When it comes to generosity,
who are the first people that come to mind?
Does the church come to mind?
Is the church the first thing you think of when you think of generosity?
In other words, are we generous people?
Well it’s a matter of perspective.
Some of us have been richly blessed by the generosity of people in this congregation.
There have been people who have offered to give up their time.
There are examples of people who have freely donated extra money for God’s mission.
Michelle tells me that she has received donations from people for her upcoming trip to Indonesia.
People have told me that they have come to church here and received anonymous donations in their pigeon hole when they have been going through a rough patch.
And when we read the letters from Australian Lutheran World Service we realize how generous people are in our church, donating money.
Even our donation of a toilet block from the school to the Pella church has been seen as a huge blessing by them.
And through our generosity together we have a designated person to co-ordinate care in this congregation
and we have a person to equip and encourage our small group leaders
People in this congregation bless others from time to time in many different ways, whether it be a meal, babysitting, some words of comfort, or anything else you can think of
If you have experienced these things then you would say
That there are times when this congregation is generous.
But there are also times when the church is not generous.
When we haven’t been generous.
Think about those times when a need has been placed before you
either as an individual or leader in the congregation
and you have avoided it.
Or when you have looked for the easiest and cheapest way to help someone rather than the most appropriate…
And at times we have to reexamine whether we are still being generous.
A few years ago a pastor told me the story of his congregation .
75 years ago this congregation began in a blue collar working class suburb.
They scraped together things.
They even offered coffee and tea after church.
However in recent years the area had changed.
There were now more European cars than Australian cars in the main shopping area.
And one day a young couple moved to the area and attended their church.
But what happened after the church caused them a problem.
You see after church they were served International Roast Coffee….
Not wanting to be seen as complainers they offered to buy a small coffee percolator,
To be told be the person responsible for coffee and teas
Ahh we don’t need that and beggars can’t be choosers if they are getting it for nothing they shouldn’t complain.
Some people think that when it comes to money at church that we are actually doing a good job when we discover new ways on how not to spend money…
They think that is stewardship…
That maybe worldly stewardship….
but biblical stewardship is using the money, the time and the talents God has given so as to share the Gospel with others.
Who here believes that we are called to reveal God to others?
Well being generous reveals God’s grace to others.
And therefore from the bible’s perspective being generous is an essential part to being a Christian.
It reveals who God is.
Being generous is part of being spiritual.
If you think you are a spiritual person,
then you also need to be a generous person.
Listen to this from 2 Corinthians 8 verse 7
7 But just as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us see that you also excel in this grace of giving.
Now for some people this comes naturally.
My father is one of those…
Although he never had a lot of money…
He always was willing to help.
Some people have the gift of naturally being generous..
If you are one of these people I thank God for you.
If you are not
If you are someone who hears about a problem or sees someone in need and thinks do I really have to help.
Or surely the government should be looking after that
or who can I pass this onto
or how can I get out of helping
or I really have to look after myself
then it means you need to be more intentional about being generous.
Being generous is one aspect of Christianity.
Now you maybe thinking
Doesn’t Pastor Richard know the current state of the world financial situation?
The answer to that is yes…
And if you are suffering and life is difficult then come and see us…
But also because of our current financial situation.
Today’s bible reading from 2 Corinthians chapter 8 is even more applicable to us…
To give you the picture…
Paul is writing to the Corinthians church who had made an offer to help the Jerusalem church some months earlier
They had not come through with this offer…
Partly because the economic situation had changed….
You see the Economic situation was not good….
there was a drought
business was down….
This was true…
However the Corinthians had used the worldly situation as an excuse not to give.
They tried to cover up their love of money,
by blaming their lack of giving on the world situation.
And to highlight this Paul draws their attention to the church in Macedonia…
Whilst things were not so good in Corinth….they were terrible in Macedonia
And yet in numerous places in scriptures the Macedonian churches gave above their weight
Listen to verses 1 to 4 of chapter 8
And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. 2 Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. 3 For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, 4 they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints.
