Today I preached on the issue of generosity. Yes I discussed giving but it was much more than just a giving message. At the core of our giving must be the motivation of generosity. We must be convinced that being generous and free with our material possessions is all apart of being a Christ Follower. Generosity is much more than sacrifice. Sacrifice is the maesurement of our giving -- its the standard that God uses when he evaluates our giving. Just look at the passage on the widow's mite - her gift was EQUAL in weight but exceeded in sacrifice.
What is really funny is WHILE I was preaching these thought struck me. Like right in the middle of the message these ideas began to spew out. I wanted to ask everyone to take a few minutes for contemplation and let me jot down the ideas. Problem would be they would think I went Post Modern on them. So here was my message in a meassge that I hope people caught....
"GIVING is the method by which we express our love and worship to God with our material possession."
"SACRIFICE is the measurement by which we determine if the worship and faith in God with our possessions is costly enough to truly honor Him."
"GENEROSITY is the motivation by which our giving and sacrifice is drive to the extent that God is pleased with our worshipping of him with our possession."
WOW - I even rock my own thinking during a message and don't even try! God is awesome to show up by the Holy Spirit and pull these ideas from my study of the passages on the issue. Check out the full message at www.newsongfellowship.com
PJM