Living a Generous Life
Exodus 4:1-5
It took God speaking to Moses from a burning bush to get the attention of Moses and make a life-changing impact on Moses. Moses was about 40 years old when he left Egypt and fled to Midian and there he worked as a Shepherd 40 years for the Priest of Midian, Jethro. One day while walking in the desert neat the Mountain of Horeb or Sinai he saw a burning bush that did not burn up. As he neared the bush God spoke to Moses. God said he heard the cries of the people in bondage in Egypt. God had a plan for His people and it included Moses. God told Moses that He wanted Moses to lead the people of Israel out of their bondage in Egypt.
God told Moses that He would be with him. Moses protested and said the people would not follow him. How would they know he was the messenger of the Lord? Exodus 4:1-5
Moses seemed to have an excuse for everything God wanted him to do. People today continue to have excuses for not being faithful in serving the Lord.
Years ago I read an article outlining the excuses, that a person might use for not going to sports events. “Every time I went they asked for money. The people with whom I had to sit didn’t seem very friendly. The seats were too hard and uncomfortable. The coach never came to see me. The referee made a decision with which I could not agree. I was sitting with some hypocrites – they only came to see what others were wearing. Some games went into overtime, and I was late getting home. The band played numbers that I had never heard before. The games were scheduled when I want to do other things. My parents took me to too many games when I was growing up. Since I read a book on sports, I feel that I know more than the coaches anyway. I don’t want to take my children, because I want them to choose for themselves what sport they like best.”
Do any of those excuses sound familiar? I’ve heard all of them in the past.
Moses finally stopped making excuses and listened to the Lord. He cast his staff on the ground.
Moses had to cast the shepherd’s staff on the ground. Only when he turned lose of his staff was God able to do wonders and miracles.
God continues to ask every person He creates: “What is in your hand?”
There are two ways to approach life, with a clenched fish or an open hand. A clenched fist person says: “All I have, I have gained on my own.” An opened hand person says, “All I have, God has provided and blessed. I am just a manager of all God has given me.”
I. The Pathway of a Clenched Fist
The pathway of the clenched fist is the pathway of self-centeredness. “All I have is mine and you what you have is mine.” The clenched fist is the way of self centered living.
When I served in Kansas City as pastor of the Aldersgate FMC I did my best to encourage a young man to seek the Lord. He was a graduate of Kansas State and was involved in ROTC (Reserved Officers Training Corps). After graduation he spent three years as a Navel Officer. When he returned to Kansas City he began working at a bank and taking courses to become an attorney.
I remember one Sunday evening we had him over to the church parsonage for dinner. After dinner I talked to him about putting his faith in the Lord and asking God to guide his life. He said, “All that I have I have gained on my own… My degree in college, my time in the Navy and my banking job; I have achieved all I have on my own without God’s help. I don’t need God’s help now.”
Several months later I had the funeral service for that young man. He committed suicide.
Hanging on to what is in your hand, living a self-centered life sucks the joy out of your life. A clenched fist life is a life with a shriveled soul.
Commercials do a good job communicating to our children that having certain things brings happiness. The golden arches advertise that having a “Happy Meal” is the way to happiness. Today, toddlers can recognize golden arches by the time they are 18 months old. Pastor John Ortberg in one his books says that when you buy your kid a Happy Meal: You’re not just buying fries, McNuggets, and a free toy - you’re buying happiness! The advertisements have convinced our children that they have a little McDonald-shaped vacuum in their souls: “Our hearts are restless till they find their rest in a Happy Meal.”
The problem is that when the happy wears off they need another fix. Happy Meals only bring happiness to McDonalds. Ronald McDonald always wears a grin – a 20 billion Happy Meals grin.
As we grow older the secular world tries to persuade us that we would be happier if we moved from our apartment to a house or condo. Of if we had a newer car, newer clothes, wider TV, or financial freedom.
Hebrews 13:5 has a good word for us: “Stay away from the love of money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, ‘I will never fail you, I will never forsake you.’”
