Title: A Generous Spirit
Date: 2009-02-22
Reference: I Tim. 6: 17-20
Since the beginning of the New Year I have been preaching on The Exchanged Life. How life is different and better, more fulfilling when we are living in relationship with Jesus Christ. Over these last few weeks we’ve examined various aspects of the Exchanged Life such as: happiness, commitment, servant hood, individual contribution, witness, and compassion. A very large part of this exchanged or redeemed life is a generous, giving spirit.
We are The Body of Christ in this world. Jesus ministers in and through our efforts. We desire to see more and more people become devoted followers of Jesus Christ. The vision of Christ is to make a difference in the lives of those around us, through us. Our immediate motivation is to be a generous example to our children. They learn to give by watching us. An eternal motivation is the desire each of us has to one day hear God say: “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Nothing pleases God more than an open heart and an open hand. A generous giver is prompted to share his/her time, talents, efforts, service, prayers, and treasure by seeing a need and being touched by it. We should never give anything because we feel pressured into giving. The Bible says giving is a matter of Grace not Compulsion.
Some time back a television commercial for Lincoln Navigator featured a well know NBA superstar. (Dwyane Wade) He said: “My dream is to leave the world a better place than I found it.” It was refreshing and encouraging to see a person of that stature say that life is about more than gaining fame, money, and stature.
We cannot help but applaud persons, in all walks of life, who want to make a real difference in the lives of others by sharing from a generous spirit.
As long as we live we have the opportunity to invest in the lives of those around us. An old barn yard parable has a pig lamenting to a cow about how unpopular he was. The pig said: “People are always talking about your gentleness and kind eyes. Sure you give milk and cream, but I give much more. I give bacon, and ham. They even pickle my feet and ears. Still no one likes me. Why, why is this?” The cow replied: “Well maybe it’s because I give while I’m still living.” As an old preacher used to say: “Do your giving while your living. Then you’re knowing where it’s going.”
We can all do something. Alexandra Scott founded a charitable organization that has raised millions of dollars for pediatric cancer research. She began with a generous heart and a simple idea. The movement she started has spread to all fifty states and numerous countries.
Alexandra died in 2004 when she was just eight years old. Two days before her first birthday she was diagnosed with the cancer she battled for over seven years. When she was only four she was so grateful for care she had received she decided to set up a lemonade stand to raise money for her local hospital. Alex’ lemonade stand soon caught the attention of the entire community and became an annual tradition. In 2005, a year after she passed, Alex’ lemonade stand raised over four million dollars to find a cure for cancer. This little girl was generous, had a noble spirit, a kind heart, and a determination to act. She wanted to help as many other persons as possible.
True generosity is both a quality and a practice. You don’t need me to remind you that things have been rough the last few months. Even in these hard economic times, we are still the envy of the world. Relatively speaking, we are all wealthy in ways previous generations could only dream about. We have been blessed by God. The Psalmist wrote: “God cares for his people even when times are hard. Even in times of famine they will have enough. I have never seen the Lord forsake one who loves him. Instead, the godly are able to be generous with their gifts, sharing with others.” (Psalm 37) There is a purpose underlying the blessings we have received.
The Bible says: “You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous in every way and on every occasion. And our generosity will result in Thanksgiving to God.” God makes us rich so we can be generous. Riches from God are not just silver and gold, not just material or monetary riches.
Money can be a blessing and a curse. A man desired to express his generosity by throwing 10k dollars out the window of a tall building. The result was absolute chaos. The local authorities didn’t appreciate his efforts and fined him for littering.” There are better ways to help than just throwing money at our problems. Congress recently voted to spend a Trillion dollars. One person calculated that if we spent a million dollars a day from the day of Jesus’ birth to the present, we would still not reach a Trillion. It just makes my head ache. One thing I do know, trillions, millions, hundreds of thousands, hundreds, what ever we have in our pocketbook this morning...all of it is God’s money. A truly generous person knows money is a means to an end and not an end it itself. The Book of Proverbs, in the Old Testament cautions: “Don’t wear yourself out to get rich. Money is important, but it is not everything. Alone money cannot bring satisfaction. Rich people die and are buried just like poor people.” The problem is not with money but our loving money. God’s plan and desire has never been that we go through life collecting things and holding onto them. God wants us to give and give, and give just as He Himself does. A truly generous person is a joyful person. Again the Bible says: “God loves a cheerful giver.”
God created us to be channels and not containers. Rivers and not reservoirs. God’s love, concern, provision, and grace is to flow through us not to be held within us.
Someone has said: “What we are is God’s gift to us. And what we do with it is our gift to God.” God has blessed each of us richly. A Spiritual Gift is a God given ability to serve God and others in such a way that Christ is glorified and others are blessed.
God has chosen to work in and through us. In the Book of Leviticus God said to Moses: “Tell the people that anyone bringing a Thanksgiving offering to me must bring it personally, with his own hands.” Our giving is so much more than a token, it is a personal investment.
A family sat down to dinner following church one Sunday afternoon. The son said: “The sermon was so boring today.” His sister said: “Can you believe the way the liturgist stumbled over the Scripture reading:” “The music was not very inspiring, the choir was terrible, and those hymns were just awful” said the mother. Finally, the father showing his spiritual leadership said: “Hush now, all of you. Stop your complaining. What did you expect for a dollar?”
A generous person knows that giving to God and giving in God’s name to others is not just something we do. Giving is the result of what we are. Jesus said: “I am the vine, you are the branches.” When a branch is receiving life from the vine it cannot help but give. The branch exists to give. For a branch living and giving are synonymous. To live is to give. To give is to live. The generous Christian cannot selfishly hold onto the blessings God gives. If we are abiding in the vine if we are in relationship with God through Christ, we cannot help but give of our time, our talents, our efforts, our prayers, our service and yes our money.
In today’s reading Paul said: “I command you not to put your hope in wealth which is so uncertain. Put your hope in God who so richly provides. Be generous and do good deeds and be willing to share. In this way you will lay up true treasure for yourselves.”
One day this earthly life will end. Whether by disease, accident, or old age we will leave this earthly existence. We know there is more to life than we experience here. We know that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. In this life, when we are generous with our time, with our help, with our possessions, others will see in us a reflection of heaven’s values and treasures.
Generous people share because it feels good to share. When we are generous we are in alignment with God. Jesus said: “It is far more blessed to give than to receive.” For the Christian, a generous spirit is not optional. And yet so many who follow Christ hold back. Does any of this sound familiar? “I just don’t have the time to serve. I have already done enough. Let someone else do it. I make way too much money to tithe.
I don’t make enough money to think about tithing. “ In the Old Testament people were faithful in every way in the building of God’s Temple. At the completion of that massive project King David said: “Who am I and who are my people that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from God and we have given only what comes from God’s hand.” Davis was generous and he inspired others to be generous as well. Our goal is to become a generous example encouraging others around us to share as well.
A generous person has a satisfied spirit. A generous person has discovered the true purpose of our life and ministry.
