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[Announcer] (0:00 - 0:38) Think about the Bible like you never have before. You're listening to Christian Questions. Experience more episodes, videos, and Bible study resources at ChristianQuestions.com.

Our topic is: "How Generous Should We Be?" In Acts 20:35 it says: "It is better to give than to receive." For many, this makes no sense as our world is so fixated on getting all it can.

For Christians, this should be a call to the blessings of being helpful and supportive. How does it really work? What are the ins and outs of Christian giving?

Here's Rick, Jonathan, and Julie.

[Rick] (0:40 - 0:50) Welcome, everyone. I'm Rick. I'm joined by Jonathan, my co-host for over twenty-five years. Julie, a longtime contributor, is also with us.

Jonathan, what's our theme scripture for this episode?

[Jonathan] (0:51 - 1:03) Matthew 10:7-8: "And as you go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons.

Freely you received, freely give."

[Rick] (1:03 - 1:50) Life is forever busy. Whether it's a holiday season, or tax season, or baseball season, or following this or that or the other influencer on social media, we always have too much to do and not enough time or energy to do it. With all of this being said, how often do we stop and think about being generous?

You know, just giving of our time or resources because we see a need. Built on the question of giving generously is the matter of how to go about it. How do we know what to give, how much to give, and when to stop?

Is generosity always appropriate? What if there's no appreciation for a gift? Is that an indication that we should focus our giving elsewhere?

So many questions! It looks like the subject of freely giving needs some generous consideration!

[Julie] (1:51 - 2:12) Yes, and as Christians, we need to realize that our model for giving starts at the very top with God. Once we understand the principles he uses in giving, we can then look to understand how to frame our own giving. As a quick preview, Rick has several really interesting stories about giving and some went really well and some went, well, less so.

[Rick] (2:12 - 2:12) Yep.

[Jonathan] (2:12 - 2:35) The theme text I read helps us begin to comprehend the mind of God regarding generosity. When Jesus was sending out his twelve apostles, he gives practical advice that encapsulates his Father's attitude on a high level.

Let's read Matthew 10:8 once more: "Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give."

[Julie] (2:36 - 2:54) "Freely" here is an adverb meaning "gratuitously, free of charge, without apparent reason; freely, as a gift." Jesus is telling his apostles that they were graciously given the gift of God's spirit to work miracles, and in turn, they should graciously use that gift for the benefit of others.

[Jonathan] (2:54 - 2:58) Basically, this is saying, spread the goodness you've been given.

[Julie] (2:58 - 2:58) Right.

[Rick] (2:58 - 3:15) It's about spreading the goodness. The question is, how do we do that? We've got that one scripture about freely receive, freely give, and we understand the word.

Let's look at another example of God's giving as explained by the Apostle Paul in Romans 3:23-25:

[Jonathan] (3:15 - 3:33) "...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in his blood through faith." Now, "gift" is that same Greek word used for "freely."

[Rick] (3:34 - 4:00) Gratuitously; give with that sense of graciousness, of that pouring out. Here's the thing; when you look at this gift, being justified as a gift, there's NOTHING we could ever do to earn that gift of justification!

You could spend your life trying to be worthy and you will fall so far short. We can't earn it. It's from God.

It's through Jesus, and it is truly a free gift.

[Julie] (4:00 - 4:18) Let's go one step further. When you look at the noun form of this word for "gratuitously," it's a "gratuity." We know the word "gratuity" is something extra.

You pay a person who performs a service for you, a tip. Scripturally, this noun form is always translated into English as the word "gift."

[Jonathan] (4:19 - 4:39) This is really interesting-- all eleven of its New Testament uses are about gifts that originated from God and were given to us. One example is in John 4:9-10: "Therefore, the Samaritan woman said to him..."

[Julie] (4:40 - 4:42) "...How is it that you, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman? (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)"

JONATHAN:

"Jesus answered and said to her, If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, Give me a drink, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water."

[Rick] (4:53 - 5:56) You have this scripture and Jesus is speaking to this woman who has no right to Jewish favor at all. He's speaking to her--this Samaritan woman--and he's revealing the magnitude of God's gift to her, who's not even close to worthiness. She's not under the Abrahamic covenant.

She is too far away. Yet, he's saying, "if you knew the gift of God." He's showing her something that's beyond her, completely beyond her.

What was the gift? It was the opportunity for her to step up, step out, and follow Jesus. If you look at the rest of that account, you see that that Samaritan woman literally ran to preach the gospel to everybody she could meet.

Jesus ended up having to go to Samaria for like three days because of her enthusiasm. That was the gift. She saw it was something beyond their comprehension.

Let's look a little further. I love this next scripture! I love them all,

but this next scripture--it's short, it's sweet, and it's powerfully to the point about this idea of free giving; 2 Corinthians 9:15.

[Jonathan] (5:56 - 6:02) This is from the King James Version: "Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift."

[Julie] (6:02 - 6:10) Here we see the appropriate response to such a lofty and unmerited gift. It's praise and thanksgiving to God!

[Rick] (6:10 - 6:44) Thanks be to God for His gift that is beyond words. It is beyond whatever we try to express. That's where we need to sit.

