Stewardship 113
From Exodus 35:20 – 36:7 – Everyone whose heart was stirred brought the Lord’s contribution for the work of the tent of meeting and for all its service and for the holy garments. They brought freewill gifts every morning. They brought so much that Moses had to give an order to stop. They had a given enough to do all the work.
From II Corinthians 8:5 – They gave even beyond their ability.
These two passages are examples of what happens when God’s people get out of control in their motivation to give.
Lesson 1 – Giving will get out of control when God’s people catch a bigger vision. These visions began with strong leaders who had a clear vision and could articulate the vision and had a plan to achieve it. Moses had the blueprints for the tabernacle and Paul intended to personally deliver the support to the believers in Jerusalem. Will Rogers said, “A vision without a plan is a hallucination.” In both of these stories the people were challenged to embrace a vision that was bigger than anything they could envision themselves and they embraced the vision and exceeded all expectations as a result.
Lesson 2 – Giving will get out of control when God’s people surrender themselves to the Lord. The beginning of any outbreak of generosity will begin when God’s people surrender to God. Surrender means to give up. The people gladly surrendered what little they had in material possessions to God. When God’s people finally and fully surrender to God instead of giving to God out of duty, out of control giving will happen.
Lesson 3 – Giving will get out of control when God’s people attune their hearts to the voice of the Holy Spirit. We see this in the story of the Israelites. The spirit moved them and they were filled with the spirit of God. Paul says in II Corinthians 9:7 – “Each one should do as God has purposed in his heart…”
Lesson 4 – Giving will get out of control when God’s people experience joy in giving. In both Biblical stories the people had overflowing joy. They brought and gave more than enough. In II Corinthians 9:7, Paul says God loves a cheerful giver. When people give and realize that it causes “joy”, then there is out of control giving. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if each week there was a one minute video or a one minute presentation from a joyful giver that explained what their gift was used for. We need to connect giving to outcome. This will increase giving and the joy in giving.
If you want to experience out – of – control giving:
- embrace a bigger vision
- totally surrender to the Lord
- listen to the Holy Spirit and
- make your giving a joyous experience.
