Generosity is a Gateway to Intimacy with God

A little nine year old girl was in synagogue with her Safta/grandmother when she started feeling ill. "Safta," she said. "Can we go now?" "No," her Safta replied. "Well, I think I have to throw up!" "Then go out the front door and to the back of the synagogue and get sick behind a bush." In about two minutes the little girl returned to her seat. "Did you throw up?" her Safta asked. "Yes," the little girl replied. "Well, how could you have gone all the way to the back of the synagogue and return so quickly?" "I didn't have to go outside, Safta." the little girl replied. "They have a box next to the front door that says, 'For the sick'."

Ha-Foke-Bah

Introduction to the Series:

Today, we are going to start a series called the Treasure Test. Our passage for this whole series is in

Luke 6:36–38 TLV

Be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate to you.” Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Pardon, and you will be pardoned. Give, and it will be given to you—a good measure, pressed down, shaken together, overflowing, will be given into your lap. For whatever measure you measure out will be measured back to you.”

I understand this one passage, in a nutshell, explains that God blesses us so that we can behave like Him.

What does this have to do with a treasure test? Do you treasure the compassion of Father God? In other words, Do you treasure being judged or do you treasure not being judged. Do you treasure being free or being condemned? Do you treasure being forgiven, pardoned or do you treasure having your sin held against you? Do you treasure good things flowing into your life that you did not earn and do not deserve, not just good things but an abundance of that thing or do you like living hand-to-mouth on barely enough, just the scraps? Do you treasure the fact that God gave the greatest, most elaborate gift in the heavens and on earth and under the earth, His Son Yeshua? Then what are you doing with this treasure.The treasure test is God’s testing you to see if you are behaving like Him. The treasure test simply says that God will test you to see if you are being a dispenser or a hoarder with all of the blessing he has given to you.

I want you to see something about the treasure test. We are not even talking about money yet. We are talking about some blessings that are far beyond money. The blessing of Father God’s compassion. The blessing of not being judged. Do you not what that feels like. Feels like you are free to be you – all of your strange little idiosyncrasies and jokes and tendencies – and no one is reading anything sinister or evil or ugly into it but rather they see it as beautiful. It is the opposite of walking on eggshells and wearing a mask. It is the treasure of constantly being told your not condemned, your story is not set in stone, there is hope for the future, you are not bound forever. It is the treasure of being let off the hook when the sentence was in stone, was determining your future, and somebody dropped all the charges, withdrew the complaint and said you are free. Do you realize these are treasures that you are given and they have nothing to do with money they have everything to do with your heart.

Let me tell you something there is an invisible string from you heart to your pocket book. Do you remember the story Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax-collector. Now in the past I have unfairly compared Zacchaeus to an IRS man or woman. That is not right because the IRS are working under the rubric of law. Zacchaeus was working outside of the rubric of law he was more like a mafia loan-shark and extortionist. Yet, when Yeshua rolled into Jericho one day and Zacchaeus climbed into his tree perch. Yeshua said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” (, TLV)

Luke 19:5 TLV

When Yeshua came to the place, He looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.”

Yeshua knew that the people were going to mutter about him, “he is making friends with a notable sinner I bet he is on Zacchaeus’ payroll.” Yeshua did not care, Yeshua was being just like His Father: compassionate, full of mercy, abounding in loving-kindness. Yeshua was giving him the treasure of fellowship, the treasure of acceptance, the treasure of honor in front of his peers when he deserved none of this.

Remember how Zacchaeus responded? That invisible chord that runs from his heart to his pocket book was moved by the generosity of Messiah and he said, “Look, Master, half of my possessions I give to the poor, and if I have somehow cheated anyone, I repay four times as much!” (, TLV). This is way beyond what the Torah required and Yeshua did not even have to say a word to him.

Luke 19:8 TLV

But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord. “Look, Master, half of my possessions I give to the poor, and if I have somehow cheated anyone, I repay four times as much!”