A reported interviewed several multi-millionaires and the consensus seemed to be that having enough was having twice the amount that they currently had. The benchmark for financial freedom according to those interviewed was having at least 10 million dollars.
Ray Linder in his book, “Seven Secrets to Reduce Financial Worry, says that true financial freedom comes, “When I use my money to acquire freedom for others instead of myself.” Financial freedom is more of an attitude than an amount.
During our first year of marriage Carollyn and I had to trust God. Our main concern was having just enough food to eat and pay for my seminary bills and Carollyn’s last year of college. We lived week by week. Carollyn worked part time in the seminary library and I worked part time selling shoes at Sears in Lexington, KY.
On of the professors, Dr. George Allan Turner, would from time to time drop off frozen beef to help us out. On one particular Friday our cupboard was bare and we had just enough gas to make it to Louisville, KY, 80 miles one way. The FM church in Louisville gave us 10 dollars for gas. We both helped in the church teaching S.S. classes. One of the couples in the church had mentioned that if we ever wanted to drive up on Saturday and stay all night we were welcome to come their home. That Friday with no food we decided to give them a call and they invited us to come the next day and stay overnight. We arrived there early Saturday afternoon and that evening we had the best southern cooking you could ever want. After the meal the couple said they wanted to help us with expenses and gave us a 20-dollar bill. On the way out of church that Sunday one of the members shook my hand and gave me a five-dollar bill. God had provided and we rejoiced in the Lord.
Being a Christ follower does not guaranteed financial success. From time to time Christians struggle financially. They get laid off and have trouble finding another job, homes get repossessed, hard times come and go. God does promise that He will never leave us or forsake us. 2 Peter 5:7 says, “Cast all your cares and anxieties upon the Lord for He cares for you.”
A clenched fist if often the sign of a person with a hard heart. Mark 10:17-31 tells about a rich young Jewish ruler who falls at the feet of Jesus and asks what he needs to do to inherit eternal life. Jesus told him he needed to keep the commandments and love his neighbors. The young man replies that he had faithfully kept the commandments since his bar mitzvah at age 13. The young man had kept the external requirements of the law, but he still felt emptiness in his heart.
JESUS gave the rich young ruler a radical answer: Mark 10:21, “One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and com, take up the cross, and follow Me.” The young man turned away because he had many possessions.
The rich young ruler chose the clenched fist pathway of life. The “deceitfulness of riches” kept him from becoming a fully devoted disciple.
When you choose the pathway of the open hand you say in your heart, “Lord everything I have is yours. Show me what to do with what you have given me as Your faithful servant.”
Luke 12:15 Jesus encourages us to choose the pathway of life with an open hand. “Beware! Don’t be greedy for what you don’t have. Real life is not measured by how much we own.”
Jesus gave an illustration of a rich farmer who had such an abundant harvest his barns were overflowing. “So he said, ‘I know! I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I’ll have room enough to store everything. And I’ll sit back and say to myself, my friend; you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! East, drink, and be merry!”
“But, God said to him, ‘you fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get it all?” Then Jesus said, “Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.” Luke 12:15-21
This rich farmer is exhibit “A” of a clinched fist life: “My barns, my harvest, my bigger barns.”
The pathway of a clenched fist life is lined with the lives of those who refused to turn lose of what God gave them. They refuse to surrender what little or much they have to allow God to bless and use it for His glory.
II. Pathway of An Open Hand
“The Lord asked Moses, What do you have in your hand? A Shepherd’s staff, Moses replied. God said, “Throw it down on the ground.”
Whatever God has given you, open your hand and surrender it to the Lord. God will do more with what He has given you than you will ever be able to do on your own.
