the lottery going bankrupt within a short period of time. How is that possible? Well, it’s because prosperity is not just having more stuff; true prosperity begins on the inside, not the outside. So until we see ourselves as blessed and act like a blessed person acts (i.e. being a wise steward, etc.), we will not keep it on the outside. Then this verse says, “(Blessed shall be) the produce of your ground!” Now, again, the Lord was using the terms that the Israelites understood because they were farmers and shepherds. Their “ground” was the place where their increase and provision came from. So this would describe our workplace—the “ground” by which our increase comes from. Since this refers to our ground, this could also refer to our own business, etc. Regardless, the place where our provision comes from will be blessed! Amen! Did you know that the place you work for is blessed simply because you work there? It sure is – whether you know it or not. We see this in the life of Jacob – how the Lord blessed Laban for the sake of Jacob. Laban himself said, “Please stay, if I have found favor in your eyes, for I have learned by experience that the Lord has blessed me for your sake.” (Genesis 30:27) We also see this in the life of Joseph that the Lord blessed the house of Potiphar because of Joseph. (See Genesis 39:5) Saints, this is the kind of blessing that we should carry into our workplace! Now notice verse 5: It says, “Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.” I know that these two examples don’t mean a lot to us today, but let’s look at what they represent… The “basket” was what they used to collect their harvest from the fields (i.e. it was what they used to contain and carry their increase). Amen! So what would this be for us? How about our bank account, investments, purse, or wallet? That’s where you put your increase, right? I can’t help but think of Jesus feeding the multitudes and how, after He had given thanks and blessed the bread and the fish, he gave them to His disciples to distribute to the crowd. Now I envision that if they were feeding thousands of people, the disciples distributed the loaves and fishes in something – maybe in the baskets that they used to collect the fragments, right? But can you see what was happening here? These five loaves and two small fish actually began multiplying as the disciples were distributing them. Now I don’t personally believe that they even physically saw how they were multiplying; but that after they took some out of the baskets to give to people, it just seemed like more was there the next time their hand went to grab some more. Saints, this is how the blessing works, glory to God! Your basket is blessed! So as you become this “distributing disciple” – that is, that believer who sees themselves as a sower – God will supernaturally multiply your account’s bottom line, Hallelujah! Saints, if you are living in such a way that seems like you have holes in your basket and it disappears just as quickly as it you put it in there, that’s the curse, and you are redeemed from that! Jesus paid the price for you to be redeemed from having holes in your pockets! Amen! Now for the kneading bowl: This was the device that was used by the women of their day to knead dough for the purpose of making bread. So our “kneading bowl” would be described as the thing that we use to make our bread. No I am not necessarily talking about your crock pot; I’m talking about your money maker, or you could say our “kneading bowl” is the thing that creates our increase. Amen! So our basket and our kneading bowl describe the things we use to carry our increase and the things we use to create our increase. Deuteronomy 28:6 says, “Blessed shall you be when you come in and blessed shall you be when you go out.” (Compare Psalm 121:8) This means that we are blessed when we start out, and we are blessed when we go out—from beginning to end, we are blessed! Now being blessed does not mean that we will not have challenges – where it does not seem like we are blessed. You will have times and seasons where you will have to operate by faith and not by sight. Job did. The Scriptures teach us that he was the greatest of all the people of the East, living in the land of Uz. And the Bible describes his “greatness” as him, first of all, being “blameless and upright, one who feared God and shunned evil.” (Job 1:1) But then it goes on to describe his possessions- 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys and a very large household. (Job 1:3) Yes, this man was super blessed coming in! But then everyone seems to get hung up on the trials of Job and miss one of the greatest historical points of his story … Although he suffered more than any man should have to suffer—losing his family, his health and his possessions, the Bible tells us in the last chapter of the Book of Job that “the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.” (Job 42:10) Also, verse 12 said, “Now the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; for he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys. (Sounds like He was blessed going out, huh?) He also had 7 sons and 3 daughters (Job 42:13). Lastly, we are told – “After this Job lived 140 years, and saw his children and grandchildren for 4 generations. So Job died, old and full of days.” (Job 42:16-17). This verse reminds me of Psalm 91:16 – “With long life I will satisfy him, And show him my salvation.” Saints, we should become so old that even old people call us old—living out fullness of days and experiencing the fullness of His salvation all the way! We should be blessed coming into this world and blessed going out of it too! Amen! So those are just a few of the fruits of the blessing that is on our lives! But we must choose this blessing, and how do we do this? Let’s look over at one more important passage of Scripture … CHOOSE BLESSING! In Deuteronomy 11:26-28 & Deuteronomy 30:19, the Lord set before them blessing and cursing, life and death. In other words, He set it before the nation of Israel. He was not choosing it for them! Now He, in His great goodness, gave them the answer by saying “Choose life!” but He was not going to do it for them. Why is this important to understand? It’s because the majority of the church believes otherwise. Most Christians believe God is the One choosing who’s blessed and who’s cursed. Wrong! I said, wrong! God has given us the option whether we will have blessing and cursing, life or death! And how do we choose life and blessing? Well, Proverbs says that life and death is in the power of the tongue! Amen! So we choose life and the blessing by our faith filled words – by the spirit of faith, believing and therefore speaking (Second Corinthians 4:13)! This is how Paul said that we pull down strongholds & cast down imaginations in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5… The words “pulling down and casting down” come from very similar Greek words that, when broken down, literally mean to “choose down” – indicating that the element of choice is involved in bringing down those strongholds and wrong thought patterns that are contrary to God’s Word. You see, the way that you are going to pull down those strongholds of “I’m just jinxed, If I didn’t have bad luck then I’d have no luck at all.” Stop it! I’d rather curse than speak those things over my life! Plus, that is speaking completely contrary to Scripture. Amen? No, we need to choose the blessing today! And how are we going to choose it? We will choose it with our tongue! Our tongue has the power to choose blessing, life, and grace! Amen? So choose to start being more blessed minded today! Adopt a new way of thinking about yourself that is based on God’s Word. Once we start thinking this way, it will change our behavior. Once we have this mindset, it will change our experiences. Amen. REVIEW
Last week, we started a new teaching series on the subject of finances, giving, and God’s attitude towards it. And I do understand that this subject is a very controversial one in the Body of Christ as there has been much “unhealthy” teaching on the subject. You don’t have to watch Christian television too long to find that preacher out there who is just trying to get in your pocketbook to pad his or her pockets. So, yes, I acknowledge this is a problem and always has been a problem. And this is why a lot of Christians don’t like hearing the “preacher talk about money.” But just because there are abuses on the subject and those out there who preach about it for self-gain, that doesn’t take away from the fact that the Bible has a lot to say about this subject. So let’s not let the misuse and abuse of these things spoil the riches of the revelation of this subject. It will change your life when you start letting God be first in your finances and you learn to seek first His kingdom in this area. Nevertheless, the fact that a lot of Christians don’t like hearing this in church is not just because of the unethical teaching revolved around it. What I have found is that the majority of people who have a problem with when preachers talk about money are those are aren’t “doing” it in their lives. In other words, they are not practicing the biblical principles of being good stewards of their finances. Yes, one of the main reasons people don’t like to hear about this is because they are not doing it. For example, if you are living in sin, you don’t want to hear someone tell you the need to clean your act up, right? Well, we might need to clean up our act in this area. It’s quite possible that people need to do what the Bible says in this area. Amen? So I’m calling this series “financially faithful,” and while to most believers this concept doesn’t mean a lot, it really should – because God requires faithfulness from His children in every area of our life, including our finances & possessions. You see, when one gives their life to Christ, they are committing to be faithful to Him in every area of their life. It’s a lot like a marriage – Sure, we are supposed to have fidelity with our spouse, and yes, the Bible teaches us that even your body is not your own when you get married, but when we become one flesh with our spouse, being faithful means more than just the sexual things. It means that all that is mine is hers, and all that is hers is mine. Therefore, there’s not my money and Shannon’s money. It is our money – it doesn’t matter if I earn it or if it is given to her. Everything is ours. Well, our covenant with the Lord is the same. It is not our stuff and His stuff. He has promised to give us everything that is His. In exchange, He wants everything that is ours – including our finances. Of course, that doesn’t mean that the Lord expects us to give away everything that we possess. He understands that we have needs and desires. But this mentality that it’s “my money” needs to be erased. Our body is His. That means if he needs me to be present somewhere, then I’m there. Or if He needs my hands laid on someone, then I do it. Likewise, our finances are His. So that means that if He tells me to give someone a certain amount of money, then I do it. And if he told me to give it all away, I do it. In fact, this is not just with our body or wallet; this is with our entire life. Yes, our life is His. And what He expects out of His Bride is that we are faithful to Him in every area of our life. Amen? And what is so powerful about this truth is that when we see things this way, it is not quite as difficult to be faithful with our money, because, again, it’s not our money. It’s His! I’m simply stewarding the money He has allowed me to be blessed with. (We will get more into this in the coming weeks). Now we started off last week looking at the way we, as Christians, think about money and what we believe that God thinks concerning it. You see, I’ve come to find out that our lives will oftentimes reflect the way we think. In other words, as the Scriptures teach us, as a man thinks in his heart so is he. Therefore, we need to correct any wrong thought patterns concerning finances because if we’ve got some “stinkin’ thinkin’” in this area, it will impact our financial lives. For example, there are certain people out there who have the mentality that you spend all you have, you run up those credit lines, and live for today’s pleasures. This is why, statistically speaking, people who win the lottery don’t hold on to that windfall for very long. The same goes for some young professional athletes who come out of very poverty-stricken situations and get signed to huge contracts. A lot of them also go broke. Why? Because of how they think of money. Therefore, our attitude, mentality, and way of thinking about money can greatly determine how much we attract or repel, keep or lose, etc. And this works both naturally and spiritually – meaning, not only does it work in the world, but if one has a wrong belief system about Christianity & finances, then it can greatly impact this area of our lives. So last week, we started off this renewal of our minds of the spiritual side of finances by looking at the subject of prosperity and asking the question – Does God desire for us to prosper? And we discovered that it is clear in the Scriptures that God indeed has pleasure in the prosperity of His people. In fact, we saw how He told us to continually say this about Him in order to magnify this aspect of Him (See Psalms 35:27). And it’s simply logical as we made the point that there is no parent on this planet who doesn’t want for their beloved children to be successful, thrive, or flourish. No, we all want our kids & grandkids to prosper in every area of their life, including their vocation, finances, and possessions. And our Heavenly Father is no different. Now as we saw in Third John 2, the Lord certainly wants our soul prospering, first and foremost. Kind of like you and I want to have a good relationship with our kids more than anything. So if they started prospering in this life and then didn’t have any more time for you, then you might not be too pleased with their prosperity, right? But if they are doing well in life and they maintain good fellowship with you and aren’t hurting themselves or others with their prosperity, nothing could be much more pleasing than this to any good parent. Amen? Therefore, our hearts need to be okay with this truth that God wants His children to prosper – especially when there are so many Scriptures that back up God’s will to bless the financial lives of His children. THE ANTI-ADVOCATE However, there is another side to this that we must address – because there are a lot of New Testament Scriptures that seem to take the opposite approach of this. We covered one of them last week in talking about the rich, young ruler – You know, the story of the guy who came to Jesus asking how he could inherit eternal life and Jesus eventually responding with telling him to sell all he has and give it to the poor? Well, we learned from that story that Jesus was just getting to his heart in telling him to do this. In fact, we don’t see Jesus asking anyone else to do this during His ministry. So it was apparently just a thing where Jesus knew that this guy loved his possessions and this was keeping him from fully giving his life over to God. Not to mention, we learned from the Book of Proverbs that when one gives to the poor, that they are lending to the Lord, and He promised to repay them. So this rich, young ruler was not being called into a vow of poverty like so many have taught. No, Jesus was simply targeting an issue in his heart that needed to be dealt with. Do you see that? But this isn’t the only stumbling block from the Bible that people use to disarm the teaching of financial prosperity. There is another section of Scriptures that I would like to address today – and these are found in First Timothy chapter 6. You see, people will use some of the truths from this chapter to say things like – “Well, the Bible does say that money is the root of all evil” or “I mean, the Bible speaks of being content with just having enough.” Let’s look at the verses of this chapter and see what Paul was teaching us about these things … Now it’s important to note that last week, one of the verses we used to describe how God is pleased to prosper His people was also in this chapter where the apostle Paul said in verse 17, “Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy.” So we saw how this verse teaches you and I that our Heavenly Father desires to give us, not just some things; no, He wants to give us all things. Not only that, but He desires to give us not just all things, but richly all things to enjoy. But what I want to draw our attention to this week is the context of this wonderful verse. In fact, some of the verses preceding this one seem to indicate that God does not want us blessed and that we are wrong in thinking that God desires to prosper us. But unless we think Paul was schizophrenic, they obviously cannot mean what many have interpreted them to mean when you look at them through the light of First Timothy 6:17. So let’s take another look at verses 5-10 and see what Paul was teaching us through them … THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL? You see, like I said, one of the favorite go-to quotes from the Bible when it comes to this subject of money is the one found in First Timothy 6:10. Now there are many who incorrectly quote it as saying that money is the root of all evil, but that is not completely true. Paul said that it is the love of money that is the root of all evil. It’s like people say in our world today, “Guns kill people!” Well, that is like saying, “My fork made me fat, pencils misspell words, cars drive drunk” No, it’s how we use these things that causes problems. Many Christians have a great misconception about these things – thinking that prosperity is evil. But actually you can look at biblical accounts of those who walked with God and are today considered heroes of the faith, and they were multi-millionaires. Go study the lives of Abraham, David, Solomon, etc., and you will find that these guys were super wealthy but, most importantly, for the majority of their lives, were super godly. So for us to think that prosperity is evil in and of itself is just simply not true. Money is a tool! It is as simple as that. For example, if I have a flathead screwdriver and use it to fix things around the house, that tool is a good, useful thing. But if I start using that screwdriver to break into people’s house by prying open doors, etc. then I (not the screwdriver) am a transgressor. That make sense? So it is only the misuse of tools that is evil. You see, wealth and prosperity can either be a great asset or a great enemy. If we would not serve money but rather let it serve us by being a blessing to others with it, then wealth will not be able to choke our spiritual development. It is only when we allow money to deceive us into thinking, for instance, that we have to have it or that it is going to make us happy that it becomes error. Therefore, it is trusting in riches and mishandling it in other ways that will hinder our growth and fruitfulness. DEFINING TRUE PROSPERITY Now back up to verses 5-9 here in First Timothy chapter 6 because, here, the apostle Paul gives us some good words of wisdom on the subject of money and the prosperity message … Verse 5 says, “…who suppose that godliness is a means of gain. From such withdraw yourself.” Now it is important to realize who Paul is referring to here. He is talking about false teachers “who suppose that godliness is a means of gain.” So what you see here is that the apostle Paul is exhorting Pastor Timothy that he needs to withdraw from those so-called ministers & ministries out there whose motives are no different than people who are working a job to see their own needs met and to prosper in life. You see, these ministers still exist today! You can turn on Christian television and not have to look too far to find those out there who are simply looking to get into our pocketbooks. These are those whom Paul is warning Timothy against. But lest we become too critical of them, do we do this in our lives? Is our motivation in life mainly to have more money and possessions? Someone will say, “No money is not important to me!” Really? Well, then why do we spend most of our waking hours trying to get more of it? Most people do! They work 40 hours a week for their needs to be met and to have more than the guy next door. Now sure God understands we need to work and these things are necessary, but let me ask you this question: What does the Bible say that our motivation should be for working at a job? Ephesians 4:28 gives us the answer – It says, “Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need.” On a side note here: Do you see how Paul refers to “stealing” in the same breath as working hard? Did you know that many people are stealing from their employers simply by not working hard? You see, when we are employed, our employer expects us to put our best foot forward and do our job functions as well as we can. But so many do the minimum at work that they possibly can do just to get by and keep their job. How do I know this? Because I used to do it! For years in banking, I just showed up, did an adequate job and stayed exactly in the position that I was at. Then, through a chain of circumstances, I was put into the position where I needed to start busting my tail to prove that I was a worthy hire for a local bank here in Macon. Well, guess what this did? It created promotion in my life. Then the Lord showed me that when he told Israel that He would bless the work of their hands that this implied that their hands were actually being set to something and they were working heartily as unto the Lord. Amen! You see, if our hands are not being set to something and we are not working with the most integrity, God has nothing to bless. So if our hands are not working, He has nothing to increase. A hundred times nothing is nothing! But a hundred times something is a whole lot of something. Just like it was with the miracle of the feeding of the thousands … Jesus had to break the bread with his hands before it multiplied. His Father blessed the work of His hands. Amen! But again what did Paul say here is to be our motivation for working with our hands? “That he may have something to give him who has need.” Wow! Now that’s a revelation, isn’t it? God wants us to work, not just so that our needs our own needs are met, but so that we can be a channel to meet other’s needs! Do you see the focus God expects us to have regarding our finances? He wants our focus to be on meeting other’s needs, supporting various ministries, etc.—namely, seeking first the kingdom of God! And, glory to God, the promises we have for doing this are extraordinary! And one thing I can assure you of is when you do this – You cannot out-give God! He will bless the work of your hands and your seed sown! Amen! But Paul says here that regarding those preachers who are motivated by self-gain etc.