Generosity

Proverbs 30:7-9 (Opening) 7  Two things I ask of you; deny them not to me before I die: 8  Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, 9  lest I be full and deny you and say, “Who is the Lord?” or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God. Introduction There are some really generous philanthropists in the world. According to “Business Insider”, the top 20 philanthropists in the world have donated over $100 Billion (with a B) to different causes around the globe. You might recognize some of the names: Michael Dell, the guy that started that computer company; Ted Turner, the cable TV network guy; Mark Zuckerberg, Mr. Facebook; Michael Bloomberg; George Soros; Warren Buffett; and Bill Gates, the guy who put Windows in computers. Of course, one thing they all have in common is that they all have a lot of money. But there are people who have a lot of money who aren’t on this list. They also all have strongly held beliefs, which prompted them to donate money to support those causes. When I think about philanthropists in Maine, the name that comes to mind is Harold Alfond, the shoe mogul. He and his family and foundation have donated to many education and health care groups, and his name is on over thirty buildings around the state. There are also people who don’t have a lot of money, but still give a larger percentage of their net worth to charity than these people. We don’t hear about them very often, because they don’t make a very big splash in a really big pond. Have you ever known someone who would mow your lawn or help you around the house without being asked? They just show up and start helping? Have you ever had your car break down and someone just came over and handed you their car keys and said something like “Just bring it back when you’re done”? Two Lepta During the week prior to His crucifixion, Jesus spent His time in the Temple in Jerusalem, teaching, watching, and correcting. He pointed out one person in particular to His disciples while they were sitting near the Temple treasury. Luke 21:1-4 1 Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, 2 and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. 3 And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. 4 For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.” The Temple in Jerusalem was divided up into zones or courts where different groups were allowed to go. The outermost court was the court of Gentiles, where anyone could go. Next in was the court of women, where only Jews could go. There was a wall dividing the court of woman and the court of men, where only male Jews were allowed to go. The next court in was the court of Priests, where the sacrifices were made. Then you get to the inner courts of the Temple, the Holy place, where the priests tended the lampstand, the showbread, and the altar of incense twice a day. Beyond that was the Most Holy place, separated off by an ornate, heavy curtain, where only the High Priest could go, and only once a year. The offering boxes were in the court of women to allow for equal opportunity giving. There were thirteen different offering boxes in the Temple, each one designated for a different purpose. The offering boxes were each shaped like a ram’s horn and were specifically designed to make noise when people would drop their coins into the box. Larger contributions, of course, would make louder noises as they were being dropped into the box, and attract more attention. The two small copper coins this widow gave to the Temple were lepta. In Mark’s version of these events, he explains that the coins were equal to the least valuable of the Roman coins. Together they worth about one sixty-fourth of a days pay, maybe around a dollar today. I remember when I was a kid, a dollar was a lot of money. It wouldn’t usually last me long when I had one, but I could get four comic books with a dollar, if I had the change for the sales tax. But as an adult a dollar won’t get you much of anything, let a lone be enough to live on. These two coins were all this widow had to live on, and she gave them to the Temple. The Law of Moses is very clear about taking care of widows. Widows, especially widows without any adult sons to take care of them, were the poorest of the poor in Israel. They had no one to provide for them, and they had no way of earning money or providing food for themselves. That’s why God told the Israelites to take care of them. Exodus 22:22-24 22 You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. 23 If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry, 24 and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless. That’s pretty harsh, and probably why Jesus railed at the scribes just before He commended the widow for her giving. Luke 20:45-47 45 And in the hearing of all the people he said to his disciples, 46 “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love greetings in the marketplaces and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, 47 who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.” These guys loved attention and took advantage of that attention. Everything they did they justified as what the Law required, of course, but their attitude was wrong. Jesus says the scribes “devour widows’ houses.” Maybe this widow He saw giving to the Temple was one of those homeless widows, who was put on the street because of the actions of the scribes. The differences between the scribes and the widow are extreme. The scribes did everything they could to elevate themselves and make themselves known; the widow gave her last dollar to the temple, hoping it would be able to do someone else some good. Macedonians There were several famines in Jerusalem during the 40 years between Jesus’ crucifixion and the when Rome destroyed Jerusalem. Those famines caused life to be hard for the average person in the area, but the poor suffered even more. Not long after one of those famines, Paul and Barnabas went to Jerusalem to meet with the leaders of the congregation there, to get their blessing to continue reaching out to the Gentiles. Galatians 2:9-10 9 and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. 