“Be diligent in action. Put all your irons into the fire. Use every faculty for Jesus. Be wide-awake to watch opportunities, and quick to seize upon them.”
~ Charles Spurgeon
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Compelled by Generosity
“see that you also excel in this grace of giving” 2 Corinthians 8:7
I’m sold on generosity as a way of life. Few things have opened my eyes and heart to God’s work like giving and seeing others give generously. This statement is so true: “We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” I wish I could compel you to generosity as well. OK, I guess I’ll ty:
Giving and Generosity. Why?
1. Because God says to. “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse…” Malachi 3:10. Proverbs 3:9-10, 1 Corinthians 15:2, 2 Corinthians 9:7. Basic Christianity = Listen to God + Do what He says.
2. Because it opens doors for others. “into the storehouse” Malachi 3:10. The Old Testament storehouse had three functions: to take care of the temple and it’s servants, to take care of the poor and needy, and to spread the glory of God to the unbelieving gentile world. Generosity then and now served to open doors for others to be cared for and experience God’s goodness.
3. Because it opens “windows” for us. “…see 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. God gives TO us, so that he can give THROUGH us. And He promises to respond when we participate with Him in His mission to the world.
4. Because it produces glory for God. “your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God” 2 Corinthians 9:11. The chief end of man is to glorify God. If that’s your motive then giving will be a way of life. Recently, someone our church helped penned this in a note: “God promised to take care of us, and thank God He always keeps His promises!” Through our generosity, not our hesitation and excuses, another person is giving glory to God. That should be a continuous cycle among His generous people.
5. Because it’s a statement of faith in God to provide. “test me in this” Malachi 3:8. God is able to provide for His peeps. Many times we play it safe in the area of giving, because we believe not in God’s ability, but in our limited capacity to provide for ourselves. So, we and others never get to experience God’s ability.
6. Because God’s a giver and I want to be just like Him. “For God so loved the world that He GAVE…” John 3:16. And as we become more like Him, we will want to give that His glory will be known on the earth.
How can I be obedient to God, open doors of blessing to others, guarantee heaven’s blessings on my household, produce more praise and glory for God in the world, show God and others that I’m a believer, and become more like Christ?
It’s simple: began giving regularly, consistently (2 Corinthians 16:1-2), sacrificially (2 Corinthians 8:9), and cheerfully (2 Corinthians 9:7) toward God’s mission. For my family, that comes in the form of giving monthly to my church (the modern day storehouse), monthly support of missionaries serving in unreached areas of the world, monthly support of orphan causes, and budgeted amounts for spontaneous generosity when God speaks. It’s not always been easy, but I’ve never regretted following God’s path of generosity.
How do I start?
- Pick a % of your income that you can give regular/consistently, that’s sacrificial (for some 10% is not sacrificial), and begin giving it cheerfully to your church.
- Ask God to open your eyes to needs around you and listen. When God shows you a need don’t just hope SOMEBODY ELSE will help. Respond with generosity and watch God work in and through you.
- Become a better manager in every area of your finances. Generosity takes intentionality. What are you spending money on that can be considered waste? Ask God to show you how you can be a better manager of His provision.
A Few Lists for New Year’s Awesomeness:
- 10 Family Resolutions for 2013 – from All-Pro Dad
- 11 High Impact Planning Questions for Pastors – from Will Mancini
- 9 Prayer Tips for 2013 – from Jon Acuff
- The Resolutions of Jonathan Edwards
- 10 Habits of Disciple Makers – from Dave Devries
- 21 Ways to Make Lightning Strike – from Time Management Ninja
Creating More SENDING Capacity
“The greatness of a church is not in her seating capacity, but in her sending capacity” ~Rick Warren.
I’ve heard this saying over & over again for the past 15 years or so from Pastors and church leaders from all different perspectives of ministry. But I haven’t seen much about how to expand the SENDING capacity of a local church or a real change in strategy to developing SENDING capacity. Both are necessary for a missional movement. How can we understand the difference & add real SENDING capacity to our strategies?
