EUPHORIC EFFECTS OF GENEROSITY

EUPHORIC EFFECTS OF GENEROSITY Proverbs 11:25;  22:9;  2 Corinthians 9:12-15 June 3, 2007 Given by: Pastor Rich Bersett [Index of Past Messages] Introduction Years ago a Sunday school in Philadelphia was overcrowded. One little girl decided she would do something about it. She began to save her pennies to help the Sunday school have more room. Two years later, the girl died of pneumonia. Her parents found her pocketbook with 57 pennies in it. They knew it was her savings to build a bigger Sunday School, because she had made it known what she was doing. The pastor of the church, Russell Conwell, told the congregation about the pocketbook. The people’s hearts were touched. Word got out and all sorts of people, blessed by the girl’s generosity and faith, began to inquire how they could help. The newspaper picked up the story, and eventually it was carried across the country. People began to send in donations. Children had penny drives. A realtor gave the church a piece of land, saying he only wanted one payment – 57 pennies. Today that church and its huge Sunday School of some 3,000 people is still growing in Philadelphia. Temple University got its start through that congregation, as did Good Samaritan Hospital. If you visit that hospital you’ll find posted on a prominent wall the picture of the little girl who started it all with 57 pennies. Generosity always produces positive effects. Those effects are felt in the lives of the beneficiaries of the generosity, but also in the life of the generous person, as well as in the community and the church. Texts Proverbs 11:25 – A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed. Proverbs 22:9 – A generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor. 2 Corinthians 9:12-15 – This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, in sharing with them and with everyone else. And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you because of the surpassing grace God has given you. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift! And since I will be referring to it later, let’s look back at verses 7-11 of that chapter as well. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, no reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace about to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work . . . Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God. I’d like for us to be reminded this morning of some of the euphoric effects of generosity. Consider the wisdom and magnanimity of God who has so arranged his world as to always bless generous people by bringing good to them, and not only to them, but to all those around them every time generosity is carried out. I. Good comes to the generous giver The two passages in Proverbs, as well as other passages in Proverbs and throughout the scriptures, promise blessing and prosperity to the one who is generous. Because of gross mis-handling of the term on the part of some, I want to stop and define the term “prosperity.” The word prosper means to succeed; to thrive or grow in a vigorous way. We must understand that success in the eyes of God is not the same as the worldly standards of success. To thrive according to kingdom perspective is a completely different issue from having 3 different $60K cars in a spacious garage and a half million dollar house. And I am not implying that to have such worldly accoutrements precludes thriving in the kingdom. In the kingdom, growing in a vigorous way does not mean a growing bank account or retirement portfolio. If it did Jesus would have been born in a place like the Taj Mahal instead of a stable, and the apostles would have driven the first century equivalent of Rolls Royces instead of walking everywhere. I’m sure you get my point. If Jesus, the Son of God had no place to rest his head but a rock for a pillow, how dare we equate earthly riches and comfort with spirituality? Especially when the Lord himself said it is very hard for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven! What good things come to the generous giver? First, a unique and incomparable joy belongs to one who helps another in a time of need. It is not a joy that issues from being better than the other or “one up” on them, nor is it a joy that gloats in the virtue or privilege. But it is a happy sense of satisfaction that one has been used to bless another in the name and purposes of God. To use what resources, talent and energy that God has given you by His grace to encourage, inspire, help and bless another person in the confines of God’s will—this is the ultimate satisfaction. The faithful and generous giver also gets more “grace.” Careful, here: grace is used in the guarded sense of having been vested with a gift from God, and having an opportunity to do His will by using that gift. In the case of generosity, the “grace” is actually financial resources, as well as perhaps a special gift (or, grace) of giving. We are also to consider the opportunity to put such gifts to work as a grace from God. God is able to make all grace abound to you . . . the surpassing grace God has given you. Of the Macedonian Christians who demonstrated unusual generosity, Paul said it was “the grace that God had given” them (2 Cor. 8:1). Those who are faithful and generous in applying the gifts and resources God gives them are given more grace – gifts and opportunities to exercise those gifts. That’s what Paul means when he says God will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness and make you rich in every way so you can [go on being] generous. But generous servants are also given a larger harvest of righteousness. 