Generosity (2)

Upside-Down Living

Jesus lived in a way that is totally foreign to the average human when it came to his view of God, the earth, our role as humans and temporal goods.

He lived with an upside-down view of the world and He shares this view with His disciples, with us, and He wants us to change our view to also become upside-down.

Jesus knows that unless we start living upside-down, we never in reality start living, at least not the “good life”.

Let’s get a taste of His upside-down view of the world:

Luke 12:22–31 BE:NT

22 ‘So let me tell you this,’ he said to the disciples. ‘Don’t be anxious about your life—what you should eat; or about your body—what you should wear. 23 Life is more than food! The body is more than clothing! 24 Think about the ravens: they don’t sow seed, they don’t gather harvests, they don’t have storehouses or barns; and God feeds them. How much more will he feed you! Think of the difference between yourselves and the birds! 25 ‘Which of you by being anxious can add a day to your lifetime? 26 So if you can’t even do a little thing like that, why worry about anything else? 27 Think about the lilies and the way they grow. They don’t work hard, they don’t weave cloth; but, let me tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory was dressed up like one of them. 28 So if that’s how God clothes the grass in the field—here today, into the fire tomorrow—how much more will he clothe you, you little-faith lot! 29 ‘So don’t you go hunting about for what to eat or what to drink, and don’t be anxious. 30 The nations of the world go searching for all that stuff, and your father knows you need it. 31 This is what you should search for: God’s kingdom! Then all the rest will be given you as well.

Luke 12:32–34 NASB95

32 “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom. 33 “Sell your possessions and give to charity; make yourselves money belts which do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near nor moth destroys. 34 “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Was Jesus living out a hippy philosphy?

Is Jesus promoting a careless and carefree lifestyle?

Jesus has a busy life like any other human, and yet could find time to remove Himself from the distractions and observe the birds and the flowers and meditate and see a world that you and I often miss!

The world that Jesus saw was that the Father was a generous host and there He had provided abundant resources for all creation, especially the humans out of a heart overflowing with love. That no matter the circumstance, God was generous and as participate in that generous way of living, all things we need will be provided for.

Just remember that Jesus’ audience were people living under tyrannical rule of the Romans, they were in constant fear, they were losing their lands and posessions because of the high taxes of the time, and yet Jesus comes out with this kind of teaching.

This teaching was to be taught in the midst of even human desperation and fear. Jesus is inviting us to look and participate in the world the same way He did!

Jesus’ upside-down view is steeped in Scripture:

Psalm 104:10–17 NASB95

10 He sends forth springs in the valleys; They flow between the mountains; 11 They give drink to every beast of the field; The wild donkeys quench their thirst. 12 Beside them the birds of the heavens dwell; They lift up their voices among the branches. 13 He waters the mountains from His upper chambers; The earth is satisfied with the fruit of His works. 14 He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, And vegetation for the labor of man, So that he may bring forth food from the earth, 15 And wine which makes man’s heart glad, So that he may make his face glisten with oil, And food which sustains man’s heart. 16 The trees of the Lord drink their fill, The cedars of Lebanon which He planted, 17 Where the birds build their nests, And the stork, whose home is the fir trees.

Psalm 104:24–28 NIV

24 How many are your works, Lord! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. 25 There is the sea, vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond number— living things both large and small. 26 There the ships go to and fro, and Leviathan, which you formed to frolic there. 27 All creatures look to you to give them their food at the proper time. 28 When you give it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are satisfied with good things.

Creation is presented as a safe-place where God is the generous host.

The overabundance seen in nature that provides for all His creatures needs comes from a Creator who shows that same generosity toward us humans, and we realise and believe this, it releases us from a mindset that fears releasing our resources to others.

Jesus lived as if the new Eden, God’s kingdom had already arrived!

Jesus had nothing and yet took the responsibility of His disciples for over 3 years knowing that His Father as the generous host of the earth would provide for their every need.

