AUG. 24: GENEROSITY

Focal Passage: II Corinthians 8:1-9 

Mention money and Jesus in the same sentence and you can get yourself in trouble. Too many salacious controversies with religion and money have caused many people to avoid being regular, faithful, consistent financial givers to God’s Kingdom causes. We have become freelance givers, doling out cash where and when we want. But is this right?

Yes, we are called to give according to our means in proportion to the dictates of a conscience controlled by the Holy Spirit (I Corinthians 16:1-4). But we are also called to give to those causes approved by God as a first priority. 

The first cause of the kingdom is your local church. Before we give to all kinds of worthy and legitimate causes we are called to give to our local church. This is the pattern set forth in Scripture, especially in the Book of Acts. 

More often than not, it is through the local church where mission monies are collected and distributed, along with providing and sustaining a staff, building facilities, ministry materials, and so on. Yet, too many people want a “full-service” Church at a bargain price, and then wonder why nothing is happening on the ministry front. 

Spiritual lethargy in a Church is not solely a matter of finances, but financial giving is often one of the best spiritual indicators of the spiritual temperament of God’s people. Spiritual maturity begets financial generosity. What are the keys to generosity?

II Corinthians 8:1-2 — Generosity does not depend on a person’s wealth. Some might say, “Since I don’t have much I’m not required to give. Giving is for rich people.”  This attitude is a lie. The churches in the region of Macedonia were under the pressure of persecution. They were not rich people. Yet, these faithful believers not only gave out of their extreme poverty, but they also gave according to and even beyond the means of their income. And God blessed them for it.

II Corinthians 8:3-6 — Generosity begins with giving ourselves to God. Generosity does not begin with the pocketbook, but the heart. Verse 5 notes that “they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us.”  This statement is astonishing. The Macedonian believers had their priorities in order. They knew, even in spite of their extreme poverty, that giving does not begin with one’s bank account, but in one’s heart and mind. When we are rightly aligned with God we are more than willing to part with our hard-earned money. 

II Corinthians 8:7-9 — Generosity is a response to Christ’s generous love for us. And what ONE truth can make a person rightly align their heart and mind with God’s purposes so that generosity overflows? That ONE truth is God the Father’s generosity to us through God the Son in the power of God the Holy Spirit. Though Jesus was rich in glory He became poor — gave it all — so that He might redeem a people for Himself (vs. 9). Through the incarnational poverty of Jesus we became spiritually rich so that out of our hearts generosity may flow.

Let us be financially generous. Let us give: (1) regularly, (2) consistently, (3) locally, (4) sacrificially, and (5) joyfully for God loves a cheerful giver (II Corinthians 9:7). B&R