Series: Resolutions Worth Keeping
Title: Resolution—Generosity
Text: Deuteronomy 15:1-11
Truth: Give willingly.
Aim: To produce a spirit of generosity.
INTRODUCTION
Jeff Anderson said it was a plastic donut that changed him forever. He had been taught as a child to budget, save, and tithe his money. He had financial peace but not spiritual peace. This sparked a hunger to understand how God views giving and how his giving could actually get God’s attention.
He writes:
Autumn Joy toddled across the room and stood at the edge of my lap-top view. I was in task mode, typing away while sitting in the living-room recliner. With Shirley Temple curls bouncing around her face, my eighteen-month-old daughter looked up at me. I looked at her. Then she handed me a Plastic Donut from her kitchen play set.
I looked at the Donut and back at my daughter. She stood waiting for a response. So I put the Donut up to my mouth and said with great animation, “Yummm, yummm,…Thank you, Autumn! This is soooo good!”
Then something beautiful happened. Her big brown eyes widened, and her lips pushed a giant smile against her puffy cheeks. She stood up on her toes, shrugged her shoulders up to her ears, and let out a high-pitched squeal.
After soaking in the experience for a few seconds, she ran back to her kitchen and brought me a little pink spoon. Again I responded, showing her my pleasure and approval. The cycle continued a few more times as I collected plastic pieces from her kitchen set.
For Autumn, this exercise in giving gifts kept bringing her back to Daddy. For me, it kept me looking for my child to return to my side. I was moved by the exchange. I loved the interaction and connection. I was so pleased.
I didn’t see it coming, but at that moment it occurred to me: this is how our giving must feel from God’s perspective. Our gifts to Him are like Plastic Donuts. God does not need our gifts or our money. But like a child’s gift that moves her father, our gifts can really get God’s attention.
For my daughter, the feedback from our interaction inspired continued giving…Could it be that God desires a similar Plastic-Donut experience when I give to Him?...I had never before pictured the act of giving as something that elicits such delightful reactions. Had I been missing opportunities to connect with God in deeper ways?
In that beautiful picture you see the little girl’s love for her father in her gifts to him. It was her gifts which revealed what was in her heart. Our heart and our stuff are connected. Jesus said, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). A primary way we speak from our heart is through our gifts. A gift helps your heart say what it really feels. The gift and the heart work together.
The Old Testament book of Deuteronomy is a collection of the last sermons of Moses. After 40 years of wandering in the desert while the unbelieving and disobedient Israelites die off, the nation is soon to enter the Promised Land. Moses reminds them of God’s commandments and encourages them to faithfully obey God. If they will obey, God will bless them and allow them to stay in the Promised Land. If they disobey, God will judge them and drive them out of the Land. One of those commandments was to be generous so as to provide for the needs of the poor. God promises if they would be generous to meet the needs of other Israelites, they would not have any poor in the land.
Chapter 15 is about generosity. Generosity is illustrated with the law of release of debts (verses 1-3) and the law of the release of slaves (verses 12-18). Every seven years all the debt one Israelite owed another was to be forgiven if it had not been paid in full. The Old Testament recognized that occasionally people have to borrow money in order to survive or succeed. Lending to the poor was not looked down upon. In fact, it is commended. What the Bible commends is responsible borrowing and lending scheduled over a reasonable length of time so it can be repaid. Debt was not to be everlasting. Debt was to have limits. It is not debt the Bible condemns but the exploitation of debt.
Some scholars suggest that the word “Hebrew” in verse 12, where it is talking about releasing slaves, at this early stage might not represent an ethnic group but a social and economic group. It may describe people who do not own land. They lived by selling their labor and services. Moses said such people were to be treated fairly. At the end of six years they were to be set free and sent away with a generous severance package, or they could volunteer to permanently commit themselves to their owner. If the slave decided to stay a hole was punched in the ear.
