"We sometimes say that money talks," writes Robert McCracken, "and that’s for sure! A person can tell a great deal about another when he learns how he earns his money and how he spends it. For then you know a great deal about his motives, his standards, his desires and what his real religion is all about."

When we investigate the New Testament we find that one-third of all Jesus’ parables and one-sixth of all his teachings have to do with money and material possessions. Jesus approached life from the perspective that everything belongs to God. We, then, are simply stewards and managers of what he has given us. How we manage what we have been given, what we do with it, determines the ultimate destiny of our souls. Jesus certainly reflected this understanding when he said, "It’s harder for a rich man to get into Heaven than for the camel to go through the eye of the needle."

This morning I want us to turn to our lesson in II Corinthians as we search our hearts with regard to our stewardship in light of the teachings of God’s word.

Two things strike our attention about these passages in II Corinthians. One is that we are told people in a church begged to give money to do God’s work. They must not have been average members of our denomination. No, they must have been from some other group. Few of us beg to give money to the church.

The other is that Paul says he is trying to find out how real the Corinthians’ love is. In other words, he’s determining how much they love Christ by how they give. It says that we prove our love for Christ by our giving.

It has been said that there are three levels or tests for giving that a Christian may follow.

FIRST OF ALL, THERE IS THE LEVEL OF OBLIGATION. This is simply paying for the benefits of our religion. In II Samuel, David took a census of the people. For some reason, this made God angry. David repented of this and accepted the blame for it. When he did, a prophet came with a word from God. David was to build an altar on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite to show his repentance. So David sent a message to this Jebusite man and offered to buy his threshing floor. The man was honored by this request of his king and begged him to take the floor as a gift. David wouldn’t do it. "No," he said, "I will buy it of you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God which cost me nothing." David felt an obligation to God. He knew that man wouldn’t value very much what cost him little or nothing.

His attitude was much different from a certain family that was driving home when the worship service was over. Dad thought the sermon was terrible, mother was criticizing the choir and sister criticized the hymns they sang. Then little junior piped up and said, "But it was a pretty good show for a nickel, wasn’t it, Dad?"

Ancient Jews believed that the tithe was a kind of income tax payable to the department of eternal revenue, says Leonard Griffith, and there was nothing to shout about or feel proud about if one paid it. The tithe belonged to God. Anything above it was generosity. We who live this side of the cross sometimes feel that we can give God His due with our spare time and whatever is left after buying the so-called "necessities of life."

If we belong to a club or union, we pay dues. We expect to. If we go to a doctor, we pay a bill and we expect to. But the church is one, if not the only place, where many expect to receive benefits for free.

It reminds me of a colorful Old Testament figure. Jonah decided to get away from it all. Let me read what the Bible says about Jonah: "He paid his fare and got on the ship." Many Christians end up being stowaways without paying their fares. I wonder how are you traveling? Are you traveling through life on a pass, or are you paying your share?

THE SECOND LEVEL OF GIVING IS GENEROSITY. This is the level beyond our obligation as members.

John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church, is said to have preached a sermon once which had three good thoughts, "Get all you can," was the first one. An old fellow in the crowd is said to have replied, "Amen." "Keep all you can," said Wesley. The same old fellow said, "Amen." Then Wesley added, "Give all you can." The old fellow is reported to have mumbled, "What a shame to spoil a good sermon."

Mr. Wesley was talking about generosity, not the calculating, hair-splitting process by which we figure how to give the very least and still pay our dues. He was talking about how we can reach beyond the level of obligation in a generous act of love.

The Christians in Jerusalem were passing through hard times when Paul wrote to the Corinthians. They needed help to make ends meet. Paul called on the prosperous Christians at Corinth to help. He didn’t ask for contributions directly. Instead he told them how generous the churches in Macedonia had been--which was remarkable, for you see, the people in Macedonia had been having a hard time. They had been persecuted by the Romans and taxed until there was nothing seemingly left. Their hardship, however, instead of making them stingy, made them give freely. Somehow their own need made them realize more deeply the needs of others. They asked, even begged, to give out of their joy.

THERE ARE SOME CHURCHES THAT GIVE LIKE THIS TODAY. You’ll find they seem to have a greater love for Christ, greater interest in their fellow believers and the world at large, and a greater freedom from the anxieties of life than most others.

