A Generous Spirit

Introduction

One particular Sunday, at a barnyard church service, all the animals gathered to worship together and hear the preaching directly from the horses mouth. After singing, neighing, and mooing through the worship songs, the animals all sat down as the ducks waddled through the rows of animals with the collection plates. Each of the cows brought fresh cream and placed it in the offering plates as they were passed by. Even the nanny goats gave some milk. The sheep each gave a bundle of wool and put that into the collection plates.

Now sitting together toward the back of the barn were two very good friends, a hen and a sow, a female pig. When the collection plates were passed by them, the chicken noticed that her friend, Mrs Pig, didn’t put anything in the basket. As the basket reached her, she squawked loudly, and reached under her feathers and placed the fresh egg she had just laid into the offering basket. As the ducks waddled away to go put everything away, Mrs. Hen leaned over to Mrs. Pig and and said, “Humph… I noticed you didn’t put anything into the collection basket.”

To which Mrs. Pig replied, “When you put an egg or two in the collection basket, it’s an offering, but for me to give anything, it would be a sacrifice.”

Over the last few weeks, we have discussed several aspects of giving in preparation for today. I have asked that each one of you would be praying about what God would have you give over the course of the next year. I believe with all my heart that God shows us in His word that we should be givers, and that we should give to the causes of the furthering of the Gospel throughout our community, the furthering of the Gospel throughout the world (missions giving), and helping those that are in need. I believe that the best way to do that is through the church. As a church, we are committed to giving at least 10% of all that comes in to the general fund toward missions. I would love to see us get to a point where we are giving a quarter of our income to missions, church plants, and Christian groups that help the needy here in the area and around the world.

As this church grows, we will be able to reach our community more and more.

I am going to ask a couple of people to help me distribute these faith commitment cards. We will go ahead and give each person here a card, teens and adults alike.

When you get this card, I will ask you to not fill it out yet. Please do not write anything on the card yet. Is there anyone else that still needs a card? Everyone should have a card. Don’t worry, if you get a card and you are not a member or you are just visiting us, receiving this card is not an obligation to start giving here. But I would like everyone present to know exactly what is going on, and if God, through this message, impresses on your heart about giving either here or at your church, I would ask that you would follow God’s direction.

Does everyone have a card? Great! What I want us to do now is this: We are going to take this card and we are going to take a moment to pray. After we pray, I still don’t want you to fill it out yet, but would you just take a moment to pray for what God would have you give, and then pray for God to help you in your commitment to Him. As I pray, would you pray that God would set an amount to give on your heart and ask Him to help you be faithful?

Praise God for who He is and all of His provision in the church.

Pray that through His church, the Kingdom of Heaven would be manifested and expanded.

Pray that His will would be done through GNBC and in its members. Pray that each member would give exactly what God wants them to give.

Pray that through this giving, God would provide all the needs of the church, and that God would show Himself faithful in providing for the needs of those that give.

Pray for forgiveness where we have failed in giving.

Pray that God would help us not fall into the temptation of not giving, and for us to be faithfully committed to Him.

Praise God for what He is going to do with this money.

So let’s briefly review what we have covered the last three weeks.

We studied Romans 12:1 where we learned that basic Christianity involves us sacrificing our lives for God to use to fully and completely. Every area of our lives should be given to God for Him to use without reservation. We saw that this is our reasonable service, our logical service. This is the least we can do and be considered “Christian.” Full surrender is also the most we can do. So there is nothing less that we can do that would be reasonable service to God.

The next week we studied that we are stewards of everything that God has given us. We focused that week on material possessions.

We saw that Christians are to give generously to the work of the Lord for a few reasons: the spread of the Gospel, support of those that dedicated their lives to the preaching of the Gospel and training of fellow-believers in the work of the ministry, and for the relief of those that are in need.

God has called the church and its members to be a part of all of those things. We studied that it is required that we be faithful as stewards of God’s blessings to us, that we should give regularly as God prospers us.