Yeshua said to Him: you passed the treasure test. That is my paraphrase of what he said, “Then Yeshua said to him, “Today salvation has come to this home, because he also is a son of Abraham.” (, TLV). Zacchaeus you passed the test, you received validation and the fellowship of the Father’s Son today, just like Abraham who blessed Melchizedek with a tenth of all he had when there was not law telling him to do so, so you also blessed beyond the Law, you are a son of Abraham.. That outer act of giving is just a representation of the inner treasure you received, you are like Abraham.

Luke 19:9 TLV

Then Yeshua said to him, “Today salvation has come to this home, because he also is a son of Abraham.

For the next couple of weeks we will be talking about the treasure test. Please keep in mind, that we are not primarily talking about your money but what you do with your money does indicate what your treasure really is.

I am so unapologetic about what we are going to be talking about over the next couple of weeks. Unapologetic for good reasons. First, when I was praying in later November and early December about the message series to preach for the upcoming year, the Holy Spirit dropped a word in my Spirit, “Michael, I want my people to be overtaken by my blessing on their life but in order for that to happen they have to learn about the power of tithing and how it relates to what they really treasure.” Please here me, I’m not proclaiming the truth about tithing because God needs money; I’m delivering these truths for your sake. God doesn’t need your money — you need His blessing, He wants to give it to you but the principle of the treasure test says that God blesses us so that we can be a blessing like Him.

Secondly, Lauren and I have experienced the supernatural blessing that comes with being a tither and being generous. I have lots of stories about God’s supernatural provision but let me tell you one that I just love.

One last reason we are going to talk about this together is because I am deeply convinced that this is key to the vision of Beth Messiah prospering in the coming days. Around this time of the year people ask me, “Rabbi Vowell are you going to cast the vision for CBM? What great things are we going to do.” Let me tell you my vision for CBM this year. It is not a vision for bigger buildings, though we need it, not more staff though we need it. No my vision for CBM is a vision for you, for your life.

My vision is that this year you will have hope that God will do for you what His word has already promised regarding your family, your finances and your fitness. My vision is ridiculous and people have told me so because my vision is that 100% of the families at Beth Messiah this year would so catch a vision of who God is, the great I’AM that I’AM, who does not change, the one who says, “Do not throw away your confidence which has a great reward,” that God backs His word in your life. I want a 100% of the people at Beth Messiah to have hope that “If God says it, that settles it, I receive it and I give it!”

Introduction to the Topic of Today:

Today, I want to show you that God says to His people, “generosity is a gateway to intimacy with God.” I know that right away when I put a phrase up on the screen like this there are some people that will say, “I don’t know about that.” Okay well what about this phrase:

“Greediness is a gateway to intimacy with God.” Of course not. That is too extreme.

“Stinginess is a gateway to intimacy with God.” Of course not.

“Miserliness is a gateway to intimacy with God.” Of course not.

“Stewardship is a gateway to intimacy with God.” Of course not.

Of course none of those are true because God is none of those things in Himself. He is generous, ridiculously generous in Himself. That is why the phrase, “Generosity is a gateway to intimacy with God” is true in every single generation.

When people live this way, because it is not just a belief, it is always so evident they have already passing the treasure test. They have tapped into the abundant heart of God and they want to give that out. Do you ever notice that generous people exude happiness love and happiness. Generous people are this way not because of how much money they give away it is because they give so much of everything away. The reason why generous people exude so much love and happiness is because they have been touched by the generous love of God.

If you have not heard Robert Morris’ testimony, the Pastor of Gateway Church in Dallas, you should hear it. His testimony is all about experiencing God’s generosity in his life. When he wrote the best selling book, “the Blessed Life,” which he could have made millions in royalties off of, he decided to give all the royalties away, every dime to this day. That is nothing in comparison to some of the other amazing generous acts he has done. His wife was asked once, “Why is Robert so generous?” She simply said, “He just has never gotten over getting saved.”

Generous people like Robert Morris are experiencing the blessing of God overtaking their life because they receive God’s treasure to give out God’s treasure.

