The Blessed Life
Part 1 – The Generous Life
I. Introduction
Fortune cookies, horseshoes, 4 leaf clovers, rabbit’s foot . . . Luck. Athletes would often rather be lucky than good. Crooners sing about it. Everyone wants to be lucky. Poor people use money they don’t have playing a game of luck in which the odds are so stacked against them that it boggles the mind. It seems our society and even some in the church think that the best and highest level of living is the lucky life. However, I declare to you that living a blessed life is even better than trying to live lucky. Why bank on chance when you can have guarantees?
II. Text
Genesis 5:1-2
1This is the written account of Adam’s family line. When God created mankind, he made them in the likeness of God. 2He created them male and female and blessed them. And he named them “Mankind” when they were created.
(So from the very beginning we have been set up to be blessed. We are born under a curse due to Adam and Eve’s disobedience, but God from moment one was intent on blessing us!)
Duet. 28:1-14
Duet. 28:6 6You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.
(Don’t have time to read the entire passage to you, but you should go back and read how many promises of blessing there are for obedient people. Blessed in family, field, finances, so blessed that a summary is verse 6 . . . going in and coming out. Blessings from every direction for obedience!)
We are destined for blessing! I want to be blessed! The alternative isn’t a very good one! So how do we live the blessed life? I believe there are four ways to live that ensure that we will be blessed!
III. Text
In order to live a blessed life we must live a generous life!
In fact, say this with me . . . The Generous Life is a Blessed Life!
Proverbs 11:24-25
24One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. 25A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.
Luke 16:10-13
10“Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. 11So if you have not been trustworthy in handling worldly wealth, who will trust you with true riches? 12And if you have not been trustworthy with someone else’s property, who will give you property of your own? 13“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
So it is very clear that in order to live a blessed life you must live a generous life!
IV. The Generous Life
Generosity is a cornerstone in having a blessed life because the presence of or lack of generosity in our lives gives us a very clear peek into our soul, spiritual condition, and life!
A. Without generosity you cannot become spiritually mature.
Some of you think that statement is a bit strong or even wrong! However, generosity is and always will be one of the genuine character traits of the followers of Jesus! We have changed the standard of measurement to how people dress, sing, dance, shout, and operate in the gifts. However, if you go back to the Bible you discover that in Acts, the community around the church recognized the believers as followers of Christ by their generosity that stood in such stark contrast to the society that they lived in! They marveled at the generosity of the church. The body would sell everything they owned and pool it to take care of the widows, orphans, and the needy. The NT church had a culture of generosity that we have lost!
Randy Alcorn said it like this, “If Christ is not Lord over our money and possessions (and I would add time and talent), then He is not our Lord.” Jesus understood and made it very clear that where our treasures are our hearts would follow! If He doesn’t have those things then He doesn’t have our heart! He teaches us Matthew 25 that we are each given an allotment of talents (that is the concept of money, time, and abilities) and we are expected to develop those talents and then generously give back to the Master. Anything other than that is cursed!
Alcorn goes on to say, “I have never seen a mature Christian who was also not a mature steward. Giving is a part of growing!”
Your generosity with your time, money, and talent reveals your maturity level! Remember disobedience in one area overrides obedience in another area. Partial obedience is really complete disobedience. Lack of giving in any area shows immaturity!
How? Can you become mature while disobeying? Disobedience is a sign/indicator of immaturity. I have never met a parent who said, “My child is mature because they are disobeying me.” No they say, “That kid of mine needs his tail whipped and needs to grow up and do what I tell them to do!” We acknowledge our children’s maturity when they begin to live up to what we have asked and commanded them to do!
Too many of claim maturity, but our disobedience in the area of generosity reveals us to be liars or at least insane (nice way of saying stupid). There is a fundamental connection that exists between our spiritual life and our attitude toward money and possessions! Our attitude either reveals gratitude and trust or it reveals our immaturity and lack of gratitude and trust.
So don’t parade around here playing the part of a spiritually mature person because you are obedient in one area. If you are not obedient in the area of generosity then you will never become a spiritually mature person just because you can sing, just because you can pray, just because you can shout, or just because you can prophecy! Have you ever met a stingy mature believer? I haven’t!
Generosity is a key ingredient to become spiritually mature!
B. Generosity goes against our nature!
Andy Stanley said it best when he said, “By nature, the concept of generosity is in direct conflict with the concept of self-preservation!”
We’d all like a reputation for generosity our problem is that we’d all like to buy it cheap.
It is when we begin to deal with generosity that the old man flairs up. Fear of lack grips our hearts. Generosity has a tendency to pick at the old scab left by the old man. It shines a glaring light on the war that still wages within us!
