Homework
Compassion for the poor
When John the Baptist roamed the Judean wilderness, he had a
stern warning for the crowd that came to hear him. “You brood of vipers!” he
said. “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance” (Luke 3:7-8). Startled,
they asked him, “What should we do then?” He responded with this advice: “Anyone
who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who
has food should do the same” (vv. 10-11). True repentance produces a
generous heart.
God reveals His compassion for the poor throughout the
Scriptures.
In Psalm 72:13, we read, “He will take pity on the weak and
the needy and save the needy from death.” The people were to join with God
in bringing His compassion to the poor.
In the New Testament, Jesus repeatedly expresses the Father’s
concern for the poor by portraying them as accepted by the Father (Mark
12:42; Luke 16:20) and stating that His messianic mission, in part, was
confirmed by His ministry to the poor (Matt. 11:4-5).
Paul picks up the baton of this challenge by commending the
churches of Macedonia and Achaia for their financial support of the poor in
Jerusalem (Rom. 15:26), while James warns that the poor must not be
disregarded because of their socioeconomic status (James 2:2-6).
If our God and His Son are this concerned for the poor, how can we represent
that love by caring for those in need? Bill Crowder
CLICK
TO TOP
Your
Money Counts
CLICK
TO TOP
Practical
Applications
Steps for Generosity
Dedicate all resources to God.
The first step
toward generosity is to dedicate all our resources to God, including our
money, time, possessions, and strength.
Practice personal frugality.
Based on the requirements of stewardship, we must spend as little as
possible on ourselves so that we can have as much as possible to reinvest in
ways that will bring multiplied returns.
Give as God directs.
The goal of
generosity is to demonstrate the love of God so that others will be drawn to
Him. When a person in need receives an anonymous gift that meets the need,
God is glorified and the giver is in line for eternal rewards. If we give
with the motivation of public praise, 4e receive thoz praise of people, but
lose out on the greater rewards that come from God.
"But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what
thy right hand
doeth: That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in
secret himself shall reward thee openly" (Matthew
6:3-4).
Personal Evaluation - How generous are you?
Do you
see God as the Provider of all wealth?
Do you
view yourself as a steward of God's resources?
Have
you dedicated all your resources to God?
Do you
honor God with a generous portion of all your (His) increase?
Are you
living as frugally as you can so you have more to reinvest?
Do you
distribute to the needs of fellow believers when you know about them?
When
you give, do you base it on what you can afford or on what God can provide
through you?
Have
you rejected the goal of being rich in money, but made it your goal to be
rich in good works?
How
often have you sacrificed things you wanted in order to give to the needs of
others
CLICK
TO TOP
Sharing
More
Important Than Tithing
Rev
Alvin Chan
Scripture Passage:
Deuteronomy 15:7-11
Summary:
How did
tithing begin and why do we give 10 percent?
In fact,
Jesus talked a lot on this subject too, with 16 out of His 29 parables
mentioning money and one out of six verses in the three Synoptic Gospels
addressing this topic!
In the
Old Testament we learn five things:
1.
The giving of 10
percent as a tithe predates Mosaic Law and was not peculiar to the Hebrews!
We find this in Genesis 14:20 when Abraham gave Melchizedek a tithe.
2.
It was normal to
return to God 10 percent as a Gratitude Tithe as Jacob did in Genesis 28:
22.
3.
Under Mosaic Law
the tithe belonged to God as recorded in Leviticus 27:30-32
4.
The tithe was to
go to the Levites in return for their service to the Lord as they had no
inheritance as found in Numbers 18:21
5.
Men were put in
charge of collecting and distributing the tithes... see 2 Chronicles 31: 12.
In
the New Testament we learn that God wants more than the tithe. Everything we
have belongs to Him anyway. In Luke 14:33 Jesus tells the crowds "In the
same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my
disciple". For a time the early church did indeed practice this as they
shared all that they had with each other.
Let
us go back to Deuteronomy 15 and look at three points, which teach that we
give out of obedience to God
1.
There is no
excuse for not being generous. In the time of Moses, God intended that every
seven years there would be a year of release and everything would go back to
the original owner and all debts would be cancelled. This way there would be
no poverty. We are exhorted to be uncalculative in our giving.
2.
We are duty
bound to meet the needs of the poor or God will find us guilty. As a church
we have ways of helping the needy without breeding dependence. So if anyone
has a financial need they can approach Christian Outreach and Social
Concerns Ministry.
3.
God tells us to
be open handed towards the poor and the Lord our God will bless us. The
question we struggle with is how we can be more generous. We need to
simplify our lives and spend less on our own "wants" in order to meet the
"needs" of others. The ultimate act of giving is laying down our lives and
this Jesus did in order to reconcile Mankind to God. Something special
happens when we give. John Wesley gave almost all he ever earned for the
sake of Christ and His kingdom.
For
Where Your Treasure Is...
Rev
Wendy Watson
Scripture Passage:
Matthew
6:19-24.