That's how we need to appreciate things. Our next example shows the Apostle Paul's responsible response to the great gift of grace that he had received. Now, he's having a response, and it's responsible.

It's not a play on words, it is a very clear focus about responding responsibly. Let's look at Ephesians 3:6-7:

[Jonathan] (6:44 - 7:24) "...the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel, of which I was made a minister (in other words, I was given this privilege), according to the gift of God's grace which was given to me according to the working of His power." The two words that hit me in this verse are "fellow heirs."

Heirs receive an inheritance, so this gift of being "fellow heirs" is the privilege of being part of the bride of Christ and helping to bless all the families of the earth in God's kingdom. This gift is beyond our comprehension.

[Julie] (7:24 - 7:45) It was beyond Paul's as well. He goes on to say in the very next verse, in Ephesians 3:8, how this gift of grace was given to him even though he called himself the least of all of the Lord's people. He compared his wretched self to this gift, knowing that he was invited to stand on holy ground and did nothing to deserve that invitation.

[Rick] (7:46 - 8:19) When we look at this word for "gift," and we look at what we're given, it really is overwhelming in the goodness, in the magnitude of the gift. That's the point of this introduction to generosity. It's seeing God's generosity pour out of Him to those who don't deserve it.

Our final example shows us our responsible response--just like the Apostle Paul's--to the remarkable gift that we are given. Jonathan, let's go to Ephesians 4:4-7, and then we're going to eventually go to 14-15:

[Jonathan] (8:19 - 8:44) "There is one body and one spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. But to each one of us grace was according to the measure of Christ's gift."

Are we living up to the unbelievable merit and favor that we have individually been given?

[Julie] (8:44 - 8:51) Exactly! What are we supposed to do? Grow up! Become mature in Christ by mirroring Jesus.

[Rick] (8:52 - 8:57) Grow up into the gift that you've been given. Now let's go to verses <Ephesians 4> 14-15:

[Jonathan] (8:57 - 9:15) "As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into him who is the head, even Christ."

[Rick] (9:16 - 10:01) We have this sense of growing up into something of great magnitude. We are blessed beyond our capacity. Our response should be to grow up as a result of these gifts.

That's where we're going with this. That's the generosity example that we have from God Himself to us. Let's pause here just for a moment and let's talk about teaching generosity to children.

Folks, that's the best time to start teaching generosity, is to your kids. I know that when Christmas time would come, we would often talk to our kids about, hey, it's Christmas and yeah, sure you're going to get presents, but what can you give to somebody who doesn't have anything? It became a wonderful, wonderful way for them to learn the excitement of giving.

But Jonathan, I know that you've got an experience that actually takes it a few steps beyond that.

[Jonathan] (10:01 - 10:36) Yeah, I have a memory I'd like to share. When our son was a teenager, he was saving up for a car and he had gone to a young people's Bible seminar and he came home and surprised us with a request. He asked if he could empty his savings account to send to someone who shared that they and their family were going through a difficult time financially.

Now, a lot of responsibility fell on this young person and our son wanted to help. How could we say no? We were so thankful for his heart condition and his desire to help others.

[Rick] (10:36 - 10:57) When you're a teenager and you're saving for a car and you take that and you give it to someone in need, that is a beautiful example of that giving that God exampled to us. That helps us really see that what we are looking to do here is to learn how to be Freely Giving in a Godly Way:

[Jonathan] (10:57 - 11:11) What we receive from God is beyond our worthiness. Our giving to others, based on God's grace and spirit to us, should have a powerful sense of freedom to give as God gives and the responsibility to give wisely as God does.

[Rick] (11:11 - 11:28) Give as God gives and be responsible as God is. That's what we're beginning to look at here. What high and lofty standards we have.

What an example of exuberant giving is laid out for us as we trace and appreciate God's character!

[Jonathan] (11:28 - 11:35) With God's powerful example of gracious giving as our model, how do we know what the guidelines are for helping others financially?

[Rick] (11:36 - 12:30) The first point here is to not jump to a conclusion that says we're so blessed by God that we should, without measure, give all to everyone all the time. We need to remember that God's grace is always freely given within the context and principles of His just and merciful plan. Let me say that again:

God's grace is freely given within the context of His principles of His just and merciful plan. Every unmerited gift from Him is for the purpose of ultimately blessing the recipients and having them learn to bless others. We want to look at money in this segment.

We want to figure out, understand, get some principles behind how do we handle our giving in these areas. Regarding our opportunities for financially supporting others, let's start with Galatians 6:10:

[Jonathan] (12:31 - 12:37) "So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of faith."

[Julie] (12:38 - 12:52) Oh, there are a lot of people who are ready to take your money, and there's a lot of worthy charities that do a lot of good. Here though, we're thinking about more direct assistance where we can have perhaps a larger effect on the individuals around us.

[Rick] (12:52 - 13:10) Okay, so that's our focus. It's individual to individual, person to person. How do we manage and work our way through these things?

As we get into that, just one other reminder of God's approach to us as we look at generously supporting others. Jonathan, let's look at 1 Corinthians 2:12.

