A Generous People

The New Revised Standard Version The Collection for Christians at Jerusalem

6 The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work. 9 As it is written,

“He scatters abroad, he gives to the poor;

his righteousness endures forever.”

10 He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. 11 You will be enriched in every way for your great generosity, which will produce thanksgiving to God through us; 12 for the rendering of this ministry not only supplies the needs of the saints but also overflows with many thanksgivings to God. 13 Through the testing of this ministry you glorify God by your obedience to the confession of the gospel of Christ and by the generosity of your sharing with them and with all others, 14 while they long for you and pray for you because of the surpassing grace of God that he has given you. 15 Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

Introduction: What We Are Known For

If you do a quick google search for what people think about when they think about Christianity, you get some words that we might not want associated with us...

Judgemental- This one seems to be at the top of everybody’s list, which is particularly heart breaking when you think that Jesus specifically told us not to judge.

Overly Political- While I know that the church in general is a pretty big tent where both Democrats and Republicans can call it home, so much of the last 50 years or so in America has been the evangelical church in particular making their home among the conservative movement that folks see just about anything the church does through a partisan and political lens, that everything we do has some sort of political motivation behind it.

Greedy- There are so many televangelists out there that offer a blessing for just a monthly contribution, that some have come to see the church as always asking for money, always out for it’s own betterment.

Creepy- This used to be confined pretty well to the Catholic church with their recent child abuse scandals, but sadly it’s creeping in to the mainline denominations as well. For as much as we preach and wag our fingers about sexual ethics, it’s disturbing how many scandals come up day in and day out.

And this just bothers me to no end!

I don’t want to be associated with those words!

When I think about what I want people to say when they see us is that we are

Kind

Merciful

Loving

Generous.

That last one gets the least play I think in sermons. We don’t often talk about what it means to be generous.

So today, with three sermons left to go, I want to spend some time thinking through generosity, and what it means for us to be generous.

2 Corinthians

A vision of terrible things in Jerusalem

Paul has been praying, and one day had a vision that things are about to get really rough for the believers in Jerusalem.

He’s foreseen a famine a few years down the line.

And however they’ve gotten to this point, Paul is like 100% certain it’s coming.

And so Paul in all of his letters has been asking the churches that he’s been a part of to take up a collection to help the church in Jerusalem.

The needs of others are bigger than the needs of ourselves

The earliest Christians understood that they were all under attack at almost all times from every angle.

The Jewish people didn’t like them.

The Romans didn’t like them.

There was, if you can even believe it, division within the church itself!

But they live with this understanding that the needs of others are bigger than their own needs.

Who cares how much we’re under attack, the church in Jerusalem is about to be suffering, and if we can do something about that, we should.

A farming parable:

Paul starts this passage with a “well, duh” parable of farming.

If you don’t sow very many seeds, if you get stingy with what you have, you’re not going to reap very much.

But if you sow bountifully, if you put it a tremendous amount of work and effort, if you are generous, you will reap bountifully.

In other words, Paul says “You get out what you put in.”

But one of those words caught my attention this week:

Bountifully- Eulogias: Giving to the point of blessing

The word for “bountifully” here is the word “Eulogias”, where we get our word “Eulogy.”

And it can have a lot of meanings:

It can mean to speak in favorable terms, to praise someone, which is what we do with eulogies, right?

But it can also mean “act or benefit of blessing.”

So Paul is essentially saying, “Sow in stingyness, you’ll get what you put in. Sow to the point of blessing, pouring out of yourself until it’s a blessing to someone, and now we’re getting somewhere.”

A Cheerful Giver

Paul then makes it clear that he’s not interested in guilting anyone in to giving anything.

You can raise a lot of money by making people feel guilty about what they give or don’t give.

Instead, Paul says you have to decide on your own what you’re able to give.

Specifically he says, because God loves a “cheerful giver.”

Paul says that it almost matters more what your heart is doing, rather than what’s going out of your wallet.

If you are throwing a lot of cash into the offering plate, but you’re doing it with malice in your heart or out of a place of obligation, then you really haven’t understood what’s going on here, have you?

This is not a slot-machine God

There is a version of this story that goes a little something like this:

If you are faithful, if you give to our chosen ministry, if you are generous, then God will be generous with you.

That some how you give so that God will pour out blessing on you.

And every time I hear that particular version of this story, I get the creeps a bit.

We don’t worship a slot-machine!

This kind of theology says you put your coins in the machine and hope that something good comes back.

And if something good didn’t come back, well you must just have to put more coins in the machine.

It’s been called many things over the years. Televangelists, Prosperity Gospel, things like that.

But it’s just not the way God works.

Paul makes clear that God’s job is to give you what you need.

Maybe not necessarily what you want, but what you need.