2 Cor. 9:10 says that the generous and faithful servant can expect to generate more righteousness through his efforts than will the stingy disciple who hoards God’s gifts for himself and ignores opportunities to use them in kingdom fashion for the good of others. Speaking of resources and opportunities, look at the promise to the generous servant in 2 Cor. 9:8 – And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. There are marvelous, euphoric effects in the life and ministry of the child of God who is generous. II. Good comes to the recipient when generosity is at work While it may seem rather obvious that the recipient of generosity has good come to him, I’d ask you to look a little closer at the breadth and variety of the good recipients experience when others are generous. When generous Christians act in obedience to God, those in need around them get their needs met. Mark it well, when there is an ongoing, legitimate need within a church family that is not being met, someone is not being obedient to God. And when the gifts and grace of God are not being deployed by those whom God wants to deploy the whole body suffers. MISERY and MISERLY are from the same root word. But when obedient generosity flourishes a whole garden of wonderful things blossom. First, the needs are met. That’s quite obvious. One woman commented, When I joined this church I knew I would never face another problem alone. Paul wrote that the service of generosity that the Corinthians performed supplied the needs of God’s people. I am so thankful for this body of believers. I have watched you, individual by individual, Life Group by Life Group, cell by cell, give generously of your time and energy, your money and your talents and the result is that people’s needs are met. But the recipient is not the only one who gets blessed. The whole church is blessed. I had the privilege of watching a televised recording of the announcement that the Salvation had met their seasonal goal one year—several millions of dollars. All those gathered in that place erupted in joy and celebration when the figure was announced. It was euphoria! It was then I noticed—it wasn’t the recipients of the proceeds dancing and cheering. No, the people who would be receiving the help from that great fund weren’t there yet—they would come later. It was the workers who helped raise the money, who rang the bells in the cold, made the phone calls and visits, and who would later be helping to dispense the help to the needy—they were the ones jumping up and down in excitement! They were experiencing KOINONIA! Just for a moment I wondered to myself—what are they getting out of this? Then I saw the face of one of the workers, tears pouring down her face. Her cheeks looked raw from the cold nights standing by the kettle, and I’m certain the tears burned her red cheeks. Then I knew! She was one of the faithful; one of the hard-working; one of the team; one of the generous. When generosity occurs, blessings flow to everyone around, not only to the recipients, but to those who’ve been involved in the work, whether dollars or donkeywork, change in the kettle or chores in the kitchen, whether beating the drum or digging deep in the wallet, the blessing of that generosity flows to the recipient and the givers. And the church fellowship rejoices, exulting in the joy of ministry well done. Show me a church of generous people, people who’ve been freed from the shackles of serving only themselves, and I’ll show you a unified, committed core of Christians who will work shoulder to shoulder for Christ. When the congregation of the faithful and generous realizes they have indeed been used by God to meet needs in the will of God, to do the works God prepared in advance for them to do, the church is driven to worship God. That’s what happens when you get a bunch of believers to work and strive together on what they know and agree to be the will of God. That’s when the joy of the Lord washes them. That’s when the peace of God fills every heart. That’s when justice rolls down like water, and righteousness like an ever flowing stream. There they are, givers and recipients alike, equally esteemed, equally joyous, equally blessed. Their worship is suddenly enhanced, their motivations to praise the Lord are quickened. They sing a little longer, shout a little louder and by God’s grace, they might even dance a little before the Lord! There is no joy like that of the fellowship among Christians working together in unity and common purpose to the glory of God! Do you know what that sense of unity and satisfaction in the will of God and that kind of worship will do to Christians when it all comes together? It will make them unstoppable witnesses to others in their community and families! We get a little funny and a little excited when all this comes together—we want to tell others about what our God is doing, and you can’t shut us up! Genuine, God-honoring generosity arms the church for testimony. You know what happened in Jerusalem that day in the early AD 30’s when the Christians banded together in prayer for the purposes of God among them. They prayed selflessly not for safety for themselves and Peter and John—no, they prayed for boldness. They were in one accord, they were unified, they were sanctified and they were side by side! And God shook the house, and what happened? Acts 4:31 says they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. And what happened next? More generosity! All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had…there were no needy persons among them…they sold lands and houses, brought the money to the apostles and it was distributed to anyone as he had need. Brothers and sisters, if there is an outbreak of revival there will inevitably be an outbreak of generosity; and when there is an outbreak of generosity, revival’s on the way. Generosity and revival are Siamese twins, joined at the heart! We’ve arrived at the place where this morning at 1:30 I suddenly realized that I probably had a full sermon, but I was only half way through the notes I had ready. I think I’ll quit here, and make this study of generosity a two-part teaching. We’ll pick up there next Sunday. [For the second part click here] There is an old story about a man to whom the Lord said, "Come, and I will show you hell." He was taken to a room where a group of people sat around a huge pot of stew. Each held a spoon that reached the pot, but had a handle so long it couldn't be used to reach his or her mouth. Everyone was famished and desperate; the suffering was terrible. After a while, the Lord said, "Come, now I will show you heaven." They came to another room. To the man's surprise, it seemed identical to the first room - a group of people sat around a huge pot of stew, and each held the same long-handled spoon. But here everyone was nourished and happy, and the room was full of joy and laughter. "I don't understand," said the man, "Everything seems to be the same, yet they are so happy here, and they were so miserable in the other place. What is the difference?" The Lord smiled, "Don't you see? Here they have learned to feed one another."     [Back to Top]