- Seating capacity is about managing the movement of people into relationships. Sending capacity is about managing the movement of people into mission.
- The mission that Jesus gave the church was a SENDING strategy. The Great Commission & the Acts 1:8 Challenge are foundational
- Matthew 28:19 (NLT) – “go and make disciples of all the nations…”
- Acts 1:8 (NLT) – “you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere—in Jerusalem, throughout Judea, in Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
- Seating capacity is easier. Not cheaper, but easier. It’s easier to draw a big crowd than to send a lot of people into missional roles in the world. It takes longer & requires different things from the leaders.
- Seating capacity is INSIDE. Sending capacity is OUTSIDE. Serving inside the church is great, but if the only mission opportunities we give people are inside, we fall short of a true Acts 1:8 SENDING strategy.
- Being SEATED is much more comfortable than being SENT. Going to church is for the majority of people, very safe, sanitary, & can be enjoyable. Being SENT requires sacrifice, risk, & a sometimes delayed reward for effort.
- I can be SEATED in my own strength. Being SENT requires the power of the Spirit.
- Being SEATED tends to make much of the leaders. Being SENT makes much of the mission. We hear a lot about the churches & leaders with the most SEATING capacity.
- SEATING capacity is easier to track and clean up after. It’s more static. SENDING strategies are hard to control and can get messy.
Do you see any difference between SEATING capacity and SENDING capacity? How does your church include SENDING in its strategies? What resources do you know about to aid SENDING capacity and SEATING capacity?
Next week I’ll share some thoughts about developing SENDING capacity.
“In the end it bites like a serpent” http://bible.us/prov23.32.esv
Just walked with a second friend in the course of 8 months through the pain of alchoholism’s bite. Both went from, “I don’t see anything wrong with having a beer or two every now and then!” to “I can handle it, I can quit anytime” to “Pray for me. I’m trying to quit” to losing a job & messing up important relationships, to financial ruin, to a detoxification center and now trying to restart life.
I know you have freedom in Christ. I know the Bible is not against having a beer but against being drunk. I know it’s part of the culture down here. I know, I know, I know… but don’t take the Bible’s warnings lightly. It still has a bite.
“Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has strife? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? Those who tarry long over wine; those who go to try mixed wine. Do not look at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly. In the end it bites like a serpent and stings like an adder.” http://bible.us/prov23.29-32.esv
“Hey Dad, when’s the next Faith in Action Sunday?”
Four times per year, our church scatters instead of just gathering for worship to do restoration projects across our community. It’s a weekend emphasis for what we want our daily lives to be as missionary servant living out life In Christ, On Mission, 4 Others. This weekend will be the 8th FIA Sunday. It’s an opportunity to add to the story of our lives intentionality, radical generosity, and faith in action.
My 9-year old Jack has been doing FIA Sunday’s & other community service projects for the last 3 years and it’s exciting to see 
how it’s shaping his heart and attitudes about life & church. The Sunday after our FIA weekends, he starts asking, “Hey Dad, when’s the next Faith in Action Sunday? And what’s the projects?”
Last year on FIA Sunday, we were working on the home of a disabled single mom who lives near a church that had just gone through a new building campaign. As we drove by he asked in the innocence of an 8-year old mind, “Dad, why is that church so nice and Ms. _____ doesn’t even have running water?” Now I know that particular church does great things in our community & that every church can’t do everything but we’re working together, but I was proud that my son had begun to note in his heart, “Isn’t it about the needs of the world instead of about me? And my church?” I’m glad that my conversations with Jack about church have delved a little deeper than, “Did you have fun today at church?” and even, “What did you learn in church today?” But we’re learning that with intentional efforts to get our children into “points of contact” with people in need, they can get it & be shaped & changed & even make a difference in the lives of others as we serve together.
