Give Till It Hurts?

 “Give Till It Hurts?”

 Message @ Jericho Ridge Community Church – Sunday, March 15, 2015

Text: 2 Cor 8:1-14 // Series: The Genius of Generosity

In 2015, one the goals in our ministry plan here at Jericho Ridge is to further develop a bible reading culture.  Part of that is the encourage engagement with the Bible outside the context of Sunday mornings through a simple but powerful reading plan that will take you through the New Testament in one year.  So you’ll see this morning in your Info Sheet a bookmark that picks up that plan and I’d expect that many of you will put that in your Bibles or load that plan on your phone and begin or continue that this week.  We’ve just finished reading through the book of Acts on that plan and at my Life journaling group this past Tuesday, we were talking about what we learned about Paul.  Paul was many things…  What words come to mind when you think of the Apostle Paul? He was an apostle who met Christ in a dramatic way, he was missionary, he was an author who ended up writing much of the New Testament, he was fearless preacher, a zealous church planter/pastor; a religious scholar; a industrious business person an encouraging friend…  But did you ever think of Paul as a FUNDRAISER?! In Acts, we read about how around the year AD 46, Paul delivers a monetary gift to the church at Jerusalem for famine relief.  The situation is so bad that Paul spends almost a decade among the non-Jewish churches all around the Mediterranean soliciting funds for the situation back in Jerusalem.  This is a huge investment of his time and his resources.  But what is fascinating to me is to read about HOW he goes about this conversation.  Because it has profoundly helpful applications for you and me as we think of how we respond when we are asked for money and also how we decide if when enough is enough, and how we measure if we are being truly generous.  Let’s pray as we look into God’s word this morning.    

Since January of this year, we’ve been in a teaching series here on Sunday mornings called the Genius of Generosity.  We’ve been exploring together what the Bible says about being generous with the things that God has entrusted to us.  Things like our time, our pain, our stories, our stuff, the gospel  We’ve talked about debt, we’ve talked about having a generosity plan, we’ve talked through what you and I will be held accountable for and explored some of the things that characterize the lives of those who are generous.  But for me, one big Generous Living question still remains:  That is Q) How do you know if you are generous? 

What metrics would I use to be able to say in the language of report cards which many of those of you with students at home got these past few weeks “am I not yet meeting expectations; approaching expectations; meeting expectations or exceeding expectations?” with generosity. 

How do you know?  If you were to give yourself a generosity report card, what data points would you use for your grade?  What excuses would you give that keep you from being generous?  I have a suspicion that most of us if we were pushed on this, would measure our generosity by comparing ourselves to those around us.    

–     Benchmark to others around me…

We would find people who we perceive to be our peers – “yup, she’s a teacher in this district with roughly the same amount of experience as me, same number of kids, cars and housing style so that’s a good benchmark” – and then we would work out “OK, I hear her talking about volunteering time in these areas around this number of hours.  I bet you they give to charity in this range…”  Me too – HOORAY, I’m a generous person! J.

Another common metric we might use to give ourselves a sense of how generous with our finances or time is to    

–     Analyze the size of my gift(s)…

You could look up the median or mean mounts claimed on income tax returns of Canadians and compare how much you gave away in 2014 and feel pretty smug about it.  If you use tax preparation software, you can even tweet about your giving, presumably as a way of inspiring others?!  And similar to comparing yourself to others, you might look at the number and think “I am a generous person”.

Or another metric you might rely on is

–     Use my heart or my intentions…

You might not have a big number there by other standards, but you might say “but you should know my heart.”  Inside, I am really a very generous person and given the right set of circumstances, you’ll see me shine.

