Blessing The Bless-er
Introduction
Everyone should have received a special gift this morning. Let me tell you why I've given everyone a pack of M & M's. When my oldest son was about 5 yrs old, we went to a basketball game, and he said, "Dad, can I have some money to buy some candy?" I gave him a couple of dollars and he came back with a pack of M & M's. After a couple of minutes, I said, "Son, can I have some M & M's? He said, "No". I said, "Come on, just give me a couple." He said, "No".
Now can you imagine your child doing the same thing? At that moment, there were several things my son didn't understand. First, he didn't understand that I was the one who bought them. He wouldn't have them if I didn't provide the money. Second, he didn't understand my strength. I could have ripped them away from him and eaten every one. Third, he didn't understand how many I could give him. I could have taken my credit card and bought so many, he couldn't eat them in a lifetime.
We all have M & M's. You could say that M & M stands for Money and Material. Some of you have a big pile of M & M's (Money and Material). Some of you have a medium pile. Some of you have a few bags. But all of it was given to you by God. And you know, sometimes, God comes and He says, "Give me some."
That's exactly what's happening right now in our campaign. God is coming to me and you, and all who consider themselves a part of this church family, and He is asking for some of our M & M's. And there will be some people who will respond just like my little boy responded. They will say the same thing my son said to me, "No, these are mine."
But we just don't seem to understand. God is the one who gave it to us in the first place. God is strong enough to take them back anytime. God has so many M & M's that He could rain down so many we couldn't possibly eat them all.
There's a great verse found in Psalm 50:12, "If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine and all it's fullness." I love that verse. God basically says, "If I wanted some M & M's, I wouldn't ask you, because I already have them all." So the question is, "If God already has all the M & M's, why does He want some of mine?" That is what I want to talk about today. I want to talk to you today about this subject, "Blessing The Blessor."
We throw that word around so much...Bless. Someone sneezes and we say, "God bless you." We ask, "How are you, today?" And the response is, "Well, I'm blessed." What does that mean? Usually, we think of intangible things like love, peace, joy, abundant living. And all of those things are the blessing of God. But being blessed is all about being on the receiving end of both the intangible things and the tangible things - Our health, Our wealth, Our house, Our car, and all the other M & M's of life.
The truth is most of us have a lot of M & M's. We have a lot of blessings. In fact, Americans are probably the most blessed people on earth. But have you ever stopped and thought about why we have so many blessings? Think about it, why do we have all of those blessings? You're going to find out this morning that we are blessed so that we can bless the Blessor - we can bless God!
Write down this principle, "God gives blessings, so we can become a blessing." Many people never learn that. But there's a question that naturally follows. How do you become a blessing? Let me give you several ways:
I. Treat Your M & M's As A Gift From God
Take that bag of candy and look at it for just a moment. No one here had to buy that candy this morning. It was just given to you, right? And no one here asked for that candy, right? In the same way you didn't buy those M & M's and you didn't ask for those M & M's, everything you have is a gift from God.
But so often, we forget where the blessings come from. We become just like a little child who grabs his candy and never even thinks about where it came from or how he got it. That happened to the people of God in the Old Testament. They had been given so much but God offered them a warning in the book of Deuteronomy.
Deuteronomy 8:11-18, "Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God...when you have eaten and are full, and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them, and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold are multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied...you will forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage...you will say in your heart, 'My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth. But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth."
So how do you become a blessing? You start by changing your attitude about the M & M's. You learn to treat money and material as a gift from God. The Bible teaches that we don't really own anything. We are just the managers of what God gives us. Remember, God doesn't need any M & M's. The problem starts with the way we see our money and our material possessions. Most people think, "But I worked for it. I earned it. It was my sweat, my toil, my labor." But don't you get it? God gave you that job, the skills, the health, the ability.
David built God's house in the Old Testament. He said in 1 Chronicles 29:14, "Who am I and who are my people that we should give, all things come from you and from your hand."
David had the right perspective. David understood that when you really think about it, we don't really give anything to God because it all comes from Him anyway. All we do is just RETURN to God or keep it for ourselves. David said, "What we have was just put into one of your hands, or we took from the other hand."
