GENEROSITY: THAT VITAL VIRTUE

GENEROSITY: THAT VITAL VIRTUE 1 Timothy 6:17-19 November 13, 2011 Given by: Pastor Rich Bersett [Index of Past Messages] Introduction A mother was preparing pancakes for her sons, Keven, 5, and Ryan, 3. The boys began to argue over who would ge the first pancake. Their mother saw the opportunity for a moral lesson. “If Jesus were sitting here, He would say, ‘Let my brother have the first pancake. I can wait.’” Kevin turned to his younger brother and said, “Okay. Ryan, you be Jesus.” In last week’s message I made the assertion that the antidote to greed is generosity. This morning I’ve come back to substantiate that claim, and I want to do so with one more look at 1 Timothy 6, especially verses 17-19. Let’s ramp up to those verses by reviewing verses 6-10 of that chapter. 1 Timothy 6:6-10 – But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. 1 Timothy 6:17-19 – Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life. Uniquely Christian Virtue Christianity transformed the indulgent and gluttonous culture of the Roman world. How did they manage to sweep away the immorality and religious superstitions of that mighty empire within a century’s time? Very simply, no one could explain away the beauty and virtue of the Christians’ lives. They gave their resources in such generous ways, with a gladness of heart that the dumb-founded culture around them could not understand. They practiced radical generosity even while most of them were among the poorest of all. The Roman Emperor Julian wrote: “Their success lies in their charity to strangers… The impious Galileans (i.e.Christians) support both their own poor and ours as well!” The world was astonished by Christians’ unmaterialistic lifestyle and profound generosity with everything that they owned. Where did that sudden burst of generosity come from in the lives of these people who had recently become Christians? Generosity is a “derived” virtue We only know what generosity is because we know what God is like. He is generous. He gives, He shares, He blesses, and He does it all with extravagant generosity. I am reminded of two verses in this theme: John 3:16 – God loved the world so much that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in him might not perish but have eternal life. And there is also that awesome text in Ephesians 1 where we believers are reminded that God has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. That was verse 3; then, in verses 7-8: In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. Paul once asked the Corinthians to give generously to help the famine victims in Jerusalem. I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love… 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. (2 Corinthians 8:8-9) One chapter later, he says that Christian giving must never be motivated reluctantly or done under compulsion, but “cheerfully.” By radical giving Christians prove themselves to be genuine children of God. (2 Corinthians 9:6-7, 13) When we are generous we look like our Father. Author Tim Keller said it this way: “If we do not give away our money in remarkable proportions, we either do not understand or don’t remember Christ’s generosity in saving us.” A little more blunt, now: You will always give effortlessly to your god, to those things that give your life meaning. If Jesus is the One who saved you, your money flows out easily into His work, His people, His causes. If, however, your real religion is your appearance, your social status, or your pleasure—that is, if your real god is you, yourself—your money flows most easily into your appearance, status & pleasure. Generosity is a “communal” virtue It is interesting that when God urges His people to give, it is always in one of two ways: to help the poor around us when the needs arise, and to give regularly, sacrificially and cheerfully into the household of the community of believers. OT saints brought their tithes and offerings to the temple or the synagogue, and NT believers bring theirs to the assembly of the Christians for the maintenance of that center of ministry we call the church and from there the distribution to ministries that serve people. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. (Acts 2:45) They did not consider that any of their possessions were their own. (Acts 4:32) There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need. (Acts 4:34-35) Their generosity had an immense impact on the culture: They enjoyed the favor of all the people. And the Lord added daily to their number. (Acts 2:47) It was always God’s way that His ministry enterprise on earth would be funded through the generous giving of His people. But it wasn’t just to keep the building maintained and the ministers fed. There is another purpose behind God’s calling His people to respond to His grace through generosity. It is good for us. In Jeremiah 29:11, God tips His hand about what He wants most of all for us: “I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” He wants us to be fulfilled and satisfied with the way we spend our lives. He wants us to invest wisely in our eternal destiny. He wants our best. So, He tells us to give and He tells us to give generously like He does. Antidote to Greed Greed and generosity are opposites Greed thrives on selfishness and leads, not to the satisfaction it promises, but only to emptiness, loneliness and sorrow. Godly generosity, though, produces joy and happiness in the giver, precisely because the giver has given away that which would have ensnared him. He is grateful for the fact that he has and contributed, that others are helped in the process and that he is no longer the slave of his possessions, but master of them. These two are as opposite as they can be. One loves money, the other loves God Jesus taught you will either love one and hate the other, or you will hate the one and love the other. But the two will not mix. You cannot love both God and material things. This is the same dichotomy we see developing in this passage—not between rich and poor, but between greed & selfishness and grace and generosity. Paul told Timothy to teach the rich to NOT put their hope in wealth, but to put their hope in God. The choice has to be made, because you can’t put your hope in both. I wrote in my devotional blog this week about Emma and