couple makes for a stronger marriage. And I also would tell them their bank account makes a statement about what they worship. DARING TO BE GENEROUS

Transcription

1 DARING TO BE GENEROUS Who doesn t want to be generous? No one want to be known as: greedy, selfish, stingy, or a Scrooge Everyone here desires to be known as generous so why is the word daring in front of it. What is so daring about being generous? We know that God wants us to be generous because God created us in God s image and God is generous. Everything you have in your life is a gift from God. If God was not generous you would have nothing. Your heart would stop beating right now. There d be no air to breathe, no Sunday morning. Even though we lost an hour life is sheer gift, sheer grace. When I speak about being a generous person I m not just talking about money. I m talking about being generous with your time; being generous with your energy; being generous with your praise; being generous with your talent; being generous with every area of your life. This is pretty agreeable stuff; none of what I have said to you so far is particularly daring or threatening. So what does generosity do? 1. Your Generosity honors God, draws you closer to God, makes you more like God Giving your time, talent and treasure is an act of worship. It s a confession that everything I have is a gift from God. When I am generous I honor God as 2 Corinthians 9:13 says: You glorify God by the generosity of your sharing. When you are generous it draws your heart closer to God. Jesus says in Matthew 6:21: For where your treasure is there will your heart be also. Years ago I would as the couple in pre-marital counseling to look at their checkbook registry or bank statement. I would tell them their bank account makes a statement about their generosity. A generous couple makes for a stronger marriage. And I also would tell them their bank account makes a statement about what they worship. Because whatever I invest in is what I m interested in. If I invest my time in something, I invest my money in something, I invest my energy in something shows the world what s important to me. When I invest in God s work it not only honors God it draws me closer to God because wherever my money and time go my heart follows. When I give, when I am generous it makes me more like God for God is a giver. God so loved the world that he gave his only Son. No one has ever given more. 2. Generosity is a cure for materialism and brings contentment blessing, joy and happiness. In the same chapter where Jesus says your heart follows the money he also says, You cannot serve both God and money. Matthew 6:24 Notice Jesus didn t say you should not serve both God and money. He said you can t. It s impossible. You can t have two gods in your life. You ve got to decide what s more important to you money or serving God, materialism or serving God. You can t serve both in your life. In our consumer world it is easy to be trapped by the belief that what I have determines who I am and that what I have will make me happy, and bring joy to my life. Like you I love getting stuff. Getting stuff makes me happy, it brings joy, it makes me feel good. For a moment. A couple weeks ago I bought a shirt at an outlet. It was a summer shirt, last year s model. It had been $125 and I got it for about $20. Judy asked me do you really need another shirt. That wasn t really a question. What she meant to say is you don t need another shirt. I said you can give it to me for my birthday this summer. So as I m writing this sermon I wondered do I really have too many shirts. I did not

