CDM Archive

Discipleship Ministries of the PCA

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Generosity: A Key in Stewardship

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Living in a time that is short on commitment and sacrifice, Christians are often unaware of how much we are subconsciously affected by postmodern culture. This is particularly true when it comes to stewardship. We often lack a biblical world and life view when it comes to being good stewards of our time, spiritual gifts, and financial resources.

God tells Job in 41:11, “Everything under heaven belongs to me.” And in Psalm 24:1 David testifies, “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.” It seems that Christians believe this truth about God in a general way, yet when it comes to the everyday routines of life, it is hard to think of ourselves as stewards rather than owners. The thought of having to give an account to God for what we have done with the gifts He has given is lost in the actual managing of those gifts.

The worldly message that constantly bombards our minds is “Get it while you can!” Before we know it, we are caught by the twin vices of accumulation and consumption. H. Norman Wright in his book Simplify Your Life describes the consumer oriented person as someone “who drives a bank-financed car on a bond-financed highway on credit-card gas to open a charge account at a department store so he can fill his savings-and-loan financed home with installment-purchased furniture.” To some degree we have all been enticed to spend more than we earn, and thereby create indebtedness rather than wealth. Inappropriate accumulation and consumption of things lead to poor stewardship of time, spiritual gifts, and financial resources. These vices often lead to workaholism; there is no time for family or worship. People are so busy working to get out of debt that they don’t have time to build relationships with those they love. There is no time to use spiritual gifts to edify the body of Christ. And finally, there are no financial resources to be given to kingdom work because of the need to retire debt or accumulate more things. These are just some examples of how the lack of a Christian world and life view will stifle generosity and lead to poor stewardship in every area of life.

Ron Blue in his book Generous Living defines generosity as “the willingness to give or share what you have to benefit others.” That means your time, your abilities, and your financial resources. He also says that generosity is the one ingredient that makes true freedom possible. As a matter of fact, he says if he could boil down to one sentence everything he has learned, it would be this, “Generosity and financial freedom are inextricably linked.”

The Apostle Paul uses an agriculture principle to challenge the church in regard to generosity in showing mercy. “Remember this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will reap generously…. And God is able to make all grace abound to you so that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. As it is written; he has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.” As we choose what we want to give to the poor, we should keep in mind this principle of sowing and reaping. The choice we make will also testify to our faith in God. Paul says in verse 8, “And God is able to make all grace abound to you…”

If we give sparingly, we may be making a statement that God is not able to make His grace abound to us in all things, in all times, and in all we need. When opportunities arise to show mercy to the poor and those in need, do we really believe that God is able to take care of us by providing all we need, so that we can abound in every good work? Obviously the Philippians did because Paul wrote in Philippians 4:19, “And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.” Paul has already shown in 2 Corinthians 8:3 that the Macedonians believed God was able because they gave as much as they were able and even beyond their ability. Could it be said that our generosity depends on how big a view of God we have?

Again, Ron Blue says, “We know when we are being financially generous-it is evidenced by the dents in our checkbooks.” Does your checkbook reveal dents in accumulation and consumption, or commitment and sacrifice?

Do I Know You?

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Most everybody talks about relational ministry. Yet relationships are so easy to miss because our agendas call for more important things.

I’m embarrassed that I don’t know the names of some of the people in our little church. That creates an awkwardness that inhibits any attempt to go further. Think of the people in your congregation, your Sunday school class, people you see regularly, whose names you don’t know. It’s one reason why the church can seem so impersonal.

Consider the visitor-or is she a regular attendee you’ve simply never met? Do you introduce yourself? I never will forget the time I introduced myself to a woman at church. I asked if she was visiting and she informed me that she was a charter member. That sort of response can be a big inhibitor to saying, “Hi, my name is _____.” But if you don’t the visitor might leave saying, “I attended that church and no one spoke to me.”

And knowing a person’s name is just the beginning.

A Session or Deacon’s meeting might start with a conversation about what’s happening in everyone’s life and a time of prayer for each other. It could take a half hour or more, and it could be the most important thing you do. It will help everyone come together for the business at hand. It could surface some significant information, and it will add a little more glue to the bond that solidifies each one’s commitment to the others.

A Sunday school class ought to be about more than increased understanding of a biblical text. To be effective it must rub that passage against our lives. One way to do that is to help people talk to each other about ways they think the Spirit might want them to respond. A class could break into groups of three to five for exercises that help them get to know each other better, know the Bible better, and listen to God apply the Word to their hearts. Variations on this theme work in almost any age group. For instance, take an egg timer to a children’s class and let everyone have one minute. While the sand falls each one in turn can talk about the most fun he ever had, his favorite toy or best friend, or describe his mother or father. As the teacher, don’t forget to take your turn, too.

Many of us live in metropolitan areas where most everybody is from some place else. Often relatives live a considerable distance away, and neighbors seldom know each other. Houses are empty during the day and closed up during the evening. Many times I’ve heard neighbors say, “People will be out when it’s warmer.” But summer comes and, “People will be out when it gets cooler.” The reality is people don’t come out much at all. Relationships in the neighborhood, at the office, or at school are important. But if they don’t extend beyond the confines of that environment they have limited value. And the same is true of relationships at church. Hopefully, the believer will have friendships with some that extend beyond the confines of a church program.

Those relationships are necessary for us to not simply survive, but thrive in this Christian pilgrimage.

Ho! Ho! What?

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By Mike Rasmussen, taken from the December, 1991 issue of The Messenger.

Nick and Nelda (not their real names) resigned from Christmas. It had become, to them, a materialistic rodent race. No more decoration. No more buying or giving presents. What’s more, any presents sent to them will be sent back. Nick and Nelda have the right to dropkick Christmas traditions, God has not commanded us to observe Christmas. But, if we do, how should we observe it?

God likes events that help people to focus on Him. We learn this from the Old Testament. God commanded His people to observe three religious festi

Kidnapped! Survival In the Shadow of Death

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By Debra Evans. It was night, August 19,1991. Leroy White pulled his van up to a neighborhood convenience store just as he had hundreds of times before. He quickly walked over to his wife Deborah and their fifteen-year-old son Jason, waiting for him by the gasoline pump. Minutes earlier, Leroy had arrived home from a committee meeting when the phone rang. It was Deborah asking him to bring some cash to the conve