— “From such withdraw yourself.” Now you would think that this is common sense, but it isn’t! How do all those televangelists stay on the air with all of their various methods of financial manipulation? Because people keep sending them money! This is when we need to do what this passage of Scripture says, “from such withdraw yourself.” In other words, stop supporting them! Withdraw your support from them! Herein lies a good principle regarding who we give to … If we would just give to the ministries that are feeding us and we know are feeding others, we would eliminate a lot of these bad apples – because the reason they are continuing to minister is because people are evidently supporting them. So just ask yourself the questions: Am I being ministered to here and are others being ministered to? Not giving “grudgingly or of necessity” or, as the Message Bible says, giving because of their “arm twisting and sob stories.” Amen? Then in verse 6, Paul goes on to say, “Now godliness with contentment is great gain.” What Paul is saying here is- This is the definition of true prosperity (i.e. great gain)! It is: a)“godliness” (i.e. being a well-worshipper or being a good God-fearer) Godliness is not an easy trait to define. In fact, it is only used a few times in the New Testament. In short, it can be described as being godly or Christ-like. So “godliness” is actively imitating Him—in love, peace, goodness, kindness etc. How many of you know that God is truly prosperous? And this isn’t just because of all that He has, but because of who He is. This is what makes us “truly rich” as well—not all the things they possess, but possessing true love, joy, peace etc. This is the sign of a prosperous soul. b)“with contentment” (i.e. “a perfect condition of life in which no air or support is needed” (BLB).) So contentment is not a complacent mindset but rather a person who is independent of circumstances, not needing anything else to be happy So the truly prosperous Christian is the one who is godly—that is, actively imitating God and displaying His divine characteristics—while certainly being content (i.e. not needing anything else in our lives to show forth that genuine joy and peace.) Now in verse 7, when Paul says, “For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain that can carry nothing out,” what He was basically saying was – “You’ve never seen a hearse carrying a U-Haul.” Amen! So no matter what we accumulate and have here in this life, we can’t take it with us anyways. So we would do good to lay up the true riches and treasures in heaven, which is what we do now for the kingdom of God. Amen! This is a mentality that takes our money from being a thorn that chokes our ability to bear fruit and makes it a tool for even greater fruitfulness. Then Paul goes on to say in verse 8 that with “food and clothing, with these we shall be content.” In other words, we should be satisfied simply with just having our basic needs met. You see, the moment we get to feeling that we have to have this or that to be happy, is the moment we are not drawing our strength from Christ who alone can satisfy us. The apostle Paul taught this in Philippians chapter 4 when he said that he had learned that in whatever state he was in to be content (verse 11). He knew how to be abased and he knew how to abound. Everywhere and in all things, he had learned to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need (verse 12). But the key to how he learned how to be totally “independent of circumstances” no matter what his circumstances were is found in verse 13 – “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” You see, it is only through Christ that we find true joy, satisfaction, and contentment. The flesh is fickle. It will tell you that you will finally be happy if you get this one extra thing, but then after the newness wears off of it, the flesh will need something else. This is part of what makes the “deceitfulness of riches” so deceitful – because money has a way of lying to us, telling us that if we get some more of it, that we will be happy. That is just a lie! Friends, if you cannot be happy with how things are in your life right now; you won’t be happy if things change. Contentment is learned, not earned! The contentment that Paul is speaking of refers to us being satisfied with our own basic needs being met, but this does not mean that we should be ok with having just enough to meet our own needs. There is a big difference between those two mentalities. You see, we ought to not let our own financial situation affect our joy, peace, and happiness. This is what the apostle Paul is teaching. But we should also not be ok with us just barely scrapping by, because we have a heart’s desire to be more of a blessing to others financially. Amen? Now let me recount a conversation I had one time with a Christian friend of mine … We were discussing the law of sowing and reaping and how when we sow finances into God’s kingdom, we will reap our needs being met in fullness and abundance. Well, he agreed that the law of sowing and reaping is a reality, but he said that he was content to have just have what he had and didn’t feel the need to believe God for more than that. Well, in the most loving way that I could, I looked at him and said, “Brother, you know I love you, but you’re selfish.” He looked at me like I had slapped him across the face! But then I went on to say, “Why? Because you are only concerned with having enough for you. If you are happy with what you have right now, great! But believe God for the harvest that is rightfully yours because of the seed you have sown and then give it away to those who need it!” You see, saints, this is the purpose of prosperity! This is why God wants us blessed in our finances—so that we can have an abundance for every good work (Second Corinthians 9:8)! Yes, we should be content! Absolutely! But that doesn’t mean we should be content to not increase so that we can be more of a blessing to others now! No, that is the purpose of us being free from debt and having more than enough financially. But it has to start somewhere … And that is where the principle of tithing comes in. God is setting us up for having all our needs met in fullness and abundance by us giving Him the first 10% of all our increase! Amen? But going back to what we discussed last week regarding how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God, I can guarantee you that if someone does not give at least this first 10%, they are NOT trusting God with their finances. It’s easy for us to say, “Oh yeah, I trust God with my finances” but if we do not practice the principle He laid out in His Word about giving Him the first 10% of our increase, then we are not trusting Him – because we are not trusting that He can make 90% of our income go further than 100% of it. It’s tight but it’s right! Then, in First Timothy 6:9, Paul brings in that element of Jesus describing these thorns as the deceitfulness of riches even further. He says, “But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition.” This is why Psalm 62:10 says, “If riches increase, do not set your heart on them.” But the key here is found in the words “desire to be rich.” The word “desire” literally describes someone who “wills” to be rich – meaning, they are “disposed” to being rich, they “intend” to be rich, and are money “minded.” These are those who fall into temptation and a snare. Not just those who are rich and have an abundance of possessions. This is why Paul goes on to say what we began with here in First Timothy chapter 6 – “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” Being “pierced through with many sorrows” sounds a little like these people fell into a patch of thorns, doesn’t it? And this is exactly what the love of money and the desire to be rich does to people. It pierces and it chokes. It ensnares and it hinders. This reminds me of Mark 4:7, 18-19 where Jesus taught us that the thorns of this world entering into our hearts will choke the production of God’s Word. But, again, it is not being rich and having money that does this to one; it is how most people tend to misuse it and how they view it. We see this later on in this chapter when Paul addresses specifically those who are rich … In verse 17 he says, “Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty (that indicates that a temptation that comes with wealth is pride and to think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think), not to trust in uncertain riches (that sounds a lot like what we said earlier) but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy.” Now that last little statement there should correct some of our views on wealth and prosperity because Paul describes the living God, whom we are to put all of our trust in, as the One “who gives us richly all things to enjoy.” In other words, He gave these rich people their wealth. And for what purpose? To enjoy it! So God is the One who gives us richly all things to enjoy, not necessarily the devil. Do you see that? So evidently God does not mind us having things. In fact, He evidently doesn’t mind us “richly” having “all things.” He just doesn’t want things having us! And that is what makes “riches” a hindrance in our lives. This is why Paul went on to say in verses 18-19- “Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold of eternal life.” So Paul’s exhortation to those who have money is to make sure they are using it to do good, good works, to give and to share. Why? Because of the reward and how it affects us throughout all eternity! Amen! Happy First Fruits Sunday, church!
This is one of our most fun services of the year in that, on the first fruits Sunday of this new year, we come together to be a blessing to each other! And why? Because giving is fun! It produces joy, and it’s an act of love. And that’s what I’d like to talk to you about today – how blessed it is to be a giver. But before we do, I wanted to start off today with some information about how High Point Church does things in this department: You see, I know that we are not your common church in that we do not take up an offering & rarely ever make an appeal of any kind for y’all to give, but I want to assure you – that’s not because we aren’t excited about the subject of giving & receiving! HPC believes in giving & practices it regularly! So as I periodically like to do, I wanted to be transparent with you today about some of the ways that HPC operates in this area: First of all, we obviously trust you to do the right thing by giving to your church by the fact that we have boxes at the back of the sanctuary wall where you can freely & willingly put your tithe, offerings, and designated gifts, just between you and the Lord. We certainly could put giving more at the forefront of what we do here during our services, but we believe that everyone must purpose in their heart to give and do so willingly & cheerfully (a point we will talk about here shortly). Now regarding our stewardship of your tithe & offerings, I wanted to let you know that you can always find the prior quarter’s financial report on the bulletin board in the foyer area, which shows basic information such as the following. On that note, please know that you can give through our website @ www.highpointmacon.com in order to use the convenience of debit/credit cards (We certainly don’t encourage going into debt to give, but we live in an electronic age and this is how most of us do our business, including the Dickerson’s). That is what the church gives, and so notice that this church tithes! Every month, we take 10% of the tithe & offerings that are put in those boxes, divide that amount by five and then send that amount every month to five different missionaries that you can find listed on the back of the prayer card located in the foyer. So I wanted you guys to know that our church practices what it preaches (or will be preaching ) in that we tithe, give special gifts, and provides benevolence. Not only that, but your pastors tithe too! I know that’s no one else’s business, but I want you to know that we practice what we preach and are not just on the receiving end, but are also giving to this work and other works as well. Now I did want to let you know that we have it set up here that Pastor Robert and myself do not have our hand in what this church receives through your tithe and offerings. In other words, we are not aware of who gives what and how much (some of y’all are wiping your brows on that one. Well, you shouldn’t be worrying about what I think anyways. It is what God sees that’s important). With that said, when it comes to financial things, it is best for you to go directly to Bruce Van Bibber who is our secretary and treasurer and then he escalates it to all of leadership if necessary. We have a leadership team set up here that comes together regularly and endeavors to be the best stewards of all of our tithe and offerings. We have a great balance of generosity, wisdom and practical money sense on our team – all things that make one successful financially. (With that said, if anyone out there ever needs financial counseling, we are available to provide you with that as well). So that’s just some of the things that you need to know about High Point Church in regard to how & why we do things the way we do. But again, we certainly believe in giving in our church and believe God’s principles concerning it. So in the week’s ahead, I feel led for us to camp on some of these things – because again, being fully transparent, it has become apparent through both our numbers for 2023 and the current state of our world’s economy, that our church could stand to feed our faith in the area of finances. I plan to start a new series of teachings next week entitled “Financially Faithful” where we will learn how we can be faithful stewards of our finances so that we can walk in His faithful blessing. But this week, I want us to talk a little about the blessedness of being a giver … THE WORDS OF OUR LORD JESUS Let’s look over at a passage of Scripture where Paul quoted the Lord Jesus: In Acts 20:35, the apostle Paul concluded his exhortations to these elders by saying, “And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’” Now according to what we have recorded in the four Gospels, we have no record of Jesus ever making this exact statement. Of course, just because it was not recorded by any of the Gospel writers does not mean He did not say it. In fact, I will give you three reasons how we know for a fact that Jesus indeed said this: 1. It is recorded here in the Book of Acts. And since we know that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God (Second Timothy 3:16), we know that this must be a true statement. 2. There were so many more things Jesus both said and did than what is recorded in the four Gospels—so much so that even this world could not contain all of the books it would take to chronicle them all (See John 21:25). 3. There were several things that we do see Jesus saying in the four Gospels that implied this same principle, albeit not a word for word quote. Therefore, based on these three points, we should be firmly convinced that “it is more blessed to give than to receive” was indeed an accurate quote from the mouth of our Messiah. Regarding my third and final point of how Jesus said other things that echo this statement, let’s take a look at some of His other sayings that are recorded in the Gospels that reinforce this truth. First of all, Jesus said that in the kingdom of God, the last will be first and the first will be last (see Matthew 19:30 & 20:16). What this means is that the believer who is self-seeking and self-promoting cannot become first in God’s Kingdom. No, according to our Lord, it will be the one who lays down his life and has made himself last who will be considered first in the kingdom of God. In other passages of Scripture, Jesus said that it is he who becomes a servant of all who will be considered the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven (See Matthew 20:26 & 23:11). In other words, the one who truly learns to empty himself of his own self-centeredness and pride—learning to serve others more than he serves himself—is the one who will be considered the greatest in the kingdom of God. When Jesus explained how His Kingdom operates, He was not only showing how one will be considered first and greatest in the kingdom of God; He was at the same time showing how one will experience all of the fruit of God’s kingdom as well—including the joy of Heaven. Thus, we have His statement of it being more blessed to give than to receive. HOW TO BE “MORE HAPPY” Now when Jesus said that it is more blessed to give than to receive, what did He mean by “blessed?” Well, the word “blessed” also carries with it the idea of being happy. In fact, in Acts 20:35, the Amplified Bible uses the following phrase to further describe the word “blessed”— “and brings greater joy.” So, you could translate this statement— “You will be more happy and have greater joy when you give than when you receive.” Ah, now we are seeing the important role that being a giver plays in experiencing joy, aren’t we? Church, this is a principle in life that works no matter who you are. You will be more fulfilled, joyful, and happy in your heart when you are a giver than you ever could be if you are only concerned about getting. Sure, receiving is fun and can bring some temporary enjoyment and pleasure, but true and lasting joy is only experienced in giving, not getting. Now the world has tapped into this principle to a measure. That is why you see individuals and groups who enjoy contributing to charities and supporting other humanitarian projects. Yes, even the ungodly like to practice benevolence because they like the happiness it brings them. So, why do they experience these good feelings when they give? It is because they are tapping into this principle that God set in motion when He created man in the beginning—that it is more blessed to give than to receive. So then, we should ask ourselves the following question: How much more should a born-again child of God, who has Christ’s joy resident in their spirit, experience the joy of giving? Shouldn’t we be experiencing it more than the world around us? Absolutely! There is no doubt that those who are spiritually alive should reap a much greater harvest of joy than those who are spiritually dead. However, I can promise you that we will not experience joy and happiness to the degree that we could if we do not cooperate with this spiritual law of giving. Saints, do not be mistaken—an unbeliever who lives to give will be happier than a selfish Christian. Yes, even though the believer has more of the capacity to walk in the fullness of joy, if their focus is only on their own needs and desires, they will not experience any more joy and happiness than the lost around them. Saints, if we are going to experience fullness of joy, we must learn to become givers in all aspects of life—to give of our time, our service, and yes, of our resources too. Sure, it is important that we cooperate with other spiritual laws of God’s kingdom, but in order to experience joy, being a giver is what I consider to be the single most important key that we have to unlocking joy in our hearts. So I encourage you to not just look at it from the standpoint of giving finances and material things. You see, while being a giver of money is certainly a part of giving, there are other ways in which giving can be practiced. We need to be givers of our time—from giving a simple listening ear to someone to giving others a portion of our day when they simply desire our presence. We also need to give our service—which can range from volunteering at our local church to doing random acts of kindness for others as the Lord leads us to. Simply adopting a lifestyle where we “live to give” is where we will experience this fruit of God’s Kingdom. So again, do not just think of giving in one particular area but rather think of the giving of your life in general—which would include the giving of your time, attention, energy, service, help, money, and so on. THE GRACE ON MACEDONIA So yes, living to give is what will yield more bliss in our lives: Now I want us to look at Second Corinthians and see some principles of giving that we are given by the Apostle Paul in order to see what kind of giving solicits this joy. Now in chapters 8-9, the entire focus in on giving, and he begins his discussion on the handling of finances by referring to how the churches of Macedonia did it (See Second Corinthians 8:1-5). Let’s look at these verses: “Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia: that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality. For I bear witness that according to their ability, yes, and beyond their ability, they were freely willing, imploring us with much urgency that we would receive the gift and the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. And not only as we had hoped, but they first gave themselves to the Lord, and then to us by the will of God.” So Paul recognizes how these churches were going through some very tough times. They were in “deep poverty.” Yet, in the middle of these great afflictions, they “abounded in the riches of their liberality”, even being freely willing to give beyond their ability. That’s amazing! And do you know who was included in the churches of Macedonia? The church of Philippi, which was a city located in the region of Macedonia. So I believe we can look at Paul’s epistle to the Philippians (which I like to call the Epistle of Joy) and see specifically how they did it. Let’s look at a few of these things: FROM THE FIRST DAY UNTIL NOW Now in his epistle to the Church of Philippi, Paul was addressing a group of believers who understood the true meaning of giving. In fact, it was because of this church’s giving spirit that Paul was inspired to write this letter in the first place. I believe it is no coincidence that Paul’s letter to the Philippian Church has been called his “Epistle of Joy,” because his main intent for writing this epistle was to rejoice over this giving church. This reinforces the truth that we are learning in this chapter—that giving and joy are inseparable. In Philippians chapter 1, Paul begins by expressing how thankful and prayerful he was for them (vs.3-4); and then in verse 5, he goes on to explain why his heart was so full of gratitude for them. He said it was— “for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now.” The Greek word used to translate “fellowship” in this verse is the word koinonia which can also be translated “partnership.” Therefore, we can see through this statement that Paul was filled with joy every time he thought of their faithful partnership in the gospel. The “fellowship” he was referring to included how they partnered together with him in supporting his physical needs. In other words, they consistently gave him financial support as well as met other physical needs that he had. Let me first of all say that their gifts were not what brought Paul the joy he possessed. He clarified this in Philippians 4:17 when he said, “not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account.” In other words, his joy was fulfilled—not by their gift—but by the fruit of their giving. And while we are looking at this passage of Scripture, notice that Paul said this biblical giving causes fruit to abound to one’s account. What “account” was he referring to? Perhaps our “heavenly bank account”? Glory to God! And, bless the Lord, this fruit does not just add to our account; Paul said it abounds to our account! Isn’t that awesome? That means that when we faithfully give into the Kingdom of God, our heavenly bank account abounds—that is, it fills to overflowing. Praise the Lord! Saints, if that were all there was to giving, then we have all the reason in the world to seek to become more extravagant givers, for laying up treasures in heaven is the wisest thing we could ever do. But, praise be unto God, that is not all there is to it! We have promises that we will live