Preached in Markham Baptist Church, April 15, 2007

A FAITH PROMISE: SOWING AND REAPING

Perhaps one of the highlights of our church year for me is mission month. I appreciate a month set aside to celebrate the truth that God has not kept the saving of this world to Himself. Amazingly He has called us to participate with Him in sharing the good news of Jesus Christ to all those around us – not only in our home, not only in our community, not only in our country but around the whole world. He has given us the great thrill of sharing the love of Christ with every nation.

I think that it is amazing because, well, a number of us could say that we like to control things – if someone isn’t doing a job right we are apt to take the responsibility away from them and say – “You know what? I’ll just do it myself.”

And I think of how often I have bungled the job of sharing Christ – how often the church has bungled the job – and yet God’s word is clear. He has called us “to go make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” (Matthew 28:19) He does not take the job away from us – and amazingly He calls us to spread the good news of the saving power of Jesus Christ with the whole world.

That does not just leave us in awe – it awakens us out of our sleep, doesn’t it? So we have our mission theme for this year from Romans 13:11- “The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.”

There is a responsibility that we are to be alert and awake to – a responsibility of sharing the gospel, the responsibility of missions.

Missions also enlivens our worship experience, doesn’t it? I believe that as the church understands its mission in the world, its worship of God is enriched. Think of it - missions moves us to thanksgiving. “God, you would trust us enough with your message that you want us to share it with everyone? You would allow us the thrill of seeing you work in a life and see you transform it? Thank you, God!”

This moves us to praise – “Lord, we have seen the great things you have done in Africa, in China, in persecuted lands around the globe, surely nothing is too hard for you – we praise you!”

Missions moves us to adoration – “O God, how great is your name among the nations. You transcend all boundaries of race and colour. You speak to all peoples, you are an awesome God!”

Missions moves us to worship and so much more – it is an integral part of who we are as Christians! I love that our church has a mission focus. Now I say that because I know some of you are wonderfully frank with me – and you tell me that mission month is your least favourite time of the year at our church. It’s not that you are against missions – no, no, you make it clear that you are mission-minded. What you don’t like is the tradition I have of preaching the first sermon of mission month on giving. My focus on the Faith Promise every year disquiets you. And I hope that you know me well enough by now that I am not one to use guilt as a means to motivate you. And while some of you are in a higher economic bracket than me, I know that I am not poor by the world’s standards and face the same hard questions as you do about wealth and my relationship with God.

But I persist this morning in calling our attention to the biblical basis of our responsibility to be a mission church and part of that is financially supporting the work of missions around the world. Missions cost. It cost money to print bibles, to train leaders, provide food for the hungry, give shelter to the homeless, and demonstrate the love of Christ. To be sure, there are other important things we can give to missions - our time, our talents, our spiritual gifts, without financial cost. But this morning I want to focus on how we can give financially to the cause of missions.

And I do this not to make you feel guilty, but to give you a spiritual tool that I believe will enrich your relationship with God. I am speaking this morning not so much of something that we have to do – but something that we get to do – the spiritual discipline of depending on God to give to the work of missions.

In our church we call it the Faith Promise. It is the Faith Promise that enables us to support missions and give generously to the work of God. This morning I want to explain to you the biblical basis of the Faith Promise and why we use it here at Markham Baptist Church.

Our text today is 2 Corinthians 9:1-7. Now the background to this text is that there is a great need in the church in the city of Jerusalem. They are being persecuted. They are being kept from employment because of their faith in Jesus Christ. People aren't buying from them because of their faith in Jesus Christ, so they are impoverished and they are experiencing a great deal of pain. They are in tremendous need.

So the apostle Paul organizes what possibly could be the first relief fund. An offering to raise money in one church to help folks in another church, in another culture, in another location, become stronger in their faith. They give as a demonstration of their love for God, and to strengthen the body of the Lord Jesus Christ.

During the coming year, our Faith Promise offerings will be directed to people who are in similar need. Your Faith Promise will enable us to help feed the hungry in Afghanistan through the Sharing Way, our relief and development agency. You will enable us to help plant a vibrant church in Indonesia through the work of the Mamahits, and help raise up leaders in the church in Bolivia. To encourage evangelists in Africa through the work of African Enterprise. To spread plant churches here in our country through the support of our denomination. To spread the gospel through our own church through creative community events like the event in the tent we have hosted for the last two years in Cornell. We have a mission budget that enables us to minister to the needy here at home and around the world.

