Extravagant Generosity 1 - EKG: Ministry Flows from the Heart

Scripture: 1 Timothy 6:17-19

1 Timothy 6:17–19 NIV

17 Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18 Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. 19 In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

11/3/2024

Order of Service:

Announcements

Opening Worship

Prayer Requests

Prayer Song

Pastoral Prayer

Kid’s Time

Offering (Doxology and Offering Prayer)

Scripture Reading

Sermon

Communion

Closing Song

Benediction

Special Notes:

Week 1: Communion

Also, Special Music from the Washington HS Choir and Celebrating All Saint’s Day

Opening Prayer:

Lord, help us to see how rich we truly are, both in material possessions and in the blessings you shower upon us each day. May we who are rich learn to share what we have with others. Help us to find abundance in our willingness to give, so that we may begin to live a life that is truly never ending. Amen.

EKG: Ministry Flows from the Heart

God Working Through Us

Last week, I mentioned that many seashells have the amazing ability to simulate the sound of the ocean when you listen to them. We know it is not the actual ocean we are hearing. They are not telephones to the sea. But the ocean forms and touches them, leaving its mark on their grooves inside and out, creating a record of it over time. Much like those old vinyl records, they replay the sound that marked them, amplifying it to the world around them.

We are also made like seashells and vinyl records. As God creates and works through us, we bear witness to His power, wisdom, and love in ways that reverberate and echo all around us. While we may each share only a small part of who Jesus is, when we gather together as the church, our testimonies show a more complete picture of Him to the world around us.

God is the source of every good and perfect gift and the model of extravagant generosity. We can never outgive Him. But we can follow in the footsteps of Jesus and grow to be more like Him each day. This starts with expressing gratitude. It begins when we share where we have seen Jesus working in us together. We gave you some heart cards last week and shared a couple of questions in them:

What do you love about our church?

Where do you see Jesus in our church?

Your thoughtful answers to these questions uncover wells of deep gratitude within your heart, bringing it to life in sync with the heartbeat of God. When you express and share this gratitude with others, it begins to change your view of the world, which in turn starts to change you, and then the air around you also begins to change. As you see and share Jesus working around you, others also begin to see Jesus working in you. This is how a person becomes a disciple of Jesus. We celebrate that work in the lives of those we have lost and how God worked through them to touch our lives.

There are many ways to express our gratitude for God’s extravagant generosity. As we follow Him and express our gratitude, our sharing and good deeds result in caring ministries.

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Identify Our Riches

We often connect the month of November with the themes of gratitude and stewardship. It is usually one or the other. We have created a self-perpetuating selling machine in our culture, where we learn that those who are most successful in life know how and when to buy and sell. I have always imagined those very wealthy individuals in the world playing the stock market like some kind of high-stakes backroom poker game, where lives are put on the line in the hopes that, with the skill to read people or count cards and a little bit of luck, anyone can prosper.

Salespeople often get a reputation right alongside lawyers and politicians. We know we need them, and we want them on our side, not on the other side, looking to take advantage of us. There is a fine line between salespeople and certain types of preachers, and we get accustomed to hearing a particular appeal every once in a while, having our heartstrings tugged, and throwing some money at the problem in hopes that this is a good hand and will provide a solution. The loudest, saddest story often wins the most money, and we don’t typically have time to check the facts until after we write the check. We rarely follow up on where the money goes afterward. It’s just the way things are. So when we hear the sales pitch starting, we automatically figure out how much we can afford to give to get it all over with. In that process, gratitude, generosity, and stewardship of God’s blessings are lost in the noise.

Riches are more than money. Financial success does not always lead to happiness, nor does it earn honor in this life or the next. We share depths of riches that go far beyond money, and we must identify them if we want to be good stewards. We treasure the time spent with those who loved us well. We treasure the stories and wisdom passed down from former generations. And when the waters get rough and the times get tough, we remember the prayers and support of the saints before us. We remember how they prayed for us as we faced smaller challenges while they dealt with bigger ones themselves. Those prayers and shared faith are precious riches inherited from our spiritual fathers and mothers.

The saying that sometimes you don’t know what you have until you lose it is true. But perhaps we can take a tip from the Book of Job and recognize that sometimes the way to be a good steward of those blessings is to be willing to let them go. As Paul wrote to Timothy, we should not place our hope in our wealth—money, possessions, property, or even our relationships. The only place fit for our hope is in Jesus. Therefore, our first step in being good stewards of God’s blessings involves taking inventory of our riches. Sometimes, that means cleaning up, clearing out, and letting go of things to discover what other riches lie beneath the surface.

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Share and Do Good

Today’s scripture passage is a short ending to a personal letter between Paul and his disciple Timothy. In this letter, we gain personal insights from one of the most powerful communicators of the first century and his protégé. We also get the inside scoop on what the leaders of the early church thought, felt, and dealt with as they worked to teach people from very different backgrounds how to be a family together in the grace and power of Jesus.

It is easy to dilute these verses to the idea that we will be happy if we do good deeds. Nearly every community organization, political party, religion, and self-help book conveys this message. But if you look at the words Paul uses here, it is not an idea but a command. Paul justifies this command by telling us to remember where our provision comes from. We didn’t get here by hard work and a little luck. We got here because God provided for us every step of the way. We share because God tells us to, not because it will make us happier or more popular.

We share all our wealth, not just our money. We give our time, energy, strength, and talents. We provide our expertise and creative insights. We give by serving one another, praying for each other, and celebrating and mourning together. While we may not do all these things at the same time, God calls us to do each of these at some point.

As Jesus, our Good Shepherd, gathers us as His disciples, we share what we receive from Him through our words and deeds. This is how ministries are formed. When they flow from gratitude for what God is doing in us, they result in ministries that genuinely show God’s love and help others connect to Him.

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Taking Hold of the True Life

We focus a lot on being Jesus’ hands and feet as the body of Christ, but hands and feet do not work well or last long if the heart is not doing its job. This vital organ has a single task: giving and receiving. It takes the small amount it needs and passes everything on to help the rest of the body grow and thrive.

A generous heart, a grateful heart, the heart of a good steward beats in the rhythm of praise for all that God has done and is doing. It plunges ahead, knowing that God will provide for tomorrow. It receives and gives. When the body needs more, it receives more and gives more. It does its work seemingly without thought because it is so focused on its one job that beating in rhythm and nourishing the body become more than an activity; they become the character of the heart.

Jesus showed us what living and loving with God’s heart means. He did many things, but at the center of it all was a man who received everything God gave Him with gratitude and shared it generously with everyone He touched. He is our model of the “true life” that Paul wrote to Timothy about. When we receive from God with gratitude and share all we receive from Him generously, we are transformed into people after God’s own heart, and our ministries become caring ministries that connect others with the love of God in a way that we could never provide on our own.

Where do you see Jesus in your life?

Where do you see Jesus in our church?

Who do you see Jesus demonstrating the heart of God through to you?

Will you share that as a grateful and generous steward of God’s blessings?

Closing Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for every gift You give us. We know You are the model of generosity, and we thank You for inviting us to become like You. We feel our weaknesses and our worries, but You have given us Your Son Jesus as the sacrifice for our sins and as the model of what it looks like to live the life You call us to live. Help us see the gifts You have given us. Help us let go of the things we need to release. Give us the faith and courage to trust You daily as the one who provides. Lead us to love like You. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

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