And not only were their needs satisfied, but Jesus could see abundance where His disciples couldn’t and with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish could believe that He could feed over 5,000 people. He lived as if He was living in Eden with God providing abundant resources for us to receive and to share, and as we share, we receive more to share.

And yet not long after this miraculous event, the disciples still thought like this:

Matthew 16:5–12 NIV

5 When they went across the lake, the disciples forgot to take bread. 6 “Be careful,” Jesus said to them. “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 7 They discussed this among themselves and said, “It is because we didn’t bring any bread.” 8 Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked, “You of little faith, why are you talking among yourselves about having no bread? 9 Do you still not understand? Don’t you remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? 10 Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? 11 How is it you don’t understand that I was not talking to you about bread? But be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 12 Then they understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Self-Preservation or Identity Crisis?

Genesis Narratives

In the Genesis creation accounts of Genesis 1 & 2 are revealed an important fact: That creation is the expression of the generous, creative love of God.

First God brings order out of chaos and blesses humanity (Genesis 1).

Then in the following account, God creates a garden out of wasteland and gives it as a gift to humanity (Genesis 2).

Genesis 1:28 NIV

28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

Genesis 2:15 NIV

15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

Although creation narratives in the Ancient Near East are very similar to that of the Hebrew account, they are also very different. This is one major difference and it has to do with the purpose and identity:

The Story of Atrahasis

The Atrahasis Epic presents multiple tiers to the divine order. Enlil, the chief deity of the land, along with Anu (sky-ruler) and Enki (god of fresh water) are at the top of the hierarchy. The Annunaki, upper class deities, are one level down. Lastly, the Igigi are the lower class deities, who serve the Annunaki in menial labor.

The Igigi become tired of serving the upper tiers, and they stage a massive walkout, grumbling over their labor in the river deltas. They go to Enlil (land deity) and protest. The Annunaki send out negotiators, who arrange that another creature be made to serve the Annunaki: humanity!

The new creatures need to be closer to the gods than animals, so a junior deity (Geshtu) is sacrificially killed, and his blood is mixed with clay to produce the humans. Humans will now serve the Annunaki in place of the Igigi. But there was a catch in their master plan.

The gods are immediately annoyed by the noise, mess, and overpopulation of humanity. There- fore, they send a flood to annihilate them. But Enki goes to warn one of the humans, Atrahasis, who builds a great boat for his family and animals.

This tale is virtual celebration of hierarchy which will penetrate how humans associate with each other.

The rebellion of the lower gods simply serves as an occasion to bring humans onto the scene to occupy the lowest rung on the ladder.

Human’s purpose is to slave as a toiling servant and do the most menial, back-breaking tasks so that the lower gods don’t have to.

This stands in contrast to the biblical portrait where God creates the world for the purpose of humans to co-rule it with Him.

In Genesis God is the generous host who provides food, a home and meaningful work, and humans are His guests in a world of opportunity and abundance.

Humans purpose is to keep the party going and to continue to spread His goodness.

But the world we live in is not like that? We live in a world marked by scarcity and struggle instead of abundance. What went wrong?

Scarcity Mindset

Scarcity mentality refers to people seeing life as a finite pie, so that if one person takes a big piece, that leaves less for everyone else.

Genesis 3:1 NIV

1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

The serpant undermines God’s generosity.

Genesis 3:4–5 BE:NT

4 The snake said to the woman, ‘You won’t die at all. 5 Rather, God knows that on the day you eat of it, your eyes will open and you’ll become like gods, knowing good and bad.’

The serpant portrays God as holding out on humanity, witholding knowledge and good things, a good life.

Genesis 3:6 Tanakh

6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for eating and a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable as a source of wisdom, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave some to her husband, and he ate.

We live with a mindset that has been instilled into us from the fall that:

Distrusts Yahweh as a God who is generous and good enough to supply my every need.

