I tried to go over there and look and see what kind of food we had tonight, but I was run off. I was hoping that if I'd seen how good it was, then I would know how long to preach tonight. You never know, it might be one of those kiss messages tonight. Keep it simple, short. Brother Clark always told me, keep it simple, stupid. Well, tonight, I want to continue on the theme of stewardship. And the question tonight is, what is the standard of giving in the New Testament? Or we could say in the New Testament church, what is the standard of giving in the New Testament? And I'm sure tonight that this message is going to challenge your thinking and your faith. because I know it did mine. And so I ask you tonight if you'd just please listen with an open heart and an open Bible. And 2 Corinthians chapter 8, we'll just start there and we'll come back to this passage later toward the end of the message. But 2 Corinthians chapter 8, verses 1 through verse 5. said, Moreover, brethren, we do you the wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia, how that in great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality. For to their power I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves, praying us with much entreaty that we would receive the gift and take upon us the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord and unto us by the will of God. Father, we thank you for the reading of your Word, and we just pray that you would just direct our thoughts tonight as we look at this important topic concerning stewardship in the New Testament. And Lord, that you would allow us to look at this with an open heart. And Lord, we pray you would just challenge our faith as your people, that we would learn to trust you more and more. And I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. So what is the standard of giving in the New Testament church? I want to ask another question that many believers have argued over, and it's this. Is tithing for the New Testament Christian? Is tithing for the New Testament Christian? Let's turn to that next slide, Brother Justin. Is tithing for the New Testament Christian? You know, this has been a topic that's been argued over by a lot of Christians since the beginning of time of the New Testament church. And so as we think about this tonight, I want you to just honestly think about this and think about what is the standard, what does the New Testament teach about giving of the Christian? And I want to submit to you that is not the time. And you know, you're going to, oh, wait a minute. You want to pick up a rock and throw. And before you do that, before you think about what I just said, I want you to hear me to the end. I promise you by the time we get to the end, you'll understand why I said just what I said. And I believe when you look at the truth of the New Testament, you're going to find that it's really humbling as you think about what the real truth is about the standard of giving in the New Testament church. And so if it's not the tithe, if it's not the tithe, what is the standard practiced by the New Testament church? Are you ready for it? Are you ready for the answer? Here's the answer. It is radical, sacrificial giving out of a loving, trusting heart. I mean, you look at the New Testament, it's radical. I mean, how they gave to the Lord was radical. You know, last week as I preached from Proverbs 3, 5, and 6, it'd be good for us at this time to be reminded of that verse where he said, Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding, and all thy ways acknowledge him. and he shall direct thy paths." I want to tell you that there's no explicit example in the New Testament of tithing. There's no explicit example of believers tithing in the New Testament. I'm talking about the New Testament church, though there is an abundance of examples of sacrificial giving. There's an abundance of it. When you look through the New Testament, you're going to see that the first and foremost example I want you to look at tonight is God Himself, John 3, 16. God Himself, for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Think about that. God Himself, He's our example. He sacrificially gave His Son, Jesus Christ. You know, when I think about the standard that God sets for us in the New Testament, Jesus commended that by pointing out the example of this poor widow in Mark chapter 12. If you turn to your Bible, let's go to Mark chapter 12. Jesus was standing nearby the temple treasury, and he was watching the people as they gave to the treasury. And it says in Mark 12 verse 41, And Jesus sat over against the treasury, and beheld how the people cast money into the treasury. And many that were rich cast in much. And there came a certain poor widow, and she threw in two mites which make a parthing. And he called unto him his disciples, and he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, that this poor widow had cast more in than all they which have cast into the treasury. For all they did cast in of their abundance, but she of her want did cast in all that she had, even all her living. Think about that. Sacrificial giving. You know, Jesus was not pointing out how much she gave. But what she had left, that's what he pointed out. He said, you know, she gave more than everybody else that gave. And they gave out of their abundance. There's lots of money coming into this temple treasury, and she just a little bitty coin that she threw in, just two mites to make a farthing. We're talking about very little. I mean, just a few cents that she cashed in. But Jesus said it was all that she had, all of her living. So he was wanting his disciples to see this example of sacrificial giving. Sacrificial giving. We're going to move right along to the next example, Zacchaeus. And we find his example in the