Now, our text says in verses 1 and 2 that the Corinthians are aware of the need in the church in Jerusalem. And it says in verse 2 that they are eager to help, so eager that Paul has been boasting about them in Macedonia. Paul has been telling them of the enthusiasm of the church in Achaia, that is the province of the City of Corinth, and that enthusiasm has caused many other churches to give to the cause.

And Paul says in verse 3 that he is sending the brothers, a group of three men. In the previous verses – Chapter 8:16-24 – Paul describes these three men – we know only the name of one of them – Titus. (Verse 17,18,22) So Paul is sending three men whom he calls brothers, all belonging to the family of God.

Paul is sending them so that the church in Corinth may be ready for the offering. The Corinthians have this enthusiasm to tell the world, and they want to do it, so Paul sends this group and says, "I want you to be prepared," in verse 4. That is, "The enthusiasm is great, but I want you to think, to pray about what you are going to give."

And he says in verse 5, "We want you to be ready," so that when we come the gift is ready. Paul doesn't want to show up and say, "There's a great need in Jerusalem, you said you would help, where is the money you said you would give?" And the people say, "Oh well, we haven't really prepared ourselves for it." Then it would look, Paul says, like I was twisting your arm. It would look like extortion.

And then there would be the embarrassment. You can imagine the embarrassment if Paul just showed up, “O, Paul - you’re here all ready? We weren’t expecting you! We completely forgot that we had promised to help with the offering to the poor.”

Again at verse 4 he says that would be embarrassing to the Corinthians – especially if we brought the Macedonians with us, because they look up to you in this matter – they think you are really being generous. And if we showed up and you weren’t ready you, we all would be embarrassed.

So, Paul says, the offering is coming - think about what you are going to promise so that you are ready to give it at the right time. Paul sends the three. And this is where we find ourselves this morning.

So what is the Faith Promise offering? Very simply, the Faith Promise offering is a spiritual discipline in which you depend on God to provide you with the funds to give to the mission work He has called us to.

Let me explain it how it works. Imagine me to be Titus, and I'm asking you to consider now what you will give not today, not at the end of this mission conference, but during the coming year May 1 2007- April 30 of 2008 – that’s our mission budget year end – it’s different from our general budget year. So I am Titus and I am asking you to consider now what you will give in the coming year to the work of telling the world the wonderful news of Jesus Christ. What can you depend on God to provide you to help support the world wide missionary task.

Imagine Titus' delegation going from house to house in the Corinthian church. They first visit Mr. and Mrs. Zachery. Mr. Zachery is a wheat farmer. And he has all his money tied up in their wheat farm. There is no cash on hand. They have 10 acres of wheat on the edge of town.

And Mr. Zachery sees Titus coming up the street and he greets him at the door. He says, "Titus, I heard you were coming, I read Paul’s letter but you really are wasting your time here because I don't have any cash right now - we've got it all tied up in our wheat farm." And Titus says, "We don't want your cash."

And when Mr. Zachery hears that, he says, "Come right in! What is it that you do want?" "Well," says Titus, "you know the needs in Jerusalem and what we are asking you to do is to trust God for a certain amount of money - not today, and maybe not tomorrow, but over the next twelve months and Paul will be here to collect the money and we can help those folks out."

"Well," Mr. Zachery says, "I don't have any money right now. I've got everything tied up in that 10 acres of wheat out there. But I'll tell you what. I will commit the proceeds of five of those acres to the cause - to the brothers in Jerusalem."

So after shaking hands Titus leaves and he is so happy, saying, "We've got five acres of wheat." In reality they had nothing. All they had was the promise of one man and one wife to trust God to make that wheat field a success in the coming season.

You say, "What's faith about that?" The Zacherys had to have faith that the weather would be good, that the market would be stable, that they would have the strength and health to harvest that wheat field.

The next house they come to is the house of Mr. and Mrs. Pinecohen. They are cattle farmers. And they say, "Fellows, we are glad you are here. We are concerned about the church in Jerusalem. But all of our money is tied up right now, we don't have any cash at all."