And will get what I desire because I believe that there is not enough for everyone. There’s not enough possessions, positons, money, time, expertise, etc.

This mindset leads to greed, arrogance, self-preservation and ultimately to anxiety and disatisfaction.

It’s ruined humanity and even the church both in Old and New Testaments:

Ezekiel 16:49–50 NIV

49 “ ‘Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. 50 They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen.

Instead of participating in God’s generosity to share it, they believed that it was theirs by right, or provided for by their own hands and failed to be generous with God’s blessings, and eventually it was taken away from them because life is not sustainable when lived like this!

Read Hosea 2:5-22

Other verses Pro 23:4; Pro

A New Way to Live

How does God fix this situation with humans? He gives more.

By giving God is seeking to soften the human heart to respond in repentance. (Rom. 2:4)

Matthew 5:43–48 BE:NT

43 ‘You heard that it was said, “Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.” 44 But I tell you: love your enemies! Pray for people who persecute you! 45 That way, you’ll be children of your father in heaven! After all, he makes his sun rise on bad and good alike, and sends rain both on the upright and on the unjust. 46 Look at it like this: if you love those who love you, do you expect a special reward? Even tax-collectors do that, don’t they? 47 And if you only greet your own family, what’s so special about that? Even Gentiles do that, don’t they? 48 Well then: you must be perfect, just as your heavenly father is perfect.’

God in Jesus exemplified this as they provided gifts to humanity and yet they spurned it took it selfishly for themselves.

He then gifts Israel with abundance with the purpose of sharing it with the other nations, but they claim it is theirs by right and it was theirs by their own doing and from their gods.

So God gives Himself as the ultimate gift of life and abundance because it is through Him that we are given the kingdom and through Him we are given the hearts and abundant mindset to live in that kingdom!

2 Corinthians 9:6–15 BE:NT

6 This is what I mean: someone who sows sparingly will reap sparingly as well. Someone who sows generously will reap generously. 7 Everyone should do as they have determined in their heart, not in a gloomy spirit or simply because they have to, since ‘God loves a cheerful giver’. 8 And God is well able to lavish all his grace upon you, so that in every matter and in every way you will have enough of everything, and may be lavish in all your own good works, 9 just as the Bible says: They spread their favours wide, they gave to the poor, their righteousness endures for ever. 10 The one who supplies ‘seed to be sown and bread to eat’ will supply and increase your seed, and multiply the yield of your righteousness. 11 You will be enriched in every way in all single-hearted goodness, which is working through us to produce thanksgiving to God. 12 The service of this ministry will not only supply what God’s people so badly need, but it will also overflow with many thanksgivings to God. 13 Through meeting the test of this service you will glorify God in two ways: first, because your confession of faith in the Messiah’s gospel has brought you into proper order, and second, because you have entered into genuine and sincere partnership with them and with everyone. 14 What’s more, they will then pray for you and long for you because of the surpassing grace God has given to you. 15 Thanks be to God for his gift, the gift we can never fully describe!

Psalm 112 BE:NT

1 Praise Yah!— the blessings of the person who lives in awe of Yahweh, who delights much in his orders! 2 His offspring will become a strong man in the country; the generation of the upright will be blessed. 3 Riches and wealth are in his house, and his faithfulness stands permanently. 4 He rises in the darkness as light for the upright, gracious, compassionate and faithful. 5 Good is the person who is gracious and lends, as he fulfils his words with the proper exercise of authority. 6 Because he will not slip, ever; the faithful person will become an object of commemoration permanently. 7 He is not afraid of bad news; his mind is established, reliant on Yahweh. 8 His mind is held firm so that he is not afraid, until he looks on his adversaries. 9 He spreads abroad as he gives to the needy; his faithfulness stands permanently. His horn will stand high in splendour; 10 the faithless person will see and be vexed. He will grind his teeth and waste away; the longing of faithless people will perish.

Pro 28:27 Those who give will never lack.