Scripture: Matthew 6:19-21; 2 Corinthians 9:6-8; John 3:16
Theme: Generosity
Title: I Am Generous!
INTRO:
Grace and peace from God our Father, Son and Holy Spirit!
Good morning!
How many of us this morning loved that part of the day when our teacher told us to get out our math books?
When they began instructing us in how to add, subtract, multiply and divide? And later on when they began to teach us all kinds of advanced math related subjects – Geometry, Algebra. Trigonometry and Calculus?
The truth is math is all around us. Math is in nearly everything we do today. It is one of the essential building blocks for everything in our daily lives, including our cell phones, all our computers and tablets, our architecture (both ancient and modern), in our art, our finances, engineering and more and more so in our sports with all the emphasis on analytics today.
What we may not know is how much God loves math. That is right, the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY loves math. He loves facts and figures, triangles and octagons, algebraic formulas, square roots, logarithms along with cosines and tangents.
We know that because God loves to take math and turn it upside down. He likes to do the impossible with math.
+Like taking a little boy’s lunch that was designed for just a little boy and making it turn out to be more than enough to feed 5,000 people (Matthew 14:13-21).
+Like taking a jar of oil that has a designated volume limit and playing with the math to the point that the oil can fill every jar and pot imaginable so that a woman can save her sons from slavery and be able to feed her family as well (2 Kings 4:1-7).
We know that God loves certain numbers like 1, 2, 3, 7 and 10. All you have to do is to read your Bible and you can see over and over how the LORD loves to use those numbers.
+1(ONE) is the number of unity – “I and the Father are one.” (John 10:30)
+2 (Two) is the number of union – Jesus our LORD has two natures – divine and human. Humanity has two very distinct and separate members – male and female.
+3 (Three) is God’s Signature Number – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It was on the 3rd day that Jesus rose from the Dead. We are 3 parts – body, soul and spirit. There are three time periods – past, present and future.
+7 (Seven) is God’s number of perfection – 7 Days of Creation – 7 Feasts of Israel – 7 Letters to the 7 Churches in Revelation – 7 Sacred Objects in the Temple
+10 (Ten) is God’s Way of Speaking to Us – 10 Commandments - 10 Plagues of Egypt -10 times Fire fell down from Heaven – 10 times people were brought back to life
What am I trying to say?
We serve a God who loves numbers and who loves to share with us ways that we can also use numbers to bring about blessings and favor in our lives and in the lives of all those around us. One of the ways that God does that is helping us in the area of our stewardship; specifically in the area of our generosity.
And that is what I would like for us to look at this morning – How we can rejoice in becoming and being a Generous People. For that is what I believe we want to be this morning and what we are trying our best to be this morning – GENEROUS PEOPLE.
The Bible has a great deal to say about being a generous person and the blessings that come from a life of generosity. Let’s take a few moments this morning and remind ourselves that:
1. Generous people often have hearts that are bigger than they can even imagine
In the book of Exodus (36:1-7) the People of God were actually told to stop being so generous in their giving.
What? God told them to stop giving?
Let’s listen to some of the passage:
“And they received from Moses all the contribution that the people of Israel had brought for doing the work on the sanctuary. They still kept giving him freewill offerings every morning, so that all the craftsmen who were doing every sort of task on the sanctuary came, each one from the task that he was doing, and said to Moses, ‘The people bring much more than enough for doing the work that the LORD has commanded us to do.’”
The people gave more than what was needed to build the sanctuary, the Tabernacle to the point where God has to tell them to stop giving.
Can you imagine that? Can you imagine a fund raiser or a financial campaign where the givers are asked to stop giving because they had already met the need and more? It doesn’t happen often but when it does, like it did here for Moses and God’s People it is because Generous People often give more than they are asked to give.
I think what makes this story of Moses and God’s People so amazing is that just a few months before this they were all slaves owning nothing; not even their own physical bodies.
We know that God had given them special favor with the Egyptians who had graciously given them all kinds of things as they left Egypt (Exodus 12:36). But to suddenly go from having nothing to being able to be generous beyond measure is a true testament to their character and honor.
They were so grateful for God freeing them from their physical and spiritual slavery that the only way they could respond was by sharing back with God. They wanted to do something special for God. They didn’t have to give. They weren’t forced to give. They were not manipulated in giving.
They gave from grateful and generous hearts. They knew that they could not out give God. After all, God had rescued them, redeem them and was restoring them to be a mighty people of His glory and honor.
What was true some 3,500 years ago is still true today. Generous people often give more than they are even expected or asked to give.
