In this series, we have been talking about serving like Jesus. We’ve been talking about things like embracing humility over pride, being selfless instead of selfish, and ultimately living our lives in a way to hear “well done, good and faithful servant."
So, as we wrap up this series this week, let me ask you a question. “Are you a generous person?” Are you a giver or a taker? Just as God is the greatest example of generosity, his followers should be generous, and so we know that God calls us to be generous.
John Ortberg tells the story of a fun day he and his family were having at the Santa Monica beach. While he was hanging out, he left his wallet unattended by his beach towel, and when he came back his $60 spending money was gone.
When his wife came back from her jog and found out how the money had been taken she was not very sympathetic. Leaving your wallet laying around with no one watching it was like putting up a sign saying, "Please come take this money. I don't want it."
She didn’t feel like John deserved to have his allowance given to him a second time and they had a fairly lengthy discussion about that issue. When they got home, John’s son, who was five years old at the time, heard his mom and dad’s discussion and he felt bad for his dad.
After a few minutes he came downstairs with a little plastic bag that had all of his pennies in it. He said, "Dad, I want you to have these."
John said, "No. They're yours. You keep them." But he insisted. "Dad, I want you to have them." And John said that he was so happy to give those pennies to him that he ran upstairs and came back down with his bags of dimes and nickels and quarters too. He said, "I need to give these to you too."
Then he did something John said he will remember for the rest of his life. He came back downstairs a final time, and he brought with him $10 bill. He had been saving for a long time to buy a Mighty Morphin Power Ranger. Now, when you're five years old, $10 is like a down payment on a house.
John looked down at it, and his little boy handed it to him and he said, "Daddy, I want to give this to you." John said, “I got so choked up...I was almost tempted to give it back to him.”
Isn’t that a great story? Generosity fills a heart up with joy.
When David was the king of Israel, he wanted to do something special for the Lord. Up until this time the children of Israel worshiped God in a tent called the Tabernacle. One day David is sitting in his huge palace and he thinks you know it’s not right for me to be living in this wonderful house and the ark of the covenant which represents the presence of God is living out in a tent.
For many years the children of Israel moved around from place to place. When they camped in an area they would put this tent, this tabernacle up and people would come and offer sacrifices to God. When the people moved to the next region, they would take down the tent and move it and set it back up again so there was no permanent building or temple for God to be worshiped in.
That didn’t sit well with David so he asked God if he could build him a tabernacle. As much as God appreciated the gesture David was a man of war. There was blood on his hands so God said no to David’s request. Rather than throwing a hissy fit David decided that he would be the fundraiser for the temple. In his mind God had blessed him an awful lot and he wanted to do that for God.
Have you ever considered how much God has blessed you? If we were to boil down the world’s population to just 100 people. If 100 people represented what is happening in the world today did you know that:
We have been blessed. We have food, shelter, cars, boats, multiple TV’s, smart phones, you name it we have it.
When a person thinks about all that God has given to them doesn’t it make you want to give back to God so that his message and his kingdom can be advanced.
There is a story about a man named Stanley Tam. More than a half century ago, Stanley made a defining decision to go all in with God. In one of the most unique corporate takeovers ever, Stanley legally transferred 51 percent of the shares of his company to God. It took three lawyers to pull it off, because the first two thought he was crazy!
Stanley started the United States Plastic Corporation with $37 in capital. When he gave his business back to God, annual revenues were less than $200,000. But Stanley believed God would bless his business, and he wanted to honor God for the blessing of getting to have a business in the first place.
At that point, most of us would have been patting ourselves on the back. Not Stanley. He felt convicted for keeping 49 percent for himself. After reading the parable about the merchant who sold everything to obtain the pearl of great price, Stanley made a decision to divest himself of all his shares.
I love Stanley’s plainspoken words: “A man can eat only one meal at a time, wear only one suit of clothes at a time, drive only one car at a time. All this I have. Isn’t that enough?”