Then last week we covered the fact that we are recipients of more than just physical blessings from God. We looked at the fact that Jesus gives His servants talents and abilities (some natural, some developed), He gives us spiritual gifts to be used withing the church, and He gives us time as well.

Just as we are to be faithful stewards of our possessions, we are also to be faithful stewards of our talents, giftings, and time. We saw that as we focus our lives around Jesus, He will draw us to the things that He loves.

And now we begin the last sermon of this series, A Generous Spirit.

A Generous Spirit

The direct enemy to generosity is selfishness. Selfishness is driven by pride. I believe this to be the sin that drives all sin. Pride causes us to think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think. In fact, right after Romans 12:1-2 where it talks about how we are to be a living sacrifice to the Lord and that we are to be transformed by the renewing of our mind, verse 3 tells us that we ought not to think of ourselves more highly than we should.

The best way to combat pride is to be completely surrendered to God. We find in Jesus the example of humility and selflessness. He was fully surrendered to the will of the Father. He spoke and did exactly as the Father would have Him speak and do. He was completely surrendered to the Father’s will, and because of that, we have in Jesus the most selfless person that ever walked this earth.

He was selfless and generous. He is our example of generous giving. Selflessness will always lead to generosity.

We studied two weeks ago about the church in Macedonia who, even though they were going through great trials and affliction, gave beyond what Paul was expecting of them. Their great trials of affliction and deep poverty were described by Warren Wiersbe as if they were beggars with no hope of receiving anything from anyone anytime soon.

Not only did they give generously, but they gave joyfully. Christ-centered generosity will always lead to joy in giving because a Christ-centered life leads us to love the things that He loves.

There is such a thing as giving with a bitter heart. There was a Tampa chiropractor had been paying alimony to his former wife for a long time. In 1994 he came to his final alimony payment of $182. He didn’t just want to send his money; he wanted to send a message. So in large scale he drew a check on the back of a pinstripe shirt. On the memo line of his shirt-check, he wrote, “Here it is—the shirt off my back!” The bank cashed it.

When there is no love, giving of any amount leads to bitterness. But when there is love, generous giving leads to joy.

- Craig Brian Larson, 750 Engaging Illustrations for Preachers, Teachers & Writers (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2002), 193.

So how should we be giving? We should be giving with a generous spirit. If I were to ask you, “What is the mark of a true Christian?” we would probably get a variety of answers. The answer that we can agree on the best is “love.” Love is the mark of a true Christian. But what is love? This is a whole different study that would take several weeks, but let’s look at the most famous verse in the Bible to tell us what the mark, the evidence, of love is.

John 3:16 (KJV 1900)

16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

That phrase, “so loved,” means that He loved the world in such a way that He gave. There are, in fact, versions of the Bible that translate this phrase as, “For God loved the world in this way: that he gave...” God loved so much that He gave. This is why it is reasonable that Christians, who ought to love God with all their heart, soul, and mind, should give ourselves to Him, and should be willing to give anything and everything to Him.

People who are smarter and way more experienced than I am counted the times different topics are mentioned in the Bible. For example, they have found that HOPE is mentioned 185 times in God’s word. Faith is mentioned 246 times, love 733. Anybody want to take a stab at guessing how many times generosity is mentioned in the Bible? Over 2,200 times! What does this mean? GENEROSITY IS IMPORTANT!!

Listen, it is not how often you go to church that shows the world we have the Gospel. It is how we talk about each other that shows that we have the Gospel. It is how we love each other that shows that we have the Gospel. It is our generous love that shows that we have the Gospel. Look at what 1 John 3:14-18 says

1 John 3:14–18 (KJV 1900)

14 We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.

15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.

16 Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

[And here you might say, this does not talk about generosity specifically, it is talking about love. But look at what the next couple of verses say:]

17 But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?

18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.

Loving is giving. How do we know God loved us? 1 John 3:16 “16 Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us...” He laid down His life for us.

And how can we possibly follow a Jesus who loved us so much He gave his life to save us from our sinful condition, and not be willing to give toward His work?

How should we love? In word and in deed.

