The past few months I had been so focused on getting my mom’s tax information gathered together that I forgot all about my own. So Monday morning I started gathering up all the forms and documents I needed for my taxes. As I pulled things together and looked at the numbers, I started thinking about how our financial documents can give us a pretty good picture of our lives.
Our financial documents can tell us if we are living within our means? Do we have some savings? Do we have financial margins that can give us peace of mind if something unexpected happens? Do we have a retirement plan? Are we being generous and giving to others? What does your tax return say about who you are and how you are living? Does it reflect your faith and trust in God?
During this season of Lent we are looking at 5 spiritual practices that can help us look more like Jesus. These are disciplines we can practice alone or with others, and each one can help us strengthen our faith. We have talked about worship and the importance of the word of God, and last week we talked about serving both God and others. Today we are going to talk about a discipline and practice that is probably the most uncomfortable and unpleasant to talk about, giving and giving generously.
I want to be clear and state that I’m not talking about giving 87 because the church needs your money. I’m talking about giving and generosity because the Bible states over and over again that joy and peace and meaning and purpose and all the abundance of life are not found in amassing great wealth but in giving and generosity.
One of the wisest and richest men who ever lived was Solomon and he is credited with writing the OT book of Ecclesiastes. He said,
I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces… Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun. Ecclesiastes 2:8a, 11
Solomon thought, and at times we think, that the more we get and the more we accumulate the happier we will be, but Jesus tells us that the opposite is true. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Luke 6:38.
In other words, the more we give the more we will receive. This doesn’t mean the more money we give the more money we will get, but it does mean that the more we give of everything: our money as well as our time, energy, faith and love, the more we will receive. Jesus said, it is more blessed to give than to receive. Acts 20:35
Decades of study on giving and generosity have proved this to be true. Arthur Brooks, the author of Gross National Happiness, said,
To the extent that happiness can be “bought” it is with charity: giving of effort, time and money makes people happier.
There have been studies on the human brain that show when people just think about giving to others, the pleasure center of their brain lights up and becomes more active while the areas of the brain associated with stress and worry become less active. Emotionally and physiologically, giving makes us feel good. It is more blessed to give than to receive. There are all kinds of benefits that are ours when we give and when we give consistently and generously.
Even though we know giving is good for us, we still struggle to do it, so let me share three perspectives that can help us walk in generosity and giving.
The first perspective is to want what you already have.
The world constantly tells us that we want and need more. We are told over and over again that life will be better if we have new and better stuff. If you don’t have a quantum dot LED 8k TV - you are missing out. If you don’t subscribe to all the streaming TV services - you can’t binge watch all the shows others are watching and you are missing out. If you don’t have a new car, you aren’t getting all the bells and whistles that make driving so much fun. If you don’t have the newest computer, then you aren’t experiencing the best online experience you can. If you don’t have all that is new, then you are missing out. The world tells us we need more and if we are honest, we often want more.
How can we fight this message that is everywhere we turn? The answer is to learn to want what you already have, and the way to do that is to practice gratitude. There are some people who are always planning to get a new car as soon as the new car smell is gone. Some people are always looking at next year’s models wondering what they are missing and how they can trade in what they have to get something new. Instead of looking at a new car every year, maybe we need to go out and sit in our current car and give thanks for what we have.
If we think you need a new computer or TV or phone, maybe we need to stop looking at what all the latest technology can provide and give thanks for what we do have because what we have is paid off and it meets all our needs. Before we buy anything new, maybe we need to look at what we have, give thanks for it, and allow that gratitude to shape our thinking, planning and purchasing. Now this doesn’t mean that we will never buy a new car or upgrade our technology and services, but let’s give thanks for what we have first and see if an upgrade and new purchase is really needed.
Being grateful for what we have can break the cycle of always wanting more and what is new. Gratitude reminds us that life is not found in the abundance of things but in the presence of the One who gives us all things.
The second perspective that can help us walk in generosity and giving is to live with purpose. Again, Solomon thought that meaning and purpose were going to be found in all of his wealth and possessions.
I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees. I bought male and female servants and had others who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me. I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired male and female singers, and a harem as well. I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. Ecclesiastes 2:4-9
This was Solomon’s life. He was richer and greater than anyone in Jerusalem, maybe anyone in the world. He had everything the world could buy but when he stopped and thought about all he had, he came to the realization it was all meaningless. Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless. Ecclesiastes 2:11
The wealth and possessions of this world will never give our lives meaning and purpose, so what does? What brings meaning and purpose to your life? When my parents retired, they decided to go to Hilton Head for 4 months out of the year. They knew that if they were going to be down there for a third of the year that they were going to have to volunteer doing something, because serving and giving was what gave their life meaning.
Many of the people my parents met asked if they played golf or tennis, because that is what people do at Hilton Head. My parents shared how they didn’t do either but enjoyed working with Habitat for Humanity. After several years they shifted their service to a ministry called Deep Well which is like our Faith Centre and Foodbank. When they were no longer able to go to HHI for the winter, they continued to support Deep Well through their financial giving. While tennis and golf are good, life for my parents was going to be found in giving and generosity to others.
