{"id":81392,"date":"2019-04-27T12:00:27","date_gmt":"2019-04-27T16:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.discover-grace.flywheelsites.com\/?p=81392"},"modified":"2019-04-27T12:00:27","modified_gmt":"2019-04-27T16:00:27","slug":"giving-as-worship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/discovergrace.com\/giving-as-worship\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Giving Is Worship"},"content":{"rendered":"

As we continue in worship\u2026<\/span><\/em>
\nThese words carry a lot of meaning and intentionality at Grace. We believe that the life of a believer should be one of continual worship (Romans 12:1). <\/span>
\nEvery week at Grace, you\u2019ll hear different leaders use these specific words to move us through the liturgy (the order of our weekend service). You\u2019ll hear them as we move from singing, to confession and communion, and again from singing into the the preaching of God\u2019s Word. <\/span>
\nThen they reappear, usually after the message, to lead us as a gathered people to a time of giving.<\/span>
\nOf all of the disciplines, or \u201cspiritual acts\u201d, that we do as followers of Jesus, giving our money seems to be the most difficult. Again and again, we hesitate to connect giving to our worship, and sometimes feel as if giving is an obligation. <\/span>
\nHowever, all of the joy and fulfillment that God has for us will be stripped away from the act of giving if we simply view it as a mark on a long checklist of how to make God tip His cosmic hat to us. Obligation and worship are the factors that come into play in the Old Testament story of Cain and Abel in Genesis 4. Both gave from what they had; however, Cain gave out of obligation, while Abel\u2019s offering was an overflow of his worship. So often, our hearts foolishly endeavor to claim for ourselves that which has already been claimed by our Redeemer Jesus. Through Jesus\u2019 work on our behalf, we are recipients of the astonishing favor of God. One theologian writes that \u201cthere is nothing that you can do that will make God love you any more or any less.\u201d God\u2019s love is wholly unconditional. <\/span>
\nAt Grace, we strive for big-hearted generosity because of God\u2019s overwhelming generosity toward us. Generosity begins at the heart, which is also where worship begins. Jesus, in His Sermon on the Mount, tells us \u201cwhere your treasure is, there your heart will be also.\u201d <\/span>
\nAs our hearts have been awakened by his love, so we love. As our hearts have been softened by sacrifice, so we give our lives to serve others. As God has lavishly poured out His generosity over us, so we are marked by being a generous people. As our God has sung out a song of redemption over us, so we sing a song of praise back to him. Our giving is just one component that composes our life of worship to our God. Without it as a regular part of our lives, we are not fully experiencing all that God has for us in our enjoyment of Him. <\/span>
\nWe were made in the image of God. We reflect His glory and His goodness. The Church is God\u2019s plan of hope for the nations. We carry the light of our Savior and the hope of his Gospel into a dark and despairing world. There is a unique beauty in seeing the people of God give sacrificially to see the Church be the hope that it was intended to be. <\/span>
\nRandy Alcorn puts it like this: <\/span><\/p>\n

By giving, we enter into and participate in the grace of Christ. We worship. By giving in concert with our brothers and sisters in Christ\u2019s body, we jointly worship him, moved by each others\u2019 example and mutual participation. In the building of the tabernacle, building of the temple, and repair of the temple, it was the corporate involvement of the community of saints in which the spirit of God moved so dramatically to produce extravagant giving. The same was true with the New Testament saints of Jerusalem in the early chapters of Acts and those in Macedonia spoken of in 2 Corinthians 8.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

We carry on that legacy of generosity through the Church to the world around us. Giving, in an individual sense, demonstrates our worship. Giving, in the corporate sense, demonstrates our mission. We want to see people meet Jesus.<\/span>
\nSo what about giving when it\u2019s not easy? Not everyone is able to give out of abundance. Practically speaking, generously giving of our finances can have a much greater tangible impact on our lives than serving or singing in a weekend service. <\/span>
\nGrace\u2019s Senior Pastor Mike Adkins often reminds us that \u201cmoney is never about money. It\u2019s always about trust.\u201d Who do we trust with our life? Who do we trust with our future? At the heart of giving is sacrifice. Our giving is not meant to be a thoughtless ritual that has no impact on our day-to-day existence. In the same way that we put others before ourselves by offering our time and talents to make an impact on the world, so we give sacrificially of our possessions to see the Kingdom of God move forward.<\/span>
\nAt Grace, we are all always taking our next steps toward Christ. Everyone has a next step or even a first step. Some of us are taking our first steps with Jesus. Those are some of the best steps. Some of us are taking our first steps in community and serving. You are experiencing, possibly for the first time ever, what true family feels like. <\/span>
\nMany of us need to consider our next, or even first steps, in giving. Our worship is our response to what God has done for us in and \u00a0through Jesus. Our giving is a sanctifying expression of that worship. <\/span>
\nGiving is worship.<\/span>
\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As we continue in worship\u2026 These words carry a lot of meaning and intentionality at Grace. We believe that the life of a believer should be one of continual worship…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":81379,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-81392","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-worship"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nWhy Giving Is Worship - Grace Church<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"As God has lavishly poured out His generosity over us, so we are marked by being a generous people.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/discovergrace.com\/giving-as-worship\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Why Giving Is Worship - 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