2 wonder at the time I bought. So I counted my shirts. I have 35 shirts that is my fall winter collection. I have 40 spring and summer shirts. And I have another 30 flannel, work, hunting and fishing shirts. Not to mention t-shirts and sweatshirts. I have almost as many shirts as I have fishing poles. I am in the grasp of materialism. Thank God there is an antidote to materialism and it is giving. The only antidote to materialism is giving. Every time you give you break the grip of materialism in your life. Because you see that you have everything you need. When you give and give and give you no longer have that gnawing feeling of need, of greed, or discontent. You realize you are not lacking that you have more than enough and that you do not need more. I would agree with the Apostle Paul who said You ll not likely go wrong here if you keep remembering that Jesus said, You re far happier giving than getting. Acts 20:35 Every gift we give to God, every antidote we take, brings an eternity of blessing, joy and happiness. You see the joy in the eyes of our children at All Saints when we give and we see it in the eyes of children on every continent when we give. Did the shirt I bought bring contentment yep, did it bring happiness, yep for about an hour. But with the joy of giving comes the gift of eternal contentment and blessing as I realize that God meets every need not my shirt. Again Paul hits the nail on the head. I ve learned by now to be quite content whatever my circumstances. I m just as happy with little as with much, with much as with little. I ve found the recipe for being happy whether full or hungry, hands full or hands empty. Whatever I have, wherever I am, I can make it through anything in the One who makes me who I am. Philippians 4:11-12 I hope that what I have said so far is pretty good stuff. Generosity has all these blessings and it seems to be nothing you or I would take issue with. Generosity is something we can all nod our heads in agreement with. So what is daring about generosity? The daring part is when: 3. GENEROSITY DEMONSTRATES MY FAITH. In our Daring Faith booklet and in the letter you will receive with our Daring Faith commitment card we speak of giving by reason or revelation. When I give based on REASON, I simply look at how much I have, after I bought my shirt and then figure out a reasonable amount to give, and then I commit to give it. This is the most common way people give. It s an act of unselfishness, but it requires no faith, and no sacrifice. Reason simply asks, What can I afford to give? But there is an even better way to give. When I give based on REVELATION, on FAITH. So I pray, Lord, what do you want to give through me? This kind of giving requires faith. It was the kind of faith the early Christians had when in 2 Corinthians 7:3 They gave not only what they could afford, they gave even more than they could afford! How do you do that? Only by faith! You give more than you can afford because you are trusting God, in faith, to keep his promises. Does that mean God doesn t want you to have anything when you are generous? Of course not in fact God promises you will have plenty. Here is one promise: 2 Corinthians 9:7 8 says God loves it when we give cheerfully, so he then provides us with everything we need, and even gives us more than we need, so we can keep on being even more generous! And again in Malachi 3:10 God dares you to trust his promises. Bring your whole tithe [That s ten percent] to My storehouse. [the storehouse is God s Temple.] Test me in this and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you won t have room enough for it!

3 Generosity demonstrates my faith when I have to sacrifice to do so. That is why we are concentrating on growing your faith. You become more generous as you grow in faith and you grow in faith as you become more generous. Let s pray. Generous God, this is a big step for us. We re asking you to stretch our faith, strengthen our faith, and deepen our faith. We realize that everything we have comes from you. So as we give let it express our gratitude for all you ve provided for us, to show you are first in our lives, to demonstrate our faith in your promises and to show our support for our church family in making a difference for eternity. Amen.

4 However every time you give your time, talent and treasure away, the devil whispers in your ear and works on your heart and says do you really think that God will take care of you. Do you really believe that if you give this away you ll have enough for yourself? Then your faith flies out the window and unbelief takes hold and you says the only person that can take care of me is myself. God promises over and over that I will take care of you and that you will always have enough God loves a cheerful giver. And God will give you everything you need and more so that there will not only be enough for your own needs but plenty left over to give joyfully to others. 2 Corinthians 9:7-8 Philemon 1:6 says You are generous because of your faith. By the way that s why I ve been trying to build your faith for the last nine weeks. You re generous because of your faith. Stinginess is caused by unbelief. I don t really believe that God can take care of me. I don t believe that if I give this away I ll have enough for myself. That s a worry. That s an anxiety. That s a fear. That s an unbelief. Stinginess is caused by unbelief. You re generous because of your faith. In Malachi 3:10, God dares you to trust his promises. He says this Bring your whole tithe [That s ten percent] to My storehouse. [What s the storehouse? It s the temple. It s wherever you worship.] Test me in this and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you won t have room enough for it! God says, I dare you. This is the Pepsi challenge test of the Bible. I dare you. This by the way is the only place in the Bible you can prove there is a God. and as you are more generous your faith grows. When I was in seminary working on my doctorate we learned the philosophical arguments for the existence of God the cosmological Stinginess is caused by unbelief. I don t really believe that God can take care of me. I don t believe that if I give this away I ll have enough for myself. That s a worry. That s an anxiety. That s a fear. That s an unbelief. Stinginess is caused by unbelief. You re generous because of your faith. Generosity, every time you give, it demonstrates your faith. Because it shows that you re trusting in the promises of God. It shows what you believe. It shows that you believe that God will take care of you if you obey him. 2 Corinthians 9:13 says this, Your giving proves the reality of your faith... You find the answer in the title of our capital appeal. Daring Faith equals Daring Generosity 3 Generosity Demonstrates My Faith. You break it. You stop being a materialist. The Bible says this: Jesus said in Matthew 6:24 You cannot serve both God and money. Circle the word cannot. Actually, I don t have a sense of needing anything personally. Not that I am referring to being in need; for I have learned to be content with whatever I have.

