Rich Man, Poor Man

SERMON OUTLINE:

A Different Attitude (14:21)

A Different Awareness (14:31)

A Different Relationship (19:6)

A Different Borrower (19:17)

A Different Response (21:13)

SERMON BODY:

Ill:

• Les Misérables was written in 1862 by Victor Hugo,

• It is one of the great novels of the 19th century.

• It has been made into a movie (at least 10 times).

• As well as being turned into an international musical sensation,

One of the overarching themes in the book/film/musical is grace.

• Jean Valjean, the main character,

• Has been released from a long jail sentence,

• But as an ex-prisoner he cannot find employment.

• Therefore, he is hungry and tired, and in a desperate state,

• He encounters a priest who lavishes on him kindness and good food.

• But one night when the priest is sleeping,

• Valjean steals silver from the church and flees.

• He is caught by the police.

• And taken back to the priest to press charges against him.

• But surprisingly, the priest says the silver was a gift to the criminal.

• And by doing so he keeps him from going back to prison.

• The priest then challenges Valjean to use this opportunity for good.

• It is an act of grace by the priest.

• Because the convict did not deserve such an opportunity!

• TRANSITION:

• Every Christian is saved by grace through faith.

• We did not deserve it and could never have earnt it!

• Salvation is a gift form a generous God.

• The beautiful thing about grace is it is very, very fragile,

• By that I mean the moment you try adding anything to grace it simply evaporates,

• It is no longer grace!

• Grace is a free gift from a loving God,

• It is undeserved and cannot be earnt.

• If you looked in your mail today and found a free gift waiting for you,

• It wouldn’t really be free.

• Because you know that someone else paid for it at some point.

• The same is true of God’s grace.

• It’s totally and completely free to you—but Jesus Christ paid for it.

• “Not with silver or gold but with his precious blood” (1 Peter chapter 1 verses 18-25)

Another ‘G’ word associated with the God of the Bible is, ‘generosity’.

• The generosity of God is a profound aspect of His nature,

• We see that illustrated in at least three ways.

e.g. #1: Spiritual Blessings (Ephesians chapter 1 verse 3),

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with EVERY SPIRITUAL BLESSING in Christ.”

e.g. #2: Lavished Grace (Ephesians chapter 1 verses 7-8),

“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace THAT HE LAVISHED ON US. With all wisdom and understanding.”

e.g. #3: Creation.

• God’s generosity is evident in creation.

• He made billions of galaxies, stars, and diverse species of plants and animals.

• His creativity and abundance reflect his EXTRAVAGANT nature.

• TRANSITION:

• Part of following the generous God of the Bible,

• Is to show generosity to others with our time, our possessions, and our money!

• This has always been a Christian trait.

• Quote: Christian History magazine (1998 article) Rodney Stark said:

"In a world lacking social services, Christians were their brothers' keepers.

At the end of the second century AD, Tertullian wrote that while pagan temples spend their donations "on feasts and drinking bouts," Christians spent theirs "to support and bury poor people, to supply the wants of boys and girls destitute of means and parents, and of old persons confined to the house."

These claims concerning Christian charity were confirmed by pagans as well.

The pagan Emperor Julian complained,

"The impious Galileans (Christians) support not only their poor, but ours as well."

Question:

• How many people live in slums, well hold on let’s limit the question.

• How many people live in the five biggest slums in the world?

Answer:

• 500,000 people – wrong!

• 1 million people – wrong!

• 2.5 million people – wrong!

• In the world’s five biggest slums,

• Contain 5.7 million people!

• The biggest slum in the world is in Pakistan,

• Orangi Town in Karachi (two million four hundred thousand people live).

• That is twice the size of Birmingham (England’s second largest city).

Now, if you shrink the radius from world to the UK.

• According to the experts,

• 12 million people in the UK live in poverty.

And if you shrink the radius again from the UK to within 10 miles of this Church.

• There are people living in poverty.