Practical Stewardship: Seeking to Meet the Challenges of Preaching and Teaching Bold and Purposeful Giving to the Lord!

To be able to witness the love and generosity of believers in supporting the Gospel’s proclamation is truly a privilege. Many of you have seen it too. But as a pastor and a giving counselor I’ve been blessed to see more than my share of generosity in support of the Gospel.
Generosity, based on a Christ-centered faith, surrounds the Christian home and the church — whether it is seen by young people being raised by generous parents who support both their church and missions or the generous support given by many to supply food and clothing for orphans in India — all of these are sure signs that God’s people are sharing the bounty of a loving heavenly Father. Generosity is manifested in many forms and in many faces.
When making the claim that God’s people are generous we don’t have to look far to see that it is true. The evidence is often right in front of us. Do we have a church to attend that is not far from us? If we do it is likely because someone, or a group of people, thought it important to establish and maintain that church.  Few of our churches and schools (including Bethany Lutheran College and Bethany Seminary) would be here today if not for generous people and a bountiful God. As a pastor serving our synod, generous people who dearly love their Lord are people with whom I’m in contact with almost daily. At the same time, I’m sure that when any of us witnesses generosity, as I am privileged to do, it encourages us and it often motivates us to be even more generous ourselves.
As redeemed and forgiven children of God, fully cared for by a generous Father, may we all likewise be moved to generosity even as we seek to instill this special gift in others.
Isaiah’s observation of this gift of “giving” by inspiration of the Holy Spirit declares, “A generous man devises generous things, and by generosity he shall stand” (Isaiah 32:8). In essence, Isaiah tells us that a generous person has “good standing” in his community – including his church.
But, that doesn’t mean that all of us saints have acquired the level of generosity that was so evident among the early Christians. The saints in Macedonia are held up as a special example of generosity, as Paul writes to Christians in Corinth, to nurture generosity in them also:
Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia: that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality. For I bear witness that according to their ability, yes, and beyond their ability, they were freely willing, imploring us with much urgency that we would receive the gift and the fellowship of the ministering to the saints (2 Corinthians 8:1–4).
When we consider this text and compare these generous followers of Christ to ourselves, we find we are often wanting. It should serve as a very important reminder to humbly ask the Lord to forgive us and to ask for the grace to help us as we struggle in our own earthly stewardship. In Christ, we know we have this forgiveness and we can freely call upon Him asking for generous hearts.
May we always view this text as a reminder that as followers of Christ we need to keep stewardship, the management of our Lord’s gifts, as a part of our teaching and modeling, first as parents and also as leaders in the church. The reason: so that generosity may grow as a beautiful branch bearing fruit in our midst by the grace of our generous and loving-provider God.
Dan Basel
Giving Counselor
Evangelical Lutheran Synod