Rhythms: Generosity and Community

Prayer

O merciful Creator, your loving hand is open wide to satisfy the needs of every living creature: Make us always thankful for your loving providence, and give us grace to honor you with all that you have entrusted to us; that we, remembering the account we must one day give, may be faithful stewards of your good gifts; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

(ACNA BCP 2019, Collect 22. For Stewardship of Creation, 652)

Introduction

[SLIDE - SERIES]

Twelve years ago, I moved up to Pittsburgh to go to seminary. I knew I was taking on a big commitment. I quit my job, put the house I owned up for rent, and made plans to move to Pittsburgh that fall.

I was single at the time and moving to a new place. I know I would have to pay for an apartment, car, health insurance, meals, etc. I would probably wouldn’t be able to do my schoolwork and hold down a job. I had some money stashed away in savings and a single retirement account - but not enough for a three year endeavor. In order to fund this major move in my life, I knew I would need some help. When I sat down to calculate my anticipated expenses, “the math wasn’t math-ing” (as I like to say). I didn’t know how I was going to be able to afford the move long term. I was stepping out totally in faith.

My rector at the time recommended that I reach out to some members of the church and ask for their help. I was wary of doing so - I was firmly set in the “pick yourself up by your bootstraps” thinking at the time. Yet, I was absolutely amazed at the response. Over 10 families from my small church volunteered to help fund my expenses. It didn’t cover everything, but my basic needs were met for over 2 years, and they never asked anything in return. It is partly because of that church’s sacrifice that I stand before you this today.

it was only by those faithful families’ generosity, borne out of a community of believers, that I was able to come to Pittsburgh and continue the path God called me to follow.

Thus, as we close our series, I want to explore these two ideas - Generosity and Community - and explore their parts in the rhythms of creation.

Let’s dive in.

Framework

Let’s review a little bit and lay the ground work for these two rhythms. In our first week of the series, we discovered that we, as humans, are not simply “heads on a stick.” We’re not just brains or spirits or souls that exist apart from our bodies. Last week, we built on that idea to understand that because God created us as persons with two natures - flesh and spirit - we are called to embody these rhythms with our entire selves, not just one part or the other.

This week, I want to add one more piece to our “framework”:

What does fully embodying these rhythms look like? What does it involve?

Throughout Scripture, God is called Jehovah Jireh - The LORD Who Provides. In the act of creation, the choosing of Israel, and the redemption He worked out through Jesus Christ, God is the God who gives of himself out of his love for His Creation. It is a love that we, His image-bearers, are called to live out in our own lives.

Jesus summarizes this call in His summary of God’s Law:

[SLIDE - MATTHEW 22:37-39]

Matthew 22:37–39 ESV

… “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

[SLIDE - OVERFLOWING]

And though this may seem like an impossible task, God pours His love so lavishly into us, that it cannot help but overflow - if we would just let it.

What we might not realize is that everything we have or cherish, not just our lives, our minds, or our spirits, but everything is a result of God pouring His love into us.

God hasn’t only given us material things, like food, water, and shelter. He also grants us life - every breath we breathe and every beat of our hearts is His. He gives us the skills and talents to do meaningful work. He gives us families and communities to support us when we’re in need. He gave us Jesus Christ to break the curse of sin and death and redeem the world to Himself. All that we have and all that we are, is His gift to us. He gives us the Holy Spirit to strength and embolden us.

Anything we think we have or are is a result of God’s poured-out love upon us.

If we are so foolish as to try to hoard these gifts, we face the dangers from our first reading this morning. Trying to hold on to all of God’s gifts for our own pleasure leads only to pain and hurt. Imagine the cup in this picture trying to run around and gather up every droplet that spills out; It is doomed to failure.

God’s gifts must flow out from us or else we will never be satisfied. Nothing the world can give, nothing that even these gifts can give (money, wealth, or power), will ever satisfy like walking in God’s will can.

So, what does embodying these rhythms look like? Just what you would imagine - it involves everything: all of our persons; all of our minds, bodies, spirits, time, treasure, talents. We place everything God has given us into His service so that His love might overflow through us.

