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I will not blind side you tonight, I am teaching about scriptural principles relating to money. It is unfortunate today that people's defenses rise if a preacher decides to teach or preach about finance, but there is a reason for this. Remember Jim Baker? He was the televangelist who is still doing prison time for stealing millions of dollars from his "ministry." He begged for money to reach the masses, and instead spent the money himself. They later found out that this guy had a two story, air conditioned dog house in his back yard! Not that I guess there's anything wrong with having such a place for your pooch, but not when it is done with embezzled money. And so the televangelists and the other fakes out there have given Christianity a name synonymous with greed, and that's unfortunate, because if a preacher decides to teach about scriptural financial concepts, too often he is branded with the same label.

Most of you know that I'm not a big fan of the yoyos on television claiming to preach the gospel. For one thing, 99.99% of them care more about their ratings than they do preaching truth. And that is definitely a conflict of interest for the preacher to care more for the approval of his audience than the approval of God. Jesus got mad in his life several times, but one of the few times was because the ministers in the temple had turned religion into a "get rich quick" scheme. There was a song a few years back entitled "Would Jesus wear a Rolex?" that makes fun of television preachers that are always wanting money. Oral Roberts a few years back announced that if he didn't get so many millions of dollars for his ministry that God said that he was going to die. He didn't die, so either he got the money or God "changed His mind." And so I'm very careful about mentioning money all of the time lest anyone get the wrong impression.

But we must guard against allowing the fakes to keep us from shutting off what the Bible has to say in the area of money. And as a preacher, I am commanded by God to teach from all scripture and that includes verses about finances. Living for God is not all about money, but let me give you some interesting stats:

We preach quite a bit about the importance of water baptism and rightfully so because it is emphasized in the New Testament. In fact, there are right around 100 verses in scripture that directly command and refer and teach about water baptism.

We emphasize preaching about receiving the Holy Spirit and the moving of the Spirit of God and rightfully so because there are about 200 verses in scripture that directly command and refer to such things.

We emphasize love and the importance of us loving each other and God is love and all of that and rightfully so because the concept of love is mentioned in slightly over 300 verses of scripture.

And yet it may come as a shock to you that in the scripture there are over 2,000 verses -- two thousand -- scriptures that teach on money, finances, and giving. Clearly, we do not "rightfully divide the Word of truth" if we neglect teaching in this area. Furthermore, if you count verses or words, Jesus' most often preached about subject during His earthly ministry was by far the subject of hell, the eternal place of torment. Most of you knew that because I've mentioned that before. But does anyone know what the second most frequent subject of Jesus' ministry was? It was money and finances. In fact, a full half -- 16 of 32 -- of Jesus' parables dealt with being faithful and wise in money matters.

And there is a reason for that because in our text, Jesus taught:

"Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Jesus was not talking about great amounts of money of the rich, but "your treasure." What you do with what you have been given. What people do with their money reveals quite a bit spiritually about their heart and motives. What people spend their money on reflects what is most important to them. What people spend their money on reflects what is priority in their life. How people handle their money is usually an accurate reflection of how disciplined they are in other areas of life. Show me someone that is careless with their finances, and usually that person is careless in their prayer life and fasting and personal devotion also. It's quiet right now, because there is a lot of truth to that. The scripture says:

The truth is that God often looks at how we handle our finances to determine whether or not He can trust us with spiritual blessings! And He often looks at how we treat other people's belongings to determine whether or not He can give us blessings of our own. These are the words of Jesus. But we don't preach a lot about this, yet these principles are active in your life everyday. If you want greater spiritual blessing, then one place to do a "check up from the neck up" is in your finances. "Am I pleasing God and being wise with my treasure?" Only when you are trustworthy with worldly wealth, will God entrust you with "true riches of heaven." You might as well say "amen" because it's in the Book! And the next verse of that scripture says:

Notice that He said "you cannot serve both God and money." He puts money alongside God as something that can be served. Money can be another god. Simply put, either your money serves you or you are serving your money. Either you control it or it controls you. And Jesus said that you cannot serve both money and God at the same time, because it will cause you to despise one of them!

So it is a fair question to ask today: are you controlling your money or is your money controlling you? Who is serving who? It's worth realizing which is more exalted in our life. Most of us would automatically say "God" is much higher than money, but what do our actions reveal? Do you have to work extra to pay bills that you have placed upon yourself? How much of our debts are really for necessities? Compare the time that you spend serving your spending habits by working to pay for them, with the time that you spend in daily devotion to God and His Word. To what does the first check go to each month, the debts or God? These questions make many Christians uncomfortable because Americans tend to serve and trust in riches. If a person misses church because of sickness or excuse, yet is able to go to work on Monday, to whom are they being more faithful? Do you pay the bills and then pay God, or do you pay God and then pay the bills? So again I ask, who do we serve the most faithfully? God or money? Notice the devil is not even mentioned here, because the false god in most Christians life is not Satan, but rather the mishandling of what God has given them. God wants to know: how are you handling "your treasure?"

