Uncommon Generosity

Uncommon Generosity + Fill in the Blank

 

Introduction:  We are fast approaching Thanksgiving.  For many this is a time to celebrate with family and friends while for others, not so much.

How many believe the Bible is the Word of God?

The reason why it is hard to change your own mind is because you’re using your mind and mindsets to try and change your thinking. 

That’s why Paul would say, “Let this mind be in you that was also in Christ Jesus.” 

  • Paul addressed two subjects consistently in each of the books of the Bible He wrote
    • Grace – which we all need
    • New Thinking – which we need Grace to achieve.

we all need the Offensiveness and Challenge of the Word of God to bring about renewed thinking. 

 

I want to begin a new series entitled:

Uncommon Generosity + ____________. 

After generosity or being generous…you get to fill in the blank.  How would you fill in the blank?

 

Let’s take a moment this morning and daydream or imagine with me if you would.  Imagine that you have money left at the end of the month, rather than too much month for your money.  Imagine a life where you have forgotten what it is like to stress about finances.  When confronted with a purchasing decision, your first thought is:  “Lord, should I buy this?” Rather than, “How can I afford this?”

Imagine a life of daily peace, laying your head on your pillow at night with a satisfied soul, and sleeping like a baby.  If you are married, you and your spouse routinely pray about spending priorities but never fight about money.

Picture a life in which you get to bless others whenever and wherever the Spirit moves you.

This life is overflowing with life, purpose and fulfillment because you are free from stress and you are able to invest in causes as well as people you believe in.

Imagine you are actually listening to Jesus teach and He says, Matt 6:19-21

 

19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,  20  but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

ESV

In other words, you and I are laying up treasures in heaven but in the meantime, we’re having a blast here on earth.  How fun would this imaginary life be to live?

Transition:  You may say, Pastor that would be great if I had enough money…can I tell you that Millionaires and Billionaires commit suicide with shocking regularity.  The rich are more apt to be on anti-depressants or anxiety medications than average working-class folks.

 

  1. Blessed to Bless
    1. Gen 12:2-3

And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.

ESV

  1. I want you to understand, you and I are blessed to be a blessing…
  2. I’m not a prosperity speaker but neither do I advocate for poverty…I DO ADVOCATE FOR GENEROSITY AND STEWARDSHIP.
  3. Many Christians have thought…if I give my tithe…the rest of it will just work out…and that is not the case.
  4. We are to tithe…but then we are to Manage or Steward the rest.
  5. Did you know Jesus taught 38 parables in the Gospels…16 of those parables dealt with Money and its Stewardship?
    1. If I took those parables and just put them in modern language, you would see they taught about such things as:
      1. Investment
      2. Capital Gains
      3. Generosity and Giving
      4. Saving
      5. Managing What is not Ours
      6. Taxes
      7. Budgeting

Transition:  Have you ever felt as if you are going in Circles when it comes to Finances.  The problem is we are living life with One foot nailed to the floor…To Walk you must Move both feet in rhythm and in the same direction.

Example:  We give / tithe but we do not manage or steward the 90% well…so our Tithing foot is moving but our Management foot is glued to the floor.  Vise Versa happens every day as well.

  1. Ownership
    1. I think the challenge for all of Us is answering the Ownership Question…
    2. Ps 24:1

 

24 The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it,

the world, and all who live in it;

NIV

Ps 50:3

12 If I were hungry I would not tell you,

for the world is mine, and all that is in it.

NIV

  1. 1 Cor 10:26

26 for, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.”

NIV

 

1 Cor 6:19-20

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price.

NIV

  1. Being a Good Steward and a Generous Person is not a money question or an ability question…it is first and foremost an ownership question. WHO OWNS IT…ALL OF IT.?
    1. God Does…
  2. Says, “It is God who gives us Power to Get Wealth.”
  3. In Matthew’s Gospel Jesus tells a Parable about Talents…which was a sum of Money…not if you could sing, yodel, play a guitar or the kazoo.
    1. Matthew 25: 14-30
    2. Many know the story…one was given 5 another was given 2 and another was given 1.
  • Their job was to manage it…for the owner…it wasn’t theirs.
  1. The man with 5 and 2 doubled theirs…the man with the 1 buried it in the dirt…
  2. Here is the Point to it all though…A Day Of Reckoning Came…The Master came back and asked how did you Steward which was given to them.

