This past week my wife Nicole and I were out finishing some last minute Christmas shopping.
I was driving and she was riding in the passenger seat.
All of a sudden, out of nowhere my wife blurts out, “It’s more blessed to give than to receive.”
She said, “I love giving way more than receiving. Don’t you?”
Well, because we were in traffic I was driving slowly, but my mind was now in high gear.
What did she just say? Yes. And who said those words? And is that how I feel too?
All of these questions bombarded me all at once I suddenly realized that I did not really feel the way she felt.
I’m ashamed to admit this to you, but in my mind, I didn’t really agree with her.
Which poses a little bit of a problem because I’m a Pastor and I’m supposed to be the shining example of Godliness and Generosity to my congregation and my community.
And at this moment I was coming to the realization that in fact, I didn’t buy into what my wife had just said.
Which poses another problem. The words my wife had just quoted were not her own, but the words of Jesus.
And I’m supposed to be following Jesus.
And I had done the very thing that the Apostle Paul encouraged a group of 1st century Christian leaders not to do…
I had totally forgotten about these words.
Paul said in Acts 20:35:
“And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’.”
As my wife quoted to me the words of Jesus, I began to feel ashamed, convicted.
I was convicted because it dawned on me how far I still have to go in becoming the person God wants me to be.
What my wife had said to me had prompted me to ask myself some personal questions that cut to the heart of a lot of stuff in my life.
I came away from that conversation asking myself two questions:
1. “Do I believe this?”
“Do I really believe that it’s better to give than to receive?”
2. “Am I a giver or am I a taker?”
• In my relationships with others, do I give as much as I receive?
• Am I consumed with what I can get out of this person or am I concentrating on what I can give to this other person?
Well, all of this, of course, has a hightened sense of importance for me because it’s Christmas.
And I don’t want to think that at Christmas, I resemble Scrooge more than I resemble Jesus.
So I began to ask myself, “What do these words of Jesus say to me? And for that matter, what do these words of Jesus say to all of you here this evening?”
Well the first thought I had was, “Well, these words say what they say.”
I don’t want to be guilty of putting words in Jesus mouth, so listen to what Jesus actually said in his own words:
“It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
What is Jesus saying to us here?
Jesus is first telling us something about God and second he’s telling us something about giving.
The word translated blessed is the word makariov, which means, “to have the favor of God”.
It literally means that God is in favor of it.
God is favors giving over receiving.
It’s like when two football teams send out their captains before the kickoff of each game for the coin toss.
Whoever wins the coin toss gets to choose.
The referee will ask them:
Do you want to kick or receive? Which is like asking, “Do you choose to give the ball away first or to get the ball first?”
God would always be in favor of giving it away first.
Imagine with me for a moment that it’s Christmas Eve at your house.
Santa Claus slides down your chimney and you happen to be waiting up with milk and cookies for him.
Santa turns to you and says, “Kid, the deal has changed this year. You have to make a choice. This year, you can either receive a gift from me or you can give a gift from me to someone else. But you can’t do both. In the past you could do both, but not this year. This year you’ve got to choose. Give a gift or get a gift? ”
Now if you had the choice between either giving or getting, and you had to choose one, which would you choose?
Well, if you and I were to ask God that same question, God would be in favor of giving a giving a gift rather than receiving one.
This is basically what Jesus is saying when he says, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
He is giving you and me a divine perspective on life.
He’s telling us that God is a giver not a taker.
And this is the exact opposite of what most people believe about God.
I was having lunch just the other day with a friend of mine.
He was waiting on me to arrive at the restaurant and while he was waiting he struck up a conversation with the young girl who was our waitress.
She began telling him that her mother was divorced and not doing well. They were strapped for money and were not doing well in their life.
This young girl told my friend how much she hated her life and how unhappy she was.
My friend asked her, “Where is the Lord in all of this?”
She replied, “Oh, well, I’m mad at God right now. Because he hasn’t given me the kind of boyfriend I really need.”
