Cultivating Generosity 3

We were looking last week at three things that we can reasonably expect as we grow in spirit-led generosity.
Number one, we will increasingly reflect the character of our father who is in heaven.
We have a green screen there, upstairs.
We will increasingly reflect the character of our father who is in heaven.
Paul, writing to the Ephesians, Ephesians 5, 1 and 2, "Be imbitators of God, therefore,
as dearly loved children and live a life of love just as Christ loved us and gave himself
up for us as a fragrant, off-raying and sacrifice to God."
Secondly, we saw that our giving capacity grows.
The Lord Jesus, Luke chapter 6 verse 38, "Given it will be given to you, a good measure
pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be poured into your lap.
Or with a measure you use, it will be measured to you."
I believe another translation says, "The measure that you give will be given back to you."
And then thirdly, we saw that, of course, as we grow in generosity, our capacity to help
other people increases.
Paul, writing to Timothy, "Command those who are rich in this present world, not to
be arrogant, nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope
in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.
Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share.
Everything wrong with being rich, God gives us all things to richly enjoy.
But with riches comes responsibility and doing good in Scripture means sharing our wealth
with a view of laying up treasure in heaven."
Well, that brings us this morning, then, to a fourth thing that we can expect as we grow
in generosity, and that is this, it will build a sense of Christian community.
Listen again to these verses from our text, 2 Corinthians 9, 13 and 14.
Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for
the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ and for your generosity
in sharing with them and everyone else.
And in their prayers for you, and I notice this, their hearts will go out to you because
of this surpassing grace God has given you.
In their prayers for you, their hearts will go out to you because of this surpassing grace
God has given you.
If ever, you've been on the receiving end of help.
And I mean help freely given, help given without any strings attached, help given without
any control or manipulation, then you will know that what that does is it warms your heart,
it draws your heart towards the person who has stepped out and helped you.
Is that not true?
Thursday night, the hottest night of the year, I went to bed around 1130.
It was 28 on my thermometer, got up next morning, it was still 26, wouldn't you know it?
The air conditioner at the parcinage died.
I kept saying to Michelle, there's something wrong here because it's getting warmer and
warmer and warmer and I went out with my trusty little flashlight in the middle of the night
to see what the thing was doing and it wasn't doing anything.
So what do you do?
Well, I turned to my fix-it-all son, Michael, texted him in the middle of the night, called
him first thing in the morning.
He came over, looked at it, diagnosed the problem, got a replacement part, and by 9 o'clock
next morning we were back in business.
Do you think that my heart was warmed towards my second son?
Well it was warm in more ways than one, but it was really warmed towards him.
And you'll have similar situations where your heart is drawn to people who see you and
care about you.
And that kind of affection can last a long time, it's come November 58 years ago that my
twin nephews were born.
And my oldest sister and her husband were living with us in the farmhouse at the time.
Labor started in the middle of the night.
So husband and pregnant wife and my father all piled in the old Pontiac to go to the hospital,
which was at least 40, maybe 45 minutes away.
And wouldn't you know, at half ways to town, the car had problems in quit on them.
I seem to recall, this is the middle of the night, that the car overheated because somebody
had put the emergency brake on and the cables of the emergency brake had frozen with the
mud on our mud road.
So here they are, in the middle of the night, half ways to town with a woman in labor,
what are you going to do?
Well, they did the only thing they could do, so they found the nearest house, pounded
on the door, woked the guy up and asked him to drive them to the hospital, which indeed
is what he did.
The reason I remember this is because for a long time afterwards, as we passed this house
on the way to town, my father would always point it out that he would say, "The savior
of the twins lives there."
The savior of the twins lives there.
Now roll the clock forward, it's 58 years almost later.
My wife and I are visiting PEI, we come by that old house.
I think it's still there time and time again.
And every time we go by there, I say to my wife, "The savior of the twin lives there."
I've never met those folks, I don't even know if they still live there.
I am bonded to that old house because my heart is affectionate towards those who provided
that help.
And of course, that's what Paul is talking about in their prayers for you.