I know some people would say, “Michael, I can’t be generous right now but as soon as I have a little more then I will start getting generous. When I have a little more money, a little more health, a little more emotional security.” You got here me,

“You have to become generous with what you have not what you hope to get.”

Your problem is not that you don’t got it is that you don’t realize how much you got. You got to go back to your first love everyday and never get over the generosity of God. That God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life (cf. ). You need to get a hold of what you already got. You already got: full salvation, you already got every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, you are already got seated in the heavenly places, you already got the Kingdom of God living inside of you. If you got all that then I promise you got a reason to be generous. Maybe the reason you don’t got more is because you have not passed the treasure test with what you got. You don’t give what you got you only keep and build bigger barns for yourself. You keep telling God I will give more when I have more. God says, “nope.” You already got now give.

In the book of Malachi, you are reading a series of disputes between God and the nation of Israel. What are they arguing over? What are they disputing over? God is disputing with their “scarcity mentality.” Steven Covey says of this mindset

They see life as having only so much, as though there were only one pie out there. And if someone were to get a big piece of the pie, it would mean less for everybody else. The Scarcity Mentality is the zero-sum paradigm of life.[1]

He says of people like this that,

People with a Scarcity Mentality have a very difficult time sharing recognition and credit, power or profit— even with those who help them. They also have a very hard time being genuinely happy for the successes of other people— even, and sometimes especially, members of their own family or close friends and associates. It’s almost as if something is being taken from them when someone else receives special recognition or windfall gain or has remarkable success or achievement.[2]

Shahram Heshmat, Ph.D says in his article on scarcity says,

…scarcity makes you myopic (exhibiting bias toward here and now). The mind is focused on present scarcity. You overvalue immediate benefits at the expense of future ones (e.g., procrastinate important things, such as medical checkups, or exercising). We only attend to urgent things and fail to make small investments even when future benefits can be substantial. [3]

In Malachi, God enters into a series of disputes with Israel, actually six disputes with Israel regarding how their scarcity mindset is driving them further away from Him and that if they will “repent” and develop a generous mindset then they will start to experience his blessing. Yes, having a “scarcity mindset” is something that God says you must repent of because the scarcity mindset most often times produces behaviors and actions contrary to God and the Word. He invites Israel to repent and get a generous mindset. The kind of mindset that says there is more than enough, that with our God there is an unlimited supply of resources available. This mindset of generosity is a gateway to intimacy with God.

Dispute #1 (1:2-5) – If Edom gets your love then we can’t also get your love.

““I loved you,” says Adonai. But you say: “How have you loved us?” (, TLV)

Malachi 1:2 TLV

“I loved you,” says Adonai. But you say: “How have you loved us?” “Was Esau not Jacob’s brother?” —it is the declaration of Adonai— “Yet I loved Jacob

Generosity Mindset:

“So you will see, and you will say: ‘May Adonai be magnified beyond the border of Israel!’ ”” (, TLV)

Dispute #2 (1:6-2:10) – There is not enough for the government and for sacrifice.

“A son honors his father, and a servant his master. So if I am Father, where is My honor?..you..who despise My Name!” But you say, “How did we despise Your Name?” “By offering defiled bread on My altar… bring a blind, sick, lame one as sacrifice. Offer them now to your governor! Would he be pleased with you? Or will he acknowledge you favorably?” says Adonai-Tzva’ot.” (, TLV)

Generosity Mindset: There is more than enough for sacrifice and tribute.

“For from sunrise to its setting My Name will be great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to My Name with a pure grain offering, for My Name will be great among the nations,” says Adonai-Tzva’ot.” (, TLV)

Dispute #3 & 5 (2:10-3:6, 13-14): Other people are benefiting and I am not.

“Your words against Me are grievous,” says Adonai. Yet you say: “What did we say against You?” You say: “Serving God is worthless.” Also: “What good is it that we kept His service or that we walked as mourners before Adonai-Tzva’ot?” (, TLV)

Generosity Mindset: I will not trade what is of eternal value for that which is of temporal pleasure.