To the Hebrew mindset hearing is associated with obeying. If a person said they heard from God but did not obey God, the Israelite would say they did not hear from God. It was inconceivable that a human being would actually be spoken to by the Sovereign Creator God and not obey. Thus, a hole in the ear was a sign that witnessed to whom you listened and obeyed. John 10:27 says, “My sheep hear My voice, I know them, and they follow Me.”
What would motivate an Israelite to release another Israelite from their debt after six years? He may not have paid off his debt. What would motivate him to release an Israelite after six years of servitude? The man may have been a great boon to his estate. Generosity.
What is generosity? It is more than an action; it is an attitude. It is a mindset which is open to share and care for others. It is a lifestyle in which giving is without calculation or grudge. Moses told the Israelites to not be hardhearted or tightfisted. Do not be stingy but openhearted. Give willingly.
Moses tells the people that a generous spirit with their fellow Israelites would result in no poverty in the land. Is that really possible? Listen to what happened when the church was full of the Holy Spirit in Acts 4:32-35:
(32) Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of his possessions was his own, but instead they held everything in common. (33) And with great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was on all of them. (34) For there was not a needy person among them, because all those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, (35) and laid them at the apostles' feet. This was then distributed to each person as anyone had a need.
They understood they were not owners but stewards of these things. Ultimately it was God’s land and God’s house. If He wanted it sold to meet the needs of others, so be it. They simply managed God’s possessions. Generosity resulted in no poor in the church.
In verse 4 Moses said God promised if they would be generous there would be no poor in the land. But God knew there would be greed and selfishness. He knew there would be reluctance to supply for the needs of a poor person. So God gave these instructions to the stingy and miserly:
(7) If there is a poor person among you, one of your brothers within any of your gates in the land the Lord your God is giving you, you must not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother. (8) Instead, you are to open your hand to him and freely loan him enough for whatever need he has.
A typical response toward the poor is to refuse to meet their need. Maybe you think they do not deserve it. You worked for yours, let them work for theirs. Moses reminded the Israelites just Who it was who gave them what they had. Your health to work, your strength of mind and/or back, and the opportunity to earn your own wage ultimately come from God. You do not believe that? Ask anyone who has been sidelined from work because of health if health is not a gift from God.
Moses said do not be hardhearted toward the poor or tightfisted in your responses, clinging to your money and possessions. Why? Because generosity is a response to the gift of God’s grace. Israel saw God’s generosity in the gift of the land but we see God’s generosity in the gift of His Son for sinners.
(9) Be careful that there isn't this wicked thought in your heart, 'The seventh year, the year of canceling debts, is near,' and you are stingy toward your poor brother and give him nothing. He will cry out to the Lord against you, and you will be guilty.
An Israelite in a desperate condition goes to his fellow Israelite and seeks help. The next year is the year of release. There is no way this man can repay all he borrows before the year of release. The Law will require what is not paid back to be forgiven. The tendency will be to not loan all of what is needed. Moses called that wicked self-interestedness. Sounds smart to me! But Israel’s economy was not like any other nation’s economy. We are not called to emulate this method of financial practice. This was to be a witness to the nations that Israel’s God is generous and owner of all the land. They were just His stewards. We are not called to reproduce this practice but we are called to demonstrate this principle in our life.
(10) Give to him, and don't have a stingy heart when you give, and because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you do. (11) For there will never cease to be poor people in the land; that is why I am commanding you, 'You must willingly open your hand to your afflicted and poor brother in your land.'
He wants them to be generous in spirit rather than stingy and unwilling. Do not do it only out of duty, all the while wishing you did not have to do it. That is not worthy of a heart which has had the grace of God poured into it without measure.
Have you seen the television show Hoarders? In that show, something has gone terribly wrong with a person’s thinking. Everyone but the hoarder recognizes that clinging to their treasures is ruining their life. How much happier and healthier they would be if they would give their things away. Look at the blessings they are missing to enrich many if they only had a heart to give rather than hold on to it tightfistedly. God says to the miserly, give willingly.