5 In Context Full Chapter Other Translations New International Version I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. New International Version I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. But that was a long time ago. I was immature and I was self centered. Today I m a grandfather. Today at Christmas it s not about the presents I get. My joy comes from watching other people unwrap the gifts that I ve given to them. Why? Because I grew up! I stopped being self centered. It stopped being about me. That s called maturity. Unfortunately some people never grow up. And at eighty years old it s still all about them What am I getting out of this? And they ve never learned the joy of generosity. Generosity increases my happiness. Hebrews 13:5 New Revised Standard Version Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have; for he has said, I will never leave you or forsake you. In Context Full Chapter Other Translations New International Version Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you. In Context Full Chapter Other Translations What idiot would buy a $125 shirt Generosity increases my happiness. Everybody knows this. That generosity increases your happiness. The only people who don t know it are people who aren t generous. Jesus said it like this in Acts 20 Jesus said, There is more happiness in giving than in receiving. I will admit to you when I was a child at Christmas it wasn t all about what I bought everybody else. When I was a child it was all about what I got. And as a child all my joy came from the presents I got not from the presents I gave to other people. : One day Bob took his young son, sitting in his car seat, to McDonalds to buy him some French fries. He takes him through the drive through and he gives his son sitting there the French fries. He said as he was driving back home it smelled so good, I just reached over and took one of my son s French fries. He said my little son said Dad! You can t have any. These are my fries! Bob said I immediately had three thoughts. He said, number one I realized that my child had forgotten that I am the source of all fries. He would have no French fries if it weren t for me. I brought him here. I drove him here. I bought the fries. I paid for the fries. I handed him the fries. He would have no fries in life if it weren t for his father. And the only reason he got any was because of me. The second thing I realized is that my child doesn t realize that I could take them all away if I wanted to. I could take them away and say, No more until after supper. Or, No more right now. That s all you can eat. I could take them away instantly. Or on the other hand I could go back and buy him a truckload of fries if I wanted to. I was totally in charge; he was not. And he said, Third, I realized that I really didn t need his fries. That if I had wanted fries I could have bought them for myself. I had plenty of money. I could have bought them for myself. I could easily get my

6 own. I just wanted my young son to learn unselfishness. I wanted him to learn how to share. Those are the same three reasons God wants you to learn generosity. God does not need your money. It all belongs to him anyway. It wasn t yours before you were born. It s not going to be yours after you ve died. He just loaned it to you while you re alive. It s all his. He is the source of all fries. Everything you have in your life If God didn t love you and be generous with you, you would have zip, nada, nothing. He could take it away from you instantly. And he could give you ten times that amount instantly. He just wants you to learn how to be unselfish. Why? Because God is a fry giver. God is generous. And it makes me like Christ. see where their money was going. where generous it draws me closer to God.. Three hundred seventy one times. The word love. seven hundred fourteen times in the Bible. But the word give is used two thousand one hundred fifty two times. Why? Because God is a giver. people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from You, and we have only given You what comes from Your hand... so they all praised the Lord... 1 Chronicles 29:10-20 (NIV) opposite of generous And It is becoming an unselfish person. There are more promises in the Bible about generosity than anything else. Why is God so interested in us learning how to be generous? The answer is because generosity is love in action. You cannot love without giving. Love gives. God so loved the world that he gave. The word believe we all know that s important is used two hundred seventy two times in the Bible. Believe. And God wants us to learn to be like him. Since on Easter Sunday we will be giving a generous cash offering and making an historic 36 month commitment to grow our building and our ministry It is important to understand what happens build and not the opposite. would not want to be called a Scrooge or greedy or selfish so if we all want to be generous why is the word daring in front of it? argument, the teleological argument, the ontological, Kant s moral argument, and all the others. But in the Bible it says the way you prove that God exists is by tithing and see if he doesn t bless you more. It demonstrates my faith. David praised the Lord in the presence of the whole assembly, saying, Now, our God, we give You thanks and praise Your glorious name. But who am I, and who are my But every promise has a premise. In the Bible the number one thing that God has promises about is connected to generosity. There are more promises related to generosity in the Bible than any other subject. It is becoming an unselfish person. There are more promises about that than anything else. So what is generosity? Why is God so interested in generosity? Why is he so interested in us learning how to be generous that he gives all these kind of rewards and promises, more than any other thing? The answer is because generosity is love in action. You can give without loving but you cannot love without giving. You cannot be loving without being generous.

