{"id":1727,"date":"2011-05-31T13:22:45","date_gmt":"2011-05-31T18:22:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/member\/?p=1727"},"modified":"2011-10-31T18:40:37","modified_gmt":"2011-10-31T23:40:37","slug":"twirl-035-53111-better-to-give-better-how-better-for-who","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.freedomfrommedom.com\/member\/lessons\/twirl-035-53111-better-to-give-better-how-better-for-who","title":{"rendered":"TWIRL 035 (5\/31\/11): Better to Give? Better How? Better for Who?"},"content":{"rendered":"

This Week In Recovery Lesson<\/span><\/h2>\n

Better to Give? Better How? Better for Who?<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

We have likely all heard it. Possibly first from a parent, or a grandparent, or a teacher, or someone.\u00a0\u201cIt is better to give than receive.\u201d <\/em><\/strong>The question is better for who, or whom? <\/span><\/p>\n

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  • What is your motive when you give? <\/span><\/li>\n
  • Do you give in order to, or in anticipation of, what you will receive? Can you think of a time when you really worked hard to help someone out, but then didn\u2019t get a thank you? How did you feel? <\/span><\/li>\n
  • Have you given someone a gift that you spent a lot of money on, or put a great deal of time and thought into, and it was obvious it wasn\u2019t appreciated? How did that feel?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
    \n

    Pastor Fran Leeman (Life Spring Community Church, Plainfield, IL) preached a message recently about the words of Jesus spoken by Paul the Apostle that \u201cIt is more blessed to give than receive\u201d. He pointed out something that I didn\u2019t know that I found quite interesting. While it is popular to use the saying that \u201cit is better to give than receive\u201d, even attribute the saying to Jesus, it was never written by any of the Gospel writers. This saying of Jesus is first quoted in the book of Acts by Paul as his parting words before he sets sail to Rome where he knew he was certain to be martyred for teaching the truth about the resurrected Christ.<\/span><\/p>\n

    \u201cAnd I have been a constant example of how you can help those in need by working hard. You should remember the words of the Lord Jesus:\u00a0\u2018It is more blessed to give than to receive.\u2019\u201d<\/strong> Acts 20:35 (NLT)<\/span><\/p>\n

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    • How would you say that it is better to give than receive? What does that mean to you?<\/span><\/li>\n
    • How have you given that you would say blessed you?<\/span><\/li>\n
    • How would you say that your giving blessed someone else?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      I think the focus and emphasis of this saying needs to be on the word \u201cblessed\u201d as we examine the matter of it being \u201cbetter\u201d to give than to receive. Because again, better for who?\u2026 better how? When we consider the story of how Jesus gave, compared to what he received, at least in the immediate sense, we must admit that what he gave, while it turns out much better for us, it was\u00a0not<\/em> better for him\u2026 Or was it? And if it was better for him, better how? As a man of flesh and blood, Jesus suffered unto the very end of his human life. There were not any rewards for him in this world. Nothing gained for him except torment, suffering, and death. Let\u2019s look at it more closely.<\/span><\/p>\n

      36<\/sup> Then Jesus went with them to the olive grove called Gethsemane, and he said,\u00a0\u201cSit here while I go over there to pray.\u201d\u00a037 <\/sup>He took Peter and Zebedee\u2019s two sons, James and John, and he became anguished and distressed.\u00a038<\/sup> He told them,\u00a0\u201cMy soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.\u201d\u00a039<\/sup> He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying,\u00a0\u201cMy Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.\u201d <\/strong>Matthew 26:36-39 (NLT)<\/span><\/p>\n

      28<\/sup> They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him.\u00a029<\/sup> They wove thorn branches into a crown and put it on his head, and they placed a reed stick in his right hand as a scepter. Then they knelt before him in mockery and taunted, \u201cHail! King of the Jews!\u201d\u00a030<\/sup> And they spit on him and grabbed the stick and struck him on the head with it.\u00a031<\/sup> When they were finally tired of mocking him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him again. Then they led him away to be crucified.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

      35<\/sup> After they had nailed him to the cross, the soldiers gambled for his clothes by throwing dice.\u00a036<\/sup> Then they sat around and kept guard as he hung there.\u00a037<\/sup> A sign was fastened to the cross above Jesus\u2019 head, announcing the charge against him. It read: \u201cThis is Jesus, the King of the Jews.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