In John 12 Jesus quotes verse 11 when Judas criticizes Mary of Bethany for anointing Him with an expensive ointment just days before His crucifixion. Obviously Jesus was not callously dismissing the needs of the poor. His whole life showed His love for needy people. He saw Mary’s generous act not as a lack of love for the poor but as a testimony of her understanding of His coming death. In referring to this passage, Jesus shows that He agreed humanity had not taken seriously God’s commandments to care for the poor. If God’s people had taken the Law seriously there would be no poor, but because His people refuse to be generous, there will always be poor people who need help.
What ties this chapter together is generosity. Israel was to give willingly. The poor provide the setting in which to display a generous spirit. What are the motivations to give willingly?
I. GENEROSITY IS IMPORTANT TO GOD (DEUT. 15:5, 8, 10, 11, 15)
In the Hebrew language there are no modifiers as there are in English. If they want to intensify a word they just repeat it. For example, they might say “running run!” That means run very fast. Of course, the supreme example is Isaiah 6 where the Seraphim say of God that He is “Holy, Holy, Holy!” God is very, very holy. That feature of intensification of language is found more in this chapter than any other chapter in Deuteronomy. It is as if God is saying, “Hey! I really care about this. I really, really want you to be generous. I really want you to give willingly to meet the needs of others. This is very important to Me.”
The importance of giving is not only seen in this emphatic language but it is also an imperative. God commands them to be generous. Moses says in verse 11: “For there will never cease to be poor people in the land; that is why I am commanding you, 'You must willingly open your hand to your afflicted and poor brother in your land.' ” Again in verse 15: “Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you; that is why I am giving you this command today.”
Generosity is not just a matter of charity; it is also a matter of obedience. The stingy Christian is not just being selfish. The stingy Christian is rejecting God.
One day Jesus was people-watching at the temple treasury when He noticed a widow drop two copper coins in the treasury as she passed by. Jesus said she gave more than all the others. The others gave out of their surplus but she, despite her poverty, gave everything on which she had to live (Mark 12:43-44).
What would motivate her to give when the rational action would be to save? If we are programmed for survival of the fittest, why would we give at all? Could it be this stirring we have to give when we see a need is a reflection that we have been made in the image of One who has given us everything? Giving is important to God.
Prayer is a great privilege and extremely important but it is not godlike. God does not pray to Himself. Prayer is human-like, not godlike. Worship is essential to the child of God but it is not godlike. God does not worship Himself. To worship is human-like not godlike. But when a follower of Jesus stands before God with all he possesses and an open hand to give, that is godlike. Generosity is important to God.
What are the motivations to give willingly?
II. GENEROSITY IS PERSONAL (DEUT. 15:7, 8, 9, 10)
There is a lot of body language in this chapter. God through Moses speaks of the hand, the heart, and the eyes. In verse 7 he speaks of being “tightfisted.” In verse 8 he talks about being “open handed.” The hand symbolizes power and control. Do you not find it interesting that God speaks to those with the power? He does not tell the poor to hitch up their pants and go to work. Instead the Law addresses those who can do something and commends generosity.
In verse 7 he speaks of being “hardhearted.” In verse 8 we are not to have a “wicked” heart. In verse 10 we are not to have a “stingy” heart. In the Bible the heart represents our mindset, will, purposes, even our determinations. A “hard” or “stingy” heart squelches compassion for meeting the need. The reason for someone being tightfisted is because they have a hard and stingy heart. If people are going to be generous they need a change of heart about their own self-interest. Generosity is understanding your blessings from God are to be blessings to others.
The translation “stingy” in verse 9 is literally translated “eye” by the King James Version. The “eye” speaks of our attitude, the way we look at people. What do you see or what is your attitude when you look at people?
If you put that all together, God is saying He wants generosity to touch every part of our person. Our practical behavior, our motives, our intentions, and our attitudes are without calculation or grudge. God challenges us to be generous in how we think, feel, and act toward people in need. So much conflict in our homes and churches could be greatly reduced if we were generous in our attitude and opinion of people, putting the best interpretation on their words and actions.
