CtW - wk 2 - Bring Your Gifts
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Come To Worship
Come To Worship
Has anyone here ever been to the Grand Canyon? How about somewhere else that took about 14-15 hours to drive to? Every year Amy goes to Wisconsin to see her family and it is about that far. Now imagine making that trip on the back of a camel.
Last week we started a new series called “Come To Worship”. This series is inspired by the wise men who traveled many miles to worship Jesus. We don’t know exactly how far they traveled, but we do know it would have been in the hundreds of miles. The distance would have been similar to us traveling from here to the Grand Canyon. They did this simply to worship Jesus with no expectations from God. Their story is the inspiration for this series and you can find it in chapter 2 of Matthew…
Matthew 2:2 (NLT)
2 “Where is the newborn king of the Jews? We saw his star as it rose, and we have come to worship him.”
In this study we are looking at several postures of worship and we kicked it off by looking at “Lifting Our Hands” in worship. Today we are going to look at the primary posture of the wise men. We are talking about “Bringing Our Gifts”.
Matthew 2:10–11 (NLT)
10 When they saw the star, they were filled with joy! 11 They entered the house and saw the child with his mother, Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasure chests and gave him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
Why is bringing gifts important to God? To understand this I believe we must look at the heart of any gift, Generosity. And to understand generosity and why it is important to God, we have to look at God’s character of generosity. I love the way the Bible Project summarizes God’s generous ideal and describes Him as a generous host:
GOD IS A GENEROUS HOST.
GOD IS A GENEROUS HOST.
The story of the Bible begins with a beautiful portrait of God as a generous host, providing everything needed for his creatures to enjoy his good world. The narrative in Genesis 1 depicts God as the one who orders and energizes a creation that generates an overabundance of value.
God is this generous host who has prepared a place for us to come into his presence and enjoy everything He has prepared for us. In His generosity He offers and makes a way for humanity to enjoy and take part in His plan. All we have to do in return is trust in His generosity and live by His wisdom. This seems to start out pretty good until humanity begins to doubt God’s generosity and live by our own wisdom.
So if God is a generous host, what does that us? Humanity essentially becomes the greedy guest...
HUMANITY IS A GREEDY GUEST.
HUMANITY IS A GREEDY GUEST.
I lazily call the opposite of generosity “selfishness”, and while that is largely true, according to Jesus there is much more going on in our hearts and minds. Tim Mackey calls it a “Scarcity Mindset”. I believe that at the root of selfishness is a scarcity mindset. What is a scarcity mindset?
SCARCITY MINDSET: A fear of not having enough or losing what we have. The biblical portrait of evil begins with an act of desiring and taking what is not rightfully ours to take.
SCARCITY MINDSET: A fear of not having enough or losing what we have. The biblical portrait of evil begins with an act of desiring and taking what is not rightfully ours to take.
As the “greedy guest”, we desire and take what is not ours and that hinders our ability to live the life of generosity that God calls us to live. Instead of GIVING in the way that God calls us to, we TAKE to fill a perceived need in the way that our scarcity mindset calls us to. We can find examples of this happening all throughout scripture.
Think about Cain in Genesis Chapter 4. God intended for humanity to be fruitful and multiply. He put them in the garden of eden to tend to it and watch over it. Preserving and promoting life. Cain's anger and jealousy toward his brother motivates him to TAKE life rather than GIVE. To “take” a life is to act as if it is mine to take, rather than recognizing my role as a human is to “give” life and participate in its flourishing.
Later, in Chapter 6, God’s creation again decides to take what is pleasing to them…
Genesis 6:2 (NLT)
2 The sons of God saw the beautiful women and took any they wanted as their wives.
They saw something they liked and desired, then took what was not rightfully theirs to take. In Chapter 11 the people of Babylon decided to take what they desired:
Genesis 11:4 (NIV)
4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves...”
Instead of imitating the Creator’s generosity, the creation continues to desire what isn’t theirs and take it. This creates a stark contrast between God, the generous Creator who consistently gives what people don’t deserve, and the creation, who is fundamentally corrupted when we possess a scarcity mindset.
GOD’S RESPONSE TO HUMANITY’S CORRUPTION IS MORE GENEROSITY.
GOD’S RESPONSE TO HUMANITY’S CORRUPTION IS MORE GENEROSITY.
God’s response to us is to continue giving until humans begin to give like God. To continue giving until we realize that the Creator is the only one who fills the emptiness and fear that generates the scarcity mindset. This is represented in the story of Abraham in Genesis 12 when God promises to bless him and make his name great. When he arrived in Canaan God promised to give that land to Abraham’s descendants. Because of God’s generosity, something changed with Abraham. In chapter 13 Abraham allows God to “give” him the land while Lot sees something he likes and takes it…
Genesis 13:10–11 (NLT)
10 Lot took a long look at the fertile plains of the Jordan Valley in the direction of Zoar. The whole area was well watered everywhere, like the garden of the Lord or the beautiful land of Egypt. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) 11 Lot chose for himself the whole Jordan Valley to the east of them. He went there with his flocks and servants and parted company with his uncle Abram.