7 If I tell my wife that I love her but I m not generous with my wife, I don t really love her. If I m not generous with my kids, I don t really love my kids. Because love gives. God so loved the world that he gave. And as I said, generosity is simply love in action. And if I m not a generous person, I m not a loving person I may think I am, but I m not because love is all about giving. It s not about getting. Interesting, I did a study of the major words of the Bible, the key words of the Bible. The word believe we all know that s important is used two hundred seventy two times in the Bible. Believe. Two hundred seventy two times. Pray. That s an important word. That is used in the Bible three hundred seventy one times. Three hundred seventy one times. The word love. Obviously that s an important word, is used seven hundred fourteen times in the Bible. But the word give is used two thousand one hundred fifty two times. Why? Because God is a giver. Everything you have in your life is a gift from God. If God was not generous you would have nothing. Your heart would stop beating right now. God is a generous God. He gives you air, sunshine, a mind to think and everything else in your life is a sheer gift from God. Even the ability to earn is a gift from God. 1. GENEROSITY HONORS GOD Giving is an act of worship and it s a recognition that everything you have is a gift from God. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 9, You will be glorifying God through your generous gifts. [That s what you re going to do in just a minute.] Your generosity will prove that you are obedient to the Good News of Christ. Proverb 12:31 says Whoever is generous to the needy [That means you give money to help the poor. That s part of what we re doing we re helping the poor. Whoever is generous to the needy ] honors God. 2. GENEROSITY DRAWS ME CLOSER TO GOD. Generosity draws me closer to God. Why? The Bible says this in Proverb 14:23 The purpose of tithing is to teach you to always put God first in your lives. We give the first part of our income, the first ten percent, on the first day of the week. We say God you re really number one it all came from you. Matthew 6:21, Jesus said, Your heart will be wherever your treasure is. Wherever you put your money that s where your heart s going to be. If you want to be closer to God, put some money there. It ll draw you closer to God. Number three, 3. GENEROSITY MAKES ME MORE LIKE JESUS. Generosity makes me more like Jesus. Because the most generous person who ever lived, of course, was Jesus Christ. He sacrificed his own life. The Bible says we have been saved because of the generosity of Jesus. Every time you give time, money, energy, anything you become more like Jesus. Every time you give, your heart grows bigger. Every time you give, you become more like Christ.