This young girl had the guts to say out loud what most people are thinking.
Some people are walking around thinking that God is some kind of scrooge.
They believe one of two things about God:
1. God is withholding something good from them.
2. God has taken something away from them that they loved.
Have you ever felt that way?
Have you ever felt that God was holding out on you?
Or that God had taken away from you something you liked or loved because he doesn’t want you to have fun or enjoyment?
Well, Jesus tells us that neither of these two things is true about God.
God is a giver not a taker.
Listen to what the scriptures say about God:
“Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the father of lights with whom there is no variation nor shadow of turning.” – James 1:16-17
It says every good gift and every perfect gift comes into our lives from God.
There are a lot of people who are walking around and they are deceived.
They think that when good things happen to them it’s the result of good luck or good karma.
But the Bible says that’s not true. The Bible says that when good things happen to you, when good things happen in your life, it is because God has given a gift to you.
Even if you are here and you would say, “Pastor, I’m not really a religious person. I don’t go to church much.”
God still gives you good gifts.
Matthew 5:45 says:
“He makes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the evil and the good.”
In other words, regardless of whether you are good to God, God is still good to you.
God isn’t withholding good from you he’s giving good things to you.
Psalm 34:10 (NLT) says:
“Even strong young lions sometimes go hungry, but those who trust in the Lord will lack no good thing.”
God is a giver.
He wants you to enjoy his good gifts.
Wow! What a God!
The second thing Jesus is saying to us is about the act of giving itself.
Jesus wants you and me to understand that God’s heart is to give to us, not to take from us.
And Jesus also wants us to realize that the act of giving feels a lot better than the act of receiving.
What exactly is Jesus saying about giving?
Jesus says, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
First, I understand from Jesus statement that to receive is blessed.
Being on the receiving end of a great gift is a whole lot of fun.
I love, you love, to get good gifts.
When I look under the tree at Christmas, my first instinct is to look for the presents with my name on them.
As we look at what Jesus said, the question is not which one of the two will make me happy and which one of the two will make me sad?
As if one makes me happy and the other makes me sad.
No, it seems from Jesus statement that both giving and receiving can make a person feel good and experience happiness.
Jesus seems to be saying is that rather than it being a question of extremes, it is more a question of degrees.
For example, if on a scale of 1-10, (1 being sad and 10 being happy), if on a scale of 1-10, receiving is a 4, then Jesus seems to be saying that giving is a 10.
Jesus doesn’t say receiving is lousy, he says giving and receiving are both great, except that giving is better.
How much better is giving than receiving?
Well, it’s a matter of degrees.
Jesus simply uses the word “more”.
Receiving feels good. But giving feels better.
Receiving does good. But giving does “more” good.
How can we understand the difference between the feeling we have when we GIVE and the feeling we have when we RECEIVE?
If you want to know how good it feels to RECEIVE, ask the man who just watched his wife give birth to their firstborn child.
What a feeling!
He’s received his first child.
On the other hand if you want to know how much better it feels to GIVE, just ask the wife of that man how good it feels to have given life to a child.
One has GIVEN the other has RECEIVED.
I dare say that the experience we men feel pales in comparison to what you women feel when you finally give birth to that little one you’ve carried so many months.
Yes, It is more blessed to give than to receive.
If you want to know how good it feels to RECEIVE, just ask the young man or young women who is graduating from college and is receiving their diploma.
On the other hand…if you want to know how much better it feels to GIVE, just ask the parents of that young man or women who’ve payed for college and invested in that child.
You see, giving, when you really take a deeper look, is a whole other level of living than simply receiving.
If you buy into most commercials and advertising today, then left to think that you can only be happy when you are receiving or getting everything you want.
But if you believe Jesus, then you understand that you can only experience true happiness when you are giving others what they want and what they need.
So, what do we make of all this?
Well, let’s see if Jesus’ words make any difference in our lives tonight.