They explain, "We don't want your cash right now. We are here to challenge you - do you believe in this cause?”

“O yes, we believe in the cause.”

“Great, then, would you like to help?”

“Of course.”

“Well would you consider this? What do you think you could trust God to provide you with over the next twelve months?"

Mr. Pinecohen thinks for a moment. "I'll tell you what - I've got a cow right now that is about to give birth. And I tell you whenever that calf comes, I will give the proceeds of what I make from the sale of that calf to the cause in Jerusalem."

“Wonderful!” Titus and the other two so excited. They leave the house, and they say, "We've got five acres of wheat and one calf." But in reality they still had nothing. All they had was the faith of a married couple that if a calf was born they would give the proceeds.

What's faith about that? They had to trust that the calf would not be stillborn. They had to trust that the cow was not diseased. They had to trust that the calf would bring a good dollar at the market. They endeavoured to live by faith and make a commitment.

There is one other name, and he is a developer. And like all developers he has all his money tied up in a shopping centre on the edge of town and he doesn't have any cash on him right now. And Mr. Eli says, "I have some property that is going through some changes and if I can sell that property I will give the proceeds to the cause in Jerusalem."

And they are excited. "We have five acres of wheat, one calf, and a development." All they had was the faith of three families in a local church just like this one that believed in a cause that was greater than themselves, but they trusted God for the money to come in for the next twelve months.

And Faith Promise offerings were under way.

The next two verses, 6 and 7, are key. Verse 6 underlines the idea of faith behind this offering. It is an act of faith. “It is as we sow a steadfast and confident faith in God, we will reap generously. But if we commit ourselves in reserve we can expect little.”

I know we react to this verse negatively because we have seen it abused again and again in our culture as people have used this text for personal gain and profit. So we have reacted against this verse to the extreme – even to the point of unbelief. But we need to claim this promise back – not for personal gain but for the advancement of the kingdom of God. We need to start taking God at His Word.

And He promises us that if we sow generously – trust Him to provide for the work of spreading the gospel – He will provide generously.

So the faith promise offering is an act of faith. We are not asking for what you have now - but what you believe God will provide during the next 12 months.

The Faith Promise offering is a spiritual exercise that I encourage you all to participate in. Now some say – this is tempting God! This is telling God what to do!

No, no, you misunderstand.. This is a spiritual exercise where you do not tell God anything – it is a discipline where you go to God and He tells you what He will enable you to give. We are relying on you to do this. Last year God told us collectively that we could only trust Him for $33,000 - that’s what the cards totalled when we received them. I am not going to berate you for that – and say, really we should be raising more. No, no, no. I am trusting you to participate in this spiritual discipline. And what God tells you is the figure we will go with to set the mission budget for the coming year. What comes in goes out.

And this brings us to verse 7. It underlines the idea that the faith promise is a spiritual exercise. Paul says, “We don't want anyone to give reluctantly or under compulsion, but to give cheerfully.” And in order for you to give cheerfully you must be able to say, this is what God says I am able to give for world missions. I don’t know how the money is going to come – but I can give cheerfully because I know that God has told me that He will provide me with this to give.

During the last few months we have examined the whole idea of intimacy with God and during that time we discovered that God speaks to us. I’m asking you to listen carefully to Him. What does He say to you? What does He say He can provide you with during the next 12 months?

Now while I never see the cards that are handed in, I am told how many cards are handed in and what the final total is. And I know that last year the majority of you chose not to participate in this spiritual discipline. Again, I’m not here to chastise you or make you feel guilty. You have still given generously and hopefully we will be able to reach the same amount that we reached the previous year – about $53,000.

But I do want to tell you as your pastor that if you choose not to participate in this spiritual discipline you will have missed a chance to actually step out in faith trusting in God. You have missed the chance this year to see God at work in your life.

Please note that this is an offering that we are asking you to give is to be over and above what you give to Markham Baptist Church. We're not asking you to cut what you give to Markham Baptist and give half to missions and half to the work of this church. We are asking, what can you trust God to provide over and above what you give already to give to the work of telling the world?

