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Page 5 of 7 THE JESUS FACTOR
Jesus came to fulfill the Law he declares in Matthew 5:17: "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am come to fulfill."
As he fulfills the Law, Jesus does something very interesting by raising the bar. The Law was tough on sin, but Jesus made it tougher. He said: "...Don't kill. I say unto you that if you have hatred in your heart, you have already committed murder."
Have any of us not committed murder by the standard that Jesus sets? Jesus said: "You have read in the law not to commit adultery. But I say unto you, if you look after a woman to lust after her, you have already committed adultery."
How many men can past mustard on that one, even women are held to a higher standard than the Law sets. Jesus raised the whole level of standards in God's kingdom. He brought the law to a whole new level. It has always been Kingdom, but he raise the bar as he prepared the way for the Holy Spirit to take up residence in each believer life. He established the Law in the heart of the believer, creating a heart of obedience. It is not a legalism of obedience, but the heart of obedience. The giving of the tithe is an issue of the heart, rather than a legal position. God said, "You do these things, but your heart is far from Me." Jesus said: "No longer is that going to be. It is going to be a heart issue."
God doesn't want anybody giving legalistically with a view of: "I have to tithe. I am going to be in trouble with God if I don't, my pastor will be upset me or I guess I have to write the tithe check again." The Lord doesn't want that kind of attitude nor giving spirit in us. If that is your attitude, don't write the tithe check. I mean just go out with your wife and treat her to dinner. Do something and enjoy the money. And if that is where you are, then you need to ask God to give you grace to empower you to have the ability to give as a cheerful giver. A heart that says: "oh, what a joy, I get to write the tithe check today". "Look at what God did for me, He gave me a few hundred dollars and I get to give Twenty dollars to the kingdom". "What a blessing!" What did you say, Lord? "Make it twenty-five"? "Okay." Come on, we are not stuck in 10%. Are you hearing me? "Oh, I get to give a tithe". What was that, Lord? "You need a little extra from me, Thirty dollars, great!" Remember, giving is a heart issue which is a basic principle that we are working from. Lord Jesus, help us! In Matthew 5-7, what we call the Beatitudes, Jesus instructs His disciples as to the Law of the Kingdom which we already discussed (I didn't come to destroy the Law or the prophets, but to fulfill). He goes unto explain this further in Matthew 5:22-24, "Leave your gift at the altar when you discover there is a problem relationally with somebody."
God is primarily concerned with relationship and the money is tied to relationship. God said, "When you bring your gift and you remember somebody has got ought, leave it. Don't deal with that. Go, and get it right with that person, then come and offer your gift." A lot of people that do give are hung up because they have got hatred and resentment and bitterness and unforgiveness against this one and that one. Some carry resentment toward the Lord because they feel they have to give. Some carry resentment toward the pastor because he talks about giving. One may say "But I tithe, and I expect God to bless me because I am tithing." And then we have to explain why He is not blessing them. Giving the tithe doesn't mean automatic blessing of God. Our motives could be completely wacky with God's Word. It is really a heart issue so the question lumens where is your heart in this matter? In fact how are you doing with people? If you are doing well with people, giving is easy. JESUS INSTRUCTS HIS DISCIPLES Luke 8, 9, 10, and 12, when Jesus is sending disciples out, He tells them, "Just take one coat. You don't need to have a whole bunch of things. Just trust that God is going to supply." The Lord has a word for His servant - "I can be trusted!" So when God is sending us with a mission to carry out in His Name, He wants us to rest assured that it is not necessary to store up all kinds of reserves. We need to trust God! Well, I don't think I can go until I have all my ducks in line, and I have all the money saved up, and what if this or that happens? No, No, God says, "I am sending you just take one and give it away if there is need because I'll give you another one". Understand, it is a heart issue, it is a covenantal issue it is a relational issue. It comes down to depending upon the Lord and His faithfulness. And so that was the instruction that Jesus gave to His disciples. He said: "The Son of Man doesn't have a place to lay His head. Foxes do, but the Son of Man, He doesn't". He said, "Are you greater than your Master?"
