You Are What You Love
Giving
Connection
Make sure to spend some time catching up with one another and share your highs and lows of the week.
Worship
Song suggestion: I Will Offer Up My Life
Bible
This week we explored the invitation to bring God financial offerings on top of our regular person giving, flowing from John Wesley’s teaching that as a Christian’s income is enlarged, it it not their standard of living that should increase, but rather their standard of giving. Through Paul’s letter to the Corinthian Church, we were reminded of the radical standard of generosity which God invites all Christians into.
The Challenge of the Offering
“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.” (v10)
In verse 10, Paul promises a good return on their investment, but not in solely financial terms. God promises that when we sow seed generously, he will ever provide for all our needs, and even increase the seed that he gives us. The challenge is that everything God gives us beyond our needs, is seed to be sown for the growth of God’s kingdom, and not bread to be taken as food, for our own sakes.
Where in your life have you taken what God intended to be seed to be sown and made it bread for food for yourself? Where do you need to repent, and how can you practically live out this repentance?
Paul indicates that one responsibility of the church is to ensure that the store of seed is always full. What can you do to contribute to the continual replenishing of our church family’s store of seed?
What corporate practices can you adopt as a group to sow seed into the growth of God’s Kingdom? (e.g. starting a generosity fund, supporting a missions organisation as a group, abstaining from something in order to give more greatly)
The Promise of the Offering
Just as in Malachi 3, God promises great result from our righteousness. Imagine a scenario in which all of you saw one friend be saved this week - how wonderful would that be!? Then think of all the logistical/practical and financial problems that we’ll be faced with! Multiplying life groups, more services, planting new churches, greater hospitality, hundreds of new people to disciple. When God sends revival, we will have more work to do, not less!
How should we preparing ourselves for a great move of God?
While any revival is driven solely by God in His sovereignty, all revival is marked by more sacrificial and more cheerful devotion from the church. How can you be more sacrificially devoted to God as individuals this week?
The Reason for the Offering
Paul, in verse 9, references the righteous man of Psalm 112. We learnt on Sunday that the Psalmist, here, is primarily writing about the coming of the Messiah. Read through Psalm 112 and discuss:
Why do you think Paul references this Psalm when inviting the Corinthians to make a corporate financial offering?
Read verses 6-9 again. Think about how Jesus’ ultimately fulfils these verses in His birth/life/death/resurrection and ascension?
If Jesus’ emotional response to giving up His life is our pattern for how we are to give (think of how He fulfils v7 in the Garden of Gethsemane), how should we be emotionally engaging with the offering moment each Sunday?
Prayer
Pray that you would know the sacrificial and cheerful heart of Jesus, which is drawn out towards you in love.
Pray for the desire to grow in generosity.
Pray that God would multiply what you give and cause the seed which you sow to bear much fruit for His Kingdom.
Challenge
John Wesley taught that Christians should give both their first and their last to God. That is to say that we are invited to give our first fruits to God in our regular giving, and that we are also invited to give what we have remaining at the end of each week. Looking back at the past week and/or next week, where has God given you seed (beyond your needs) that can be sown for His kingdom?