The Gift of Giving

Last week we began a little two part series on Generosity

I began with this analogy that God is a Generous Host

This is the way that Jesus views his heavenly father…

That his Father in heaven has made a world that generously provides for all of creation

we started with this analogy about my parents farm that I go to every summer…The point was we go to this farm in Tennessee and for that week…We just show up and the food we like is there

The coffee creamer we drink is there

My brother brings over his quads and the kids just play

The point is that we go to a place of abundance you dont really have to worry about what you will eat or what or what you will wear…You are just freed up for relationship…

And this is exactly the same way that Jesus views the world…

That God provides for the plants and animals…

That the Lord just created this world in a perfect way to provide for all of your needs…

But the problem is that we live in a world where materialism reigns…All day every day you hear the lie that you need more and that you dont have enough…Anxiety and worry creeps in….

And life is genuinely expensive and hard…Groceries have gone up, gas has gone up…everything is just more expensive than it used to believe so it is really easy to believe that God will be generous to some people but not me!

And just to recap from last week…One of the things that we looked at last week is that the first lie of satan in the garden…was hey…Did God really say don’t eat this? I mean he just knows that your eyes will be opened…

The lie is that God isn’t really generous, there is more out there that he hasn’t told you…he is holding out on you!

The very first deception is God is not being generous with you…he is holding out on you!

But last week we looked at Luke 12 where Jesus told us, hey go seriously contemplate nature and you will see how God provides for this world…

He loves you so much more than these animals!

Jesus envisions a world where God is very generous to his people providing all we need…

So last week we sort of ended with this idea that God is a generous host who we can trust with our lives.

We can trust him to care for us because God loves us and is generous with us…

So this week I want to take that further…

Because not only is God generous with the world that he has created for us

But God is generous because he is the ultimate gift giver

and Jesus is the ultimate act of generosity by the father

There are a few places where the Apostle Paul absolutely lays this out

so my first point today is really borrowed from last week…

Live in the confidence of the generous host (Romans 8:31-32)

Romans 8:31–32 NIV

What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

we can embrace generosity by trusting in God’s provision and reflecting His generosity.

I think sometimes when we read, if God is for us, who can be against us? as almost just a motivational phrase but it is much more than that.

It doesn’t mean that if your a christian then you have no problems or no enemies…

What it means is that God is bigger then your enemies…It means that God is bigger than your problems…

And sometimes in times of fear or scarcity we have no idea how God will ever get us out of this situation

We have no clue how God might prevail…

He means that with God “for us” it makes not the slightest particle of difference who is against us.

Noone can prevail against people who are supported by a God like that.

The Christian’s confidence is in God

But why can we have this confidence in the face of such adversity?

Because if God is for us then who can be against us?

Really this is the story of the whole bible…

Moses is basically running from the cops in Egypt and God pulls him aside and says…hey I want you to lead my people out of here…And he’s like…I can not do it! I stutter…But if God is for us then who can be against us? God provides all along the way…and gets his people to the promise land…

Nehemiah is a book of the bible that tells the story of an Israelite slave in front of King Cyrus of Persia…And he is literally nothing…But because of his prayerful obedience in the Lord he gets Cyrus to let him go home and then he has king Cyrus pay for the expedition…

He rebuilds the walls of Jerusalem, literally fighting the whole way

How can he do this? Radical dependance on God’s provision in his life…Because if God is for us then who can be against us?

Its like when Peter stepped out of the boat and walked on the water…When his eyes were fixed on Jesus…that is where his confidence came from he was fine walking on that water but when he focused on the chaos…when he took his eyes off of God…he began to sink…

Here is the point…If God be for us, who can be against us? the ultimate expression of this is what Paul says next

Romans 8:32 NIV

He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

Remember…Live in the confidence of the generous host!

