Be Generous

Intro

We are picking up our series in Matthew 6, starting at verse 19 for those who are following along in their Bible

Because it has been a few weeks since we looked at the Lord’s prayer, I wanted to remind us how we broke down Jesus’ teaching on prayer in to 5 sections. The first was worship, followed by bringing our will in alignment with God’s. Then we asked God to meet our needs and even teach us how to live within our means. Then we talked about asking for forgiveness, and how we need to start with forgiving others before we ask for ourselves. Then we finished, asking God to give us the strength to overcome the temptations that come our way

this morning we are going to look at money, and how it has so much potential to influence our relationship with God

before we do, I need to unpack a concept for each of you, and I think I found the easiest way to explain it.

If I say to you that I bleed green, what does that mean? It means I am a Rider’s fan, and I’m fairly die hard. So that is what is called an idiom. It is a phrase used in our culture that means something other then the literal definition.

If someone from another country heard that phrase in 100 years, they would probably want to dig someone up to see the green blood.

Every culture has these idioms, and we need to aware of them when we read scripture because the biblical authors use them as well.

with that, let’s dive in

Matthew 6:19–21 NLT

“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.

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before we unpack the passage, there is cultural dynamic we need to understand. A lot of the people Jesus would’ve been talking to at this time were poor, and not the kind of, “I might have the cancel Netflix to keep the lights on,” poor, but the “I can’t remember the last time I could afford to eat” kind. There’s a difference

When someone is in inescapable poverty, they become concerned about material things. They have to worry about making money because it is literally life an death for them

For most of us in North America, we are fed the lies that if we had this service or this product, our lives would be so much easier. Real happiness is just a swipe of the credit card away.

But what Jesus is talking about is bigger than that. Where your heart is. As a disciple of Jesus Christ, a follower of God Almighty, where is your heart supposed to be? Your heart belongs to God first, everything else second.

The way the first two verses are set up is a warning about idolatry. If you store wealth for yourself on earth, this is where your heart will be. You are saying that you trust money to meet your needs, to supply your wants.

What Jesus says is there is a better way. You can be generous, give your money to God, entrust it and your heart to Him, and find security. Entrust your money to Him, and let Him show you that He is the good Father that will need your needs. It comes back to the way Jesus taught us to pray, “Give us today the food we need.” Teach us Lord to trust you.

Are you going to trust God, or money?

Matthew 6:22–23 NLT

“Your eye is like a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is filled with light. But when your eye is unhealthy, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is!

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remember what I said about idioms? This whole part is wrapped up in Jewish idioms.

Your eye was a representation of how you looked at money and life in general. If you had a good eye, it meant your were generous in life. You had an eye for opportunities to do good.

If you had a bad eye, it meant you were stingy with your money, and you had a jealous grudging spirit.

But Jesus took it a step further, and he says if you have a bad eye, you are going to be blind to the opportunities to do good.

1 Timothy 6:17–19 NLT

Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and generous to those in need, always being ready to share with others. By doing this they will be storing up their treasure as a good foundation for the future so that they may experience true life.

Do you have a good eye, or a bad one?

Matthew 6:24 NLT

“No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.

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I started with saying you can either trust God or you can trust money, but you can’t do both

Then I said you can either be generous with your finances and pay it forward, which will help you be generous in every area of your life. OR you can be stingy, which plays back into the idea of storing up wealth, and you will become blind to the opportunities to do good.

Jesus really brings it to a head here. Just like Moses and Joshua before Him, Jesus stands before His followers, and He asks you the same thing He asked them.

You have two options. Both want your complete loyalty, your complete allegiance. Anything short of complete surrender will not do.

Your first option is God. If you surrender to Him, follow His ways, His teachings, and His leading, you will become the best version of yourself. He will make you a better spouse, a better parent, a better friend, and a better person. You will be filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness, and self-control. You will experience true wealth, the kind that money cannot buy. All He asks is you surrender your will to Him. When you die, all of these things you gain will either come with you, or it will paid forward and waiting in eternity for you.

Option 2. If you surrender to money, you will get more money. You will be able to buy almost anything you want. You will have status and stuff. It will cost you your marriage, your family, your friends, your time, and your life. You will have to give everything to it and when you die, none of it comes with you. You will spend eternity with nothing.

God or Money, because you can’t serve both.

For those who read another translation and it says Mammon. Mammon literally means, “Trusted thing.” This is what Job says about putting your trust in money

Job 31:24–28 NLT

“Have I put my trust in money or felt secure because of my gold? Have I gloated about my wealth and all that I own? “Have I looked at the sun shining in the skies, or the moon walking down its silver pathway, and been secretly enticed in my heart to throw kisses at them in worship? If so, I should be punished by the judges, for it would mean I had denied the God of heaven.

Job is calling the trust in money idolatry.

Pascal’s Wager

Blaise Pascal was known for his “Wager of Pascal,” which stated:

How can anyone lose who chooses to become a Christian? If, when he dies, there turns out to be no God and his faith was in vain, he has lost nothing—in fact, he has been happier in life than his nonbelieving friends. If, however, there is a God and a heaven and hell, then he has gained heaven and his skeptical friends will have lost everything in hell!277

Blaise Pascal

Belief is a wise wager. Granted that faith cannot be proved, what harm will come to you if you gamble on its truth and it proves false? If you gain, you gain all; if you lose, you lose nothing. Wager, then, without hesitation, that God exists.

Blaise Pascal

BE Generous

Communion

1 Corinthians 11:27–32 NLT

So anyone who eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily is guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup. For if you eat the bread or drink the cup without honoring the body of Christ, you are eating and drinking God’s judgment upon yourself. That is why many of you are weak and sick and some have even died. But if we would examine ourselves, we would not be judged by God in this way. Yet when we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned along with the world.

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take some time and examine yourself. Allow the Holy Spirit to speak to you today and reveal anything in you that He wants to address. It is better to allow the Spirit to convict and correct today, so you can be free later.

Pause

1 Corinthians 11:23–26 NLT

For I pass on to you what I received from the Lord himself. On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this in remembrance of me as often as you drink it.” For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until he comes again.

PRAY