Created To Be Generous

This morning, we begin a new series of sermons entitled Created to be Generous.   We will take the next five weeks to explore what it means to be generous in community, openly, good works, as saints, and as givers. In the first chapter, in the first book of the Bible, in two verses, we learn the most incredible revelation about our own creation.  When God was creating humanity, we were created in the image of God.  That it is to say each one of us is a reflection of who God is.  We unpacked some of that last week as we considered World Communion and the diversity of God’s people.  This also means that as we learn about God’s character, we learn about how we were created.  God’s character is full, and we spend a lifetime knowing more of God.  God created us in God’s image to be generous.

The opposite of generosity is fear.   God reminds us again and again that Jesus has come to give us life and life abundant.  In abundance, we cannot help but be generous.   We cultivate abundance through generosity.  We cultivate scarcity through fear.   The opposite of abundance is scarcity.  This is when we are worried we might not have enough to eat tonight, so we would not possibly share our meal with another.  What little there is, is for us.

Our gospel lesson comes as Jesus is on the way.  The Way was also the name given to those who first sought to follow Jesus.  Long before there was a church with pews and committees, there was a way.  Way indicated that discipleship was a journey, a process, not something to be achieved, but rather it was something for which to strive.  As Jesus was on the way, a man came and presented himself before Jesus seeking to be his disciple.  The rich young ruler as we have often called him.  He had lived an upright good life.  The would-be-disciple is finally told, you lack one thing.  As he goes away, we do not know exactly what he will do.  Does he grieve because he will not be able to follow Jesus? Does he grieve and then immediately come to an understanding that he must give it all away and do so?  Does he grieve for the day, the week, the month, and then discover Jesus’ words were true?  How does he embrace who God has called him to be?  How does he come to known God’s abundance? We find the question not only to the man, but to us.

In Exodus, the people were gathered together, and Moses was imparting the words of God to the people of God.  The people had been liberated from the Egyptians, led through the wilderness and were following God and Moses.  The tabernacle of God was to be built from the people. The people were called to give of their brooches and their gold, their silver and their resources.  The writer goes to great length for us to understand this offering is from the heart and of free will.  It is truly generous, not obliged or coerced.

Now, there were multiple offerings to be presented to God by the people.  There was the sin offering, peace offering, trespass offering, and burnt offering. And there was one more, the free will offering.  Our passage in Exodus describes a free will offering, where the willing heart and the generous soul provides.  In the earliest days, the rabbis considered the whys and the hows and to becomes about much of the life of following God.  The rabbis understood that when the Messiah came, there would no longer be any need for most of the offerings, with the exception of the free-will offering.  The rabbis discerned that we always have a need to be generous, even in the age of the Messiah.

The story is told that one day a beggar by the roadside asked for alms from Alexander the Great as he passed by. The man was poor and wretched and had no claim upon the ruler, no right even to lift a solicitous hand. Yet the Emperor threw him several gold coins. A courtier was astonished at his generosity and commented, “Sir, copper coins would adequately meet a beggar’s need. Why give him gold?” Alexander responded in royal fashion, “Cooper coins would suit the beggar’s need, but gold coins suit Alexander’s giving.”

We, who are created to be generous, have a need to give. When we are not living into who God has called us to be, it is like walking around in the wrong sized shoes.  If they are too big, we are constantly tripping and cannot settle into a comfortable pace of walking.  If they are too small, we are cut off from the vitality and find pain in each step.  When we walk around in the shoes that fit us just right, we can dance and be nimble.

As those who were created in the image of God, each time we live as those who will not have enough, we find our temperament changing to match. We wish to limit who can do what.  We want to keep close tabs on all our resources.  We need to know how everything transpired.  When we live in a model of scarcity, we have few words of praise for our loved ones.  We cannot serve others, because there is always work to be done first for self. We cannot give of our financial resources, because we will then be without.

Each time, we give into behaviors of scarcity, we find ourselves disconnected from God and lacking in our souls.  Said differently, when we live as generous people regardless of which zeros are in our bank accounts, we know joy and contentment.  When we live as those terrified of scarcity, we find ourselves snapping at one another, grouchy and grumpy.