It has been said that without the word, the gospel has no clarity; but without the deed, the gospel has no power. Francis of Assisi once said, “Preach the gospel at all times, and if necessary, use words.” I believe his intentions were to communicate the importance of our lifestyle being Gospel-centric, but too many people have taken that and used it as a reason/excuse to not witness to others with words.

“Oh, I live out the Gospel. I don’t explain it to anyone, I just live it out.” Well that is great that you live it out, but turn on a movie that you have never seen before and watch it with the sound off and no subtitles. You may get the gist of what is going on, but the words are what give the message clarity.

Some Christians go to the other extreme. They talk and talk about the Gospel but never live it or demonstrate it. They have a lot of words to say about Jesus, God, salvation, etc., but their message lacks power because they are not living the Gospel.

The Gospel should produce in each Christian a generous spirit.

1 Timothy 6:17–18 KJV 1900

17 Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; 18 That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate;

Some of you already breathed a sigh of relief because you thought, “Well, this passage is clearly not for me, because I am not rich.” Well, let’s talk about that for a second. Hardly anyone in our country thinks they are rich. “Rich” is one or two steps above me, isn’t it? It’s all about perspective.

A while back ago, a Gallup poll came out with a very interesting survey.

They asked people who had a household income of $30,000, “What income would make you ‘rich’?” Their answer? $75,000.

They asked the same question to those that made $50,000 a year. Their answer? $100,000.

The most commonly given answer at that time given in America to the question, “What amount of money would make you rich” was $120,000. Except for those that made $120,000. Their answer for the same question: $200K.

Did you know that if you earn $35,000 dollars a year, you are in the top 4% of wage earners in the world? This means you are richer than 96% of the rest of the world. If you earn $47K, you are in the top 2% of wage earners in the world. (givingwhatwecan.org)

The point of all this is that this is all a matter of perspective. When you compare the poorest of anybody here, to other societies around the world, we are considered rich. I want to go on mission trips to different countries, even to different parts of our own country.

I would love for members of our church to see the people I grew up with in Mexico. To visit with families that live in houses that literally are made of pallets and cardboard. To sit at a table and eat the last of that families food because they offered it to you. And you’ll eat it, because if you don’t, you would be rejecting their offer of love to you. Never mind that it may be the best bean and rice taco you ever ate in your life, you will leave changed because of the love that was shown to you at the cost of those showing it. You’ll understand true generosity. And if you have never experienced the joy of generosity, you will see a joy on someone’s face that you could never understand.

Listen, we are the “rich in this world.” This applies to all of us.

So what are our instructions according to these verses?

Don’t be highminded (haughty). Money can so quickly become the measure of our value and status. Because money allows access to things that others may not have, it is easy to get caught up in the thinking that if you have money, you are worth more. The Bible instructs us not to fall for that lie. It is idolatry to think that possessing more or better quality things somehow makes you worth more.

Don’t trust in riches. Don’t set your hopes on money. Money is uncertain, at best, and downright treacherous at worst. Too many times we feel comfortable or anxious about the future based on how much money is in the bank. This too, is idolatry. Anything that takes the place of God is an idol. Your safety for the future does not depend on investments, your bank account, how much gold or silver you might have in a safe deposit box, or a signed 1952 Mickey Mantle Topps baseball card. Your future is secured by Jesus and Him alone. Anything else you put your trust in is an idol. So we are charged to trust in God, who is certain. Who gives us all things to enjoy. Notice how enjoyment in life does not come from money, it comes from trusting God.

We are to do good. To live godly. God gives us money as a tool to be a blessing for others and as a tool to spread the Gospel. God gives riches, and God gives poverty. And to each one, the rich and the poor, He gives it so that His name will be glorified. Of course, we would all love to glorify God through being rich, but we don’t get to choose that. Hannah, in 1 Samuel 2:7, acknowledges that God is the one who makes some people rich and some people poor: some people He lifts high, and others he brings down low. The point is, like Paul told the Philippians, in whatever state we find ourselves, we should learn to be content. Why? because 1 Timothy 6:6

1 Timothy 6:6 KJV 1900

6 But godliness with contentment is great gain.

Godliness, the doing of what is good in the sight of God. There are people that do good things but are not content, and they have a bitter and miserable life. But it is the contentment along with the godliness that brings true gain in one’s life.

