What do I learn about God? What do I learn about me? Paul uses terms of endearment when talking to the church while calling them to the grace of God. We see an example of joy flowing from their lives in the midst of trials. The church is admonished because they were willingly giving above & beyond what was expected of them. Their overflowing of generosity was the result of giving themselves to the Lord. The maturation of the believer involves a lot of adding. God keeps building in our lives. He compliments the church on their faith, knowledge, love, and diligence but reminds them to not let grace fall to the wayside. Paul reminds the church to look to Jesus as their example. Generous giving can only benefit you. No one's too poor not to give and to make giving easier grace is promised to all who give. Principle of Equality: - God provides for His people; - God's people provide for each other; - often God provides for His people through His people. So what did we learn about God? He provides, He cares about the growth in our lives and how much we should be growing, He can't be out given, He won't ask us to do anything that He hasn't provided for us and hasn't already set the example for us, He knows our exact needs. Turn these around and turn them into statements (I can trust God because He knows my specific needs). What did we learn about ourselves? We have to be fully dependent on God, we're poor w/o God, don't hold on tightly to what God's given us, He expects us to take action w/what we're given, generosity's not a one time thing, we need God's grace, examine our motives, don't worry about what you don't have, don't compare giving amounts. |