I want to share with you an opportunity that we have to help a family in need.
This family was a victim of Hurricane Katrina.
This family is a family of 3.
Nick and Allisyn Granier and their little baby Alania.
Nick’s wife, Allisyn, is related by marriage to Lynn Rodgers who is Bill Showalter’s sister. Bill Showalter is a member of our church.
Allisyn and her husband Nick are both physical therapists in southern Louisiana who visit people’s homes in order to help them with their physical therapy.
But when Hurricane Katrina devastated southern Louisiana, many of Allisyn and Nick’s elderly patients were either killed by the flood or lost their home entirely, leaving both Allisyn and Nick jobless and with no way to support themselves and their baby.
Allisyn and Nick’s house was flooded during the hurricane and the insurance company has told them that they must try to rebuild using the same materials that have been water damaged.
The Insurance Company is basically trying to get out of having to pay for a new house for this family.
Adding to this stress is the fact that their 6-month-old baby daughter Alania has a medical condition that required a doctor to prescribe special formula for her.
Unfortunately, because of the flood, and the hardship of losing both their jobs, the Granier’s cannot afford to buy this special formula for their baby.
As a result, Alania has once again gotten sick because of having to be put back on regular formula. When she was born Alania was 5Ibs. Now 6 months later, she is only 11Ibs.
THIS LITTLE BABY NEEDS OUR HELP!
I can’t imagine what it must be like to try and pick up the pieces of your life once you’ve lost all your earthly possessions. I hope I never know. But I do know that this family is in real need and I do believe that we can make a difference.
Jesus said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
Do you know what I like about this?
I can test it. Jesus makes a statement that I can be put to the test.
It’s as if Jesus is daring you saying, “Don’t just take my word for it. Try it yourself. See for yourself whether what I am saying is true.”
Well, gang, are we going to test it now?
Why don’t you give tonight and see if what Jesus said is true.
Imagine how good it would feel when you lay your head on the pillow tonight to be able to say, “Not only did I help my kids and grandchildren have a good Christmas, but I helped a little 6 month old have a chance at a better tomorrow.
Folks, put a price tag on that!
How good would that feel?
I’m going to ask the ushers if they would come and get ready to take this offering.
All of the proceeds, every penny of this offering is going straight to the Granier Family.
Lynn Warwick and Modesty Orfetel are leaving tomorrow to travel down to Lousiana to be a part of the volunteer army that has gathered to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
I’m so proud of them. Would you keep them in your prayers as they leave tomorrow?
I don’t know when you exchange presents or if you exchange presents at your home.
But if it’s tomorrow, why not put Jesus to the test.
Why not see if what he says is true.
Why not instead of focusing on what you get tomorrow, focus on what you give tomorrow.
While you are giving, your mind just might drift back to this night, this moment, and you remember that this preacher encouraged you to, “Test Jesus.”
If that happens, then I want you to ask yourself this question.
If what Jesus said about giving is true, does that mean I can trust what he says about other things too?
For instance, Jesus says, “I am the way the truth and the life, no man comes to the father except through me.”
If what Jesus said about giving is true, then perhaps what Jesus says about heaven is also true.
Jesus says that he is the only way into heaven.
It is by believing on Him that one comes into a right relationship with God.
John 1:12 says, “As many as received (Jesus) Him, to them He (Jesus) gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.”
Do you believe that anyone can get to heaven without Jesus?
The Bible says, “Trying to make it to heaven without Jesus is like trying to cross the ocean in a paper boat.”
What a lot of people do is they say, “I can make it on my own. I can clean up my own life.”
But trying to clean up your own life is like trying to rake water.
You can’t rake water. The water just keeps coming back.
And some of you feel like that tonight.
Your sins just keep coming back.
Well, you can change all of that tonight, by receiving Jesus into your heart by believing that when he died on the cross he died for your sins and that 3 days later he came back to life.
Do you believe this?
Will you believe it?
You can!