10 Only, they asked us to remember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do. At the end of his third missionary journey, Paul had collected funds for the poor in Jerusalem, and was headed there with representatives from multiple congregations throughout the Gentile world, to distribute those funds. Paul wrote about it to the congregations in Rome. Romans 15:25-27 25 At present, however, I am going to Jerusalem bringing aid to the saints. 26 For Macedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem. 27 For they were pleased to do it, and indeed they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have come to share in their spiritual blessings, they ought also to be of service to them in material blessings. Macedonia and Achaia make up the majority of the current country of Greece. The congregations in Macedonia that we know of are in Philippi, Thessalonica and Berea. The only congregations we know of for sure in Achaia were in Corinth. So, Paul is telling the congregations in Rome that congregations from these four major Greek cities were sending funds to help the poor Christians living in Jerusalem. We also know that the congregations in the Roman Province of Galatia sent money as well, because Paul tells the congregation in Corinth about how they collected the funds in Galatia. 1 Corinthians 16:1-2 1 Now concerning the collection for the saints: as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do. 2 On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come. So, the three provinces that Luke tells us the most about Paul’s ministry in all collected funds to support Christians who were in need, not just in Jerusalem, but presumably locally as well. There were significant economic differences between the provinces of Achaia and Macedonia. The people in Corinth and the rest of the province of Achaia were rather well off. Corinth was a major port city and was well traveled on the primary sea route to Rome from everywhere. Macedonia wasn’t as well off, and was more of an agricultural area, so their financial well-being was determined by the weather. It seems in the years prior to and following Paul’s visit to Macedonia, things didn’t go so well for the people there. Many of the Christians were facing financial hardship. But that didn’t seem to stop them from collecting money for the poor Christians in Jerusalem. Paul wrote to the congregations in Corinth about them. 2 Corinthians 8:1-5 1 We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, 2 for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. 3 For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, 4 begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints— 5 and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us. Paul wasn’t trying to start any kind of donation war here by saying something like “well, those congregations in Macedonia are giving so much more than I expected because they’re so poor themselves, but you in Corinth, well, you’ve fallen behind on your donations. You need to pick it up because you’re going to look bad.” That wasn’t Paul’s intent at all here. He was identifying the heart for giving that the Macedonian congregations had. They understood what it was like to be in need and were willing to give above what was expected in order to help other fellow Christians in need. In chapters eight and nine of Paul’s second letter to Corinth, he uses the Greek word χάρις (charis) ten times. It’s translated differently in a few places. The usual meaning of χάρις is grace, but in the first five verses of 2 Corinthians 8 it is translated not only as grace, but also as joy and favor. In verse nine, Paul uses Jesus as an example for their giving as well. 2 Corinthians 8:9 9 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 by his poverty might become rich. Before He came down to earth, Jesus, as the Son of God and creator of the universe, owned everything. He was and is rich beyond all measure. But He gave all that up to come to earth to be human and be a sacrifice for our sins, so that we could have eternal life with Him and share in all His riches. Of course, Paul said it better than I do. But his point to the Christians in Corinth, and by extension to us, is that because of God’s grace to them, the Christians in Macedonia decided to extend their grace to the Christians in Jerusalem. They begged Paul for the grace of doing just that, being gracious to others, and knowing that there was no way that the grace could be reciprocated, just like God knows that His grace cannot be reciprocated by us. True Religion Remember back in Galatians