At Mercy Hill, we believe spiritual growth isn’t random or accidental. People often say there’s no formula for following Jesus, but Acts 2:46–47 shows us there actually is. The roadmap is simple, and at Mercy Hill, we call it the flywheel: Gather, Group, Give, Go.
We’ve seen that gathering is essential for growth and that discipleship happens in community. This week, we made the third turn of the flywheel—Give. Giving our time, talent, and treasure not only grows the kingdom but grows our faith. Generosity fuels the mission and forms the believer.
Honoring God with Our Best
Our sermon this week came from Proverbs 3:9–10 and was titled Giving Our Best. The big idea was simple yet challenging: We honor God by giving him our best.
Giving to God isn’t just about money; it’s about showing what matters most in our hearts. Proverbs says, “Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your produce.” The word “honor” literally means weight or heaviness. Honoring means to give weight to. When something is heavy to us, when it matters deeply, we give it the best of our time, attention, and resources.
That’s why Proverbs connects honor to giving. We should honor God by giving our wealth. Where our wealth goes shows what is heavy on our hearts. Just as we honor parents by obeying them, we honor God by giving him what is first, not what is leftover.
Trusting God with Our Time, Talent, and Treasure
This kind of honoring is about far more than money. It’s about our whole life. Do you honor God with your time, talent, and treasure?
That could mean using your time to serve, lead, or volunteer. It could mean leveraging your skills and experience for the sake of others—like so many of our people did in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, showing up with military backgrounds, equipment experience, and a willingness to mobilize. It could mean using your resources to bless students, missionaries, or local ministries.
We are called to bring the firstfruits of our lives to God—the first, not the leftovers. That’s what Proverbs points to: Give your best, not the rest. It’s the choice pieces of the watermelon, not the bruised scraps at the bottom of the bowl.
The Gospel Motivation Behind Generosity
So, where do we get the motivation to give our best? The answer is the gospel. God gave his best for us. He gave his only Son as a sacrifice for sin. In the Old Testament, only the best animals could be sacrificed—a picture of the perfect, unblemished Christ who would stand in the place of sinners. Jesus gave his best so that we could be blessed, forgiven, and brought into God’s family.
When we see that, generosity stops being an obligation and becomes a response. We give because we’ve been given to. And here’s the beautiful thing: in God’s economy, generosity not only flows from blessing, it leads to blessing. Proverbs says, “then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will be bursting with wine.”
We must be careful here. Proverbs are not promises; they are generally wise sayings. This is not a get-rich formula. But it is a principle: generosity opens the door for God’s blessings. People who give their time often seem to have more time. People who give financially often find God entrusts them with more. God’s math just works differently.
Application: Take a Step on the Generosity Ladder
So, how do we grow in generosity? We make a plan. Generous giving is not spontaneous—it’s intentional, thought out, and pre-decided.
At Mercy Hill, we talk about the Generosity Ladder as a simple way to take your next step:
- Initial Giver — giving for the first time
- Consistent Giver — giving regularly, not occasionally
- Intentional Giver — giving the biblical tithe (10%) as part of your budget
- Sacrificial Giver — giving above and beyond the tithe, choosing to go without for the sake of others
- Legacy Giver — ordering your life to maximize kingdom impact
Where are you on the ladder today? What would it look like to take one step up?
Conclusion: Give God Your Best
At the end of the day, it’s not about amounts—it’s about our hearts. The widow’s mite was worth more to God than the great sums of the rich because she gave her best. Bring him the firstfruits of your time, talent, and treasure. Not leftovers, but your first and finest. Not what costs you little, but what costs you something. Giving isn’t man’s way of raising money—it’s God’s way of raising people. And when you give your best to him, you’ll find that he is the better prize.
Watch the full sermon from week four of our “Grow” sermon series here:
Andrew Hopper