Our hearts will go out to you because of the surpassing grace God has given you.
Now in that context, let me say just one or two things about what the Bible has to say
about biblical economics.
I mentioned last week that one of the problems in the world in virtually every country is
the growing gap between the rich and the poor.
If you are paying any attention to the Olympics in Rio, then you will know one of the things
they talk about there all the time is what they call the "flavolas," I believe they
are.
The flavolas are the slums built right next to Copana or whatever the need for that
beaches where a lot of this activity is taking place.
And the promise was that all the poor people would benefit from the games and the complaints
of course are that it isn't doing them any good and it just reinforces the gap between
the rich and the poor.
And I said last week that governments tend to or people tend to lean to one of two directions
and trying to solve the tension between the rich and the poor.
The enterprise says just let us make money and that will improve everybody's economy.
And other people say we can trust entrepreneurs to do that and so we need government regulation.
Well my son, the youngest in Austin, Texas was listening last week and he wrote me a long
email to challenge my summary of free enterprise and the trickle down effect.
So he sent me this long email to straighten me out and more than that he is sending me
a book.
That's really going to help me understand it properly.
So I'm grateful for that but as I said the Bible does have a perspective on economics.
And earlier on in the previous chapter to our text, 2 Corinthians chapter 8 Paul talks
about this in these words and here's what he says our desire.
Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed but that there
might be quality.
At the present time your plenty will supply what they need so that in turn their plenty
will supply what you need then there will be equality.
As it is written he who gathered much did not have too much and he who gathered little
did not have too little.
Now you'll have noticed the emphasis there on equality he says then there will be equality
and earlier that there might be equality.
And then he quotes this verse from Exodus chapter 16 the verse 18 who remembers the context
of that story.
He who gathered little and he who gathered much everybody had enough.
It's of course the story of man.
You will recall that when Israel came out of Egypt they're going through the wilderness,
they were complaining because they were getting hungry.
And for 40 years God caused every morning mana to rain upon the Israelite camp.
And each of them was responsible for gathering two almers per person in their household.
That's about two quarts.
But the interesting thing is some gathered little, some gathered more but by the time they
came to consuming it everybody had enough.
He who gathered much did not have too much and he who gathered little did not have too little.
And Paul uses that in this particular passage as a principle of economics for Christian
community.
He says it was never the intention that the rich should live up here enjoying their riches
when the poor don't have enough down here.
He says if you've got a lot you need to share it with those who have little so that everybody
has enough.
That's the message that he draws out of this and this you will recall is in the context,
this is in the context of the saints in Jerusalem they are in an economically deprived situation
because of persecution and famine.
And Paul's argument if you read him elsewhere in his letters is that you benefited spiritually
from them and because you have benefited spiritually from them they now must benefit
material from you, materially from you.
And he says I don't want you to give so that your poor and their rich know I want you
to understand God desires equality.
Now I don't believe for a moment that means that everybody needs to have the same income
or that some people can't be rich and some people can't be poorer.
What it means though, is in the context of Christian community that if I have enough
and you don't have enough then the love of Christ in me will want me to share with you
my resources so that at least you have enough to get by on and to do well.
You might remember in one John chapter 3 has exactly the same argument he says if anyone
has material possessions and sees his brother in need and has no pity on him how can the love
of God be in him dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions
and in truth, in actions and in truth.