Taylor Bailey. At least one of them will die before the year is over. They were born as conjoint twins, joined at the chest and sharing a single heart. They’ve grown now to the age of four and two of them can no longer live with only one heart. A surgery is scheduled to separate them and the statistics are grim. Never have either of conjoined twins sharing a heart survived after surgery to separate them. It is the hope and the prayer of the doctors and the family that one of them will survive In a similar way, Jesus makes it clear that our heart must go one way or the other, but we cannot be devoted to both God and materialism. Like heat and cold, one will displace the other Just leave your front door open some January night and you will witness firsthand the phenomenon of convective heat transfer. The same is true if you leave your heart open to greedy self-centeredness. Paul said earlier that those who carelessly do so en up in temptations and traps, harmful desires, ruin and destruction. So powerful is materialism that is can even lead you to shipwreck your faith. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. I’ll say it again—if you are a greedy person and you want to break free of that selfish prison, the quickest way is to be generous. Generosity heals selfishness by taking the very thing it lusts after and making it a tool of righteousness. The riches are gone, invested in a heavenly bank, so the source of greed’s pride is gone. And the soul is set free from . . . itself! If you take away the cold, the warmth remains. Generosity is a uniquely Christian virtue; it is God’s antidote to greed and His path to a fulfilling and satisfying life, and . . . Generosity is the Arduous Calling of the Rich What Paul stresses here is that Timothy the pastor of the thriving Ephesian Church must urge those in his church who are rich to be rich in good deeds, generous and willing to share. Because that is true riches. Now, it is plain that this is the very kind of thing that is hard for the rich. The fact is, we are all prone to greed. Having a sin nature makes us selfish by default. But the more we have, the greater the temptation to keep it and to multiply it for ourselves. “Having” is addictive, and the more you have the more you want. This is the reason Paul wants Timothy to stress this command to be generous especially as he teaches the rich people within his circle of influence. Not so that the church offerings would increase – NO! Not so that poor people could get more of the money from the rich and there would be equalization through redistribution – NO! Paul said urge them to be rich in good deeds and to be generous and willing to share so that they would be spared the misery of miserliness, so that they would avoid the anguish of the prisons of selfishness, so that they would experience the ecstasy of giving. Jesus said, It is more blessed to give than to receive. And he wants the rich to be more blessed and less addicted. It is God’s will that rich folks be protected and kept from the dangers of greed. Look again at verse 17 and see the 2 things he is trying to protect them from: arrogance and a bad investment. Arrogance is the snootiness that comes from having more than others. It is the natural effect of a proud sense of “better-than-you” attitude. I’ve watched this in the lives of people I know who by hard work or good fortune end up rich. They don’t look at people the way they used to. They look down on those less endowed & they admire in unhealthy ways to those who are rich. God would spare them that ugliness. Thus they are urged to do something with their riches that is far better than hoarding it and loving it idolatrously—give it away! Who knows but that’s the reason God allowed them to become rich in the first place, that they would be generous in meeting the needs of others. There is a spiritual gift of giving, you know. Now, if God called someone to give inordinately large proportions of money, don’t you think He will also provide for him to have those kinds of resources?   Over in 2 Corinthians 9 we are told that God enlarges the supply of our seed for one reason: that that seed might be sown and produce a harvest. 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. Back to my point, God would much rather rich people would get their kicks giving generously than being arrogant, miserly miserable and alone. The other danger the Lord would spare the rich from is the foolishness of putting their hope in their riches. Not a dime of their bank account is going to go with them into eternity. So why invest so much time in amassing material wealth, storing it up and being a tightwad?   You like making investments so much—here’s the greatest investment going: use your wealth to honor God, because He is the Fed Chairman of your eternal destiny. He’s the CEO of heaven; and he says He has something far more valuable and durable than coins and currency, twenties and fifties, stocks and bonds, treasury certificates and gift annuities. They are called good works. Only the committed and the generous do them. The older I get the less important this world gets and the more important our obedience to God gets. Take a word of counsel from 60-year old saint: invest in good works, give away all you can give away, be generous. You will never regret it—not even for eternity. John heard a voice from heaven say, “Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.”(Rev. 14:12-13) Generosity is a Challenge to us All Strive not for riches, strive to be content in the Lord; don’t crave. Generous giving ought to be our top priority. But I’m not rich! Yes you are—by the world’s standard you are very, very rich. Besides, the call to generous giving is for all, rich and poor. Lastly—and this is the graduate school level, maybe even PhD.— but I want to urge you to ask the hard questions. For example: •  What do I really need to live on? How much can I give away? Maybe I should establish a frugal base line of what I need, then just give away all the rest the Lord gives me!? • When is the last time a donation I made was a “sacrifice”? •  When I think in terms of judgment and heaven, does my generosity honor the Lord or embarrass me? •  When will I put God above material things, get truly generous, and finally find godly contentment?         [ Back to Top]