Down through the years my family and I have been the recipient of those kinds of people. One of the churches that we were privileged to serve decided that it would not merely give us and the staff a few weeks off with paid vacation. They set aside a portion of money that was given to us over our basic salary so we could enjoy a great vacation. They knew that we needed our basic salary to pay our bills and that none of had a lot of extra cash so they decided to give us a bonus to help us go on wonderful vacation.
Now, was that necessary? Do a lot of churches do such things? Do a lot of secular businesses do such things? I don’t know. All I know is that this particular group of people wanted to bless their church staff a little extra and so they did. I can tell you my family and I sure appreciated their generosity. I can tell you that our staff appreciated their generosity. This group of people understood God’s plan to be a generous people. They knew that you could never out give the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY.
II. Generous People give out of their Substance whether that substance is Great or Small.
What would you do if God told you that you couldn’t do something special for Him? Something that would bring Him a great deal of praise and worship?
Would you continue to obey and be happy?
Or would you take a step back in your faith walk?
In 2 Samuel chapter 7, King David decided that he wanted to build the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY a permanent Temple in the Promise Land. He looked around and noticed that God has provided for him this amazing house. It was a house built for a king. Long gone were the days of living on the hillside taking care of sheep or even being holed up in some cave as a fugitive. God had done amazing things in David’s life and he wanted to do something for God.
He looked around and saw that God’s Temple was still a Tent – a Tabernacle. And while it was a nice Tabernacle, David wanted to do more for God. He wanted to build a permanent Temple dedicated to the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY, the Good God of Creation for worship, praise, redemption and fellowship.
There was only one problem. The LORD didn’t want David to be the one to build the Temple. The LORD wanted David’s son to be the one who would build the Temple in Jerusalem.
You can imagine that David might have gotten upset and just decided if that is the way the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY wanted it then he (David) could choose another god to worship – perhaps Baal, Chemosh or one of the other Canaanite gods. Perhaps he would declare himself a God like the Egyptian Pharaohs had done.
But David would have none of that. If God didn’t want him to build the Temple then that was God’s business. While I am sure David was hurt, he didn’t stop serving God, worshipping God or loving God. In fact, as you read David’s life story you begin to see that David did all kinds of things to help his son be ready when it was time to build the Temple.
+David bought the land where the Temple would be built
+David reorganized the Levitical priesthood. He established the order for the Temple services and appointed chiefs of the Tribes who would oversee the treasury and the building of the Temple.
+He fundraised for the Temple – the Bible tells us that David was able to raise over 11 billion dollars in gold alone (2019 gold prices) for the construction of the Temple. David himself gave over 4 billion dollars worth of gold himself. He also gave billions of dollars in silver and precious stones and gems.
+He assembled the work force for the Temple
David knew that his son would be busy enlarging the Kingdom, running the government and taking care of his own personal family. He knew that in order for his son to be able to build God a Temple he had to have a big start. If not, then his son would be spending all his time raising money, supplies and a work force. If David couldn’t build the Temple then he would do his best to help his son be successful.
This is what is called Generational Generosity. On this side of Heaven, King David never saw the inside of the Temple but it was lined with the gold, silver, iron and bronze that he gathered together for it. He never heard the worship music bounce off the walls but their music came from people that he had raised and trained to play and sing. He never saw the Shekinah glory fall upon the Temple but he did his best to saturate the ground with prayer and fasting.
David was able to give and he gave generously. He was not concerned about his getting but his giving. It takes a special kind of person to do that – a person who is dedicated to God. A person whose focus is on what they can give rather than what they can get in this life.
David cared about the future; the next generation and the following generations. David had a big heart and great vision. What was most important to him was that God would be praised and that the next generation would be able to experience God in new ways. Ways that would lead them to even greater experiences and blessings with God.
The Bible tells us that God abundantly blessed David. God praised David. God enabled David to give and David responded with a generous heart.
But it isn’t just the rich that God blesses and praises. In Luke 21:1-4 Jesus shares with us another person that gave to the LORD out of their substance – only, this time instead of that substance being over 4 billion dollars worth of gold it was coins that would be worth a little less than 2 dollars today.
Two dollars and yet listen to what Jesus says:
“Truly, I tell you, this poor woman has put in more than all of them. For they have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.” (3b-4).
You see, God isn’t worried about the quantity but the quality of our giving. God owns the cattle on a thousand hills. God isn’t some poverty stricken God who has to have our gold, silver and bronze; just the opposite. God owns it all.
