Well, when we are generous with our wealth a number of great things happen.
Firstly, our generosity brings praise to God [2 Corinthians 9:12-13]. I guess that real sacrificial giving, such as the Macedonians exhibited, is so rare that it will point people to the God who inspired it and to his gracious character [2 Corinthians 8:8-9].
And then Jesus tells us that our generosity frees us from the strangle-hold that our money often has on us [Matthew 6:19-24]. It helps us to learn tot rust God [Matthew 6:25-34] and if that doesn't make you joyful, nothing will.
Furthermore the Bible is clear that God blesses the generous. Not that he will make us money-rich but he will bless us [2 Corinthian 9:6, 10-11]. And who could not be pleased that their giving contributed to people being introduced to Jesus and getting their lives changed [2 Corinthians 9:13]!
There is no better investment in existence than that, and we don't have to pay for the advice, there is no brokerage fee and the market is never going to collapse. The bottom line is that our generosity is for our own good. It brings joy and blessing if our heart is in God.
Bruce Dingwall, Senior Minister
Agree with all of this wholeheartedly. Just a comment after the "annual talks on giving" series a few weeks ago.... I'm not sure if it's an Anglican thing, but why do we need to be so apologetic around discussing money matters? The whole issue of giving should not be one that we need to tip toe around or apologise for, and yet we seem to. Generosity and responsibility in this regard is quite explicit in the Bible and I wonder if we were a little more casual with the issue (maybe discussing or focusing on it more than once a year in a special series or weaving it into our meetings more confidently and regularly) giving appropriately to the church would feel like a more normal thing to do. I can understand why it can be a hard thing to talk about (i lived through the '80's Tele-vangelist scandals and trust is a hard thing to win back) but as a church of integrity with good leadership we should be able to make the ask confidently. Having said all this I think the talks were great and well delivered - I just want to encourage more of it for the benefit of the top shelf ministry that is delevered at MAC.
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