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Let's look scripturally at the giving side of your treasure and then we'll finish tonight by looking at things that you can do to ensure that you do not financially struggle. This is not a "get rich quick" scheme, and we are not taking another offering tonight, so you can relax. I'm not trying to get a sacrificial offering out of you and I will never preach for only that purpose. This is just a good Bible Study on some forgotten verses of the Bible. I don't want you to give a large sum of money tonight, but rather day in and day out be faithful to the scriptural teachings of God about your treasure.

Scriptural teaching on "your treasure" falls into three categories: tithing, offerings, and sacrificial giving. Let's take them one by one.

The word "tithe" is a scriptural word and it literally means "a tenth." As in "ten percent." It refers to giving to God ten percent of your income. That seems like a lot until you realize that the average American gives almost 18% to the IRS every year. When you make a purchase, you are giving almost 9% to the local government. It's called "tax." There are many critics to paying tithes out there today and most denominations don't even bother to bring it up. And in doing so, they ignore clear scriptural teaching, because tithing is a God idea.

1. To not do so is to "rob God."

The children of Israel of Malachi's time were not paying their tithes and offerings and God charged that they were "robbing Him!" Throughout scripture, ten percent of your increase has been labeled as "belonging to the Lord." In other words, if you made a hundred dollars, then really you made $90 and God entrusted you with $10 of His to see what you would do with it. When you spend it on yourself, then you are taking what is His and stealing it! Or at least that is the way that God looks at it. And it brings a financial curse on your life -- God makes sure that you are not financially blessed if you are a true believer and yet do not pay your tithes. And I shouldn't have to tell you that no "robber" or thief will enter into heaven and eternal life unless they repent and change their ways.

2. Doing so causes God to bless you.

"Test me in this" God says. The KJV says "prove me." If you've never tithed before, try it out for 90 days. I challenge you -- well, not me really, but God challenges you! Pay ten percent of your income and increase to the house of God for 90 days and see if you do not have enough money to pay your bills and see if there is not unexpected blessings that are poured out on you from unexpected sources. Try it! God says "test me in this!" Either His word is true, or we need to all go home, but I can tell you because I've tried this for myself and I have found Him to be faithful!

3. Tithing was instituted by God before the Laws of Moses and therefore did not end with the Laws of Moses.

Some yoyos will teach that "tithing was just for Moses' day and we are no longer under the Law." It is true that we are no longer under the Law of Moses, but tithing came a long time before the Laws of Moses. When Abraham got to the land of Canaan, he paid tithes to the man of God in his life, Melchizedek (Genesis 14:18-20). When Jacob went to Bethel (which means "house of God") and decided to start getting things right with God, he vowed to pay God a "tenth" of all that God would give him (Genesis 28:22). When Moses came along and received the laws of God, tithing was just a continuation of something God had instituted a long time ago. Which leads us to the next reason:

4. Abraham paid tithes.

You only need to know three scriptures to realize the importance of this point. Galatians 3:7 says that those who are "the children of faith are the children of Abraham." It doesn't matter your physical genealogy, but rather if you are saved, then your spiritual genealogy goes back to the father of the faithful, Abraham. Jesus said in John 8:39 that if we are truly the children of Abraham, then we will "do the works of Abraham." And the Bible says that one of the things that Abraham did was to pay tithes to the man of God in his life (Genesis14:18-20).

5. Jesus said that we ought to do it.

What the unbeliever wish this scripture said was "that tithing you don't have to do as long as you do the weightier matters of the law" but that's not what Jesus said. Jesus wasn't getting on to the Pharisees for tithing, but for neglecting other things after their tithing. In those days, spices were so valuable that they were often used as money. And in reference to the tithing, Jesus said "these you ought to have done." That key word "ought" in the Greek means "to be absolutely necessary." There are seven things in the New Testament that it is said that a Christian "ought to do." And this probably could be an entire series of sermons, but I'll just give them to you quickly:

Christians ought to love one another - 1 John 4:7-21

Christians ought to pay closer attention to the things that they have heard - Hebrews 2:1-4

Christians ought to always pray - Luke 18:1-14

Christians ought to wash one another's feet - John 13:1-17

Christians ought to walk as Jesus walked - 1 John 2:1-6

Christians ought to be holy - 1 Peter 1:14-16

Christians ought to pay tithes - Matthew 23:23

These things are absolutely necessary if we are to obey scripture!

