Examples of Giving

Len Hall was a man in our church who absolutely loved the Lord. He and his wife, Fay, were pillars of the church for many years. Len faithfully taught Sunday School for over 30 years. He was instrumental in putting together our preschool that was started over 25 years ago, helping to gut a building that had been a shoe store and rebuild it to be a special place for small children. Len was also an evangelist. I recall visiting him once in the hospital during the latter part of his life. He was talking to the nurse about having a relationship with Christ when I entered. He immediately introduced me as his pastor, and told her what a fine church we had. He invited her to worship with us and then continued the conversation around making a commitment to Jesus Christ. He would talk about Jesus with such great enthusiasm and joy, she couldn’t help but be drawn in. She didn’t make a commitment to Jesus, but there was no doubt as to where Len stood and that she could be in that position, too.

Len and Fay also made a commitment to tithing when they were young, and were not afraid to let others know. In fact, they committed to increase their giving beyond the tithe (10%) and at one point shared that they gave 50% of their retirement income. Len was not one to brag, and his purpose for sharing was not to bring attention to himself, but to the goodness of God. They never went without anything. They were one of the most giving, kind couples I have ever met. And as I said earlier, they loved their Lord, and that showed in all they did, including their giving.

Stewardship

I have not read Bono’s speech, only the excerpts quoted on Mark's site. But what specifically speaks to me about Mark’s observation of the speech is Bono’s reference to a “tithe” that he challenges the American government to give that would go toward relieving world hunger. Bono said,

I want to suggest to you today that you see the flow of effective foreign assistance as tithing . . . . Which, to be truly meaningful, will mean an additional one percent of the federal budget tithed to the poor. . . . America gives less than one percent now. We’re asking for an extra one percent to change the world. To transform millions of lives—but not just that -- and I say this to the military men now – to transform the way that they see us.

God will use anyone, and often does, to proclaim His heart. Whether Bono is a Christian or not is irrelevant. His message, to help the less fortunate, to show compassion and justice, is. Remember what Jesus said, “Whatever you have done to the least of these, you have done it unto me”. Proverbs 22:9 (NLT) “Blessed are those who are generous, because they feed the poor.” Any discussion on stewardship must include taking care of the poor and less fortunate.

Giving

The last three weeks I’ve been preaching on stewardship, which is how we handle what God has given us. It entails more than money, it is a lifestyle, a lifestyle of giving. And that lifestyle reflects something more, how we worship. Worship is more than singing on Sunday during the services, worship to the Lord is defined by how I conduct all of my life. What I do with my life is to be seen as worship to the Lord. With that in mind, on Sunday I defined stewardship as a

lifestyle of worship which is evident in our giving.

With that in mind, I’d like for you to look at Mark D. Roberts. Mark Roberts has some observations worth reading about the National Prayer Breakfast that was held recently, and specifically the “sermon” from Bono of U2 fame, which dealt with giving and tithing. Bono didn’t come as a member of U2, though, he came as the founder of DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa), which in turn founded the ONE Campaign. (Check out his entries on February 13-15, which deal specifically with Bono’s speech.

Curiosity gets me in trouble

I thought I'd try something new on my blog, so I changed the template. One slight problem, though. After I found another one, I missed one little button, which removed all the info on the side. If you're wondering where the links went, and all that other fun stuff, I'm wondering the same thing!