Recently, NASA has discovered an asteroid nestled between Mars and Jupiter. It is mostly made up of gold, platinum, iron and nickel. Conservative estimates put the asteroid to be worth over 10,000 quadrillion dollars. NASA hopes to visit the asteroid by the year 2022. Already, mining companies are drawing up plans to somehow not only land on the asteroid but develop robots which could mine it and bring some of the precious metals back to earth.
Now, the God who can make an asteroid worth 10,000 quadrillion dollars doesn’t have to have our 2 dollars or even our 4 billion dollars. That is not who God is. That is not what God seeks.
David gave out of his abundance – over 4 billion. The little widow gave out of her lack of abundance – less than 2 dollars. But while the amounts were vastly different their hearts were the same. They both had surrendered everything over to God. And when we are surrendered to God then whether it’s 4 billion or 2 dollars to God it is the same – because it comes from a surrendered heart and life.
Today, we often get so caught up in the dollar amount – large or small. At times we tend to put money above God. God doesn’t get caught up in the dollar amount. He is concerned about the heart amount.
If our hearts are right with God then we will do what we can for God – whether it is great or small. When our hearts our right generosity becomes second nature – whether we have find ourselves with an abundance of wealth or a lack of wealth.
3. Generous people give more than money – they give themselves
Carrying around coined or paper money is a rather modern experience. For most of human history people didn’t have a lot of coined or paper money. Wealth was in land, in cattle, in food or in owning some precious metals and/or jewels. Wealth was also in what you could give of yourself.
The Old Testament Patriarch Jacob shows us this fact. When he wanted to marry Rachel, he was told no because he didn’t have any cattle, food, precious metals or land to give to Laban. Jacob just had some clothes and perhaps a donkey or two. That was because he had to run away before he could get a lot of money or resources. If you remember, Jacob had to get away from Esau as quick as he could because his older brother was determined to kill him (Genesis 27:41-46).
Jacob wanted to marry Rachel, but he didn’t have the means. And so, Laban decided that they would make a deal. If Jacob didn’t have any money then he could work for Laban for 7 years. That 7 years times 2,080 hours or a little over 14,500 hours of labor for Rachel.
The average wage including benefits in the United States right now is a little over 27.00 an hour. So, if we take 27.00 x 2,080 x 7 that equals a little over 390,000 (393,120.00) dollars. That means that Jacob gave over 390,000 dollars to be able to marry Rachel. And as we know Laban did a little deceiving and ended up getting another 7 years for both Leah and Rachel which means Jacob gave almost 800,000.00 dollars in sweat equity for his wives.
No matter how you slice it –14 years is a lot of time and 800,000.00 dollars is a lot of money. But if you asked Jacob if it was worth it he would more be more than willing to do it all over again.
Why? Because Jacob loved both Rachel and Leah.
Love causes us to do all kinds of strange things.
In Luke 10:25-37 we have another strange story of how generous people give more than money – they give themselves.
We know the story as the Good Samaritan. What we may not know is that each day the Good Samaritan went out he always carried a little extra oil, some extra bandages and some extra money.
Why?
Because he knew that the road between Jerusalem and Jericho was dangerous. This was not the first and only time that the Good Samaritan had helped someone. We get that from his conversation with the inn keeper. The reason why the inn keeper trusted him to repay him was no doubt this was not the first person that the Good Samaritan had rescued.
The Good Samaritan was generous – with his time, with his resources and with his future. He invested in people. He traveled down an area where people were often hurt and often in need. He didn’t bypass them like others did. He didn’t throw a few coins at their feet and say, “GOOD LUCK BUDDY”.
Instead, he was generous with his time. He was generous with his mode of transportation – he had to walk while the hurt man was able to ride. He was generous with his resources – his bandages and healing oils. He was generous with his future – whatever costs the man incurred he would pay them.
In today’s world more and more people are no longer having the coins, the financial means to be generous. It is taking all the coins they have to pay the bills. But more and more people are realizing that they can give their time, their physical energy, their wisdom and their selves – body, mind and soul. They can take the time to pray and fast for others.
Far too long we have thought of generosity mainly in monetary terms. Is it better to have someone’s money than their prayers, their wisdom, their presence, their spiritual power? Is it better to have someone standing in the gap for you or handing you some money?
When Peter and John were at the Temple in Acts chapter 3 they didn’t have any money. They were going to the Temple to pray. And when they were approached by the lame beggar they had to confess that they didn’t have any silver or gold. But they did have Jesus and His Power. They could pray and believe. And their prayers were answered as God used them to bring healing and wholeness into the lame man.
If you asked that man later if he would have rather had a silver coin or even a gold coin instead of being healed, I think we would all agree that what Peter and John were able to give was greater than any amount of silver or gold.
