Generous Living - Mark Ralf
GENEROUS LIVING – Mark Ralf 14th November 2004
This is a two part series on the subject of generosity
This week we will look at the grace of giving – giving of our time, our talents and our money.
Next week we will look at some of the practical ways that Jesus’ teaching on revolutionise our lives.
I am sure that many of you listening to this are already very generous and the last thing I want to bring on is a load of guilt. What I want us to do is think about the enormous resources – our time, our wealth and our possessions - and look at how we use them for God’s kingdom.
I want to unfold a different approach to our Christian lives – one that we rarely hear anything about and yet Jesus talked and demonstrated it all through his life.
VIDEO: Lady Huntington – A Generous Life
So this is the first concept:
Generosity is not something you do – but who you are.
2 Cor 8:1-15
And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. 2 Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. 3 For I testify that they gave as much as they were able, and even beyond their ability. Entirely on their own, 4 they urgently pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints. 5 And they did not do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God’s will. 6 So we urged Titus, since he had earlier made a beginning, to bring also to completion this act of grace on your part. 7 But just as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us a —see that you also excel in this grace of giving.
8 I am not commanding you, but I want to test the sincerity of your love by comparing it with the earnestness of others. 9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.
10 And here is my advice about what is best for you in this matter: Last year you were the first not only to give but also to have the desire to do so. 11 Now finish the work, so that your eager willingness to do it may be matched by your completion of it, according to your means. 12 For if the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have.
13 Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. 14 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, 15 as it is written: “He who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little.”
What is your working definition of wealth and poverty?
Are we rich? Have we been entrusted with lots?
More than 1.2bn live on less than $1 a day
Generosity cannot be commanded – it is a matter of the heart
V7 calls us to excel at the grace of giving
This is generous living not just generous giving
The urge and the desire to be generous with every part of our lives
This is whole life Christianity
Are we wealthy in money but impoverished in some many other ways (relationships, peace, joy)
Maybe this is because our possessions are consuming us. We are holding onto them so tight we are losing everything else.
Luke 16v13 says:
13 “No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.”
God is not interested in our possessions
But he is interested in what possesses us
How lightly do we hold onto what God has given us?
Or do we have it in our open hands ready to use it for God’s work.
Car
For most of my working life I have had a company car
We worked our way up from a small Ford to a Jaguar XJ6
Recently Claire and I started to wonder how appropriate it was for us to be driving around in it.
I switched to a cash allowance and chose to buy what we decided was a more appropriate car
Please don’t misunderstand this. I am not saying that Christian’s cannot drive around in Jaguars.
But God was convicting us that he had other plans for us and our money.
And please don’t have any pity or sympathy for us either. We changed to a very nice car.
We are about to change our old Mercedes estate car and the same thing is happening.
We are being challenged to buy a less extravagant car.
Now you are not about to see us turning up in a 2CV. We will still have a nice reasonably new car but it will be less showy and less extravagant.
When we become aware of how much God has entrusted to us – in time, talents and money, we realise that we are not meant to keep it but to do something with it. To show a return.
And this is what Jesus describes in the Parable of the Ten Talents in Luke 19:11-26
11 While they were listening to this, he went on to tell them a parable, because he was near
14 “But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We don’t want this man to be our king.’
15 “He was made king, however, and returned home. Then he sent for the servants to whom he had given the money, in order to find out what they had gained with it.
16 “The first one came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has earned ten more.’
17 “ ‘Well done, my good servant!’ his master replied. ‘Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.’
18 “The second came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has earned five more.’
19 “His master answered, ‘You take charge of five cities.’
20 “Then another servant came and said, ‘Sir, here is your mina; I have kept it laid away in a piece of cloth. 21 I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man. You take out what you did not put in and reap what you did not sow.’
22 “His master replied, ‘I will judge you by your own words, you wicked servant! You knew, did you, that I am a hard man, taking out what I did not put in, and reaping what I did not sow? 23 Why then didn’t you put my money on deposit, so that when I came back, I could have collected it with interest?’
24 “Then he said to those standing by, ‘Take his mina away from him and give it to the one who has ten minas.’
25 “ ‘Sir,’ they said, ‘he already has ten!’
26 “He replied, ‘I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what he has will be taken away. 27 But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be a king over them—bring them here and kill them in front of me.’ ”
A king goes away
He has entrusted his subjects with differing amounts and will hold them to account when he returns
Does this sound familiar?
God will hold us responsible for the resources he has given us.
Luke 12v48 Jesus says:
“From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.”
If Christ were to return today…
Would he be pleased with:
- What we have accumulated for ourselves?
- What we have kept?
- What we have used in his service?
We are not expected to give a tenth. A tithe is just the legal minimum.
Everything is God’s
Tithing is a good start but we tend only to think about money and not everything else that God has given us. The tithe turns us into calculators – God wants to liberate us.
God created everything and richly provided for us
We are merely using it and being stewards of what God has given us
But we don’t often behave like that
For most of us we decide what we will give and then use what is left over
Our giving should be a reflection of God’s giving
- We have an outrageously generous God
- He gave his Son for us
- He allowed his Son to die on the cross in our place taking our punishment
- He has provided the Holy Spirit, giving us spiritual gifts
Lots of people are trying to get enough money to be secure in their life.
When they have enough they will make sure that a decent amount of money goes to charity.