Now the biblical principle of course is that this cannot be coerced if you're poor you
cannot demand somebody to share their wealth with you and if you have wealth you cannot
just simply be demanded to share that wealth but the argument of scripture is if God's
love lives in you then there is a desire to take your resources and bless other people
but the emphasis is biblical is always on giving voluntarily from the heart each of us
knows this verse each man should give what he has decided it is hard to give not reluctantly
or under compulsion for God loves a cheerful giver God loves a cheerful giver God is a
God of generosity demonstrated in the gift of his son remember the more we become like
him the more joy we find in sharing our resources now so far we've been talking about our
resources primarily in the context of material goods because that's what Paul is talking
about in this particular passage but we don't have to limit it to that do we because
we often talk about time talent and treasure some of us have more time than money question
is what do we do with our time do we splurge it selfishly on our own pleasure do we use
our time to invest in the lives of people around us do we reach out a helping hand where
we can to those who don't have enough time to make ends meet we all have certain talents
certain gifts gifts that were born with to one degree gifts that are imparted to us
and anointed by God's Holy Spirit what we do with those gifts is an important part of
building community and instead of just focusing on what I need and what I want how about
we how about we come to a place of worship like this not simply asking the question what
am I going to get out of the service but what can I give to God and what can I give to
the people around me one of the things that we've been talking about for more than a year
now and come fall Valerie is going to implement this to some more considerable degree is to
have each of the sections of the auditorium here as a pastoral care section and the vision
is to have a leadership team in each section that is responsible increasingly for the pastoral
care for those of you that sit in the section when you change seats you really mess up the
system I want you to know that but that's the reality of the world we live in and the
idea is not just to have leadership look after the needs of our community but to do that
collectively because you know the days when all of us grew up and reasonably healthy families
of that day ever existed and we kind of go sailing through life without too much difficulty
those days are long gone by if they ever existed and some of us we come to a place like this
we're burdened down are we don't we face financial pressure we face health issues and just
to have somebody see me have somebody reach into my life listen to my story pray with
me is huge component of Christian community growing up as the body of Christ and done
properly and led by the spirit it draws our hearts together does it not it draws our hearts
together because it means that we're seeing it means that we're understood it means that
we matter and ultimately we need to know that we matter not only to go on but to each
other it's always easier to to assume that you know other people are going to do the work
rather than I'm going to do the work but if you're in Christ as you give out of the place
of treasure where God has blessed you rather than running out of energy which is always what
we're concerned about if you are in the sweet spot of your gifting you're going to discover
that as you so into other people's lives and so many of you do this already and I don't want
you to you know even think that I'm suggesting that's not the case but as you invest in the
lives of other people you do the growing and you're gifting multiplies because if you so
sparingly you will reap sparingly if you so generously you will reap generously I said this
before you want to have friends then be a friend you want to have people invite you to their
house invite them to your house it's a simple is that so as we grow in generosity we can reasonably
expect that the Lord will use it to bind our hearts and our souls together it's not easy it's
not without its challenges but that's what God is looking for which brings me to one more thing
and I want to get to this and I'll try to be brief with it before we turn to communion but there's
still a fifth thing that according to Paul's teaching here happens as we grow in spirit-led generosity
and that is the most obvious God receives the praise listen again to verses 12 13 and 14 second
Corinthians chapter nine this service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's
people but is also overflowing and I notice this in many expressions of thanks to God because of
the service but which you approved yourselves men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies
your confession of the gospel of Christ and for your generosity in sharing with them and with
everyone else actually goes on here in their prayers back to that verse that we had earlier
for you their hearts will go out to you because of the surpassing grace that God has given you two
things in those verses that I read that we need to note about how God receives praise the first is
because people's needs are met the service that you perform first 12 is supplying the needs of
God's people supplying the needs of God's people now while it is true that generally speaking God
supplies our needs through other people seldom does manifold directly from heaven and seldom does
money come falling out of heaven to meet our needs it almost always comes through people
but the fact that it comes through people doesn't change the fact that behind people
stands God who has his eye on the sparrow and for that reason if you've ever been in a situation where
you know financially you had your back against the wall and all of a sudden the check appeared
in the mail or somebody thought of you and they they gave you some money to tie you over or whatever
else then you will know that you're not only grateful to the person who is helping you out
in that particular situation but you're also grateful to God because it means God sees you
