Just Enough for Generosity

1 Kings 17:7–16 (NIV)

Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. Then the word of the Lord came to him: “Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.” So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, “Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?” As she was going to get it, he called, “And bring me, please, a piece of bread.”

“As surely as the Lord your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.”

Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land.’ ”

She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the Lord spoken by Elijah.

Introduction

Church, I have to share something with you that I think is going to change the way you look at scriptures. I really think it’s going to give you a new lens for the scriptures…

But before I do, let me ask you a question. How many of you enjoy reading about the miracles in the Bible?

I’m talking about miracles…

Manna; food form heaven, showing up every morning.

Moses parting the Red Sea.

Gideon fighting an army of hundreds of thousands with just 300 men.

Joshua praying for the Sun to stand still.

All throughout the Bible we have stories of God doing the unexplainable…

But, I have seen a common thread whenever it came to God doing miracles for people. Miracles were always the result of two things; and I want to share that with you today.

Are you ready for it? Because I am not sure if you are…

Ok, you look ready.

Miracles happened in the Bible as a result of two things - compassion and generosity.

Compassion and generosity.

Transition

Today, as we close out our series on the Blessed Life, I want to talk to you about generosity. I’m not talking about run of the mill round up your change at the register kind of generosity. I want to talk to you about the kind of generosity that does not make sense. The kind of generosity that isn’t looking at just the here and the now, but at the future and at generations to come.

Do you want to learn more about this kind of generation, Lighthouse?

Text

Let’s jump into our text and let me set this up for you.

In 1 Kings 17 the Prophet Elijah told the King of Israel that a drought was coming to the land. The drought that was coming was the Lord’s doing. The King, Ahab, did evil in the eyes of the Lord. Ahab was an idolater. He not only worshipped other gods, but he began to build temples and altars to the false god’s of his region and led Israel into idolatry.

But the Lord is a jealous God, and he rules with justice.

When Ahab turned to idolatry the Lord judged him and all of Israel by causing a drought in the Land.

When the drought began the Lord told Elijah to go into hiding because he was the messenger of the Lord’s judgment. He needed to hide from Ahab, and from the people who could turn their anger towards him.

So Elijah went into hiding by a ravine where the last of the water supply could be found. While he was in hiding the Lord used ravens to bring food to Elijah.

Yes, I know that does not make sense, but God doesn’t ask us our opinion when He decides to do the miraculous. All he asks for is our obedience.

So Elijah, aka the Original Doctor Dolittle, is fed by ravens and he drank from a brook until the Lord said that it was time to go.

That’s where we pick up in our text today as the Lord told Elijah to go to Zarephath. In Zarephath he would meet and would be fed by a widow.

Generosity Is For Everyone

So what do we know about this widow…

Well, becuase she is a widow, and in a very patriarchal society, she was at a socioeconomic disadvantage. As a matter of fact, it doesn’t even make sense that the Lord would come to this widow and ask for her to be generous.

Why couldn’t the Lord ask someone of resources to take care of Elijah?

Where were the business owners?

Where were the people with the resources?

Generosity is about your heart, not your resources.

We need to remember that God’s economy is not like our economy. Whenever God wants to do something with us we naturally focus on the exterior - our resources, our health, our connections, our talents.

But there is another Kingdom Principle at work that is connected to generosity.

1 Samuel 16:7 (NIV)

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”

So when God was getting ready to move Elijah from where he was to Zarephath he didn’t look at the resources of people who lived in Zarephath, he looked at the heart of people living in Zarephath.

So the next time God asks you to do something that you don’t have the resources for, maybe it’s because he’s not looking at your resources, he’s looking at your heart.

Maybe it’s because when God sees you, he sees a person that has a “yes” in their spirit when it comes to the things of God.

How many of you have ever met someone with a “yes” in their spirit?

When it comes to the things of God, it’s a yes.

When it comes to believing God for the impossible, it’s a yes.

When it comes to trusting God when everything around them is failing, it’s a yes.

We live in a world that is full of skeptics. We live in a world that doesn’t say “yes” until they get an answer to “how”.

Could you imagine what our Bible would look like if everyone waited for a “how” before they got a “yes”?

Wait a second, we already have that in our Bible.

Moses sent 12 spies to look at the Promised Land and only 2 had a yes in their spirit. Caleb and Joshua said, “those people are big, but our God is bigger! If he led us to it, then he could lead us through it!”

Oh but those other 10 that had a “no” in their spirit? They complained and murmured long enough to frustrate God and he said, “forget it!”

I got you out of Egypt, but clearly I need to get Egypt out of you.

Go and wander for 40 years and let’s see if that does the trick.

I bet you never thought of it that way did you?

So God shows up and it’s a widow that he handpicks to serve Elijah.

Why? Because she had a generous heart. She had a yes in her spirit.

Generosity is about your heart, and not your resources.

She Gave What She Had

When Elijah asked this woman if she would feed him she gave him the low down...

