A Word about Generosity

 

Today I want to share a word about generosity, as I comment on Acts 20:32-36. This passage reads:

And now, brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. I have coveted no man's silver, or gold, or apparel.  Yea, ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me. I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive. And when he had thus spoken, he kneeled down, and prayed with them all.

One aspect of being involved in ministry for more than three decades is that I have many memories Some are pleasant, others are unpleasant, and others are just . . . let’s say that they are unique. In that regard I remember the time I was given a gift of a dozen pairs of white athletic socks.

I had travelled to a small town to advise a church about how to expand and improve their buildings to support their church’s ministry. It was quite a long drive to get to this town, but our meeting went well, and I felt like the church’s leadership was well on its way to making some good decisions for the future. As I was about to take my leave, one of the lay leaders of the church asked me to walk with him out to the parking lot. 

When we arrived at his car, he reached inside and pulled out a plastic bag which he then thrust into my hands. “We know you had a long drive up here,” he said. “Here’s something to show our appreciation.” In that bag were the aforementioned white athletic socks.

The missing element to this story was that the town in question was known for being the location of one of the largest, and last, garment factories in our state, which, as a matter of fact, produced socks. Socks were, therefore, a common and imminently practical, gift to visitors.

Beaming with pride, my host said, “I hope you enjoy these!” And I did. Those socks were an unusual gift, but I used them for many months. I was glad to have them, and I was glad to allow my host to enjoy the blessing of generosity.

Paul also knew the blessing of giving to others. In fact, generosity was important enough to him that he included it in his final words to the elders of the church at Ephesus before being taken to Rome for his audience with Caesar. Such an event is likely to focus one’s thoughts, so the fact that Paul reminded them of the teaching of Jesus about generosity is instructive. 

An interesting fact is that one of the most common topics that Jesus taught about was money, including economics, greed, taxes, and giving. For example, in The Sermon on the Plain in Luke 6, Jesus taught:

Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again. Luke 6:38

From this passage we can glean at least two basic principles about generosity.

GENEROSITY RECOGNIZES GOD’S OWNERSHIP:

The basis of generosity as well as stewardship and several other values is the fact of God’s ownership of everything. As creator, God can and does claim possession on everything we see and of everything we do not see. The right of God to be in control of all of creation is beyond doubt, argument, and challenge. The interesting thing is what God has done with creation: He gave it to us!

You see, our God is a giving God. He gave us this world, He gave us life itself, and He gave us His Uniquely Begotten Son to save us from our sin. God is not a hoarder, keeping all things for Himself. God is not a spoiler, denying things to others out of spite. God is not forgetful, ignoring the needs and wants of people. No! God is a giver!

Not only does God want to give, but God also has the power to give as Paul wrote in his benediction in the Letter to the Ephesians:

For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Ephesians 3:14-21

God is our model for generosity, and He also has the right to expect us to be generous in return. In fact, when He made His covenant with Abraham, God told him:

And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. Genesis 12:2-3

God’s people are intended to be generous people

GENEROSITY REALIZES GOD’S BLESSING:

Besides recognizing that God expects us to be generous, we can also see here that God blesses those who are generous. In Luke 6:38, Jesus taught that when we give, we get blessed, and He also gave us clues to the dimensions of that blessing:

Good measure: One of the ways merchants cheated people in Biblical times was to have false scales, or grain measures that were not accurate. God, however, is scrupulously honest. He never cheats His people. Or anyone else for that matter!

Pressed down and shaken together: When some commodities are measured their shapes cause air pockets to form. To make sure that the measurement is true, these commodities should be shaken to minimize the air pockets and maximize the amount of product being sold. This is exactly why boxes of cereal are labeled to note that they are “packed by weight and not by volume.” If we were buying cereal from God, He’d shake the box so that the cereal would settle to the bottom, but then He’d top it up with more!

Running over: God is not cheap with His blessings. They are so great that they would overflow any container in which they are put, should that be physically possible. God is generous, and He gives us “exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think!”

When I was in seminary in New Orleans, I learned about a French word that was commonly used in that city: Lagniappe. This means a little something extra, like the 13th doughnut in a Baker’s Dozen. When we give, God blesses us with more than at the level of lagniappe. He gives us much more than a little extra. He pours out His favor on us, the way that Mary poured out the expensive perfume on the hair of Jesus during the supper at Bethany. Our God is an extravagantly generous God!

CONCLUSION:

I once heard my pastor describe the way of the world when it came to possessions in this manner: “Get all you can. Put it in a can. Put a lid on the can. Sit on the lid!”

On the other hand, love really doesn’t help anyone unless it is given away. And, since God is Love, it’s natural that He is a giving God. Thus, it is natural that we should be generous people as we imitate His behavior towards us.

Every blessing,

Dr. Otis Corbitt