a blessed life now—on this earth—when we give into the Kingdom of God. We are promised that God will reward us with a harvest—which certainly includes a return financially, but also includes the spiritual benefits of joy & happiness at the same time. Amen! I’ll have that, how about you? But let’s look back at Philippians 1:5 and notice something very important that Paul said at the end of this verse. He says, “for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now.” What was this “first day” Paul was referring to? It was the first day they heard his gospel and decided to partner together with his ministry. Now the “first day” is usually when most of the believers who have the propensity to give do well. They hear of a need in a person who is struggling in some area and zealously commit to help meet that need. In other situations, these giving Christians are blessed by a particular ministry, and they have on their heart to support them on a monthly basis. This is usually not the problem with most of the giving Christians out there. The problem lies six months, a year, or several years down the road after the exciting emotions wear off. These believers who had on their heart to give will give “from the first day,” but they don’t give “from the first day until now.” In other words, they are not faithful in their giving—not following through with their commitment. Yes, this is where many of us tend to err. We don’t follow through with what we had on our heart to do originally. A lot of times this occurs after we begin having some financial difficulties or, quite frankly, the excitement of it wears off. We simply let yesterday’s “pledge” falter, and do what is convenient for us today. Now please understand me, I am not throwing stones or trying to make anyone feel guilty who might have done this. The truth is—we have likely all done this in one way or another during our lives. My point is that faithfulness is a very important virtue that we ought to cultivate if we are going to be the kind of givers that imitate our Heavenly Father. To give you an example from our own life: Shannon and I both partnered with two ministries each before we were married, and we made the decision that we would continue to send financial support to all four of them after we were married. When we moved to Colorado for me to go to Bible College, we made the decision that our tithe to our local church and our partnership with these four different ministries were going to be our absolute priority every month. In other words, our giving was going to come before our rent, utilities, car payments, etc. We purposed in our heart that if we were going to fail financially, it was going to be by seeking first the Kingdom of God. Not that we actually believed the prospect of us not being able to pay our bills would ever happen because we understood that one cannot out-give God. We simply adopted that Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego “but if not” mentality that we see in Daniel 3:18. It was just a commitment we made—that we were going to give “from the first day until now.” You see, you have to be this committed in your own heart—that even if you never see any of God’s promises manifested in your life, you will not be moved. Church, we have to be committed to do the right thing—not because of how it will benefit us—but simply because it is the right thing to do. And in our situation, it was not like Shannon and I had a lot of extra money lying around to do this either. But we understood that it is foolish to put our own desires and even our own basic needs above things pertaining to God’s Kingdom. Never forget, my brothers and sisters: Godly wisdom will consistently sow toward its future and will not consume all of its seed in the present. And, glory be to God, we never lacked one thing! God is faithful! SACRIFICIAL GIVING Since we are talking about giving faithfully from beginning to end, let’s move to the end of Paul’s letter to the Philippians and see how he concludes his “Epistle of Joy.” Let’s pick up in Philippians 4:15, where the apostle Paul said, “Now you Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church shared with me concerning giving and receiving but you only.” Now verses like this are when those maps in the back of your Bible come in handy. Paul said here that when he departed from the province of Macedonia, this Philippian Church was the only church that continued giving to him. What makes this so significant is when you consider how far Paul was away from Macedonia. Saints, he was several hundred miles away from them, yet they still gave consistently into his ministry. Now in the world today, this would not be that big of a deal because we have a variety of ways to send money to people. We can mail a check, give electronically, wire funds, etc.; but back then, they did not have any of these modern-day conveniences. If they wanted to give to someone, they had to physically send their gift—meaning, they had to find an individual or individuals who would manually take their offering to the person. So, yes, the Philippians had to make a special effort to find out where Paul was even at; on top of that, they had to send someone to find him and give him their gift. For these Philippian Christians to go through that much trouble teaches us several things: For one, it teaches us that our seemingly inconvenient times to give are nothing compared to the hurdles they had to overcome. And it was not like they were a prosperous people either. Like we saw, the Bible teaches us that they were living in deep poverty during the time that they partnered with Paul’s ministry (See Second Corinthians 8:2). So, what this does is it strips us of any excuses we might have to not be faithful and extravagant givers. It also shows us that the Church of Philippi was one of the best examples we have of what it means to be faithful and honorable givers. Now let’s look down at verse 18: In it, the apostle Paul goes on to say, “Indeed I have all and abound. I am full, having received from Epaphroditus the things sent from you, a sweet-smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God.” Here Paul was likening their sacrificial giving to the sacrificial offerings given under the Old Covenant. What this reveals to us is that, while we are not bound to the Mosaic and Levitical laws of offering sacrifices any longer, there are still sacrifices that we can offer under our new and better covenant that diffuse a pleasant aroma to God. One of these spiritual sacrifices is the gracious and faithful monetary offerings that we give to the people and ministries that we purpose in our heart to give to. ACCORDING TO HIS RICHES IN GLORY Now notice in the following verse of Philippians chapter 4 what Paul says our “sweet-smelling, acceptable, and well-pleasing” offerings position us to receive from the Lord. Philippians 4:19, an oft-quoted passage of Scripture, says, “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Now, let me first say that this verse is not just a blanket promise for every Christian like so many tend to use it. No, this verse is only a promise to those who sow faithfully into God’s works like the Philippian Church did. You see, a good rule of thumb when interpreting Scripture is to not take a verse out of the context in which it was written. Notice the one little conjunction that Paul begins verse 19 with— “And.” You do not begin a sentence with a conjunction without intending for the previous thoughts to be considered first, do you? So, what Paul was saying basically was— “Since you have given so graciously and faithfully into my ministry and God is so well pleased with your offerings, all your needs will be supplied according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus!” Therefore, Philippians 4:19 is a conditional promise intended for those who faithfully seek first the Kingdom of God in their finances. Let’s look further at this verse: Notice Paul said, “And my God…” Why did he refer to God as “my God”? Was He not the God of the Philippian Church as well? Of course. Paul was simply speaking to them out of his own personal experience with his God. A good paraphrase of this would be— “And my God—the God that I have personally known to be so faithful to me and to always supply all my need…” So, we can clearly see that the apostle Paul had a personal and experiential knowledge of his God. He had both tasted His goodness and fed on His faithfulness during his walk with Christ. Regarding this, he said in Second Timothy 1:12, “…for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded…” Likewise, when you get to truly know—intimately and experientially—the One in whom you believe, you too will become persuaded that He will do what He said He would do—not just for you, but for others as well. Then Paul goes on to say to them in Philippians 4:19 that the God that he had found to be so faithful and true— “shall supply all your need.” On the surface, this phrase may seem to say that God will just provide your basic necessities, but in looking at the original Greek language we find that it means more than that. The Greek word for “supply” in this verse is pleroo and literally means “to make full.” This does not sound to me like God will just give us the bare minimum to meet our everyday needs, does it? No, this says that God will take our cup that is empty and fill it up to the brim so that we do not have any more room to contain His provision. Hallelujah! Then Paul goes on to say how God will fulfill our every need: He said that He will supply them— “according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” This is such an awesome truth, saints! Notice that He does not supply our need out of His resources; He supplies our need according to them! You might be thinking— “What is the difference?” Allow me to illustrate: Suppose a millionaire tells you he is going to help you pay for a car. Well, if he or she gives to you out of their resources, then that would mean they could give you as little as one dollar, correct? But if they say they are going to give to you according to their resources, then that means they are going to supply you with a whole lot more than one dollar, amen? You see, if a millionaire helps you pay for a car according to their resources, then we are talking about them paying for a good portion of that selling price of the car, if not flipping the entire bill. Why? It is because they are supplying your need according to how wealthy they are, not simply giving you just any amount from their wealth. Another good way to explain this is through the story of the widow’s two mites (see Luke 21:1-4). In this story, Jesus sat by the treasury to watch the people give their offerings, and He commented to His disciples that the widow who gave two mites gave more than all the rest. He then explained what He meant by this when He said that it was because they all gave “out of” their abundance, but she out of her poverty gave all that she had. In other words, they gave out of their abundance—giving just a small percentage of what they had—but she gave according to what she had in her possession—giving all that she had. So, the awesome lesson that we should learn from this is that God does not command, nor does He commend, anything that He does not already do Himself. Therefore, when this widow gave all that she had, we can also see God giving us all that He has—His riches in glory. Hallelujah! This is the glorious truth that is wrapped up in those two seemingly insignificant words in Philippians 4:19— “according to.” Do not be mistaken either: We are not talking about just a millionaire here. We are talking about the God who created the heavens and the earth. We are talking about the God who owns both the cattle on a thousand hills and all the gold, silver, and precious stones of the earth. To say that the Lord is extremely wealthy would be a major understatement. So, when Paul says that our God will fill our cup “according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus,” he is not talking about God giving us just enough; he is talking about Him giving us more than enough. Friends, this is simply God’s nature! When He filled Peter’s net with fish, He gave him so much that his boat began to sink. When Jesus multiplied the loaves and the fishes, they ate until they were full—even having twelve baskets left over. Our God is extremely wealthy and delights Himself in supplying all our need according to His glorious riches. So, when we are promised in the Word of God that our faithful and sacrificial giving into the Kingdom of God results in Him supplying our every need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus, know that we are talking about an abundance. I do not know about you, but this stirs me up to be even more of an extravagant giver! Glory! THE REST OF THE HARVEST But this monetary harvest is not the only benefit of the seed we sow. Simply consider how harvests come in the natural. When a farmer plants watermelon seeds, not only does he reap the watermelons themselves, but these watermelons also contain more seed in themselves. Therefore, when he plants the fruit’s seeds, he reaps both the fruit of the seed he has sown and also more seed at the same time. So, as wonderful as this promise is that we will reap what we sow, by far the greatest benefit of being a giver is not simply the financial harvest that you and I will reap from our monetary seeds; the greatest benefit is how our cup will also overflow with joy as we sow. Yes, when a believer begins giving in this generous and faithful manner, they will experience the same net-breaking, ship-sinking, cup-overflowing provision of joy & happiness in their lives. Therefore, as wonderful as it is to reap an abundance of seed when we sow just one seed, partaking of the fruit itself makes being a giver even more delicious. Amen! Church, there is no greater joy than being used by our gracious God to help meet someone else’s need, grant their desire, or be an answer to prayer. This is not only the privilege of every believer, but it is our duty as well. THE RIGHT WAY TO GIVE Now back to Second Corinthians – after spending all of chapter 8 talking about money, Paul continues in chapter 9 with more of the same … In verses 1-5, Paul thought it necessary to exhort them to be prepared and ready to give when he arrived in Corinth. Paul said in verse 5, “Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren to go to you ahead of time, and prepare your generous gift beforehand, which you had previously promised, that it might be ready as a matter of generosity and not as a grudging obligation.” Our giving should never be because we feel compelled to give. So many times, we get put on the spot and feel like we have to give because it will make us look bad if we don’t. This is absolutely the wrong way to give. We need to be prepared to give! How do we do that? We instigate our giving to people. We write our check before we even go to church. God wants us to think about giving before we have the need or desire pushed on us. Therefore, a good principle of finances is: Being wise in your sowing by giving thought beforehand to the need and preparing your gift accordingly. Let me give you a couple of examples of this: 1.The way that we collect your tithe and offerings here: We trust that you are doing this – that you know the impact that your financial giving has on both the church and on your home. And, praise God, many of you know this. I believe there is a lot of you that when you are paid, the very first thing you prepare is what you are giving to God. This is a practical way to put God first in your finances. 2.Giving to guest ministers: As many of you know, I take up an offering for our special guest ministers. Well, the right mentality to have is for everyone to plan beforehand what they would give instead of it always being a last second decision to write a check and put it in the offering on the day of. 3.First-Fruits: When you know that we do this on the first Sunday of every year, it is best to start planning earlier than say a week or two beforehand – praying about what the Lord would have you to do for someone in the congregation and then setting aside a little here and a little there. Second Corinthians 9:6 goes on to say, “But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.” Here, Paul lays out the law of sowing and reaping to us. He says that if you sow “sparingly” (Lit. “stingily”) you will also reap “sparingly” (or, “stingily”). This would mean giving very little because you do not want to let go of what you possess. When you sow in that way and with that attitude you will reap that way. That is, you will get very minimal help from God when you have a need. On the other hand, when you sow “bountifully” you will also reap “bountifully.” The word “bountifully” literally means “upon blessing” in the Greek language. I believe that means “with the purpose of being a blessing.” We have been given the blessing of Abraham and part of that blessing is that we would be a blessing! When we sow with the intent and purpose of being a blessing, we will find that God will intend to be a blessing to us! That is awesome! So, another major principle in our giving is: “Make sure our giving is solely for the purpose of being a blessing and is not stingy in any way.” Second Corinthians 9:7 says, “So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.” Notice what Paul says in this Scripture. This is how God now wants our giving to be! First off, he says “let each one (that’s every believer) give as he purposes in his heart (to give). The word “purposes” means “to choose beforehand.” Choose beforehand what? Before offering time! Why? Because God does not want you giving because you get talked into it! God is not interested in “talking you into” anything! He wants you to purpose what you want to give. Why? Because He wants you to willingly bring your tithes and offerings to the storehouse. Now notice where Paul admonished this “purposing” to take place – “in his heart.” That means that God wants you to want to! He wants you to give what is in your heart to give. That is the only way to get your maximum harvest back from your tithe, offerings, alms, and first-fruits – through a willing and giving heart. It just irks me when I hear preachers say, “Just try tithing and I guarantee you that God will bless you!” That is just not true because if you are giving out of a sense of obligation, fear, or covetousness then God might have mercy on you by your needs barely getting met but you won’t ever enter into the abundant provision that God has for you. I guarantee you that! The only way you will enter into the provision of Second Corinthians 9:8(And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work) is to fulfill Second Corinthians 9:7! So, let’s look further on at verse 7… Paul goes on to say, “not grudgingly or of necessity…” The word “grudgingly” describes giving out of “sorrow, grief, pain, or annoyance.” I could spend a lot of time on this part but let me just say that you should never give because somebody tells you some sob story. There are TV preachers that will get on the air and tell you sad stories like, if you don’t give, they will go off the air. You know, if believers would just give where they are fed then all the preachers that are not worth a flip would go under and the ones that are good for the Body of Christ would flourish (but that is another message). The point is – we should never give because someone tries to stir us up emotionally. And, you see, if we would only give what we purposed in our heart to give that wouldn’t happen. Some believers also give just to shut the preacher up! For example, I have heard of preachers keeping congregations in church until they got the offering they needed and then finally someone will give the remainder just to shut them up. Never do that, because all you do is show them that that kind of manipulation works, and they’ll do it again. Finally, the word “necessity” describes giving “by compulsion.” The Message Bible translates this word as “arm twisting.” This goes back to what I was saying before about giving with wrong motives. If you do not want to give it then giving it won’t profit you at all. Now I understand that sometimes your flesh will pitch a fit when you are willing on the inside, but I am talking about the attitude of your heart. If your heart is not in it then you will not see much, if any, of a return. HOW TO SOW IN LOVE AND FAITH Now when it comes to where we should sow, we should be very careful and thoughtful regarding what we support. Regarding these ministers and ministries that are after your pocketbook, do you know why they continue to do this? It’s because people continue to support them! Yes, if people would not submit to their sob stories and arm-twisting techniques, then they would go off the air just like they probably should. So, here is a good principle to live by that would help one know where to sow – only give into proven good ground. This would be the works, ministries and churches that are actually blessing and ministering to people. It could be a good mission minded ministry that is feeding people – both spiritually and naturally. It could be a good church that is meeting the various needs of the Body. So, look for those churches, ministries, missionaries and other works that are doing the work of the ministry. Consider the fruit; don’t just be swayed by the techniques they use to manipulate you. And the awesome part is – when we sow into works that are genuinely helping the kingdom grow and increase, then we will be more apt to give in love and faith. First Corinthians 13:3 says that even if we give all of our goods to the poor it profits us nothing if it is not motivated by love. Now it will profit the one you give to. This verse says, “it profits you nothing.” So, if you want to see the best harvest God has for you, then just make the adjustment in your heart and get willing. Just make the decision that you are going to honor God in your giving and give to Him because you love Him, and you love His works. The rest of verse 7 says, “…for God loves a cheerful giver.” Do you know what God really loves? He loves a cheerful giver! That is someone who loves to give! Someone who gives willingly and happily! God is more interested in your heart than in your actions. You can give all day and if your heart was not in it then you will not see God’s best harvest in return. But if you give willingly, you will eat the good of the land (Isaiah 1:19)! God loves a cheerful giver! Not someone who gives because of the negative consequences, nor because of some emotional decision. He wants us to want to! He wants us to desire to give. This is the right heart of giving. CONCLUSION So today, begin to think of ways that you can be more of a blessing—more of a giver to your church, more of a giver to other ministries, more of a giver to your neighbor, more of a giver to the simple stranger in the marketplace, and so on. When you live your life to be a blessing to others—sowing of your time, energy, and resources—you will most definitely reap the fruit of joy in your life. It is a principle God has set up here on the earth, and it will last for all eternity. Live to give today, and reap a harvest of joy, bliss and happiness in your heart. Amen. Well, today is likely the end of our teaching series on the subject of praise. And in this series of teachings, we are learning what true praise looks like, and also learned some powerful truths about it.