As children we wanted to give to our local church. But we had one problem we didn’t have any money. Our mom was a stay at home mom and it took all dad made to put food on the table and a roof over our heads.
So, mom volunteered our family to help clean the church, mow the yard, and do other chores. We could visit some of the people of the church and we could share what we grew in our garden with others. We didn’t have very much to put in the plate but the floors were clean, the bathrooms were clean and the windows were clean. The place had been prayed over and the grass had been mowed.
Mom taught us if we didn’t have money we did have ourselves. We could pray, we could help teach a class, we could mow the grass, we could clean the church and visit the shut-ins. We could welcome people to church and pick up after church.
There are all kinds of ways that we can give if we just allow the Holy Spirit to speak to us, work through us and lead us.
4. Finally, Generous People Give to Help Others even when they differ from those others
In Luke 7:1-10 there is this amazing story of how this Gentile is responsible for providing the Jews a synagogue. This Gentile was not the first or the last person who helped God’s people even when God’s people have not always been the best of persons. For in some of the ancient synagogues Gentiles were not allowed to attend – Jews only.
But that has not stopped many Gentiles and Jews alike from helping others outside of their so called box of orthodoxy. Generous people learn how to give outside of the box.
Years ago there was a man by the name of Patrick Henry (not that Patrick Henry) whose name was inscribed on a plague recognizing those who had helped rebuild a synagogue that had burned down. Jews that came to visit began to wonder – who was this Patrick Henry? (https://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-life-and-religion/144175/non-jews-help-jewish-world-function)
Some thought it was a joke, but Patrick Henry was one of the synagogue’s janitors. For years he had worked around the synagogue washing the bathroom floors and the hallways and helping pass out the peas and mashed potatoes for the dinners.
Most people thought the little 70+ year old man was just some bum that needed a little money from time to time. Some even thought he was a drunk. No one talked to him very much because he was a Gentile and good Jews don’t converse with Gentiles during synagogue time.
However, the rabbis felt differently. They developed a deep relationship with Patrick Henry. And when the synagogue needed money to rebuild, Patrick came and emptied his life savings and gave it all to the synagogue.
This Gentile who would never study Talmud and too many would never be given the time of day had given all he had to help others worship and follow God.
WHY? Because he had a generous heart – a heart that saw over the differences and didn’t shy away to help others even he didn’t understand them.
Too often we are tempted to always keep things in house. If our tribe doesn’t have a stake in it then we can’t give. Somehow it would show disloyalty to give to another charity, another group or denomination an offering or promote their cause. And what would be saying if we gave to a group that believed differently than we do? Wouldn’t that be in effect going against our standards?
This morning, we all know how beautiful it is to worship in this house. We are here because of the generosity of the Seventh Day Adventist Church. They have opened their doors because we needed a church to worship in while we sale our land and relocate.
They could have said no. They could have told us that because we differ on the day of the Sabbath that they could not allow us to enter into these doors on Sunday. They could have said a lot of things and tried to prove their point by quoting this passage and that passage, by sharing this philosophy and that philosophy.
But instead they opened the door, gave us a key and welcomed us. It is all rather humbling. I hope that we in turn if given the chance would do the same for someone else.
We do that when we welcome the stranger and when we open the door for those who the world considers unworthy. We do that when we do all we can to reach out to everyone around us – regardless of race, color, creed or even belief. We do that when we live like Jesus –
“For God so loved the world that He gave His One and Only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”
This morning, God loves math – but not just math – but how math can work in people’s lives and in their hearts – how the principles of math can teach us how to be a generous people with generous heart.
This morning let’s do all we can to remember that:
1. Generous people often have bigger hearts than they can even imagine
2. Generous People give out of their Substance whether that substance is great or small.
3. Generous people give more than Money – they give Themselves
4. Finally, Generous People Give to Help Others even when they differ from those Others
We can do a lot of things in this life that is great and good. And one of the greatest things we can do is to be generous people. Nothing shows our holiness more than being a people of generosity to all those around us.
This morning let it be our prayer that in the weeks and months to come that our generosity rises up to another level – that we are able to be more givers than getters. That we do all we can to possess Generational Generosity and that even if we don’t have much as far as paper money and coins that we can pray, we can share and we can give our time to others so that they may be touched by Jesus!
Closing Song/Open Altar
Benediction
*For an interesting look at numbers and God see The Divine Code From One to 2020 by Steve Cioccolanti
*I am indebted to Timothy L. Smith and his article on generosity – see https://www.crosswalk.com/church/giving/10-examples-of-generosity-in-the-bible-and-how-to-follow-them.html