One of the financial officers with the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention was visiting Miss Katelyn in her home. As he was about to leave, she asked him to please wait while she went to visit her bank. Unsure what to do, he awaited her return. When Miss Katelyn returned from the bank, she gave her entire life savings to assist the people of Haiti. Her instructions were for him to take all she had for those who had nothing. She was not worried about the tax implications or her needs for tomorrow. Her heart was filled with compassion for the great needs in Haiti. Though she had no regular source of income, she gave every dollar she had meticulously saved over the years.
Miss Katelyn did not watch much television or have great interest in the internet. She had heard reports about the earthquake in Haiti over the radio, saw a few pictures of the devastation on television, and heard her family and friends talk about the tragedy unfolding there. God used those things to move her heart to respond with unbelievable generosity. When we understand that God owns it all it will prepare us to willingly be generous.
Part of the explanation of Miss Katelyn’s generosity and her partnership with the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention has to do with her family. Her great-grandfather and his extended family evacuated from Cuba to escape the communist revolution and find freedom in America. Penniless when they arrived, Southern Baptists helped them resettle but more importantly find their Savior, Jesus Christ. The generosity her family received had been told to each successive generation. She simply wanted to pass along that blessing.
At the time of her gift, Miss Katelyn was a healthy, vibrant, discerning five-year-old girl. Her gift was thoughtfully withdrawn from her piggy bank, and her entire life savings of six dollars was placed into the protective hands of her grandfather, Carlos Ferrer, the North American Mission Board’s chief financial officer. His legacy to Katelyn is one of generosity and selflessness. Instead of candy and doll clothes, her gift purchased twenty-five pounds of rice, enough to feed a Haitian family of four for six days.
Maybe you are tempted to discount the story because Miss Katelyn is a child, but her simple faith and obedience is what Jesus commanded to adults in Luke 18:17. God wants generosity to be the default setting in our thoughts, feelings, and actions.
Another motivation to give willingly is that generosity is to be exemplary.
III. GENEROSITY IS TO BE EXEMPLARY (DEUT. 15: 13-15)
(13) When you set him free, do not send him away empty-handed. (14) Give generously to him from your flock, your threshing floor, and your winepress. You are to give him whatever the Lord your God has blessed you with. (15) Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you; that is why I am giving you this command today.
When the Israelites were needy, God was generous with them. Our generosity is simply being a good manager of God’s generosity toward us. We simply share with others what God has already given us. This principle is everywhere in the Bible. Jesus tells us to love our enemies. Why? Because God has been gracious and merciful with us. John 13:34 says we are to love one another. Why? Because He has loved us. Colossians 3:13 says we forgive others because God has forgiven us. In 2 Corinthians 8 Paul encourages the church to give sacrificially to the collection for the poor in Jerusalem. What is the motivation for them to diminish their wealth? Jesus who was rich became poor for their sakes. You add all that together and everything we have to give is something we ultimately received from the Lord. To be generous is to act like God.
When Arthur Brooks was a professor at Syracuse, he researched generosity in America. He published his findings in a book entitled Who Really Cares. The facts caused quite a stir. It made the national news magazines. Basically, he said conservatives give more than liberals and the poor give more percentage than the rich.
Seventy-five percent of Americans give to charity every year. They give away $260 billion every year. That is more than the Gross National Product of Sweden. Americans give at levels no other country can match. But there are thirty million American families, or seventy-five million individuals, who give nothing. They do not give money to charities. They do not give blood or time. A big minority of the population, twenty-five percent, give nothing at all.
Arthur Brooks said these tightwads have some things in common. They are thoroughly secular. They have no belief in God, or the thought of Him has no practical impact on their daily affairs. They are very favorable toward income distribution by the government. They believe the government should care for these people through our taxes. These stingy Americans generally live in urban centers and do not have children they would likely be teaching charitable values.
On the other hand, folks who go to church are twenty-five percent more likely to give than those who do not or rarely attend. Dr. Brooks said when you remove all contributions of any kind to any church or religious organizations from the giving of the regular churchgoer he still out-gives the secularist or non-church attender. The research showed that there is no category where secular people are more generous than religious people.
