Introduction: Video Clip – It is a wonderful life. Why is it that it takes a crisis to inspire generosity? When our hero, George Bailey is in trouble, the town of Bedford Falls goes out of their way to help him in his time of need.
Meeting needs is not just the stuff of Hollywood, it seems whenever there is a disaster or a dire need; people are more prone to be generous.
Tsunami relief
Hurricane relief
Home destroyed by fire
When disaster strikes generosity pours.
Crisis giving is not the only type of generosity; maybe you read the article this week in Florida Today, about Eugenia Dodson who gave a gift of $35 million to the University of Miami. Eugenia was 100 years of age lived a thrifty life and told no one but her lawyer about her gift, not wanting anyone to make a fuss.
We may marvel at that woman’s gift and think we would do the same if we had those types of resources. Giving is not based on the size of the bank account, but on the heart of the person who gives.
God’s people are called to be generous all of the time regardless of condition or crisis or amount of resources.
Scripture reminds us often times acts of true generosity did not come from the people of great wealth, but from people with great need.
In Mark 12, Jesus is sitting in the temple area watching as people bring their gifts to the treasury. Sizable gifts are being placed in the treasury, by people of means. Suddenly a widow comes before the treasury. She has lost her husband, she really has no means of supporting herself – but she comes to give, clink, clink. Two small coins, verse 42 says they were a fraction of a penny. Put this in context – do you collect pennies? Do you pick up pennies? Here is this woman who approaches the treasury with a gift of less than a penny. Can you imagine what it must have been like for her to stand in line waiting to give her offering? People all around her had bags of money, small bags, large bags – they had bags – and her offering was in her hand.
Verses 43-44 gives us the response of Jesus, Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on."
The woman’s generosity came not from the amount of money in her purse but the attitude from her heart.
Last week we began a series of messages on stewardship. It is the practice of our church to spend some time each year talking about money as it relates to our spiritual health.
When it comes to talking about money in the church we are a bit apprehensive about the subject, Preaching about money brings out a number of emotions…
Feelings of guilt (I wish I could give more)
Feelings of Anxiety (I brought a friend today, and we are going to talk about money, they will never come back!)
Feelings of inadequacy (We may feel like the widow giving a small portion, what difference does that make?)
My goal in this series of messages is not to focus on the guilt or inadequacy, but to challenge us to look at how money impacts our life and the ministry of our church.
Today I want us to look at the topic of generosity. Webster defines generosity as liberal in giving. The root form of the word is Latin – generous – OPENHANDED
God desires for his people to be openhanded or generous
Scripture calls for us to be generous with our…
Praise and Worship to God
Encouragement of one another
And in our giving to the cause of Christ
And no where is that more evident than in the example of Philippian church. In Philippians 4, Paul commends the people of the Philippian church for their true generosity.
Philippians 4: 14-19, Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles. Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only; for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid again and again when I was in need. Not that I am looking for a gift, but I am looking for what may be credited to your account. I have received full payment and even more; I am amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God. And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.
In this text today we see a generous church, a generous gift and generous God.
A Generous Church
Philippi, Paul’s Favorite Church
The church of Philippi was a unique church in the NT. The church’s first convert was a woman by the name of Lydia, she was a maker of fabrics and a worshipper of God. After explaining the resurrection of Jesus to Lydia, her entire household was baptized. She then invited Paul and Silas to use her home as a base of operations for their ministry.
Philippi was a pagan city
Soon the preaching of Christ would bring about problems for Paul and Silas. They found themselves in prison for preaching the gospel. God intervened with a miraculous earthquake. And through a series of events, Paul was able to introduce his jailer and his family to Christ. They too were baptized into Christ and became part of the church at Philippi. After baptizing the jailer and his family Paul and Silas encouraged the small group of believers and moved on to another city to spread the gospel. Commentators believe Paul and Silas were with the people of Philippi for a relatively short time, less than 30 days.
Paul’s visit made an impact on this small church
For now Paul is in prison for preaching the gospel, but this time there is no miraculous earthquake to set him free, rather he is chained to a guard, waiting to plead his case to case to Caesar.
Then one day he has a visitor – a man from Philippi, named Epaphroditus who brings him a gift to sustain his ministry. This was not the first gift Paul had received from Philippi; verse 16 tells us the Philippian church sent me aid again and again Note there generosity having known Paul for less than 30 days, they were willing to give to him not once, but over and over – to meet his needs.
The Philippian church showed true generosity toward Paul
Some interesting things to not about their generosity
They shared a gift where there was little possibility of any type of return.
They were generous even when they knew they would not benefit personally.
Their gift took some effort to collect and send to Paul
Epaphroditus had to travel to Rome to give him the gift, upon
arriving in Rome, Epaphroditus would have to visit a jail, when he shared the gift with Paul, he would note Paul was chained to a guard. It was not convenient to give the gift yet they realized it was something they had to do, if they were going to be generous.
I wonder if we could be as generous as the church at Philippi
To find out we need to ask ourselves 2 questions:
What is the motive behind your giving? If you give simply to meet the budget, you give with the wrong attitude. Giving is never about meeting a budget, giving is about meeting a need by being generous with our resources.
Question number 2, Do I give to meet a need or do I give when it is only convenient.
