True Generosity Series

True Generosity Philippians 4:14-23

Today we continue the journey we began a week ago.

A journey in which we are traveling under God’s guidance.

What direction is He taking us on this journey …?

True North… that is the direction we are headed.

What will we find?

God’s plan for us in being the faithful servants of all He blesses us with.

One of the most important aspects of our lives as followers of Christ is being generous out of all that God has blessed us with.

Consider what God says to us in James chapter 2

There God says…

14 What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?

15Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.

16 If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?

17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

The Bible says that faith without action is dead faith.

Let me say that I am total convinced that faith without generosity is dead faith.

There is not a heart that truly lives for Christ… where that heart is absent of generosity.

Generosity is the result of belonging to Christ.

How can we say that we are God’s people if we are not people of generosity?

How can we as a church be generous to those in need…. if we will not first start by being generous toward God.

Needs surround us in this community and the complete desire of God is that those who belong to Him would practice TRUE GENEROSITY to those in need.

Are their people with needs in Medora ?

Are their people with needs in Fidelity?

In Shipman, Brighton and the rest….

God works through the generosity of our Southern Baptist churches who pool millions of dollars together to send missionaries to Kasikstan, Bulgaria, Asia, Africa and many other places.

Those millions of dollars go to meet the peoples needs in those places. But answer me this question…

Who is sending money or missionaries to Medora?

Who is sending money or missionaries to Macoupin County to reach people for Jesus?

If those needs are going to be met. It must happen through the TRUE GENEROSITY of people love Christ and want to see His will accomplished here in our own town and surrounding area where the needs are vast.

Turn in your Bibles to Philippians chapter four this morning as we think about….God’s people… putting into practice TRUE GENEROSITY.

The first thing God would have us to see this morning is this….

I. We must realize that TRUE GENEROSITY is only accomplished through our ability to be both spiritual and practical at the same time.

To be both spiritual and practical at the same time often can present as a great challenge.

How many of you can hop on my leg pat your head and rub your belly at the same time?

It requires a great deal of coordination but for most of us it can be done with some concentration and determination.

The ability for us to be both spiritual and practical at the same time is determined by our willingness to be lead by God’s Spirit, truly focusing on what God is saying,…. while at the same time realizing there are human ways in which God wishes to work through us.

Some people who decide to follow Christ turn out being entirely practical, while other followers of Christ turn out to be completely spiritual.

The follower of Christ that will be most effective for God’s Kingdom is the individual who is both spiritual and practical at the same time.

What do I mean when I talk about someone who has become all spiritual or all practical instead of being that right balance of both?

Well have you ever heard someone use the phrase

“That person is so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good?”

That phrase describes the sort of follower of Christ who is solely living for Christ Spiritually without any sensibility to be practical in their walk and in the usefulness for how God wants to use them in the world.

We need as followers of Christ to get both motivations going and get them into synchronization with God’s plan. We must be spiritual and practical in order to fulfill His plan of True Generosity.

Sure God wants us to be spiritual…

But if we are to be used by God on earth …..then we must be practical as well.

Every church has people who are so heavenly minded that they limit their true usefulness for the Kingdom of God.