Gospel of Luke. The Gospel of Luke in chapter 19. So if you want to go to Luke chapter 19, most all of us know this story. You heard this story when you were children in Sunday school. This wee little man, Zacchaeus, that went up in the tree, and for the Lord he would see, you know, he wanted to see Jesus as he was coming by. And, of course, Jesus said, you know, today he wanted to go to his house And it's in verse five, Zacchaeus made case and come down for the day, I must abide at thy house. And so he went and he received the Lord joyfully. Now I need to point out that Zacchaeus was a publican. He was a tax collector. And back in those days, they were looked down upon as being very ungodly because they would extort money from people. So they were thieves, if you would. So he made a lot of money off of that kind of business. And so the Pharisees, I mean, they wouldn't have anything to do with these people, but Jesus, that day, he went into this man's house, and we see here that, of course, they were all murmuring about it. We see in verse 7, they're saying that he's gone to be guests with the man that is a sinner. But look at verse 8. And Zacchaeus stood and said unto the Lord, Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold. And Jesus said unto him, This day is salvation come to this house, forasmuch as he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which is lost. The Lord saved this man. He was an exceeding sinful man, but the Lord saved him. But look at this man, look at what he did. To whom much is forgiven, they love much. And it says he gave half, half of all that he possessed. Sacrificial, is it not? It's a little more than the tithe. The tithe is just 10%. And so these examples so far, we see that the lady, this poor widow, she gave 100%, this man gave 50%. And so you see some examples here of sacrificial giving. Now, if you'll go to the chapter before this in chapter 18, and we have a story about this Pharisee that begins in verse 9, the story in Luke 18 beginning in verse 9, there's a story that Jesus tells about two men that went up to the temple to pray, and it says that he spoke this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. And so let's read what this Pharisee said in verse 11. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even, as this publican, I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess." Now, I want you to think about this proud Pharisee. We talked about Pharisees this morning that were offering vain worship to the Lord. Jesus called them hypocrites. They were actors. They honored God with their lips, but their heart was far from Him. Well, here's one of these Pharisees that Jesus points out. And look, this proud Pharisee, he was very strict to adhere to the law. And the law called for the tithe, 10% of all that he possessed. And so he's standing up proudly saying, I have given my tithe of everything that I possess. Now, if we compare these two men, Zacchaeus and this Pharisee, think about how much more Zacchaeus gave in comparison. And not just that, in light of the message this morning, I believe we can see that Zacchaeus, his giving was heartfelt. I mean, it was from his heart. I mean, this was an act of worship, but this Pharisee was just all external. It was all just part of his religious rituals. That's what he was doing, but his heart was not in it. And as you look at these two examples of this Pharisee and this man Zacchaeus, who is a sinner, Let the Lord say, let me ask this question, whose example of giving do we follow more closely? That of the Pharisee or Zacchaeus? Ouch. Ouch. You know, I was looking at this message, that was challenging. I thought, you know, Lord, I've been faithful to give my tithe, I've been faithful to give my offerings, You know, this is very humbling question as I think about it, because, you know, as I said this morning, many of us in our worship are like the Pharisees. But you know the Lord wants the heart, and that's what I preached about last week, the heart, trust in the Lord with all thine heart. Have you trusted him with all your heart for salvation, this eternal matter of salvation? Have you trusted him with all your heart in these earthly storms of life that we go through? And then are you trusting him with all your heart in these matters of stewardship? Well, tonight we're just expanding upon that message, expanding upon the thought of stewardship. Are we trusting God with all of our heart? Let's come to the New Testament church. This is a fourth example. I want you to look in Acts chapter 4 in verse 32. Acts chapter 4. This is the Jerusalem church. You know, Jesus established this church in his earthly ministry. He began with the twelve. This group grew, and the church grew, and Jesus went back to be with his Father after his resurrection. And here we have the church. After Pentecost, the Spirit of God come upon them. Now, let's look at verse 32, at their example of how they gave. And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul, neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own. But they had all things common, and with great power gave apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. Neither was there any among them that lacked. For as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, and laid them down at the apostles' feet. And distribution was made to every man according as he had need. and Joseph, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, which is being interpreted the son of consolation, a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus, having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles' feet." Look at the early church, the church at Jerusalem. How did they give? Did they just give 10%? Or did they give sacrificially? Here we see it was radical giving. This