BE THANKFUL UNTO GOD (3)

"Thanksgiving and Generosity Goes Together"

MAIN IDEA

God doesn’t just want to bless us so we can meet our own needs, but he does it so we can meet the needs of others. As we give generously in Jesus’ name, the recipients thank God, not us.

VERSE

“He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. By their approval of this service, they will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others, while they long for you and pray for you, because of the surpassing grace of God upon you. Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!” –2 Corinthians 9:10–15

OUTLINE

Gratitude doesn’t just come because we receive something. Generosity also inspires thankfulness in the one who gives. That gratitude gets translated into more generosity. It’s cyclical and addictive.

If we look at what we have as something we’ve earned, we hold on to it tightly. If we recognize God gave us the ability to make money, it’s natural to see ourselves as stewards of what he has entrusted us. One of the keys to thankfulness and generosity is seeing that everything belongs to God.Here’s a story that illustrates this from Greg Laurie’s book, A Time to Worship: “I read a story of a woman who had finished her shopping and returned to her car to find four men inside it. She dropped her shopping bags, drew a handgun from her purse, and with a forceful voice said, ‘I have a gun, and I know how to use it! Get out of the car!’ Those men did not wait for a second invitation. They got out and ran like crazy! The woman, understandably shaken, quickly loaded her shopping bags and got into the car. She just wanted to get out of there as fast as she could. But no matter how she tried, she could not get her key into the ignition.Then it hit her: This isn’t my car! She looked, and indeed her car was parked four or five spaces away. She got out, looked around to see if the men were near, loaded the bags into her own car, and drove to the police station to turn herself in.The desk sergeant, after hearing her story, nearly fell out of his chair laughing. He pointed to the other end of the counter, where four men were reporting a carjacking by a woman with glasses and curly white hair, less than five feet tall, and carrying a large handgun. No charges were filed.”

Mark tells us about a rich young ruler who comes to Jesus looking for eternal life. Jesus tells him to sell everything he has and give the proceeds to the poor. Since he had so many possessions, he walked away dejected (Mark 10:17–22).

Sometimes we hold so tightly to our “stuff” we can’t obey what God is telling us to do. We don’t recognize that as we give to others, God blesses us with joy and thanksgiving.

We’re told by our consumer culture that we’ll be happier the more stuff we have. Jesus calls us out of that culture and to generously give what we have. What we don’t see is that when we trust him in this, he blesses us. We’re not called to suffer through giving to others; it’s just that we won’t see the blessing in it until we learn to be obedient.

Probably the most generous and thankful people you know aren’t the wealthiest. It is entirely possible to give generously with limited means.

When it comes to generosity, Paul has a particular lexicon. The words he associates with giving generously are words like:

Abound

Increase

Enlarge

Overflowing

Surpassing grace

When we abound in our generosity, thankfulness is the natural response. We can’t internalize this truth though until we regularly practice generosity.

God is increasingly generous to us. You can see this in creation and how he blesses people who follow him and those who don't. God doesn't bless us because we deserve what he gives. God gives us abundantly because it's his nature to be generous. Anytime we realize how good God has been to us, it becomes obvious that we should act generously with others because we're thankful for what God did with us.

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