Last week we heard the following text from 2 Corinthians 8
Now I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters, what God in his kindness has done through the churches in Macedonia. 2 They are being tested by many troubles, and they are very poor. But they are also filled with abundant joy, which has overflowed in rich generosity.
3 For I can testify that they gave not only what they could afford, but far more. And they did it of their own free will. 4 They begged us again and again for the privilege of sharing in the gift for the believers in Jerusalem. 5 They even did more than we had hoped, for their first action was to give themselves to the Lord and to us, just as God wanted them to do.
6 So we have urged Titus, who encouraged your giving in the first place, to return to you and encourage you to finish this ministry of giving. 7 Since you excel in so many ways—in your faith, your gifted speakers, your knowledge, your enthusiasm, and your love from us—I want you to excel also in this gracious act of giving.
Are you a cheerful giver
or do you need to grow in this area of your faith?
As Christians
we are all called to grow in being cheerfully generous.
not just with of our money,
but also our time, our talents, the skills.
And anything else God has given us
Giving generously is not an option for Christians.
It is part of being a Christian.
And being cheerfully generous is living out our faith in God.
It is part of being focussed on living a life of loving God
and loving others.
Of living the way Jesus calls us to live.
So how generous have you been with your money, time, talents and skills?
And it may surprise you why God calls us to be cheerful givers.
Many people give because they think God needs it.
But do you really think you can be more generous than God?
Think about it, does God really need your giving?
If everything we have, comes from God
Then God doesn’t need to rely on your or my giving.
So why do we give then?
Some will say it because our church and parish need it.
That is true.
Our church and parish have a budget.
One of the responsibilities of being a member is to contribute to this budget.
This is a practical thing
It is something we are all called to do.
Without your contributions,
our church and parish would not be able to operate.
And this is important because God calls us to come together as a community.
To worship him with others and to share His love.
So thankyou.
Thankyou for contributing to the budget.
Thankyou for contributing to the life of this congregation and our parish.
And we should also thank each other.
But this is not the only reason to give.
There are three other more important and more biblical reasons to be generous givers.
First we give in response to what God has done for us.
We give not to get something from God.
But because God has already been generous to us.
Because God has paid the price for you to be in heaven.
And that price was suffering and dieing on the cross for you.
How generous is that?
How generous is God?
And this is not because we deserve it.
We haven’t been perfect people.
We habitually sin.
We constantly would rather think of ourselves first than consider God and what he says.
And consider others.
Despite this God still is prepared to pay the price to make it possible for you to spend eternity with Him.
Now that is truly generous.
And so our generosity is an act of thanks to God.
Secondly being generous reflects God’s love in the world.
Each one of us represents Christ where ever we go.
Sometimes we do a great job at this,
other times we are terrible.
When we are generous.
When we give even though it is inconvenient.
When we go out of our way to help others.
When we give without complaining or wanting something.
People are seeing God’s generosity.
We are being God’s disciples.
Being generous helps others,
experience the generosity of God.
So we shouldn’t be generous so we are noticed, but so God is noticed.
Because our generosity simply reflects how generous God is to us.
Thirdly being generous involves trusting God.
The Old Testament reading from 1 Kings 17:8-16 that we heard earlier is about
The women obeying the prophets instructions.
To do so she needed to trust God that she would still have enough and not miss out.
Many people say they trust God,
But I sometimes wonder, Do they?
Do they really trust God?
Do you really trust God?
Or are they more concerned about having everything in place before they obey so they don’t miss out?
Our lives as Christians is about following and trusting God that what we have is enough and that we don’t need to know every detail about the future, because God does.
And when we trust God you also see that being generous is not so much about how much you give?
It is about how much you keep.
How much you don’t do.
In fact what you don’t give reveals a lot about you.
It reveals how thankful you aren’t or are.
It reveals how much you trust God or don’t trust him.
And when it comes to giving many people feel guilty or ashamed because they don’t feel they are giving much.
Now I can’t tell you whether this guilt is legitimate or not.
Each case needs to be measured on its own merits.
And really only you and God truly know whether you are being a cheerfully generous or you are being stingy.
But what I do know is that many people look at the amount they give as a guide to whether they are generous.
But being generous, as God calls us to be generous is not just about the amount we give.
The way to tell if we are being generous is not to look at just how much you give of your money, time, skills and talents.
But also how much you keep, how much we don’t give of our money, time, skills and talents.
In the Gospel reading we heard earlier,
From Luke 21:1-4.
the widow only gave two small coins.
Like two 5c pieces.
And Jesus highlighted that she was the most generous person present.
How does that make you feel?
Jesus saw her as generous because she gave all she had.
That is truly being generous.
You don’t need to be wealthy to be generous.
You just need to be prepared to give,
in ways that demonstrate how grateful you are to God
and in ways that help others know how generous God is.
So what does this mean for me and you?
As we heard last week we are called to be cheerfully generous.
Being cheerfully generous truly represent Christs.
And that means using what we have to love God and love others.
And take a moment to think about this.
Whatever you have now is enough to help you represent Jesus to the people you are mixing with.
It is enough for you to be generous.
And so the question to ask yourself are you using whatever you have to shine God’s light in the world or are you using it for something less worthy?
Generosity helps people know and experience the generosity of God.
And God’s generosity is far greater than ours.
Being generous also means trusting God.
Trusting that what we do, what we give,
will give others an insight into God’s love.
And also trusting that God will continue to provide.
A common concept in Christian giving is that Christians should give of their first fruits, their first born.
This comes out of an agricultural context.
Helen in our congregation breeds cows.
Now she tells me thankfully the mother cows don’t deliver all on the same day.
They usually deliver one or two days apart.
And so giving of her first born to God,
means trusting that other calves to follow will be healthy, something she won’t know until they are born.
Being generous involves trusting God that when we give first to God,
he will provide for us what we need for ourselves.
Now this helps us rely on God and all the goodness he offers, rather than ourselves
To finish up there are two stories I would like to share.
Some weeks ago we distributed the Gifts of Grace catalogue.
A catalogue that gives you an opportunity to buy a Christmas gift for some here and give it to someone overseas.
A pastor shared that a ten year old boy in his congregation was overheard in the foyer,
saying mum I want a drop loo for my birthday.
He said don’t worry mum its not for the house we already have two, it is so someone overseas can benefit.
Now that’s one way we can be generous
And some years ago a small congregation in the LCA was blessed with a small but sizeable donation from one of their members.
A number of people knew who gave the donation,
But very few people knew how he came to be able to give so much.
Some wondered where it came from, some worried that it may have been from a lottery or even illegal activities.
This person wasn’t rich.
But he had received a payout for not being able to work.
And he felt so thankful to God that he wanted to first give some to God and his work on earth, before he spent any of it on himself
Why? Because he said God had helped him through a difficult situation and without God’s help and oversight
he says he may not have received much money at all.
Being generous is about how much we give in relation to what we keep.
It is about being thankful to God for what he has given us
And it is trusting that God will continue to give us what we need.
So let us share God’s generosity with whoever we meet.
Amen.
