The Bridge Our Mission: Part 5

The Mission

At the Bridge we are Bold for Christ. We do life together and create REAL relationships. We act with INTEGRITY always. We are completely DEVOTED to God. We give in many ways through GENEROUS living. We are ENTHUSIASTIC to connect to you!

Bold

Real

Integrity

Devoted

Generous

Enthusiastic

Generous

This morning I want to share with you something that I find very interesting. It is one of the greatest challenges I think that the church is wrestling with on a regular basis.

There is a disconnect between the Pastor and the lay person.

One of the great challenges that I and other Pastors face is we are tasked with digging into the word of God reading it, seeking The guidance of the Holy Spirit, Interpreting, and the sharing of the word of God with those around us. This is our job, responsibility, our calling. I am not lamenting that this is my responsibility.

Yet, often a pastor will walk out of a Sunday morning and say wow that was a powerful message and they will engage there parishioners and they find out that something totally different may have been heard. Now this isn’t always a bad thing sometimes it is good because it shapes and helps us see where different people are at in their lives. The beauty of the Spirit is that everyone can hear things and be guided in different ways.

However, There are times that Pastors have a point that must be delivered and we must be clear and concise because they are valuable principals in our faith. This is where the disconnect is growing. Many Pastors are afraid to be very direct because it can lead to confrontation, hurt feelings, and or even threats to a Pastor.

What does this have to do with Generosity?

I brought this issue up because Generosity is one of those fundamental ideas that we have a possible disconnect between Pastors and lay people. A study done by Barna research in 2017 showed some interesting results to our understanding of Generosity.

Insert Research Graphic

When asked the questioned about the what Generosity always is here are the results.

A Response to Christ’s love

An Attitude

A Discipline

Sacrificial

Driven by compassion

Planned

Driven by duty

Spur of the moment

There are some large variations on this list that raise some concerns for me. This is where as a pastor I believe it is my duty and responsibility to be direct and to the point. Yes, this might rub some people the wrong way. Yes, it may cause backlash but I would be doing both my calling, and you a disservice if i did not make clear what the biblical response to the idea of Generosity is. Before we get to that I get to those specifics I want to look at a story from the Bible that will help us to understand Generosity.

Mark 12:41–44 NIV

Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”

What a simple story. What a powerful story.

Generosity is an Attitude

Here we have a story that is very interesting when it comes to understanding our generosity. Here is Jesus and his disciples witnessing the giving of the rich men and the poor widow.

Now with further study we can determine that Jesus knew the amount the women gave because this is directed by the priests who are recording and directing the act of worship that is giving. They would announce the amount so that it could be recorded this would make it audible for the bystanders. This also can help us see how we can see the motivation of the wealthy to give large sums because people would naturally look up and take notice when a large sum was deposited.

Yet, I believe we also are seeing one of those moments where Jesus’ divinity is shinning through. His ability to know and understand at the core who people are and their intentions. Jesus was able to evaluate and express the situation to help his disciples see that the attitude of the Women was different from those who were wealthy.

A major element of Jesus’ teaching is that attitude is more important than action. The widow’s total giving demonstrates an attitude of absolute trust in God.

James Brooks

This is also a consistent thought process when it comes to our faith. It takes a similar focus. It doesn’t remove us from action but it reminds us that we must be in constant thought of our reasons for our actions. Our attitude needs to be absolute trust in God. That our Generosity is formed out of our love and appreciation for God. That we trust that he cares for us.

When this becomes our focus that we ingrain Generosity as a part of our general attitude in life it allows us to be transformed.

Generosity is a Discipline

Because Generosity is an attitude it is also a discipline. It is not something that we should allow to be only dictated by emotional response. One of the biggest differences we can see from the research i shared earlier is that many lay people see Generosity connected to feeling. This is not an incorrect approach it just isn’t the way we should approach things at all times.

There will be times when we are faced with a situation that our emotions will allow us to be generous and we will be sparked to give because we are in a specific situation. However, if we only wait for an emotional response we now run into the challenge of what is our attitude.

Are we giving because we want to feel good or because we are called to?

The women was giving her regular offering to the temple. This was a part of her worship of God. She truly gave till it hurt because the amount was significant for her. This is where sometimes the church is failing.

I want to share with you an example of this that doesn’t come from the church but parallels really well. A few months ago during the primaries one of the political candidates shared a story about how a women shared with her that she gave her last 20 dollars to help fun the campaign. While I applaud the women who gave for standing up for her principals and supporting the candidate she wanted my heart wrenched for the response of the Candidate. The money was accepted and no effort to return back or care for the women who just said I have nothing left. This tore my heart because though I was frustrated by the politician it made me think of the church.

The church has resources and it should be actively using those resources to reach the lost and help the hurting. I don’t ever want to be a part of a local church ho would accept the money of someone who is hurting and not be actively trying to help them or others.

I should be clear i don’t want to deny that person the privilege and right to give as they see fit. However, the moment the priest saw the women drop the two coins into the offering he should be calling for and addressing the need to help this women as soon as possible. It might be food, emotional support, financial help the list goes on and on. We must never as a church succumb to the temptation of outward wealth.

This is why Generosity must be a discipline. A discipline becomes a routine part of who we are it is something we commit to and pursue on a regular basis.

Generosity is a Response to Christ’s Love

At the end of the day we need to remember that Generosity is born out of our attitude and our discipline that is formed because it is a response to the love of Christ. Jesus gave us so much when he came to die on the cross for our sins.

2 Corinthians 8:9 NIV

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.

We must always remember that Jesus gave us everything when he came to die on the cross. His sacrifice is substantial. It is in this Generosity we connect back and remember that we must always remember the cost of what he did. This Generosity is a constant reminder for us and is something that in turn forces us to live out on a daily basis.

This is where we must also remember that Generosity expands beyond monetary value as well. There are other ways that we can be generous in our lives. We can be generous with our time. We can be active in participating in opportunities to care for people. We can be Generous in the way we engage others. WEw can be kind, caring , loving, warm, and gentle. That in many ways is why we have passages like.

Galatians 5:22 NIV

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

The indwelling of the Spirit brings these things out. They are to be the fruits of our lives and we are to be giving out these fruits generously. It is in this that we show the love of Christ. It is in this that we reflect the grace and freedom that was given to us on the cross.

Here at the Bridge like with the other areas we have already covered we by no means are perfect. We at times will fall short. We recognize that others may not always be the perfect person. Yet, we are hear and we desire to be better. We long to improve and work on who we are as a church and as individuals. It is in this Generosity that we extend grace and love to others just as Christ did for us.

Let us pray.