Nougat 7

Hello siblings

Hopefully, this series has challenged us to see ourselves among God’s called. If we already recognise that God calls us to send us out, then my prayer is that the reflections have served as reminders to us or as confirmation about our priorities. God first, and all things after. It may feel like a sacrifice, and that wouldn’t be too far off the mark. Today’s Holy Nougat offers another way to look at sacrificial living.

Acts 2:45 CEVDCI

[45] They would sell their property and possessions and give the money to whoever was in need.

Sent … to Sacrificial Giving

They sold all their possessions and their property! Everything. That’s a bit extreme, isn’t it? Although they hadn’t yet left Jerusalem at that time, this suggests that they either lived together in one place or they were preparing to be sent further afield, and had no worry about where they would live. Either option is worth deeper personal reflection, since the world has taught us that it takes cash to care.

Self-Check

How does our system react to this type of sacrificial giving?

Application

Siblings, this is some heavy food for thought. Culture teaches us to look out for ourselves first, then help others with the leftovers. It’s even in the aircraft safety procedures as we prepare for take-off. It is the opposite of what most of us are trained to do. People give from excesses, after we have satisfied ourselves and those who are dear to us. We do not share what allows us to live in abundance, not even to tell others how. Some of us even struggle to give anything back to God.

I’m struck by the Peace Communes (the hippie movement) of the 60s, which do not claim to have been influenced by Acts 2. Yet they had values that were similar to those of the Acts 2:42-46 believers. Is it that the enemy of our souls saw the potential value of such counter-cultural selflessness, and adapted those values for the Peace Communes? [As far as I’m aware, it was primarily the use of drugs that challenged the ‘hippie movement’, and not the act of living sacrificially.] Of course, exemplifying such abundant generosity was and is a challenge, as Acts 5 shows. This probably explains why the practice has become a rarity. For many, this takes us back to tithing as our primary means of giving to God.

Tithing originated in an agrarian society, although the first mention occurs in a context of battle (see Genesis 14). Shortly after Abraham vanquished the 5 kings who had captured Lot in battle, he met the king of Salem, Melchizedek, on his way home. It was not an accidental meeting, strange though it was. King Melchizedek was also the high priest of God. He blessed Abraham with bread and wine (very symbolic for followers of Christ), in turn, Abraham offered a tithe of all he had received from the war to Melchizedek. As God’s High Priest, what Melchizedek was given by Abraham represented Abraham’s gift to God. It was not all that Abraham had taken from that battle; but it set the tone for what later became part of the sundry Levitical laws.

The sacrificial giving we’re reflecting on is not about Tithing. Through Paul, God invites us to give what we’ve predetermined to give generously and cheerfully, even as we abound in the grace of giving. The mandates from 2 Corinthians 9:6-7 and 8:7-8 respectively were written after the Pentecostal giving had waned to ad hoc giving. God still expects us to give gifts for continuing ministry today. Yet many places of worship are struggling to thrive and survive; and so many people are in need in our churches, temples and places of worship.

This calls for a shift in how we prepare our gifts to God. When it’s time to give our gifts to God, we shouldn’t then be searching for ‘spare change’ in our bags purses, or wallets. We would already have prayerfully determined what our gift is – in cash and kind – and prepared it in readiness for God. And it ought not be our leftovers. It should be our priority!

Sacrificial giving and living are further referenced in Romans 12. In Paul’s invitation to give ourselves wholly to God, we are dying to self. It calls to mind Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac to God. For though a ram was placed in the bushes as a substitute, Isaac lived thereafter with the knowledge that he was given to God. He was not entirely his own person. He was a living sacrifice.

Siblings, a similar exchange is made when we opt for sacrificial living and giving. God receives us and our intent, then reminds us that the physical death act was already completed at Calvary by Y’shua, the sacrificial Lamb. When we live with the knowledge that we too have been placed on the altar, we know that nothing truly belongs to us, as we aren’t governors of ourselves.

Practically speaking, it relates to how we steward all our resources, not just some. It invites us to think seriously about who is permitted to stay with us or travel with us, what we share with others in need, and even how we pray for others. Do we pray for God’s intervention – from a distance, with the expectation that God does not require our input in the process beyond prayer? If so, then the spiritual gifts bestowed on us are underutilised. That can also be offensive to God in this New Covenant. For Christ insists that the Greatest Commandment has a human parallel that is almost as important: loving our neighbour as we love ourselves. That’s the Acts 2 lifestyle of sacrificial giving and living right there. What shall we do about it?

Point to Ponder

If Christ had called us to sacrificial living and giving, are we loving our neighbour in need, or only ourselves?

—

May all we seek be found in Christ