Generous Living: Radical Stewardship

 “Generous Lifestyle: We Are Radical Stewards of God’s Gifts to Us”

 Message @ Jericho Ridge Community Church – Sun, January 26, 2020

Text: Proverbs 11:25

On the 24^th of July, the Olympic games return to Tokyo, Japan.  This year, in an effort to make the Olympics all young and hip and urban, the IOC is adding a few new sports, including skateboarding.  And in that video you just saw, that gal is one to watch.  Sky Brown, at just 11 years old, will likely be the youngest of the almost 12,000 participants from 206 nations competing in 339 events across 50 disciplines.

A recent article in Maclean’s magazine notes that “skateboarding is everything traditional Olympic sports are not.  Skateboarders themselves sometimes call it a culture or a lifestyle rather than an event.”  For Sky and others, skateboarding is a lifestyle, not an event. 

Here at Jericho Ridge, this January, we have been exploring our 5 core values – I know, that was a quick switch from a summer analogy to a winter – you may have experienced metaphoric whiplash, for which I apologize!  But we are using the analogy of a ski hill and a series entitled “Follow Me: The adventure of Discipleship” to help us understand what it looks like to live out our faith in the everyday places we find ourselves. 

And I want to reiterate that what we are talking about here with our values is really not a sermon series, we are talking about a lifestyle not an event.  Following Jesus is not just about how you and I think, it’s about how we act and who we are becoming.  It’s about a culture of learning and growth in a congregation, it’s about our ability to practice vulnerability and to be willing to take risks.  To increase in responsive obedience to God in new ways and to be open to partner with God in that process.  So we’ve talked about transformational truth, we’ve talked about Authentic community, we’ve talked about glocal service.  And today we finally come to an explicit use of the world lifestyle.  But it might be in a place you may not expect it. 

We introduce this word in concert with a core value conversation about generosity. Our fourth core value is to be people who practice a Generous Lifestyle:  We are radical stewards of God’s gifts to us.

The key word here is stewardship.  This means we take the posture that “God is the owner, we are the managers”.  We are stewards, not owners of everything that we have as individuals, as families and as a church community.  Here’s the longer text of that value:

“We commit to living as faithful stewards, willing to cheerfully share what we have with others. We listen to and depend on God in every circumstance with a humble spirit of gratitude. Generosity touches all aspects of our lives: our friendships, our service, our time, our gifts and abilities, and our material resources.”

So today, we want to explore what does this kind of radical Generosity actually look like? not as an event, but as a lifestyle.  How do we move from generosity as a transaction (“fine, I’ll put some stupid money in the offering bag as it goes past to make me feel less guilty!”) toward a more holistic view of what the Bible teaches: that God has given you as an individual and us as a community many things to steward or manage well.  So to do that we are going to look at two different kinds of generosity – multi-directional generosity, multi-modal generosity.

Let’s start where we have stared with our other core values: with the understanding that they are rooted in who God is.  If we want to talk about multi-directional generosity, the first direction to understand is the generosity that God shows toward us.    

We only know what generosity is because God is generous.  Generosity is part of God’s Character.  Look at just a few biblical examples: 

• “If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and God will give it to you.” (James 1:5)
• “God gives grace generously” (James 4:6)
• “God…richly gives us all we need” (I Timothy 6:17)
• “God is so rich in kindness & grace.” (Ephesians 1:7)

I’m not sure what your mental image of God is like or what shaped that, but one of the things I had to unlearn in my spiritual journey was that God was not like a miserly paternal figure with a white beard sitting up in the sky somewhere who was reluctant to dole anything out of the storehouses of heaven.  This led me to have a warped view of prayer as somehow trying to pry things out of God’s hands that God didn’t’ want to give me.  I don’t know where I got that idea but it certainly wasn’t the Bible. Because the scripture reveal that Generosity is who God is. It’s part of God’s character. 

One of the most well-loved verses in the Bible has God’s generosity front and centre: John 3:16 says “for God so loved the world THAT HE GAVE”.  God is a giving & generous God.  And God didn’t just give something surplus or incidental!  No, God gave us the greatest and most costly and personal gift that could every give: himself.  Jesus then willingly and generously gave His life as an atonement for the sins of the world. Jesus broke the power of sin and death when He was raised to life on the third day and Jesus is, right now, generously interceding and praying for you in the throne room of heaven.  That is an expression of generous love. And friend, if you have never responded to that sacrificial love, if you have never said yes to Jesus, today is your day to do that.  Our Prayer teams would count it a privilege later on to help guide you to follow Jesus in the way of love – Miriam and Wally and Gary and Betty will be at the back later on during our response in song time. I encourage you, don’t leave without responding to God’s generous love. 