Now, let’s see how this applies to the rhythms we’ve chosen for this morning.

Generosity

[SLIDE - GENEROSITY]

Of the two rhythms we’re covering, I think Generosity is the most commonly misunderstood. This will not be a sermon on tithing. There will be a reminder at the end of the service on how to give to support this community - but (as you can probably already guess) I want to go way beyond money.

In Our Framework

If we look at Generosity through the framework I’ve laid out for us, we can see that it must encompass more than just our treasure.

Rather, Generosity is a heart that says, “I have been given so much … I have to give it away to others.” It is the realization that everything we have is a gift from God, not to be used solely for our own self-delight, but to be poured out into His work in the world.

Generosity is pouring into others a portion of all that we have been given, in particular our time, treasure, and talents, returning back to God’s work some of the abundance He has poured out on us. In the case of the tithe, that basic minimum is one-tenth (10%) of all that we earn.

But when we expand our understanding of Generosity, it exhibits itself is so many other ways.

Yes, it can be the giving of your treasure: tithing, making special gifts for missionaries (or poor seminarians), or donating to food banks.

But it’s also giving of your time: by volunteering with a ministry or charity, leading or attending a small group, serving on the Vestry, or helping out on Sunday morning.

It is also the giving of your talent: helping organize a food drive, assisting with the accounting, serving on a team at church, or going out to visit shut-ins.

But even more, at the heart of generosity is not only the things that we can do, but how we interact with others: befriending those in need, responding to insults with grace (turning the other cheek or walking the second mile (cf. Matthew 5:38-42), and striving for harmony and peace in our communities by bringing God’s truth into every situation. Just the simple act of encouragement could be an expression of Generosity.

Abundance

But, let’s be clear. Generosity is giving out of our abundance - the blessings that pour out over the lip of our cups.

Most of us could probably say, I don’t have any abundance - I can barely pay the bills, I don’t have enough time in the day, or I spend all day doing X, Y, or Z and I just don’t have the energy to use it elsewhere. But is that really true? Sometimes the things that suck up our time, treasure, or talent simply come down to the difference between what we need versus what we want. Do we need the latest cell phone or car or house? Do we need to sleep in on the weekends or drive the kids to so many activities? Do we need to have respite from using those talents and skills God has given us. Or do we want those things?

Often, when we seriously ask this question, we’ll find out that the things we “need” are really just things we want. For example, for those God calls to begin tithing, it becomes a question of figuring out how much they really need and give up the things they don’t. Or for our time, if you’re busy all the time moving your kids from activity to activity just to keep them from being bored, perhaps you can consider which of those events do they really “need.”

In most cases we hoard God’s gifts of time, treasure, and talent not because we’re being defiant, but simply because we’ve never sat down and seriously figured out what part of God’s gifts should be for us and what part should be returned to God.

Giving out of our abundance also does not mean we have to be “doormats.” If you are not giving out of abundance, then you are on the short path to burnout. God calls us to give sacrificially, but not to the point that we are as destitute as those we are trying to serve. It also means that “striving” and “people-pleasing” are headed in the wrong direction. If we are engaging with God’s rhythms, we are actively listing to how God has made us fit into His creation, not how we can become popular with others. Always saying “yes” is a clear sign we are not listening when God is telling us to say “no.”

One last thought on abundance. True generosity also means that we do not reject the generosity of others. This is one of the hardest things to do in a “pull yourselves up by your bootstraps” culture. If you are in need, then it is actually an act of generosity to ask for help. It grants others the opportunity to share God’s love with you. By receiving their gift, God’s abundant love can flow out from you in other ways, perhaps in time, talent, or grace.

Community

[SLIDE - COMMUNITY]

Now we turn to the rhythm of Community. Our second passage for this morning comes from the book of Acts. And though I could focus on the early Church’s selling of their possessions and distributing them to those in need (cf. Acts 2:45), I think I’ve already made that point.