was their sacrificial giving to the Lord. And why was it that they gave like this? Why was their giving so sacrificial? Well, look what it says about them. It says that neither did anyone say that the things that he possessed was his own. Think about that. They realized God owned it all. God was the owner, God was the creator. They realized everything they had belonged to God. That's how they gave it all, because it wasn't theirs to begin with. They knew that what they had was God, and that's the basic principle or foundation of biblical stewardship, is to realize God is the master, we are the stewards. He has entrusted us with everything in life, not just our money, but our talents, He's entrusted us with our time, how we use our time, everything about life, we are to manage for His glory. That's stewardship. That's what it means to be a steward. God has put this in... He's entrusted us, as we saw last week, He's entrusted us with the gospel. He's entrusted us to get the gospel to all the world. And let me tell you now, there's enough money in this world to evangelize the whole world. There is. There's enough if we just practice sacrificial giving. You know, the answer or the question should never be, how much of my money should I give to God? The question should be asked is, how much of God's money should I keep for myself? You know, in 2 Corinthians, we go back to chapter 8. Let's look at the churches of Macedonia. You know, Paul wanted to highlight these churches to the church at Corinth, and so he's writing this letter to the church at Corinth, and he's reminding them of a commitment they had made a year before. The church of Corinth had made a commitment to give to this offering to help these poor saints in Jerusalem. And so he wants to remind them of their commitment, and then he wants to share with them the example of these brethren in Macedonia, or these churches in Macedonia. And he talks about, in verse 1, he said, I want you to know, to wit, and that means to know, of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia. He said, I want you to see how God has put his grace on these churches. You know, their giving was by the grace of God. It wasn't by their own effort and power, but it was by the grace of God. And it says how that in great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy in deep poverty abounded to the reaches of their liberality. They were in deep poverty. Think about that. How many of us are in deep poverty? I mean, these people were in deep poverty, but yet they abounded in liberality. Even though they were in deep poverty, they gave, he says in verse 3, beyond their power. Beyond their power. That's why I'm saying that when you look at the example in the New Testament, it's radical. I mean, that's absolutely radical. I mean, how can anybody do that? I mean, they're living in deep poverty. They have needs of their own. And yet they bring this offering to Paul. And it's something beyond their ability to give. And so when they bring this offering, I want you to notice in verse 4, "...praying us with much entreaty that we would receive the gift. You know what? These churches were having to beg Paul and Barnabas, listen, we beg you take this. You know why? Because I'm sure Paul and Barnabas were saying, you people, you can't give. You can't afford to give. You're in poverty. But they begged Him. They said, we were praying and begging with entreaty that we would receive the gift. Take upon us the fellowship of ministering to the saints. And this they did not as we hoped. And that word hope has the idea of expected. Paul didn't expect that. He didn't expect it from these churches of Macedonia. Because of the trials and persecutions they were going through, you read the book of Philippians, you read the letters to Thessalonica, and these churches were going through persecution. Remember, Paul was in Thessalonica just for a short time, and because of persecution, he was run out of town. These churches of Macedonia were going through some very difficult trials, and that's what he says, great trial of affliction. They were suffering, and yet they gave. He said, this they did, not as we hope, but first gave their own selves to the Lord and unto us by the will of God. And so when we look at this, we can ask the question, How is it that they gave beyond their own ability? How is it they gave so radical and sacrificial? Well, because first they gave their own selves to the Lord. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not to thine own understanding. and all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." You know, this goes back to trust. These people gave it all to the Lord. Their hearts, they gave their hearts to the Lord. They trusted him with all their heart. And when you read through these two chapters of chapter 8 and 9, you will see that when people give radical like this, listen, God, Not only is God pleased with that sacrifice, but listen, God supplies for the need of those people. He abundantly supplies. You know, I could point out some verses of this, and look in verse 8 in chapter 9, for example. And God is able to make all grace abound towards you, that ye always, having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work. You might underline those words, all and every. He said, all grace. He said, always, all sufficiency, all things abound in every good work. That's what God does. You know, when we're doing it ourselves, it's not that way. It's not supernatural. It's not, you know, but when we sacrificially give it, that's when we put it in God's hand and that's when God begins to work in supernatural ways just beyond, so much beyond what we could even think or dream of God doing. I want you to look in Philippians real quick, chapter 4. Now, remember, Philippi was one of those