And that response is really the second direction of Multi-Directional Generosity: US to God.  We respond to God is all kinds of ways – some of them are personal. Like prayer, where we voice to God our gratitude for God’s generosity.  Yet if generosity is a lifestyle, not an event, then we also respond to God’s generosity by giving generously to God’s world in the world.  God’s generosity invites us to be generous. 

And the location of this generosity, while it can be directed back to God in many places, one place that it is nurtured and finds expression is the work and ministry of your local church.   For example, weekly corporate

• Worship: Provides a collective opportunity to say what is in our hearts (I want to say how grateful I am for those who generously give of their time and skills each week – pray into song selection, come Fri nights and rehearse, so you and I can worship).

I am grateful that we have a physical place to come and worship in.  In the Old Testament, there is the story of the building of the tabernacle.  In the desert, people responded to the desire to have a place for God’s work to advance.  They brought gold, linens, jewelry – their generosity moved them to give toward a building project.

• Facilities: “Let those with generous hearts present… gifts to the Lord.” (Exodus 35:4) – I am so grateful to those who have sacrificed and given financially to our capital campaign, to those who have given generously of their time to make this facility a reality.

I am also grateful for our staff team.  The allocation of financial resources toward salaries allows for time to be invested in care, in study, in teaching and ministry: thank you for freeing me & our team up to serve in this way!

• Pastors: “Elders who do their work well should be respected & paid well, especially those who work hard at both preaching & teaching.” (I Tim 5:17)

Our response to god’s generosity to us is to desire for it to be multiplied in the lives of others.  And so generosity is not a financial issue, it is a heart issue.   

We see this even more clearly in the third direction our generosity flows in: from God to us; from us back to God; and also from us toward people who are Poor.  One of the most consistent and clear teaching on the subject of generosity and being generous is that we are to let it flow to those who need it most.  Generosity toward people on the margins is non-optional for disciples of Jesus.  

Most often, when talking about generosity, the invitation is to give to people who cannot repay you in any way.  To give time and friendship and resources to those who are poor. Again, with a focus on the heart not on guilt reduction: In Deuteronomy, God reminds people to:

• “Give generously to the poor, not grudgingly, for the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do.” (Deut. 15:10)
• “Blessed are those who are generous, because they feed the poor.” (Proverbs 22:9)

This is why we consistently give and go to Guatemala.  We are responding to God’s generosity by giving to those who are widowed and orphaned.  We are responding to God’s generosity by distributing wheelchairs to those who cannot afford them. By building houses for those who need them. By providing food and clothing to those who have none.  And Jesus reminds us that in as much as you have done it to the lease of these, you have done it unto Him.  You are actually being generous toward God when you are generous to those who are poor.  So let’s get busy, Jericho meeting these project goals for Guatemala 2020!  Two weeks from now on Feb 9, you’ll have opportunity to buy baked goods – plan now to be generous!  Buy a pie, build a house. 

So we’ll talked about multi-direction generosity – from God to us; us to Go and from us to those who are poor.  But if you remember, I said that we were going to discuss two kinds of generosity, not just three directions of Generosity.  So the second type of generosity is multi-modal generosity. 

Multi-modal is a transportation word.  Comes to us from the world of shipping goods or moving people – you want to think carefully about how many times your item has to be moved onto another mode of transport.  This is why shipping containers became such a huge hit – you can move them from a boat to a truck to rail more easily than loading or unloading again.  In fact, “the quantity of goods carried by containers has risen from around 102 million metric tons in 1980 to about 1.83 billion metric tons in 2017.”  Experts estimate that there are over 209 million shipping containers in the world, and right now, 5-6 million of them are moving!  Being multi-modal has revolutionized the shipping and receiving industry. 

What does this have to do with generosity?  Well, often when the topic of generosity comes up, people think only in terms of money. I hear complaints all the time “oh the church just cares about my money!” but that’s not accurate.  What we care about is your heart, your growth and development as a person and so part of that is connected to our resources – not just our finances, but our time, our gifts & abilities, and also our material resources.  Generosity is about so much more than money.