He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

What Paul is trying to get across to the church is hey it is one thing, if God just provides for your physical needs or your emotional needs

But God doesn’t hold back…

You and I hold back…we will only give to a point

Some will give till it hurts…Some will give sacrificially…But God gave us Jesus as a ransom for our sins…

He gave his perfect son

He traded his perfection for our junk

When I was a kid, my brother and I loved collecting baseball cards and he was older than me…So he do it the other way around…He would trade his junk for my good cards….He would play it up…He would say man I have this amazing card…its so rare…This guy only played for one season on the Detroit tigers…Its rare because he only played one season…what cards will you give me for it?

Nolan Ryan…Oral Hurshiser, Steve Sax? So I’d give him all my good cards for his one bad card

But God is not like all of this…He trades his perfect son for all of our sin and junk…Its a terrible trade unless he truly loves us…

So Paul is now making this point that God is the generous Host…He does not withhold from his people and we need to go through life with the confidence that the Lord…If God is for us then who can be against us?

So in response to all of that

I want to show you a really key passage that Paul writes to the church in Corinth…

How do you live as a church in response to the radical generosity of the Lord…

2 Corinthians 8:1–11 NIV

And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord’s people. And they exceeded our expectations: They gave themselves first of all to the Lord, and then by the will of God also to us. So we urged Titus, just as he had earlier made a beginning, to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part. But since you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you—see that you also excel in this grace of giving. I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich. And here is my judgment about what is best for you in this matter. Last year you were the first not only to give but also to have the desire to do so. Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means.

This is the text on Generosity in the new testament…and ultimately it spans the whole chapter but we only really have time for 11 verses today

2 Corinthians 8:1 NIV

And now, brothers and sisters, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches.

Ok the first thing I want you to see in verse 1 here is this phrase: Grace of God: This phrase does some heavy lifting in the Greek

We tend to think of the word grace as unmerited favor…and that is what it is…God’s favor that we didn’t earn but is given because of what Jesus did on the cross we now receive that favor that Jesus recieved because his blood covers our life and our sins

We are now seen as the righteousness of God

So the word here for grace is Charas (HAR-is)

When used as a noun it means gift and when used as a verb it means forgiveness

So when Paul is saying to the church…I want to talk with you about the Grace of God its this little phrase that tells the whole story…

This free gift of forgiveness

You know to forgive someone when they wrong you…it is a gift

Forgiveness is a gift in itself

So Paul starts his Titus on Generosity with this idea that a gift has been given

He wants them to know the story of the Macedonian church because its encouraging…Encouragement means to give your courage to someone else..>So Paul is like hey listen to this story…From this other church

The New Testament sees sharing with others as a privilege (2 Corinthians 8:2-4)

2 Corinthians 8:2–4 (NIV)

In the midst of a very severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord’s people.

Generosity has nothing to do with money and everything to do with relationship with the generous host

See how Paul says that there was a severe trial and they had extreme poverty and yet because they had overwhelming joy that expressed itself in generosity! Do you see that?

Paul is sharing this story of the Macedonian church to encourage the church in Corinth to follow their example…

he is like look what this church did and they are dirt poor!

Because of their overwhelming Joy at the gift of grace in Jesus…Look at what they have been able to do…

So what Paul is saying here is look this church that is so poor heard about this need and they begged us that they be the ones to take care of the need

The text actually says: they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the Lord’s people.

This will reshape your thinking…

The word translated to privilege in front of you right now

Its Charas (HAR-IS)…Gift…or grace

You can actually re-word that “they urgently pleased with us for the gift of sharing”

See this church understood rightly what it means to live in the provision of the generous host

It means that when we experience the generosity of God

The gift of God in Jesus…

Then there is no other logical response than to be generous back we become generous guests!

Just as a pastor…I have had people be generous to me and my family and its amazing…someone gives me a gift and you can tell it actually blesses them just as much as it blesses me…

At my former church we had a guy named Lynn Brownlow who died and left 200,000 to the church…But there was a catch…The church couldn’t use it for anything other than benevolence…Helping people who needed financial help…So we used the money off the interist in that account every year to bless people…And here we were this little church who was always just scraping by and what I think about what we were able to do for people because of Lynn Brownlow…a guy who I never met…

We helped one of my youth students out when he got his first job to buy his first car

We found out that a single mom in the church her car just broke…Like to the point where she needed to start all over again…So I just got to sit in my office and write a check for $2,000 and mail it to her…It was so much fun…

I mean countless times…we would hear about someone struggling and they would get a $500 check in the mail with a little note that says…Jesus loves you!

