Preparation and Giving

Selfishness

Selfishness can dress itself up to seem like there is a community aspect attached to it, but truthfully selfishness can be shown by extending yourself to things that you have a vested interest in and no further. Statements like my church, my house, my car, my job. We have to be careful how we position the “MY” in our life. Granted there may be some stewardship attached to it but let us not get some high-minded that we believe we possess and own these things like God did not bless us with it in the first place.

The culture of a church does not become selfish by one act, what happens is when our self-centeredness impacts our ability to build relationships the church becomes this social club of impermeable cliques in which new members and visitors have a difficult time navigating.

This wasn’t the only concern. There were two other major concerns at the church of Corinth. Sexual ethics were quite lax to say the least and there were some theological concerns such as accepting the resurrection of the Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 5:1-2 “It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and such sexual immorality as is not even named among the Gentiles—that a man has his father’s wife! And you are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you.”

1 Corinthians 15:12 “Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?”

Those were just a couple of the problems including people claiming spiritual superiority, suing one another, and utilizing acts of worship to solidify superiority order and boundaries had to be created.

Any effort to stonewall negativity and dissensions with the church has to be done by implementing a large amount of refocus. Refocus on the the real focus being Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the only reason why we are here, none of us are truly worthy, therefore let us humble ourselves properly.

When Broken Rules Become the Norm We Have to Start Over

When things seem to get out of hand we have to get back to the original mission. The original mission has service attached to it.

This now concerning moment is a growing theme throughout this first letter to the Corinthian church.

We see “Now concerning” in 1 Corinthians 7:1 “Now concerning the things of which you wrote to me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman.” in effort to set the boundaries and principles for marriage. This consistency is continued in chapter 16. Now concerning the collection for the saints.

As a body of believers it is our duty to care for the poor! Make financial preparations to help those who are need.

Galatians 2:10 “They desired only that we should remember the poor, the very thing which I also was eager to do.”

Acts 11:29 “Then the disciples, each according to his ability, determined to send relief to the brethren dwelling in Judea.”

This inspired message of God through Paul is not asking much. God is requiring that accomplish our ability to step outside of our selfishness according to our ability. This may seem simple to those are apt to giving, but when we are caught up in a spirit of comparison we end up giving from a selfish place, we are doing it out of the kindness of our heart we just refused to be one upped by the next person.

Walking with Christ is About Preparation

There are very few things in life that we have the ability to do without preparation.

Our giving has to be something we have prepared for. This is an indicator that we are doing it from a place of prioritizing rather than competition.

Understand the issues that come from those operating from a place of competition rather than love and hospitality.

Cain’s countenance had nothing to do with Abel, he was giving from a place of competition and eventually when competition is our motivator we get frustrated because there is no peace attached to competition.

This is why it’s coined as freewill, I’m freely doing it from a place of preparation. So much so that Paul uses similar words to describe the giving .

What does this word collection mean? It means to collect contribution, but those involving a voluntary response. The focus is upon the activity of the person engaged in obtaining the contributions.

Laying something aside has a spirit of specificity to it. I’ve set this aside to go to a specific place at a specific time.

I must count the cost. Luke 14:28 “For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it—”

We set aside money and time for many things. We set aside money for mortgage and time for work. Let us dig deeper and understand that if it wasn’t for God we would not have these things in the first place.

God Deserves More Than Our Procrastination

God deserves more than our scrambling, let’s look at our daily lives. When we go to sleep at night often times we have some sort of idea of what tomorrow’s expectations are.

We know what time we have to go to work, we typically have an idea of what we want to wear or even eat the next day. Subconsciously we have expectations of what our next minute, day, or week consist of. Let us be mindful that none of this would be possible if it was not for God.

God did not procrastinate with our salvation. John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

God knew what it took to give to the world to save the world from themselves.

Let’s take a look at the preparation it took for God to take the sting out of death.

Isaiah 7:14 “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.”

Hosea 11:1 ““When Israel was a child, I loved him, And out of Egypt I called My son.”

Matthew 2:14-15 “When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt, and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called My Son.””

God has been preparing to give us Jesus since Adam and Even fumbled the bag in the garden.

Genesis 3:15 “And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.””

1 John 3:8 “He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.”

If God can prepare to give me salvation, I can make preparation with my time and even something as insignificant as money. I do not call it insignificant because it’s meaningless, we all know that money has meaning but when we prioritize THINGS over a God that can give us abundance, a God that can give us greater than we could ever imagine, let us be mindful of how GREAT God has been for us.

Even so much so that God took the preparation of the enemy and turned it in to giftedness for us.

He took the pain of the cross and persecution and turned it to salvation and eternal life for us! So if God can do that for the entire world let us be mindful of what He can do with something as simple as money!