Rare Breed: Generous
Notes
Transcript
Rare Breed: Generous
INTRODUCTION
ILL- Bobby, 2 year old dog, family pet- family traveling 2500 away from home in 1923 lost their family dog at one of their stops. After searching frantically for him for a few days they returned home without the dog. 6 months later Bobby appeared on their door, starving and exhausted.
Pets become part of the family. Amazing the amount of money people will spend to keep a dog alive.
The greatest treasure ever uncovered- Josiah, King of Judah, authorized the cleansing of the Temple. Ordered the return of the Ark of the Covenant into the Temple. They found the Law. The treasure was not the Ark, but the Word of God.
Luke 12:34
34 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Heart problem is revealed in how wealth is used.
Christians should be distinguished by our Generosity.
James 5:1-6
1 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you.
2 Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten.
3 Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days.
4 Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, are crying out against you, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.
5 You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.
6 You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.
Pray
Generosity on Trail
5 Parts of the Trial
The Purpose (1)
The Purpose (1)
James 5:1
1 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you.
The goal of the trial is for there to be repentance.
“Come now”= shows confrontation- prophetic in nature.
The trial is starting.
ILL- Call for repentance = Jonah in Nineveh
The Charge (2a)
The Charge (2a)
James 5:2
2 Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten.
Greed
“riches have rotted”- stored and not used.
ILL- James, a man from whales, accidently threw out his hard drive in 2013 with 7500 bitcoin on it. Today’s total is around $1 billion. It’s hidden in a Wales dump under seven years worth of trash. It’s certainly destroyed and gone forever.
The Evidence (2b, 3, 5)
The Evidence (2b, 3, 5)
3 Evidences of Corruption
Clothes (2b)
Clothes (2b)
James 5:2
2 Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten.
“garments moth eaten”- they were not used for their design purpose. Not worn out. They were in storage as surplus and wasted away.
Some do not have basic clothing yet they had more than they could use.
Opposite of what we see..
Matthew 6:19-21
19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,
20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.
21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Wealth (3)
Wealth (3)
James 5:3
3 Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure in the last days.
Corroded= proof the gold and silver were not pure.
Symbolic of the impure motives that obtained their wealth.
Obtained by sin and kept for self.
“Heaped”= hoarded for self.
Luke 12:16-21
16 And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully,
17 and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’
18 And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.
19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” ’
20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’
21 So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”
What are we to do with our wealth.
Not for self. It is for God
Not so we can idle and lazy.
Put your treasures to work for God’s glory, not your own.
1 Corinthians 3:12-15
12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—
13 each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.
14 If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward.
15 If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.
Life (5)
Life (5)
James 5:5
5 You have lived on the earth in luxury and in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.
Self indulgence.
“Wanton pleasure”- live for personal pleasure.
ILL- Cow before slaughter.
Living the dream life.
No hunger, no sickness, no insect issues.
ILL- Hansel and Gretel
Candy house- couldn’t leave.
Self Indulgence leads to death.
The Witness’ Accusation (4)
The Witness’ Accusation (4)
Laborers
Don’t pay what they owe.
Not fair to those who work for them.
Employees
Waitresses
Those we owe money to.
How we treat others matters.
“love neighbor as yourself.”
Money does not make one superior to another.
This was against society in those days.
The Response (6)
The Response (6)
James 5:6
6 You have condemned and murdered the righteous person. He does not resist you.
Verse 1= appropriate response= repentance
Actual Response
Acted as if they are god.
Condemned and murdered the righteous.
They were aggressive with those who lived in humility.
CONCLUSION
Older kids love to act like the boss to younger kids.
Just because they are bossy doesn’t make them the boss.
Just because we act like we are superior doesn’t make us superior.
Money does not make us superior.
Race does not make us superior.
Education does not make us superior.
Position does not make us superior.
Proper response from those who act superior to others= repentance = admit wrong and stop. Surrender to God’s way.
He humbled himself
Philippians 2:5-8
5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,
6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Are you living a generous life?
