When you give your time, your talent and your treasure away you do it because God has made you into a new person and he has made you part of a new family.
Look at Acts 2:42 – 47
And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And, day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
This passage is a description of God’s activity in and through the early church. He worked in the people of the early church to produce gospel-devoted, awe-filled, generous people. And he worked through the people of the early church to bring others to a saving faith in Christ and to meet the tangible needs of the community. This is what God does in every legitimate church family. He works in the people of that family and he works through the people of that family as new people are added to that new family.
God takes fearful people and turns them into courageous people. He takes selfish people and turns them into generous people. He takes uncommitted people and turns them into loyal people. He takes isolated people and turns them into communal people. He takes unbelievers and turns them into believers. He takes enemies and turns them into families. He takes small, persecuted, oppressed groups of people who’ve suffered much and turns them into powerful forces for healing and wholeness.
What caused these early believers to sell “their possessions and belongings and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need”? The Holy Spirit caused that. The Holy Spirit created that. The Spirit of the living God who is also known as the breathe of God or the wind of God did that. The same God who created everything with a single word created this gospel-devoted, awe-filled, generous family of Jesus people. The same God who breathes life into dead hearts created this new church family full of newly formed people. The same God who left the tomb empty created this family.
When you give your time, your talent and your treasure away you do it because God has made you into a new person and he has made you part of a new family. He has created in you a devotion to the gospel, a heart that is filled with awe of the Lord and a kingdom minded characteristic of generosity that is beyond your ability as a human.