One of the main things I hope we’ve taken out of this study is how praise is not just to be something that we observe, but that it’s something that we all need to participate in. Yes, that includes during the song services we have here corporately, but also in our homes, in our automobiles, and everywhere for that matter. Church, our lives are meant to bring forth His praise – not just “some times” or “occasionally,” but as David said in Psalm 34:1 – at “all times” and “continuously!” I also hope that we’ve learned how the Lord desires our praise to come from hearts that are full of gratitude & excitement for all that He is and He has done for us. This will result in a whole lot more “expressive, unreserved, and emotional” kind of action on our part, which will mirror a lot of what we see in the Hebrew idea of praise. I plan to review the specifics of what we’ve learned already, but for now, let’s get right into how the Lord would have us to conclude this study … Baraking = Blessing Let’s move on to the last Hebrew word for “praise” that I wanted to cover – one that leads us into the holy of holies – the Hebrew word barak (baw-rack). This word barak means to "to bend the knees & kneel down, to bless God as an act of adoration." This word is actually translated to “bless” over 300 of the 338 times it’s used! Sometimes it is used to describe man being “blessed” by God, but it is also used as man “blessing” God. Now, of course, this does not mean that God’s creation can “bless” God like He “blesses” us. He alone is the giver of every good & perfect gift and only He, as being the source of any & all blessings, can empower one to prosper. But there are verses (and we will look at some of them here shortly) that describe us “blessing God” and some that describe Him as the “blessed God.” So perhaps the terminology “blessed” (i.e. bless-ed) more accurately conveys God being blessed. We see barak used this way in Psalm 18:46 when David said, “Blessed be my Rock” or in Psalm 28:6, 31:21, 41:13, etc. when the psalmists said, “Blessed be the Lord.” So He is the “blessed One forever”! Which means what? Well, I think a good way to answer that question is like so – When an individual was “barak’d” (i.e. blessed) by the Lord, how was that described? Well, a perfect example of this is found in Genesis chapter 12 when God told Abram how He would “bless” Him. He said in Genesis 12:1-3, “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” So when God told Abram that He would “barak” him, how did He describe this blessing? He said He would make him into a great nation. He said He would make his name great. He said that he would be a blessing. He said that those who blessed him would be blessed and those who cursed him would be cursed. And finally, he said that all the families of the earth shall be blessed through him. So when we consider this, what are we doing when we “bless” the Lord? We are declaring how great His kingdom is (i.e. make him into a great nation)! We are stating how great His name is (i.e. make his name great)! We are telling Him how much of a blessing He is (i.e. be a blessing)! We are inferring that everyone who praises Him will be blessed by Him and everyone who speaks against Him will be cursed (i.e. bless those who bless you & curse him who curses you)! And finally, we are declaring that everyone who is blessed, obtained that blessing through Him! In other words, one of the ways that I am “blessing” the “blessed” One is by declaring how great His name and His kingdom are, how much of a “blessing” He has been to me personally, and how He is the source – any & all “blessings” come through Him. This is a way of “barak’ing” the Lord, church! You see, this is an important part of understanding this Hebrew word for “praise” because when you study this concept of “blessing” in the Old Testament, you’ll realize that it’s done with words. Sure, one received the blessing of God when hands were laid on them, etc. But the primary way you see the blessing of God transferred was through words. We see this in how God blessed His creation in Genesis when we are told that God “blessed” things like the fish, birds, and mankind, “saying …” In other words, the way the Lord blessed His creation was by speaking words like “Be fruitful and multiply.” We also would see it in how the Patriarchs would bless their sons. They would speak words of life & blessing into them and this was how the blessing of God was transferred to the firstborn (or at least that was who it was intended for). One of our most well-known examples of this is in what is commonly known as “The Priestly Blessing.” It is found in Numbers chapter 6 … In Numbers 6:22-27 we are told – “And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ‘Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, ‘This is the way you shall bless the children of Israel. Say to them: ‘The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.’ So they shall put My name on the children of Israel, and I will bless them.” So notice that the Lord told Moses to tell Aaron and his sons that “this is the way you shall bless (i.e. barak) the children of Israel. Say to them …” In other words, the way the priests were to “barak” the people was to speak this particular blessing over them. So guess how you and I can “bless” the Lord? We could say something to Him of the same effect – “Lord, you have blessed me and kept me. Lord, you’ve made Your face to shine upon me, and you’ve been so gracious to me. Lord, you have lifted up Your countenance upon me and given me Your peace.” Do you see what I’m doing here? I am praising the Lord! How? By blessing the blessed One! Amen! So yes, the blessing is voice activated. It is released through speaking words. Therefore, when we “bless” the Lord, what we are doing is, with our mouths, we are declaring good things about Him. Amen? A good example of this is found in Luke 6:28 when Jesus taught how we should love our enemies: He said, “bless those who curse you …” The New Testament word for “bless” is the Greek word eulogia, which literally means to “to speak well of.” It is actually transliterated as our English word “eulogy,” which is what we do at funerals when we speak good things about the deceased. So Jesus was teaching us that when people “curse” us – they insult us, falsely accuse us, and simply speak negatively about us – we are to speak positively about them. So this is the idea of blessing in both the Old & New Testaments – it is to speak good things about someone else and to “praise” them. Bless the Lord! Let me now show you a few places where barak is used in the Psalms: One very well-known verse is Psalm 34:1 when David said, “I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.” So here we learn that David’s aim was to “bless the Lord” at all times! That means when times are good and when times are bad. That means when I feel like it and when I don’t feel like it. “At all times” means at all times, church! So what am I going to do at all times? I am going to barak the Lord, which means I am going to declare how blessed He is and how blessed I am because of Him! Do you know why I believe David chose to use the word barak over all the other praise words to describe what He was going to be doing at all times? It was because the concept of “blessing” is “at all times.” In other words, it doesn’t change & is consistent. No, being blessed is not something someone is one day and then they’re not on another. The blessing of the Lord is the same, yesterday, and forevermore! So when David said he would bless the Lord at all times, it makes sense because we have a reason to bless the Lord at all times. He is always faithful! He does not change! We are always blessed! That doesn’t change! Therefore, we ought to be able to bless the Lord at all times! Another very popular section of Scriptures where this word barak is used is the 103rd Psalm. In fact, I believe this word is used six times in this Psalm! But the most familiar portion of this Psalm that contains barak is the first two verses. Let’s look at them … Psalm 103:1-2 says, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, And all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits;” So in these verses that we quote often in our church, since the word “bless” comes from the word barak, we know specifically what David was telling his soul to do, right? He was telling his soul, which like all of our souls, was inconsistent to say the least. Some days our soul might feel like praising God and rejoicing in Him, and some days it might feel like curling up in bed, shutting the blinds, and sucking its thumb. But like we saw in Psalm 34:1, we are to “bless” the Lord at all times, so sometimes our soul might just need a little reminder that its time to “bless” God as an act of adoration, because He is worthy! Amen? Now I want to look at one more verse where this word barak is used, but is translated in a different way: In Psalm 95:6 the psalmist says, “Oh come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.” The word “kneel” in this verse is the word barak, which if you noticed earlier, was a part of its definition. So even though this word is translated “praise” a couple of times and “bless” an abundance of times, there is a strong implication of “worship” in this word – because when you study it out, you’ll find that kneeling & bowing down are associated with the idea of “worship.” In fact, notice at the beginning of this verse how the psalmist used the word for “worship” in conjunction with this idea of kneeling & bowing down before the Lord. What is Worship? So let’s now look at this word which is the most common Hebrew word used to translate “worship” because I don’t believe one can separate the idea of praise & worship … This is the word shachah (sha-ha) and it literally means “to bow down.” It is used almost exclusively to describe the bowing of one’s knee or head towards the object of their worship. In fact, this word was used in some places to describe one individual in the Old Testament bowing down towards another individual – meaning that they were, in essence, worshipping another person. For example, Lot “worshiped” the strangers who came to Sodom – that is, he prostrated himself before them (Genesis 19:1). Abraham “bowed down” before the Hittites (Genesis 23:7). Jacob “bowed down” to the ground seven times as he approached his brother Esau (Genesis 33:3). Joseph’s brothers “bowed down” before him with their faces to the ground before he revealed himself to them (Genesis 42:6). Moses “worshiped” his father-in-law (Exodus 18:7). Abigail “worshiped” David by prostrating herself before him. In all of these references, as well as many more like them, the terms “worshipped & bowed down” were derived from this Hebrew word shachah. Now in each of these instances, they were not worshipping the other individual in the sense that we think of “worshipping” but, nonetheless, these examples give us a clear description of what biblical worship is and what it does. You see, in these people’s culture, they bowed down before those to whom they wanted to show respect and honor. In other words, they saw these other individuals as so worthy of their respect and love that they expressed that love through prostrating themselves before them. Therefore, the act of falling down is biblical worship and reveals the heart of the worshipper – respect and honor towards the one being worshipped. We still see this today in many cultures. For instance, in many Asian cultures, they bow to those whom they respect. In other places, it is customary to bow to those of higher rank. Now it is important to note that simply bowing, getting on our knees, or even laying prostrate is not necessarily evidence that we are worshipping God. It is what is behind that physical action that counts. In other words, it is the heart behind the action that creates true worship. So one can bow and not be truly worshipping from God’s perspective. However, these outward actions, such as getting on our knees and bowing before the Lord, can certainly reveal the inner heart that is overflowing with respect and honor for God. Here’s an interesting point about “worship”: Our English word “worship” itself comes from two Old English words: weorth, which means "worth," and scipe or ship, which means something like shape or "quality." We can see the Old English word ship in modern words like friendship and sportsmanship – which describe the quality of being a friend, or the quality of being a good sport. So worth-ship is the quality of having worth or of being worthy. Therefore, when we worship God, we are acting as if God has worth and are telling Him that He is worthy. Therefore, worship means to declare worth, to attribute worth. And one of the responses of one who sees the “worth” that God is “worthy” of is to kneel or bow down like we see in the Hebrew words barak & shachah. You see, church, while the emphasis in this series has been praise, it’s important to realize what praise leads us unto – and that is worship. Do you recall how I’ve made the statement several times from Psalm 100:4 that we enter His gates with thanksgiving (i.e. todah), and into His courts with praise (i.e. tahilla)? Well, there is another part of the Tabernacle/Temple that is left to enter, and that is the Holy of Holies. Let’s look at a couple of other verses where this word “worship” is used … Psalm 132:7 says, “Let us go into His tabernacle; Let us worship at His footstool.” So we already know how we are to go into His tabernacle. It’s with thanksgiving & praise. But notice how the psalmist says that we are to worship at His footstool. So this shows the aim. It’s to worship! Psalm 138:2 says, “I will worship toward Your holy temple, and praise Your name for Your lovingkindness and Your truth; For You have magnified Your word above all Your name.” So again, the worship is aimed towards His holy temple. But the good news now, saints, is that we are that temple! And now the dwelling place of God is in a born-again believer! Amen! So how can we enter into the Holy of holies through worship? Well, that is because now, under this New & Better Covenant, you and I can enter into the place that the Old Testament saint had no right to enter. Now we can boldly enter the Holiest and where His presence dwells! Amen! And its thanksgiving & praise that leads us there. Review So let’s quickly recap what we’ve learned in this series: We’ve seen that praise is the calling of every believer. Yes, for all of us who have been called out of darkness and into His marvelous light, we are chosen to declare the praises of Him (see First Peter 2:8). Therefore, praising God is not just something we are to observe; it’s what we are called to do! Yes, everyone is called to be a praiser. In fact, we learned that praising God is more like a profession, occupation, and vocation for us. So if you and I read in the Bible “Praise the Lord!”, what should our response be? It should be to praise the Lord, right? Yes, if the Scriptures say, “Hallelujah”, then I should stop what I’m doing and praise the Lord right then! In fact, we ought to live our lives to praise the Lord like some live their lives devoted to their occupation. Praise should be our occupation, church! And the “gospel” is this – like any full-time occupation, there are benefits to doing our job – which we learned are found in the 103rd Psalm when David described all of God’s benefits such as our salary, health/medical insurance, life insurance, dental insurance, etc. Yes, being about our Father’s business yields so many wonderful benefits, so it is in our best interest to walk in our calling. However, in order to partake of your employer’s benefits, you need to be a good employee, right? So we looked at some verses that describe what being a good employee looks like and learned from that how we can praise the Lord in a way that fully pleases our Master! For example, we learned that being a good employee doesn’t just mean we show up and clock in to work. Likewise, we are not participating in the praise service just because we are here in the room when the song service is going on. No, doing our job well means we are participating in all the ways that the Lord reveals to us that we are to praise the Lord … So we began looking at a bunch of the Hebrew words for praise that reveal to us what true praise is to the Lord. We looked at the following words: Halal – The most popular praise word, being translated this way over 150 times in the Old Testament. In fact, it is part of the word you hear a lot in church, the word hallelujah, which simply means “Praise (i.e. halal) the Lord (i.e. Yahweh).” And this key word describes an expressive & excited side of praise in that it describes acting “clamorously foolish” in praise – which taught us how our praise might reflect more of the actions of a child than it does the lack of actions of an adult. So like I said, perhaps we have grown up too much when it comes to praising the Lord. Todah – The next word we looked at describes the idea of thanksgiving, and we learned how important of a role that this praise of thanksgiving plays in us entering into the presence of the Lord and magnifying His name. But we also saw how thanksgiving is a great way to end our praise time because we are concluding our praise with the reminder of all of who He is, what He has done, and what He will do. Yadah – We then learned how the lifting & extending of our hands is a valid form of praise in that the root word for todah describes this action. This led us into a few other words that describe us jumping (alaz), whirling around (karar), and dancing (mahol). So all of these joy-filled physical actions are a part of our job in praising the Lord. Shabach – But we saw how praise is not just lifting our hands; it’s also lifting our voices. We saw how there are a lot of Old Testament verses and Hebrew words that describe us shouting and raising our volume beyond the normal level. And we learned that this is all because we will lift our voices for what we are excited about. We also saw that there were other words such as ranan, pasah, and rua that describe this crying aloud, breaking out, or shouting joyfully. So shouting & lifting our voices are a part of the life of praise. Zamar – Then we learned last time of just how important praising God with instruments is because of the Hebrew words for praise that describe to “pluck the strings of an instrument” like a harp. So yes, not only can we praise God with our voices, but we can praise Him with the various instruments we have available to us, just as long as our heart is set on praising Him. Tehillah – Then we saw how praise is also done with a song. In other words, while one can praise God just simply by talking about how great & awesome He is, we can also sing praises unto His name. So singing songs of praise unto God is a big part of staying full of joy and getting rid of the devil & all his effects. Barak – And finally, we saw today how bending our knee, kneeling down, and blessing the Lord is another way that one praises God because worship is a big part of our Christian responsibility unto God. Yes, the apostle Paul teaches us that it is our “reasonable service” (Romans 12:1-2). So I hope that everyone will continue to adopt all of these forms of praise into your life – yes, certainly during our praise services here at church, but also in your everyday life. Praise is a calling, saints! Let’s continue to “Praise the Lord” in our lives by not just observing it; but by doing it! Amen! REVIEW