Many Christian parents would probably say that they don’t want their kids to grow up as Christian consumers or as self-centered narcissists. But what are we doing intentionally to help them develop an others focus? Telling Bible stories & going to church IS a powerful thing. Do that! But are we living out those stories in our own way with our families? Are we teaching our kids to apply the stories they hear talked about?
Faith in Action weekend is an opportunity for our families to serve together, apply the Word of God, get our hands dirty, & teach our kids what the Christian life is all about with more than words, but actions. This weekend, I’ll have Jack with me as we build a porch and clean up the yard of an elderly widow and share the gospel with her neighborhood through a Block Party. He’ll also be beside me as we go to our local jail and throw a block party for inmate kids and share the gospel there. I’m looking forward to his next questions.
You can join us this weekend to put your Faith in Action. We’ll meet at 9am at the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Maritime Museum on Sunday for breakfast a time of devotion & prayer, then scatter to serve. Check out our projects at bridgenorthshore.com/faith-in-action. Everybody can serve!
Here are a few other ideas for families on mission together:
- Volunteer at local food banks.
- Find needs in your local neighborhood.
- Make bake goods or crafts for local nursing homes.
- Invite people into your home & talk about life & God.
- Take a Family Mission Trip & find a mission project to do one day wherever you go on vacation.
The Crux: Christ vs. Human Performance
Defined as the essential point requiring a resolution or resolving an outcome. Crux is latin for Cross. Every time we use or hear hear this phrase we’re referencing the essential point of God’s plan for the world that demands a resolution from each of us.
What do you emphasize as the essential point of your spiritual life? When it comes to spirituality there’s a few things I think I’ve made the CRUX instead of the cross:
Human performance. Believing God’s favor and forgiveness can be earned or is merited by human goodness or completing a list of religious deeds. I go to church, put money in the plate, give intellectual assent to the truths of the Bible, help with VBS, AND I don’t cuss, I buy the pastor a Christmas present, don’t watch “R” raided movies unless they’re about God, participate in canned food drives, help with D-Now weekend, give to the building program, participate in Boycotts of stores that support unbiblical agendas. I’ve had similar lists of things that are not bad, but are equal to the best of human GOODNESS. And the religious Pharisees of the New Testament could point to such list. But to rely on and make your list, your performance THE CRUX is to essentially claim that the death of Jesus on the cross was essentially unnecessary or insufficient. That’s what the Pharisees claimed as well.
Here’s the CRUX: If I could do anything to earn my way to God, then Jesus would have never had to die. He died because of our inability to earn or work or perform our way to heaven. The cross stands as a reminder of our inability and the impossibility of getting to God on our own. It speaks to the limitation of human goodness. It’s righteousness that’s required for a relationship with God. And righteousness is made available as a gift from God, because of Christ’s death on the Cross.
“He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” 2 Corinthians 5:21.
Don’t trust anything but Christ and what he accomplished for you at the cross.
Bridge Church is in the midst of a series of sermons on the Cross called The Crux. Gather with us Sunday’s, 10:30am at the West St. Tammany YMCA.
“Be diligent in action. …
“I know what I need to do BUT…”
Most of the changes we need to make are self-evident and within our grasp. The gap between what we want and who we are is revealed by that little three letter word: “BUT.”
- “I know what I need to do BUT…”
- “I know what the Bible says BUT…”
- “I intend on it one day BUT…”
- “I’d love to try ______ BUT…”
It does reveal something deeper. Will power is not enough to conquer our deepest fears, doubts, and misconceptions about ourselves and others. To get off our “buts” we need to see the One who can bring real change for who He is and give our lives over to Him. Nothing closes the gaps in our lives like believing God can do what He says. And He’s delivered on His promises with no BUTS.
“if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” ~ 2 Corinthians 5:17.
So Grateful to Be a Part of this Church
Looking forward to another year of movement making with these guys.
Lane Corley 