Will You Give God Your Lunch

Sermon:

My son has got to the wonderful stage where he has begun coming out with the funniest of things to say.

Children can be exceptionally funny and yet with their brutal honesty can at times show us things about ourselves that we don’t like to admit.

I came across a story the other day and, with my son in mind, it really appealed to me.

A woman took her two small boys and a daughter to see Peter Pan at the matinee one Saturday afternoon at the local movie house. The tickets were R25 each. The young daughter watched as the mother pushed necessary R100 note under the window and received four tickets.

The next day the same mother and daughter were at church. When the collection was taken the child saw her mother open her purse, take out a few coins, and put them in the plate as it passed them.

The little girl looked up at her mother and in a clear stage whisper which everyone around could hear said, "Mother, church is a lot cheaper than a movie, isn’t it?"

It may be an amusing illustration, but how aptly it represents our own sentiment sometimes.

From this illustration you could probably deduce that our theme “Would You Give God Your Lunch.” is about giving. Now before you think that when I mention the word giving, I am referring to the offering that will be passed a little later, just pause a moment before you conclude that this is another sermon asking for more money. Money plays a large part in giving to the Lord, but make no mistake that’s not the be all and end all of our sacrifices.

But before we rush off and draw up some misconceptions about what it means to give in the church lets first see exactly how giving sacrificially and the church all fits together.

To Serve Not To Be Served

So let’s start at the beginning. What is the purpose of the church? Well the church is Christ’s body. And one of Christ’s purposes was to look after others. Lets take a look at Mark 10:43-45.

Notice there – Christ was there to serve and not be served.

That pretty much sums it up for us. Giving to the church means making ourselves, our talents, our gifts, our time, and all of our resources, all things that God has given us anyway available to serve others.

This is what we mean by giving. To give of ourselves in any which way we can and if we can in every which way we can to help Gods kingdom to grow by serving others.

SERMON NOTE ONE

Giving to the church means requires us to adopt Christ’s attitude of SERVING and not wanting to be SERVED.

Why Do We Give?

I don’t think we truly need to go through the scriptures as regards giving. I don’t think we need to convince ourselves that financial giving is expected of us as Christians. But there are a few things that we may need to remind ourselves of.

Firstly - It is our God given responsibility to grow the Kingdom. And if that kingdom needs my planned offering then it shall have it. If that kingdom needs my time, then it can have it. You see God has asked us for it.

SERMON NOTE TWO A

It is our God given RESPONSIBILTY to grow the Kingdom.

Secondly - He has chosen each of us and He has given us every resource gift and talent to ensure that we are left at odds on how to give to his kingdom. He knows what we can give. But more importantly he knows what we hold back.

SERMON NOTE TWO B

He has mad sure that we have the TALENTS and the GIFTS to be able to give back to others and to Him.

It is thirdly our responsibility to give because of that special gift that God has given you. Now when we look at our church and we see that perhaps financially we are not where we should be, what comes to my mind is that perhaps we are not giving as we should because we have not really discovered that special and unique gift that God has given us. If we never discover that, the responsibility of giving to Gods kingdom will always weigh heavily on our hearts and minds.

If you feel hen pecked as regards the requests to give in the church, then today we will stop nagging and we will challenge you to go away and find that which God has especially given you. For when you find that giving will no longer be a chore but a pleasure.

SERMON NOTE TWO B

IDENTIFYING the gift we have been given from God will prompt us to use that specific gift to grow Gods kingdom.