Joyful Generosity

Legacy Standard Bible (CHAPTER 6)

Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure—pressed down, shaken together, running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.”

Introduction

Good morning!

This morning we are continuing in our series called “Following Jesus Together”

Learning from Jesus

Living like Jesus

Going with Jesus

You see these banners on the sides to remind us of that, but you will also notice the banners behind you.

If you haven’t taken the Spiritual Markers Assessment you can do so by scanning this QR code.

And these are going to be our focus for the year 2024.

Up until this point we have looked at:

Bible Engagement,

Passionate prayer,

Whole hearted worship, and

Humble service.

This morning we are going to be looking at Joyful generosity.

How many of you all can say that you know someone who has an authentic joy of giving?

Whatever they share and their lifestyle reveal Jesus’ presence and goodness.

I have been blessed to meet many people who are joyfully generous. Not only with their resources but also with their time.

There isn't one single person that I can point out and say “They are the most generous person I have met.” but there is a group of people that I can say that about and they were my church family.

When I was is high school I sensed God calling me into ministry and I was blessed to be apart of a church that helped cultivate that call on my life.

I was attending RedFork (Church Inside Out) and I loved being there. I was there every time the doors were open. Sundays, Wednesdays, Friday nights after football games, VBS, camps. You name it. And it was all because of the generosity of that congregation.

I remember several church members who would buy me lunch, give me rides, help me find jobs.

The youth pastor(s) was generous with his time. There would be times he would text me to come play xbox. No agenda, he didn’t need something. He genuinely and purposefully was showing Jesus to me.

Im still really good friends with 2 of the church members today! Kaleb and I sit with them at every Oilers football game.

What Im trying to say is the generosity of those people played a significant role in my life.

As we continue this introduction series to our theme for 2024 lets remember that discipleship and evangelism are marriage partners.

We have this marriage union that is the Christian life and we have discipleship and evangelism that are two crucial elements of the Christian life.

So this morning, I want to take a look at our text and see what it means to live out joyful generosity.

Sermon

Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure—pressed down, shaken together, running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.”

What is Jesus talking about here?

I think a little background will help us understand not only what Jesus was saying in the text but also how this relates to joyful generosity.

Lets start in verse 37 and move down to 38.

Legacy Standard Bible (CHAPTER 6)

“And do not judge, and you will not be judged; and do not condemn, and you will not be condemned; pardon, and you will be pardoned.

38 “Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure—pressed down, shaken together, running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.”

This is a portion of scripture thats often referred to as the Sermon on the Plain(apparently they didn't have fancy sermon titles back then).

Here in this sermon, Jesus is trying to teach a mindset. A shift in thinking. He says “Don’t judge and you wont be judged. Don’t condemn and you wont be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven.

Jesus is not ruling out the legitimate use of discernment, church discipline , or the court of law but is rather admonishing his listeners to discontinue their tendency to criticize or find fault in others

Forgive and give emphasize the continual nature of these commands and go beyond not judging or condemning to seek the positive well-being of others. The result will be what we read in verse 38.

*Disclaimer* I don’t know if this is how the sermon went but I can imagine a pause between verse 37 and verse 38.

When I read it, its almost as if there was no reaction from the crowd and in verse 38 Jesus is like “Don’t you get it!?” “Give and it will be given to you!

I love the imagery that is used here.

“Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure—pressed down, shaken together, running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.”

The background to this image pressed down, shaken together, running over is pouring out grain for measure in the marketplace. One often poured the grain into a container, shook it to level out the grain and then poured in some more.

Those who are generous have generosity running over for them. In other words. God richly blesses those with such attitudes.

• Let's strive to not only be generous, but to like it! to have positive attitudes about it. And I am thankful that Jesus never asked us to do something that he is not willing to do.

• Jesus was willing to give generously.

Jesus gave it ALL. What more could he have given?

Jesus gave up angelic praise for human mocking.

He gave up omnipresent being for the confines of a young girls womb.

He gave up omnipotent power for reliance on a newlywed couple.

He gave up perfect wholeness for fractured broken.

He gave up the light of heaven for the darkness of death and the tomb.

• Jesus set aside his glory and came to the grit, and the grime, and the grunge of our world.

What more could Jesus have given?

With that I ask you this question: “Why is joyful generosity a marker of spiritual maturity in the life of a Christian?

Because it is what marked the life or our Lord Jesus Christ.

• Joyful generosity always costs something, but not nearly what it cost Jesus.

The adventure of a generous life.

Malachi 3:10-12 “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house, and test Me now in this,” says Yahweh of hosts, “if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and empty out for you a blessing until it is beyond enough.

This is a passage that is often associated with why we tithe and with generosity.

• However, generosity goes against the current of the culture..it does not come naturally… as a matter of fact Keven Harney says that “it's a supernatural work of the Holy Spirit.”

Culture is like a river. And we are all in the flow of the river. The river is always moving slowly or quickly. And when we are treading water, we are not staying in the same place but slowly drifting down the river, against the current of culture.

When it comes to generosity, the flow of the river that we find ourselves in is moving towards selfishness and me-centered living.

It is slowly moving us away from God. And when we identify this reality, we learn that we need to actually swim against the current.

The more self centered culture becomes the harder we must swim against it.

• Question: Are you being drawn toward a more self-centered lifestyle, or are you swimming against the current and becoming more and more generous?

