Giving to God - Impact Meeting 4/1

Icebreaker - what’s the best gift you’ve ever received? what made it so special?

I don’t know about for you, but it’s hard for me to think about giving to God. What do I have to give? You know C.S. Lewis actually wrestled with this concept as an atheist. He saw God as some old woman needing compliments or praise from such a lesser being and it made no sense to him. However he began to realize that praise naturally occurs from enjoyment and awe and all people praise something in life, it’s just a matter of whether or not it will be God. You are made by God, for God. Made to worship. Made to praise. Made to give love to the one who gave everything for you. What can feel hard in our culture is actually natural in God’s kingdom.

Before we get to “how” to give to God, there’s a “why” that is important.

“why”

• God gave everything to us on the cross. To join in eternal life with him, we must be united in a death like his.

• Romans 6:5-8 - For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.

• 1. in order to give ourselves fully to God, we must die to our sin nature. You cannot serve two masters.

• Giving is an overflow of love. You might be thinking, well my love language isn’t gifts. It’s acts of service or words of action. Good news. God wants what you have to give. He wants you. To understand the why, you first have to understand love, something that our culture has failed to set a good example of in recent years. Love is not a feeling. It’s not the butterflies when  a pretty girl smiles at you or even the emotion you feel when the bass in bumping during worship. Love is action. In the words of Bob Goff, “love does.” It’s consistent, it pursues with intention, and it remains long after the emotions or feelings fade away. If you want to see love, look no further than Jesus.

• Do you remember the reinstatement of Peter? Before this Jesus spoke some words that I find to be hard to wrap my mind around. In John 15 while talking about an abiding relationship with the Father, Jesus say this in verse 12 -  My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.

• we are friends of God. He love us. let that sink in. In response he asks to love him and love each other. he loved us by dying on the cross, he asks us to pick up our own cross daily and follow him (Matt. 16:24-26). His command? love each other.

• let’s turn to John 21: 15- 17 | Jesus asked Peter 3 times (the same amount of times that Peter had denied him prior to his death) and gave him a loving command to follow him and follow him.

• 2. in our to fully give to God, we must comprehend his love for us and respond in our humanity (brokenness and all).

• An important note in between how and why- this is a process. As you die to your sin nature and as you discover what it means to love God fully you will find yourself in a constant process of failing, understanding, and trying again.

“how”

• the practical application of giving to God is complex, but I also feel simple. When we get the why right, our whole-hearted pursuit of Christ stumbles into victories given to us through Christ.

• 1. Give to God that which you love most. One of the most difficult aspects of life with God is he doesn’t accept 85% submission. He comes for it all. He comes for the thing closest to your heart. You know what that is. You ever heard “give it to God”? You usually hear it about the things closest to you heart. I actually hate this saying, but I understand the heart behind it. Until, much like Abraham offered Isaac, we our able to fully put our faith in God’s sufficiency and faithfulness, we will never truly have right relationship with him or that thing we so dearly love. You want two big examples? Your sports & your pursuit of a spouse. You better put God in his right place above these things which can easily become idols or you will find yourself with external and internal turmoil as disordered loves wreak havoc on your heart.

• 2. Give cheerfully. God doesn’t want your leftovers. He doesn’t want your begrudging submission. He’s not that little old lady Lewis talks about needing our praise or sacrifice. You will not experience the fullness of giving until you enter it with a posture of joy and willing submission.  2 Cor. 9:6-8 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7 Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

• 3. Give without expectation. You tithe? Why? Because everything is from God and you want to honor him with your first fruits or because you want some blessing in return? You honor God in your sport? Why? Because you love him and are so grateful for the gifts, abilities, and opportunities he’s blessed you with or because you hope it will somehow result in better success on the field? Hear me: I’m NOT saying that God doesn’t bless us when we tithe or that he doesn’t honor us with success when we honor him with our lives. BUT, if that’s the reason you’re giving your life, love, and resources to God, you’ve missed the point. Give with no other expectation than when you are in right relationship with God, life flourishes as it was designed.

Discussion Questions.

1. Where are you in the “why” process of giving? (of dying to sin & comprehending God’s love)

2. How can you learn to give God what you love most, give cheerfully, and give without expectation?

3. How can we give to God as student athletes?