She told him, “Prophet… I am about to use what I have to make one last meal, and then after that I am prepared to starve to death because of this drought.”

If you are wondering how all of this is connected I need you to think it through… no rain meant there was no produce. The land was becoming more barren by the day. So no water meant there was a shortage of food. It affected everything.

This woman had come to the end of what she had… and here is this hungry prophet wanting the little that she had.

Generosity is proportionate to what you have.

In my time as a Pastor I have met people who felt discouraged about what they brought to the Lord. But I am reminded about the story that Jesus told about the woman with two mites.

Jesus told his audience that there was a woman who brought two mites and dropped it into the temple offering. Then there was a rich man who had a processional come before him as he brought his offering to the temple. Jesus hit his audience with the punch line that it was the woman who gave more because she gave more in proportion to what she had.

In the same way, stop looking at what you have and start asking yourself am I being generous according to what I have?

So this woman, who had a generous heart, was prepared to take the last of her resources and rather than split it in two, she was about to split it into three.

Let me say it this way, she was about give away 33.33% of all that she had. And, she was prepared to give the prophet the first of what she had.

All of a sudden 10% doesn’t feel so big does it?

Here’s the principle - when you develop a heart of generosity you give according to what you have.

There are some people who walk around with crazy talk saying, “Pastor, I’m playing the lotto. When I win the lotto, I’m giving my tithe to the church!”

The foolishness in that is if you can’t give $10 now, what makes you think you’re going to give $10,000 later?

Can I quote Jesus? Because I can feel you getting anxious. I sense that you are no longer my friend. So can I quote to you my friend? Let me quote to you my friend. His name is Jesus. He’s my friend.

He said this:

Luke 16:10 (NIV)

“Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.

You can read that one of two ways...

You can look at that and get triggered...

Or, you can have what is called a growth mindset and realize that you can be trusted with more by being faithful to what you have right now.

Be faithful with what you have right now.

Be generous with what you have right now.

Make a decision TODAY that you are going to start giving and being generous with what you have right now. You aren’t going to wait for perfect conditions… you are going to start right now.

The Flow of Generosity - Conclusion

Let’s get back to the widow...

She left Elijah and when she got home she made him food. Before she fed her son, and before she fed herself, she fed the man of God.

Now we need to revisit what happens next. The Bible says that every day she would make food for her and her son, but before she ate, she made sure that the man of God was fed. And when she did there was a continuous flow of food.

Said differently - Generosity opens up the door to more opportunities in your life.

Can you say “opportunities”?

I want to be real clear with that… there is a gospel that teaches wealth and health follows generosity, and that’s not the gospel.

Generosity doesn’t give you an in on a mansion in La Jolla.

But it will open more doors for you to continue being generous...

Let’s read Paul’s writing to the church in Corinth.

2 Corinthians 9:10 (NIV)

Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.

Your righteousness… not your bank account… but your righteousness...

And also your influence...

Can we read a Proverb together?

Proverbs 11:24 The Message

The world of the generous gets larger and larger; the world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller.

This widow experienced first hand the reward of generosity.

Everyday she would wake up and there would be more resources.

This is the joy of living open handed. This is the joy of living generously. This is the blessed life!

The blessed life isn’t living just so that I am blessed, but it is living and it is giving to see OTHERS blessed as well!

As I shared with you last week… my wife and I have been on a journey of generosity. In that journey it is only human to think about what we could do with what we’ve given away. I felt God whisper to me last week after my sermon that some of you might be wondering, “You gave 14% of your income to the church… imagine what you could have done what that 14%?” And then He said, that’s the wrong questions. The right question is, “imagine what God is going to do with my 14%?”

Imagine the doors that are going to be opened up for people to know God.

Imagine the opportunities that others are going to have to encounter the love of Jesus

Imagine when one person surrenders their life to God, and how not only their life changes, but the trajectory of their family changes.

Imagine what God can do with what I bring to him?

And where does it begin?

It begins right here. Here in your heart.

Generosity and Compassion are at the heart of nearly every miracle in the Bible.

That is why I want to become a more generous person…

As a matter of fact, I recently gave away something that I said I never wanted to part with. I never wanted to give away my old Fiesta. I bought the car in 2011, paid it off in 18 months and have been driving that car ever since. Happy as a clam.

I even remember Mike Garcia telling me I needed a bigger car when I parked my little hatch back next to his GMC. His truck looked like a dinosaur compared to mine…

But I would even say, “Joanna you can bury me in that car. I never want to get rid of it.”

But one day, I began to understand that generosity opens the doors to more opportunities. I was so convicted by that. I knew that the Lord was challenging me to be more generous. And so without a conversation with anyone else, I decided to give my car away. Not sell it. Give it away.

Why?

Because god has been good to me. And, I want him to continue to be good to me. I want there to be a flow of generosity in my life.

I want there to be a flow of generosity in your life.

Whatever you think you do or do not have, just know that you have Just Enough for Generosity.