[Jonathan] (13:10 - 13:40) This is from the King James Version: "Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God." "Freely given" here is another "big" word that describes God's giving and the pattern for our giving.

It means "to grant as a favor, to grant forgiveness, to pardon, to give graciously." It's a slightly different word than the others we've talked about, but shows the same benevolence of God.

[Julie] (13:40 - 14:17) We talked about a great example of generous giving recently in Episode #1355: "Why Didn't Paul Preach in Asia?" it was called. Apostle Paul was sent a vision. It told him to preach in the Roman province of Macedonia.

Many in Macedonia embraced the gospel, even though they were steeped in idolatry. They faced many serious challenges, including real poverty. Now, years later, Paul reported to the other churches in their vicinity of their strong spirituality and their giving responses in spite of these serious problems.

Let's look at 2 Corinthians 8:1-2:

[Jonathan] (14:17 - 14:31) "Now, brethren, we wish to make known to you the grace of God which has been given in the churches of Macedonia, that in a great ordeal of affliction their abundance of joy and their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality."

[Julie] (14:31 - 14:51) I love that! "'...their deep poverty overflowed in the wealth of their liberality." Here Paul's writing to the Corinthians, who weren't nearly as poor as the Macedonians, and he's testifying that the Macedonians gave beyond their ability to contribute because they wanted to help other brethren whom they never even met.

[Jonathan] (14:51 - 14:57) They didn't have much, but they wanted to help others because they were given the free gift of God.

[Rick] (14:57 - 15:16) That's right. They had been given a hope in Christ that superseded all of their troubles and all of their poverty, and their problems didn't seem so big and so difficult because of what they had been freely given from God through Christ, given to them by the Apostle Paul. Let's continue in 2 Corinthians 8.

Let's now go to verses 3-5:

[Jonathan] (15:17 - 15:35) "For I testify that according to their ability, and beyond their ability, they gave of their own accord, begging us with much urging for the favor of participation in the support of the saints, and this, not as we had expected, but they first gave themselves to the Lord and to us by the will of God."

[Rick] (15:35 - 17:40) You can see the giving and how it can become contagious in wanting to give. Our giving, especially to others of our Christian faith, should come from the very depths of a wisely-driven, open and blessed heart; wisely-driven, open, and blessed heart.

This applies even when we may have very little to give, as evidenced by the Macedonian fellowship there. Let me go into my first story, and this is a story about financially giving to one who was in a desperate need, and in the process of giving, attempting to teach responsibility. The context of the story is we had a brother in Christ that we'd fellowshiped with, and he had a brother who we didn't fellowship with.

He was a Christian. We actually had conversations where he was very disagreeable to some of our doctrines, but I knew him. I didn't know him well, but I knew him.

After a period of time, this man called me out of the clear blue and said, Rick, I'm in trouble. Can you help me? It's like, okay, tell me what's up.

Basically he said, I've fallen into hard times. I've been living at this boarding house where you pay weekly, and he had gotten behind four or five or six weeks, whatever it was, and they're about to throw him out. He said, I'm working.

I can't afford to pay all this back rent. I'm going to be homeless. Can you help me?

I said, sure. I went, I sat with him.

We talked about it, and he kept saying, I'm going to pay you back. I'll pay you back. I'll pay you back.

I'm working. I can do this. I can do this.

I went to the boarding house myself. I went and I sat down with the manager and I explained what I was doing. I caught him up. He was current. What he and I did is we put together a schedule, because he got paid weekly.

I said, how much can you afford every week, do you think? He said, $40. I said, okay, let's work with $20.

Let's work with $20 a week, and you just pay me back. It was going to take a really long time. It didn't matter.

But once a week, just $20 a week. You said you could afford $40. Let's be kind with this.

He was very enthusiastic, very thankful. The first week goes by, and I give him a call. I'm a little tight, a little tight.

Okay. All right. All right.

Just keep in mind, we've got to get started. Another week goes by, make a call. I can't, I can't, I can't.

A pattern started.

[Julie] (17:40 - 17:41) Oh, no.

[Rick] (17:41 - 17:51) I told the individual eventually, I said, look, when you can pay me, pay me, okay? Just get yourself in order.

I don't want you to be homeless. Essentially, didn't hear from him, pretty much.

[Julie] (17:51 - 17:52) Ever? Ever?

[Rick] (17:52 - 17:58) Well, I saw him once, maybe a year and a half later. He said something about, well, I'll pay you back.

[Julie] (17:59 - 17:59) Oh, no.

[Rick] (18:00 - 18:09) This is an old experience, okay? There it was, he didn't end up being homeless and he got himself on his feet, but that was the end of that experience.

[Julie] (18:09 - 18:12) He never paid you. He never paid you back anything?

[Rick] (18:12 - 18:13) Not a nickel. Nope.

[Julie] (18:13 - 18:28) Okay. I have a couple of questions. One, I know your wife, Tricia, where does she fit into this,

because you are using really family money. My second question is, knowing what you know now, that really you were taken advantage of, would you do it again?

[Rick] (18:28 - 19:13) Okay. First question: I never get myself involved in something like this without talking to Trish first.

