We want to be a church known for generosity. Yesterday we saw two principles that a relationship with God teaches us about generosity, and we’ll see two more today.
What we have is not as important as what we keep
The third principle of stewardship has to do with attitude. This is a far more important consideration than how much money we happen to have. Stewardship has far more to do with faith than it does with money. How we look at what we have is far more important that how much we have.
Peter Marshall, who was chaplain of the United States Senate for many years, shared this true story:
There was a man who struggled to give even though he had a large income. He had long been taught to give 10% of his income away, which is called a tithe. The man said to Marshall, “I have a problem. I used to tithe regularly some years ago, but…but now…I am earning hundreds of thousands a year, and there is no way I can afford to give ten percent to the church.”
The chaplain said they should pray about it and led off, “Heavenly Father, I pray that you would reduce this man’s income back to the place that he can afford to tithe.“
Like the senator, one of the biggest lies we tell ourselves is that we will begin to give more generously when we have a little bit more. This is simply not true, the day never comes. Jesus said that those who are faithful when they have a little will be faithful when they have a lot.
The time to learn giving is when we have a little. It becomes increasingly difficult as our prosperity increases…remember those cords around our hearts.
How much we give is not as important as how much we keep
One day as Jesus sat in the temple with his disciples people came by with their offerings for the temple. Some of the people were quite rich, and they made sizeable donations. Among them was a poor widow who dropped in her gift of only a few pennies. Perhaps someone laughed…Jesus pointed out that this widow had actually given more than all the others.
Seeing their surprise at his remark he explained that all the others given from their wealth. They still had lots left. But this woman had given out of her poverty. She had nothing left. In the eyes of God her gift amounted to more than theirs. God evaluates things differently from the way we do. In this matter of financial stewardship it is important for growing Christians to remember how much we hold back is far more important than how much we give. Once again the issue comes back to whether or not we will allow Jesus to free us from the power of money and are we willing to trust God.
These same questions apply to how we use our time and how much of our time we are using to further God’s work around the world. How much time do we keep for ourselves and how much time do we give to God and those he loves?
Think of a child’s allowance. The parents don’t really give a child money because he needs it. They provide everything he needs. And they don’t ask him to give to charity, buy gifts for others, etc. because he has too much. They do it to teach him something, to shape and guide him for the future.
Question: Based on these two stories, what do you think God is training people for? What’s the end goal?
Reminder: Earlier in this series, we saw the importance of reading the Bible together in sync, so our new daily bible readings start today in our mobile app and web site.
Read the Bible in Sync Today
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Matthew 6:2-4 “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Why does Jesus talk about rewards for giving generously? Why not just encourage altruism?
He knows us. Having created us, and been one of us, he knows us and our motivations intimately.
If he had commended doing good acts for purely altruistic reasons, do good just to be good, help others just for them, give to charity just for the charity, we’d very quickly have found a way to make it about us.
A reputation for generosity, or a feeling of goodness..we can make these our God...the source of our ultimate worth.
This is what Christians have traditionally called sin...putting something earthly in God’s place.
Generosity should be a good thing, but when it becomes our Gods, becomes pride and self-conceit. These can pretend to be better rewards than God himself.
It's hard to avoid...human nature. Seems whenever we give, someone will notice. Either others notice, shower us with praise.
Or, Even if we hide it from others, we shower ourselves with praise.
Jesus’ claim is that these are small rewards in the grand scheme of things...and we’re wasting our time if we receive them, as we can easily believe we’ve been “paid in full”
And so Jesus commends something different...do it just for God.
Whether you give money, time, medical help, gifts, talents, whatever.
Hide it from others, hide it from ourselves, and give to others because God loves them as his own children.
Give in order so they will see God loves and values them…and wont’ even notice us.
Our heavenly father sees this kind of thing – his children becoming more like him – and rewards it with his attention, himself, far more rewarding than the temporary attention of any human, even ourselves.
In God’s presence, we realize that anything less, like worldly praise or feeling smug, was a poor substitute.
Jesus can commend this because it’s his way.
We now realize how spiritually poor we are. We’ve been accepting the applause of others & ourselves instead of God, we’ve let our pride and self-conceit replace him!
But all the same, from the safety of heaven, as God the creator and sustainer, came to earth.
He gave up his safety and majesty in the most selfless act possible. He died for us, and gained nothing but a restored relationship with us, a relationship that asks us to follow him into our own selfless acts of service.
When giving is done for God and God alone, a much greater reward awaits…God!
Challenge: What practical steps can you take to be more generous to others, and to keep the focus on God instead of yourself?
