CATALYST YOUTH- "Why Give? Part One", Friday, February 10, 2017

This week we continued our "WHY?" series with a shorter talk because we spent an hour of our night baking cookies that we'll bring down to the Capital City Mission in a couple of weeks. Why did we bake cookies for people who we don't know? Why would we go serve at the Mission? Why is there so much talk about giving or volunteering whenever we're at a youth group or church?

GIVING IN INSEPARABLE FROM THE CHRISTIAN FAITH

Because the Bible says that we're ALL loved and valued by God, it's not surprising that all through the Bible we're encouraged to fight against that urge to be selfish- to only think about ourselves, to only spend money on ourselves- and do what we can to help others who might be in need. 

Jesus had A LOT to say about giving. His most famous parable, The Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37), shows us how God expects us to treat other people—even if they might be our ENEMIES! At the time Jesus told this story, Samaritans and Jews hated each other, so when a Samaritan man happened across a Jewish man who was robbed and beaten at the side of the road and then stopped to bandage his wounds, took him to where he could get help, and then even paid for the man to be taken care of, it was pretty controversial! That's NOT how people usually treated their enemies!
 
What’s so powerful about that story is that the Samaritan man didn’t just throw money at the problem by giving in an offering to help the guy, but he was involved in VOLUNTEERING. He gave of his own time and got his hands dirty helping the injured man! It was probably a little bit uncomfortable! I mean, bandaging someone’s wounds is a whole other level of caring! It would have been kind of gross!  Jesus famously ended that story by saying that WE need to be that kind of GOOD NEIGHBOUR to others! That’s how God expects Christians to live! When we do that kind of thing, our CREATOR is super proud of us!
 
Another famous thing that Jesus is known for is for teaching the GOLDEN RULE—in Matthew 7:12 he said, “In everything, do to others what you would want them to do to you”.
 
Just imagine what our world would be like if EVERYONE chose to live by that! We would be living in a world with no poverty, no bullying, no violence, no crime! It would be like heaven on earth! Of course, not everyone lives by that golden rule—which is pretty evident if you just watch the news for a minute---so when Christians choose to live that way, it really stands out! Jesus said in John 13:35, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."  When you’re serious about following Jesus- it’ll stand out! People will take notice! They’ll start asking questions! They’ll ask us why we would give or volunteer when we could just spend the money on ourselves or spend all of our free time playing video games! When we LEGITIMATELY care about others, it’s one of the best ways we can share our faith and let others know that following Jesus is important to us! 

That’s exactly what happened when the first Christians started meeting together as the church! “All the believers were together. They shared everything they had. They sold property and other things they owned. They gave to anyone who needed something. They praised God. They were respected by all the people. Every day the Lord added to their group those who were being saved”. (Acts 2:44-45, 47)
 
Is it any wonder why more and more people decided to follow Jesus! These first Christians were known for making HUGE sacrifices—even selling property and things they owned- to help other people! That’s almost mind-boggling to think of today! Generally, people give their leftovers, they don’t DOWN-SIZE and make sacrifices so that they can give more away!

Of course, all through history, Christians have been at the forefront of helping others. Just look at all of the aid and relief organizations in existence! The ones we’ve all heard about (and arguably the ones that have the biggest impact on our world)- RED CROSS, WORLD VISION, COMPASSION- were all founded by Christians who believed they needed to do something to help people in need. Because of those organizations, MILLIONS of people have gone on to live and have fulfilling lives when they otherwise would have died because of some disaster or simply because they were born in complete poverty. 


You just CAN'T separate Christianity and generosity. There's just no such thing as a Jesus follower who doesn't give or volunteer to make a positive difference in his/her world. That's one of the reasons why we took the time to bake cookies tonight-- and why we do MISSION WEEK as a group every year. It reminds us that there are people in our own city who don’t have very much—who live in poverty or might not have a home of their own. These people are often looked down on and treated like dirt. They often feel alone and don’t have any family members to love and support them--but God loves and values them and wants us to REPRESENT that love by giving a bit of our time and money! Our going down and spending a couple of evenings serving coffee, sandwiches, and cookies at the mission’s drop-in is a way we can worship God! It shows and tells him that he’s important to us! It also helps the mission let people know that our youth group (and ultimately God) loves them and cares about what they’re going through in life. So, I really want to encourage our teens to sign up and be a part of it!

DISCUSSION FOR HOME

1. Ask your teen why we baked cookies as a group this week. Talk about the other ways you might give or volunteer as a family (or personally) throughout the year. Why do you do that? What drives you to spend your time and money involved in the church or community programs?

2. Encourage your teen to be involved in our upcoming MISSION WEEK. The prospect might be a little scary or uncomfortable, but they'll find that the experience will be a great one! Permission forms are due by Feb 17th, so get them in soon!

3. Sign up with Pastor Ben to provide a tray of sandwiches, veggies or fruit that we can bring with us to the mission (even if your teen is unable to go themselves). Encourage your teens to be a part of making or preparing the food as another way that they can give!