Money! It’s Not About the Money

Money! It’s Not About the MoneyShow more

By Pastor Gary Wayne

How many realize that intellectual knowledge is important, but spiritual understanding of that knowledge is WAY more important? We need Spiritual Revelation. Pray This.

Text: Philippians 4:10-20 The book of Philippians was written because of an offering. The people in Philippi gave into Paul’s ministry, so He wrote them this letter.

There are 4 points here I want to look at.
1. Ver.15 Giving & Receiving Are Connected.
Often when we hear a message about money, it’s about giving - tithes & offerings.
But here Paul talks about Giving & Receiving – the two go hand in hand.

A major point about prayer that applies to money is something always happens when we pray.

It doesn’t matter what I see and it doesn’t matter what I feel, when I pray – something always happens.

That principle also applies to giving - No matter how much, or how often, something ALWAYS happens when you give.

Luke 6:38 "Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you."

Expecting something back when you give is important.
This is the principle farmers live by – if you sow something, you should expect to get something back.

What do you call a farmer who is not reaping minded? Broke!
If you are not reaping minded, you will be unmotivated to sow.
Or you will not sow with joy, but sow in obligation and guilt.

We expect a response from God when we pray – we should expect a response when we give.

2. v17 Its Not About The Gift. What is the point of v.17?
Paul was telling them their gift was important, but it wasn’t the main point.
What was important was the fruit that came as a result of being a giver.

God doesn’t need our money, rather we need to learn to give.

Did you know when you put a seed in the ground, the seed makes a demand from the soil.

The soil responds to the demand of the seed.
Giving releases something inside us.
Giving releases something from God towards us.

Their giving was an investment that would bring spiritual fruit.
The opposite is also true being unfruitful can be tracked with someone who is not a giver.

Lu 16:10-12 "Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else's property, who will give you property of your own? (NIV)

3.v.18 Giving is not ONLY Financial.
In our human understanding, the amount is what is important.
The larger the amount, the better God likes it. – Human thinking.
What matters to God? The heart involved in the giving.
The attitude of my heart is what God looks at.

The only offerings that Jesus commented about were given by a widow and a former prostitute.

In God’s value system, both offerings were of high value, but the actual monitorial amount of the offering was not what caught His attention – it was the heart.

Do you know that our giving smells? Ver.18 God is smelling it, He is not tallying it.

4. v.19 My God Will Supply. God is our source.
If I don’t get this point, where do I think my finances come from? Luck, My hard work, my intellect, coincidence,

Knowing God is our source changes the way you feel about money.
If I understand I am a steward of His assets involved in Kingdom work, what do I do when it looks like I have run out of money?
I go to Him – the sources of my finances.

God is not selfish with His stuff – He is always giving. His nature is giving.
God is Love, He is giving, and with this kind of nature as a source, what can I expect from Him?