Even though the Macedonians were under trial
and had extreme poverty,
They had overflowing joy and were generous.
Have you ever met anyone like that.
That even though life is tough they continue being generous.
One thanksgiving Sunday in Tasmania I was humbled by the Liberian refugees who joined our congregation,
Whilst I brought along two tins of Campbells soup, thinking I was doing something special.
These people with little money but a great deal of thankfulness brought along shopping bags full of groceries,
Plus an additional envelope of money for our church budget that had fallen behind.
They out gave most of the Aussies by far…
And when I talked them, it was because of two main reasons.
One they were so thankful to God for what he had done for them and will do for them,
And secondly they believed in reflecting God’s generosity.
And so there are two things that are required for us to be overflowing with joy and to be generous when times are tough.
First is that Jesus is our only God….
and therefore money, time or your skills are not.
In otherwords we don’t worship money as our god…
but we worship our God with money, time and talents!!
Secondly
We have a different perspective of what we have
We see what we have as not ours but Gods
And God has simply entrusted it to us to use whatever is in our possession to bring his love to others.
To reflect that He is a generous God.
A challenge for you this week.
Look at everything you own and ask yourself,
better still pray about
How does God want me to use:
the house he has given me,
the holidays I have
the money I have
the car I have
the relationships I have
in fact anything I have to share His love
How can I be generous with it so others can benefit and experience His love?
What God has given us is what God calls us to use to share His love.
Listen to verse 12
12 For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have.
God doesn’t call us to give beyond what we have but to give what we have
As you pray about this there are three things to keep in mind.
God through St Paul highlights that are three recipients of our generosity:
The Lord, as thanks for what he has done for us
The Church Community,
so that together we receive His love and we share His love
and other people, so that they experience God’s love
In other words be generous to God, to fellow Christians and to other people.
Not one or the other but all three.
Now the basis of all our generosity is God.
In us being generous we reflect who God is
Listen to verse 9
9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.
We are generous not so God will be generous for us,
but because He is generous to us.
God is constantly giving us…
He is not stingy on how he gives
Heaven is not just a safe place….away from hell
Unfortunately, that is how many people view it.
But listen to what heaven will be like
From Revelation 21 we hear
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea…
16 The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia a in length, and as wide and high as it is long. 17 He measured its wall and it was 144 cubits b thick, c by man’s measurement, which the angel was using. 18 The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. 19 The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. d 21 The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass.
That is what God has prepared for you and me…
Jesus gave up His life so you could have this.
Do you believe God is generous?
The truth is how we use money, our time and skills reflects what we believe
In Matthew 6:21 Jesus says to us where your treasure that is where your heart is also.
If you believe God is generous then we should be generous…
Generous with what we have
Generosity is not just a nice thing to do….
It is in fact the Gospel at work.
Generosity is dropping God into the lives of others.
Remember everyone is valuable in God’s eyes.
People matter to God and therefore people should matter to us.
Generosity is love in action
This week everyone you meet
And I mean everyone
see them as someone valuable to God
And see them as someone God is calling you to be generous to with what He has given you.
We don’t give because someone deserves it
but so the Gospel can be shared….
And generosity that is linked to the Gospel changes lives
A friend of mine who is now a Pastor grew up in a non Christian family.
This family found themselves in a difficult situation.
The father had left home and took some of the furniture.
Their mother out of desperation went to the local church,
Which happened to be Lutheran.
There they were helped not only with some food, but when the pastor brought food to the house he noticed they had no kitchen table.
He happened to mention this to one of the elders who cleaned up a table they had in the shed and gave it to the family.
As a result of this generosity they became more interested in God,
And now not only is he a pastor,
But his sister is a teacher in the Lutheran school system and worships regularly.
And his mother worships regularly
Generosity is the Gospel at work,
It leads others to know the love of Jesus
Amen