Summary:
The day will come when each of
us has to stand before God to give an account of how we chose to use the
time and money entrusted to us during our life time.
Giving 10% of our income to
the church is not a popular choice. We rationalize that the church doesn't
need the money, that there are plenty of other richer people to pay tithes
and we don't even know where the money will go. Some argue that tithing is
an Old Testament command which was out dated when Jesus came to establish
His new covenant. However Jesus endorsed tithing in Matt 23:23 so we know
this is not the case.
For some people it is
genuinely hard to make ends meet and there is real concern how to pay the
bills let alone giving to the church and this is very understandable.
However, let us stand on the
promise of God in Matthew 6:33. "But seek first His kingdom, and his
righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well."
Choose to do things God's way
and He WILL take care of you!
The principle behind tithing is that
we bring the first fruits of our labour to God in recognition that He is
Sovereign and we return to Him something that is His anyway. By definition,
it is not a discretionary amount. It is the 10% of our income which belongs
to the Lord and is Holy to the Lord (Leviticus 27:30). We may think that we
can choose how much to give and to whom. However this is not the case. The
whole 10% belongs to God so giving some of it to other worthy causes of our
own choosing is tantamount to giving away someone else's cash.
If we give less than 10% of
our income we are in fact robbing God (Malachi 3:8-10). In this verse God
challenges us to test Him in this and see whether he doesn’t pour out his
blessings in response to our giving.
We should not give our tithes
out of fear that God will punish us. Nor should we give because we want to
get more money back or to impress others. We should give out of a heart of
obedience and love for God. We should not give if we do not have any income
or if we have to borrow in order to give.
Let us resolve to have no half
measures here. God doesn't give us half measures. Is our treasure indeed the
Kingdom of God or is our treasure actually our spouse, children, career,
possessions or dreams and aspirations?
WE are God's treasure! He gave
His all for each of us. His desire is that we would enthrone Him in our
hearts as OUR treasure!
Recognising Our Need To Give
Rev Daniel C Tan
Scripture Passage:
1 Chronicles 29:1-9
Summary:
The
overwhelming motivation for giving is a response to the love of God.
Jesus spoke
about giving and forgiving in the same breath, as a response to the love
of God in Luke 6:37-38 “...forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and
it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together,
running over, will be put into your lap.”
When we give
the gift of forgiveness to others, we are changed because we get a heart
free of anger and hostility.
This
overwhelming motivation to give is a recognition of God’s love towards
us, and for us it can result in decreasing self-centredness, and
detachment from fears and anxieties of material world. At the same time,
it is about placing our trust in God alone.
Mark 10 has
another lesson in giving. Jesus told young man to do the 3 things to
receive treasure in heaven:
1.
Go
2.
Sell (all you have)
3.
Give (to the poor, and come to follow me)
Jesus is not
against rich people, but wants for the rich to express their security in
God by their generosity.
Jesus is
pointing out to commit ourselves to giving as a way of life, and the
privilege of being a giver. It is the simple theology of discipleship.
The more we give, the more we discover the abundant life that seems to
elude the tight-fisted. Giving is symbolic, reveals the priorities in
our hearts and life.
There’s a
story a millionaire who shared in church about the turning point in his
faith when he gave the first and only dollar he had earned to church. He
believes that God blessed that decision, and made him a wealthy man
after that. When he sat down, a little old lady in the same pew said to
him: “I dare you to do it again.”
In 1 Chron 29,
King David was an example of giving, he gave “over and above everything
I have provided...” (v 3)
Verse 2 “So I
have provided for the house of my God, so far as I was able,” can be
alternatively be phrased: “I have done my best with all my might, with
all my resources.”
God does not
demand a set amount, He did not say exactly how much or how exactly we
are to give. He commanded that our giving be in proportion to our
ability.
Buddy Post,
won US$16m in the Pennsylvania state lottery in 1996. The 58-year-old
former carnival worker and cook subsequently was convicted for assault,
his (sixth) wife left him, his brother tried to murder him, his landlady
successfully sued for one-third of his winnings.
"Money didn't
change me. It just changed people around me that I know, that I thought
cared a little about me, but they only care about the money," he said.
Whether we are
rich or not, it is important to be contented. It is important to be
obedient and place our trust in God and God alone.
Are we willing
to rise to the challenge and give according to our ability with all our
might, as far as we are able?
CLICK
TO TOP
Scriptures
If we
give grudgingly, wondering how much we can spare, we will never have the
joy of discovering how much we can share. (See II Corinthians 9:7.)
Generosity is paying on
the debt of love that every believer owes to the Lord. (See Romans 13:8.)
Who
gave more than everyone yet less than anyone? (See Mark 12:42-44.)
Lack of
money is God's "school" to teach us the importance of being generous when we
abound. (See II Corinthians 8:14.)
"For
every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand
hills." Psalm 50:10
"There
is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing: there is that maketh himself
poor, yet hath great riches." Proverbs 13:7
CLICK
TO TOP
Adapted from : The
Power for True Success: How to Build Character in Your Life