"Free Indeed" Handout Text

Our church is having a "free store" this weekend, giving away new or gently used clothes, toys, household items, etc. to anyone in need. The director of the store is calling it "Free Indeed," and she asked me to write up a handout we can send home with people who come to shop. Several asked if I'd share the text of the handout, so here it is:

WHY ARE WE GIVING STUFF AWAY?

The short answer is that we have been so blessed by what God has given us, we want to bless others in turn. But we’re not talking about “stuff” here.

There is a misconception floating around that the message of the Christian church is “be a better person.” We know you can get this message anywhere, from any religion or no religion at all. We are not giving things away because we think it will make us “be better people.” (We don’t think that works anyway.)

The real message of the Bible, and the message of Christmas, is that God “incarnated” in flesh in the person of Jesus Christ to live the “better person” life none of us could, to sacrificially die in our place to forgive all of our sins, and to rise again to secure the promise of eternal life. This is what the Bible calls “the riches of Christ.” And to receive these riches, we need only stop trusting our efforts to “be good” and begin trusting that Jesus was good on our behalf. If we will believe that Jesus died for our sins and was resurrected for eternal life, we will be forever forgiven and free.

This is why Jesus says in John 8:36, “When the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” It is a joy, then, for free people to be generous and give stuff away. It is our joy to serve you this way because it was God’s joy to serve us the way he did. Simply put, “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19).

If you’d like to know more about the authentic message of Christianity, feel free to contact us, join us for worship on Sunday at 10 a.m., or visit us online at www.middletownchurch.org and click on “Gospel” in the menu.

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