Wednesday March 4, 2015

Read 2 Corinthians 8:16- 9:5

Generosity, like most Christian character traits, is caught as well as taught. The Corinthian churches started with a generous promise to provide for Paul. Their zealous acceptance of the gospel overflowed in generous promises to give sacrificially. Yet as time wore on, that zealous promise dissolved into the background. It’s possible that some were accusing Paul of dipping his own hands into the collection money he carried around. Such was a popular and common practice in the day with funds carried by messengers. The church needed to be taught about giving, even though they had caught the generosity bug early on in their conversion. As such, Paul goes to great lengths to prove his purity and to stop further accusations. He entrusts the funds to Titus and the other brother so that no criticism can be labelled against him or his team. Paul wants to be seen as someone who does what is right in the eyes of the Lord and in the eyes of mankind. He does not want to destroy the gospel through false accusations.

Generosity, like most Christian character traits, is caught as well as taught. Often though what begins with a generous zeal, rubs off and wanes away. Many churches today are on the waning side of generosity because the people have false ideas and conceptions about the church’s finances, much like some had false conceptions about Paul and his dealings with the finances he received.

· Some people think the church funds just sit there. Most churches do not have a spare allotment of funds but use them to the very dollar to meet needs.

· Some believe that the church couldn’t use the extra funds. More giving would enable more ministries to be run and more outreach opportunities to be opened through helping of the poor, feeding and clothing the homeless and so on.

· Some believe that churches would squander the money and not use it wisely. Most churches are struggling just to pay their bills. Extra funds would relieve this burden and allow wider use of funds for poor relief etc.

· Some people in bigger churches believe that their giving would make no difference. In reality even big churches are often struggling to pay their bills and meet their costs.

Generosity, like most Christian character traits, is caught as well as taught. 2 Corinthians 8-9 is one section of teaching on generosity. Your enthusiasm in giving, your generosity in tithing will rub off onto others. It will be caught by them as they see your generosity and pretty soon your congregation will be known as a generous congregation. Please pray about it.

Prayer:

Use the day’s reading notes and Bible passage to pray meaningfully:

Adoration:

Confession:

Thanks:

Supplication:

· Pray that your church would grow and excel in the matter of giving and generosity. Pray that each family would prioritise their spending, their time use and the use of their talents so that they are generous in each of them.

· Pray that the Committee of Management in your church would be a generous church that seeks to glorify and edify God in the way that it uses the funds and assets allocated to it.

· Pray that we would see many people come to faith in Christ through our generosity.

 Discussion & Reflection

1. What factors stop the church from being generous?

2. Do you tithe weekly? Why or why not?

3. How des the Lord see our giving and tithing? Use Bible references to answer.