6. Jesus said to give to God, the things that are God's.

It was when they tempted Jesus about whether not they should pay taxes, and Jesus asked to see a coin and said:

We know what is written down that we owe the government, so we get that part of the verse, but what is it that the Bible commands is God's part? The only part labeled as God's is our tithes! Tithing is the only plan where man gives something financially to God that belonged to God in the first place.

7. Tithing is God's plan for the support of the ministry.

When Abraham, paid tithes, he gave the tithes to the man of God in his life. Under Moses' law, the tithes were for the priests who ministered before the Lord. Under Grace, Paul proclaimed:

In the same way as the priests under the law received their sustenance and living, so are those who "preach the gospel" to receive their living. Under law, the priests received the tithing of the people (Numbers 18:21). Therefore the only Biblical way to support the ministry today in Grace is through our tithing.

So let's sum up tithing in a nutshell. Tithing means giving ten percent of your income to the man of God in your life. As you give to the man of God, God takes it as giving it back to God, Himself. And tithing is for the support of the ministry. Tithing shouldn't go for maintenance for the church building and shouldn't go for the electric bill -- that is what offering is for. Tithing is for the support of the ministry: the pastor, and pastoral staff, and evangelists and whatever ministry the pastor deems needful. Tithing should also be the "firstfruits" of our giving. Firstfruits is an important concept that we don't have time to get into, but it means that you give to God first before you pay bills or go shopping. God only accepts the firstfruits.

Another thought here is that you can only tithe 10%. That is what the word means. Maybe you really love your pastor and want to give him 12% -- thanks for the thought -- but that is not God's plan. The ministry only gets 10%. The extra 2% was an offering and should go to other things. If you have just got to go extra, then contribute to a birthday gift of something. But you can only tithe 10% by definition.

On the other side of the token, putting 5% in the offering and labeling it as "tithing" is lying. Because tithing means 10%. Be careful that you don't rob God AND lie to Him at the same time!

Your offering is a contribution of your treasure beyond your tithing. Many people don't grasp this concept, so listen carefully: if you don't pay your tithes, then you aren't giving any offering to God. Let's say that tithing -- ten percent -- of your income was $30 last week. In other words, you made $300. And let's say that you don't pay your tithing and instead drop a $20 bill in the plate. You owed God His part which was $30. Your offering of $20 wasn't an offering at all but was robbing God of $10. An offering is what you give beyond your tithe. Until you pay your tithe, you have not even begun to really give an offering!

It would do people good to remember the principle of the Monopoly game. A couple of months ago for youth we set up the fellowship hall as a gigantic Monopoly game and played regular Monopoly rules with a twist: anytime they collected rent or passed Go and got $200, they could if they chose pay tithes and or offerings into the middle of the board. If a person landed on Free Parking, we counted how much they had given in tithing and offering and they got 3x that amount. At the end of the game, I gave the biggest prizes to those who had paid the most faithfully in tithes and offering and who had paid the most and gave a skimpy prize to those who had the most money and land because when you die, all of that goes away and only what you have stored in the kingdom of heaven lasts!

During the game, a couple of teams would just throw a hundred dollars in here and there and thought by giving a "large contribution" now and then that they were really doing something. But a couple of teams were really fastidious about paying their tithes every time and a few dollars offering to boot. At the end of the game, the ones who had given the occasional large contribution were shocked to find out that in the end the ones who just gave ten percent every time plus offerings had accumulated more and beat them! God's not impressed with you dropping a few hundred dollars in the plate here and there. He wants to see you do things His way and what are you going to do with the ten dollars that you just made? Will ten percent, one dollar, be given to God as His portion? Will you give an offering beyond your ten percent? I remember a young man so impressed by a fantastic sermon that my father-in-law had just preached and he came up to Bro. Webb after service and said "that was an awesome message, oh, I want to pay to have your suit dry cleaned because you blessed me so much, how much does it cost?" And my father-in-law said, "if you would pay your tithes, I could dry clean my own suit!" Some people want the pastor to pat them on the back for giving a special offering here and there, but God is just interested in somebody willing to do it God's way! I applaud those of you who consistently give tithing and offering! You are the heroes -- not the guy who drops a couple c-notes in the offering plate every once in a while and looks for the pat on the back.

There are some preachers that preach a mandatory 5% offering to their saints. I do not preach that nor do I find it in scripture as a valid scriptural concept. There is no limit upwards or downward on your offering. But think of these points as you decide to give:

1. To please God, I must give something beyond my tithing because Malachi 3:8-10 said that they robbed God through withholding their tithes and their offerings.

2. Tithing is just giving back to God what was already His; the measure of your sacrifice is defined by your offering. Therefore you will be blessed by the measuring stick of your offering -- not your tithing.