You need to have the same attitude your Master has. "Oh, I don't think I can go because I don't have a place tosleep". Well, if God sent you, He will give you a place to lay your head. If God sent you, don't say, "I don't have enough money". I don't know how the money is going to come in. If God is sending you, the money will come. The issue is obedience! He deals with the rich ruler in Luke 18. The rich ruler said, "How do I enter into the Kingdom, and receive eternal life?"
And Jesus gives him the Law by saying:
"Well, I've done that." The Master says: "but there is one more thing. You are pretty rich so go sell all that you have and get the true riches of the Kingdom". Oh, that was too much for the man and his heart was sorrowful. He really wanted to enter in, but his heart was sorrowful because Jesus required just a bit too much. "Lay down your life." In the laying down of his life, he would have received the greater blessing and the greater measure. The woman in the temple gave all. All the rich people were giving, but Jesus said, "This is the one that gave the most." It was only two mites, but she gave more than the richest. The prodigal, wow, what a lesson in Luke 15! We focus on the younger brother that goes out and spends it all. He comes back. But you know something? He went out and spent the whole thing, but in the process his heart got changed. He came back as a servant. He said, "I am not even worthy, father to be called your son. Just let me be a servant in your house."
The father is a type of "The Father" and he puts the best robe on him, the father's robe. He didn't even take a shower first. He still stunk underneath the robe with the pigs' stuff, but the father put His robe on him. He gave him the ring, in other words, he gave him authority all because the son became a servant. Not only the ring, but he had the best calf sacrificed and through a party for his son who had returned. Do you know what the real issue of that story is? It is the elder brother. He said, "Come on, what are you doing, Dad? This guy, he took his inheritance, spent it all on wine and women and all the other stuff, and you are giving him all this recognition and blessings. You never did that for me dad." And the father says: "Son, you have been with me all this time. All you had to do was ask."
You see, the problem was the elder son's heart. The elder son didn't take the money. He didn't go out and spend it on wine and women and drink. He had a bad heart though and his heart didn't get changed even though he never left the fathers house. Many times we go through the hardship of life, and it brings us around to be a servant. The younger son learned servanthood. That is what God is calling us to—servanthood. And it has to do with giving. It does have to do with money. He lost it all, but he got all the father had, all the house, all provision. Dead Men Don't Possess Money The New Testament view is that our money is really the Lord's and we are His stewards. This is so important to understand. Money we have is the Lord's, because we are dead to this world and alive in Christ. You are a dead person, aren't you? Come on, in the old man, the old nature, you are dead. The Bible says that. Consider Paul's view stated in Galatians 2:20 that I recited earlier, "I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me. And the life that I am now living, I am living it by the faith of the Son of God. It is not my faith. It is His faith being lived out through me."
In Romans 6:3, he teaches what happened when we entered into the waters of baptism: "We died, and then rose from the dead into newness of life. The life you have now is a quickening life of the Spirit."
And again, he says something similar to that in Colossians 3:3: "You are dead. You were dead in your trespasses and sins. But now you are alive in Him."
We need to have the attitude that we are dead men. That means that I don't care how much money I have, it doesn't belong to me. It belongs to Him. I didn't say 10%. I said all of it is His. Why? Because I am dead in Christ, never the less I live. Everything I have comes from Him. I have no rights any more. In Him, my rights have been surrendered. He is the only one that has rights and I have responsibility. Do you get that? He has the rights now; I have responsibility. Boy, if the church can get a hold of that, it would mature, wouldn't it? "He has rights and I have got responsibilities".
Everything in the New Testament must be considered through the cross and the life-giving Spirit of God. The Lord sees everything through the cross and through the quickening of the Holy Spirit, including money. Money that is in our hands, it is not really our money, it is His money. It is money for which we have received responsibility. When it comes into our hands, we present it thankfully to the Lord and then put it on the cross. As it is presented to Christ the Spirit quickens it for the kingdom of God. Through which our needs are met, needs in the church is met, the larger needs in the Kingdom are met and the poor are ministered unto. All because the Spirit has quickened or made alive the money that we place on the cross through our surrendered lives and quickened by the Holy Spirit.
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Financing The Apostolic
