Fruitful Church: Extravagant Generosity


Acts 4:32-37 tells how the infant church practiced extravagant generosity.  It says that none of the members of the church was in need.  The reason why was that much grace was on them all.  They had received God's grace and were relaying it to each other.  From this sense of grace, no one felt his possessions were his own.  Everyone shared what he had.  Sometimes, people sold pieces of property and laid the proceeds at the apostles' feet.  The apostles distributed them to people according to their need.

Extravagant generosity begins with God's grace.  It begins with the insight that God has been extravagantly generous to us.  His ultimate act of generosity was the gift of his Son.  

Throughout church history, Christ followers have practiced the spiritual discipline of giving.  In particular, giving a tithe or giving back to God ten percent of what he had given them.  They've seen it as a spiritual discipline like prayer and meditating on the scriptures, and just as important!

Extravagant generosity in a church begins in individual members.  First, they realize how much God has given them. If you believe God has shorted you, you'll never be a generous giver!  

Second, they examine their attitudes and lifestyles about material things.  We live in a materialistic culture, in which we judge each other by how much money we have.  But material things can never give life meaning and purpose.  That comes only from a relationship with God.  An attitude and lifestyle of acquisition takes us away from God.

Third, they pray about how much God wants them to give.  In the scriptures, the basic standard for giving is the tithe.  But Christ followers need to pray and seek God's guidance in each of their lives.

From this base, fruitful churches freely talk about giving back to God.  They don't use fear, guilt, greed, etc., to motivate people to give.  Instead, they emphasize the spiritual growth and joy that comes from extravagant generosity!

May God bless you with the grace of giving!

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