This is a spiritual exercise. The Faith Promise offering is not a pledge. A pledge has the idea of that this is a commitment between you and the church, or you and the missions committee. No, this is between you and God. No one from Markham Baptist Church 3 months from now, six months from now will knock on your door and say, "Where is your Faith Promise?" There will be no letters reminding you of your Faith Promise. This is a commitment between you and God. If 12 months from now you cannot make your Faith Promise, that is an issue between you and the Lord - not between you and Markham Baptist Church.

And again, some of you may be feeling guilty about your giving to God. Well this is one way to get over it. Look at verse 5 – this whole idea was to help the Corinthians give generously and not grudgingly!

One way to give generously and not grudgingly is to plan your giving. The Faith Promise is a tool to help you plan your giving. This is what Paul is helping the Corinthians do. He is helping them plan their giving, he warns of his coming and he sends some folks ahead of time to help them get their financial house in order. He didn’t want to show up there and have the people give the money grudgingly, “O here is Paul, now I have to give him that money I promised. I was going to do something else with that money, but now I remember I have to give it to him for the poor.”

And sometimes we face the same situation – because we don’t plan, we aren’t able to give like we would like to and we end up giving grudgingly, griping about what we have to give up, “O, I had other intentions for that money and I was going to do this with the money.”

How much better it is if we are able to give willingly. How much better it is for our testimony to our friends and neighbours and family if are able to give willingly to the work of God instead of always complaining about giving to the work of God. “Yeah, I was going to do this with my money, but I have to give to the money to God.” What kind of testimony is that?

The Faith Promise offering is a way for us to plan our giving to missions. The Faith Promise offering is not a cash offering. We are not asking you to give what you have right now. We are asking you to consider what God can and will provide you with during the coming year. We are asking you to sit down as an individual, as families, as husband and wife and pray about what you can give during the coming year to the work of sharing the love of Christ here at home and around the world.

So that you are able to give not grudgingly but willingly, as God provides the funds so that your testimony to others is real and vibrant. Indeed, that is the testimony of the Corinthians to the Macedonians, so that Macedonians gave willingly too, even pleading to be allowed to participate in this offering, we learn in 8:4.

Now you may be asking, How can God make a Faith Promise offering possible? How does God provide it? Sometimes when you make a Faith Promise, God will provide it right out of nowhere. He does an incredible, miraculous thing. And sometimes that happens.

But most times that's not how He does it. Most times God provides a Faith Promise offering through your life. God goes beyond just the offering and a dollar issue - He does a work in a life, and you and I begin to reprioritize our lives. And suddenly things we thought were important, some luxuries that we take for granted here, become very unimportant when we compare them to the needs of Indonesia, to the needs of Africa, to the needs of Brazil, to the needs here at home.

So what God does sometimes is to begin to teach us more about Himself when we begin to cut back here or cut back there. And through that sacrifice, God begins to provide that Faith Promise.

There are other ways that God provides your Faith Promise. Another way is through additional sources of income. There are all kinds of stories of some of people who are retired and receiving a pension but you are still in good health and you have pursued work in other areas and you have used that as a way to make your Faith Promise in the coming year. What's faith about that? How many people do you know who do that? What are you doing? I'm working over here, applying my trade. Well, aren't you retired? Yes. Then why are you working? Well I'm just doing so that I can give money to the mission program of the church. Others have done it through paper routes, or babysitting, or deliver pizzas.

What about the possibilities of Faith Promise in your life? Everyone gets one. And what we doing and for the next three Sundays, four services including this one. Take a moment to the wording in side. It is personalized. MY Faith Promise. A place there for your name, and a blank - for what you believe you can trust God to give every month.

Every child should make a faith promise. Look what it says. "Through dependence upon God, I ..."

When you begin to pay your Faith Promise, you can pay it through your offering envelope. There are two lines. The first is "Weekly Budget". The second is missions. Your Faith Promise needs to be fulfilled on that missions line. The weekly budget line goes towards the work of this church to meet its immediate and long range goals.

My friends, during the next three weeks, we will be receiving the Faith Promise cards. Please be in prayer and ask God for His leadership in this area. May you do so with an awareness of the awesome fact that God has not kept the proclamation of the good news to Himself but has shared the responsibility, work and the blessing with you and me.