Well, we are heading to the end of a teaching series on the subject of praise where we are learning what true praise is and what it looks like! And what we have been learning is how it is a whole lot more “demonstrative” than most of the church acts like it is. In fact, I looked up some synonyms of this word “demonstrative” and saw that some other words were “expressive, unreserved, and emotional.” And, church, this is exactly what we’ve been seeing in the various Hebrew words for praise – that it involves a lot more “expression” in an “unreserved” and even “emotional” manner. Yes, that’s what you would have seen in an Old Testament praise service! But for some reason, the majority of the church today thinks things have changed. Yes, many Christians have adopted this mentality that now we are supposed to praise & worship God “in the Spirit” – meaning, we don’t need any of that physical or emotional stuff anymore. But the truth is doing things “in the Spirit” doesn’t mean that we forsake these Biblical examples of praise & rejoicing form the Old Testament. In fact, we learned how the Holy Spirit should propel us into even more “expressive, unreserved, and emotional” praise! Amen? We started off by looking at the most common Hebrew word for praise, the word halal. Then we looked at the word todah, the word commonly used for thanksgiving. Then we looked at few words that describe why we do the things we do when we praise God like lifting our hands, jumping for joy, dancing and whirling around, etc. And then last week, we looked at some of the Hebrew words that talk about how our voice volume is also important in how we praise the Lord: We saw how one of the Hebrew praise words, the word shabach (shaw-bakh), literally means, "to shout, to address in a loud tone, to command, to triumph." Now this is a far cry from praising Him quietly in our hearts, isn’t it? Is there a place for being quiet and being still & knowing that He is God? Absolutely! Likewise, there is a place for being loud and shouting forth His praises with a voice of triumph! So if I am consistently only doing one of these two things, then I’m missing it. There is a time & place to do both, and we need to be willing to praise Him both ways, not just the way we are comfortable with. And we learned through this word shabach that it also means to soothe, still, or pacify – which sounds a lot to me like how a parent might seek to quiet their baby when they are crying. What do they do? They try and “still” the baby by picking it up and holding it. They try and “soothe” the baby by maybe rocking it back and forth. And they attempt to “pacify” it by giving it a pacifier or bottle. So isn’t that interesting? The word that describes shouting & addressing in a loud tone also describes the stilling of the raging seas. We looked at how Psalm 8:2 teaches us this when it says, “Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.” So praise “stills” the avenger – specifically, shabach is what will still or pacify the devil! Isn’t it interesting that this loud & high-volume kind of praise is what stills & quiets the enemy? We also looked at a few other words that also describe us “crying out, breaking forth, and shouting joyfully.” And through one of these words, we looked at the very familiar story of the Battle of Jericho, where “shouting” was a catalyst for a supernatural miracle. We learned from this story of the walls of Jericho coming down what strongholds are and how they keep one from being free themselves to letting others in. We saw how important it is that we follow the Lord’s specific instructions in order to “see” those walls come down in our lives. And we specifically noticed how on the seventh day, when the priests blew the trumpets, that Joshua said to the people, “Shout, for the Lord has given you the city!” So when it comes to strongholds in our lives, where we feel “shut up,” we can see that breaking out and shouting is the key to seeing those walls come down! Amen? Yes, again, as that company’s commercial used to say, for some stains, you got it shout out! Amen! The Issue of Instruments So now that we’ve been seeing that praise is described as everything from the lifting of our voices, to jumping, dancing, & whirling about, to offering up thanksgiving, to raising our hands, etc. one might wonder – If praise is described by all of these things that any individual can do at any time, what do we need musical instruments for? Well, there is another Hebrew word for praise that both legitimizes the use of instruments and shows the importance of them in how we praise the Lord. Let’s look at it … There is the word zamar means "to pluck the strings of an instrument, to sing, to praise; a musical word which is largely involved with joyful expressions of music with musical instruments.” So this Hebrew word for praise means to play upon an instrument; to make music, accompanied by the voice; hence to celebrate in song and music -- give praise, sing forth praises, psalms. Let me give you a few times this is used in the Scriptures: In many of the initial times it’s used in the Old Testament, it was used like so – to “sing praises to His name” (Second Samuel 22:50, Psalm 7:17, 9:2, 18:49, etc.). In fact, by my count, it is used as “sing praises” around 30 of the times it was used. This reminds me of that beautiful chorus that was popular some years back – “I sing praises to your name, O Lord, praises to your name, O Lord. For your name is great and greatly to be praised …” So, yes, it does describe singing with our mouth, but by its definition, it obviously means to sing with our music as well. In fact, there are several instances where this word zamar is used like that. Let’s look at a few of them … Psalm 33:2 says, “Praise the Lord with the harp; Make melody to Him with an instrument of ten strings.” Psalm 71:22 says, “Also with the lute I will praise You— And Your faithfulness, O my God! To You I will sing with the harp, O Holy One of Israel.” Psalm 98:5 says, “Sing to the LORD with the harp, with the harp and the sound of a psalm.” Psalm 144:9 says, “I will sing a new song to You, O God; On a harp of ten strings I will sing praises to You,” Psalm 149:3 says, “Let them praise His name with the dance; Let them sing praises to Him with the timbrel and harp.” So notice that with all five of these passages of Scripture, that we see praising God (Heb. zamar) “with the harp.” Isn’t that interesting that one can praise God with an instrument? I’ve always looked at it like we praise God with our voices, but apparently the Lord receives praise from the instruments we play as well. Now specifically, we see the Scriptures saying that we zamar the Lord with a “harp.” So does that mean that this is God’s instrument of choice that He receives praises from? In other words, must one use a harp to have it be considered praise by the Lord? Of course not! You see, for some things in the Bible, we have to understand that they were unique to their culture. Now this certainly does not include certain moral issues or other things that are just as right/wrong today as they were centuries ago, but for other things like what instruments we use, those are unique for the time periods. Therefore, these verses from the Psalms are not to be taken so literally that we assume we have to go back to using harps and other instruments that they used back then. Heck, in a couple of these psalms, you see them talk about praising Him with the “timbrel” and a “lute.” I’d have to look up what a timbrel even is! So no, this is one of those times where we can assume that praising God can also be done with the instruments of our generation just like David praising God with the instruments of his day. For one, how would our current set of instruments even have been on the psalmist’s radar to include them in writings from centuries ago? Just like the apostle John didn’t have the reference point to describe what he was seeing from the end times, David and the other psalmists wouldn’t have had the reference point to describe the instruments & technology that obviously hadn’t been invented yet. Amen? And this leads us to an interesting point: You know, one thing I have come to discover is how easy it is for our own personal preferences and traditions to get in the way of appreciating the various instruments we have available to us. I’ve run into some from the older generation that didn’t particularly like guitars – whether that be acoustic, electric, or bass. So if a praise & worship leader was playing say an acoustic guitar, they would immediately turn them off, saying things like – “I don’t like all ‘dat guitar strumming.” And most of the time, the reason that was the case was because they had come up in a generation where other instruments like an organ or a grand piano were what churches used during the song service. So which generation is right? Is the piano better than the guitar? Is the timbrel better than a standard drum set that we use today? In short, does God have a preference on what instruments He is being praised with? I know religious folks might say, yes, but I say, no. I believe God is pleased with whatever instrument we choose to praise Him with, when the heart of the one playing it is to glorify & magnify His name! Amen? Anointed Music Now I understand that most of us in here today, don’t play instruments. So how does praising God this way apply to the ones of us who don’t? Well, today we have a wonderful thing called technology, and through it, we can play music in various ways. So I bring this to our attention because I also believe that one can “zamar” the Lord by simply popping in a CD, streaming a song off of a website or app, or tuning into a Christian radio station. But just simply “playing” praise music is not considered us praising the Lord any more than someone simply playing an instrument is praise. It’s the heart in playing it. It’s how that person accompanies that praise music. In other words, are they playing it with the purpose to praise God. Then it can be the same as playing an actual instrument. And here’s the awesome part, I’ve seen similar effects from playing anointed praise & worship music as we read about in the story of David playing his harp with Saul – how he would see relief from the demons that were troubling him. If you are unfamiliar with this story, we see in First Samuel chapter 16 how David was sought out to play for Saul when the distressing spirit came upon him, and we are told that when David would play that the spirit would depart from Saul, and he would be refreshed and well. So this shows me that anointed music can expel demonic activity, and this would include anointed praise coming from an instrument and anointed praise coming from some other audio source. The fact is, the anointing destroys the yoke (Isaiah 10:27)! So if that anointing is on a song, instrument, or voice, it can do the same thing as David’s anointing did for Saul. Amen? In fact, the next word for praise that I want us to look at also teaches us how praise can both expel darkness & invite light. Let’s look at it … Songs of Halal The next Hebrew praise word I want us to look at is the word tehillah (te-hi-law). This word comes from the word we’ve already covered, the Hebrew word halal and of the 47 times it is used in the Old Testament, it is translated “praise” every time in the original King James Version. Tehillah describes the “singing of halals, to sing or to laud with hymns of praise.” So while other usages of praise can describe simply declaring God’s praises, this word specifically refers to the singing of His praise. In other words, tehillah describes the songs one sings to praise God. This is why it describes the word “hymn” which is literally just a song of praise. You see, in the church when we refer to “hymns,” we automatically think of what is contained in the hymn books—thereby, many see hymns as the old songs, written in old books, for old people. But that’s not exactly what hymns are. When considering the literal definition of “hymn,” we can clearly see that we are singing hymns every Sunday in most churches because they are simply “songs of praise.” Do you see how religion skews our view of these things and how we wrongly associate things based on our traditions? We need to eliminate these things from our way of thinking and view these terms from a literal, biblical perspective. So just like we talked about how there are not any instruments that are “better” than others, the same goes for the songs we sing. You see, there has always been this debate in the church between using a hymn book with these wordy songs versus having more repetitive words put on the screen in the modern era of music. Which one is right? That’s what the common thought is – that one is right, and the other isn’t. I’m here to tell you today that one isn’t any better than the other. In fact, there are advantages to both styles of “praise songs.” Let me give you a couple of examples … When it comes to the older hymns sung in prior generations, the good part of that was how instructive those songs were. Yes, a lot of those hymns would teach people good doctrine. So the songs contained in the hymn books were beneficial in that they introduced more truth than many of the modern-day songs do. However, more of the modern-day songs are better because they give more of the opportunity to camp on certain truths and sing them directly to the Lord. Yes, in the repetition of certain phrases & statements, people are able to pour out more of their heart in praise to God. So for that reason, these songs that have very simple chorus’ are good. But the main point I am making is that one is NOT better than the other. There is a place and a benefit in both styles of songs. Like we made the point of when talking about the instruments, the key is in the hearts of the people singing them, not in the style of songs themselves. So if you are in a place where a tehillah (i.e. a song of praise) is being sung, and it’s not your particular taste, style, or preference, don’t miss the potential benefits in it. Choose to pour your heart into it and sing that praise to God with everything that is in you. Amen? How To Abide in His Presence Now this Hebrew word for praise is actually used in some of our most well-known verses about praise in the Old Testament. Let’s look at a few of them … The first one I want us to look at is in the verse that we are all familiar with – Psalm 34:1. This verse says, “I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.” With the word tehillah being used for “praise” in the second part of this verse, we can see exactly what it is that is to continually be in our mouth – it’s a song or hymn. In other words, David was saying that what was going to constantly be in his mouth was a song. You know, I’ve always found that some of the happiest people are people who sing continually. In fact, the Lord showed me before that the people who constantly praise Him like this are those who “abide” in Him. I remember one day I was asking the Lord to teach me to continually abide in Him. I was saying, “Lord, show me how to consistently abide! Teach me to continually abide in You!” and as I had intended on these words to come out of my mouth, I uttered a different prayer that bypassed my understanding. I prayed- “Lord, let your praise be continually in my mouth!” Now this was obviously a Holy Spirit inspired prayer because I was not thinking this in any way, shape, or form. Then the Lord revealed to me that this was how we continually abide in Him- by His praise being continually in our mouth. Amen! In other words, the way we continually abide in His manifest presence is by His praise being continually in our mouth. You see, one of the greatest benefits of us singing praises to the Lord at all times is that we will abide in Him. This should be rather obvious to us because of all the Scriptures that teach us how God inhabits the praises of His people and how worship draws us into the holy of holies. Our feelings and experiences are directly tied to our thoughts and focus. So when we fix our eyes on Him—His greatness, glory and power—we begin to sense, become aware of, and feel His tangible presence. It begins to affect our surroundings! Amen! Another time this word is used is in another verse that we have already used several times in this series – Psalm 100:4. Again, this verse says, “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.” Ah, so in this verse we see how two forms of praise are used in entering the presence of God: As we saw, the Hebrew word towdah is used to describe how one enters into the gates of His house. But now we see how one walks through the courts of the house of God – its with tehillah. So the best way to enter God’s presence is to start out with “the praise of thanksgiving” (i.e. towdah), and then to walk through His courts with “songs of praise.” So what it is that we are approaching the holy of holies with is a song or a hymn. And like we just learned from Psalm 34:1, it is what will cause us to not just enter His presence, but “abide” in His presence. I personally love this next reference … Psalm 22:3 says, “But You are holy, Enthroned in the praises of Israel.” This is the verse that some of us quote as God “inhabits the praises of His people.” That sounds a lot to me like “abiding” and “dwelling in God’s presence,” amen? So what is it that the Lord inhabits? It’s the tehillah of His people! So God is enthroned upon the “songs of praise or the hymns” of His people! Are you starting to see that? This is where God abides! It is where He dwells! No, not just in any form of praise, but specifically in the place where songs of praise are on people’s lips. He loves it, and this is where you will find Him – in the environment of hymns. And here’s the awesome part: Where God dwells, sadness, mourning, grief, and depression don’t. Now that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a place for these things at times, like say if we lost a loved one or are heartbroken over someone else’s loss. Yes, life will have these emotions, but we are not called to live there. As the Bible says, “In His presence is fullness of joy” (Psalm 16:11), so if I’m living, dwelling, and abiding in His presence, I’m not going to be sad; I’ll be glad! Amen? Notice the final verse I want us to look at where tehillah is used: Isaiah 61:1-3 says after Jesus’ quote that the Spirit of the Lord was upon Him because God had anointed Him, “… To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.” So what is the Holy Spirit—the Anointing of God—meant to do in our lives? One of the things is to do exactly this – to minister to those who mourn and give them joy; to replace that spirit of heaviness that can come upon all of us at times with the “garment of tehillah.” So again, it’s the one who sings songs of praise unto God who is positioned to take off a spirit of heaviness and replace it with a new garment, a song of praise! Amen! Staying Full of the Anointing Now let me conclude today’s message with this … A couple of weeks ago, we looked at Ephesians 5:18 where the apostle Paul told us that we need to stay full of the Holy Spirit. In other words, it’s not just good enough to be filled at some point in the past, but to be continually filled up with Him. Then we looked at how one stays full of the Spirit of God. The answer is found in verse 19— by “speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.” So notice that one of the three forms of songs that Paul describes are these “hymns” we’ve been referring to. Therefore, I see this concept of tehillah as being one of the avenues that God desires to use, to fill us up with His presence. So what are these “psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs?” Well, “psalms” suggests what we would call “scriptural music.” In almost every usage of the Greek word “psalmos” the Psalms of the Old Testament are what is being referred to. So singing “psalms” would be singing the Psalms of the Old Testament obviously but it would also include singing other portions of Scripture. The word “hymns” literally describes “festive songs” or “songs of praise specifically addressed towards God.” A hymn differs from a psalm in that while a psalm is scripturally based and might not specifically address God, a hymn is a song that comes of human origin that does specifically praise and worship God. A hymn will always be directed towards God and a psalm will always be full of Scripture. Some examples of “hymns” could be “I Sing Praises to Your Name”, “Holy, Holy, Holy”, or “the Doxology.” The third and final songs that we should sing are “spiritual songs.” The word “spiritual” literally means “non-carnal.” So “spiritual songs” are “songs that are not of human origin”- that is, songs that are given by inspiration of the Spirit. This would include singing in tongues or simply just singing a song in our own understanding that the Holy Spirit puts in our hearts and that did not originate from man. Someone might say, “But it is not always convenient to sing…What do you do in those times?” That Is why Paul’s next phrase in Ephesians 5:19 is “singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.” In those times where it is not appropriate to sing aloud, we can make melody in our heart to the Lord. We can always maintain that inner communion with Him. God is a spirit so we can worship Him (or fellowship with Him) in spirit (i.e. not naturally). So when we cannot let it come out of our mouth, we need to let it continue in our heart. Actually this singing and making melody in our heart is always important to do. Sometimes we can just let songs come out of our mouth without our hearts being behind the words. If all we do is just sing psalms and hymns without our hearts truly being involved it will do absolutely nothing to keep us full of the Spirit and abiding in His presence. That is why Paul went on to say, “singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.” This means that the songs that come out of our mouth should be aimed at the Lord. That is, that we are not just singing but that we are actually singing to the Lord - making Him the object of all the words that proceed from our mouth. This is getting our heart involved in our psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. But our point today is that these songs of praise as well as the instruments that accompany them are a part of abiding in the anointing. Yes, the anointing that destroys the yoke and makes evil spirits depart. So the more you and I live our lives singing & playing songs of praise, the more we can dwell in His presence. Amen! REVIEW