These are always family decisions and we always go in knowing the potentials. That was a mutual decision. Secondly, would I do it again?

In a heartbeat, I would do it again, because it was an opportunity. It kept the guy from being homeless and whether he paid back or not, I had the opportunity to give to somebody in great need. It's okay.

It's okay. Yes, I would absolutely do it again! That's the first lesson in giving.

Sometimes it doesn't work the way you expect, but it's okay because God's giving to us doesn't always end up perfect in this age either, does it?

[Julie] (19:13 - 19:15) That's a good point-- that's a good point. We take advantage of God, too.

[Rick] (19:16 - 19:31) That's right. We want to put that in perspective. Let's move on;

more stories coming. For those of us who are of more substantial means, we were looking at the Macedonians a few minutes ago. There are other details to consider in our giving.

Let's look at 2 Corinthians 9:6-8:

[Jonathan] (19:55 - 20:02) "Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed;" This means we're supposed to give because we sincerely want to, not because we feel we have to.

[Julie] (20:02 - 20:30) It just hit me; "God is able to make all grace abound to you." Perhaps the giving back doesn't come from the person you gave to.

Perhaps it comes back from God in a different way. This being "a cheerful giver," for those who don't have that condition of heart that the Lord loves, that one who responds with gratitude, for someone like that, instead of growing in grace, they're likely to grow into the spirit of selfishness and coldness and indifference. That's a dangerous place for a Christian to be.

[Rick] (20:30 - 21:05) Yeah, we don't want to go there. Again, the giving is for the sake of giving to help to build someone up. That's what we want to be after.

If it doesn't work out the way you thought, okay, okay, it's okay to be able to just give because. Having confidence in God's ability to help us as we help others helps us to be wisely generous; wisely generous. This kind of generosity can build strong mutual appreciation within the body of Christ. Let's go to 2 Corinthians 9:13-15:

[Jonathan] (21:05 - 21:27) "Because of the proof given by this ministry, they will glorify God for your obedience to your confession of the gospel of Christ and for the liberality of your contribution to them and to all, while they also, by prayer on your behalf, yearn for you because of the surpassing grace of God in you. Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!"

[Rick] (21:27 - 23:31) You can see in that giving circumstance, there was a great appreciation. The apostle is sharing that appreciation saying, it made an impact. They yearn for you because you are such a part of their lives.

That's the power that giving can put into place if we allow ourselves to be wisely generous. Let's go to my second giving story. This is another financial, another dollar and cent story, giving to one who faced very unexpected experiences.

In this experience, it was a matter of trusting the integrity of the recipient. This was an individual. Incidentally, some of these stories are like twenty years old.

The most recent of these stories throughout the podcast happened this year, so there's a long period of time of growing and understanding. With this particular experience, one of the brotherhood came to me, just specifically pulled me aside one day when they saw me and said, look, I have a situation that came up.

It took me completely by surprise. I'm really stuck. Can you help me out?

My response was, absolutely. What do you need? It was a matter of, well, here's what I need.

He was being very frugal about it. Tell me what you need. Got that information and proceeded to give the individual the dollars that they needed.

As I gave it to them--they were individuals of wonderful spiritual integrity-- I said to them, look, if you can pay me back because they said they would, I said, that's great. If you can't, don't even give it a second thought.

Just keep in mind that if you can pay me back, whenever that is, that money is now available to give to somebody else. Took care of their need and saw them periodically here and there. I don't know, a year or more went by.

One day they just walked up to me and handed me an envelope and said, here, it's all there. It was a beautiful experience because I said nothing. They had such wonderful, scriptural, spiritual integrity that they just took care of it.

It gave us an opportunity to, again, give to somebody else later on.

[Julie] (23:32 - 23:47) Now, this seems to have gone as planned, other than the fact that maybe you were a little nervous for a year and a half, although being you, you probably weren't.

RICK:

I wasn't--I didn't even give it a thought. JULIE:

I probably would have been. Is there anything you would have done differently on this one?

This one seems to have worked out as planned.

[Rick] (23:47 - 24:00) No, because the individual had that spirituality and it's like, you know what, if they can't, it's okay. That would have told me they really needed it beyond what they even thought, and I was good with that.

I was absolutely good with that.

[Julie] (24:00 - 24:02) So when you give, you understand you might not get back?

[Rick] (24:03 - 24:05) Absolutely, positively, beyond the shadow of a doubt.

[Julie] (24:05 - 24:05) Okay.

[Rick] (24:06 - 24:28) Look, sometimes our giving will be to help those--let's change the subject just a little bit now--

sometimes we're helping those who are in need, and that's what we've been talking about, but working hard. Other times we're giving to those who are in need because they're working hard in the ministry and in the work of the gospel. The Apostle Paul himself was such a recipient of this kind of wise giving.

Let's look a little bit further at the Apostle Paul's writings.

[Jonathan] (24:28 - 24:48) Yeah. Paul tells the Philippians that after leaving Macedonia, they were the only church that helped them along the journey. Philippians 4:16-20:

"... for even in Thessalonica you sent a gift more than once for my needs. Not that I seek the gift itself, but I seek for the profit which increases to your account."