Illustration:  When my boys were little, I took them to McDonald’s…they got their meals and I got mine…we sat at the table…and after a bit I was finished, and they were still eating.  So, I reached over and grabbed a fry from one of the boys and their response was classic and like me so often…”Dad those are my fries…”  Really?  Who brought you to McDonald’s, who bought the fries?  And now I can’t have one of the fries I provided for you…It’s not a hunger or fry test…it’s a heart check.

  • Tithe
    1. The first 10%…not the later portion.
    2. Scripture says, “if your sheep has a lamb…” the first lamb belongs to God.
      1. Why is God so hung up on the First…?
      2. Because it doesn’t take faith to give the last or left over…doesn’t require trust.
  • If you give the first…you must trust God for the remainder.
  1. You may say, Pastor, Tithing is Part of the Law and We are Under Grace and no longer under Law…
    1. Let’s address that…
    2. Thou shalt not murder is under the law as well but that doesn’t mean you are now able to Murder
  • Adultery is under the Law…but there are consequences for breaking that law.
  1. Tithing Pre-Dates Law
    1. Adam was roughly 4,000 BC
    2. Abraham was 2,000 BC years before Jesus
  • Moses was 1,500 BC
  1. David was 1,000 BC years before Christ
  1. Moses by the Purpose of God instituted the Tithe 10% in Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy 1,500 years before Christ.
    1. Lev 27:30-31

 

30  “Every tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the trees, is the Lord’s; it is holy to the Lord.

ESV

 

Lev 27:32-33

32 And every tithe of herds and flocks, every tenth animal of all that pass under the herdsman’s staff, shall be holy to the Lord. 33 One shall not differentiate between good or bad, neither shall he make a substitute for it; and if he does substitute for it, then both it and the substitute shall be holy; it shall not be redeemed.”

ESV

  1. Abram however, 500 years before Moses wrote the Law, tithed to Melchizedek in Genesis 14…without Law and before Law.
  • Gen 4:1-5

 

4 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the Lord.” 2 And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. 3 In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, 4 and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, 5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard.

ESV

  1. Two Thoughts and Questions:
    1. Where did Cain and Abel get the idea to bring an offering to the Lord
    2. Secondly, Why did God accept Ables and Reject Cain’s.
  2. The Answer is…Adam taught them because God taught Adam…
  3. Scripture says, “in the process of time Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground…” but able brought of the firstborn of his flocks…
  1. The tithe isn’t the left-overs or when we get around to it…
    1. The tithe is the first 10%
    2. We can’t give the tithe when we get around to it.

Transition:  Let me just put this right here and this goes back to the ownership question:  You do not pay tithe nor do you give tithe…WE RETURN THE TITHE…we can then give offerings…but your tithe is not your offering.

  1. Give Ourselves First

2 Cor 8:1-6

 

8 We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, 2 for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. 3 For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, 4 begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints— 5 and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us.

ESV

  1. This passage of Scripture is in the bible for the American Church…it was written to the Corinthians…who were uber well off…
  2. The Macedonians were poor…very poor…
  3. But the Macedonians Gave an Abundant More than the Corinthians…
  4. But the Key was the Macedonians first Gave Themselves to the Lord…
  1. Closing
    1. We need to tithe, 10% and then be good Stewards of the remaining 90%
    2. Another thing I recognize is that people are at different places in their faith journey…I get it…but I promise if you desire to live the imaginary life, we discussed earlier…we have to get on God’s economic plan.
    3. You may have sat here and thought the whole time this was a message about Finances…and you’d be wrong…it was a message about “Giving Your Whole Self To the Lord.”

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