What reason can there be for generosity in giving? Clarence Lee Sharp expresses it best. "I was just a kid," he said. "One spring day Dad called me to go in to Old Man Trussel’s blacksmith shop. He had left a rake and a hoe to be repaired, and there they were, fixed like new. Dad handed over a silver dollar for the work. But Mr. Trussel refused to take it. `No,’ he said, `there’s no charge for that little job.’ But Dad insisted he take the pay, still holding out his dollar. `Ed,’ the blacksmith said, `can’t you let a man do something now and then just to stretch his soul?’"

Stretching our souls! Think of it! What a glorious expression for a glorious feeling. That’s only a second best reason for generous giving. The best reason for generous giving is the generosity of God Himself. The Son of God did not stop with giving as we often are urged to do, "a systematic and proportionate share," of himself for us. No, he gave everything.

So we may give at the level of obligation or the level of generosity, BUT THE THIRD LEVEL OF GIVING IS THE GREATEST OF ALL--THE LEVEL OF SACRIFICE. We all know this story so well. Jesus and his disciples sat down close to the collection boxes in the temple. They watched as people put in their offerings. Evidently everyone could see what others were giving. This may have been the reason the rich put in their huge sums--for the sake of appearances. It took courage for a certain widow to come to the box and drop in her two pennies. This was the least that the law allowed, but it was all this poor widow had. Jesus was watching, and he told his disciples she had put in more than all the others. They had given out of abundance, but she had given out of need.

There’s only one motive to lead a person to reach out until he or she gives in sacrifice. That is to remember that one dark day, when it thundered over the Palestine hills, a young man full of life allowed himself to be nailed down and his blood poured out on the ground in sacrifice so that we might have abundant life. His cross is not just a wonderful show of love; it is a challenge to us! God wants us to do something for Him and for the children of men, and it has to involve our pocketbooks.

Emil Mettler owned a little restaurant in London, England, during World War II. He was so generous that people left his restaurant embarrassed for themselves. Once he opened his cash register and a minister paying his bill happened to look down into it. There in the midst of the bills and coins was a 6-inch nail. He asked Mettler what it was doing there. "I keep this nail with my money," said Mettler, "to remind me of the price Christ paid for my salvation and of what I owe him in return."

Every level of giving is good, but at the level of sacrifice, the need becomes absolutely compelling. It would help if we could put ourselves in the place of a young Vietnam medic.

John Ishee was on a jet taking off from the Dallas airport a few years ago. As they lifted off he started talking with the young man beside him. The young man was going home for a short leave. He had been a medic in Vietnam. Ishee asked him what the army had trained him to do. The young man told of his job as a medic in combat. "After the battle," he said, "we go in and treat the wounded. We try first to help the ones who can recover. If a man is fatally wounded, we leave him and move on to a person we can help." Ishee said, "It must be hard to leave a dying man." "In medic training they tell us never to look into the eyes of a dying man," said the soldier. "They say that if we do, we will never be able to leave him."

Ishee said those words kept ringing in his ears...never look into the eyes of a dying man...never be able to leave him." He said, "This is our problem. We have never looked sufficiently into the eyes of the multitudes dying without Christ. Little children in the Sahara, young couples in South America, old men in Indonesia, if ever our eyes saw their helplessness, their loneliness and hopelessness, we would never be able to pass them by." We would give more to help tell them of Christ.

So, three levels of giving--the level of obligation, the level of generosity, and the level of sacrifice. Each of us knows deep in our hearts the level at which we are giving.

As a part of a stewardship campaign someone once wrote this amusing parody on the words of Shakespeare:

To pledge or not to pledge--that is the question.
Whether ‘tis nobler in a man
To take the Gospel free and let another foot the bill,
Or sign a pledge and pay toward church expenses!
to give, to pay--aye, there’s the rub. To pay,
When on the free-pew plan, a man may have
A sitting free and take the Gospel, too,
As though he paid, and none be aught the wiser
Save the Finance Committee, who--
Most honorable of men--can keep a secret!

To err is human, and human, too, to buy
At cheapest rate, I’ll take the Gospel so!
For others do the same--a common rule!
I’m wise. I’ll wait, not work--I’ll pray, not pay,
And let the other fellow foot the bills,
And so I’ll get the Gospel free, you see!

Are you getting the Gospel free? Or have you moved to those higher levels of gratitude and responsibility?