Generosity - Where's the heart in your hands?

The proper arbiter between the head and the hands is the heart - Silent film "Metropolis" 1927.

What could be meant by the above statement?

In today's lesson, the last of three in a series of God's Unlimited Grace and Glory regarding our  stewardship emphasis for January, we look at Generosity. Paul's describes the Macedonian's generosity in our scriptural passage for today.

2 Corinthians 8:1-7

¹We want you to know, brothers and sisters, about the grace of God that has been granted to the churches of Macedonia; ²for during a severe ordeal of affliction, their abundant joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. ³For, as I can testify, they voluntarily gave according to their means, and even beyond their means, ⁴begging us earnestly for the privilege of sharing in this ministry to the saints— ⁵and this, not merely as we expected; they gave themselves first to the Lord and, by the will of God, to us, ⁶so that we might urge Titus that, as he had already made a beginning, so he should also complete this generous undertaking among you. ⁷Now as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in utmost eagerness, and in our love for you—so we want you to excel also in this generous undertaking.

What does it mean to be generous?

When thinking about being generous I often think about two topics, Time and Money. You’ll remember the old saying that time is money. A truism in our age. I believe it was old Hank Williams that once sang, “Honey, if you’ve got the dime, I’ve got the time.”  Now there’s a generous soul.

Being mortal, neither one of these two resources seems to be in limitless supply for us. We always are wishing for a little more of one, the other, or both. Because of their limited nature, we assign them great value, since we must use them wisely or else they vanish, never to return.

What does God think of money and time?  At least in the context of gifts that we have been given. Is God generous? And how are we to be also?

Time is a gift from God that we use to grow in his image. We do this by being good stewards. It takes the stewardship of time to develop God given gifts as well as time to express them in the community. How are you using your gift of time in coming to the image of God, These are intentional efforts to be generous as God has been generous to us. Without this intentionality we may let our gifts lay unused and unblessed.

In the above scripture from 2 Corinthians, Paul calls the faithful to observe the generosity of the Macedonians as they contribute to the needs of the saints of Jerusalem.

Our lesson on Generosity proposes five emphases to clarify the intent of Paul’s message to the church at Corinth.

1. The grace of God at work in our lives. (2 Corinthians 8:1)
2. Macedonians gave despite of circumstance. (2 Corinthians 8:2-3)
3. As ministry to others. (2 Corinthians 8:4)
4. Christian commitment (2 Corinthians 8:5)
5. Our example inspires. (2 Corinthians 8:6-7)

Grace, circumstance, ministry, commitment and inspiration are ours as gifts from God, if we know to use them wisely as stewards.

Where is the heart in your hands in the community of First Baptist? 

Where We’ve Been…Where We’re Going…

As we have looked at these lessons on Stewardship through God’s Unlimited Grace and Glory over the last three weeks:

We have seen God as illustrated through the life of Jesus and the Good News of the Gospel. Through this we have received the “gift of Grace.” Paul demonstrated this in his call to live through to others needs and God’s glory.

We have seen the presence of the image of God in our lives as giftedness that connects us to our purpose in serving the community of God.

Finally, we see the usage of time and resources to the call of God in our lives to be generous with the gifts given us.

In the next weeks, there will be the opportunity to get involved in a Ministry or Mission through the Ministry Fair, There will also be the opportunity to express your commitment through financial support of the Ministry and Mission of this community of Faith as we pledge our budget for 2011, If you have any questions call the church or contact a Leadership Minister to ask how you can participate in God’s Unlimited Grace and Glory.