Choosing to live a life on the pathway of an open hand is to be a faithful stewards of what God provides. Jesus defines stewardship in Luke 12:42-48, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom the master puts in charge of his servants to give them their food allowance at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whom the master finds doing so when he returns. I tell you the truth; he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But suppose the servant says to himself, “My master is taking a long time in coming,” and he then begins to beat the menservants and maidservants and to eat and drink and get drunk. The master of that servant will come on a day when he doesn’t expect him and at an hour he isn’t aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers…From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who had been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.”
Being a faithful Steward is about being a faithful manager of what God provides.
People who live with open hands are generous. 2 Corinthians 9:7-8, “You must each make up your own mind as to how much you should give. Don’t give reluctantly or in response to pressure. God loves the person who gives cheerfully. And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others.”
As you consider walking the pathway of life with an open hand remember:
God owns everything. Psalm 24:1 “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world and all who live in it”
As Christ followers we are to manage wisely what God provides. The Apostle Paul says, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” I Corinthians 10:31
The Biblical plan for giving is the tithe. Leviticus 27:30 - teaches, “The Tithe is the Lords.” The tithe, ten percent of our income is the Lords. Years ago I read a little paper back book on developing a family budget: First pay tithe and taxes, then with what left put 10% into savings, 70% living expense and 20% for debts. The key to a budget is not spending more than your monthly income. Cut up those credit cards and if you use them pay them off monthly. List all your monthly income and expenses subtract expenses from income and see what fun money is left or what changes need to be made.
Have you visited any of the gold mines in the gold country of California? The 1849 Gold Rush resulted in one of the largest migrations of people in history, with over 300,000 people thundering westward to California. Gold fever motivated people to suffer all kinds hardships to strike it rich.
Wouldn’t it be great if hundreds of thousands of people had God fever? The Psalmist sang out, “Your law is more valuable to me than millions in gold and silver!” Psalm 119:72 - Only the riches of God can you take with you at death.
F. W. Woolworth, founder of Woolworth’s five and ten-cent stores and Milton S. Hershey, are stories of two men. One lived on the pathway of life with a clenched fist. The other lived with an open hand.
Woolworth devoted his life to building stores and amassing wealth and status. His greatest goal in life was to construct the Woolworth Building in New York City, a monument to his success. The building took 17 years to build, 1913 to 1930; it was the tallest building at that time in N.Y.
What did Woolworth do with his fortune? He left no money to charity. His stores did not keep us with the times and in 1997 the company closed 400 five-and-dime sores. 1998 the historic Woolworth building in New York was sold and the Woolworth name has been forgotten.
Milton S. Hershey lived his life and led his business with an open hand. Hershey measured his financial success in terms of what he could do for others. He and his wife could have no children so he left his entire estate he amassed from the Hershey Chocolate Company to a foundation that created a school for under privileged children, including orphans. He also build a medical center and Hershey Park, a family amusement park. Milton Hershey committed his life to others.
Hershey Foods Corporation has thrived over the years and in 1996 had 4 billion in revenues. Hershey’s focus was not on how much money he could get, but on how he could use his money for others.
Each of us has a choice in life. Will we choose the pathway with a clenched fist or the pathway with an open hand? What is in your hand? What will you do with what God provides? Keep it for yourself or surrender it to the Lord.
All Jochebed, the mother of Moses, had in her hand was some straw, but she wove it into a basket to save the life of her son. Miriam had a tambourine in her hand and led the people to celebrate God’s faithfulness. Hannah had a small son in her hand, but when she gave him to God, he became a great prophet. All David had was a stone and sling, but God used it to slay the Giant Goliath and victory over the Philistine army. A small boy had a sack lunch of five barley loaves and two fish; Jesus used it to feed 5,000. All a widow had was enough food for one more meal, but God used it to feed her and the prophet during the famine. Moses had a shepherd’s staff and God used it to deliver the children of Israel out of bondage.
This morning what is in your hand? Will you choose to walk the pathway of life with a closed fist? Or will you walk in the steps of Jesus with an open hand living a life of generosity? At the end of the road for all who walk and live with an open hand is Jesus with His words of welcome: “Well done my good and faithful servant.”