So, have you found yourself snapping at your family, neglecting your time alone with God, wishing people would just stop bothering you?  Consider whether you  have been living fully into who God called you to be?  Have your words been filled with praises and affirmations?  Have your hands been put to the work of serving others?  Has your mind be filled with pleasant and generous thoughts?  If the answer to all of these is yes, I give thanks to God for the ways in which you have responded to God’s call on your life and your commitment to living it out each and every day.  You truly inspire us!  If the answer to any of these is no, you are in good company on the way.  And this is the time, to cultivate the generosity the God placed within you.  This is how healthy relationships are built and strengthened.   This is how communities are built and strengthened.  This is how God’s kingdom is built and strengthened!

Each of the sermons in this series will end with a challenge for us to live more fully into the image of God.  For this week, I challenge each of you to ask God how you can be more generous.  God’s generosity reflects in us through our words, our thoughts, our actions, the sharing of our possessions and finances, our resources and our hearts.  God’s generosity always points back to God.

Let us communally pause in prayer to ask God.

I can hardly wait to see what God is going to shine through each of you.  I hope you will consider sharing with me your challenge commitment.  I hope you will email me or Facebook me, text me or call me, tell me or write me.  I am in prayer for how God will make us a more generous church of more generous people.  For me, as I prayed throughout the week, I am making a commitment to be more generous in my speech.  I have been known to be less than my best self in snappy speech and I want to reflect more of God.  On a challenging day this week, it was a friend from high school whose words on a Facebook post reminded me of God’s generosity and I remembered my hope in God.

We are created to be generous.  Jesus calls us to give it all.  How do we go away today?  Are we grieving of that which we lack?  Or are we embracing the challenge that Jesus gives us to follow with our whole lives!

This is the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, thanks be to God, Amen.

Old Testament Lesson: Genesis 1:26-27

Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

Old Testament Lesson: Exodus 35:1-5, 20-22, 29

Moses assembled all the congregation of the Israelites and said to them: These are the things that the Lord has commanded you to do: Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a holy Sabbath of solemn rest to the Lord; whoever does any work on it shall be put to death. You shall kindle no fire in all your dwellings on the Sabbath day. Moses said to all the congregation of the Israelites: This is the thing that the Lord has commanded: Take from among you an offering to the Lord; let whoever is of a generous heart bring the Lord’s offering: gold, silver, and bronze;

Then all the congregation of the Israelites withdrew from the presence of Moses. And they came, everyone whose heart was stirred, and everyone whose spirit was willing, and brought the Lord’s offering to be used for the tent of meeting, and for all its service, and for the sacred vestments. So they came, both men and women; all who were of a willing heart brought brooches and earrings and signet rings and pendants, all sorts of gold objects, everyone bringing an offering of gold to the Lord.

All the Israelite men and women whose hearts made them willing to bring anything for the work that the Lord had commanded by Moses to be done, brought it as a freewill offering to the Lord.

Gospel Lesson: Mark 10:17-31

The Rich Man

As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; You shall not defraud; Honor your father and mother.’” He said to him, “Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.” Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.

Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” They were greatly astounded and said to one another, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.”

Peter began to say to him, “Look, we have left everything and followed you.” Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.”

Meditations For Your Week

 Sunday, October 11 ~ Saturday, October 17

Sunday: “Take from among you an offering to the Lord; let whoever is of a generous heart bring the Lord’s offering: gold, silver, and bronze;” Exodus 35:5.  God created each of us with a generous heart.  How will you give more generously?

Monday: “And they came, everyone whose heart was stirred, and everyone whose spirit was willing, and brought the Lord’s offering to be used for the tent of meeting, and for all its service, and for the sacred vestments.” Exodus 35:21. Prayerfully consider how God is stirring your heart.

Tuesday: “All the Israelite men and women, whose hearts made them willing to bring anything for the work that the Lord had commanded by Moses to be done, brought it as a freewill-offering to the Lord.” Exodus 35:29. It is our hearts that first response to God.  Are you listening to your heart?

Wednesday: “Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness;” Genesis 1:26. God has created each of us in God’s image.  Every time we feel off, we are not living into the image God has made us in.  Where is God calling you today to live more fully into God’s image?

Thursday: “Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, ‘You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’” Mark 10:21.  The rich young ruler sought Jesus by following the commandments.  Jesus urged the ruler to give all.  Prayerfully consider how God is calling you to be generous.

Friday: “Jesus looked at them and said, ‘For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.’” Mark 10:27. Every time objections, limitations, and road blocks speak louder in your mind, consider nothing is impossible with God!

Saturday:  “But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.’” Mark 10:31. God is in the habit of turning expectations upside down.  Open your heart to how God might using you for that end.