Praise the Lord! This is the title of our current series, and as you just witnessed, we are not just wanting to observe what praise is; we want to actually put into practice “Praising the Lord!” So we are stretching ourselves a little bit by finding out what God considers praise to be and then adopting these things into our praise lives. And we are doing this by looking at the various words that are used for praise in the Old Testament because the Hebrew language gives us a much more thorough description of what praise looks like. We started off by looking at the most common Hebrew word for praise, the word halal. We learned that this word is used close to 150 times in the Old Testament and is translated “praise” the vast majority of those times. However, even though the word “praise” is obviously its primary meaning, it actually means to make a show, to act clamorously foolish & like a madman. So we made the point that we see very few people acting foolish or like a crazy person during the praise time, don’t we? And that’s not to condemn us, but it does need to be brought to our attention because if this is how we are called to praise, then perhaps we ought to loosen up a bit. Yeah, perhaps we’ve grown up too much. Then next, we covered another Hebrew word for “praise”, the word todah, which describes thanking God for “things not yet received” as well as things already at hand. In fact, we learned that it is actually translated “thanksgiving” half the times it is used in the original King James Version. So the idea of this form of praise is more that of expressing gratitude and the giving of thanks to God. So we learned that this todah kind of thanksgiving is what we should start out with. Yes, it’s how we enter His gates and into His presence! So, it would behoove us to incorporate this spirit of thanksgiving into our praise lives—for not only is it the right & noble thing to do towards the One who has given us so much, but it’s also the vehicle that leads us into His presence. Amen. Then last week, we dealt with a few Hebrew words for praise that answer the question – “Why do we praise like we do?” You know, there are lot of things that we do in certain Charismatic, Pentecostal circles that I’m not so sure people understand why we do them – whether that be if you are someone who isn’t used to a church like this or whether you’ve grown up in a church that does these things. And the last thing we want to do is do things simply out of tradition or for some other religious reason. So we looked at the popular Hebrew word for praise, which is actually the root word for the word we covered last week (todah), the word yadah. We learned that like todah which described an extension of the hand in adoration, avowal, or acceptance, the word yadah likewise describes "an extended hand or to throw out the hand.” And here it describes praising God by shooting out the hands, thanking Him with extended hands, or we might say to simply lift the hands in praise & thanksgiving. So have you ever wondered why you see some people lift their hands during the praise & worship service? Well, here is one of your reasons – it’s because it’s Biblical since one of the Hebrew words for praise specifically describes it. But we also learned that not only do we have this Hebrew word that clearly describes praise being done with lifted/extended hands, we have several Scriptures that specifically talk about this as well. But even with all this Scriptural evidence, you’ll still have someone who will say, “But I just don’t see the point. What good does it do to lift my hands?” Well, we don’t have to understand or see the point to do it and reap the benefits of simple obedience. Now I think understanding is important. Don’t get me wrong. But there’s just a lot we aren’t going to understand that we should simply do because we are told to. But we saw how lifting our hands is not the only demonstrative form of praise that the Bible encourages us to practice … We saw how there was the word alaz (a-lauze) which describes “rejoicing, exulting, and to be jubilant.” But we learned how this word carries the idea of “jumping for joy.” So there you go! Now you have Scriptural precedence for jumping for joy during the song service. We saw how King David did a little jumping himself. But he also liked to “dance” as well. Yes, he was also “whirling” when they brought the ark back into Jerusalem – the Hebrew word karar (ka-rare) – which described how David was dancing before the Lord with all his might. Now this doesn’t mean to bring your old worldly barroom dancing up in here, but it describes a joyful dance. In other words, what’s your snoopy, happy dance. That’s what the Lord is blessed with, when we let it loose for Him. It might be simply just leaping. It might be whirling around. It might be waving your hands back & forth. The bottom line is – whatever dance you’d let loose when you are jubilant & rejoicing, feel free to do that at this church! In fact, this “dancing” before the Lord is also a common biblical practice. We see it in the Hebrew word mahol (ma-hole), and this word is used in Psalm 150:4 when the psalmist said to praise Him with the timbrel and dance. One of my favorite instances of this is found in Psalm 30:11-12, for turning our mourning into dancing. So David declared how his sadness & mourning had now been turned into rejoicing & dancing. Therefore, we have all kinds of Scriptural proof that lifting our hands, dancing, whirling, and jumping are acceptable forms of praise, but the question many have had is – “Is all of this New Testament?” You see, for some reason, the majority of the church has adopted this mentality that now we are supposed to praise & worship God “in the Spirit” – meaning, we don’t need any of that physical or emotional stuff anymore. But what we saw last week is that the gift of the Holy Spirit whom we’ve been promised under this new covenant, should propel us into even more demonstrative praise! You see, the Holy Spirit is compared with wine a few times in the Bible because of the freedom & joy that He brings. So what does this have to do with us praising God in all of these ways? Well, just think about it: If the infilling of the Holy Spirit has similar effects on us that alcohol has on people, what do you think might make us feel a little freer to dance, jump, whirl, and act what some might call a little foolish? The New Wine; that’s Who! So yes, being filled with the Holy Spirit won’t make us less free; it will make us more free – for where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom (See Second Corinthians 3:17)! Yes, freedom from the law, sin, and death, but also freedom to lift our hands, freedom to jump for joy, freedom to dance & spin around before the Lord, etc. Lifting Our Hands to Lifting Our Voices Now this week, I want us to move into another couple of Hebrew words that describe another very important element of praise … So let me begin by asking a very important question: Now that we’ve learned that certain demonstrative actions like lifting our hands, dancing, jumping, etc. are a part of our praise unto God, what about our volume? Is the level of noise we make with our mouth important? Well, like the lifting of our hands, there are people who like to reason out of this, saying things like “What difference does it make if I lift my hands?” Well, like I made the point of last week, just because we don’t see the purpose of it, doesn’t mean there isn’t one. Again, when we were young and our parents told us to do certain things, we didn’t always understand why what they were telling us to do was important. However, when we matured, we realized that there were just things we simply didn’t see when we were young. Therefore, the lesson is this – God, who is infinitely more wise & knowledgeable than us, is likely giving us instructions in the Scriptures to do things that we just haven’t connected the dots on yet. But a wise person will just do those things, trusting that He knows something we don’t. Amen? Well, like we saw last week, lifting our hands is one of those things that He explicitly tells us is a part of praise. So if I am wise child of God, I’ll lift my hands to the Lord. However, if I’m foolish, I’ll just continue doing what I want, what I think, etc. And so my point is that just as there are a lot in the Scriptures about lifting our hands, there are also a lot of verses about lifting our voice. Yes, our voice volume is another one of these examples of God showing us how He likes to be praised that we might not yet understand … So in order to establish the importance of our volume to the Lord, let’s look at a few more Hebrew words related to praising God and Scriptures that they are used in … Shabach’d! Although there are several words that we will look at today that establish the importance of shouting & lifting our voices, there is one word for praise that we see used in the Old Testament that I want to spend the most time on – It’s the word shabach (shaw-bakh). This word literally means, "to shout, to address in a loud tone, to command, to triumph." So it’s a loud adoration or an unashamed proclaiming with a loud voice. Now this is a far cry from praising Him quietly in our hearts, isn’t it? Is there a place for being quiet and being still & knowing that He is God? Absolutely! Likewise, there is a place for being loud and shouting forth His praises with a voice of triumph! So if I am consistently only doing one of these two things, then I’m missing it. There is a time & place to do both, and we need to be willing to praise Him both ways, not just the way we are comfortable with. Let’s look at a few instances where this word is used … In both First Chronicles 16:15 & Psalm 106:47, David said, “Save us, O God of our salvation; gather us together, and deliver us from the Gentiles, to give thanks to Your holy name, to triumph in Your praise.” The word “triumph” here comes from this Hebrew word shabach. So the idea here is that God’s people are lifting their voices in victory for His salvation! Psalm 63:3 says, “Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You.” Notice that it was his “lips” that was “shabach’ing” the Lord. So, this is where this loud voice of praise comes from. It’s not in your heart or in your mind; it’s done with your lips. So who all is supposed to do this? Well, Psalm 117:1 tells us who: It says, “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles! Laud Him, all you peoples!” “All you peoples” means that every kind of person is called to shabach the Lord! So no, it’s not just those who it’s their “personality” or those who are “wired” that way. It’s all you peoples! Finally, Psalm 145:4 talks about how one generation shall “praise” God’s works to another. So let’s practice this – If you are 50 years old or older, I want you to lift your voice to a “loud tone” and say this to the rest of the rest of the people in this place today – “Jesus saved me!” Now all of you who are 49 years old and younger, I want you to do the same, and say back to them – “He saved me too!” Guess what we just did? We just “shabach’d” each other! Stilling the Storms Now here is an interesting point about this word shabach: Figuratively, it means to soothe, still, or pacify – which sounds a lot to me like how a parent might seek to quiet their baby when they are crying. What do they do? They try and “still” the baby by picking it up and holding it. They try and “soothe” the baby by maybe rocking it back and forth. And they attempt to “pacify” it by giving it a pacifier or bottle. Shabach is used this way in Psalm 65:7 & 89:9 in describing how the Lord “stills” the waves of the sea. So isn’t that interesting? The word that describes shouting & addressing in a loud tone also describes the stilling of the raging seas. Now let me show you how this works: Oftentimes in life, we find ourselves caught in the middle of a storm. And in these trials & tribulations of life, it is important that we understand a couple of things:
I love what Psalm 8:2 teaches us … The original King James Version reads this way – “Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.” Most of us are familiar with Jesus’ response when the religious leaders derided the children who were praising Him as He entered into Jerusalem on a donkey. He said, “Have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise?’” (Matthew 21:16). Now what makes this statement so interesting is that looking back at the Scripture Jesus was quoting, He was quoting Psalm 8:2. However, in this Psalm, David did not say, “perfected praise;” He said, “ordained strength.” You see, the Hebrew word used in Psalm 8:2 for “strength” was correctly translated. It indeed means “strength.” So, Jesus gave us His divine commentary by exchanging the word “strength” for the word “praise.” In doing so, He showed us that praise is the equivalent of strength. Amen! But Jesus was saying that praise is “strength” to do what? That we might “still” the enemy and the avenger! So praise “stills” the avenger – specifically, shabach is what will still or pacify the devil! Isn’t it interesting that this loud & high-volume kind of praise is what stills & quiets the enemy? Perhaps this is why so many of us get an earful from the enemy and the winds & waves constantly rage around us – It’s because we haven’t gotten loud enough. Amen? Cry Out & Break Forth! But shabach is not the only Hebrew word for shouting or lifting our voices. There are actually several other words that describe something similar: One word is ranan (rah-nan), and this word is used for “crying out or shouting for joy.” It’s used in the following verses: Isaiah 12:6 - “Cry aloud and shout for joy, O inhabitant of Zion, For great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.” Psalm 35:27 - “Let them shout for joy and be glad, Who favor my righteous cause; And let them say continually, ‘Let the Lord be magnified, Who has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.’” There’s also a word that describes to “break forth” in something. This is the word pasah (paw-tsakh) and describes to break out in a joyful sound, break forth in joy, and to burst forth with a loud noise. You know, a big part of all of this is just “breaking out” of our comfort zone. People might not like to look at it this way, but the fact is, if we do not feel free to praise God in all these way – including lifting our voices – then we are in bondage to something. So the key to breaking the bondage is to “break out.” And like someone who breaks out of prison, they have to do some things that everything around them is telling them not to do to get free. Well, I believe that a lot of times those fortress walls come down and those prison doors swing open when we make the deliberate decision to “break out” in a joyful sound and a loud voice! Amen! (We will see more of this at the end of today’s message) One instance where this is used is Psalm 98:4,6, which says, “Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth; break forth in song, rejoice, and sing praises … With trumpets and the sound of a horn; Shout joyfully before the Lord the King.” Finally, let’s look at one more Hebrew word which means something similar and that’s used in these verses – the word rua. It’s used in Psalm 98:4,6 as “shout joyfully.” This word describes “raising a shout” or “giving a blast.” It was used in several Old Testament instances as the catalyst for victories when God’s people would, say, blast a trumpet to sound an alarm or as a war cry or simply lift their voices and shout for the victory. Here’s a couple of other places in the Psalms where it is used … Psalm 47:1 = “O clap your hands, all you peoples; shout to God with the voice of triumph.” Psalm 95:1-2 = “Oh come, let us sing to the Lord! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms.” The most popular place that we see rua used is in the very familiar story of the Battle of Jericho. So let’s turn over to Joshua chapter 6 and look at the important role that “shouting” plays in the walls coming down in our life … From Egypt To Jericho How many of you know that just as the children of Israel had a Promised Land to possess after their Exodus from Egypt, that there are promises God has made to us that we must possess even after we have experienced our salvation? It’s true. Just because we get saved from “Egypt” does not mean that we automatically are ushered into Canaan Land. There is a process to renewing our minds and a spiritual walk that takes us through the wilderness of this world and into everything God has promised us. So, I want us to conclude today by looking at one very key and critical story in the Book of Joshua of how the children of Israel began to possess what God said was theirs—the Battle of Jericho. Of course, we know that the city of Jericho was the Israelites first victory in their conquest of possessing the Promised Land of Canaan. We have all heard the story of the great walls surrounding this city and how when the Israelites marched around them, they experienced a spectacular victory when the walls fell down. But since this is the first challenge the children of Israel faced in possessing their Promised Land, I see it as both a foundational & fundamental lesson in how we too are to possess our Promised Land. So, let’s begin reading this account in Joshua chapter 6: Joshua 6:1 says, “Now Jericho was securely shut up because of the children of Israel; none went out, and none came in.” You see, like it was with the children of Israel’s challenge of possessing Jericho, many of us have walls built up from our past—things that keep us from getting out and from letting others come in. Sure, like the children of Israel had already experienced their Exodus from Egypt, the parting of both the Red Sea and the Jordan River, we too might have experienced salvation, being baptized with both water and the Holy Spirit. But there can still be walls that must be torn down that keep us from possessing our full inheritance. A good Scriptural example of this is with Lazarus: After he was raised from the dead—a type of us being raised to a new life when we were born again—he still had his grave clothes on, to where Jesus had to tell those present to loose him and let him go (see John 11:44). This is how some of have lived our entire Christian life—spiritually alive. Sure. But still with our graveclothes on, and these graveclothes keep us from experiencing the complete freedom that is ours in Christ Jesus. Heck, in the spirit, I bet a lot of Christians look like mummies. And I want you to notice how the phrase “shut up” is used here. I understand that this was talking about how fortified Jericho was, but I just think it’s interesting how these words are used here – because one of the things that the walls in our lives can produce is shutting us up. In other words, the reason why we have such a hard time praising God in a loud, demonstrative way is because of the walls that have been erected in our lives. So, these walls need to come down. Like Israel found out how to experience this supernatural victory directly from