CONCLUSION
A man put his carry-on in the luggage compartment and sat down in his assigned seat. It was going to be a long flight. “I’m glad I have a good book to read. Perhaps I will get a short nap,” he thought.
Just before the doors closed, a line of soldiers came down the aisle and filled all the vacant seats, totally surrounding the man. “Where are you headed?” he asked the soldier seated nearest him. The soldier named a military base. “We’ll be there for two weeks for special training, and then we’re being deployed to Afghanistan.”
After flying for about an hour, an announcement was made that sack lunches were available for five dollars. It would be several hours before the plane reached the east, and the man quickly decided a lunch would help pass the time. As he reached for his wallet, he overheard a soldier ask his buddy if he planned to buy lunch. “No, that seems like a lot of money for just a sack lunch. Probably wouldn’t be worth five bucks. I’ll wait till we get to base.” His friend agreed.
He looked around at the other soldiers. None were buying lunch. The man walked to the back of the plane and handed the flight attendant a fifty dollar bill. “Take lunch to all those soldiers,” he said. She grabbed his arms and squeezed tightly. Her eyes wet with tears, she thanked him. “My son was a soldier in Iraq; it’s almost like you are doing it for him.” Picking up ten sacks, she headed up the aisle to where the soldiers were seated. She stopped at the man’s seat and asked, “Which do you like best—beef or chicken?” “Chicken,” he replied, wondering why she asked. She turned and went to the front of the plane, returning a minute later with a dinner plate from first class. “This is your thanks.”
After they finished eating, he went again to the back of the plane, heading for the restroom. A man stopped him. “I saw what you did. I want to be a part of it. Here, take this.” He handed him twenty-five dollars.
Soon after he returned to his seat, he saw the Flight Captain coming down the aisle, looking at the aisle numbers as he walked. He hoped the Captain was not looking for him, but noticed he was looking at the numbers only on his side of the plane. When the Captain got to the man’s row he stopped, smiled, held out his hand, and said, “I want to shake your hand.”
Quickly unfastening his seatbelt the man stood and took the Captain’s hand. With a booming voice he said, “I was a soldier and I was a military pilot. Once, someone bought me lunch. It was an act of kindness I never forgot.” The man was embarrassed when applause was heard from all the passengers.
Later he walked to the front of the plane so he could stretch his legs. A man who was seated about six rows in front of him reached out his hand, wanting to shake hands. He left another twenty-five dollars in the man’s palm.
When the plane landed he gathered his belongings and started to deplane. Waiting just inside the airplane door was a man who stopped him, put something in his shirt pocket, turned, and walked away without saying a word. Another twenty-five dollars!
Upon entering the terminal, the passenger saw the soldiers gathering for their trip to the base. He walked over to them and handed them seventy-five dollars. “It will take you some time to reach the base. It will be about time for a sandwich. God bless you.”
Look at all the good which came from a generous heart. No one went hungry on that plane. Ten young men left that flight feeling the love and respect of their fellow travelers. As this man walked briskly to his car, he whispered a prayer for their safe return. These soldiers were giving their all for the United States of America, and he could only give them a couple of meals. It seemed so little.
If you are a veteran, would you please stand? At some point in their life those who are standing wrote a blank check made payable to The United States of America. In the amount section they wrote, “Up to and including my life.” That act of generosity has afforded the rest of us unparalleled blessings.
Do you not see the parallels between God’s generosity in Christ and what it means for our salvation? You see how your generosity has afforded great blessings to this church and its community. God wants us to give willingly. It is important to Him. It is personal. It is following His example. It would be unimaginable to know all the good which will occur when God’s people give willingly.
1. Plastic Donuts, Jeff Anderson, Multnomah, 2012.
2. Chris Wright, All Souls Anglican Church, London, 9/23/07.
3. ibid
4. Chris Wright.
5. Jill Carattini, Giving Reasons, www.rzim.org., 12/4/2006.
6. Ray Rust, The Witnessing—Giving Life, chapter “Commitment-A Biblical Study.”
7. William E. Townes, Jr., SBC Life.
