Giving It Away
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
Most Christians know this verse. Martin Luther penned the word “sola” in the margin of his Bible emphasizing that we can do nothing to earn salvation. Instead it is a gift from God. He has given us the gift of life – now with abundance and with infinite riches in the forever.
But while most Christians are familiar with this verse many are not aware of the next…
Giving Grace… Giving Life
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Ephesians 2:8-10
The New Year is a time to reflect and prepare. It’s a time for second chances, fresh starts, and new ways of living. During the month of January I will be sharing with you the 2012 vision for ministry at MCC based on Ephesians 2:8-10.
It’s not a new vision. It is the natural outgrowth of a church growing in spiritual maturity and in God’s grace. Look again at the verses in Ephesians 2.
Verse 8 tells us that we have been given God’s grace, that is the free gift of life – abundantly now, and joyfully tomorrow when we cross into eternity.
Verse 9 points out that this gift was not and indeed, cannot be earned by anything we have done.
In Verse 10 our purpose on this earth is revealed. It is to take the gift of life we have been given and to give it away through good works.
The church and our lives should be one of generosity and giving. These are not just words. This is a philosophy of life that invades everything that we do. When this way of thinking becomes a way of living it inhabits the totality of
your existence. Generosity isn’t something you do. It is the description of what you are.
Our vision for ministry at MCC in 2012 is one that based on a culture of generosity.
Watch this… (video)
A Culture of Generosity
* Generosity in supporting the Ministry of MCC
* Generosity with our Brothers and Sisters
* Generosity in Our Community
In the next several weeks I’m going to be teaching about generosity, stewardship, debt, giving, and whole lot of stuff about money.
You need to know three things going into this series of teaching… full disclosure.
1. I like to talk about tithing and giving offerings in church because it is closely connected to our spiritual wellbeing.
2. Someone is always uncomfortable when I teach on money. I have had people quit coming to church because I preached about money. I’ve even gotten a few anonymous letters – which I don’t read. (If it’s anonymous I can’t deal respond to the person and it just riled up with nowhere to go. If you send me a letter – sign it!)
3. Generosity makes me uncomfortable. This not my natural gift. My gift is being frugal. I am not a generous person. I am cheap. It’s hard for me to be generous.
So with those three thoughts let’s look at how we can be generous at MCC.
Generosity in supporting the Ministry of MCC
10 Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.
Malachi 3:10
The storehouse is the church. It’s where God has planned for his ministry to happen. The means by which he has planned to support his work is through the return of the tithe.
A tithe is 1/10 of your increase. 10% of your income belongs to God. It’s not giving a donation to the Salvation Army… that’s an offering. It’s not buying new clothes for Sunday… that’s for you. It’s not dropping $5 in the offering box… that’s a tip.
I’ve taught about tithing many times. I believe in it yet statistically, the average giver in church gives around 2%. That’s the average. There are some who give beyond the tithe. There are some who don’t give anything.
Tithing is God’s plan for financing the work of his Kingdom on earth – through the blessings he provides his children.
Now, I know that the idea of 10% can be a bit of a shock to some people… You mean God’s serious about this? Yes, he is!
I remember when I first came to MCC a young couple came to me who were engaged to be married. I did some counseling and the topic of money came up. The guy was less committed than the lady but he asked me what they should give to the church so I taught them about the tithe. He listened without saying much. The next week he brought up the subject again and asked again about the tithe – this time wanting more details. I let him know we were talking about 10% of income. One tenth of your increase – If you brought home $4000 dollars in a month, we’re talking $400 dollars returned to God.
He sat there for a minute and then he said… that’s a car payment!
Remember what Chai-Hung (or you can call him Bob!) said in the video about giving generously to God. It is the principle of first fruits. We return to God what is his first.
Say you are a farmer and you have some cows. One of them is female and gives birth to a little calf. God says I want that one… The first one. You say wait a minute God. You want me to kill that one? There might not be any more. Why don’t I wait and see what else comes. So you wait and there are a couple more. The last one is pretty beat up. It’s all mangy and crippled up. That’s the one I’ll give to God.
Let me tell you something – straight up… God is not impressed. God wants you to put him first in your life and that means the tithe – 1/10 – belongs to him off the top.
My desire is two-fold. Admittedly, I want to see our ministry grow and this year. That means taking our Family Life Minister from ¾ time to full time with benefits. To do that we need an additional $28,500 annually in income ($550 weekly) – that’s mostly for health care benefits for John and his family. A little more than $10,000 weekly means a fully funded ministry for our church family. We’ve been averaging about 8,000 weekly and that’s with the Building Bridges Campaign that ends this month.