chapter 2? When Peter, James and John encouraged Paul to continue reaching out to the Gentiles? They asked him to do one thing; remember the poor. Paul kept that promise by bringing donations from the Gentiles to support the poor Christians in Jerusalem. That same James that Paul wrote about, wrote a letter that is sometimes called the Proverbs of the New Testament. James reiterated a lot of Old Testament concepts in New Testament language. James 1:27 27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world. The first half of that looks a lot like Exodus 22:22-24. And that’s what he had asked Paul to help with, when he asked Paul to remember the poor, because the widows and orphans were the poorest of the poor, with no way of supporting themselves, so they were relying on the local congregation to keep them alive. While James had asked Paul directly to remember the poor, Paul wasn’t going to command people to donate to any particular cause. Paul knew that a voluntary response from the Christians in Corinth would produce a more honest outcome. God doesn’t want to force any of us to donate to anything. Just like everything else, He wants us to decide to do things of our own free will. When Paul was explaining the collection for the Christians in Jerusalem, he wrote this: 2 Corinthians 8:8 8 I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine. Paul’s reason for wanting the Christians in Corinth to donate to support the Christians in Jerusalem is simple: as a demonstration of your love. The Greek word translated as love here is ἀγάπη (agapé). Agapé is the selfless, decision kind of love; it’s not that mushy feeling you get when you’re out on a date. A friend of mine completed a new translation of the New Testament back in 1999. It was written at about a sixth-grade reading level, and was translated from English to Arabic as an outreach to the Muslim population in and around Israel. In his translation, he and his team decided not to translate the word agapé as one word, but to explain the meaning of the word, since the word love in English has become such a weak word. So, in his translation, he translated the word agapé as “giving yourself to others, for their good, expecting nothing in return.” It gets cumbersome in some verses, but it is a very powerful explanation of the word agapé. Paul’s desire was for the Christians in Corinth to prove their agape love through their generosity. He already told them how the Christians in Macedonia “gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us.” They demonstrated the depth of their agapé love by giving beyond their means to help the Christians in Jerusalem, knowing that only God would be able to show grace to them as they were being gracious to others. In Luke’s abbreviated version of the Sermon on the Mount, he tells us what Jesus says about helping others. Luke 6:34-36 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. 35 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. 36 Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. “Expecting nothing in return.” That’s the key. The lending or giving won’t be reciprocated. But that’s OK, because they weren’t being obligated by anyone, they did it voluntarily. Have you ever been obligated to do something? I have been, and I wasn’t too happy about it. “But mom, I don’t want to share my things with them, because I know how they treat their things, and I don’t want my things treated that way!” But if we decide on our own to help someone with something, everything goes much smoother. 2 Corinthians 9:7 7 Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. God loves a cheerful giver, because He knows the giver’s attitude is right; his heart is in the right place. Conclusion What’s my point? Generosity is a great thing, but you have to be generous with the right attitude. If you’re being generous just to be noticed, you’re doing it wrong. The scribes that Jesus pointed out at the Temple in Luke 20 were doing things for the wrong reasons, and it was causing problems. In Matthew’s version of the story, in the beginning of Matthew 23, he points out how the scribes don’t practice what they preach. They do things just to get attention, including giving large gifts. I’m not judging the motives of the philanthropists I talked about earlier; that’s not my place. But you need to keep an eye on your own attitude about your generosity. You need to make sure you are giving for the right reason, and not because you think you need to give a particular amount. The widow didn’t give much compared to the others around her, but what she gave was from the heart, and it was all she had. You don’t need to give all you have, but you do need to give what you believe is appropriate. God knows our hearts and our motives. God is generous with His grace, and we have access to His grace when we have faith that Jesus is truly God’s son, that His death was a sacrifice for our sins, that He rose again on the third day, and that He ascended into heaven and is sitting at God’s right hand. If we demonstrate our faith in Him by repenting of our sins and being immersed into His death, we will come up out of the water a new person, washed clean of our sins, and we can begin our new life, and dedicate ourselves to learning how to follow Him for the rest of our lives. Acts 20:35 (Closing) 35 In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”