"Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need."
One of the Cell Groups in my Network has decided to take this literally. So on June 4, 5,& 6 they will have a garage sale. This is not your normal garage sale where the wife sells her husbands stuff - or junk from the basement. Instead they talked about being sacrificial in their decisions of what to sell. In other words selling stuff they like, use and stuff others would want! The proceeds will be given during the June 7th "Big Give" service. Several people don't have money to give - so they are selling their possessions! What a great way to involve people who didn't think they could participate.
I'm really proud of this group, they are taking a big "Next Step" in their understanding of being generous the way God is generous to us.
Another group has a "Help Needed" sign up at their group. People can make an ask for help from others. So far a computer has been repaired and home repairs are being planned.
Both of these groups are taking seriously their role of helping people and coming along side those close to God and those far from God.
So, I know that these are not the only things being done within the Cell Group communities and in an effort to encourage other, tell us your stories, we need to hear them.
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4 comments:
This generosity series has been an interesting one - for positive reasons. The video has been a nice change up from the usual.
Just a quick comment in looking over the material for 5/31/09. While the principle of tithing is throughout the Bible, the Malachi passages tend to get hijacked by any number of religious organizations who see themselves as the "storehouse".
If you go back to Leviticus, I believe you will find that the "storehouse" was the place people were to contribute to for the unfortunate among them. The Jewish experience co-mingles many religious/community/charity things together. The Levites are given property among other tribes, the poor can glean, there is a local community of caring, etc.
Some of these same functions are practiced in a number of government bodies today at the local, state, and national level in our country. However, in America, since we do not support a "state" religion, congregations typically support the ministry of their own churches.
If one were to total up the tithes, giving, and charity of Leviticus - it would probably be somewhere over 20%. But it would be much bigger than a religious setting.
I think the bigger issues are: taking care of people who cannot care for themselves, and learning to trust God in spite of our circumstances.
Perhaps the reasons the American churches tend to focus more on the "cheerful" giving and less on tithing is that the various governmental and charity agencies today play large parts of the roles that Jewish society included.
Also, God values the heart more than the amount. He points out the poor woman who gave all she has versus the people who gave the correct percentage. God does NOT need money, but the way we handle money is a reflection of our attitude toward God, our family, our neighbors, and the world at large.
There is a freedom in Christ that we do not have to "measure up" to expectations. Churches in general can be a place of guilt manipulation for people who are attempting to "earn" favor with God. We certainly need to point out how we all can grow in generosity and faith. I think we can point out from Malachi that God can be trusted and that God's plan is much bigger than just making a churches budget.
The approach to the generosity series I think is achieving this goal. It is providing needs for community around us, ministry at a distance, and the unfortunate of the world. It is not about laying another burden on people who cannot earn favor with God. Jesus alone earned our favor and our motivation is because God has been generous with us.
Oops - check this passage out: Deuteronomy 14:28-29
More from Deuteronomy 14
Tithes
22 Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year. 23 Eat the tithe of your grain, new wine and oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks in the presence of the LORD your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name, so that you may learn to revere the LORD your God always. 24 But if that place is too distant and you have been blessed by the LORD your God and cannot carry your tithe (because the place where the LORD will choose to put his Name is so far away), 25 then exchange your tithe for silver, and take the silver with you and go to the place the LORD your God will choose. 26 Use the silver to buy whatever you like: cattle, sheep, wine or other fermented drink, or anything you wish. Then you and your household shall eat there in the presence of the LORD your God and rejoice. 27 And do not neglect the Levites living in your towns, for they have no allotment or inheritance of their own.
28 At the end of every three years, bring all the tithes of that year's produce and store it in your towns, 29 so that the Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of their own) and the aliens, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.
Another tithe passage from Deuteronomy 26
1 When you have entered the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance and have taken possession of it and settled in it, 2 take some of the firstfruits of all that you produce from the soil of the land the LORD your God is giving you and put them in a basket. Then go to the place the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for his Name 3 and say to the priest in office at the time, "I declare today to the LORD your God that I have come to the land the LORD swore to our forefathers to give us." 4 The priest shall take the basket from your hands and set it down in front of the altar of the LORD your God. 5 Then you shall declare before the LORD your God: "My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down into Egypt with a few people and lived there and became a great nation, powerful and numerous. 6 But the Egyptians mistreated us and made us suffer, putting us to hard labor. 7 Then we cried out to the LORD, the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice and saw our misery, toil and oppression. 8 So the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror and with miraculous signs and wonders. 9 He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey; 10 and now I bring the firstfruits of the soil that you, O LORD, have given me." Place the basket before the LORD your God and bow down before him. 11 And you and the Levites and the aliens among you shall rejoice in all the good things the LORD your God has given to you and your household.
12 When you have finished setting aside a tenth of all your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, you shall give it to the Levite, the alien, the fatherless and the widow, so that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied. 13 Then say to the LORD your God: "I have removed from my house the sacred portion and have given it to the Levite, the alien, the fatherless and the widow, according to all you commanded. I have not turned aside from your commands nor have I forgotten any of them. 14 I have not eaten any of the sacred portion while I was in mourning, nor have I removed any of it while I was unclean, nor have I offered any of it to the dead. I have obeyed the LORD my God; I have done everything you commanded me. 15 Look down from heaven, your holy dwelling place, and bless your people Israel and the land you have given us as you promised on oath to our forefathers, a land flowing with milk and honey."
Interesting,
1) You were supposed to eat the tithe in place that God chose every year
2) Every 3rd year was the "Year of the Tithe". Those tithes went to a store in your towns for the Levites, aliens, fatherless, and widows
3) These are the tithes referred to in Malichi 3
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