Genesis 1:1
You can take everything away, bit by bit, our belongings, the animals and planet around us, our lives and souls, the galaxy – you can take it all away and you are left with what? God.
It is explained in John 1:1, through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made.
In Genesis 1:1 God is about to start his big story of creating humans with whom he would share relationship and the wonders of his love and power.
And this is the human condition: are we going to turn toward a loving, gracious, generous God or pretend He is not there and go our own, lonely, selfish way?
I know I can’t live without Him – the thought of ploughing a lonely furrow through life without following the one who made me and loves me - feels an insipid, pointless, weak existence. So I turn instead toward Him and say, OK, You created me and You love me and You have a purpose and meaning for my life. I will do my best to let go, give it to You, find out how You want me to live this life You have given me, let You drive. Let’s do it.
If you do that, Genesis will speak to you with wisdom to understand God’s Mission for us and the world. Over the coming months we are going to look at the Genesis stories covering themes such as calling, prayer, blessing, sacrifice, temptation – all the stuff we grapple with as we learn to follow Him. What we call discipleship.
Discipleship = generosity
The first couple of chapters of Genesis describe how God creates our existence and the world in which we live. It is described as a garden and man & woman are given the creation and told to look after it. Adam and Eve then make a mess of things and succumb to temptation. But skip over that (just for today) and turn to Genesis 4:1-5
Adam made love to his wife Eve, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Cain. She said, ‘With the help of the Lord I have brought forth a man.’ Later she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel kept flocks, and Cain worked the soil. In the course of time Cain brought some of the fruits of the soil as an offering to the Lord. But Abel also brought an offering – fat portions from some of the firstborn of his flock. The Lord looked with favour on Abel and his offering, but on Cain and his offering he did not look with favour. So Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast.
Early in the Genesis story we have this response to God's commission and gift of making an offering. The writers want us to understand that giving is deeply embedded in the way God commissioned man & woman to look after the world. This is God’s creation, his world. He has given us the priviledge and opportunity to tend and care for it, to live off it.
As a natural response man makes an offering back to God of the fruit of this work.
Here is an interview with Rick Warren about how he responds to God's generosity by giving generously (the relevant section runs from 18:28-25:12).
So let's pick up on some issues surrounding generosity and giving.
It is all His and we get to keep some
Adam and Eve are given the garden to tend. It isn’t theirs, but they do get to eat from it. What we have is not ours but we get to eat from it. When we do our budgeting and financial planning we start with, “Thank you for all this which you have given me, how much shall I give you back and how much shall I use for me?”
Some people tell me that it is unnatural to give my money away. That it is poor financial advice.
On the contrary, apart from the fact that it is not
my money, I think it is totally natural. It is the best financial planning strategy.
It is the way we are made. It is what should come naturally. Not to give is unnatural. It may be difficult - like child birth – but still good and natural. It may be seductive to keep it - but that is a breach of the way you are made. You can give without loving but you can’t love without giving.
Giving cheerfully – not with a religious attitude
There is a twist in the biblical tale. For some reason, God did not like Cain’s offering. We don’t know why, there is no explanation. There seems no reason why fruit of the harvest should be any less worthy a gift than the first lambs from the flocks. However, in the next story we learn what Cain is like. And God can see something we can’t. I think it is to do with attitude. Perhaps his gift was not given joyfully, gladly, graciously - or acknowledging that everything he has comes from God.
Paul teaches us, “Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver”. 2 Corinthains 9:7
I don’t think Cain gave cheerfully! He was doing what needed to be seen to be done but not out of gratitude or out of an intimate relationship of love and trust in God.
Jesus picks up on this attitude amongst the religious people of His day,
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices – mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law – justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practised the latter, without neglecting the former”. Matthew 23:23
We don’t serve in order to be noticed and accepted (by God or people) - that’s religious. We serve because we have received grace and we want to respond in grace. In the same way we don’t give to be religious but out of grace.