do you know what I'm saying it means God cares it means you can trust God the next time
when you hit a tough spot and so for that reason when our needs are being met however they are
being met then praise rises before God because God has been so generous and kind and has spoken
perhaps to other people to make sure that my needs were being met God's people ought to be a
thankful people because so many of the blessings that we take for granted come from the hand of God
how often do we not assume that it's going to rain regularly so that we can have a good crop
and isn't it true that when those things are taken away than all of a sudden we begin to understand
how ungrateful we are and how we take the blessings of God for granted in our lives God receives praise
when people grow in generosity but Paul mentions a second reason here
and that is because the people that receive the help are encouraged
by the fruit or by the faith of those who are helping them these saints in Jerusalem
why are they going to praise God when they receive the gifts that are being collected
among these Gentile Christians well as I said one reason is because their needs are being met
and so they have good reason to be excited but it's not just that it's also because they see God
at work in the lives of Gentiles these are people who were pagans people who were self-centered
people who lived for their own pleasure now they've come to Christ and because they've come to
Christ their lives are changed and they are beginning to learn to be stewards of God's varied grace
because of the service men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession
of the gospel of Christ and so their generosity demonstrates the power of the gospel
and that the gospel has been doing its job they started out as self-absorbed pagans everything
I have is mine I have full authority of my stuff they are moving towards love inspired stewards
everything I have is gods and because it is gods he's inviting me to share it with you
and I'm going to share it with you because he first gave everything to me fundamentally
two different kinds of people in the world aren't there people who are totally self-absorbed
they suck life out of everybody and people who are full of life and they give life to everybody
now we all at one point or another find ourselves in one of those two places and there's nothing
wrong with being needy and there is nothing wrong in needing to support the encouragement both
of the Lord and of other people but remember what God wants to do is heal us feel us as his children
in Christ so that out of God's generosity we get filled up and we now have the ability to share
time, talent and treasure with the people around us and that becomes the reflection then of the
redemptive work of God in our lives that makes sense
your enthusiasm blows me off the stage as we turn to communion this we're going to turn to
communion in a moment but as we do there are three things that I'm going to ask each of us
to do as we celebrate communion very simple things number one thank God
for his inexpressible gift in Christ Jesus if I came to you today and told you you have just one
a hundred million dollar lottery you'd be walking on water for the next six months
you would be so excited at the prospect of such wealth the bible talks about the unsurcribable
riches of God in Christ Jesus in Christ Jesus you become a child of God in Christ Jesus the creator
sustainer of all the universe is your father has promised to look after you and has got good things
in store for every one of your children the thing is we need eyes to see what God has done for us
in Christ that's one of the reasons we celebrate communion it's a reminder of the price God has paid
for the blessings that we experience so take a moment as we celebrate communion and say Lord
I just really thank you for Jesus help me help open my eyes so that that I see the full value
of what it is that is available for me through union with Christ I am with Christ a crown prince
of the universe everything we need for time and eternity has been given to us in the person of
Jesus then secondly take stock take stock of the blessing you have received in the course of your
life take stock of your time take stock of your talent take stock of your resources most of us have
far more than we ever need and that's okay because they are gifts freely given by God for us to
enjoy don't ever feel guilty because your life is going well or because you have money in the bank
or because you're in good health or you got a great job thank God for the blessings that you
have received take stock of what is yours and then thirdly ask yourself and ask the Lord the
question is there an area in my life where you want me to cultivate generosity is there a place
where you want to stretch me where you want me to so seed in the expectation of the harvest
is there a lonely widow that you want me to visit is there a poor person that I can
maybe share some cash with or help find a job is there somebody burdened down by the burdens in
life that is in my sphere of influence that I can just carry before your throne and minister your
love in your grace are there plans and purposes in the coming of God's kingdom that you lay upon
my heart and I'm not suggesting you go digging deep or whatever else just ask the Lord is there a
place you want to stretch me and if there is the Lord has it is perfectly capable of knocking on
the door of your heart and saying you know this is an area where I'm challenging you to step out
beyond where you find yourself because as you do five things happen you will more closely reflect
your father who is in heaven your ability to give will grow in proportion to your sowing your
seed of faith there will be people in your sphere of influence who will be helped
you will help in building community because people's hearts will go out towards you
and because their hearts are going out towards you they're going to pray for you
and you're going to be blessed out of your socks because you're getting back more than what you
ever gave and that number five God gets praised God gets praised because people's needs are met
and God gets praised because people see how Christ in you has transformed you more and more into the
image of the Lord Jesus.