“For I hate divorce,” —says Adonai the God of Israel— “and the one who covers his garment with injustice,” says Adonai-Tzva’ot. So protect your spirit— do not act treacherously.” (, TLV)

Dispute #4 (3:6-12): Times are too tough to tithe.

This dispute with Israel is important because it is the only dispute where God explicitly says if you will repent of your scarcity mindset for a generous mindset you will experience intimacy with me that will change your life, your family’s life and your nation’s life.

“From the days of your ancestors you have turned aside from My statutes, and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says Adonai-Tzva’ot. Yet you say: “How should we return?” (, TLV)

Malachi 3:7 TLV

This is the word Israel was waiting for. They knew if their God was with them it would turn the tide for everything. They knew the great stories of old. Like when Israel lost the ark to the Philistines but the nation repented and God sent back not just the ark but the philistine gold! I am sure when Israel asked “How should we return?” They were thinking something like:

· Pray really sad prayers.

· Study more of the Torah.

· Pray really sad prayer and study more of the Torah.

· Show up to synagogue more.

· Show up more, pray sad prayers and study more of Torah.

I am sure Israel was not expecting what came next:

“Will a man rob God? For you are robbing Me!” But you say: “How have we robbed You?” “In the tithe and the offering.” (, TLV).

Malachi 3:8 TLV

“Will a man rob God? For you are robbing Me!” But you say: “How have we robbed You?” “In the tithe and the offering.

Have you ever seen the capital one commercial that says, “What’s in your wallet?” And they are obviously trying to get their card in your wallet. Because they want you to believe that if you have their card in your wallet then you will be blessed.

It is like God is saying, “What’s in your wallet?” Isn’t what’s in your wallet my money. Isn’t everything that is in your wallet their because I blessed you with it. Isn’t that the kind of relationship I am in with you. The whole earth is mine and haven’t I been generous with you.

“yet, you are robbing me.”

We know historically times were tough in Israel. And when times are tough it is easy to develop a scarcity mentality especially regarding tithing. Times are tough God I can’t tithe.

Last week my daughter Hazel was viciously attacked by a German Shepherd. That is why my family was not here on the Shabbos. She walked into the house of her little friend and there German Shepherd pinned her against a wall and ripped a gash in her head from her skull to almost her ear. She did not provoke the dog, this is an out of control animal.

We were in the Emergency Room right away. Doctors and nurses and technicians. And eight staples later, we are out of the hospital. We did not see that coming. We also did not see all the bills that come with it The ER room bills and the medication bills. As a matter of fact, today I got to go and get her medications that will cost almost a $100.00 dollars (cue for people). I have to go over to the CVS.

Take the 20 dollar bills from their hands. Do you want to know why all those people could give me 20 dollars so freely. Yes, I gave it to them before the service. Of course they are going to give it to me because it was not theirs to begin with.

Count the 20s. 20, 40, 60, 80. Wait a minute. There is 20 missing. Could you raise your hand who brought me a 20. Joe did you loose your 20 or something? Did you forget the cue.

Banter.

See, “Joe is robbing me because he is keeping what is mine.”

“You have been cursed with the curse, yet you keep robbing Me—the whole nation!” (, TLV)

Malachi 3:9 TLV

You have been cursed with the curse, yet you keep robbing Me—the whole nation!

God says to Israel, I know the times are tough but you are doing it to yourself. I cannot tell you the number of times that Rabbi Richard, Ron, Myself and Philip have sat with people going through hard times and when we ask, “Are you tithing?” And they say, “No” and we encourage them to tithe and see what God will do they absolutely refuse to believe that this could have anything to do with it. They think we are just trying to “get their money.” We tell them, we don’t want your money, God does not need your money but what you want – to experience God’s blessing – is not going to happen apart from you tithing.

Look at what the passage says is the reward for tithing and offering: i.e., generosity.

(, TLV)

· Then there will be food in My House.

Now test Me in this”—says Adonai-Tzva’ot—

· You Will Be Blessed: “if I will not open for you the windows of heaven, and pour out blessing for you, until no one is without enough.

