How are you being re-formed by the example of Jesus? This weekend Pastor Steve Andres continued our (RE)FORMATION series with a message from Jesus’ Sermon On the Mount.
Matthew 6:1
Watch out! Don’t do your good deeds publicly, to be admired by others, for you will lose the reward from your Father in heaven.
Jesus begins this portion of his teaching with a warning to WATCH OUT! Greed and materialism have the peculiar effect of making us blind to our own greed and materialism. Jesus’ teaching can lead us to three questions.
1) What are my assumptions about money?
Many of us assume that our blessings are tied to our own goodness. But what if we are blessed, not to raise our standard of living, but to raise our standard of giving? Jesus starts with a statement about WHEN, not IF, we give to those in need. The assumption is that those who follow Jesus will live with an open hand, just like he did.
2) What is my approach to giving?
Generosity is not an amount. People can write big checks without being generous. When we give, our approach should be to give with faith and generosity.
Generosity is not an emotion. Giving is the regular, rational response of a person who has correctly identified God as their source.
Generosity is not an achievement. We never graduate from generosity, we only grow in it.
3) What is my aim in being generous?
Are we out to BLESS or to IMPRESS? Don’t forget that we will give an account for the way we steward what is entrusted to us. The reward that we receive from God will be better than any reward we can receive now!
Romans 8:31-32
What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