8 The Bible says this, Proverbs 21:26 The greedy always want more, but the godly love to give! And the more godly you become the more generous you are. It also works in reverse: the more generous you are the more godly you re going to become. The more godly you are the more generous you ll be. The more generous you are the more godly you ll be. 4. GENEROSITY IS THE CURE FOR MATERIALISM. Generosity is the cure for materialism. Materialism is all about getting. Get, get, get, get, get. Get all you can and can all you get. And materialism is about taking in and acquiring and hoarding and I ve got to get more and more and more. The only antidote, the only antidote to materialism is giving. You may say I m not materialistic. But if you re not generous you are. You are. Because the only antidote Every time you give you break the grip of materialism in your life. You break it. You stop being a materialist. The Bible says this: Jesus said in Matthew 6:24 You cannot serve both God and money. Circle the word cannot. Notice he didn t say you should not serve both God and money. He said you can t. It s impossible. You can t have two gods in your life. You ve got to decide what s more important to you being rich or serving God. What s more important to me? Is God number one in my life or is money number one in my life? He says you can t have two gods. You can t serve both in your life. It s very easy to get caught up in being a consumer and thinking that my life, that my net worth determines my self worth. It does not. Your values are not you re your valuables. And your net worth and your self worth are not connected. 5. GENEROSITY DEMONSTRATES MY FAITH. Generosity, every time you give, it demonstrates your faith. Because it shows that you re trusting in the promises of God. It shows what you believe. It shows that you believe that God will take care of you if you obey him. 2 Corinthians 9:13 says this, Your giving proves the reality of your faith... Philemon 1:6 says You are generous because of your faith. By the way that s why I ve been trying to build your faith for the last nine weeks. You re generous because of your faith. Stinginess is caused by unbelief. I don t really believe that God can take care of me. I don t believe that if I give this away I ll have enough for myself. That s a worry. That s an anxiety. That s a fear. That s an unbelief. Stinginess is caused by unbelief. You re generous because of your faith. In Malachi 3:10, God dares you to trust his promises. He says this Bring your whole tithe [That s ten percent] to My storehouse. [What s the storehouse? It s the temple. It s wherever you worship.] Test me in this and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you won t have room enough for it! Generosity, every time you give, it demonstrates your faith. Because it shows that you re trusting in the promises of God. It shows what you believe. It shows that you believe that God will take care of you if you obey him. 2 Corinthians 9:13 says this, Your giving proves the reality of your faith... Philemon 1:6 says You are generous because of your faith. By the way that s why I ve been trying to build your faith for the last nine weeks. You re generous because of your faith.

9 Stinginess is caused by unbelief. I don t really believe that God can take care of me. I don t believe that if I give this away I ll have enough for myself. That s a worry. That s an anxiety. That s a fear. That s an unbelief. Stinginess is caused by unbelief. You re generous because of your faith. In Malachi 3:10, God dares you to trust his promises. He says this Bring your whole tithe [That s ten percent] to My storehouse. [What s the storehouse? It s the temple. It s wherever you worship.] Test me in this and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you won t have room enough for it! God says, I dare you. This is the Pepsi challenge test of the Bible. I dare you. This by the way is the only place in the Bible you can prove there is a God. When I was in seminary working on my doctorate we learned the philosophical arguments for the existence of God the cosmological argument, the teleological argument, the ontological, Kant s moral argument, and all the others. But in the Bible it says the way you prove that God exists is by tithing and see if he doesn t bless you more. It demonstrates my faith. 7. GENEROSITY BRINGS GOD S BLESSING. Generosity brings God s blessing. You must learn to be open handed with what God has given you helping other people with everything you ve got. The more you give away your time, your talent, your treasure the more God will give you. Giving brings God s blessing. Look at these verses. You want God to bless everything you put your hand to? Give generously. Here s another one. 2 Corinthians 9:7-8 God loves the one who gives gladly. And God will make it up to you by giving you everything you need and more so that there will not only be enough for your own needs but plenty left over to give joyfully to others. 8. GENEROSITY INCREASES MY HAPPINESS. Generosity increases my happiness. Everybody knows this. That generosity increases your happiness. The only people who don t know it are people who aren t generous. Jesus said it like this in Acts 20 Jesus said, There is more happiness in giving than in receiving. I will admit to you when I was a child at Christmas it wasn t all about what I bought everybody else. When I was a child it was all about what I got. And as a child all my joy came from the presents I got not from the presents I gave to other people. But that was a long time ago. I was immature and I was self centered. Today I m a grandfather. Today at Christmas it s not about the presents I get. My joy comes from watching other people unwrap the gifts that I ve given to them. Why? Because I grew up! I stopped being self centered. It stopped being about me. That s called maturity. Unfortunately some people never grow up. And at eighty years old it s still all about them What am I getting out of this? And they ve never learned the joy of generosity. Generosity increases my happiness. Proverb 22:9 Generous people will be blessed... You either believe that or you don t. But God said it and it s true. Deuteronomy 15:10 Give generously then because of this God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to.