OFFERING - LUKE 8:1-3
1 Women Who Followed Jesus
Not long afterward Jesus began a tour of the nearby cities and villages to announce the Good News concerning the Kingdom of God. He took his twelve disciples with him, 2 along with some women he had healed and from whom he had cast out evil spirits. Among them were Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons; 3 Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's business manager; Susanna; and many others who were contributing from their own resources to support Jesus and his disciples. NLT
These scriptures were recorded by the Apostle Luke as he gave testimony to the ministry of Jesus. In verse 1 we can see that Jesus had a traveling ministry where He went from one place to another in an all out effort to preach the Gospel of God. Usually when people travel there is always additional expenses incurred for traveling which is one reason why His supporters gave “offerings”. Although many Christians are known for preaching the Gospel of Jesus really we are preaching the Gospel of God just like Jesus because Jesus is God. We also see from verse 1 that Jesus did not travel by himself when it came to preaching and teaching His message of truth. This is because Jesus was dedicated to doing things the right way. The Lord as a proficient business manager knew He should have his staff members with Him to take care of things that He could not do himself. Some people have the notion that they are a one man show but they usually will burn out fast. Often with those who don’t know how to properly release work, the Lord will decide not to add any more responsibility to them due to their lack of delegation. Another reason for ministering with more than one person is because the truth of “every word being established in the mouth of two or three witness” as recorded in Deuteronomy 19:15 and 1 Corinthians 13:1. Generally this is still practiced today because if someone is a witness to an event, that is good for record keeping but if there are multiple witness describing an event that same event to confirmed to be true. It is always good in ministry to have at least one other person with you when ministering to others as a witness to what was said and how it was said. This is not only prudent but it may keep you from losing a lawsuit if someone decides to bring false accusations against you seeking monetary gain. The third reason why Jesus brought along others with Him as He ministered is because Jesus was, is, and shall always be a teacher. The Great Teacher Christ is always leading by example, which means He shows us first what to do then He explains what we just saw. The Lord Jesus knew that He would not be here on earth operating as a man anointed by God forever. Therefore as a wise teacher the Lord trained others to continue His message of the Gospel of God. This is something that is done by people who love the cause (message, purpose) more than their personal work. When you love the cause you desire to train others to perpetuate the purpose so that everything doesn’t revolve around you. Some people don’t have good foresight so all they do is build everything around themselves by not sharing how to do things God’s way. Therefore, when the leader is gone no one really knows how to maintain the good work because they have never been trained as a leader. Thus, the cause declines because the purpose is no longer propagated effectively. Notice that Jesus even refers to us as His disciples just so we would get the hint that we should follow His example by being doers of His Word. The Lord is very big on training and we should be too, if we are planning to fulfil His Will on this earth. Since we are speaking about fulfilling God’s Will we can mention that those who were blessed of Jesus continued with Jesus. This is known as continuing on with God’s Word which makes you a true disciple of God as noted in John 8:31,32. The Lord is always the one who starts this process because He is the only One who can save you. The Lord delivers you by His grace but as you continue with Him you start learning about His Ways and His Gifts and His Grace from His Word. Once you are empowered with the accurate knowledge of God that knowledge will require a response from you. If the knowledge of God is believed and acted upon it will set you free. It is a known fact that those who are set free by Jesus can only maintain this freedom if they continue with Jesus on their journey in life. This is the primary reason all the world should be following Jesus because He alone has bought all their souls with His Blood and His stripes has purchased all their healing as shown in this example. Knowing that the Lord is solely responsible for bringing us through the Shadow of Death unto the glorious Light of Salvation is the motivation for His followers supporting Him as noted in verse 3. This support can be in various forms because His supporters often fed Him, lodge Him and His disciples and gave Him whatever He had need of at that moment. Although, the common gift of offering to the Lord is money don’t limit your support of Jesus to just money. Money can support a ministry and/or a church but so can food, clothing or others assets. In today’s society people give away all sorts of things, just purpose to give away good things because you are giving to the Lord not unto men. Dear beloved child of God even if you can not give financially to the Lord try to give of your time because giving something to the Lord will help you receive the satisfaction in your heart that you are giving the Lord something to help propagate His cause. Since we have already received the offering of Jesus as our Savior let us offer something back to Him as a demonstration of our gratitude. If your offering is financial, an asset, your time or a sacrifice of praise and thanks giving we can all give an “offering” to God because Jesus is worthy and we are empowered by God to give. Amen!
In His Love, Eric & Angela Foster