the Lord, we need to hear from the Lord ourselves and find out how to pull these walls down once and for all. Amen? And I believe a good first step is to study this account of this Battle of Jericho and see how Israel experienced their first victory in possessing their Promised Land. What Is a Stronghold? But I want you to notice how this opening verse of this chapter says that the City of Jericho was “securely shut up” to where “none went out, and none came in.” Did you know that this as a clear description of what the Bible calls a “stronghold”? The most popular reference to this term is found in Second Corinthians chapter 10, where the apostle Paul describes the strongholds, imaginations and renegade thoughts that are to be pulled down by the anointing. Second Corinthians 10:3-5 says, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,” Now this word “strongholds” was originally used in classical Greek to describe a “fortress” and then later came to describe a “prison.” And this is important to understand because I believe both of these describe the “strongholds” that even we believers can have built up in our hearts & minds: So, first of all, what is the purpose of a fortress? A fortress is used to primarily keep people out. Then this word came to describe a “prison.” So, what is a prison designed to do? A prison is used to primarily keep people in. This sounds like that opening verse of Joshua chapter 6, describing the city of Jericho, doesn’t it? So some examples of a stronghold being a “fortress” could be—if you grew up with your parents never telling you that they loved you and with them making you feel good for nothing, if you have always been rejected by your classmates throughout school, or if you have been physically abused by a loved one. If you have had any experiences like that and now have a hard time trusting people and/or being yourself, this would be considered a “fortress” (or a stronghold) in your mind that “defends” you from being hurt. In other words, a stronghold fortress is a belief system or heart attitude that keeps people from getting close to you. Now some examples of a stronghold being a “prison” could be—if you battle with depression or oppression, if you have this image of yourself as overweight, stupid, or worthless, this would be considered having a “prison” (or a stronghold) in your mind that keeps you bound where you don’t feel like you can get free. You see, strongholds are more than just drug addictions, pornographic habits, and mental sicknesses. Strongholds come in many different shapes and sizes. There are strongholds like these more apparent ones, but there are also strongholds that are less apparent, like insecurities, self-centeredness, and beliefs that are contrary to God’s Word. Most of us have some sort of stronghold in our minds whether big or small. Choosing To Follow the Instructions Now it needs to be said here that as we saw, in these verses, Paul describing the weapons of our warfare as “pulling down” strongholds, the words “pulling down” give us an indication as how they are pulled down. You see, this action verb of “pulling down” comes from Greek word which literally means “to choose down.” That’s right! When you take the words apart, you find that they come from the Greek words which mean “down” and “to choose.” So, the way we “cast down” imaginations and other proud thoughts is by simply choosing not to think like that anymore. Yes, we “pull down” strongholds by first deciding to not let that stronghold have a place in our lives ever again! You see, saints, this is the first step to “letting this mind be in us which was also in Christ Jesus” and “not letting our hearts be troubled;” it is a choice—a decision to change the way we think and to adopt a new mentality. Amen! And guess what this does? By choosing a different attitude and a new frame of mind, it will cause us to experience the life of God. As Deuteronomy 30:19 says, “…I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore, choose life!” We can clearly see here today that the way we choose life is by choosing a certain way of thinking. We choose the kind of life we live by choosing the kind of thoughts we think! Selah and amen! So now, let’s move on to the good part—how we can pull these strongholds down and progress in possessing our Promised Land in Christ Jesus… Now I want you to notice the specific instructions that God gave Joshua in this story. Let’s now read verses 3-5: You shall march around the city, all you men of war; you shall go all around the city once. This you shall do six days. And seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. But the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. It shall come to pass, when they make a long blast with the ram’s horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, that all the people shall shout with a great shout; then the wall of the city will fall down flat. And the people shall go up every man straight before him.” Now these are some specific instructions, aren’t they? What this teaches me is that I need to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit and hear the specific battle plan that He has for me. Now, in my opinion, the most important thing to take away from these specific instructions, is how we, too, need to hear God’s specific instructions and obey them. You see, following this specific set of instructions that the Lord gave to Israel back then will not necessarily work for us today (unless, of course, He gives us this story and tells us to do it) just as it would not have worked for Israel if they would have tried it again at the next city in Canaan. But no, God had a different battle plan for every city that they were to possess. No, God has a specific battle plan for every battle and doing what we did last time or what someone else did will not cut it. We have to inquire of the Lord, hear from Him, and then do what He tells us to do, come hell or high water! This is how we get results in the kingdom of God—whatever He says for us to do, just do it! (see John 2:5). Nevertheless, I believe there are some good general lessons in this account of the Bible that will work every time for all of us! Notice what Joshua chapter 6 goes on to say in verse 6-14: Then Joshua the son of Nun called the priests and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the Lord.” And he said to the people, “Proceed, and march around the city, and let him who is armed advance before the ark of the Lord.” So it was, when Joshua had spoken to the people, that the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the Lord advanced and blew the trumpets, and the ark of the covenant of the Lord followed them. The armed men went before the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard came after the ark, while the priests continued blowing the trumpets. Now Joshua had commanded the people, saying, “You shall not shout or make any noise with your voice, nor shall a word proceed out of your mouth, until the day I say to you, ‘Shout!’ Then you shall shout.” So he had the ark of the Lord circle the city, going around it once. Then they came into the camp and lodged in the camp. And Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of the Lord. Then seven priests bearing seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark of the Lord went on continually and blew with the trumpets. And the armed men went before them. But the rear guard came after the ark of the Lord, while the priests continued blowing the trumpets. And the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. So they did six days. So, what we see here is that for 6 days, they were told to take the ark of the covenant and lead it around the walls of Jericho for 6 days, making only one pass a day for those 6 days. And the trumpets leading the ark were to be blown, but no one was supposed to say a word or make any other noise with their mouths for those 6 days. Now can you imagine how difficult that must have been? I can only assume that the people of Jericho might have been on the top of the walls harassing them, perhaps throwing rotten fruit & veggies on them. So, it must have taken great faith to not say anything, right? Likewise, it takes great faith for us many times to not open our mouth. You see, it is so easy to get in the flesh and try to win our own battles, but by telling the children of Israel things like don’t use your own words, but just let my praise be in your mouth, it shows that God wants our faith to be in Him. And why is this so important? It is because we, in ourselves, cannot make the walls come down. No, they are not going to fall because of our own power or might. It’s not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord! Therefore, we need the power of the Holy Spirit—God’s manifest presence here on the earth—to pull these strongholds down! (Compare with Zechariah 4:6-7) So, the fact that they marched around the city for those 6 days without the people even saying a word and the ark went before them with the trumpets teaches us that biblical principle to be still and know that He is God. When we wait on the Lord, we exchange our weaknesses for His strength. And why? Because God inhabits the praises of His people (See Psalm 22:3) And now let’s look at what happened on the seventh day: Verses 15-16 go on to say, “But it came to pass on the seventh day that they rose early, about the dawning of the day, and marched around the city seven times in the same manner. On that day only they marched around the city seven times. And the seventh time it happened, when the priests blew the trumpets, that Joshua said to the people: “Shout, for the Lord has given you the city!” But then came this seventh day—the day that the Lord rested from all His works! So, as it is said about the Sabbath rest, we must labor to enter into that rest. Now it is time for us to do something to trigger the manifestation of His victory. And interestingly enough, on the seventh day, they were told to march around the city seven times. Sevens are wild, amen! And as we see in verse 16, “And the seventh time it happened…” So on the seventh day—the day which the Lord has made—when they obeyed in marching around the city seven times, then it happened! So, it all starts with God completing His part (seven being the number of completion) and then us laboring to enter into that rest. When we mix together God doing His complete part with us doing our complete part, then it happens! So, you might be wondering— “When is it going to happen?” When we mix faith together with God’s part! Shout It Out! Now notice that when the priests blew the trumpets, that Joshua said to the people, “Shout, for the Lord has given you the city!” Now came the part where their silence was to turn to shouting—from one extreme to the other. And notice why the Lord told them to shout. It wasn’t just to shout for nothing, but to shout for (or, because) the Lord has given you the city! In other words, the Lord was telling them to act like they would when the Lord gave them the city. But the fact is, it is already a fact—the Lord had already given them the city! Again, it might not have looked like it in the natural. The walls might still have been up. The people might still inhabit the city within those walls, but from God’s perspective, it was as good as done! Therefore, He was telling them to act on what was already a reality in the spirit. For example, if you were unable to walk right now, and then you were able to not only walk but leap, dance, and run, what would you do (i.e. how would you act)? Well, I am certain that some of you shyer people who might say, “Well, it’s just not my temperament, pastor,” would start shouting and praising God! Well, that is how the Lord wants us to act before we see it. But it is not us doing this to try and get God to do something. No, it is us acting in faith because we know that we know that we know that God has already done something. Amen? In other words, we are responding this way because we believe what we have “seen.” So, we can clearly see that we are not “shouting” as one who buffets the wind; no, we are “shouting” because something is real, true, and a fact—God has already given His promises to us! Skipping down to verse 20 and on, notice what happened: “So the people shouted when the priests blew the trumpets. And it happened when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat. Then the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city. And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, ox and sheep and donkey, with the edge of the sword.” You see, this story is in the Bible to show you and I how we can take our Promised Land – because it’s important to understand that just because we have a promise from God, that doesn’t automatically mean it’s going to be possessed by us. No, we have to possess God’s promises, and one of the ways we do so is by following His instructions. And in this case, the instructions were to know when to have our mouths shut and to know when to shout! So when it comes to strongholds in our lives, where we feel “shut up,” we can see that breaking out and shouting is the key to seeing those walls come down! Amen? As that company’s commercial used to say, some stains you got to shout out! Amen! REVIEW
Praise the Lord! This is the title of our current series, and as you just witnessed, we are not just wanting to observe what praise is; we want to actually “Praise the Lord!” So we are stretching ourselves a little bit, right? We are finding out what God considers praise to be and then adopting these things into our praise lives. And we are doing this by looking at the various words that are used for praise in the Old Testament. We started off by looking at the most common Hebrew word for praise, the word halal. We learned that this word is used close to 150 times in the Old Testament and is translated “praise” the vast majority of those times. However, even though the word “praise” is obviously its primary meaning, it actually has some interesting other meanings that we learned … We saw that the word halal literally is defined as – "to be clear (originally of sound, but usually of color), to shine (thus to give light) – which results in to make a show, to boast, to rave, to celebrate, and to be clamorously foolish, or act like a madman." So we made the point that when we read these various ways that halal is being described, we don’t see a lot of this reflected in people’s praise lives, do we? No, I see very few people “shining” by acting foolish or like a crazy person during the praise time. And that’s not to condemn us, but it does need to be brought to our attention because if this is how we are called to praise, then perhaps we ought to loosen up a bit. Perhaps we’ve grown up too much. Yes, the Lord desires that our praise to first be “clear” – that is, true, sincere, and genuine. I made the point that this to me describes praising & worshipping God in truth. In other words, this describes praise that is void of pretense and hypocrisy. He wants praise that is done in truth – that is, purely and sincerely. But at the same time, the Lord also desires our praise to “shine” – that is, for it to first be displayed in how we live our lives. So that means that shining forth His praise is not just what we say, but how we live our everyday lives. However, we also learned that this “shining” describes making a show, boasting, raving, celebrating, and to act clamorously foolish, or like a madman. What this means, church, is that we will stand out of the pack. We’ll be the one that seems to be in the spotlight even though that’s not necessarily our intention. Now I know that a lot of people shun being in the spotlight and have a heart to not do things that draw attention to ourselves, the fact is, if we praise God this way, we will be noticed. Therefore, we learned that while we certainly don’t want to praise God to be seen of men, we also don’t want to hold our praise back because of the fear of man – meaning, while we might not want the attention, we are not going to hold back because of the attention we might get. Amen? Then last week, we covered another Hebrew word for “praise”, the word todah. We saw how from Psalm 42 that this kind of “praise” is the attitude by which we enter the house of the Lord— with the voice of joy and praise. Now we learned how the word “praise” here is not the word halal or any other of the popular Hebrew words for praise; it is the Hebrew word todah which describes "an extension of the hand in adoration, avowal, or acceptance." One expositor went on to say the following: “By way of application, it is apparent in the Psalms and elsewhere that it is used for thanking God for ‘things not yet received’ as well as things already at hand.” In fact, it is actually translated “thanksgiving” half the times it is used in the original King James Version. So the idea of this form of praise is more that of expressing gratitude and the giving of thanks to God. So we looked at a couple of other passages of Scripture where this idea of entering the presence of God (i.e. the house of God) with thanksgiving is described (both of which, mind you, the Hebrew word todah is what is being used. One is found in Psalm 95:2 where we are told to “come before His presence with thanksgiving” and the other is Psalm 100:4 that describes entering His gates with thanksgiving. So what we learned is that the best way to enter the presence of God is “with thanksgiving.” So just like the first step into God’s presence is through the gates of God’s House, the first step through the gates of His presence is by thanksgiving. Yes, Psalm 100:4 specifically says how we are to enter through them— it’s with thanksgiving. So what we can see through this statement is the best way to approach God in praise is through the gates of thanksgiving! We learned that one of the reasons for this is because we “magnify God with thanksgiving, again the word todah (See Psalm 69:30). In other words, like a magnifying glass, we increase the size of Him in our own eyes when we thank Him for things He has done, is doing, and promised to do. So todah is what will make the One we are praising larger, bigger, and greater in our eyes – which will usher us into His presence and guess what wells up in us as a result? You guessed it… PRAISE!!! We started off traveling through the gates of thanksgiving and ended up in the courts of praise! Praise the Lord! But we also learned that this word todah is oftentimes used when describing the sacrifice of thanksgiving. So I believe that one of the pictures of what it means to enter His gates with thanksgiving might be how the Jewish people would enter the house of the Lord with a sacrifice in hand. And we learned that it’s that offering up to Him the sacrifice of thanksgiving which has great reward in that it will change our perspective, help our focus, and bring His joy & power into the picture! The Lord always blesses the things we do in faith! Amen? But then we learned that this todah kind of thanksgiving is not just what we should start out with; the New Testament teaches us that it’s what we end with as well. You see, even though we’ve seen thanksgiving mentioned being done first in these Old Testament verses, in the New Testament, we see it mentioned it as being done after when we’ve approached God. We looked at three passages of Scripture that teach us this from the New Testament and with all three, we see the phrase “with thanksgiving” being included last. So based on these three passages of Scripture, we learned that not only is thanksgiving the appropriate way to enter into praise; it’s also the right way to end our time of praise as well. Church, thanksgiving is not just something we should do at the end of the year; it is what we must do in the beginning of the year and all throughout it. It is how we come before Him and draw near to Him. It is the gateway into the holy of holies where the manifested glory and presence of God is housed. So, it would behoove us to incorporate this spirit of thanksgiving into our praise lives—for not only is it the right & noble thing to do towards the One who has given us so much, but it also the vehicle that leads us into His presence. Amen. Why Y’all Do That? Now this week, I’d like us to move into some Hebrew words & examples from the Old Testament of praise in the Old Testament that will answer the question – “Why y’all do that?” You know, there are lot of things that we do in certain Charismatic, Pentecostal circles that I’m not so sure people understand why we do them – whether that be if you are someone who isn’t used to a church like this or whether you’ve grown up in a church that does these things. And the last thing we want to do is do things simply out of tradition or for some other religious reason. So let’s begin answering that question 0f why we praise God like we do … Why Do We Lift Our Hands? The next word I want us to move into this week is actually the root word for the word we covered last week (todah), the word yadah. Like todah which described an extension of the hand in adoration, avowal, or acceptance, the word yadah likewise describes "an extended hand or to throw out the hand.” And here it describes praising God by shooting out the hands, thanking Him with extended hands, or we might say to simply lift the hands in praise & thanksgiving. Now the first time the word yadah was used was when the Lord opened Leah’s womb to bear sons to Jacob and she gave birth to Judah – for she said, “Now I will praise the Lord” and gave Judah his name (See Genesis 29:35). So much can be said for what the Lord gave us through the Tribe of Judah namely the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Lord Jesus Christ – which teaches me what raising our hands in praise & thanksgiving likewise produces in our lives – Salvation (i.e. Jesus)! We see this illustrated in Second Chronicles 20:20-22 when Jehoshaphat put the praisers in front and appointed them to say, “Praise (Heb. yadah) the Lord, for His mercy endures forever!” The Amplified Bible translates this as “Praise and give thanks to the Lord …” in order to give the full definition of the word yadah. And we know what happened as these praisers led the army into the battle, don’t we? As they went into the battle with hands extended, praising & thanking the Lord, the Lord fought the battle for them! Church, this is how we procure the riches of our salvation – by praising & thanking the Lord with hands lifted high! So have you ever wondered why you see some people lift their hands during the praise & worship service? Well, here is one of your reasons – it’s because it’s Biblical since one of the Hebrew words for praise specifically describes it. But not only do we have this Hebrew word that clear describes praise being done with lifted/extended hands, we have several Scriptures that specifically talk about this too …
