To begin the session:
Read the following list of statements about a noted philanthropist one at a time. After reading each one, allow class members to guess this person’s name. The clues should get progressively more and more obvious.
At this date, he has given about $30 billion to charitable causes.
He launched the “Giving Pledge” campaign and recruited nearly 100 other billionaires to pledge at least half of their fortunes to charity.
One of his basic dreams is to help fund the eradication of polio and malaria around the world.
With his wife, he founded the largest philanthropic organization in the world.
He is best known as the co-founder of Microsoft®.
After reading all the clues, reveal that all the statements describe billionaire Bill Gates. Lead into Bible study by saying, “When we think of generous people, we often think of people like this—those who have millions of dollars to give away. But must one be a billionaire to be generous? Let’s learn what Paul wrote about true generosity.”
To engage the learners in a study of the Scripture text:
Download the “Straight Talk” activity here. Make copies for every class member. Divide the class into pairs, and have them work together to complete the exercise according to the printed instructions.
After pairs have had about ten minutes to work, have them share their reconstructed paraphrases. We would expect the paraphrase to read like this:
You think you are super Christians? Then show it by super generosity! Let’s see how generous you are by comparing your giving with that of those who have far less than you do. After all, isn’t the essence of our faith that Jesus gave up everything for us?
Last year, you made some big promises about your giving. Now it is time to put up or shut up. Don’t tell me you are broke. Just give what you can.
We are not trying to bleed you dry. We just want you to be generous with what you have. Who knows? Those you help today may be the ones who will help you out tomorrow. Isn’t it a basic economic principle that God gives us exactly what we need exactly when we need it?
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