Do you know who earned these amounts last year?
The Dead!
They are still earning lots of money but they are not deciding where that money will be directed.
Many of them lived pretty sad lives while they were alive – they didn’t enjoy what they had been entrusted with and now someone else is disposing of it.
Sir Winston Churchill said:
“We make a living by what we get.
We make a life by what we give.”
God wants us to respond like the Good Samaritan
He got involved. He used what he had. He made a difference.
He showed God’s love.
Psalm 24v1 says
1 The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it;
We are made in the image of a giving God
Do you remember the great quote of Eric Liddell in Chariots of Fire, “God made me fast and when I run I feel his pleasure”
Lack of teaching on giving has had an effect on vision and imagination on Christian work.
It stifles creativity
Most of the great works of God have at the beginnings people who followed God and did not follow the accepted wisdom or play by the rules.
What is God like?
Why didn’t he make Adam on the first day?
Because it was dark and there was no where to stand!
By day 6 everything is there and ready
God is a creator of a context for human flourishing
The Genesis story shows a God who generously provides
- ORDER
- PROVISION
- ENJOYMENT
Psalm 104:15
15 wine that gladdens the heart of man,
oil to make his face shine,
and bread that sustains his heart.
Wine, oil and bread
Gladdens, shines (joy), sustains the heart – beyond the physical.
And God doesn’t stop there…
- ORDER
- PROVISION
ENJOYMENT
He encourages us to enjoy
- BEAUTY
And wants to
- RELEASE POTENTIAL
He gives us the building blocks to release so much potential – for good and bad
- Seed – start of tree > apple
- Sand > glass, chip
- Water > power
By helping people to flourish, we participate in God’s kingdom economy
DEVIL – whispers “God wants the best bits in the garden”
Today = “Church want our time and our money”
God is much less interested in our possession than what possesses us
1 Tim 6:17 What gets in the way
17 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. 18 Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. 19 In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.[1]
Christ is the radical generosity of God
We are stewards – how can we use all we have for God
How can we maximise what we have been given for God
- Maximise my time resource
- Maximise my talent resource
- Maximise my money resource
How do we use our homes, possessions, money, car, money, holiday homes for God
How do meet people’s needs: Exhausted parents – time off/holiday
Doing outrageous new things for God to share God’s love with others
Jesus gave a stark warning in Matt 13:22
22 The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.
How we give is a good barometer of our Christian position
We are called to be lavish…
Unexpected Generosity
How many of you are aware of the story of Bert Trafmann, the German, who was recently given the OBE. Had a high opinion of the British.
He was a prisoner of war, in a British POW camp in the north of
2 incidents changed his life:
He was captured by the Americans during D-Day, about to be killed but let go.
Quite soon after he jumped over a wall and was captured by the British who greeted him with “Hello Fritz, fancy a cup of tea?” He decided not to try to escape.
For him the rest of the war was a prisoner of war camp in
At the end of the war he stayed in Britain digging up bombs in Liverpool and Bristol and playing football – as a semi-pro and then as a professional for Manchester City.
A week before the Christmas in 1948, he was given a month off to see his parents in
They said “we know you’re going home and we know the situation in
All of that done out of compassion AND FOR THE ENEMY!
It is this lavish, unexpected generosity that Jesus was described at the start of his time on earth.
We see in Luke 4 - the jubilee gospel – Jesus’
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to release the oppressed,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”
20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, 21 and he began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
This was Jesus’ inaugural speech – his vision & strategy
His manifesto was spiritual yet political
What is “Good news to the poor and the year of the Lord’s favour”?
Jesus is quoting from Isaiah 61 - a reference to God’s humanitarian programme for the nation – Jubilee.
Unfortunately, Jubilee was never really implemented by the Jewish people
Jesus says “Today … fulfilled in your midst”
So what was the system of jubilee?
3 Year Programme - Deut 14v22
Tithe from trade and business – crops and flocks
It makes provision for Levites, widows, orphans and aliens
“shall come and eat and be satisfied” v29
7 Year Programme - Deut 15
One year’s holiday – do not exploit
- rest (shabat) for slaves, lands, animals
- trust and faith
Cancel all debts – just as Jesus cancelled ours
- forgiveness
- grace
- mercy
Release all slaves – and not empty handed (joyfully)
- liberty, non exploitation
- slaves to go out laden with food
Promise
- there will be no poor among you.
50 year Programme – Lev 25
- One year’s holiday – starting with the ram’s horn on the day of atonement (remember your sins are taken away)
- Cancel all debts
- Release all slaves
- Return all properties bought
o Redistribution of assets/wealth = justice
o Re-discovery of family
o Vision of shalom
This is a radical political programme
“Do not take advantage of each other, but fear your God. I am the Lord your God.” (v17)
You can start to see why no one would implement it!
Jesus said this was fulfilled at the start of his ministry.
Jubilee – the outrageous generosity of God
In Acts 4:34 we hear “There were no needy persons among them.”
This is the generous life and as God intended it.
You have been very patient – so we ought to reward you all.
We have a gift for each of you.
We are handing out an envelope for each of you to take home and open this afternoon
Don’t lose it - it will give you a practical opportunity to think this through.
I want to close with another video clip.
VIDEO: John Wesley – A Generous Life
Let’s pray.
posted by Mark Ralf @ Sunday, November 14, 2004
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