Paul writes that God is a God of abundance, that there is always more blessing to go around.

When we hold on to what we have, when we get stingy with what God has given us, Paul says we’re essentially saying we don’t trust God to provide.

God is already providing what we need, so out of our gratefulness for that, we ought to be generous ourselves.

But that isn’t to say that there isn’t some benefit to us for being generous!

Enriched- To cause to abound in something.

In verse 11, Paul says we will be enriched in every way for our great generosity.

And a lot of people when they read this passage hear something that sounds like “rich” and their mouths start watering.

But the word for “enriched” here means to cause to abound in something.

Think about what generosity causes you to abound in.

For me, generosity causes me to abound in kindness as well.

For me, generosity causes me to abound in trust in God’s care.

For me, generosity causes me to abound in stewardship and care for what I do have.

And, generosity causes a community to come together.

So if all of that is true, why is it then that we resist generosity so much?

Resistance to Generosity

Leviticus- Leave a corner

In the passage we read earlier today from Leviticus, we are reminded that generosity is not just a new testament thing.

The Israelites are instructed to make sure that they leave the corners of their field when they plowed.

They can enjoy the fruits of a vast majority of their labor.

But God made it clear that the farmers were to leave the corners and edges of their fields for the less fortunate to pick and eat.

Actually, specifically God says that they are to leave the corners of the field for the poor and the immigrants in their community, which feels like a whole other sermon we don’t have time for today doesn’t it?

And what’s odd is that while this is part of the Law of Moses, you can almost hear the grumbling of the people now can’t you?

You can’t make me give that!

I earned that!

I worked for that!

There’s a reason God had to make that a law.

Look, our natural and instinctual nature is to hold on to what we have.

From the moment we got out of the cave and realized that we either eat food or die, we weren’t really interested in sharing with our neighbors.

Carry that line of thinking straight to today in the United States of American in 2022, and you realize quickly that we come up with a lot of excuses to not be generous, and to hold on to what we think is ours.

But God has made this a law specifically because we can and should be better than that.

We are better than our base instincts.

Things we can be Generous With:

Money and Resources

Pastors tend to hate doing stewardship sermons and asking for money for the church’s needs.

But even here, I find myself just a few weeks left in my tenure here, I can’t help but continue to ask us to be generous our finances here at the church.

God is doing powerful and mighty things here at LPC, and will continue to do so long after I’m gone.

Can we be cheerful in our giving here and in this place?

But for that matter, we can be generous with our money in other ways, can’t we?

I really think that I can tell how faithful someone is by how much they tip their waiter at the restaurant.

I think I can tell how faithful someone is by whether or not they’ll throw some change in the hat of someone begging outside the Penguin’s game.

I think I can tell how faithful someone is by how often they help their fellow brothers and sisters when they’re in need.

All of that is true, but it’s not the only way we can be generous.

Time

Truth be told, time is the most valuable resource we have, because no one’s getting any more than we have!

How generous are you with your time?

Are you willing to show up and be present with your family?

Are you willing to drive miles and miles away just to see a friend you haven’t spent time with in a while?

Are you comfortable blocking out time in your schedule for those you love most?

Are you willing to stop and listen to those who no one else would rather listen to?

I admit, this is tricky.

I need some time every now and again to rest and relax.

And, to confess my own struggles out loud, sometimes I’m so generous with my time with other people that my family can suffer on the other side of it.

But we can be more generous with our time, and we can be cheerful with it.

Forgiveness

It doesn’t take long to find the people who have wronged us.

We probably are on the receiving end of someone wronging us 7-10 times a day, aren’t we?

And for that matter, we probably wrong our neighbors 7-10 times a day too.

We can be generous with forgiveness.

Yes, some slights and wrongs are so egregious that they are going to take time to forgive and that’s a process and that too is another sermon.

But there are lots of little slights and wrongs that we can offer forgiveness for each and every day, even if it’s just for ourselves and our own souls.

Yet some of us really want to hold on to forgiveness, to hold it over people.

We can be more generous in that way.

Encouragement

This is my friend Travis.

I’ve known Travis since middle school, but now we spend most of our time together riding in charity bike events.

And I want to be just like Travis when I grow up.

First of all, he is always encouraging me and my fat behind to get up the hills and climbs of the day.

But that encouragement isn’t just for me.

Travis will offer words of encouragement to everyone on the road at these events.

People who are absolutely crushing it, Travis will encourage.

People who look like they could keel over dead at any moment, Travis will encourage.

People who did a great job fundraising, Travis will encourage.

He doesn’t hold back for anyone.

And why should he?

I want to be like Travis when I grow up, and I want to be more generous with my encouragement for everyone.

GROW

Give Thanks

Give Freely

Give Cheerfully