Dear Christian friends:

"Money talks," people say and they are right. Money does talk about you. How you manage and spend your money says a lot about you. Money is like a thermometer. It tells the temperature of a man's soul. When man's soul burns with ardent love for God, his money goes up to God; but when man's soul is cold in covetousness and ignorance his money drops into low places of selfishness and worldly things.

That's why St. Paul in our text tells the Corinthians to prove their love by their money gifts! "Prove The Sincerity Of Your love." So we too need that admonition from Paul: Prove Your Love By Your Giving

I. How does Giving prove our love?

If a man says that he is a Christian and knows the needs of the church, but does not give as he is able, and at the time freely and generously spends money on himself, his own comfort and pleasure, is he in that way proving honest love for his Savior? He is not: He is proving himself a liar with false love.

One day a minister preached a sermon about giving. A few days after one of the church members came to see the pastor and said: "Pastor some of your preaching made me mad, especially when you said, People who give less than their ability are mocking God." I was fed up. Sunday night I was still grumbling about it. Then I stopped to figure how I had spent some of my money that day. For church I gave $1.00. On the way home I bought a paper, 15 cents, and cigarettes, 30 cents. In the afternoon we went driving and spent $3.00 for gas and oil. In the evening $2.00 for a movie. After the movies, 50 cents for ice cream. That day I spent $1.00 for church and $5.95 for pleasure. Now I understand what you meant. Pastor I will not do that again.

So often we are like that man. Spend $5.00 or $10.00 or $20.00 for pleasure and maybe $1.00 for God. If we do that we do not prove our love to Jesus, but the exact opposite. How we spend our money proves whether we love God or not.

II. To whom should we prove our love?

But you may ask; "Why must we prove our love to God? God knows if we love him or not. No need to prove it to Him." That is true God knows if you love him or not. Same as Peter told Jesus. Jesus asked Peter: "Do you love Me?" Peter said, "Lord, you know all things, You know that I love You." So it is true that Jesus knows if you love him or not. But do you yourself know it? Does your pastor know? Do your brothers and sisters in the church know it? Do the unbelievers in the world know it? No!

You need to prove to yourself whether you love Jesus or not. God asks you to give so you can test yourself. If you find that you give little and kick and complain about giving and pledging that ought to prove to you that you have little love for Jesus. That ought to be a warning to you to wake up and repent and seek to grow in love. Jesus used that test on the Rich Young Man. Explain. So we need to test ourselves regularly then we can know the truth about ourselves and by God's mercy in Jesus improve.

Also you need to prove your love to your pastor. He isn't like Jesus. He can't read your mind. But he needs to know if you love Jesus or not. That's his business, so he can correct you by God's word if you don't. When you give as you are able, cheerfully your pastor knows if you love Jesus or not. So Paul, pastor of the Corinthians asked them to give generously to test them and see if they love Jesus or not. Use illustration of a doctor x-raying lungs for TB or cancer. The doctor must know in order to help the patient, so the pastor must know in order to help his people. Likewise the members of the congregation should know for the same reason, that they may admonish one another in love.

It is also important that we Christians prove our love to the unbeliever and scoffers. They are only too quick to call us hypocrites. So when they see our churches run down and our begging through church suppers and bazaars they think or say, "See what did I tell you. They really don't believe what they say?"

However, by our cheerful generous support of Church ministry, missions, schools and welfare we bring a powerful witness that Jesus really means something to us, that He is our Savior, our Life our Hope and our Joy. It can't be otherwise, for as Paul says, "For we know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, through He was rich, yet for our sakes He became poor, that we through His poverty might be rich." He who has come face to face with the amazing grace of Jesus cannot walk away untouched, unloving or unkind. It just can't be done, except he be reprobate.

The very fact that we know the grace of Jesus is reason why this test can and should be applied to us. If we didn't know His grace or if we weren't supposed to know His grace it would be silly to apply the acid test that Paul here uses. But we have seen His grace. We do know how rich He has made us. We have knelled before His cross confessing sins and unworthiness and have received His gracious pardon. Therefore it is perfectly in order that we submit to the money test and it will prove us without fail. Today in your Every Member Visit, (E.M.V.) each one of us will be tested again.

May God have mercy on us so that we heed the results of the test as it proves lack of love here and there, and then may the Holy Spirit lead us to take the cure where cure is indicated.

For if we don't, we will surely pierce ourselves through with many sorrows and fall from the faith. This test we do well to take not only once a year but privately and personally again and again.

Amen.