      46<\/sup> At about three o\u2019clock, Jesus called out with a loud voice,\u00a0\u201cEli, Eli,\u00a0lema sabachthani?\u201d<\/em> which means\u00a0\u201cMy God, my God, why have you abandoned me?\u201d<\/strong>Matthew 27:28-31, 35-36, 46 (NLT)<\/span><\/p>\n

      Wow! What did Jesus get for the trouble of the sacrificial gift he gave for you and me? Not only was he beaten to within an inch of his life, and experienced the psychological torment of knowing what he would have to endure before he would endure it, but he was driven by our sin away from what he coveted most, sweet fellowship in relationship with his Heavenly Father. <\/span><\/p>\n

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      • What did Jesus<\/em> get back for giving up his life at the cross?<\/span><\/li>\n
      • How was it better for Jesus<\/em> to give than to receive? <\/span><\/li>\n
      • How was it more blessed for Jesus<\/em> to give sacrificially when he felt abandoned\u2014rejected by the One that he worshiped and adored as a man of flesh? <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

        Pastor Leeman sited the following passage from 1 Corinthians that must be explored to discover some awesome truth about the New Life Experience as it pertains to selfless giving:<\/span><\/p>\n

        18<\/sup> The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God.\u00a019<\/sup> As the Scriptures say,\u00a0\u201cI will destroy the wisdom of the wise\u00a0and discard the intelligence of the intelligent.\u201d\u00a020<\/sup> So where does this leave the philosophers, the scholars, and the world\u2019s brilliant debaters? God has made the wisdom of this world look foolish.\u00a021<\/sup>Since God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe.\u00a022<\/sup> It is foolish to the Jews, who ask for signs from heaven. And it is foolish to the Greeks, who seek human wisdom.23<\/sup>So when we preach that Christ was crucified, the Jews are offended and the Gentiles say it\u2019s all nonsense.\u00a024<\/sup> But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles,\u00a0Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

        25<\/sup>This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans, and God\u2019s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength.\u00a026<\/sup> Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world\u2019s eyes or powerful or wealthy\u00a0when God called you.\u00a027<\/sup> Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful.\u00a028<\/sup> God chose things despised by the world,\u00a0things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important.\u00a029<\/sup> As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God. <\/strong>1 Corinthians 1:18-29 (NLT)<\/span><\/p>\n

        The way of the world is selfish, motivated in every way by selfish desires and intentions. When you understand how the brain works\u2014the power of the \u201cgo\u201d systems in the brain wanting what it wants when it wants it, you are confronted by the reality that our selfish ambitions and pursuits fuels the insatiable drive for more selfishness. The system we live in each day is corrupt, polluted by self-centeredness at the least, and at the most, self-indulgence. What Jesus taught and modeled in his life was humility and servanthood. His friends were amazed when Jesus came around and washed their dirty soiled feet as perhaps the ultimate act of servanthood. I say soiled because the word also connotes selfish immorality. It was a symbol of how Jesus would sink to the lowest of places to forgive them\u2014to cleanse them. This not how the world thinks. It runs hard against the grain of our selfish sin and human nature to serve. Yet, Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, continually defied his selfish human nature as a man through his commitment to living out the God-given purpose for his life.<\/span><\/p>\n

        So for us, if we are committed to recovery from our mess God\u2019s way, we must we willing to model the example of Jesus in how we live. What did Jesus do? He came from the transcendent place of authority as God, and ultimately descended into the lowliest places in his humanity to serve, to die a torturous death on the cross, and sink into the depths of hell, experiencing condemnation for your sin and mine.<\/span><\/p>\n

        5<\/sup> You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.\u00a06<\/sup> Though he was God,\u00a0he did not think of equality with God\u00a0as something to cling to.\u00a07<\/sup> Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;\u00a0he took the humble position of a slave\u00a0and was born as a human being.\u00a0When he appeared in human form,\u00a08<\/sup> he humbled himself in obedience to God\u00a0and died a criminal\u2019s death on a cross. <\/strong>Philippians 2:5-8 (NLT)<\/span><\/p>\n