2 Corinthians 9:6–8 (LSB)

Now this I say, he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows with blessing will also reap with blessing.

Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

And God is able to make every grace abound to you, so that in everything at every time having every sufficiency, you may have an abundance for every good deed;

Are we promised blessings if we give?

Yes! and No.

When we put our faith in Jesus and learn to give generously to his work, we are blessed beyond measure.

But this blessing is not always financial. As a matter of fact, I would argue that most of the time, it’s not financial.

You may have heard some religious con men say things like “If you sow a seed of $100 God will multiply it and bless you with $1,000.”

This teaching (what is commonly referred to as the prosperity gospel) is heretical and it breaks Gods heart.

The Bible DOES promise blessings when we give but those blessings come in many forms.

Seeing God use your gifts to help others is a blessing.

When you give financially at Tulsa Hills Church. You are supporting not only this church, but ministries like Marthas foundation, Joys to the World, Nazarene Missions.

When we have missionary speakers and they share with you how God is working in their part of the world. That is a blessing.

When you give money for teens and kids to go to camps/retreats and you hear their stories about how they encountered God. That is a blessing.

Yes, you may give $100 and then what you have in your bank account is $100 less. But we are always blessed when we give. And to reduce the blessings of God to dollars and cents is to minimize the glory of how God blesses his children.

This week I was reminded of a quote from John Wesley about giving…”When it comes to money, earn all you can. Save all you can. Give all you can.”

• How do I grow in joyful generosity? Here are a few steps laid out in the book.

Give to God first.

In the book Organic Disciples Kevin and Sherry Harney are open and honest about their giving. They talk about how for Sherry it was never a question to give to God but for Kevin, his family had no concept of that kind of generosity.

So when they were married they put a plan into motion to ensure that they were giving joyfully and generously.

Respond to divine promptings.

Along with a regular rhythm of giving we should keep our eyes and hearts open for nudges from the spirit.

When I worked landscape at Utica Square I remember a gentleman coming up to me and asking if I had any money that I could give him. Well I didn’t and as I began to explain to him that I did not have any spare cash for him, I felt the prompting of the Holy Spirit to pray for him.

So I apologized for not having any money and asked the gentleman if I could pray for him. He agreed.

Nothing “supernatural” or “life changing” happened in that moment but he was genuinely thankful that I took the time to pray for him and listen to his story.

Sometimes if we are generous with our time, that is more valuable to others than money.

Check your heart.

Sometimes we need to ask the question “Where is my heart?”

The only way to answer that question is to honestly and constantly identify what we treasure the most. Are we more concerned with the materials of this world or the glory of God and mission of Jesus?

Generosity Reveals the Presence of of Jesus in our Lives and in the World.

A Christian can sing praise songs like an angel, read the Bible with scholarly attention, and pray with monk like devotion, and the world may never notice or care. Because you know what? Thats what were supposed to do.

If you want to get the attention of a self-centered and materialistic world, learn to be generous. And if you really want to turn heads. Do it with authentic joy.

God will use our generosity to draw people to himself and change the world.

• If you want to get the attention of the world, be generous with no strings attached.

• Question: How does a joyful, generous life open the door to the Gospel?

→People see the heart of God.

→It breaks down stereotypes of Christians.

→When we live a life of joyful generosity, it reveals a different way of life...it points to a greater treasure.

How have you experienced Jesus' generosity toward you?

3. Read Luke 19:1-10. How did Jesus' presence and power transform Zacchaeus's life? How

Legacy Standard Bible (CHAPTER 19)

And He entered Jericho and was passing through.

2 And behold, there was a man called by the name of Zaccheus; he was a chief tax collector and he was rich.

3 And Zaccheus was trying to see who Jesus was, and was unable because of the crowd, for he was small in stature.

4 So he ran on before and climbed up into a a sycamore tree in order to see Him, for He was about to pass through that way.

5 And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, “Zaccheus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house.”

6 And he hurried and came down and received Him gladly.

7 And when they saw it, they all began to grumble, saying, “He has gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.”

8 But Zaccheus stopped and said to the Lord, “Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor, and if I have extorted anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much.”

9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham.

10 “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save the lost.”

WORSHIP TEAM

Jesus changed the life of many people in the pages of this book and is still doing so today.

But in these 10 short verses in Luke 19 Jesus changes a self-centered man to a man of joyful generosity.

It was all because Jesus was generous with his time. He picked Zaccheus out of a crowd of people and went to his home and spent time with him. And it changed his life forever.

This morning I hope you understand that Im not just talking about being generous with our resources, but also with our time. When is the last time we sat down to listen to someone who is broken and hurting?

When was the last time, that instead of just giving money to the begger on the street we asked about their life?

There is no room for selfishness in the life of the believer. A Self-centered life compromises our witness to the God who gave everything.

When we are generous and joyful in the process, people will see Jesus in us.

As we close as yourself this question:

What if everyone gave like I do?

In relation to time and resources, what if every Christian gave with the same generosity and attitude that you do?

Would this be good for the Church? Would it propel the work of Jesus.

If you can honestly say that the cause of Jesus would be straightened by your generosity, take a moment and celebrate that God is doing work within and through you.

If you’re setting here this morning and you know that the work of the Church would come to a screeching halt if everyone gave like you do, let the conviction of the Spirit fall on your heart. Repent. Confess your need of growth in this area.

Let us all strive to be like our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and be generous with our time and resources and to be joyful about it.