Lifegiving Generosity

Proverbs 11:25 NIV

A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.

The subject of generosity can be really uncomfortable for some people. They think if they dip their toe in the waters of generosity, they will get sucked in and drown.

The Bible has much to say about generosity — pointing out that it is one of the marks of spiritual maturity

It’s one thing to say you believe God to meet all your needs — it is another to actually put yourself in a scenario that actually demonstrates that truth.

Lifegiving is an opportunity - it is not an obligation. People that have learned the blessing of generosity are actually thrilled to be able to further God’s kingdom

If you had 10,000 to give away, who would you give it to and why?

Can you think of a time someone was generous to you? How did it make you feel? How did you react?

Lifegiving generosity requires a “not mine” mind-set. When we see ourselves as stewards, rather than owners, we realize that even our ability to earn money, buy things, and accumulate wealth are themselves blessings from God — Influence

VIDEO

Based on the teaching for this session, what would you say are keys to maintaining an attitude of generosity?

How did you feel about Peter’s Haas and his wife deciding to give away their nest egg?

Generosity is not only about giving money. What is the easiest for you to be generous? What is the main difficulty you might have with being generous?

How can we, as followers of Jesus, know the difference between giving what is possible, giving until it hurts, or giving until its gone?

LEARNING TOGETHER

Jesus had a lot to say about money - His teaching on the subject will help us to grow in the area of generosity, IF we live accordingly

Matthew 6:19–24 ESV

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

What is the fatal flaw of earthly treasure?

What is the meaning of storing up treasures in heaven and how would you go about it in your life?

The Message of the Sermon on the Mount 1. A Question of Treasure (19–21)

First, there is no ban on possessions in themselves; Scripture nowhere forbids private property. Secondly, ‘saving for a rainy day’ is not forbidden to Christians, or for that matter a life assurance policy which is only a kind of saving by self-imposed compulsion. On the contrary, Scripture praises the ant for storing in the summer the food it will need in the winter, and declares that the believer who makes no provision for his family is worse than an unbeliever. Thirdly, we are not to despise, but rather to enjoy, the good things which our Creator has given us richly to enjoy.2 So neither having possessions, nor making provision for the future, nor enjoying the gifts of a good Creator are included in the ban on earthly treasure-storage.

What then? What Jesus forbids his followers is the selfish accumulation of goods (NB ‘Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth’); extravagant and luxurious living; the hardheartedness which does not feel the colossal need of the world’s under-privileged people; the foolish fantasy that a person’s life consists in the abundance of his possessions; and the materialism which tethers our hearts to the earth.

How is the eye the lamp of the body? Metaphor

The Message of the Sermon on the Mount 2. A Question of Vision (22, 23)

The argument seems to go like this: just as our eye affects our whole body, so our ambition (where we fix our eyes and heart) affects our whole life. Just as a seeing eye gives light to the body, so a noble and singleminded ambition to serve God and man adds meaning to life and throws light on everything we do. Again, just as blindness leads to darkness, so an ignoble and selfish ambition (e.g. to lay up treasure for ourselves on earth) plunges us into moral darkness. It makes us intolerant, inhuman, ruthless and deprives life of all ultimate significance.

It is all a question of vision. If we have physical vision, we can see what we are doing and where we are going. So too if we have spiritual vision, if our spiritual perspective is correctly adjusted, then our life is filled with purpose and drive. But if our vision becomes clouded by the false gods of materialism, and we lose our sense of values, then our whole life is in darkness and we cannot see where we are going

John 3:16–18 NIV

For 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. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

1 John 3:16–18 NIV

This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.

What does this passage () tell us should be our motivation for giving?

SHARING TOGETHER

If someone asked you to describe “lifegiving” generosity, what would you say?

What should be our motivation to be generous? What should NOT be our motivation to be generous?

How can we develop a more generous spirit?

With our material possessions

With our time

In relationship to other people

Devotions until we meet again:

Read the following passage and search your own heart about generosity

Matthew 10:8 NIV

Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.

Read the following passage and search your own heart about generosity

Hebrews 12:1–2 NIV

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Heb 12:1-2

Proverbs 6:1–5 NIV

My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, if you have shaken hands in pledge for a stranger, you have been trapped by what you said, ensnared by the words of your mouth. So do this, my son, to free yourself, since you have fallen into your neighbor’s hands: Go—to the point of exhaustion— and give your neighbor no rest! Allow no sleep to your eyes, no slumber to your eyelids. Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler.

2 Corinthians 9:7–9 NIV

Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. As it is written: “They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor; their righteousness endures forever.”

Proverbs 11:25 NIV

A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.