Q&A:Missions-give

Missions - Give Q&A

Here are some brief answers to our questions from our Sunday evening service.

Due to a problem with our Slido platform, we were not able to take more questions - here is a summary of the questions and answers that were given during the service...

1. Are we called to sell our possessions and give to the poor? Luke 12:33

Sometimes it is! A good question is: would I be prepared to do that? Are there possessions I am not willing to part with?

Also, it's a great idea if we want to be more generous, but perhaps don't have the finances to do that. Maybe we can sell some things we don't need.

Jesus did tell the rich young ruler to sell "everything" and give to the poor. He knew the man's heart belonged to his possessions. Luke 187:18-23. Where does our heart belong?

Are we willing to give "sacrificially", or only if it doesn't impact us much?

2. "You can't take it with you" - what about leaving money to children?

We do need to consider the message we are leaving our children. We want to provide for them, but do we want to give them everything so they work for nothing? What about the work of the God's mission? Surely this needs to also be a consideration. We want to help our kids financially, but we also want to help them to be generous.

3. Please comment on: "Sacrificially giving versus faithful stewardship"

How do we be generous but also good stewards with what God provides us with? Should we give it all away? But we also need to work so as not to be a burden on others. We also need to use our time and gifts as well as our money to bless people.

Question received via text:

4. What is the difference between grace and karma?

Karma is the belief found in some religions that what happens to you in life is the result of your previous actions, or even actions in previous lives. Karma is believed by some to be a force that makes these things happen. Other more informal ideas are "you get what you deserve", or "do good and good things will happen to you", etc.

The Christian belief is that the great news of the gospel is that we get what we don't deserve! We don't deserve salvation as we are all sinful people who have done wrong before God - all have sinned and fall short of God's glory (Romans 3:23). Yet God offers us forgiveness and eternal life through the death and resurrection of Jesus. This is grace - an undeserved gift.

So why should we do good, if it's not in order to get good back? We do good, we show grace, and we are generous, because God has been generous to us. We expect nothing back. We don't give in order to receive. We give because we have already received the greatest gift and the most valuable possession of the Kingdom of God. We don't actually need anything back! Our motivation to show grace is that we have received grace.

Here is a link to our missions page:

Missions at St Phil's and St Mark's