JESUS TEACHES ABOUT GIVING AND GOOD WORKS
Greetings in the name of Jesus:
The real and honest truth about Jesus teachings on Giving and Good works is centered around almost everything but money. I think that is a great surprise to most Christians today from the reaction I get when the subject comes up.
In most cases the church has tended to lead us to believe that Giving should be directly involving the money that we give to the church. This is cloaked in the concept of giving back to God a tenth of what He has given us, and then of course in supporting our local church body so that the church can continue to minister to others. I don't want to get down on this type of financial support because like everything else it is needed, but I do want to do a little bit of digging into the reasons behind that kind of giving, and perhaps start a discussion on what God had originally intended behind it. It is easy enough to start with the scriptures we can find in Matthew 6: 19-24 as Jesus teaches about money itself: " Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth; where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal."
The concept that Jesus gives to us about what is of value in the first place is completely different from the world view that most all of us follow. Once again we are so focused on the stuff that we have around us that we forget what the main point is for what God is telling us. The real value in life itself does not center around the things of this current life or this current realm we are in; but rather in what is permanent and eternal. I believe that we must start with a transformation of mind and heart to understand the values of what life really means. Everything that we do for someone else or that we give to any cause from that transformed mind and heart will take on a new and different meaning and purpose for us. What I am saying is that not only will our desires change within our heart about giving and good works but the very nature of why we are doing things will change.
I think we may have seen a good example of that transformation shown in the book of Acts 2:42-47 in the way the believers respected and viewed one another. The attitudes of the people changed as they became transformed and they became as one as they broke bread and prayed together. The reason was simply that God had filled them with a new desire to love and trust in Him for their needs. It was this change that allowed them to have everything in common, and it prompted them to see the needs of everyone as a top priority to them and those who had the means helped those who were in need through selling what they could and providing for the needs of all within the church body or the Spiritual family which they were a part of. This act in the very beginning took care of the entire body of Christ as a church and the world around them saw the true care and love that they shared with one another which caused the world to want to genuinely know more about what was going on.
I want to seriously ask you a question? Do you find any of what Jesus taught about Giving or good works at work iin today's churches? Or it is somehow all seemingly centered around sustaining some kind of physical concept of money, riches and conduct controlled by the world?
This is a genuine question that I think we need to give an answer to in this age because much like what we see happening to the churches that have bought into the idea that riches are tied into the number of toys we have in this life; we are seeing the world of people seeing nothing of value that draws them to God any more than it would any other social club in this life. Don't you think it is time that we gave a witness to this world that actually would draw their interest in what was going on in the church that made it so special to us? There is so much more to say on this topic that I am going to have to continue on with this discussion in the next blog...but I really want your opinion. What do you think is going on that makes this first church and teaching from Jesus so different from what we see today? I hope you will comment back on this. May you richly bless God through your life in Him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
The real and honest truth about Jesus teachings on Giving and Good works is centered around almost everything but money. I think that is a great surprise to most Christians today from the reaction I get when the subject comes up.
In most cases the church has tended to lead us to believe that Giving should be directly involving the money that we give to the church. This is cloaked in the concept of giving back to God a tenth of what He has given us, and then of course in supporting our local church body so that the church can continue to minister to others. I don't want to get down on this type of financial support because like everything else it is needed, but I do want to do a little bit of digging into the reasons behind that kind of giving, and perhaps start a discussion on what God had originally intended behind it. It is easy enough to start with the scriptures we can find in Matthew 6: 19-24 as Jesus teaches about money itself: " Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth; where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal."
The concept that Jesus gives to us about what is of value in the first place is completely different from the world view that most all of us follow. Once again we are so focused on the stuff that we have around us that we forget what the main point is for what God is telling us. The real value in life itself does not center around the things of this current life or this current realm we are in; but rather in what is permanent and eternal. I believe that we must start with a transformation of mind and heart to understand the values of what life really means. Everything that we do for someone else or that we give to any cause from that transformed mind and heart will take on a new and different meaning and purpose for us. What I am saying is that not only will our desires change within our heart about giving and good works but the very nature of why we are doing things will change.
I think we may have seen a good example of that transformation shown in the book of Acts 2:42-47 in the way the believers respected and viewed one another. The attitudes of the people changed as they became transformed and they became as one as they broke bread and prayed together. The reason was simply that God had filled them with a new desire to love and trust in Him for their needs. It was this change that allowed them to have everything in common, and it prompted them to see the needs of everyone as a top priority to them and those who had the means helped those who were in need through selling what they could and providing for the needs of all within the church body or the Spiritual family which they were a part of. This act in the very beginning took care of the entire body of Christ as a church and the world around them saw the true care and love that they shared with one another which caused the world to want to genuinely know more about what was going on.
I want to seriously ask you a question? Do you find any of what Jesus taught about Giving or good works at work iin today's churches? Or it is somehow all seemingly centered around sustaining some kind of physical concept of money, riches and conduct controlled by the world?
This is a genuine question that I think we need to give an answer to in this age because much like what we see happening to the churches that have bought into the idea that riches are tied into the number of toys we have in this life; we are seeing the world of people seeing nothing of value that draws them to God any more than it would any other social club in this life. Don't you think it is time that we gave a witness to this world that actually would draw their interest in what was going on in the church that made it so special to us? There is so much more to say on this topic that I am going to have to continue on with this discussion in the next blog...but I really want your opinion. What do you think is going on that makes this first church and teaching from Jesus so different from what we see today? I hope you will comment back on this. May you richly bless God through your life in Him.
THE UNWORTHY SERVANT
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