Series: Don’t Be a Grinch                 

Title: Be Generous

It’s Christmas time, one of my favorite times of the year.  It is a time of giving gifts to our loved ones, it is a time of families gathering, it is a time when people are more generous in their giving to others.  For believers it is a time to reflect on the fact that God in His generosity, sent His Son Jesus to the Earth for the purpose of delivering mankind from his fallen sinful state.  He has given the most generous gift that anyone can give, it was the gift of eternal life through His Son Jesus Christ.

The opposite of being generous is what we would call being a grinch.  Is everyone familiar with the grinch.  He is a fictional green furry, pot-bellied, pear-shaped creature with a cat-like face and cynical personality character who was created by Dr. Seuss.  The grinch was bullied as a child and he allows his childhood issues to fester into adulthood. He is described by others as having a heart that is "two sizes too small."  He despises Christmas and the so called “noise” accompanied with the holiday season.  He decides he wants to destroy Christmas for everyone once and for all.  Instead of bringing gifts to loved ones he devises a plan to steal all the gifts and all the holiday decorations as well. 

 

His plan was rooted in selfishness, he was a grinch indeed.  

We are to guard ourselves from having grinch-like characteristics.  That is why we have named this series don’t be a grinch. Through today’s sermon we will look at what it means to live sacrificially and be generous givers. 

I must say that people that I know who have become successful in this life are the most generous people that I know.  Which coincides with this scripture:

 

                  Proverbs 11:24

                  One gives freely, yet grows all the richer;

                  another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want.

 

This one scripture would imply that the key to success is learning to be a generous giver.  Which raises the question, What is generosity?

 

Generosity could be summed up in one word “willingness.”  Which is basically having a willingness to allow God to use the time / resources that He has entrusted to you, for His good purpose. 

 

We will be more generous when we realize that everything that we have, has been given to us by God, and that we are only called to be stewards of all we have for His good purpose.

 

“How does one become a generous giver?”

 

Generosity is evidence of a Christ-like nature

 

Before we became Christians, we were very selfish people.  Before receiving any teaching of the scriptures or before we received any correction, we lived according to our flesh to please our own desires.   Even if we did some act of charity, it was birthed out of selfish motives.  Whether it was to be recognized by others for our good works, or to have a feel good moment, our acts of charity done before we were in Christ were done because there was something to be gained.

Generosity as a believer looks quite different because our objective is to be more Christ-like.  We give because He gave it all.  We give because we have been given a new nature and the old sinful nature has died.

 

Ephesians 4:22-24

 

²² to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, ²³ and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, ²⁴ and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

 

Being generous means that we have put to death our old selfish nature and that we have taken on a new nature which is modeled after Christ Jesus.  Because if we are to look for an example in the bible about someone who displayed generosity well, we look no further than the Son of God.

 

2 Corinthians 8:9

 

⁹ For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.

 

Christ demonstrated generosity in laying down His life for us by leaving the glory and splendor of heaven and becoming poor so that through His physical poverty we might become spiritually rich. 

 

1 John 3:16

 

¹⁶ By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. ¹⁷But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? ¹⁸ Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

 

He also set the example by laying down His life for us so then we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.  True Generosity is evidence of a Christ-like nature.  It overflows from within.

 

Generosity overflows from a cheerful heart

 

2 Corinthians 9:6-8

 

⁶ The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. ⁷ Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. ⁸ And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.

 

It’s not about seeing how little I can give and still obtain God’s favor.  Nor should giving be a burden. 

 

I like what John Piper said, “If you write your check to the church and it’s a burden, God does not like that check, keep it.” We should give with a cheerful heart as unto the Lord.  As we give bountifully, we will also reap bountifully. 

 

The purpose in being generous is not to take from you, but to add to you.  The end result of being generous is that God will cause you to have what you need when you need it, and that you would abound in every good work. 

 

Knowing this, how could we not be cheerful when we give. 

 

When King Solomon had finished building the temple,

 

2 Chronicles 5:6, 13

 

⁶ And King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, who had assembled before him, were before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they could not be counted or numbered.

¹³ and it was the duty of the trumpeters and singers to make themselves heard in unison in praise and thanksgiving to the Lord), and when the song was raised, with trumpets and cymbals and other musical instruments, in praise to the Lord,

“For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever,”

 

The idea is that King Solomon had offered a very generous sacrifice unto the Lord, and the offering was accompaniedwith music and praise to the Lord.  As it should be, our generosity is an overflow response of praise to the Lord for His steadfast love towards us.

 

At the end of this service, we will have a unique opportunity to give cheerfully. 

 

Generosity is Sacrificial giving

 

Luke 21:1-4

 

¹ Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, ² and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. ³ And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. ⁴ For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”

 

Lesson to be learned, Jesus sees it all.  He sees the rich who gave though, their giving did not affect them because they had an abundance. 

 

An example would be if the worlds’ richest man Jeff Bezos gave $236,000 to the charity of his choosing and only that amount.  You might think wow what a kind person for giving such a donation, that’s a lot of money.  But in comparison to his net worth which is 177 billion the $236,000 would be equivalent to me giving a dollar to someone.  A dollar does not cost me much. 

 

Jesus had also seen the poor widow who brought a gift which cost her everything.  The two small copper coins were all that she had to live on.  Yet she trusted God as Jehovah Jireh her provider, for she gave a gift that cost her something, knowing that she would abound sufficiently in all things. 

 

The gift that Jesus honored was the gift of the poor widow. 

David is another example.  David wanted to build an altar to the Lord so that he could offer sacrifices on it in a plea to stop the plague that had greatly affected Israel.  When David goes to purchase the land from a man named Araunah (air-av-na) he tells David that he can have it.  David responds

 

2 Samuel 24:24 “No, but I will buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing.”

 

Sometimes the Lord will ask you to give an amount that cost you.  We were in El Salvador in 2015 when the Lord asked my wife and I to give an amount that cost us something above what we normally give monthly.  During that time, we were in the process of adopting kids and we still had several expenses left to pay for the adoption process.  Every dollar counted, we were on a stricter budget than usual.   But we really felt like it was the Lord leading us to be generous. The funds were going to help a mountain church which was just getting started.  Let’s just say that we feltthis one. 

 

A few months later, the oilfield took a dive, and I lost my job.   We did not know how we were going to pay for all the remaining adoption expenses.  But we did trust in the Lord. Long story short, one year later after giving that donation the Lord miraculously provided for all our adoption expenses. 

 

A church friend of ours hosted a benefit dinner on our behalf and raised over seven thousand dollars to help with our adoption fees.  That was not all, another church friend and local business owner wrote us a check for $10,000 to cover the airfare prices to get our kids.

 

God’s word is sure and can be trusted.

 

                  2 Corinthians 9:8

 

⁸ And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.

 

How we handle our money, time, resources, has everything to do with our perspective of Jesus.

 

• If we say that He is Lord, then He is Lord over our money over our time and resources.
• If we say that the earth is the Lords and the fulness thereof, then we are just called to steward that which has been given to us.
• If we call ourselves Christians “Christlike” then our generosity needs to resemble His. Furthermore, our joy in givingshould also resemble His

 

Hebrews 12:2 “looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

We will guard ourselves from grinch like attitudes by learning to be a generous people

 

Generosity is evidence of a Christ-like nature

Generosity overflows from a cheerful heart

Generosity is Sacrificial giving