On January 15, 1955, every share of stock was transferred to his Senior Partner God, and Stanley became a salaried employee of the company he had started. From that day to the present, Stanley has given away more than $120 million!
God had blessed him so he wanted to be a blessing. We all nod and smile at a story like that and think good for him but what about us? Are we being generous to God? Are we investing in his kingdom?
David wants to build a temple for the Lord so he calls the people together in 1 Chronicles.
1 Chronicles 29:2"With all my resources, I have provided for the Temple of God: gold for the gold, silver for the silver, bronze for the bronze, iron, wood, alabaster, turquoise, stone and marble."
And then in verse 5 he says, “Now, who is willing to consecrate himself to the Lord?”
Who else would be willing to give like this? David didn’t demand that they give, he asked if they would give.
If you can’t give to God out of a heart that flows with love then I would suggest that you shouldn’t give at all. When I go online and give my tithes and offerings to the Lord, I just think about how good God has been to me. He has forgiven me, never given up on me. Jesus died for me and I get to be a part of a church that sees life change happen every week.
I get to be a part of seeing the Kingdom of God be advanced. In my mind, I would rather give to something that is going to last than to continue to fund a bunch of stuff that is here today and gone tomorrow.
David asks the people. Is there anybody else that would like to give in this way?
Here we need to understand giving is a heart issue.
If you aren’t willing to give back to God for all he has given to you then you probably care more about getting more stuff than you care about souls. These people in the Old Testament were different. David asked who else is willing to give like this?
1 Chronicles 29:6"The leaders of the families, the officers of the tribes of the Israelites, the commanders of thousands, the commanders of hundreds, the officials in charge of the King’s work gave willingly."
There was an explosion of generosity. These people led the way. The Bible says, 1 Chronicles 29:9"The people rejoiced at the willing response of their leaders, for they had given, not just because the King made them give; they had given freely and wholeheartedly to the Lord. And David, the King, also rejoiced greatly."
They gave willingly and freely and with their whole heart. They wanted to do it. They were honored to get the opportunity. David is overwhelmed by what he sees happening around him.
The Bible says that, 1 Chronicles 29:10-13“David praised the LORD in the presence of the whole assembly, saying, "Praise be to you, O LORD, God of our father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all. Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name.
David cries out to God and says everything we have and everything we are and everything we possess comes from you and is for you.
1 Chronicles 29:14“Who am I, and who are my people that we should be able to give as generously as this?” What David is saying here is, I’m a shepherd kid. I’m a soldier. I’m an adulterer. I’m a murderer. Who am I that I should be able to give to God like this to think that God could use me to bring glory to Him?
We can also understand that God owns everything.
David recognized that The only reason he is sitting where he sits, the only reason there is a crown upon his head, the only reason he is living in the house he gets to live in is because of God. Everything belongs to God. As long as you think what you have belongs to you, you will never be generous.
The only reason you are where you are is because of the goodness of God doesn’t it make you want to be as generous as he has been to you? We don’t want to be the kind of people who come to church week after week and enjoy all this stuff that someone else paid for us to use. Deep inside no one wants to be a taker, so think of ways you can be a giver.
Let me tell you a fact of life. If you are not generous with a little, you will not be generous with much. And to add on to that; if you are not faithful with a little, God is not going to entrust you with more.
Here is what I want you to do. I want you to ask God how you can be a generous person. You might not make a lot of money right now, but how can you use what you do have to make a difference here in our church and in the lives of other people? As a matter of fact, I don't want to do Remix a disservice by not explaining what God asks us to do with our money. The Word of God challenges each and every one of us to give a tithe back to God of what's already His anyways. A tithe means 10%. Ever since I have been challenged to give 10% back to God for everything He's given me I've never regretted it.
As we close consider the only thing God ever asks us to test Him in from Malachi 3:10-11,"Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test!"
So the challenge today is to consider where we have shorted God. Let's give Him our all because of everything He's blessed us with. If you're not sure how to do this or want to know more, you can use the Sagebrush app!
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