The Most Generous One
Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 4 viewsNotes
Transcript
So last week we looked at the idea of generosity. What is it…what is true generosity?
And we found that, through the words and wisdom of Solomon, that generosity is a mindset that flows out into how we live. Its a pattern of thinking that creates a certain way of life. It is full trust in God, and being generous with everything He gives to us.
We talked about how this goes beyond things such as money. Now for sure it includes stuff like this, things for physical needs, money for the same...
But it goes beyond that. We asked the question…what else can you be generous with?
And we made a short list of those other things, that we might not normally think about...
We referenced the fruits of the spirit…God living in us wants us to be generous with His characteristics.
love, joy peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.
Generosity is where we share not only things for the physical needs of this world but also joy, good words, uplifting encouragement, compassion, care, humor
How about a joke that kind of goes along with this:
Would criticism go along with generosity? Probably not…corrective words might be different but just plain criticism comes from a different place in the heart.
So....
Never Criticize Someone Until You have Walked a Mile in Their Shoes
That way, when you criticize them, you’ll be a mile away, and you’ll have their shoes.
We’re going to use our imaginations for fun this morning.
Back to Eden - God’s full creation…and there we were, humanity. Created in His image to live life with full joy and peace…everything provided. We had things to do but I’m not sure we would ever call it work…as we would describe work now. It would have been like work without labor.
Animals…with no fear…to enjoy and be with. Watch and wonder about.
All plants and food (vegetarians)… but everything for our enjoyment and sustenance.
The heavens to look at during the day and at night…and can you imagine…seeing the milky way with no light pollution…mapping it and watching its changes.
And all the while…God with us. Walking with us. Hiking, swimming…riding elephants and harvesting carrots and coffee beans with us.
Just imagine. Generosity at its best. The best possible world we could ever imagine…the absence of all evil.
Now…we’re going to break away from that image for just a second and think about that absence of all evil in a different way.
-------------------------------
I’ve given this illustration before, but it works well for our thoughts today.
We probably all in one way or another watch the weather right? When we hear the temperature forecast we think …well that’s cold or that’s warm…40 might be chilly and 65 might be warmer.
Now, when we measure temperature, do we measure coldness?
No, we just measure heat…the amount of heat. Sometimes the heat is higher....like 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Sometimes there’s less heat…say 40 degrees Fahrenheit. But we don’t measure cold…just heat or a lack of heat.
When the world and the universe was without the effects of sin, we could say that it was at its absolute best it could ever be. Perfectly good.
Sin and the effects of sin entered then.
And we now have…less goodness. Evil wasn’t something that was created…is was something that held back God’s goodness. Humanity’s disobedience introduced an effect…we thought, Adam and Eve thought…due to believing the lies of Satan…that life could be better than it was…if they thought of themselves first rather than thinking of God and His perfect Kingdom...
And right then, in their sin…we see perfect goodness…held back…like measuring heat…we now see less goodness in the world.
It is still here. Goodness is still here for sure. We still see beauty in creation. We still see goodness in our relationships with each other with with the rest of creation.
But sin creates a separation between us and God now. We can’t experience His full goodness. Creation now experiences a lack of goodness.
Ok…that’s lots of thinking.
But remember we’re thinking about generosity. In the beginning there wouldn’t have a need for generosity because we would have been able to experience all of God’s goodness all the time…nothing lacking at all.
So thinking through this…you all have pencils and paper to write on. This isn’t homework and I’m not going check your work…no quizzes or tests....just for you to begin thinking...
In the beginning, what type of things wouldn’t have been there?
What wouldn’t have been there?
…I’ll get some things going here with some examples...
hunger (with the fear of not being able to eat)
fear
criticism
darkness…in the emotional sense
old age
illness
labor…(not work without labor)
clothing as we know it…before they were clothed in light..in goodness. Now those things are gone....
tests and homework
BMV’s
hospitals
banks
But now, because of sin and its effects, n now we have this life that is less than perfect…for sure filled with goodness in various forms, but not completely.
And now we have this term called generosity. We need to have this idea of generosity. We need it. Why?
Because by way of generosity people can show that there are ways to experience and share God’s goodness in this world that is sometimes very dark.
Generosity helps people remember goodness. Generosity helps people remember and think about what’s lacking in life. Generosity ultimately helps point people back to God and His perfect goodness…His generosity with all of us.
----------------------------
There was a tense time in Israel’s history. This is after the whole group had been saved from being slaves in Egypt. They freed from Egypt. Then in the wilderness, they, in their impatience with God…built a golden calf and worshipped it. God was not pleased.
Moses and God have a rather lengthy discussion about what will happen from here…but God still points them into the direction of the Promised Land.
Moses, kind of begs God for forgiveness…and in this discussion Moses says (Ed’s paraphrase)…look we’re not like you…we’re sinful. Please, let me see you…I want to know you. I know where we are now…sinful humans, this is sooooo difficult…please let me just see you…grow in you…help us to know our creator...