[Julie] (24:49 - 25:09) "Increases to your account ..." In other words, you receive by being the giver. I have a little commentary from David Guzik:

"This reflects one of the most important principles regarding giving in the scriptures: that we are never the poorer for having given. God will never be our debtor, and we can never out-give God."

[Jonathan] (25:09 - 25:44) Continuing with <Philippians 4> verse 18: "...But I have received everything in full and have an abundance; I am amply supplied, having received from Epaphroditus what you have sent, a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God. And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

Now to our God and Father be the glory forever and ever. Amen." Paul recalls the Old Testament sacrifices and how our heart devotion is so satisfying to God that he symbolically tastes it as something sweet.

[Julie] (25:45 - 26:02) Notice what the Apostle Paul is NOT saying here. He's not saying, you owe to me as a servant of God more than you will ever be able to pay in the present life, so the least you can do is take care of my daily needs. The gospel is given along the lines of love and compassion, not by demand.

[Rick] (26:02 - 26:37) That's a powerful, powerful thought in terms of our giving and in terms of our receiving. If you are in the work of the gospel, you receive for the purpose of furthering the gospel and nothing else. Receiving such wise giving should be done with abundant thanks to the givers and praise to God.

That's the way giving is supposed to be received. If we're on the receiving end, let us make sure that we are working on understanding the responsibility of receiving. We want to learn to be Freely Giving in a Godly Way:

[Jonathan] (26:38 - 26:55) It is our privilege to be supportive of others financially, even if we may not have much. Whether we give out of our lack or out of our prosperity, let us hold fast to the wise and godly principles of supporting those who receive and attempt to do it for their highest welfare.

[Rick] (26:56 - 27:16) Even if you don't have a lot and you give, you may not be able to solve a problem, but it's the principle of giving from where you are that is so life-changing. Thus far, we are seeing really important and motivating lessons. Giving can be a great and rewarding privilege when it's based on godly wisdom!

[Jonathan] (27:17 - 27:25) Giving others financial help needs to be done carefully. What about giving that is more focused on someone's circumstances of lack?

[Rick] (27:25 - 27:51) The difference here has much to do with the overall conditions of people's physical lives rather than people's immediate circumstances. When we look at someone's life, it may become apparent that due to illness or trauma, or their simply not knowing how to manage themselves, they have really big needs that cannot quickly or easily be solved.

[Julie] (27:51 - 28:10) Before we get too far into that, not everyone has that natural inclination towards generosity. In fact, to be selfish is much more common. Some self-examination is going to be important here, if only for the fact that being generous pleases God, but there's many additional benefits for the generous heart.

[Rick] (28:11 - 28:48) Yeah, and so if we don't have that natural inclination, it's really important to work on doing it anyway and do it mechanically so you can learn to do it from the heart. It's that way with all scriptural spiritual growing. We have to grow mechanically and then it comes from within, and when it begins to come from within, it is such, such a blessing.

Now we're going to talk about physically supporting others. First, let's have another reminder of Jesus. He's our human model for giving.

He was a man as our model of giving in a wise, godly, and very sacrificial way. Let's look at Hebrews 12:2-3:

[Jonathan] (28:48 - 29:11) "...fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him who has endured such hostility by sinners against himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." Jesus never stopped giving.

[Julie] (29:11 - 29:20) The word "consider" here means to contemplate, to ponder. Jesus used the gifts of God to bless others both in the moment and for all eternity. Consider that.

[Jonathan] (29:21 - 29:26) We need to grow into a life that is clearly based upon using God's gifts to truly bless others.

[Rick] (29:27 - 29:49) Because that's what Jesus did in the moment and for eternity. We want to work on our giving in the moment. Now it comes down to opening our eyes and noticing the individual lives of our brotherhood and seeing where there might be a lack or a need.

James 2:14-17:

[Jonathan] (29:49 - 30:20) "What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, Go in peace, be warmed and be filled, and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?

Even so, faith, if it has no works, is dead being of itself." The question we must ask ourselves is: How am I living and applying my faith to others?

[Julie] (30:20 - 30:35) This is a little unusual because this says, if you notice, it was daily food. This is not just once. This is someone who is in need of daily food.

What do we supposed to do when we run into a situation with those in our fellowship who have a continual need? They need this support.

[Rick] (30:36 - 30:38) I just happen to have a story about that.

[Julie] (30:38 - 30:39) Of course you do.

[Rick] (30:40 - 32:44) This is a story about someone of the brotherhood who had a housing issue. They were in dire straits and they needed place to stay and food to eat as they were getting on their feet. We found a way to help them do that

with the understanding that, okay, we're going to have you be put up with some of the brotherhood so that you can get on your feet and so you can move on your way. That's the way it was presented and there was gratefulness and all of that. The situation unfolded.

They are there and they're present in this helpful, helpful situation. As time started to go by, it began to become apparent that they saw that as a destination as okay, here we are.