What brings you purpose? What adds value and meaning to your life and how can you prioritize and give to those things? When we give our time, energy, and yes, our money to those things, life is filled with meaning and purpose and we walking in a discipline that shapes our hearts and strengthens our faith.
The last perspective that can help us walk in giving and generosity is knowing that we were created to give and give generously.
It helps us lean into giving when we know that we were created to give. The Bible says that we were created in the image of God and fundamentally, God is one who gives and gives generously. God created the world and gave it all life, but when we think of the hundreds of billions of planets and solar systems that are part of creation, we see that God gave generously. When we look at our own world and think about all the plants and animals on the face of the earth, we once again see that God gave generously. God created all kinds of unique creatures that fill the oceans and the land and the sky and the variety of plants is beyond our imagination.
God’s giving and generosity were also seen when God chose to breathe into us the breath of life. God didn’t just create us as human beings, God shared with us His intellect and love. God could have created us to automatically do everything He wanted us to do, but God loved us enough to want us to know the joy of freedom and love. God created us to be like Him, so we were created to give and give generously.
God’s generosity didn’t stop with creation, however. When we rejected God and decided to live on our own, God once more gave, this time He gave the gift of His Son, Jesus. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16
We have been created in the image of this giving and generous God which means that we were created to give and give generously. The more we remind ourselves that we were created to give, the more we make giving a part of our life.
With each of these spiritual disciples we have seen that we need to walk in them personally and together. Personally, how is God asking you to give more faithfully or generously? How can generosity simply flow from you? This doesn’t have to be some big financial change in life, it might be something very small.
Last year I spent a lot of time with my dad as he was going through immunotherapy. He wasn’t able to drive but he still wanted to do all the errands, so I went with him. There was one little grocery store that he wanted to go to so we went and I noticed him give the cashier a few dollars. She tried to give it back saying he didn’t owe it but my dad insisted she take the money and put it away for herself. I’ll be honest, I was kind of embarrassed because we just don’t tip in grocery stores, but my dad wanted to give it to her. I now see that as a reflection of my Dad’s desire to give and be generous. He did this at the gas station he went to as well. How can we make generosity an ongoing part of our own lives?
Giving with others as part of the church is also important because together we can do more than we can alone. My money will only go so far, but when we all give, we can do some amazing things. A few weeks ago we lost a dear woman from our church, Mamie Reese. My favorite story about Mamie was that she was watching her grandchildren during our week of VBS and they decided to run a lemonade stand to raise money for the VBS offering that year which was well drilling in Sierra Leone. They didn’t raise much money so weren’t going to give it to the church, but insisted that since they did it for God they needed to give it to God.
I got this note. Hello, my siblings and I did a lemon ice tea stand. Sorry its little money but we tried our best to make as much as possible. From Kara, Hunter, and Bayli Bates. The sent in $1.
I shared this story with my sisters because we ran a lemonade stand as kids and the only reason we made money was because a neighbor gave us $10 for a cup of lemonade and told us to keep the change. I asked my sisters to give up this stand to encourage them, and they did. Then my parents gave, and then many of you gave, and within a few months that $1 turned into over $1800 for well drilling in Sierra Leone. Together our giving can accomplish so much more.
Where can our giving as a church allow God to make a significant and lasting difference in the world? How can giving as part of a group make a difference in someone’s life?. Maybe you can buy some stock and help send our youth to Costa Rica. A share of stock is $20 but you can buy just part of a share if that is all you have. If giving generously means just a few dollars - give just a few dollars.
Maybe giving generously for you isn’t $20 but $2,000, or maybe $20,000. Where is God calling you to give in order to further His kingdom or bless His work? When we give together, we not only support all that goes on at Faith Church, but we help support mission and ministry in our community and world. The more we give together, the more of God’s kingdom we can build on earth and the more we personally will look like Jesus.
I want to close with a video that shows us the difficulty that we all have when we choose to walk in a path of giving and generosity. The video also reminds us that at times it will be a little child who will lead us.
What great wisdom. Lego’s don’t matter, family matters. Put your treasure where it matters and give generously.
Next Steps
The Walk - Giving
What does your tax return say about your financial life, priorities, purpose, and faith?
What do these passages teach you about money and giving?
● Ecclesiastes 2:4-11
● Matthew 6:24
● Mark 10:4-25
● Luke 6:39
● Luke 12:32-24
● Acts 20:35
Steps to help you walk in the discipline of giving:
1. Learn to want what you already have.
Practice generosity.
Give thanks for what you have before you buy anything new.
2. Live with purpose and meaning.
What brings your life meaning and purpose?
How can you give to these things generously?
3.Remember you were created to give.
What examples can you find of God’s giving and generosity?
What does it mean for you to be made in the image of this generous and giving God?
4.Give to the work of God in and through Faith Church.
Buy Stock in the Youth Mission Trip.
Support Missions Locally.
Support the work of the church through an ongoing offering.
Support one of our partners in ministry:
Faith Centre, Bridge of Hope, Pregnancy Resource Centre, Sierra Leone Initiative, Habitat for Humanity, Sowing Seeds in Belize, Raising Hope Ukraine, Bellefonte Youth Center