There is always a reason we cannot give…
Preacher it is time for the giving sermons once again, but I want you to know our family just can’t give like you want to, if you take a look at my calendar I am sure you will understand…
August is here and that is back to school, there are school supplies, and clothes that must be bought – sorry we cannot give as we ought!
September and we plan to give, but now the kids need money for fees and stuff, we never seem to have enough.
October has brought quite a fright; we have no extra money because of Halloween night
November brings us Thanksgiving and we are so blessed, Turkey and dressing will be great I must confess, but the relatives are coming O what a mess.
December brings Christmas and it is a delight, gifts for our kids have put our budget in a strain – giving this month would be a pain.
January is here and I cannot believe the bills have taken their toll, but I have made a resolution I will start giving in February then I will have everything under control.
Preacher it is February and that means Valentine’s Day, I know I said I would give, but I have a wife, not to celebrate would cause such strife!
March brings forth better weather and the winter has been more then I can take, I am sure you will understand we need money for Spring Break
April has brought some relief, no holidays or birthdays to celebrate, our family plans to give to the max – Oops we forgot about INCOME TAX
May is upon us and we are reminded our youngest is graduating, Preacher do you know the cost of matriculating?
June is our anniversary I celebrate with my spouse – a gift simply will not do she is demanding a trip out of the house!
July is a time of celebration, fireworks and picnics fill our days – we simply cannot give this summer, to sacrifice now would surly be a bummer!
For some people it is never convenient to give, yet the Philippian church gave to meet the needs of Paul not when it was easy, or when it was convenient, but because they were a generous church.
Not only was the church at Philippi generous their…
Gift was Generous
not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only; for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid again and again when I was in need... I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God.
Paul describes the generous gift
As continuous “again and again as I was in need” The Philippians were not simply giving one time offerings, they understood the work of the gospel is a never-ending venture in this world. There will never be a time when we will have all the money we need to reach the world. There will always be needs because people will always need salvation.
Not only was the gift continuous it was a fragrant offering, this looked back to the offerings Israel would give to God each year, the fellowship offering was to be a sweet aroma to the Lord. Paul describes the Philippians gift as a fragrant offering similar to the fellowship offering.
The sweet aroma made the Philippians offering both acceptable and pleasing to God. I find it interesting Paul does not mention the size of the gift or the amount of the gift. He only mentions it was pleasing to God.
I believe Paul is teaching us something about giving in a subtle way. Giving is not about the amount, but about the generous spirit in which we give. 2 Corinthians 9:7-8, Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.
Have you decided how you will give?
In your bulletin today is a commitment card for giving. We are not going to spend a lot of time talking about the card today, we are not going to fill it out or turn it in. I want you to take it home and I want you to think about your giving. Ask yourself…
Would you consider your gift generous?
Would you consider your gift to be continuous – systematic
Would you consider your gift a sweet aroma
Would your gift be acceptable and pleasing to God
SIMPLY THINK ABOUT THESE QUESTIONS THIS WEEK ASYOU MEDITATAE ON YOUR GIVING.
We will deal with this card in a couple of weeks.
Paul now points to one more item when it comes to True Generosity, The Philippians gave generously because they had a…
Generous God
Verse 19, And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.
Paul turns the focus of giving to God – who is a generous God
God will meet all your needs. Paul does not say God will meet some of your needs or most of your needs – NO God will meet all of your needs. I did a word study of the word “all” to help us understand our generous God
ALL, pronounced awl, adjective
Definition – The whole, any and every – the greatest possible
ALL MEANS ALL!
God meets all of what – our needs
The problem in our culture is determining what a need is and what a want is. Someone once said I have everything I need until my neighbors bought more stuff.
Too often we focus on the wants of this world we become so preoccupied with getting, we simply forget about giving. For an example of how God meets our needs consider his only son – Jesus. Galatians 4 says God set Jesus to earth in the fullness of time – when everything was just right. But was it? After all he was born to poor parents in a small obscure country. Jesus left the riches of Heaven to become a man. More than anyone who ever lived, Jesus realized that earth was not His real home. In fact, it seems he possessed little but often borrowed…
He borrowed the stable he was born in.
He borrowed the manger he was laid in.
He borrowed a boat from which he preached to the crowds.
He borrowed a boy’s lunch with which He fed the 5,000.
He borrowed the donkey on which he rode into Jerusalem.
He even borrowed the tomb in he was buried.
With no earthly possessions Jesus came to earth at the right time and everyone of his earthly needs were met. A stable, a manger, a boat, a lunch, a donkey and a tomb, all provided by the providence of God
Paul also gives us one more assurance of God meeting our needs
my God
Paul wants the Philippians and us to know God is a personal God, my God will supply everything you need. Paul could give that testimony because he had a personal relationship with God. Paul knew if God could wipe away his sins, give him a new life in Christ, and indwell him with the Holy Spirit. Prepare a home for him in heaven – surely he could meet his earthly needs. Friends the same is true with us today, if He is able to save us from our sins He is able to supply our needs.
God is truly generous, and He desires his children to be generous as well. Practicing true generosity is not simply a good idea to live out true generosity is developed when
we focus on being a generous church
we seek to give generous gifts
we depend on a generous God
PRAYER