3. The tithing is for the ministry, but the offering is for everything else. It pays the light bill, the mortgage, the lawn equipment, the insurance, the Sunday School literature, toilet paper, upkeep on the buildings, and a zillion other things.

4. Your tithing tells God how much you want to obey Him, your offering tells Him how much He means to you -- it is a chance to go above and beyond for Him.

The Bible commands that the ministry is to also pay tithes and offerings. I as your pastor pay tithes on my income and I also pay offerings. I do not teach this as necessary, but personally I always have and always do write a check for 10% offering and 5% offering every time I get paid or blessed. In Bible College, I paid 10% tithes and 10% offering because I just wanted to test God and see what He would do. He has been faithful. I've had my share of tight months, but I have never been neglected and have never been truly in need. When I became the pastor of this church, we had twelve people and Bro. Wallace told me that I would have to get a job. I never had to get a secular job because God blessed us. I think that it had much to do with my faithfulness in tithes and offerings to God. I believe and live what I am preaching.

You should give a regular offering, in fact, in the Old Testament days, the people were commanded to always have something to give when they came to the house of God. We are no longer under law, so you don't have to put something in the offering plate every time, but you should give a regular offering with your tithing to fulfill the plan of God.

But the scripture also commands us to give sacrificially at times. When God has given you an abundance, then you may feel led to give more offering that month. We are also commanded to help fund missionaries and to give to the poor. Or for a special project like a building fund or to help another church or minister that is in a low time. All of those are Biblical concepts of sacrificial giving. Sacrificial giving is anything that you give beyond your regular tithing and offerings.

Our adopt-a-block ministry has become an avenue of sacrificial giving for many of you. Just be sure that you don't use your regular tithing and offering to pay for that. Many of you give to missionaries. Just by giving a little extra in the regular offering, you are giving to missions because this church regularly supports many missionaries every month. I think that sacrificial offerings bring the greatest blessing because it is an act of faith. When you give until things are tight, God sees that and responds accordingly.

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Talking about "your treasure!" David said this:

Everybody will have moments of life where you are financially strapped just because of situations, but if you are always financially struggling, then something is wrong in your handling of "your treasure." David said the "righteous" would never be forsaken and they would be "blessed!" And yet there are some Christians who are always broke and living from check to check. God does not promise that you will be rich, in fact the scripture says:

Better that you would be saved and have less, than have more and be lost! Yet, it is God's will for you to be able to live blessed. So let's end our study with a quick look at why some Christians are always struggling financially:

1. They rob God by not paying regular tithing and offerings.

Malachi said that "you are cursed with a curse!"

2. Their attitude is wrong when they do give.

In asking the Corinth church to give a sacrificial offering to help the persecuted church of Jerusalem, Paul said this:

Giving reluctantly, or because you feel like the preacher is pressuring you to do so, or without willingness will lead to the ineffectiveness of your offering. How you give your offering is just as important as what you give. If you believe God's Word, then you know that it is going to reap blessings so you are excited to give. If you don't really believe God's Word then you are grudgingly giving of it and in doing so are not giving in faith. Never forget that giving monetarily is worship. Think about that. If you clap your hands because you "have to" and you dance because you "have to" how does God respond to that? It's the same with your attitude towards your tithing and offerings.

3. They are servants to their lenders.

In other words, they are in debt to their eyeballs and they keep borrowing money. The Bible says:

As long as you are in debt, then that person controls your life. You are working to pay them off. You are in bondage and pressure to them. Americans are in debt to their earlobes. And the pressure from our debts affects how much we are able to give and more importantly our attitude toward giving! The financial pressure was not placed upon us by God, but by our own actions with credit cards and debt that we chose to get ourselves into. If you want to be happy, then you've got to stop borrowing money!

4. They are lazy workers.

The Bible says:

Some Christians -- yes Christians -- don't really work that hard at their work and so they are always surprised when they are passed over for promotion. They refuse to discipline themselves or are always looking for the minimum that they can do. That is laziness and it is a cancerous disease in the church. If you only do enough to get by, then you need to rethink your effort so that you can be blessed. The Bible says:

Don't ask God to bless you at work, if you are not giving Him something to work with!

5. They regularly make poor financial decisions.

By this I mean they have to have a new car every few years when the older one would have been just fine. Or they eat out all of the time and never take time to actually fix a meal at home. Or they live beyond their means and dress in clothes that they cannot afford and have habits that they cannot support. This is the curse of America: we have more than we ever have had and we are in more debt than we ever have been! The vast majority of those 2,000 scriptures in the Bible dealing with finances are not about tithing and offering but of how we spend what we have beyond what we give to God! God wants to bless us, but some Christians set themselves in a place where God cannot bless them financially because of their poor habits. Let handle our treasure more wisely and allow God to bless us financially!