It becomes a gift to give…Not only is it fun but you get to be used by God, you get to see the way that God is moving and it increases your faith!

So what Paul is doing in 2 Corinthians 8 is saying, hey I want you to experience this gift in giving that the other church experienced

Generosity has more to do with the condition of my heart than the abundance of my resources(2 Corinthians 8:2-4)

Experience the gift of generosity

Then look what Paul says next to these guys:

2 Corinthians 8:7 NIV

But since you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in the love we have kindled in you—see that you also excel in this grace of giving.

You can sort of hear Paul buttering these people up right? He is like Apostle Paul, Chief Development officer here…

He’s like you guys have strong faith…Great speakers…you’re all very smart

But see that you excel in the gift of giving…

Look what he says next

2 Corinthians 8:8 NIV

I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others.

I am not commanding you: Paul knows that you can not command generosity that it has to well up from the heart

Generosity is something that can not be demanded it comes because of a work that the Holy spirit has done in you!

So Paul tells them I am giving you a chance to prove the sincerity of your love too

You have a chance to step up to the plate

Prove that you are just as affected by the love of God as the Macedonian church…

I think that Paul knows, There is something very motivating about seeing someone else radical generosity

Ultimately generosity is something that you grow into and it becomes addicting and fun

and I think this is Paul’s urging…Not out of selfish ambition but I want you to learn the gift that is generosity

SO like I said before, Generosity is about the condition of your heart and not about how much you have…

When I was teaching in Cuba…The first few days, I ate like a king …our whole group did…They just kept bringing us tons of food! and the missionary who was with us only ate one plate and was done…he never ate more than that…

One morning when I was talking to him over coffee I said man my stomach is killing me…I am eating way more than I normally would..they just keep bringing this food…And the missionary told me…Well, they are very hospitable, they really want to care for you guys…But do you know what they would never tell you…

All the leftover go to feed everyone else…They had little resources…but gave what they had from the heart…

You better believe that slowed my eating down!

Then I want you to see what Paul says in verse 8

Jesus is the ultimate expression of God’s generosity (2 Corinthians 8:9)

2 Corinthians 8:9 NIV

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.

here is what Paul is doing in verse 9

Summarizing the story of the gospel in economic terms

For you know the gift of Jesus…He was rich…and for your sake became poor…through his poverty you become rich

Because of the generous gift

He was rich, had everything he wanted

But he gave up his status…he became poor

God saw his abundance as an opportunity to be generous to others

Generosity is the only real response

What does it mean to be a christian?

the word literally means little Christs…

It means we take on the character of God and one of the marks of his character is generosity…

Because God so freely gave everything to us, we give back

It means that we trust in the generous host…

What is the response ?

1. Confidence in Jesus:

Can you say…If he is for me then who is against me?

Jesus is the ultimate expression of God’s generosity…He wants to trade you sin in for his perfection because he loves you…

Its not a bait and switch…He just genuinely loves you as you are and wants a relationship with you

2. Have you experienced the radical generosity of God? Then maybe its time to experience the privilege of giving

yes obviously tithing…And one of these days we will go deeper into why that matters…But what I really wanted to cultivate out of this…Is that the only logical response for a God who is so generous with us…is to be generous to others

It is to live a life that is marked by generosity

I did my granfather-in law’s funeral…And he was never a wealthy man…and I found out why…

There was standing room only in his funeral…

we had an open comment time and people came from out of no where…Warren visited me in the hospital

Warren helped me fix my car

Warren helped me out of a tight spot!

He lived a life of generosity and had an impact on hundreds of people

What will your life be marked by?

Let’s pray