Seriously, we need your generosity to fully fund this ministry.
But there is another reason… I want you to enjoy the blessings of God. Tithing and first fruits is the only place in scripture we are told to test God. To give him the first and the best is a matter of faith… that you really believe that God will take care of you!
Do you trust him or not? I’ll talk some more about the connection that faith has with possessions on the 15th.
There is another level of generosity… to one another.
Generosity to our brothers and sisters
44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.
Acts 2:44-45
One of the characteristics of the church is the way that they take care of one another. This isn’t communism and it’s not a government entitlement program. It’s brothers and sisters who take care of one another.
I could tell you many stories of generosity and care this past year. Some came through the generosity bucket. Some were spontaneous – like when a crew loaded up for the weekend and went to Joplin, MO. Others were planned like the hundreds of meals that have brought to families dealing with sickness or death.
I know that my own mother and father received several meals weekly for months while my mom was fighting her last fight with cancer. That’s generosity and love expressed in caring for one another.
There was another situation where a family in the church was really struggling with car problems… and their family was growing. One of our guys saw the problem and decided to do something and a family in our church got a good car.
We saw people in our community reach to the Gaytan family when they left for spring break last year and then ended up having their baby come way too early. They struggled to make it all work but with the help of many people in the church body and many friends and neighbors they were able to keep their family going.
It’s what Randy Rhodes talked about in the video. It’s about brothers and sisters helping each other out and caring for one another – with accountability and responsibility.
Generosity to our community
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Matthew 28:19-20
What does this mean… really, practically, for you.
I know what it means for me or has meant for me. You know preaching, teaching, people about Jesus in church for over 40 years.
I don’t really think that is exactly what Jesus had in mind. That is so limited and limiting.
I think it means that we are to go everywhere and to everyone giving freely the life we have received.
It goes back the Ephesians 2 passage. This is what we are going to do in 2012.
Watch this video…
Given Life… Giving Life!
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Ephesians 2:8-10
Four initiatives for generosity in our community.
Last year we gave $20,000 to three ministries – one in Haiti, a new church in Toronto and the Pink Slip Ministry here at MCC. This year we are going to do even more for our community.
Given Life… Giving Life!
Pink Slip Ministry
We started this a year ago. Last January we gave $6600 dollars to sponsor networking events for job seekers and business owners. Last month we had
around 85 people in our building being encouraged, equipped, and getting connected. Every time we do this we hear about people getting interviews and jobs afterwards. It’s making a difference. We have enough funding to keep it going! Our next event is March 29.
GLCC Learning Center
Give a portion of the offering to GLCC for the Learning Center.
President Larry Carter will be here to tell us more about this effort on Jan 22.
Help Build Hope
We are going to build a Habitat House in our parking lot on August 11, 2011. We’ll be working on getting ready this summer. To fund it we’re going to need $7,000 from our January 29 Generosity Offering.
Brian Snivley will be here to tell you more on Jan 15
2011 Kids Kamp
This summer we are launching a whole new challenging and exciting opportunity.
Let me you about the 2012 Summer Kids Kamp! Better yet, I’m going to invite John Datema, our Family Life Minister and Tom Hampton to come up on stage and I’m going to let them tell you about the 2012 Kids Kamp.
Kids Kamp Interview – John
What is Kids Kamp?
So what is changing and why are you making the change?
Who will this help in our community?
How will it work?
How many kids can we handle?
How it will impact families in our community?
What kind of help will you need?
We are going to give $8,000 from our Generosity Offering
We’ll tell you more on Jan 8.
Giving It Away
We have received the gift of life – now let’s give life freely to our community.
Jesus did not die on the cross so we could be self-indulgent, self-absorbed, self-centered, assembly of self-satisfied saints who sing hallelujah on Sunday and look no different than the secular, sinful world Monday through Saturday.
Jesus died on the cross to save us so we could serve him and become part of his transforming kingdom in a lost and dying world.
Let’s do it this year. Let’s give it away…
Action Steps
* Give your life to Jesus and accept his Gift of Grace
* Take the Tithe Challenge this year
* Put away $20 and watch for an opportunity to be generous
* Pray for MCC and the Generosity Offering on January 29
* Be a volunteer at Kids Kamp this summer