The idea I want to drill into is the community that formed around the apostles. From the first verse in the reading,

[SLIDE - ACTS 2:42]

Acts 2:42 ESV

And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

[SLIDE - COMMUNITY]

The rhythm of Community is so important throughout the Scripture. From the very beginning of the Bible, after God created Adam, He said, “It is not good that the man should be alone.” (Genesis 2:18). The entire scope of Scripture talks about how God brought together a “chosen people” - the descendants (both natural and spiritual) of Abraham.

The people of Israel, and subsequently the Christian Church, has always been composed of clergy, prophets, teachers, governing leaders, and so forth. It was, as any family, a messy hodgepodge of various gifts and talents poured out onto individuals for the single purpose of serving the entire community. God’s plan never included the idea of “Lone Ranger Christians.”

The thing is, this is the crazy rhythm of God’s economy that He has set forth. It is so countercultural, especially after our experiences with COVID, to be in a community with other people. So many people around us are isolated and lonely. They’ve cut off relationships, holed up in their homes, and don’t really engage with anyone else in meaningful ways. They rely on the latest social media app to try to build relationships, but no one seems to know how to do it in person any more. As messy as the Church can be at times, however much a “mishmash” of different cultures, backgrounds, ethnicities, and personalities there are in the Church, communities, churches like Mosaic, are how the Kingdom of God actually does its work. It is each of us, bringing together our time, treasure, and talents - our unique giftings - our unique abundances that God has given to us - in service to the Body of Christ.

With the loneliness rampant in our society, it would be a travesty if churches simply stayed within their four walls. We would not be fulfilling our calling. Sunday morning is not the end-all-be-all of the Church. Neither is going to a weekly small group or even attending a teaching series someone might be doing. Yes, we are called to build a community here - to let Christ soften the hard edges of a disparate people into His Body. But in God’s economy, this community, this church, is called to go into the world around us. It is not just a call to invite others to join us, (or, forgive the phrase, to “put butts in the seats”) but to bring together our abundance and serve others in the places we live and beyond. It is a call, really, to get our proverbial “butts out of the seats” and to bring God’s abundance to others in need of Christ.

This is why Generosity and Community come together so beautifully. Like the story I began with, it was the generosity of a community that supported me through my years at seminary. It was a mishmash of believers from different backgrounds, gifts, and personalities that, united in Christ, furthered God’s work by sending me here. They were (dare I say it?) a mosaic of disparate people who came together out of their abundance to support God’s work.

Conclusion

[SLIDE - SERIES]

And there we have it, the final two rhythms in our series.

These past four weeks have certainly been a journey for me. John C. Maxwell once wrote,

“You never really know something until you teach it to someone else” [Maxwell].

And in my case, this is very true. There’s so much we could share about each of these rhythms, but Elaine and I have focused on giving you a taste of each to encourage you to pursue them more.

Christian sanctification - the format of our lives in service to God - is a lifelong journey. It can’t be accomplished in a year or a decade; much less four weeks. It is the continued effort on the part of the Holy Spirit gently directing our lives into the rhythms of holiness. If this series has done nothing else, I pray it has given you a taste for what’s out there to explore. Early next year will bring an amazing opportunity to dig deeper into these rhythms within the context of our small groups. If you’re not already in a small group, I challenge you this Fall to be “generous with your time” and engage in one of those communities.

Allow me to leave you with this summary of our journey together. God has created us to be His image bearers (imagines dei). That means not only are we called to be His ambassadors and stewards of His Creation, but the love He pours out upon us is meant to be poured out into the world through us. God desires to fill our entire nature - flesh and spirit - with his love and then let it gush out of us into the world. The rhythms He established in Creation do just that. All we have to do is respond to the Holy Spirit as he guides us into those rhythms.

God is calling us, like the conductor of an orchestra, to play in tune with the rest of creation, follow its rhythms, and add our own unique harmonies to that great symphony. I pray that in this upcoming month of Sabbath you will listen to God and choose one area to come alongside His rhythms and see just how much He wants to bless you and others through you.

Concluding Prayer

I pray this all in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Footnotes

[Maxwell] Maxwell, John C. The 360 Degree Leader: Developing Your Influence from Anywhere in the Organization, HarperCollins Leadership, 2005.