1 Timothy 6:18 KJV 1900

18 That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate;

We are charged also to be rich in good works. Be rich in how you use your money and possessions for the benefit of others and for the church.

Ready to distribute

Ready to communicate - this means share with others, to have a liberal and free-giving spirit

Look, I know. I get it. For some of you, the thought might be, “Bro. Mike is just trying to grab money.” That is not the case, but if you honestly feel that way, give generously somewhere else. Really. I am more concerned about you giving generously in response to the Gospel in your life than I am about you giving here at Good News. I have a God that has way more in His account than you or I ever will, and this is His church, He will provide. But we choose to give to the church because we believe that we are doing God’s work, and the more we give, the more work for the Lord we will be able to do together.

How Should We Measure Generosity?

For many years, Christians have been taught something called “tithing.” This is an Old Testament thing. The tithe means ten percent of what you prospered, whether that be crops, cattle, money, etc. The word “tithe” means 10%, but there were more complexities to the law than just giving 10%. Something that was very clear was that it was the ten percent of the firstfruits. That is, the first of the cattle to be born, the first of the crops to be harvested, the first of the monwy that was earned. Now we don’t teach tithing here at GNBC as a law to follow, because we are no longer under the law. However, the laws of the Old Testament are guides for us today.

The problem with teaching tithing as a law is that it becomes another box to check off. But what we should consider the tithe as should be as a guide. It should be our starting point, not our goal. Our goal should be to stretch as far as God would guide us to stretch in our giving. And our giving should be from the top, not from the leftovers. This is where trusting God comes in. But the thing is, when we give, God does promise to reward and to give back.

I want to be careful here, I am not trying to preach a prosperity gospel that says, “If you want to be rich, just sow your seed money here and have faith.” But God does have a way of providing for us when we obey him in the area of giving to His work.

Luke 6:38 KJV 1900

38 Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.

Look at this. We are told to give. And when we give to the ministry, it is an investment. What is all this about pressed down, shaken together, and running over? As JD Greer explains it: “In the Jewish agricultural system, laborers would collect grain in basket. They didn’t want it to be too heavy, so they packed it loosely. But at sundown the poor could come in and collect 1 basketful. They would press it down and get all the air out of it so they could pack the most in. Like at a Mongolian grill when you pay $x/bowl and you see how much you can pack into one bowl … either way you’re paying that amount.”

J. D. Greear, “A Generous Spirit: John 15; 1 Timothy 6,” in J. D. Greear Sermon Archive (Durham, NC: The Summit Church, 2017), Jn 15–1 Ti 6.

The idea is that when we give, the return on investing in the ministry, in serving others (whether that be by providing for physical needs or spiritual needs), the return is always more. It has been said over and over and over, “You can’t out-give God.”

Upon examining this scripture, the author and theologian C.S. Lewis said, “I am afraid that the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare.” I want to give to a point that it makes me a bit nervous. This helps me know that I am trusting God to provide for all my needs, and I have no faith in the money in the bank. I want my treasures to be in heaven, so I want to give generously and joyfully the amount that God has placed on my heart.

1 Timothy 6:17–19 (KJV 1900) We read the first two verses earlier.

17 Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy;

18 That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate;

19 Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.

This last phrase does not mean to give in order to gain salvation. No, Paul is telling Timothy how to address Christian people in his church. These people are saved already. But living for money is a shadow of a life. It gives no real satisfaction, no real joy, no real hope, and no real peace. Those that would live for God, however, will be living for the a real life, the life eternal. Those that would trust in God rather than in riches will lay hold of, seize and take hold on a real life. A life that is eternal. A life that every Christian is supposed to be living in, instead of for this temporal world.

Where is your trust today? This is the question of giving. Are you treasuring money or are you treasuring Jesus and the things He treasures?

Invitation