Have you ever watched the show called hoarders? We sit and shake our heads in disbelief. We can’t imagine living like that. However, the truth is we are all hoarders by nature. We have been taught get all you can . . . keep all you can . . . the one who dies with the most toys wins . . . When Jesus taught get what you can and then give all away that you can. That flies in the face of our old man. We are born selfish . . . we must be born again generous! Generosity is a major tool in killing our old man! Every time we operate in generosity we put another nail in the coffin of our old man! That is a battle because we were once slaves to sin and slaves aren’t very generous!
But how many of you know that we are no longer slaves? Or are we? Are we unable to be generous to God because we have become slaves to things? We can pay for our iphone bill, but can’t pay our tithes. We can give our time to eat out, go to the movies, shop for new furniture, but we can’t be generous with God with 2 hours each week? Who are we serving? If I am dishonoring God in order to maintain a lifestyle that I can’t afford, then I am not living the life of a disciple, but of a slave!
Gordan McDonald says, “Generous giving is not about doling out extra amounts of money. It is about reorienting the human heart in the direction of Christ so that we become transmitters of the same affection and care that Christ modeled in his time!”
This isn’t about amount. It is about heart. You cannot serve God and money! “Money promises us things that only God can give – security, significance, identity, independence, power and freedom!”
So, if anyone should have a handle on our old nature it should be believers right? Then why is it that religious folks have problems with being generous? Those that are closest to Jesus should be more willing to be generous with time, with money, with talents and yet it seems as if they are less. Just go ask a waiter if the religious are generous!
Or go back to the story of Mary. She comes in from a distance from Jesus and finally gets to Him and then takes costly perfume (a year’s salary worth) and pours it over Jesus’ feet. One of Jesus’ close ones throws a fit. Judas rails against the generous offering! And what Judas teaches us is that generosity reveals our heart.
Let me give you a glimpse into the financial side of our hording nature and also show you how many folks in the body today are faking spiritual maturity!
The average Christian today only gives 2.5% of their income to the kingdom of God. In America, in 2007, only 9% of all born again adults gave 10% of their income. The last study of how generous we are with our time was done in 2003. The study revealed that only 21% of American Christians volunteered any time at church in a week.
We talked about visible indicators. So do your bank account and the way you spend your time say that Jesus is #1 in your life?”
Apparently the old man is still alive and well in most of us!
C. Generosity is met with guaranteed generosity.
One of the reasons that generosity is a key to living a blessed life is that Scripture teaches us that generosity is met with guaranteed generosity! I want you to be blessed. Generosity will guarantee that!
According to what I read to you out of Proverbs, “A generous man WILL prosper!”
We know this. . . The man who sows sparingly reaps sparingly. It is more blessed to give than receive. Luke 6:38 says, “Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” We just don’t live this!
I want to assure you that this guarantee isn’t just about money or even primarily about money. It is about every area of life. If you are generous in judgment, then you will receive generosity when you are judged. If you are generous in service, then you will receive generosity in service. Forgiveness, trust, respect, etc. We skew the shaken together and running over when we make it only about or primarily about money.
I also want you to notice the progression or order of the guarantee . . . We want God to add His part (the pressed down, shaken together part) without us adding anything to the equation. Who gives first in this passage? Give and it shall be given!
Let me teach you about guaranteed blessing as it relates to money. The tithe is so very important. According to Malachi 3, one of the things that breaks the curse (You can’t be blessed if you are living under a curse . . . You can’t pray a blessing on you that will override the curse you are willingly and intentionally living under. Pray for your finances to be blessed all you want, but until you operate in obedience to generosity you are cursed!) off of our lives and finances is the tithe. However, Tithe isn’t really giving. It is returning. In fact, tithing isn’t really being generous! We become generous when we step past what is expected or required and move into what is unexpected. According to Malachi 3, there is another level of generosity that plays an equally important part in opening the windows of blessing it is offerings! Tithe unlocks the window whereas generosity smashes the window! And then there is another level of generosity . . . painful offerings. Sacrificial giving has nothing to do with amount. Sacrificial giving has to do with heart. One of the greatest painful offerings ever listed in Scripture is when the widow gave the two mites – all she had.
Our giving doesn’t purchase miracle or blessings, but it can restrict them. Our lack of generosity closes heaven’s windows because God will not bless what He has cursed. We can’t pray a blessing on you that will override the curse you are living under.
So if you want to live a blessed life you must learn to live a generous life!
That is why we challenge you to give and to work 1, worship 1! It isn’t just for our good. It is for OUR good! We want you to be generous so that you will live the blessed life! How generous are you? How generous are you with your time, your talent, and your finances? Lack of generosity reveals your spiritual maturity and gives us a snapshot of your heart!
The generous life is the blessed life! God created us in His image. One of His character traits is generosity. Is that trait one of yours?
