Generousity
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Good morning Rivertree! It is such a joy to be with you this morning. Whether you are here downtown, watching online or at the cove campus I am so grateful to be in this moment with you.
As we have started the new year our church has set aside the first series of this new year to walk through our core values as a church together.
we’ve entiled this series working out.
and it’s birthed from this verse
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
Work out for God is working in you.
John 15
Remain in me and you will bear fruit
In the christian life there is anticipation of working out our salvaiton, their is this desire for growth and to bear fruit
but something we probably all have in common is this can be really hard to meausre.
so we’ve framed growth in the form of questions as a church to help us identify what a healthy discple of Jesus might look like
Here they are
Are the people around me better because I am in their lives?
Am I resting in the finished work of Christ?
Am I enjoying the nearness of God through the scriptures and prayer?
Was I more generous this year than last year?
When did I last introduce Christ into the conversation?
Where in the world does Jesus want me to go next?
and it’s interesting when we look at these questions they seem very me centered
but II’d offer you this. When we allow God to work in us so our salvation beings to flow out of us we will be the fruit Jesus is talking about in John 15
and maybe something helpful for us to also ask would be this
Who would benefit from you bearing more fruit in your life ?
and allow the Holy Spirit to speak into this.
this morning we are going to zero in on the question
Was I more generous this year than last year?
When we think about generosity we quickly think about money. And we should. How we spend our money and what we spend our money on can reveal a lot about what is going on inside of us. I think it is always an important consideration to examine your financial stewardship.
Luke 18:22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
Luke 19:8 But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”
The contrast is unmistakable.
The gospel opens our soul — and with it, our hands.
if we are not careful we can hear this question in a pretty one dimenesianl way
we can think this question only relates to money.
and I would offer you this. While it’s impossible to talk about generosity without talking about money the question is bigger then this.
if generosuity is only tied to money
some of us might hear this question and start to feel guilt or shame because we feel like we don’t have much or we haven’t given much of our money so we conclude the answer must be no.
and we can be stuck there
others maybe take great pride in how we can give more then others. Or maybe we can just pat ourselves on the back because we did give more finically last year to the church and to people then the year before.
To know whether you are more generous this year than last given isn’t just adding up the money that went out.
The tithe.
I tithe. But what this that 10%, 23% or 30% - Tithing isn’t necessarily a sign of an open soul.
but this is a faulty framework for generosity
It’s important when we come to this question to begin to reframe how we might come to think of our understanding of generosity
my hope for us this morning is we would leave with more certainity, clearity and hope when it comes to being generous.
that our generoustiy would be much more tied to the person and charchter of God, rather then our view of how much we might be able to give.
And as our thoughts become even more clear about just how generous Jesus is our hearts would be stirred to be even more Generous each year and really in each moment.
To help us get there lets read
We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints— and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us. Accordingly, we urged Titus that as he had started, so he should complete among you this act of grace. But as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for you—see that you excel in this act of grace also.
I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine. 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 by his poverty might become rich.
The first thing we see in this text is the genesis of generousity
Paul is letting the corithinan church know the genesis of genrouisty is Gods grace
His example is the grace of giving the macedonian churches had participated in.
The grace this church had offered flow from the grace they had expieerenced form how Jesus had reconciled sinners to himself
in other words the riches of Gods grace had been poured out on them and in turn they poured out what they had on others.
and this woudl be one of the more suprising points of the text
the reality is the macedonians where poor. In fact they had expiereced a depths of poverty and all that comes with us.
and in some ways this is hard to relate to. Yes there are some even listening today you know what this is like. But still others it’s hard to think about poverty to this level
And it seems all they had to offer was thier affliction. They had been crushed by life.
The surronding culture of their day kept squeezing harder and harder on them becasue of their devotion to Christ.
and thier extreem poverty and crushing affliction made life difficult and by our standerds maybe even impossible
Yet in all of this they were genorous.
Paul says this about them.
English Standard Version Chapter 8
for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.
This is amazing. When I first read this passage I almost did a double take and wondered how do you even do this?
This group of church modeled true generostiy finds it’s genesis in God and his grace
It had nothing to do with beign well of but everything to do with being willing
Amazingly they did the begging. It wasn’t paul asking them to be generous. They begged to be part of this.
Why would you beg to give?
because they gave themsleves to God first
Grace is first rooted in our response to God. It’s all so basic: When we know that our lives are not our own, neither will we think that our possessions are our own. It’s easy to surrender part when we’ve already given the whole. There is an implicit lesson here: It won’t do any good to give our possessions to God unless we have given ourselves.
It’s what
Romans 12:1-2 says
and as we give ourselves to God of course we are willing to generously give our time, our talent, our treasure to others.
If all we gave was our treasure but we held back our time and our talents then we wouldn’t really be sharing life together
What if the mission statement of rivertree was this
To help one another know Jesus by sharing the gospel and our money
that wouldn’t be enough
In fact, such “giving” will do us harm. The reasons are apparent.
