Giving and Serving God

Steve Swain began this Gathering with a short talk on giving.

He saw a motivational speaker once, who gave his three rules for financial independence. 1. Save 10%. 2. Give 10%. 3. Live on 80%. This came from a hard-nosed businessman, who didn’t know why it worked, just knew that it did.

In the Bible, the tithe is equivalent to 10%. Tithing is an old Testament principal and was about keeping the priesthood, whose lives were dedicated to serving God and whose direct work generated no income. When Jesus talked about giving, he talked about giving to the poor.

The Junction has minimal outlays, around 20% of our current income, leaving us 80% to give away. We have given to 2H who help those in poverty to build businesses to enable them to get out if it and assist with health needs. We have also given to African Aid International and local mission work.

Tithing may not be a New Testament law, but it is a principal that makes sense.

Giving is an indicator of the character of God. He is a giver, that is His nature. So we should want to be givers too, as we are followers of God, but also because it makes sense.

Steve then picked up on his continuing exploration of Emerging Questions and Traditional Answers.

You are allowed to ask questions - God can handle it.

Richards Dawkins in the “God Delusion” and Bertrand Russell in “Why I’m not a Christian” asked some interesting questions, like “If God is good and powerful, how come bad stuff happens to good people?” Traditional answers don’t work.

How do we serve God? How much time, money and effort is required? Cancer relative can’t help the family, because he’s busy with church. What’s the answer? We’re here today because of emerging questions asked nine years ago, which traditional answers didn’t satisfy.

How do you answer the emerging questions? Look at the theory with openness, is the practice working? Is the question legitimate? God wants us to serve, how much, who with and when are the questions - what is enough? People have different capacities and talents - parable of the talents. But its also about responding to needs. Unfortunately you can’t respond to every need.

We need to recognise that God is at work in us. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9 (NIV). God is at work in you, but we need to make every effort.

Its about God and I. You are allowed to question how much.

Love your neighbour as yourself, means you need to take care of yourself as well. Balanced with sacrifice - each of us matters. Do you matter? How much sacrifice should we be making?

How do we work these things out? Pray - speak, reflect. The Bible has all sorts of answers. Communicate - talk it over with others.

Leadership has been talking about small groups, where we can bump up against each other, spending time over a period of time.

Steve encouraged us to think about a small group activity. Share a meal and have a chat - it doesn’t necessarily have to be a study.