churches in Macedonia that he was talking about. Philippi is in Macedonia. You can read about that in Acts 16. And so, when you go to the book of Philippians, you realize this is one of those Macedonian churches that was a giving church. And let's begin reading in verse 15. Now, you Philippians know Philippians 4, beginning verse 15. Now you Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church communicated with me as concerning giving and receiving but ye only. So he's talking about there wasn't any churches that gave to his ministry except this church. And then he says, even in Thessalonica, he's sent once and again to my necessity, not because I desire gift, but I desire fruit that may abound to your account. Now look at verse 18. But I have all and abound. I am full, having received of Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, and older, of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to God." Look what God says, or look what Paul says to them. What you gave was acceptable and well-pleasing to God. He said it was the odor of a sweet smell. It was pleasing to God. Now, look in verse 19. This is where it gets good. But by God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. You know, how many Christians take verse 19 out of context? How many people just pull that out and claim it? You know, they may not even be given the minimum to God. They may not even be given at all to God. and yet they claim that verse. Listen, that's taken out of context. You've got to look at this verse in the context Paul's talking about, their sacrificial giving. They were given sacrificially, and it was an offering that God said is well-pleasing to Him. It was something like an odor of sweet smell, and then Paul assures them, listen, my God shall supply all your need. according to His riches and glory by Christ Jesus. So, what do we see tonight? We see that the standard of giving in the New Testament is so much higher than that of the Old Testament. It's so much higher. And if you study the book of Hebrews, for example, and I'm not going to take much time on this because I know you're hungry, But if you just go through the book of Hebrews and try to get a concordance and look up the word better, and look at all those verses that you find the word better, and he's contrasting the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. In other words, the Old Testament and New Testament. And he's making a contrast in Hebrews, and I want to just point out some of those. He talks about how the New Covenant provides us a better hope, The New Covenant provides us a better covenant. It provides us a better promise. It provides us a better sacrifice. It provides us a better country. It provides us a better possession. It provides us a better resurrection. So he's saying the New Covenant is better. What we have in Christ is better. It's better than what those saints in the Old Testament had. We have more light today. We have more blessings today, and therefore, More is required of us. More is required. Let me say this, because in the beginning of the message, you heard me say that the standard of giving in the New Testament is not tithing. I want to qualify that now with this statement. I do believe in tithing. But tithing is where baby Christians should begin, not where mature Christians should stop. Tithing is where baby Christians should begin, not where mature Christians should stop. You know, I believe a lot of Christians today, they have a tendency to do no more than they're challenged to do. And I believe that pastors may shortchange their people by preaching just tithing. Because when we look at the New Testament, you've seen tonight, you've seen the examples that we read here in the New Testament, that their giving was sacrificial. Now, I want you to stop and think about this for just a minute. If we just look at giving as a mathematical formula, that we have to just, every week, just have to calculate. We just go and calculate. We're 10%, okay, and that's what I'm gonna get. How much interaction takes place with God? Really not much, is there? We just write out the check and here you go. Here you go, Lord. There's not a lot of heart-to-heart interaction with God. But what we see in the New Testament, sacrificial, radical giving that we see here in these examples, it's a different picture. It requires a lot of thought. It requires a lot of prayer. It requires a lot of interaction with God. I'm not proposing tonight that we just give without thought. Sacrificially, I'm talking about talking with God. Giving what he wants you to give. Being willing to say, OK, God, I'm going to trust you for that. You know, I had an opportunity last year to spend with my pastor in Fort Worth at the church legal seminar, and that evening we went to his house and we were sitting and talking, and we were talking about faith-promised missions, and he was talking about faith-promised giving, and the way he shared it with me was really kind of enlightening, and he talked about it, that the way that he teaches it and the way that he practices it in his church is that they pray. He said, for example, him and his wife, they prayed that, Lord, what would you have us to give this year to fake promise? And so they prayed about it, and God put an amount on their hearts and minds, and they had a peace about it. They both were in agreement with this amount, and it was a huge amount. But here's the thing. They were not going to draw that money out of what they had in the bank, in checking or savings. They weren't going to take it out of what they had coming in for a salary. No, he was trusting God to provide that in a means above and beyond all of those other things that he already had and possessed. And he said, they were absolutely shocked. And I can't remember what