Lot responds in the same old way, with the scarcity mindset. However, instead of trusting his own wisdom and taking what looks good to him, Abraham decides to trust in God’s generosity…
Genesis 13:14–17 (NLT)
14 After Lot had gone, the Lord said to Abram, “Look as far as you can see in every direction—north and south, east and west. 15 I am giving all this land, as far as you can see, to you and your descendants as a permanent possession. 16 And I will give you so many descendants that, like the dust of the earth, they cannot be counted! 17 Go and walk through the land in every direction, for I am giving it to you.”
Abraham’s story stands in contrast with Lot’s story and shows the importance of trusting in God’s generosity. The whole point was to demonstrate the abundance God desired for the whole world. God would provide what they needed. In response, they would need to trust and mirror God’s generosity.
Even with God’s continued generosity, humanity continues to mess things up. The people continue to turn from God’s wisdom and generosity to their own wisdom. History shows that we are clearly incapable of completely trusting God and living according to His wisdom. Humanity continues to struggle with the scarcity mindset. We see something we desire and we take it.
GOD’S REACTION TO HUMANITY’S LACK OF TRUST IS EVEN MORE GENEROSITY.
GOD’S REACTION TO HUMANITY’S LACK OF TRUST IS EVEN MORE GENEROSITY.
God’s consistent and abundant generosity culminates in the greatest act of generosity ever acted upon any single person, yet God did this for EVERY single person. God gives the ultimate gift. Himself. In Jesus, God meets us where we are. He identifies with our suffering and scarcity in order to share His abundance with us. Jesus invites us to follow his example in living a life of generosity toward others. He lives with the conviction that there IS enough and our generous host CAN BE trusted. The story of the entire bible is God’s attempt to restore the blessing of abundance to humanity. This incredible generosity completely shatters the scarcity mindset.
Jesus encouraged the disciples not to worry about their needs. He told them that God provides for the needs of the animals and He loves us more than them, so there is no reason to let our minds be dominated by this fear of not having enough. Our Father finds great joy in being generous. We should break the tether of our possessions and realize where our real treasure is. Listen to the way Jesus addresses the scarcity mindset…
Luke 12:32–34 (NLT)
32 “So don’t be afraid, little flock. For it gives your Father great happiness to give you the Kingdom. 33 “Sell your possessions and give to those in need. This will store up treasure for you in heaven! And the purses of heaven never get old or develop holes. Your treasure will be safe; no thief can steal it and no moth can destroy it. 34 Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.
Jesus wants to change the way we think about generosity. His desire is for us to give like He gave and He is beyond happy to give us the Kingdom. This is such a powerful passage to sit and ponder. Think about how life changing it would be to see your generosity as storing treasures in heaven. To me, Jesus is describing a “Generosity Cycle/Loop”.
God loves to share His Kingdom -> This inspires us to get rid of everything that takes our thoughts off His kingdom -> Then we invest in His Kingdom -> When you are invested in His Kingdom it becomes important to you -> When His Kingdom is important to you you want to share it. -> And God loves sharing His Kingdom...
The wise men come to worship Jesus and they were overjoyed as they brought their best gifts to Jesus. They were willing to travel hundreds of miles to express generosity. Their gifts were a physical representation and a spiritual reflection of God’s generosity. Many people believe that the physical gifts they brought foreshadow and represent the role Jesus would play in God’s plan. That these gifts had deep meaning and great significance by reflecting on the character of Jesus’ life.
Many believe the Gold represented His deity or purity. That He is royalty. The incense represented His priestly role. Myrrh was used for embalming and was a representation of His future sacrifice. Their physical gifts represented God’s physical gift, who Jesus was and what He would be for us. A living sacrifice.
Scripture says the wise men were filled with joy. Their act of joyful giving is a spiritual representation of how God gives to us. He gives us His kingdom with great joy. He always gives first. He always gives His best. I love the way James describes God’s generosity…
17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
In chapter 3, James challenges us to live a life of generosity. To reflect God’s generosity and avoid the scarcity mindset that drives away generosity with fear...
13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.
In other words, show it with your generosity.
16 For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind.
Or when you have a scarcity mindset you will take what looks good to you. You will react to a fear of losing your possessions. You will bend the rules, whiten lies, and hurt others rather than spreading God’s love and generosity.
17 But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and the fruit of good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere. 18 And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness.
If we trust God’s generosity and allow His love to permeate our lives we will ourselves become generous. We will realize that in Christ THERE IS ENOUGH. We can be satisfied and filled with peace in every area of our lives. God’s generosity will flow through all of those areas and spread to those around us. His generosity will grow and reproduce.
As we close this morning, I want to share Denzel Washington’s speech about God’s generosity in his life and how he trusts God’s generosity. He encourages his listeners to realize that no matter what God blesses you with, there is enough. God has something He wants to give you if you will trust Him.
What we will do is pray to close and start the video immediately after, that way we don’t have to worry about copyright online. If you are watching online I will put a link in the description of this video that you can click on to watch this speech.
Let’s pray.
Thank you for your generosity. Thank you for loving us first. We ask for the wisdom to reflect your generosity in our lives and to give of ourselves with great joy.