This is just a few of the Scriptural examples of what yadah describes. But you’ll still have someone who will say, “But I just don’t see the point. What good does it do to lift my hands?” Well, first of all, you don’t have to understand or see the point to do it and reap the benefits of simple obedience. I mean, I don’t have to know why a brown cow, eats grass, produces white milk, that when churned makes yellow butter – to enjoy a good biscuit. Amen? Now I think understanding is important. Don’t get me wrong. But there’s just a lot we aren’t going to understand that we should simply do because we are told to. In fact, there’s a lot of examples in the Bible where people are told to do certain things and simply by following those instructions, miracles came forth. How easy it would be to hear instructions and to say, “Well, I’m sure its not important to do it exactly like that” or “I don’t see the purpose in doing that, so I’ll just do it this way.” I’ll tell you, saints – that’s a sure-fire way to miss a miracle! So when it comes to lifting my hands to the Lord, I don’t necessarily have to know why I’m doing what I’m doing to reap the benefits of the biscuit! Amen? But I will give you a few logical reasons why lifting our hands is important to our relationship with the Lord …
And there are probably several more things that lifting our hands to the Lord shows, but the fact, the Lord wants His people to be demonstrative in expressing their praise to Him. Yes, while our hearts are where true praise is to begin, the Lord also wants us loving Him with all our strength. So the person who does not show any real physical expressions of praise is simply not doing it right – for when the Lord has our whole heart, our body will come along with it. Jumping, Whirling, Dancing, the Whole Bit! With that being said, let me give you a few more things you and I do with our body to praise God which will answer some more questions like “why do we do this or that” when we praise the Lord … How about jumping? Have you ever seen someone jump during the praise time? Sure, I for one love to jump. And guess what? It’s Scriptural too. We have a Hebrew word alaz (a-lauze), and while this word is not translated as “praise” per se, it is used to describe “rejoicing, exulting, and to be jubilant.” In fact, while this word definitely describes being joyful, it carries the idea of “jumping for joy.” So there you go! Now you have Scriptural precedence for jumping during the song service. But even if we didn’t have this specific definition to “jump for joy” it should just be self-explanatory that if we are jubilant and rejoicing, things like jumping go along with this joyful heart. Amen? Guess what else comes with a jubilant heart? Dancing and whirling! Of course, we have a great example of this from David’s life: We’ve seen this already in Second Samuel 6:14-16 when we are told – “Then David danced before the Lord with all his might; and David was wearing a linen ephod. So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet. Now as the ark of the Lord came into the City of David, Michal, Saul’s daughter, looked through a window and saw King David leaping and whirling before the Lord; and she despised him in her heart.” Here we see how David’s jubilant heart resulted in him doing several things: Yes, he was “leaping,” but he was also “whirling” – which comes from the Hebrew word karar (ka-rare) – which described how David was dancing before the Lord with all his might. Now this doesn’t mean to bring your old worldly barroom dancing up in here, but it describes a joyful dance. In other words, what’s your snoopy, happy dance. That’s what the Lord is blessed when we let it loose for Him. It might be simply just leaping. It might be whirling around. It might waving your hands back & forth. The bottom line is – whatever dance you’d let loose when you are jubilant & rejoicing, feel free to do that at this church! In fact, this “dancing” before the Lord is also a common biblical practice. We see it in Hebrew word mahol (ma-hole) and this word is used in Psalm 150:4 when the psalmist said to praise Him with the timbrel and dance. One of my favorite instances of this is found in Psalm 30:11-12 for turning our mourning into dancing. So David declared how his sadness & mourning had now been turned into rejoicing & dancing. So when people bring up to me about dancing before the Lord in church, asking me if I think it’s alright, here’s how I answer: Not only do we have several Hebrew words that describe dancing, we have this example from David’s life that proves how we too have every right to dance before the Lord. You see, the Bible teaches us at the Old Testament was a type & shadow of things which are to come. Well, if David danced in the shadow, we sho’ ought to be able to dance in the light. Glory! Is All This New Testament? Now as talk about these various Hebrew words that describe all of this demonstrative type of praise, there are some who think that things have changed since the Cross. For some reason, the majority of the church has adopted this mentality that now we are supposed to praise & worship God “in the Spirit” – meaning, we don’t need any of that physical or emotional stuff anymore. But I’d like to end today by talking about how doing things “in the Spirit” doesn’t mean that we forsake these Biblical examples of praise & rejoicing form the Old Testament. In fact, the Holy Spirit should propel us into even more demonstrative praise! You see, there are other things that you might see in our circles. Yeah, you’ll most likely see some lifted hands. You might even see some people jumping, dancing, etc. But have you ever seen people falling down, running around the church, laughing in the Spirit, and wobbling around like a drunk person? Well, there’s actually some Scriptural precedence for these things because this is the fruit of the Holy Spirit’s outpouring! If you recall, in Acts chapter 2, when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the church, there was a comparison made to the Spirit’s infilling with drunkenness. Let’s look at it this week … On the day of Pentecost, when the disciples were filled with the Holy Ghost in that upper room, we see that while the majority were amazed and perplexed by what they were hearing (i.e. the disciples speaking in other tongues and declaring, in their own tongues, the wonderful works of God), there were others mocking who thought that they were drunk with new wine (Acts 2:13). But then we see Peter correcting them saying, “For these are not drunk, as you suppose…” (2:15). Notice this phrase— “as you suppose.” So, Peter was admitting that they were drunk alright, just not like those people thought! You see, most people “suppose” that the reason this group of people thought they were drunk was just by the tongues they were hearing, but when you hear people praying in tongues have you ever mistaken that with someone being intoxicated? I haven’t. So, what this shows me is that the effects of the infilling of the Holy Spirit can easily be mistaken for the effects of being filled with alcohol. So, what was it that made the onlookers assume that the believers were drunk? It’s because they were acting under a new influence. They were behaving abnormally. They were speaking and moving in a way that was different. No, they weren’t incapacitated and belligerent, but they were joyful and having a good time! You see, the Holy Spirit is compared with wine, not because He brings chaos, but because He brings freedom & joy. Just as people receive wine in celebration, so are we to receive the Holy Spirit with gladness. His presence, like wine, marks the occasion. Wine represents the joy, prosperity, and boldness brought about by the Holy Spirit. Now what does this have to do with us praising God in all of these ways? Well, just think about it: If the infilling of the Holy Spirit has similar effects on us that alcohol has on people, what do you think might make us feel a little freer to dance, jump, whirl, and act what some might call a little foolish? The New Wine; that’s Who! Staying Full of New Wine You see, Ephesians 5:18 says, “And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit.” Notice that the apostle Paul here compares being drunk with wine as being filled with the Spirit. One expositor states that the word “drunk” means “to be filled.” So what Paul was literally saying was “don’t be filled with wine, but be filled with the Spirit.” But notice that Paul makes the point of saying that being drunk with alcohol leads to “dissipation.” The word “dissipation” comes from the Greek word “sozo” which is the word translated “salvation.” But this word “sozo” has the alpha negative “a” before it which gives the word “sozo” the exact opposite meaning that it has on its own. It literally describes the opposite of that which has a saving quality about it. Therefore, it rather has a destructive quality. So, Paul was describing how living a drunkin’ lifestyle just leads to destruction and bondage, but how having a Spirit-Filled lifestyle has the opposite effect. It leads to freedom and wholeness! Why do people like to get drunk anyways? It is because it frees them from their inhibitions. Yes, they become free to do the things they normally wouldn’t do. Another reason is because it makes them joyful and fun to be around. Likewise, full of the Holy Spirit, we become free to be ourselves and become joyful and fun to be around. I for one, used to love to dance when I was drinking. But you’d never get me out on that dance floor when I was sober. You know, I think some of us live our lives too sober. No, I’m not advocating we start drinking this world’s alcohol because we just saw how destructive that is to one’s life. No, I’m saying we need to be filled with Spirit and stay filled so that we can experience the freedom to live for and praise God the way we are supposed to. You know, Jesus must have been fun to be around if the kid’s all liked Him, right? Children aren’t drawn to sour-pusses, I can assure you. Speaking of Jesus, Hebrews 1:9 says, “Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness more than your companions” The Holy Spirit is called the “oil of gladness” because that is what is produced in a believer who is full of the Holy Ghost—JOY! Joy unspeakable and full of glory! You see, the believer does not need wine to experience joy. Wine can only give unfulfilling counterfeits of what the Holy Spirit offers. The Holy Spirit is the wine of Heaven—and the good news is that He is free and He doesn’t give you a hang-over either! So, in essence, Paul is saying, “Hey guys. Don’t get drunk on wine because that just leads to bondage. But instead, be filled up with the Spirit and experience the new wine!” In other words, one doesn’t need alcohol in order to have a good time and enjoy life; learning to drink of and being filled with the Holy Spirit can give one what they felt like only alcohol could give them. Amen. So how does one stay full of the Holy Spirit? Well, let’s look at the next verse and find out how: Ephesians 5:19 says, “speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.” A major key to staying full of the Spirit is the words that come out of our mouth. In other words, just as our mouth is the primary way one fills their belly with wine, our mouth is the primary way one stays full of the Spirit. Paul said here that we are continuously filled with the Spirit when we let “psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs” come out of our mouth. So, what are “psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs?” “Psalms” suggests what we would call “scriptural music.” In almost every usage of the Greek word “psalmos” the Psalms of the Old Testament are what is being referred to. So, singing “psalms” would be singing the Psalms of the Old Testament obviously, but it could also include singing other portions of Scripture. The term “hymns” literally describe “festive songs” or “songs of praise specifically addressed towards God.” A hymn differs from a psalm in that while a psalm is generally scripturally-based, a hymn is a song that comes of human origin. Some examples of “hymns” could be “I Sing Praises to Your Name”, “Holy, Holy, Holy”, or “the Doxology.” Then Paul said that the third and final songs that we should sing are “spiritual songs.” The word “spiritual” literally means “non-carnal.” So “spiritual songs” are “songs that are not of human origin”—that is, songs that are given by inspiration of the Spirit. This would include singing in tongues or simply just singing a song in our own understanding that the Holy Spirit puts in our hearts and that did not originate from man. Someone might say, “But it is not always convenient to sing. What do you do in those times?” That Is why Paul’s next phrase in Ephesians 5:19 is “singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.” In those times where it is not appropriate to sing aloud, we can make melody in our heart to the Lord. We can always maintain that inner communion with Him. God is a spirit so we can worship Him (or, fellowship with Him) in spirit (i.e. not naturally). So, when we cannot let it come out of our mouth, we need to let it continue in our heart. Actually, this singing and making melody in our heart is always important to do. Sometimes we can just let songs come out of our mouth without our hearts being behind the words. If all we do is just sing psalms and hymns without our hearts truly being involved it will do absolutely nothing to keep us full of the Spirit. That is why Paul went on to say “singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.” This means that the songs that come out of our mouth should be aimed at the Lord. That is, that we are not just singing but that we are actually singing to the Lord—making Him the object of all the words that proceed from our mouth. This is getting our heart involved in our psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. But the main point I am making is the importance of praise, worship, and thanksgiving coming out of our mouths regarding maintaining a Spirit-Filled life. Amen. This is how we drink in the Spirit, when His praises come out of our mouth. And just like we need to bathe regularly so that we won’t stink in the natural, we need to be "bathed" in the Holy Spirit continually so that we won't stink spiritually. So yes, being filled with the Holy Spirit won’t make us less free; it will make us more free – for where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom (See Second Corinthians 3:17)! Yes, freedom from the law, sin, and death, but also freedom to lift our hands, freedom to jump for joy, freedom to dance & spin around before the Lord, etc. The Hand of the Lord In fact, you’ll see the Holy Spirit have all kinds of interesting effects on people. For example, have you have seen someone take off running during a church service? I have! In fact, I’ve been that guy numerous times! Someone will say, “Is there any Scripture for that?” Sure, there is! Do you remember when the Bible said that when “the hand of the Lord” came upon Elijah, that he outran the king’s chariot (First Kings 18:46)? Well, the hand of the Lord is a reference to when the Holy Spirit comes upon someone. And what did the supernatural experience of the Holy Spirit produce? He ran ahead of Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel! In other words, he was supernaturally endowed to run. Even David said in Psalm 18:29 that “by the Lord” he could run against a troop and leap over a wall. Notice running & leaping are being referred to here. Someone might say, “Well, all of this is talking about God empowering one for a purpose.” Well, is there not a purpose in praise? I want you to know today that David was first anointed to praise! So much so, that when he played his harp before a demonized king, Saul experienced a freedom during those times. So there was obviously the hand of the Lord on David’s praise life for him to have so much grace that he could pen at least well over 100 God-inspired songs. Well, this wasn’t all He was anointed for. We see in the life of David how he was also a warrior – one who could perform supernatural feats that began with him being able to manhandle both a lion and a bear and also kill tens of thousands of men at a time. So do you reckon there is a connection there? Is it that a person who is powerful in praise will also be powerful in battle. So what do you reckon can happen when the hand of the Lord comes upon us? Running & leaping is certainly a viable option. But the fact is, when the natural comes into contact with the supernatural, something’s got to give. And it sure won’t be the supernatural! Do you remember the story of when, at the tomb of Jesus, a couple of angels came and rolled the stone away? Well, we are told that there was a couple of Roman soldiers there that fell like dead men. Someone will say, “Well, that was because a couple of heavenly beings showed up.” I’ll tell you, there’s a Heavenly Being who is here today and He came in like a rushing mighty wind! Also, in the Garden, the Bible tells us that when the soldiers came to arrest Jesus, that the men fell over backwards when Jesus said, “I am He.” Someone will say, “Well, they were right in the presence of Jesus.” Jesus said where two or three are gathered together, I am there in the midst of them! So we today are also right in the very presence of Jesus! Glory! Church, this new wine of the Holy Spirit will have some very similar effects on us that alcohol has on people in the world. It’ll embolden us! It will free us from all our inhibitions! It will bring us joy – joy that will cause us to dance, jump, run, fall, laugh, etc. This is one of the many benefits of the Spirit-filled life, and one of that we should take advantage of during our praise services! Let’s let the hand of the Lord come upon us today, amen? |
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