Refuge Church
Givers & Takers - "Are You a Giver or a Taker?" (Proverbs 11:24-25)
Are you a giver or a taker? In his Ted Talk about givers and takers, Adam Grant says, Givers ask, What can I do for you? Takers ask, What can you do for me? Sure we all give and take at different times, but what is your style, what is your behavior with most people and in most situations, giving or taking? What do you do with your time, talent, and treasure. Our culture tells us to be takers, to get all we can and keep it for ourselves, to look out for ourselves because no one else will. But is that how God designed the world to work? Is that freedom? Proverbs 11:24 says, “One person gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want.” What a counterintuitive principle! It turns out that God’s best for us is giving, not taking. Join us over the next 4 weeks, as we leave behind the fear that drives our taking and discover the freedom that comes from giving in a series called "Givers & Takers."
Locations & Times
Refuge Church
211 Arthur Langford Jr Pl SW, Atlanta, GA 30315, USA
Sunday 10:00 AM
- Adam Grant
Are you a giver or a taker?
Givers ask, What can I do for you? Takers ask, What can you do for me?Matchers say, I’ll do for you if you do for me. Quid pro quo. You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours. Which would you say you are? Most people are actually matchers, driven by a sense of justice and fairness. But is that what God's people are called to? Doesn't an eye for an eye leave the whole world blind? Shouldn't we do unto others as we would want them to do for us, not what they actually do to us?
If we're honest, most of us fear giving because we’re not sure the next time we’ll be getting. But I want to help us this morning to be freed from that fear and help us all become givers. And I think we will be freed to do that, if we can agree and put into practice 4 fairly simple truths about God and ourselves from the Scriptures:
1. God owns everything.
2. You are his steward.
3. Your quality of life will be determined by how you steward.
4. Followers of Jesus should be givers, not takers.
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(Read the verses below and engage with the questions/notes that follow.)
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Here are your Family Groups discussion questions:
1) What does our culture mostly drive us to be: givers, takers, or matchers?
2) What would you say is your style? Is that what you are all the time?
3) What is the message of Proverbs 11:24-25? Does that convict you? Why?
4) How do we know that God is a giver? How was Jesus' life that of a giver?
5) In what ways can you grow in being a giver instead of a taker? In what areas of your life is it most difficult?