Week 3 of the How to Be Rich series. Are you so excited? Well, you should be! Today’s sermon was really really good. I can’t believe how hard core the pastor was today!
Remember, we’re all rich. Our wealth comes from God. Not from us. This series is based on 1 Timothy 6:17-19. This week was from verse 18, “Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.”
Let me transliterate this for you for the purposes of our “lesson”: Command those who have more than enough to do good as only a rich person can do. Be generous as only a rich person can. Be willing to share as only a rich person can.
As rich people, we have the opportunity no, the privelege to DO MORE for God! And we should. You hear about how much money celebrities give away. I remember seeing Matthew McConaughey on Oprah. He had put one of his cars up on ebay. I think it sold for $75,000 and all the money went to Katrina victims. While that is a lot of money, Matthew made $8 million on the movie Sahara! (I’m not saying he’s not generous, I have no idea how he is personally. He may give away 50% of his income, I’m just using this as an example. But I’m not going to mention that he didn’t give the money, just the car!) But the way Oprah praised him you’d have thought he was giving away cars to everyone in the United States! Our pastor made the point that the richer we get the less generous we are. It’s easy to give ten cents from a dollar, but it’s a lot harder to give away 1,000 from $10,000 even though it’s the same percentage!
As rich people, we have more free time, more money to spend and so we naturally think of things do do for ourselves: more vacations, more clothes, more movies, more food, more more more! Instead, let’s think about how we can do more for others. It’s the idea of giving others our best and top portion, not our leftovers.
The pastor encouraged us to do two things:
1. Find an organization or two that is doing Kingdom work and PREDETERMINE to give your time. Don’t just do the one Saturday when they beg at church the week before. Make a decision to give your time to them on a regular basis. Your heart will begin to grow with them. You will be connected to them and won’t be able to imagine not giving your time.
2. Be a percentage giver. God asks for a mere 10 percent. Can you do more? Can you predetermine to give another 5% to an organization that is promoting the name of Jesus? I know we can.
Then he said something that he says a lot, “take advantage of your wealth and leverage it”. He uses that word all the time. He always encourages us to leverage our skills, our position, our jobs and now our money for the Lord. To use what God has given you to show Jesus to others.
When a unbeliever looks at a generous Christian, they will say, “Why? Why do you give every Saturday to them? You actually gave your whole spring break to work with little kids in an apartment complex? You give how much to homeless people? Why?!” And that generous, rich Christian will be able to say, “How can I not be rich in good deeds when God has richly given me His Son, Jesus to die for me?” WOW! This is about more than money. It’s about using everything in our power to tell others about the great love God has for us.
We ended by adding to our confession, “God has blessed me with more than I need. I am rich. I will not trust in my riches but in the One who richly provides. Since I have more, I will do more and I will give more.”
What a positive spin on a topic that can be so avoided or preached against. I know God has richly blessed me. I want to do more and give more for Him!
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