Thanks-giving

Intro: Thanks and Giving Go Together

Happy Thanksgiving to you. This is for many their favorite holiday. There is ample time to spend with close friends and family. Time. Food. Conversation. Pace.

Circle of Thanks - sharing what has blessed you. Generally, we are thankful for the things that matter most to us. What I hear most often are comments about people and health. Rarely do I hear about money and things.

Let’s put it simply. When we boil it down there are things that matter more than money. Yet for many of us, money seems to be the focus for the other 364 days of the year. Why is that? Today I want to address that issue. And it’s not just me. Did you know that Jesus talked about money more than any other topic?

There is an interesting cycle of generosity and gratitude. One encourages the other. People who are thankful tend to be more generous. People who are generous become more thankful.

This isn’t just my idea. Recent research bears this out.

In one 2006 study, grateful-feeling participants were more willing to help someone out by taking a boring survey than participants who weren’t feeling grateful.

In another study, people who kept a gratitude journal offered more help and emotional support to others than people who wrote about hassles or neutral events.

The Templeton Giving Survey, released just this week, found that people who think about gratitude daily donate more money and volunteer more hours per year. (Kara Newman, Greater Good Magazine)

(The survey was funded by the John Templeton Foundation, which also funds the GGSC’s Expanding the Science and Practice of Gratitude project.) (Kara Newman, Greater Good Magazine)

So that’s what Science says, let’s hear what the Word of God says about it.

2 Corinthians 9:6–15 NIV

Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. As it is written: “They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor; their righteousness endures forever.” Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

Romans 9:6–15 NLT

Well then, has God failed to fulfill his promise to Israel? No, for not all who are born into the nation of Israel are truly members of God’s people! Being descendants of Abraham doesn’t make them truly Abraham’s children. For the Scriptures say, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted,” though Abraham had other children, too. This means that Abraham’s physical descendants are not necessarily children of God. Only the children of the promise are considered to be Abraham’s children. For God had promised, “I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” This son was our ancestor Isaac. When he married Rebekah, she gave birth to twins. But before they were born, before they had done anything good or bad, she received a message from God. (This message shows that God chooses people according to his own purposes; he calls people, but not according to their good or bad works.) She was told, “Your older son will serve your younger son.” In the words of the Scriptures, “I loved Jacob, but I rejected Esau.” Are we saying, then, that God was unfair? Of course not! For God said to Moses, “I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose.”

Rom 9:6-

1. Give What You Want to Give (6-9)

What you plant, you will reap.

Not all can give the same amount.

Percentage rather than Amount.

IL: Widow’s mite. She gave more.

V 7 - you decide. Not reluctantly or in response to pressure.

Give until you laugh.

They shave freely scattered gifts to the poor.. (Ps 112:9)

2. Receive What God Gives in Return (10-11)

God rewards us in every way

Financially: God determines who has wealth.

Financially

When we give, God causes our ability to give to increase.

This is where the health and wealth Gospel people get it wrong. They believe that God will give so that we can spend it on ourselves. Beware of that. We don’t give so that we can get.

Boxer friend, Scott LeDoux - Boxing in the Bible. Better to give than receive.

We give because we are grateful. If God supplies more, then we can give more.

Moe and I have recently adopted a strategy that is changing our lives. We have determined to live beneath our means. For us that means a simpler home, paying off debt, watching our expenses, and saving and giving more freely.

It is amazing how much easier it is to give, when you live beneath your means.

For some of you, the thankfulness of getting out of debt will increase your generosity.

Spiritually: God causes our faith to grow

“in every way”

Generosity is a sign of spiritual maturity. It is one way to measure how much we love one another.

Remember the words of Jesus - where your treasure is, your heart is there too.

Relationally: God causes our friendships to grow

Spiritually

Relationally - through us (then read 14)

3. Keep the cycle going - generosity leads to thanks, which leads to generosity... (12-15)

In this story, the generosity of the Corinthians towards the Macedonians led to thanksgiving on both ends.

Lon will share about some year-end giving opportunities.

Why? So that we can create a welcoming environment for people who are longing for what you’re discovering. That a life with Jesus is worth more than anything else we have.

Not all will give the same amount. But everyone can and should give some.

Imagine the thanks that will pour out as your invited guest come into our building. Imagine the ways that God will bless this ministry that you love. Imagine the rewards that will come as people receive Christ as Savior and Lord in part because you chose to be generous with the little or much that God has shared with you.