It's All About Giving

I am privilege to serve a church with some of the craziest followers of Christ you will ever meet.  For example, just a few minutes ago I am sitting in my office working.  Without even a knock, my office door flies open and standing there is Tom Bishop.  Tom throws an orange to me, says "It's all about giving" and then leaves.  Bam!  Just like that.  For those of you who don't know, I eat an orange every morning for breakfast, so Tom was taking care of me.  How many times have you ever been gotten by a hit-and-run orange tosser?  This was a first for me, but having crazy things happen like this as pastor of Hillcrest Baptist Church is now out of the norm.  What a great way for my week to get started.  How did your Monday start?

I took that comment from Tom as a sign from God and began to think about what he said.  "It's all about giving:".  Tom may have been referencing the sermon yesterday because I reminded the church that coming to church was not about them.  We don't come to church for what we get out of it.  We come to church to give to God and minister to each other.  The church in America has become way too self-centered.  We need to have the right music, the right technology, the right lighting, the right teaching and all the programs to meet all of our needs.  If we don't find these things at our church, we just go to the next "big thing" church.  So churches today feel the pressure to have bands, technology and ministry which will attract and keep their "clients", oops, I mean parishioners.  Too many go to church for what they get out of it rather than what they give to God and to others.  So Tom was reminding me of my own message, which is a good message for me.  Serving the Lord is not about what's in it for me, but what's in it for God's Kingdom.

I thought about things going on at Hillcrest when Tom tossed me the orange.  "It's all about giving".  I think about the way our church gives to each other.  Here's just one example:  One of our members is going through chemotherapy for cancer.  Her daughter posted a message of Facebook asking if anyone had a wheel chair she could use for her Mom.  One of the members in our church didn't even wait to see what happened.  They just brought a wheel chair with them on Sunday and gave it to the daughter.  It's all about giving.  That's just one example of the way the Hillcrest family gives to each other.  It just makes me glad to be involved in a church trying to serve the Lord and each other.  I often wonder how people without a church family make it through the difficult times in life.  If you don't have a church family, make sure to find one.  If you are only going to church but have not developed deep relationships, get involved in a small group where you can minister to others.  It's all about giving.

I also thought about the fifty-one shoe boxes that are packed and ready to be sent all over the world through Operation Christmas Child.  We have a table on which these boxes are stacked and will be delivered next Sunday.  These boxes are going to children we will never meet in this world.  But each box is a living witness to the child and his/her family who receives the shoe box.  It's all about giving.  If you haven't put together a shoe box, it isn't too late yet.  If your church is not collecting shoe boxes, you can always go on-line and find a place to deliver your shoe box.  I also thought about the 70+ boxes of pie crusts sitting on the altar at the front of the sanctuary.  Every year, our church donates these pie crust boxes to the Telegraph Center in Oakland for their Thanksgiving food distribution.  This year, I forgot to even contact the Telegraph Center until a member of the church asked me if we were collecting pie crust boxes again.  So once again, we will help needy families in our community have a memorable Thanksgiving meal.  It's all about giving. 

 

I John 4:10 reminds us, "This is love:not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins."  As a follower of Christ, it's all about giving because we have already received much more than we deserve.  So today, rather than waiting on someone to help you out, how about giving to someone else?  Because, it really is all about giving.