Life in Christ and Generosity 
Sunday, November 26 - By Pastor Andy

Generosity is a natural outflow from life in Christ, but one that needs to be cultivated. It is too often left untended. For some reason we cut that cultivation short and feel that money is too personal for us to talk about in the church.  Yet, the church cannot do what it is called to do if it does not create generous people who see that as a key component of Life in Christ. 

Since generosity is a natural outflow from Life in Christ, our recent sermon series can be used to illumine this.  Here is how our Life in Christ sermon series can be made practical with our view toward money, giving and generosity: 

Our Place in the Story:  God has given us so much and called us to an important task. We are called to be his people and to live out Christ’s mission in the world as Christ’s hands and feet. Giving generously to support the work of God’s people is part of the role that we are called to live out. As Jesus sent out his disciples into the mission field he said, “Freely you have received, freely give” (Matthew 10:8). That continues to be our place in the story.

Decision:  This is one of those decision points that flows out of our decision to follow Christ.  Are we going to choose to be a generous person or are we going to choose to be controlled by our finances?  Generosity doesn’t just happen, we must choose to live it. Yes, it is a part of the transformation we spoke of in life in Christ, but we must continue to choose to cultivate that sort of generous giving.  What choice are we making?  Are we choosing to give a tithe (ten percent of our income) as it talked about in the Old Testament.  Are we choosing to give 5%? To give when we feel like it?  To give when we see need?  To give when we are asked?  If we do not choose to be generous, we will not be generous.

Obedience: The Bible speaks about money more than any other topic and the teaching is not easy to follow. We are warned to not let money assume a role in our lives that it does not warrant lest it become an idol and a distraction.  The Old Testament is clear on tithing, the New Testament speaks to giving all to God and God’s people.  Obeying the Word of God in regard to money is a central component of discipleship.
 
Surrender:  There is, of course, a step beyond obedience when it comes to generosity. It is total surrender of our lives, our hopes and our future into God’s kingdom. As the hymn writer said, “All to Jesus, I surrender, All to him I freely give. I will ever love and trust him, in his presence daily live” Generosity becomes a way of life when we truly surrender all we have and live in Christ
doing the work of Christ in the world.

Green Timbers Financials:
I want to end this article with a challenge based on where we are financially as a church (which all in all is good news because we are in a good place).  There is a challenge in this as well.  

First the challenge: Each year at the annual meeting the congregation approves a budget that includes the amount of money that we believe that the congregation will give. In essence, those who approve that budget are pledging to give that amount. The budget is planned based on what we believe we will spend and what we think we will receive.  This year we are well below the planned/pledged amount of budgeted giving at this time of the year. Our pace is 12.6 percent behind where we as a church believed we would be and should be to accomplish our ministry tasks. That amounts to $16,000 in shortfall, below what we agreed to give.  

The good news is that our bottom line is very good.  This is because our expenses are below what we predicted and below our revenue!  We are in the black so far for 2017, which as I said is good news.  That said, there are some large expenses remaining over the last two months.  

My hope is that this call to generosity challenges you to help narrow that gap in giving so that we can continue to pursue our mission . I don’t want to make the false equivalency that generosity equals giving to the church—that would put a real limit on what is possible when Christ creates generous people.  However, generous people make what we do in the church possible.  Thank you for your generosity and for your support!