Did you know we all live from hand to mouth. We live from His hand to our mouth. All we're supposed to be is a good manager.
Did you know that the first words God ever spoke to man was about blessing and management. Check it out. Genesis 1:28, "Then God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."
Now this ought to settle once and for all the question of what's the oldest profession on the earth. It's not what you think it is. It's landscaping. God said manage everything. That's blessing the Blessor. Being a good manager of everything God has given you blesses the Blessor.
Do you remember the movie, "The Wizard of Oz"? The Munchkins told Dorothy to go to the land of Oz. They indicated that everything was wonderful in the land of Oz. It was a land of fantasy where all her wishes would come true. She would find everything she wanted in the land of Oz. "In the merry old land of Oz"
Today, many people are living in a fantasy world as well. Or, at least, they're trying to get there but can't find the yellow brick road. You could call they're fantasyland the "Land Of ING". They think everything would be wonderful if they could just get there and live there.
People are into ownING, buyING, earnING, clothING, spendING, Bling-Bling, and kachING! Now there's nothing wrong with having stuff and with having a lot of stuff, but what they don't realize is that God wants to add his BLESS to their ING. We spend so much time in the Land of ING. Money is such a big deal to people. It's become an extension of who we are. To be such a small piece of paper, it really carries a lot of weight. We constantly think about GET...ING, INVEST...ING, PROTECT...ING, SAVE...ING. We have phrases for it: "Show me the money," "The Scratch," "The Denero," "The Bling Bling," and "The KaChing, KaChing."
But, you will never be able to put God ahead of money until you see your money as His money. The constant temptation is say, "But it's mine. I earned it. I bought it. I deserve it."
I love the verse in Psalm 50:12, "If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine and all it's fullness."
God says, "You have to understand something. I gave it to you and I expect you to manage it properly."
So how do I bless the blessor? Here's the second thing:
II. Tithe Your M & M's as a Gift to God.
Now tithing is the second step to blessing the Blessor. Tithing is just a Bible word that means "tenth." It is just a percentage of your blessings, of the M & M's that God says we are to bring back to Him.
When I mention tithing, I have to blow the dust off because tithing has become an increasingly foreign concept to most people. The I.R.S. has determined the average tax payer gives 1.7% of he adjusted gross income to any charity or church. Why? We're all living in the land of ING. We're into OWN..ING and SPEND...ING and HOARD...ING. Did you know that more money is spent every year on dog food and chewing gum than on all charities combined.
Newsweek cited a Gallup Poll a few years ago.
Catholics...give about 1%
Methodists...about 1.3%
Jews...about 1.4%
Lutherans...about 1.6%
Presbyterians...about 2.2%
All other protestants...about 2.5%
But God made it very clear how much we are to bring back to God. Malachi 3:9-10, "You are under a curse for you have robbed me, even the whole nation. Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house." A tithe is a definite percentage (10%) given to a definite place (the house of God).
God has always reserved a portion of our M & M's for Himself. For example, in the Garden God said, "I'm giving you 7 days, but one of them is reserved for me." Also, in the Garden, God said, "All the trees are yours, but there is one for me, don't eat from it and don't touch it." When the Children of Israel went into the Promised Land, there were 10 cities. God said, "The first one is Jericho, don't keep anything from that city. It's to be given back to me."
Why does God want to keep some for Himself? Not because He needs it, but because it's a reminder to us who is the Owner and who is the manager. God wants us to keep first things first. God is always concerned with first things.
Exodus 13:2, "Consecrate to Me all the firstborn, whatever is first among the children of Israel, both of man and beast; it is Mine."
Exodus 23:19, "The first of the first fruits of your land you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God."
The firstborn and the first fruits belong to God. Why? They belong to Him because God expects to be first place. And when we do that, there is a built-in blessing from the Blessor.
Proverbs 3:9-10, "Honor the Lord with your possessions and with the first fruits of all your increase. Then your barns will be filled with plenty and your vats will overflow with new wine."
God is the Blessor and he wants to move you into the sweet spot of His blessing. But there is a condition. You have to be willing to bless the Blessor. Tithing does that.