I love what the Apostle Paul said to Timothy who was leading a local congregation in the first century. He said that part of learning to follow Jesus was helping people “Be rich in good works and generous to those in need, always being ready to share with others. By doing this they will be storing up their treasure as a good foundation for the future so that they may experience true life.” (I Tim 6:18-19)

Part of our job here is to help you not only be generous with your money but also and perhaps more importantly, be generous with the other things God has given you.  Things you have that someone else might need

• Friendship? (new Canadian, new student in your class)
• Time? (I find this is the hardest thing to be generous with)
• Skills or abilities?
• Things you have or own? (home, car, lawn mower,)

I want to challenge us to reminder to practice multi-modal generosity:

• There is more than one kind of “currency”
  • How are we going to be generous with our facility?

Example: when we were finished at the Langley Events Centre looking around for a new home, we realized how challenging this was going to be.  We attempted to purchase or engage 12 different things from warehouse space to raw land to partnership with other entities… it was tough to find space.  And so one thing we realized after God opened up this amazing door for us here is that we need to help open up doors for others.  To be a blessing to others.  And our team that manages the building, they took this to heart.  And they set up what they have called a Generous Living fund.  And this fund allows us to be generosity with our facility.  To use the space that God has given us to bless other ministries and other people with this space in creative ways. For example, in May, we’ll be hosting the Under The Same Sun fundraising banquet here –because of God’s generosity to provide us with space, we get to have some fun and pay that forward. 

Lebanese-American writer, poet and visual artist Kahlil Gibran once said that “You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.” – Kahlil Gibran

So this morning, as we reflect on what God has given you and us, I want us to take a moment and get hold of the paper that was put on your seats.  This is a new tool that we are launching to help you create some reflection & conversation on various aspects of your spiritual health.  This is a self-reflection exercise – it is organized around each off our core values.  So for example, if you look at the page 5, there are questions on generous living, some of which I have already asked this morning:

• What areas of my life do I find it easiest to be generous with? (E.g. times, abilities, resources, etc.)
• What areas of my life do I find most difficult to share or give away?
• What “things” has God given me that He wants me to use in or for Jericho Ridge? (E.g. relationships, volunteer time, skills, finances, resources, etc.)
• What “role” do I think God is personally calling or equipping me to play in the ministry of Jericho Ridge?

I want to give you a few moments right now to begin to write out some thoughts in response to these items. 

And you may need or want more time to think about this.  That’s OK…. This is not a quiz or a test or a survey.  This is a self-reflection exercise that we are inviting everyone at Jericho Ridge to participate in.  What I want you to do as the worship team is coming, is begin to reflect and respond right now to the questions of generous living because that’s what we are focusing on this morning so it’s fresh in your mind.  But over the course of this next week, I want everyone at Jericho to set aside some time to do two simple things:

• Set aside time for Reflection & Writing
• Let us know what you discovered

(www.jerichoridge.com/feedback)

We have created an online feedback area where you can let us know what you learned about yourself? What is an area of growth you want to pursue? How can we come alongside and help and support you?  Next week, we are going to take some time around the communion table to share with others what you are learning about yourself.  I know for me, as I did some reflecting and writing in this area, I want to be more generous with my neighbors – with time and over the fence conversations.  But that’s my invitation. What might God be speaking to you about in the area of generous living?  Take 3-4 minutes as the team plays instrumentally, then I will close us in a word of prayer.  

Prayer:

“The generous will prosper; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed.” (Proverbs 11:25)

 Benediction:

The witnesses tell of your boundless generosity,
and their telling is compelling to us:
You give your world to call the worlds into being;
You give your sovereign rule to emancipate the slaves and the oppressed;

You give your commanding fidelity to form your own people;
You give your life for the life of the world...
broken bread that feeds, 
poured out wine and binds and heals.
You give...we receive...and are thankful.

We begin this day in gratitude, 
thanks that is a match for your self-giving,
gratitude in gifts offered,
gratitude in tales told,
gratitude in lives lived.

Gratitude willed, but no so readily lived,
held back by old wounds turned to powerful resentment,
slowed by early fears become vague anxiety,
restrained by self-sufficiency in a can-do arrogance,
blocked by amnesia unable to recall gifts any longer.

Do this yet. Create innocent spaces for us this day 
for the gratitude we intend.

In thankfulness, 
we will give, 
we will tell, 
we will live, 
your gift through us to gift the world. Amen

~ written by Walter Brueggemann, in Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth: Prayers of Walter Brueggemann (Fortress Press, 2002