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A New Spirit of GenerosityAbout 100 years ago some of America’s wealthiest businessmen committed most of their fortunes to various philanthropic causes. Andrew Carnegie gave away 90% of the fortune he had accumulated towards the creation of libraries all over America and the establishment of The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Andrew Carnegie said that, “The man who dies rich dies disgraced.”Bill and Melinda Gates have adopted Carnegie’s philosophy. Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation focuses on improving health and reducing extreme poverty in developing countries. In the United States, the foundation seeks to insure that all people have access to a great education and to technology in public libraries. Warren Buffet, the world’s second richest man, is going to give away 85% of his $44 billion fortune mostly to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Other billionaires are following suit. Many people believe that we are entering a new era of great generosity. In perhaps the classic text on Christian generosity, the apostle Paul wrote: And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Here are a few principles that we can draw from this text: 1. Generous giving to the Vineyard makes a difference. In Paul’s day, Jewish believers in Jesus may have been economically boycotted by their non-Christian Jewish brethren in Jerusalem. Many of these Jewish believers in Jesus not only suffered ruined businesses, but also ruined family relationships. Some were put in prison; others were beaten. The comparable situation today would be if a Muslim woman living in a Muslim country suddenly declared herself to be a follower of Christ. Giving to economically strapped Jewish believers was an act of Christian charity to needy brothers and sisters. It also served to break down the dividing wall between Jews and Gentiles . Since Gentiles were the recipients of spiritual blessings from their Jewish brethren, Jews would now be the recipient of material blessings from Gentiles. When you give generously to Vineyard Columbus, your financial giving makes a difference in a thousand ways. We have hundreds of children in our community who have a radically different future because they have been tutored in our after school program called The Zone, a program supported by your gifts. Instead of dropping out or getting into drugs, many of these children will go on to college and become contributing members to our society. Dozens of parents who are economically strapped are able to pursue work because we have a quality Early Childhood Center that cares for their kids. In the last decade, because of your generous giving to Vineyard Columbus, thousands of people in our city have received free medical care through our free medical clinic. And well over a thousand have also received Christ. Generous giving to the Vineyard has resulted in our church being able to plant two dozen Vineyard churches domestically, and to engage in global missions in such diverse places such as Tanzania, the Sudan, Indonesia, Brazil, China, Morocco, Benin, Central America, Mexico, and now Western Europe. And when we think about individuals becoming followers of Christ, there are few weeks in the course of the year when our church does not see at least a dozen people make first-time decisions to become followers of Christ. Indeed, in just the past two weeks, 70 people made first-time commitments to Christ at our weekend services. In short, you get a massive “bang for the buck” when you give generously to Vineyard Columbus. Your giving makes a difference! 2. Generous giving to the Vineyard does not require great wealth. The apostle Paul said in 2 Cor. 8:2, In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity., The word “extreme” literally means “down in the depths poverty.” We would say that the generous people in Paul’s day were scraping the bottom of the barrel. They had no excess and no fat; yet, despite their “scraping the bottom of the barrel,” they gave generously and extravagantly. Here is the principle: generosity is not the exclusive purview of the wealthy. God has not given the wonderful blessing of being generous only to a few well-off people. You can be generous to our church whether you have a part-time job working at Starbucks, or you are a medical director at a large hospital. Generosity in the Bible is not the product of big resources; instead, it flows out of a big heart! 3. Generous giving is contrary to common sense. The apostle Paul writes in 2 Cor. 8:3, For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Literally, the original Greek says that these believers gave “contrary to their ability.” This means that their giving was out of sync with common sense considerations of what someone should give. I believe that we followers of Jesus live much of our lives out of sync with the world’s “common sense.” Common sense tells us to write people off who have hurt us. Jesus calls us to forgive. Common sense tells us to hate our enemies and to love our friends. Jesus tells us to love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us. Common sense tells us to hold onto our jobs because they are our security. Jesus tells us to follow him because he is our security. And common sense tells us that we give generously only so long as we have provided a significant cushion to take care of any eventuality. Jesus tells us to be open-handed and to trust him with our lives and our finances. If you consider yourself to be a part of this church family, then please re-commit yourself this year to a new spirit of generosity to Vineyard Columbus. |
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