· You Will Not Be Robbed of Your Blessing: I will rebuke the devouring pest for you, so it will not destroy the fruit of your land, nor will your vine be barren in the field.

· Others Will Love That You are Blessed: All the nations will call you blessed. For you will be a land of delight,” says Adonai-Tzva’ot.” (, TLV)

Malachi 3:10–12 TLV

Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse. Then there will be food in My House. Now test Me in this”—says Adonai-Tzva’ot—“if I will not open for you the windows of heaven, and pour out blessing for you, until no one is without enough. I will rebuke the devouring pest for you, so it will not destroy the fruit of your land, nor will your vine be barren in the field,” Adonai-Tzva’ot says. “All the nations will call you blessed. For you will be a land of delight,” says Adonai-Tzva’ot.

Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse.

· Then there will be food in My House.

Now test Me in this”—says Adonai-Tzva’ot—

· You Will Be Blessed: “if I will not open for you the windows of heaven, and pour out blessing for you, until no one is without enough.

· You Will Not Be Robbed of Your Blessing: I will rebuke the devouring pest for you, so it will not destroy the fruit of your land, nor will your vine be barren in the field.

· Others Will Love That You are Blessed: All the nations will call you blessed. For you will be a land of delight,” says Adonai-Tzva’ot.”

Look at what happens in response to God telling the people of Israel that generosity is a gateway to intimacy with God.

(, TLV)

Malachi 3:16–18 TLV

Then those who revere Adonai spoke with each other, and Adonai took notice and heard, and a scroll of remembrance was written before Him, for those who revere Adonai, even those who esteem His Name. “So they shall be Mine,”—says Adonai-Tzva’ot—“in the day I make My own special possession. So I will spare them, as one spares his son serving him. Then you will return and distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him.”

Malachi says that God eavesdropped the conversation of those who took the prophets word to heart. He liked what they said to one another.

Final Joe interruption and finish story.

They got a hold of the prophets message, the heart of it, “Repent of this scarcity mindset and let’s be like our Father who has been, is and will be generous with us.” God said, “let them experience intimacy with me “they shall be mine,” and let them be honored, let them be pardoned because they have given out what they have they shall get back even more so pressed, shaken together and poured out on their lap.

Beth Messiah don’t let a scarcity mentality stop you from experiencing intimacy with God. Don’t use the excuse of “I am just being a good steward” to justify your stinginess, greediness, miserliness your scarcity mentality. You need to be generous in the direction of God’s generosity. The first step, the pulse begins with tithing. That is the first act of generosity but that is not the last act it is just the first.

Beth Messiah this year I believe you are going to end your scarcity dispute with God and you are going to become generous in every area of your life. You are going to be more generous with your praise, more generous with your compliments, more generous with your forgiveness, more generous letting people off the hook. I believe this year people are going to be saying of you “that one over there…that one is righteous…that one is serving God because they just have not gotten over getting saved.

Don’t let a scarcity mindset rob you of the blessing that God is promising to you. Get a hold of a generosity mindset. The kind of mindset that says I am not going to be stingy today in any area of my life I am going to be generous with my praise, generous with my validation of other peope, today I want to be the kind of person that runs to get to the back of the line because I know how good it feels to be at the front and I want you to be at the front. Watch how God will change your world.

Watch how God’s blessing will grab hold of your life. You will not have to strive for his blessing. He says he will open up the windows of heaven and it will be poured out on you. Everyone will have more than enough. It is like Richard used to say all the time, “It makes my cheeks blush red when I think about good God has been to us.” I believe God is calling all of us to be so generous in our lives that it makes other people’s cheeks blush because of how overwhelming it is.

You want to check your generosity? How many compliments did you give out this morning? How much praise. How many smiles? Does your mouth and your face function out of the overflow of a heart that has been touched by God’s generous love? If it does then you already know what I have been saying all day today, “Generosity is the gateway to intimacy with God.”

[1] Covey, Stephen R.. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change (p. 230). Rosetta Books. Kindle Edition.

[2] Ibid.

[3] https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/science-choice/201504/the-scarcity-mindset

Related Media

Related Sermons