Kelly Minter: "All Things New" Session 5

Session 5 of "All Things New" is about rethinking generosity.

Kelly mentions the generosity of Macedonia, which was a poor church, and the wealth of the Corinthian church.

In Galatians, Paul mentions to "remember the poor" (the Jewish poor).  This is why he wants the Corinth church to take up a collection for the church in Jerusalem - remember the Jewish poor.  Macedonians, who are poor, gave money to the church in Jerusalem.  So Paul is encouraging the Corinth church, who are wealthy, to follow this pattern as well.

What makes people give who are impoverished? Paul said in verse  1 "I want to tell you about the grace of God which has been evident in the churches in Macedonia." It is the grace of God Kelly says.  Paul wanted the Corinth church to know this.

Three Points About the Grace of God: 

• Only the grace of God can make overflowing joy and extreme poverty equal rich generosity - "gave beyond what they were able"
• Only the grace of God can prompt us to give as much as we're able, and then just a little bit more - "entirely on their own." Wanted the privilege to be a part of giving.
• Only the grace of God can inspire us to give before we've even been asked

Six Things About Biblical Generosity:

• Verse 4 - eager to participate.  Privilege (the word used here is Charis - grace or benefit. Giving is an expression of God's grace.  It was a privilege to share in the service of the saints
• The privilege of giving to our brothers and sisters in Christ is one of the greatest privileges we'll ever have on this earth. In 2 Corinthians 8:7 Paul was saying "step it up Corinthians."
• Sacrifical generosity should be a characteristic of every believers life.  This should be how we live
• Love and generosity are inextricably tied together testing their sincerity not commanding it. (2 Corinthians 8:8-12).  The Macedonians and Corinthians were giving to a people group they didn't know personally.  
• God's definition of giving richly has nothing to do with our wealth.  Macedonians didn't have much.  (verse 12)
• The discipline of giving is for the mutual benefit of the giver and the receiver (8:13-14).  This is where the joy is.

In verse 11, Paul stresses to the Corinthian church "now finish this".  He wanted them to follow through.  We follow through with the things we care about.

Kelly mentioned that if we came into wealth, we probably would not give it away unless we are doing that right now.  Because we only give out of our wealth what we're willing to give out of our leaness.  

We need to believe what God can do with any sum of money. When we give it shows where our heart truly is.

To sum up, Kelly said our desire and ability to give all goes back to the person of Jesus Christ who gave it all.

Session 6: "A Good Kind of Boasting"