There's something here that you may not notice when you first read this verse. Malachi 3:10 states, "Bring the tithe into the storehouse." Exodus said, "Bring the first fruits". Notice that little word, "bring". Bring means something different than Give. It says Bring, not Give.
If we were the owners, we would give it. But we're not the owners; we're the managers. That's why we bring it instead of merely give it. God knew what He was saying.
Visual Illustration - (Before the service, the Pastor needs to "plant" a $100 bill with a member of the congregation and explain that he'll be calling for it during the sermon.)
Could someone bring me $100? Someone who has a $100 bill with them this morning, could you bring it up here to me. (Pause for effect but instruct your accomplice to hurry and speak up!) Thank You. Now what the rest of you don't know is, I gave that person my money. I'm not really taking his $100's. He's just bringing me my money. He is not giving it to me, rather he is merely bring it to me.
That's exactly what God does. He's not asking you to "give" it because it's not really yours to begin with. He just asks you to "bring" it back to Him.
Now, I want to try something else to prove my point. Does someone have a $10 bill to trade for my $100 bill? (Any person who is willing to trade will make the point.)
Wow...now that person knows a good deal when they see it. Some of you are thinking, "Hey, do that again!" But here is my point. That's exactly how the tithe works. God gives it to you, then He asks you to "bring" back a portion of it. Don't think about the 10 percent you give back, focus on the 90 percent you get to keep!
Did you know that was the problem with the sacrifice that Cain brought to the Lord.
In Genesis 4:3-5, "In the process of time, Cain gave an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering but he did not respect Cain and his offering."
Why did God respect Abel's offering and not Cain's offering. Not just because Abel brought an animal sacrifice instead of the fruit. God was pleased because Abel brought the firstborn. He brought God the best, not the leftovers.
If you are going to Bless The Blessor, what has to happen? Here's the third way.
You have to Treat Your M & M's as a Gift From God and Tithe Your M & M's as a Gift To God. But there is one more thing you need to do.
III. Trust Your M & M's as a Gift With God
God doesn't need your M & M's. So why does he want them? God has something to prove.
Malachi 3:10, "Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house. Test me in this, says the Lord, and see if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such a blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it."
There are only 2 places where the Bible uses that phrase, "open the windows of heaven." The other place is in the Book of Genesis when the rain began to fall on Noah. God opened "the windows of heaven" and it began to rain. That's the picture here.
Do you want that much blessing? I sure do.
You see tithing is not God's way of raising money; tithing is God's way of raising faith. It's God's way of building up our belief that He can provide for every need we have and that He can be trusted.
Don't say, "The Pastor preached on Tithing." And don't think that this Campaign is really about money first. It's really all about faith. It's not a fund-raising campaign - it's a faith-raising campaign.
Some of you right now are letting the enemy put all kinds of thoughts into your head about why you can't give. You might say, "But, I'm too much in debt." You may have debt, but can I give you some good financial and spiritual advice this morning? The best way to get out of debt is to get out of doubt. Start believing God and His promises. You see, tithing is not God's way of getting something from you, it's God's way of getting something to you.
Money is a test and a tool to prove how faithful God is. And God is putting all of us to the test during this campaign. He wants to know if we have a faith that can be tested and a faith that can be trusted.
So my question for you today is "What are you going to do with your M & M's?" Are you going to be stingy like a little boy who's never thought about where all the blessings came from? Or, are you going to bless the Blessor?
We'll have the opportunity very soon at our Major Event to demonstrate what we are going to do with God's Blessings.
Conclusion and Gospel Presentation
Let me give you some really exciting news this morning. God believes so much in this principle, do you know what...He's willing to practice it.
Do you know what Jesus is? He is God's first fruit offering. He is God's very best gift given for you and me.
The Bible says that Jesus is God's first born. You know what you are to do with your firstborn? You consecrate it. That's what God did with Jesus when He sent his own son to die on the cross. God is the Blessor and he wants to bless you. But you have to be willing to Bless The Blessor.
God has too much to offer not to trust Him.
God is too loving to keep anything from you.
God is too honest to make you a promise He can't keep.