Why? Moses realized…sin separates us from knowing the complete full and good nature of God.
So God grants Moses…in a way…his wish. He said, you’re going to come up on the mountain…I will hide you partially…you can’t see me fully, but I will call out my name…and you will hear me and experience my goodness.
This is an incredible passage because Moses gets to experience a little …very little…piece of Eden.
Exodus 33:19 (NIV)
19 And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence...
Exodus 34:5–7 (CSB)
5 The Lord came down in a cloud, stood with him there, and proclaimed his name, “the Lord.”
6 The Lord passed in front of him and proclaimed: The Lord—the Lord is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth,
7 maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin.
Moses saw the living God. He saw God’s goodness…experienced it…was in the presence of complete goodness. God’s compassion, patience, God’s love for His people.
Moses saw God’s generosity with goodness. Complete goodness. When Moses came off the mountain scripture says that his face was glowing…he had to cover it up. My guess is that all of him was glowing too....
Moses got a chance to experience what we’re lacking. God’s complete goodness.
God’s complete goodness. Scripture talks about this complete generosity of God in a number of places.
I want to just read to you a Psalm that David wrote about God and His goodness…His generosity with His goodness.
A psalm of praise. Of David.
1 I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name for ever and ever.
2 Every day I will praise you and extol your name for ever and ever.
3 Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom.
4 One generation commends your works to another; they tell of your mighty acts.
5 They speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty— and I will meditate on your wonderful works.
6 They tell of the power of your awesome works— and I will proclaim your great deeds.
7 They celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness.
8 The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love.
9 The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made.
10 All your works praise you, Lord; your faithful people extol you.
11 They tell of the glory of your kingdom and speak of your might,
12 so that all people may know of your mighty acts and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations. The Lord is trustworthy in all he promises and faithful in all he does.
14 The Lord upholds all who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down.
15 The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food at the proper time.
16 You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing.
17 The Lord is righteous in all his ways and faithful in all he does.
18 The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.
19 He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them.
20 The Lord watches over all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy.
21 My mouth will speak in praise of the Lord. Let every creature praise his holy name for ever and ever.
David is talking about God’s goodness…His generosity towards us.
And what David also says is this…I will share His goodness with others. I will tell others about His goodness. I will be generous with the things of God.
What’s the purpose of sharing the goodness of God with others…in word and in tangible ways?
3 So when you, a mere human being, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment?
4 Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?
Meaning…God’s been generous to you with kindness, forbearance, patience too…God wants you to show that to others as well…even when you might be helping show them the reality of their sin…be careful and show it within God’s goodness.
God’s kindness is intended to lead you …and others…to repentance…it shows that He wants us to come back to Him. He knows our sin and what it does in our relationship with Him and our relationship to each other and all of creation…and yet…He is still generous with His goodness.
Generosity, sharing God’s generosity…the fruits of the spirit…with others, declare that God is good…all the time…and all the time....God is good.
Generosity points people back to God. It gives us hints of what was lost…and points out what is lacking…and ultimately, it can point to the one who came to make all things new…to make us new. It points to Christ. I helps us make our way back to a point of repentance...
Meaning in light of all the things God is soooo generous with…we look at all of this and say…I’m sorry. Lord you’re so good to me even when I’m horrible to you.
8 But God proves his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Talk about generosity of compassion, patience and love…even while we were still sinners, Jesus died for us.
As disciples we’re called to be generous with God’s goodness. We’re even called to emulate those around us who are good at this or who lead in this.
Just to cross reference this with our idea of leadership and eldership. Elders are called to emulate Jesus. Now…we know that humans are imperfect…we have sin and the effects of sin in our lives. But those guys who are willing to be elders take on an important role in Kingdom life.
They are called to be examples of people who recognize God’s goodness, humanity’s sinfulness (lacking all of God’s goodness because of sin) and the one (Jesus Christ), who through our repentance brings us back to a relationship with God where we can begin to grown in His goodness, recognize more of His goodness, share His goodness.
So when we think of affirming elders, its not really a vote like in politics. These guys trust that God is calling them to this responsibility…to share God’s goodness…to teach others how to be disciples and disciple-makers.
Disciple - Someone who recognizes the goodness of God and the salvation of Jesus and wants to live in that truth…and share this truth with someone else....and in that sense becoming not only a disciple (follower of Jesus) but also a disciple maker.
17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
God is good all the time and all....
God is generous with His goodness so that we might see Him and return to Him.
Alexander the Great’s Generosity: The story goes that one day, a beggar by the roadside asked for alms from Alexander the Great as he passed by. The man was poor and wretched, with no claim upon the ruler, no right even to lift a solicitous hand. Yet the Emperor threw him several gold coins. A courtier was astonished at his generosity and asked, “Sir, copper coins would adequately meet a beggar’s need. Why give him gold?” Alexander responded in royal fashion, “Copper coins would suit the beggar’s need, but gold coins suit Alexander’s giving.” This tale reminds us that true generosity transcends mere necessity and reflects the heart of the giver