Generosity Message 10/24/21

SCRIPTURE:

God recently reminded me of the story of the rich young ruler in Mark chapter 10 ; He ends up asking Jesus what he must do to receive eternal life. Jesus begins telling him the commandments and gives a response.

Mark 10:20–22 ESV

And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

We see in this story of a man genuinely interested in following Jesus but because of his riches and possessions he had difficultly letting go and surrendering it all to Jesus in that moment.

But when we think about our finances and our possessions and we look at how God has shown the importance of biblical generosity, we quickly understand that nothing is really is ours in the first place. It ALL belongs to God.

So when we look at the opportunity we have this morning to be generous..

We aren’t paying for something we are actually returning something. We are giving back to God what’s His because he owes it all.

STORY:

Sometimes when I hangout with friends that are parents, they will teach their kids how to share. And what they tend to do is grab a toy off the shelf, they will give it to their kid and after their kid has played with it for awhile they will ask if they can play with it. Most of the time I can see their kid trying to decide if they are going to give it back or not.

The toy was first given by the parent but then the child has an opportunity to know what it’s like to be generous. And its through returning the toy that the lesson is learned. What’s interesting is that the parent will eventually give it back to the kid after they have returned it.

Isn’t that the same with our Heavenly Father?

Its all given from Him, we take the opportunity to return whats given and our Heavenly Father extends a blessing. It’s not the motivation it’s a promise in His word.

Proverbs 22:9 NRSV

Those who are generous are blessed, for they share their bread with the poor.