Whereas my viewpoint and what we had expressed very plainly, not necessarily in these words, is this is like a landing on a very long staircase. You got all these stairs and you're huffing and puffing and you get to the landing and you go, okay, let me get myself back together. Let me put things in order, take a moment and then I want to climb the next set of stairs.

They weren't looking for another set of stairs. They were really happy on the landing. We began having conversations about that.

Months and months and months and months are going by and we're having conversations saying, you know, things need to change, things need to change. It just wasn't happening. It got to a point where my job in the matter came down to, okay, look, you have six months and within six months, we need to move things forward.

Otherwise things will change whether you put yourself in a position of being ready or not, because this had gone on for a very long time. I won't say how long, but it was a lot longer than the six months that we were giving. It wasn't as though there wasn't opportunity.

Six months were up and nothing changed. My job became saying, it's time for you to leave. You're going to have to figure it out.

As we were getting closer to the six months, there were the conversations, it's coming, it's coming, it's coming. Then there was a conversation is, it's time for you to leave. God bless you.

It's time for you to leave. That was a tough one.

[Julie] (32:45 - 32:45) They were evicted.

[Rick] (32:46 - 32:51) Yeah. Now there was no signed contract, but yes, you can't live in this space any longer.

[Julie] (32:52 - 33:03) It sounds to me like cheerful and generous giving doesn't mean enabling someone who is capable of doing things for themselves. That's the tricky part is knowing when to cut that off.

[Rick] (33:03 - 33:28) Right. Right. It is a tricky thing and it was difficult.

By doing that, there needed to be some transitional things that were very costly. I said, look, we're making this transition. I'll pay for those transitional things that are very costly--

we're talking thousands of dollars--so that you can move on. They did, but it was hard. It was hard.

It was difficult. The question comes up, would I do it again?

[Julie] (33:29 - 33:29) Yes.

[Rick] (33:30 - 33:32) The answer is--absolutely!

[Julie] (33:33 - 33:35) Again, even though it didn't work out well.

[Rick] (33:35 - 34:03) Because the nature of giving is not how it works out. It's how we give. That's what this is all about.

As a matter of fact, my next story coming up in a few minutes, we'll sort of pick up on this very theme. Okay. Here's where we are.

We strive to be examples like the Apostle Paul is to whenever possible live in such a way as to be a support and then to teach others to do the same. Let's look at 1 Thessalonians 4:9-12:

[Jonathan] (34:03 - 34:31) "Now as to the love of the brethren, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another;

for indeed you do practice it toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, to excel still more, and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you, so that you will behave properly toward outsiders and not be in any need."

[Rick] (34:31 - 35:25) Scriptures like that, I find very motivating because they're teaching us to teach others responsibility. That's what they're teaching us. Urge you brethren to excel more, to take care of yourselves, to do the things that you need to do.

This brings me to the next story, which is along exactly the same lines, just different, different players, if you will. Very similar viewpoint at the very beginning, there was a big thing that happened to somebody and they were without a place to live. They just were without.

Okay, we'll take care of this. We'll find a way, we'll find a place, we'll get you set up, we'll get you organized with the thought right up front of getting yourself together and moving on.

We did that and they were very happy. They were very relieved and very, very, very thankful. As a little bit of time went by, it looked like they were becoming like, oh, this is like pretty good.

[Julie] (35:26 - 35:29) Oh no, they're on the staircase, setting up a pillow and a blanket.

[Rick] (35:29 - 36:20) Yes, exactly, exactly. Now, having learned from the previous experience, didn't let it go nearly as long and began having conversations saying, remember, this is temporary. How can I help you?

Well, I'll figure it out. It became obvious after a little while that they didn't know how, they just didn't know what steps to take. We began to work with them, literally side by side saying, let's look in the paper, let's do this, let's circle that, let's call this, let's follow up here, I'll get the application for you.

We do all of these things and over a period of time, they got to a point where they were able to move on and they got into their own place and got a good start. What happened with that is some of the brotherhood got together and said, you know, because now they're getting out on their own and some of the brotherhood actually got together and paid their security deposit for them.

[Jonathan] (36:20 - 36:21) Oh, that's great.

[Rick] (36:21 - 36:47) Yeah. Be on your own.

Now this happened years ago and that individual has been completely 100% independent ever since without a word. You see that in this case, they took the lesson because they didn't know how and they just needed to be shown. Sometimes when you just take the time to show somebody step by step, you can change their lives by God's grace.

[Julie] (36:47 - 36:57) That tells me that not only do we have to be a wise and cheerful giver, but we also have to be a responsible receiver when we're in that position of receiving all this generosity.

[Rick] (36:58 - 37:12) Yes. It's a two-way street, but it all comes down to being wise and cheerful on whatever part of this we are called upon to play. Let's move forward a little bit.

Let's look at Ephesians 4:28:

[Jonathan] (37:13 - 37:22) "He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need."

[Julie] (37:23 - 37:47) I like the New Living Translation. It plainly says, if you're a thief, quit stealing. As this responsible receiver, we don't want to be tempted to take advantage of somebody's generosity like yours, Rick, of money, time, or emotional investment in us.

We might be in danger of feeling entitled. If life has kicked us down so much, we might think we deserve this free break, but that's not the godly way to think.

