Saturday, October 17, 2020

PT-3 "The Practice and Reward of True Giving" (Matt. 6:3-4)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/17/2020 10:18 AM

 

My Worship Time                                  Focus:  PT-3 “The Purpose and Reward of True Giving”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Matthew 6:3-4

 

            Message of the verses:  3  "But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing 4  that your alms may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will repay you.”

 

            As we begin this SD this morning we will begin to look at what John MacArthur describes finding in the Scriptures seven principles that will guide us in nonhypocritical giving.  Seeing how this is Saturday we will only look at three of these, and then Lord willing we will look at the other four in our next SD.

 

            The first Scriptural principle for giving is that giving from the heart is investing with God and we will look at some verses to show us this principle.  Luke 6:38 “"Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure-pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.’”  2 Corinthians 9:6 “Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.”

 

            Second principle of giving is to be sacrificial.  We will see in 2 Samuel 24:24 that David refuses to give to the Lord that what cost him nothing:  “However, the king said to Araunah, "No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price, for I will not offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God which cost me nothing." So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.”  MacArthur adds “Generosity is not measured by the size of the gift itself, but by its size in comparison to what is possessed.  The widow who gave ‘two small copper coins’ to the Temple treasury gave more than all the ‘many rich people [who] were putting in large sums’ because ‘they all put in out of their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, all she had to live on’ (Mark 12:41-44).

 

            The third responsibility for giving has to do with relationship to how much a person has.  The person who is not generous when he is poor will not be generous if he then becomes rich.  Although he might give larger amounts he will not give a larger proportion.  Luke 16:10 “"He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous also in much.”  MacArthur adds “IT is extremely important to teach children to give generously to the Lord with whatever small amounts of money they get, because the attitudes and patterns they develop as children are likely to be the ones they follow when they are grown.  Giving is not a matter of how much money one has but of how much love and care is in the heart.”

 

10/17/2020 10:35 AM

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