the amount was, but sometime, some couple of months had passed, and he said, I think it was like two or three months that God provided the whole total amount for the year. We're talking about an known ways, and they had this, some kind of gas line or pipeline went through some of their property, I think it was some of their mineral rights or something, they were just getting small checks, but they've got, they got a huge check. And you know what they did? When they got that amount, they did what they told God. They gave it their faith promise. And you know what happened? It wasn't a month later, they got another check for that same amount. and it happened another time. You see what God just added on top of what they gave to bless them above and beyond what they needed. And so as he began teaching this in his church, they had a young couple that came to him in his office, and this couple came, and he had a good job, and they just built a brand-new house out in the country, Super nice house, I've seen it. And so, they come to his office, and they're all just distraught, and they're just like, Pastor, we're worried. We're worried sick. And he said, what's wrong? Well, we prayed, you know, like you told us, and we both wrote down this number, and we haven't shared with each other what that number is, but we're both scared. We're scared to death. And he told them, why are you scared? It's faith, promise. And so he told them, he said, listen, if God does not provide it, you don't have to give it. Why are you worried? If God don't give it, you're not in an obligation to give it, because you're saying, God, if you give me this, let's say, just a random amount, $20,000 or whatever. God, if you give me this $20,000, I'll give it. But if God doesn't give it, you don't give it. That's what he told them. And so they gave this amount to him and he later, he looked at these and they were exactly the same. Well, not much time passed and I don't remember exactly how much time passed, but it wasn't too long that the husband, he was called into the office by his boss and his boss told him, you have done such a great job. you know, promoting our business and bringing in a lot of sales. And we want to give you a bonus as a reward for your hard work. The bonus check, he brought it to Pastor Darter's office and laid it down on his desk. It was the exact amount that they had written on those pieces of paper. Don't tell me there's no God. They gave it, and God blessed them. Listen, that's sacrificial radical giving. Sometimes we hear a message like this and we get scared and we think, wait a minute, that's out of my comfort zone. No, I'm just trying to challenge you to trust in the Lord with all your heart, just trust Him. Interact with Him. Just like this morning, don't do vain worship. You know, this Pharisee was vain worship. He gave his tithes You know, he fasted twice in the week. He did all these external religious rituals, but his heart was far from God. Jesus said he was not even justified. He was lifting himself up in pride. You know, we don't want to be like the Pharisees. Let's not worship God in vain. Let's not give with no interaction of our heart. You know, when we give, when that offering plate comes along, we ought to give from our heart and say, God, I'm glad I can give this to you. Because I love you. And so I'm challenging you to a higher plane of love and trust. demonstrated by sacrificial giving. You know, the Bible teaches we're to love God with all of our heart, all of our mind, all of our soul. We're also to trust him with all of our heart. So, folks, that's it. The standard of giving in the New Testament. It's beyond the tide. It's radical. It's sacrificial. And we just got to get with God and say, God, what do you want me to do? And trust Him. Watch God do something beyond your ability, beyond your power. And listen, tonight it all begins, as we read in 2 Corinthians 8.5. They first gave their own selves unto the Lord. That's where it begins. Begin with your heart, just giving your heart to Him. Let's stand tonight for prayer. Our Father, we want to thank You for being our example, for giving a radical, sacrificial gift to us. The gift of your only begotten Son. Lord, we know that if it were not for your Son, Jesus Christ, coming into this world and dying on the cross for our sins, that we would be lost for eternity. That we would spend eternity in hell, separated from you because of our sin. Because we're sinners. All of us have sinned and come short of Your glory. Father, we thank You for Your gift, Your unspeakable gift, that You gave Your Son, Jesus Christ. And Lord, for those of us that have experienced that gift by faith, we've received eternal life, forgiveness of all of our sins. We have a home in heaven that's been purchased for us. Lord, it only calls for us to give and live sacrificially. Lord, as your word says in Romans 12.1, I beseech you therefore, brethren, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice. Lord, it's our reasonable service you tell us there. It's because of your mercy we ought to do that. Because of what you've done for us, Lord, we should give you ourselves sacrificially and trust you, not only with our soul, but trust you with our day-to-day living. Trust you with our giving. Lord, you want to use us as a channel. to further your kingdom, to get the gospel to a lost and dying world. Lord, help our faith to be challenged tonight by the examples of Scripture. Lord, help us to have more interaction with You and more time with You in prayer on account of our giving. Lord, we praise You that You are all-sufficient, that you give us grace that every need in our life will be met, that you will take care of us. Lord, help us to live by faith. And I pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.