[Jonathan] (37:48 - 38:03) Further, the principle here is that we should put ourselves in a position as followers of Christ to help others to the best of our ability. Ultimately, if faithful, we will be ministers of reconciliation to the entire resurrected world of mankind.

[Julie] (38:03 - 38:05) Yeah, so start your training now!

[Rick] (38:05 - 38:21) Yeah, yeah. The ideal for each and every Christian is transformation; transformation and wherever possible contribution built upon that transformation. It all comes down to Freely Giving in a Godly Way:

[Jonathan] (38:22 - 38:51) Our privilege as Christians is to be involved in each other's lives for the purpose of building each other up in Christ. Let us approach giving physical support with both generosity and wisdom, always giving in a way that is for the ultimate good of our fellow disciples. Well, Rick and Julie, the challenging thing is to follow through.

We need to continue to be present in their lives. As a friend of ours always says, don't just be there to put out the fire.

[Rick] (38:52 - 39:09) Yeah, yeah. Be there for the cleanup and be there for the rebuild. Follow through.

It's so important to follow through. Such different ways of helping those in need and so many things to watch out for! Let's be wise as well as generous as we give!

[Jonathan] (39:09 - 39:18) We have seen God's pattern and Jesus' example and looked at financial and physical opportunities for generosity. What comes next?

[Rick] (39:18 - 40:08) Too often we see giving through the lens of money and physical things. This lens overlooks the massive opportunity of the generous giving of one's time. Here again, we need the wisdom of God as His gifts are always given for the highest benefit to the receiver.

Our time, though precious, is meant to be given freely as we honor God's generosity instructions. Our time, though precious, is meant to be given freely because that's how God instructed us. Let's move forward.

The result of Jesus so fully giving of himself can be seen in yet another gift from God, this gift to Jesus in Philippians 2:7-9:

[Jonathan] (40:08 - 40:29) "...but emptied himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted him, and bestowed on him the name which is above every name,"

[Julie] (40:30 - 40:43) That word "bestowed" is that big gift word that we had introduced earlier. As a result of the incredible sacrifice that Jesus gave, God gifted him with Jesus' name being exalted higher than any other name.

[Rick] (40:44 - 41:05) Again, God's gifts continually pour out from Him. Ours should do the same with wisdom, with clarity, and with spirituality because that's the way God does it. Let's begin to focus in on the emotional and spiritual support of others.

To do that, let's start with Galatians 6:1-2:

[Jonathan] (41:05 - 41:21) "Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ."

[Julie] (41:21 - 41:26) "Bear one another's burdens." Are you saying I'm my brother's keeper? Yeah!

[Jonathan] (41:26 - 41:34) As we've seen, generosity goes beyond giving someone money. This scripture teaches us to help them carry the weight of their load.

[Rick] (41:35 - 41:53) That's an important thing. Here's the thing; well, how do you do that?

You have to understand their life, okay? But let's not confuse powerful and intentional spiritual giving, Jonathan, that you're describing with hearing about someone's life in a potentially unfruitful way. An example of this is 2 Thessalonians 3:11-12:

[Jonathan] (41:53 - 42:12) "For we hear that some of you are leading an undisciplined life, doing no work at all, but acting like busybodies. Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to work in quiet fashion and eat their own bread. But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary of doing good."

[Julie] (42:12 - 42:42) It goes without saying that helping someone doesn't include gossiping about what you've learned. For those of our listeners who don't know Rick personally, he is a vault. He never gives any personal information about anybody that he counsels.

It's almost a little irritating sometimes because you'd like to know more details, but absolutely not. Isn't this great advice? Do not grow weary of doing good.

Or as my mom always says, "Err on the side of generosity."

[Rick] (42:43 - 44:39) Absolutely. Absolutely. Positively.

Be wise in that giving. Last story. Fifth story.

This is giving time to hear someone's personal experience and seeing it begin to go down an unproductive path. Giving you a hint; it ended up turning a little bit. At some point in life, somebody called me late at night.

Now that doesn't happen regularly--it's not frequent. To be honest, this person may have been in a different time zone. It was late and they had an issue and they wanted to talk it out.

I listened for about two hours. Sometimes you have to listen. You have to listen

so you understand. I began to see, okay, there's a lot that needs to be dealt with here. There was another one of the brotherhood who they knew very well, and they kept referring to.

I asked them, I said, can I talk to this other individual? They said sure, so this other individual and I worked together to help this one individual, which was really wonderful.

They had this tendency to just be overwhelmed with the anxiety and the difficulty of the moment and get back into the spiral of the story again and again and again. We set up a pattern and said, okay, here's how our conversations are going to go. We're going to talk once a week.

At the end of this conversation, we're going to have one or two questions that we're going to ask at the beginning of the next conversation. Your homework is to think about it based on what we did, and let's pick up where we left off because the point was to make progress.

The point was to work through. We did that a few times and they would get stuck in the spiral and go downhill and all of this. Finally, one conversation I said to them, I said, look, I'm going to end up having to cut a conversation short one of these days because we have to make progress.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Okay.

I get it. I get it. Well, the next week, it didn't work.