We will be tempted to imagine that giving of our substance is enough, that somehow this will make God pleased with us. External giving builds religious pride.
but when we think this way we would forfiet things.
because all of a suddent we think generoustiy is tied to abudance of matieral.
Sure we could build more buildings, hire more staff, do more programs, maybe even do more mission work
but that’s not true generoisty
it does come from abudence but not of matieral but of a God who owns everything.
being truly generous is to offer it all to God first and then each other.
Generosity is always “other-centered.” It’s always less about me and more about someone else.
This is what paul is getting at here in 2 corinthians
One major implication: There is no way to grow to spiritual maturity without committing your finances to the Lord.
Jesus can have our money and not have our hearts,
but he cannot have our hearts without our money.
But it goes deeper than money. Jesus says go and figure out what this means... “I desire mercy not sacrifice.” (Matt 9:13, ref to Hosea)
and it’s what Christ did on the cross
Generosity a matter of grace from beginning to end. Christ gave himself for us. We receive his grace, and then we give ourselves to him and to others in his name.
When the New Testament points to how we give, it doesn’t suggest the standard of 10% but the standard of the cross.
2 Corinthians 8:9. 9 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 by his poverty might become rich.
Generosity at some point becomes costly.
It is not until you reach a point in which you are doing without so that someone else must have that you become generous.
Generosity implies overflow. But being generous can become dutiful if it does not carry with it a sacrifice.
It cost Jesus everything why would we think it would cost us less?
Generosity is also seen by being rich to those in need. I don’t think Christian generosity is best displayed by throwing great parties and giving lots of things to other well off Christians. But there is something about Jesus life that made the poor rich, met the needs of those hurting and resourced those without. Jesus gave his life away to the point of death so that sinners would experience and know grace that they could never repay.
Stinginess come from scarcity. That there isn’t enough. What if I run out? So we stockpile. We save for a rainy day. And our fear of what may or may not happen to us causes us to overlook and pass by real and present needs all around us.
Generosity comes from a sense of abundance.
Matthew 6:22-23
22 “The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
“eyes are healthy”
v.31-33 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Don’t worry. Give. We have a God that will take care of you. In God, there is abundance.
and this even means more when you actually are generous with more then just your money. Sometimes that’s risky but sometimes that’s easy right?
but when we give our talent and our time we can wonder will that be enough. Like am I enough. Is it worth the risk. What if people really get to know me?
and the answer of the bible is Yes! This is what was so attracive about the macedionaisn
they were willing to let paul see how hard life was and still give.
I think when we are truly willing to give our treasure, time and talent
we ultimenently give people what they need the most. Jesus.
its through our generousity we point to his generousity
it’s through our given people are reminded of his giving
it’s the our very lives Jesus becomes tanigable to the world.
Ps 50 “Cattle on a thousand hills”
2 Corinthians 9:6-8. The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully[ will also reap bountifully. 7 Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.
All grace, making us all sufficient, at all times, for every good work. God is the ultimate Giver. With our giving, we should not mainly ask about our ability, but we should ask about God’s ability.
God abounds to us so that we may abound.
We give more to give more.
True Generosity is limitless. How can Warren Buffet or Bill Gates or Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos be truly generous? Even if they give billions of dollars away, it’s still only just billions, and they still have billions left to give!
But God’s mercy never stops.
Taking this to the personal level it means
Dane Ortlund: “that the things about you that make you cringe the most, make him hug the hardest.”
He doesn’t meet us halfy way. No Gods very nature is to engage death and bring life.
his generosity is calculating or catious like ours. It is unrestrained, flood-like and aamzing
Illustrate it for you this way
Anna and Water example
The good news for me is the water ran out
The bad news for anna is I am coming for her.
but the great news for us is Gods generosity in mercy never runs out.
Dane Otrland says this: “That God is rich in mercy means that your regions of deepest sahme and regret are not hotels through which divine mercy passes but homes in which divine mercy abides”
Huating shame is not a problem for him but the very thing he loves most to work with
sins do not cause his love to take a hit. OUr sins cause his love to surge foward all the more
It means on that day when we stand before him, quietly, unhurried, we will weep with relief, shocked at how impovershied a view of his mercy-rich heart we had”
This is how Jesus is generous with you. and he really is the beginning and the end of our generosity
He is not just patient and fore bearing and long suffering with you. No. He moves in and goes deep and loves you in the places where you can’t even love yourself
How are you being spent so that others would be blessed?
How are you tired for the sake of someone else in need?
Are you stockpiling resources for just your own family?
when our kids need to see Christ’s generosity so someone else could have.
Prayer -
Fruitfulness of abiding in Christ move us toward are Resting, Delighting, and Giving - These are results of a life that love Jesus and live by the Spirit. Helps us to look back at questions like these to examine your heart not just behavior. Not to start checking the box on these questions to determine if you are a good Christian. What are the things you have done in me and what are the things you want to do in me. knowing that to love Jesus more and become aware of the Spirit of God in you is the way the fruit of righteousness gets expressed.
