John 3:16-17
Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him." 3 In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again." 4 "How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born!" 5 Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ’You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit." 9 "How can this be?" Nicodemus asked. 10 "You are Israel’s teacher," said Jesus, "and do you not understand these things? 11 I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven-- the Son of Man. 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. 16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Extravagant Generosity
Finishing up the five practices…
It is kind of a precursor to next month as we look at how we live and how we give as followers of Christ. At the very heart of that discussion… is the virtue of Generosity.
Generosity is hard to learn…
Years ago on Candid Camera, children were used in an experiment about generosity. The children were placed by themselves in a room with a plate of cookies. On the plate were at least two cookies, there may have been more, but one of the cookies was very large. The adult left the room and the kids were allowed to take a cookie. You know, they all took the big one. One boy was challenged as to why he took the biggest cookie. The host scolded the boy, “All you left me to eat was the little cookie. I would have eaten the little cookie and given you the biggest one.” Without a blink the boy responded, “Then you got the one you wanted.” Generosity is a tough thing to learn.
However… every once in a while someone will surprise you…
The generosity of William! Tease him about a dohnut… he will give me half! I was impressed! Till he finished the dohnut and said, I need another dohnut daddy! You see… all along he knew there were more dohnuts in the box!
And yet we complain…
In regions of Mexico hot springs and cold springs are found side by side, and because of the convenience of this natural phenomenon the women often bring their laundry, boil their clothes in the hot springs, and then rinse them in the cold springs. A tourist watching this procedure commented to his Mexican guide: "They must think Mother nature is generous to freely supply such ample, clean hot and cold water." The guide replied, "No senor, there is much grumbling because she supplies no soap."
The fact is… we’ve come to expect so much more… so as a church… that means we have to give so much more. But this is really nothing new…
The scriptural proof is that true generosity is ALWAYS extravagant…
The rich young ruler…
The feeding of the 5,000…
Blessings on top of blessings…
A Sunday School teacher asked her class if they knew the difference between kindness and loving kindness. One little girl said she knew the difference. She told the teacher that kindness is like when you ask your mother for some toast and she gives it to you, but loving kindness is when you ask your mother for some toast and she gives it to you with butter and jelly on it. And that’s the way God is. God, in his loving kindness, is an exceedingly generous giver. He doesn’t just give you some blessings, but He gives some blessings with some butter and jelly on it. That’s why the bible says that “He daily overloads us with benefits” David says “He anointeth my head with oil, my cup runneth over.”
We can never outgive God…
John 3:16
Our father is a generous giver…. We must follow his example… we must follow the example of scripture… we must follow the example of Christ… which is really not asking that much when we know there are always more dohnuts in the box!