It just didn't work. They were stuck, and what about the questions?

But wait, I got it. I said, no, no, no, no, no, you don't understand.

This is our agreement. But wait, you don't...! Yes, I do. We're going and we're having and it's becoming not a good scenario,

so I said to them, I said, Okay, I'm hanging up now, and I hung up on them.

[Julie] (44:39 - 44:40) Wait, you actually hung up on them?

[Rick] (44:40 - 44:41) I hung up the phone.

[Julie] (44:41 - 44:45) Oh, dear. Did they call you back?

[Rick] (44:46 - 44:47) Not then.

[Julie] (44:47 - 44:48) Okay.

[Rick] (44:48 - 45:21) Not then. But the end of the story was, we had maybe a conversation or two after that. But several months later, I heard from this other individual that was involved.

They said because they were in constant touch with this person, they said, tell Brother Rick that what he did was really helpful. It shocked them into the I've got to get on the ball here. I've got to move forward.

Again, it comes down to giving with wisdom and following through, even though sometimes the follow-through isn't the most comfortable thing you'll ever do.

[Julie] (45:22 - 45:25) Would you have hung up on them again? The same thing? Would you have done anything differently?

[Rick] (45:25 - 45:27) No, I would hang up again.

[Julie] (45:27 - 45:29) It sounds like it was handled appropriately.

[Rick] (45:29 - 45:50) Those are things you don't want to do. But sometimes we have to do the things we don't want to do to accomplish the things that need to be done. Let's move forward now.

Having a high level of spiritual wisdom and integrity is critical when we are giving our time to others-- it's critical. High-level spiritual wisdom and integrity; Ephesians 4:24-26:

[Jonathan] (45:50 - 46:13) "...be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. Therefore, laying aside falsehood, SPEAK TRUTH EACH ONE of you WITH HIS NEIGHBOR, for we are members of one another. BE ANGRY, AND yet DO NOT SIN;

do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not give the devil an opportunity."

[Rick] (46:13 - 46:44) You hear those little things in this scripture, "be renewed in the spirit of your mind," "put on the new self," "laying aside falsehood." "We are members of one another." These are all principles for appropriate generous giving to one another.

We need to set our lives in a giving mindset and sometimes it's giving of our time and attention, which is precious. But you know what, when did Jesus ever not give to somebody who was in need?

[Jonathan] (46:44 - 46:45) He always did.

[Rick] (46:45 - 47:19) Always. That's our example. That's our example and we need to be clear on that.

The Apostle Paul also was amazing with this. His own experience in giving of his time for the sake of those coming to Christ was absolutely remarkable. The difference; Jesus is perfect, Paul is not.

Paul came from a very, very foul background in the way he handled other people and he grew into what we're about to look at. Here's just one example of what generously giving the Apostle Paul's time looked like. This is from 1 Corinthians 9:19-23:

JONATHAN:

"For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may win more."

[Julie] (47:25 - 47:59) Then continuing with <1 Corinthians 9> verses 20-22, Paul explains that he was able to talk to different groups of people by meeting them where they were. He was Jewish, so he could speak from the Jewish perspective. He was a Roman citizen, so he could easily speak to non-Jews.

He was educated in his past life when he was Saul the Pharisee, but he was humbled when he became Paul, a servant of Christ. He got this life experience, enabling him to speak with those on really any economic level. This is why he was so effective at bringing the people to the gospel.

He was this great communicator.

[Jonathan] (48:00 - 48:12) Continuing with <1 Corinthians 9> verse 22: "I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some. I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it."

[Rick] (48:12 - 49:10) You see the effort that he put into meeting people where they were. How did he do that? Why did he do that?

Because it was his time and his attention that they needed for the sake of drawing them to Christ. He never hesitated at giving his time and attention to those that were in need. Just like Jesus, when you think about the scriptures that talk about the people that all came to be healed, there must have been lines of people.

The scriptures always end, and "he healed them all." That is the example of giving. Remember, when Jesus healed, virtue went out from him.

What did he do? "He healed them all." What did the Apostle Paul do?

He became "all things to all men." These are our examples of what true heartfelt Christian generosity actually truly looks like. Putting this all together, Jonathan; Freely Giving in a Godly Way:

[Jonathan] (49:11 - 49:28) Whether we are supporting others in a financial way, a practical way, or an emotional and spiritual way, our support must be to the best of our ability, tempered with God's wisdom and principles. Such tempering guides us towards applying generosity to others for their highest welfare.

[Rick] (49:28 - 50:20) One of the positive keys here is, am I giving so that I can help somebody up? It's not about bailing somebody out, it's about building somebody up. That's what our giving is meant to do.

That's what God's giving is there for. That's what the giving of our Lord Jesus showed us. That's what the Apostle Paul shows us.

That's what the rest of the scriptures show us. It's not about bailing out, it's about building up. Let us give so that we can help build one another up in this most holy faith.

Be generous in a godly and wise way. Think about it. Folks, we love hearing from our listeners.

We welcome your feedback and questions on this episode and other episodes at ChristianQuestions.com. Coming up in our next Episode: "Why the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge?"

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