When we understand what we have received, how much the Father provides for us, when we give out of gratitude for what He has given and in trust for His provision - then we have treasure – because our heart is in a great place. Jesus put it like this, “
Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Luke 15:32-34
God uses giving to raise kids not to raise funds
When we give it is not as though we are doing Him a favour - but learning how to live. It is not as though we give X and He will give us back Y. It is a spiritual discipline which means that we grow in faith and life not that we get more leverage with God for our prayers and our wealth.
If you are not giving of the fruit of your life you will close off a whole life-enhancing dimension of your existence. It would be like living without ever having listened to beautiful music or watched a sunset or having loved someone. Giving is a beautiful, life-enhancing, blessing part of your God-given being.
The bible shows us that to give from the fruit of our world is natural and God-designed. It makes sense and is a good thing.
There are various reasons why people don't give. Let's think about some of them:
Why don’t people give?
I can’t afford it
Giving is not about being able to afford it. We give first and then learn to live off the rest. Giving is about training our souls to live God’s way. If we give out of what we do not need we aren’t really giving. We are feeding leftovers to the pet. The spiritual discipline which we see emerging naturally in Genesis 4 is a grateful response to God out of the first fruits of what he has blessed us with, not what is leftover when we have had our fill.
We are not poor. Some of us are very wealthy but the very fact that we live in the UK with a State Benefit system puts all of us amongst the world’s rich. There is a list on the web (
www.globalrichlist.com) where you can plug in your income and it tells you where you are in the rankings.
So I plugged in £25,000 (average UK salary) and it places you in top 1.42% of the world’s population.
I tried £7,500 (living on benefits or with part-time work) – top 12.5%, i.e. in the richest eighth.
Tithing is an Old Testament piece of legalism
It is unjust and religious. It compartmentalises giving. I agree; we give not because it is the law but because it is a sign of grace. A God-given attribute. There from the beginning of creation, deep in us and leading our spirits toward natural generosity.
There is plenty of law in the Old Testament but, after Jesus, it has been reclaimed by grace and now is a healthy part of following Him: praying, reading scripture, worshipping – and giving.
I don’t trust the church with my money
Don’t trust the leaders – or God. Maybe a bad experience in the past or wariness of institutions. Feel you have been ripped off, broken trust in the past. Or don’t like losing control. It is my money. I comment on this issue in my
talk about money and giving to the church.
Because giving is such an important part of healthy spirituality it is important that you find a church you can trust so that you can learn that it isn’t your money and you can experience the blessing of giving.
Haven’t been invited to
If no one has given you this opportunity before then I am glad to. You will find information on the website or at the resources desk. Or talk to me or one of the trustees or leaders and we will explain how it works. We have an offering box on the resources desk but we don't take an offering at our events.
Here is some more information on giving in the Vineyard and some FAQ.
Lack of planning
This is a big hurdle. You may well leave to today convinced of the rightness of giving and determined to do something about it. But it falls into the same category as a New Year’s resolution and drops off the to-do list all too quickly. If you haven’t reviewed your giving recently or started giving – do it now. Click
here and sort it out!
How is your discipleship when it comes to giving?
As I look over the giving in the church I see four groupings:
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Regular, generous givers;
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Sporadic, generous givers
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Low givers;
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Non givers.
If you are a regular here then Alison and I are your pastors. As your pastors, you would expect us to encourage you to pray lots, to read your bible as much as possible, to find somewhere to serve wholeheartedly, join us regularly on Sundays and at housegroup. You wouldn’t expect us to say,
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You only come on Sundays and go to housegroup when it’s convenient? That’s fine.
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You just serve from time to time, no problem.
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You only pray sporadically, that’s cool.
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You don’t read the bible at all, that’s great.
I wouldn’t be much of a pastor if I did that.
No, being a regular, generous giver is the best place to be in your discipleship.
Genesis 1:1 tells us that in the beginning, God.
Not us, not what we have, not this planet nor the stars.
Just God.