Didn't get to hear the teaching conversation on Sunday?No problem, you can join in via our PODCAST.
Scriptures From Sunday: Acts 4:34-37, 5:1-6; 2 Corinthians 8:1-7, 9:6-8; Luke 21:1-4
REFLECT/DISCUSS:
What motivates you? (Ex. Success? Fear of failure? Praise? Criticism? Etc.)
Which do you think is more important & why- having good circumstances or a good attitude?
How would you describe your attitude about offering your time, talents and resources to God? How about your motivations to give?
What have you been taught about giving in church settings- both directly and indirectly?
Do you think believers have to give? Need to give? Should want to give? Some/all of the above? Which motivates you the most?
What is your reaction to the story of Ananias & Sapphira? What do you think the differences were between their and Barnabas’ offerings?
What kind of pressures might Ananias & Sapphira felt that prompted them to give an offering their hearts weren’t behind?
Read 2 Cor. 8:1-5. What strikes you most about the way these believers gave? What, if anything, would you hope to emulate in your own life & giving?
Have you ever been guilted into giving? What happened? Do you think God was honored by that?
What strikes you most about the story of the widow who gave all she had in Luke 21:1-4? What do you think Jesus would call us to emulate about her offering?
When is the last time you gave an offering that required faith on your part? What happened?
Which would most represent a next step of growth for you- giving joyfully, generously or from faith? Which motivation do you long to leave behind the most- giving from pressure, obligation or guilt?
3 comments:
To be honest, it's passages like the one about the believers in Macedonia begging to give beyond their means, mentioned in this sermon (2 Corinthians 8:1-4), and the believers who were thankful for being counted worthy enough to suffer disgrace for the name of Christ (Acts 5:33-41) that sometimes trouble me. If this is what Christianity produces in a person, then I just don't really know what this following Jesus thing is really like. Not at all.
For the record, I find myself in the "need to" stage (I recognize that giving is good for me and important for the character God wants to produce in His followers), but I don't really want to. I want to want to, but other than asking God where I should go from here to build a genuine desire to give in me, I don't know quite what to do.
I wonder if part of it is related to my struggle to figure out where the "brakes" are in matters of faith.
Consider the Followers of Christ Church (mainly centered in Oregon). One of their big no-nos is seeking medical help for anything more complicated than corrective lenses. As a result, their kids are dying in droves from easily preventable or treatable diseases. (No, seriously. Their infant mortality rate is nearly twenty times the national average.)
To think of the suffering of these little ones as they writhe under the pain of something so easily removed is heartbreaking. Most modern Christians would argue that they are wrong not to avail themselves of modern medicine, and that relying on prayer alone to heal their sick is foolish.
Ditto the idea of someone giving away more than is reasonable and ending up in financial ruin.
So when do you know it's an act of faith, and when do you know it's stupidity, before you sign your name on the check?
Why does "faith" seem to be the root of so many apparently good people (the Followers of Christ folks would doubtless call themselves, well, followers of Christ) doing bad things (e.g., letting their infants suffer and die needlessly)? Where are the "brakes" that prevent this sort of thing from happening? Speaking as one responsible for his household, isn't that a valuable thing for me to know?
I feel like I have to apologize. It's not my desire to destroy faith or anything. My questions are not meant as attacks -- merely attempts to draw out discussion on difficult ideas.
Let me see if I can get at what I mean by way of example. I try to protect my family; one way in which I've tried to do that is to become familiar with the sort of games some play in order to bilk people of their resources. Spending one's money on a telephone "psychic" is a quick ticket to financial ruin, for example.
This is probably why I tend to get down to the reasons for thinking a certain way as soon as possible. "Psychics" often have little sensible recourse when you ask them what the basis for their claims is.
Regrettably, there are also those who use the name of Christ and frighteningly similar tactics as so-called "psychics" to get their faithful followers to buy them a Lear Jet.
But I also believe that faith sometimes involves doing things without being able to understand every repercussion. God may want a person to give more than he is giving; one might even say that someone giving more than he is able (2 Corinthians 8 again), even though he has no idea how God will provide, is exercising powerful faith.
So I sense tension between leading a family with wise caution and trying to show a family what it means to have strong faith. What lessons have proven useful to people in trying to figure out the balance?
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