1. When Linda, Laura, and I were living in Huntsville, Alabama we went out to eat one Saturday at a popular BBQ restaurant. We saw a wealthy couple from our congregation come in and be seated. We exchanged pleasantries and went on with our meal. When it came time to pay we found that our church friends had already paid for our meal. My first thought was, “I should have ordered dessert!” Actually, it was a touch of gratitude for their generosity.
2. Some people enjoy giving to others. The bible refers to it as the spiritual gift of “giving.”
3. God encourages our generosity toward one another:
• Exodus 35.5 Take from among you a contribution to the Lord. Whoever is of a generous heart, let him bring the Lord's contribution: gold, silver, and bronze;
• Proverbs 14.21 Whoever despises his neighbor is a sinner, but blessed is he who is generous to the poor.
• Acts 2.46-47 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
4. HE is generous to us:
• James 1.5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.
• Jeremiah 32.36-41 (especially verse 41)
36 “Now therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning this city of which you say, ‘It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by sword, by famine, and by pestilence’: 37 Behold, I will gather them from all the countries to which I drove them in my anger and my wrath and in great indignation. I will bring them back to this place, and I will make them dwell in safety. 38 And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. 39 I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them. 40 I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. 41 I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul.
5. Consider the depth of God’s generosity:
I. The Return Home (36-38)
36 “Now therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning this city of which you say, ‘It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by sword, by famine, and by pestilence’: 37 Behold, I will gather them from all the countries to which I drove them in my anger and my wrath and in great indignation. I will bring them back to this place, and I will make them dwell in safety. 38 And they shall be my people, and I will be their God.
A. He Would Bring Them Back from the Consequence of Their Choices (Babylon)
1. Judah rejected God and worshiped idols
2. “When God disciplines us he gives us what we want in our rebellion.”
• Quail
• Idols
3. An Application for US
• ALL of us have chosen to go to the “far country” away from God at some point.
• It is the place the prodigal son went.
• It is the place of the legion of demons.
• We may go there briefly or for longer, but we all have gone.
• We have all felt the consequences of the bad decisions that sent us there.
B. He Brings Them/Us Back by His Grace and Their/Our Repentance (New Choice)
1. Chesed or steadfast love – OT and NT
2. Teshuvah – “Return”/change of direction – a picture of repentance in returning to God
Isaiah 44.22 I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud and your sins like mist; return to me, for I have redeemed you.
• John Baptist and Jesus preached repentance because the kingdom was “at hand.”
3. Sometimes we need to be broken to go where God wants us to go and be who God wants us to be.
II. Rewards in the Return (38-41)
38 And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. 39 I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them. 40 I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. 41 I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul.
A. Relationship with God – “My people/their God” (38)
1. Privilege – Ephesians 3.14-17a
14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith
2. Responsibility – live like it – Ephesians 2.10 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
B. Relationship with Believers (39) – “One Heart and One Way to Fear/Be in Awe of Him Forever”
C. Relationship Through an “Everlasting Covenant” (40)
1. Do you ever feel like turning from God?
2. Remember, He keeps covenant and promises
D. Relationship of Extravagance (41)
41 I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul.
1. How do you think of God? Stingy or Generous?
2. He gives “with all of his heart”
3. How does God say we are to love him? All our heart, soul, and might
1. While my wife, Linda was alive she loved to give anonymous gifts. Some of you have been recipients of her joy in giving. One Easter when we were living in Abilene a family across the street from us was having an emotionally difficult time. She knew the parents were not in a place to give their small children any kind of Easter. So, she bought Easter baskets and toys. During the night she slipped out of our house and set the baskets on the porch. On Easter morning, the children (and parents) were surprised and thrilled by the gifts.
• Because the parents knew Linda and her nature for giving they suspected her.
• What do you know about the giving nature of God?
2. Many in this congregation have generous hearts – toward God; toward others
3. This comes because God is living in you and you are reflecting his nature.
4. Nahum 1.7
The LORD is good,
a stronghold in the day of trouble;
he knows those who take refuge in him.