Challenge: Each of these is incomplete! As a measurement of generosity.  The biblical passage that we’re going to look at today explains why each of these doesn’t work when it comes to knowing if we are becoming people who are generous.  Take your Bibles or your phones and look with me at 2 Corinthians 8.  This is a letter, written by Paul to a church in a wealthy city, Corinth.  He is going to take two full chapters of New Testament real estate to discuss generosity with them, specifically as it relates to their giving to the fundraising efforts for their brothers and sisters who are experiencing economically challenging situations back in Jerusalem.  Paul does begin with a comparison, but I want you to pay attention to what he compares and what he doesn’t as we read.  I’ll be reading verses 1-5 from the New Living Translation

2 Scripture Slides – 2 Cor 8:1-5

Paul writes to this community of faith in Corinth and he I want to illustrate generous living for you by telling you what is going on up in the churches of Macedonia.  Looks what he says about them – they are very poor. They are under extreme economic pressure.  They are being tested and life is not going as anticipated for them, BUT even this has not impeded their ability to be generous.  Here we see our first of 3 Principles of Generous Living..  That is  

1. Generosity is not a product of our circumstances but rather our attitudes

It’s easy for us to imagine how to be generous from a position of affluence, a place where we have surplus…  But is it possible to overflow with generosity in the midst of poverty or want?  It is when we put our focus not on the attitudes and not on the amount.  This is what Paul is saying. The people in Macedonia

1. They wanted to do what God wanted (8:5)  Their hearts were joyful and willing and eager.  This resulted in  
2. Abundant joy overflowed into rich generosity even in the midst of poverty! (8:2-3)

This is why our team in Guatemala this week often comes back with stories of generosity of Guatemalans who don’t have much by global standards but who are willing to share what they do have with those around them.  Cheerfully. Willingly.  Because generosity is not a product of the right set of circumstances, it’s the product of a right heart. 

Here’s the first challenge, then, that comes from this passage:  We have to

3. Stop believing the lie “I’ll be generous when…” [with photo]

I’ll be generous with my time and volunteer in my neighbourhood once my kids are older. I’ll be generous with my money once I have more of it to give away.  I’ll be generous with my pain and problems when someone who has the exact set of circumstances as I do comes along.  I’ll be generous when [ you fill in the blank]…  But when we tell ourselves that lie, we are saying that generosity is dependent on the perfect set of circumstances.  I’ll got news for you:  That perfect set of circumstances will never arrive.  We’ll always find some need in our own lives to spend that money on that we really intended to give away.  Generosity is about having an attitude that receives God’s kindness to us and actively looks for creative ways to share that with others.  And that is not circumstantial, it’s attitudinal.  Rick generosity can overflow even in the midst of extreme poverty.  But let’s keep reading because there is a bit of a glitch that Paul has come up with against with the attitude of the Corinthians that he is going to address in the next few verses.  Look with me at 2 Corinthians 8:6-11a   [3 Scripture Slides]

Paul says to them: You guys are awesome in some many things.  It’s like he’s a teacher writing a report card.  Verse 7 - you are exceeding our expectations in faith.  In speaking and teaching the gospel. In knowledge of who God is, in your enthusiasm and love for others… All so, so good.  There is an area of improvement, however, that I want to bring to your attention.  And that is “you don’t finish what you start”.  Last year, when our friend Titus first brought up this idea about giving to help the needs of others, you were eager.  Like sooooo eager. You were the first who wanted to do so, which is awesome. BUT you’re going to want to work on your follow-through.  Here we see our second Principles of Generosity

2. Generosity is not just about our attitudes; it must involve our actions

Paul does compare their attitude to the attitudes of others.  They were equally eager.  They were equally passionate.  Their heart was in the right place… they just never got around to execution.  To actually putting feet to their generous hearts.  Paul pushes them by reminding them not just about the heart of generosity that Jesus expressed but by the actions that He took.  That generous grace was matched by generous actions.

–     Modeled on the generous actions of Jesus (8:9)

That Jesus, though he enjoyed the riches and privilege of heaven, as an act of generosity toward you and me, willingly gave that up to come to earth.  That is why during Lent, there is a tradition of giving things up.  As a means of identifying, even in very small ways, with the generosity of Jesus. 

It’s also why that generosity calls for a response.  So if you are here today and you’ve never said to God “I want to receive the generous gift of real life with you that begins right now and goes on forever”, today might be your day.  I want you to come for prayer when we move to a time of worship response. Because Christianity is not about merely a change of attitudes so you are a nicer or better person, it’s about a change of heart.

Paul reminds the people he is writing to and us as well that so often, we can start off great, but it is so easy to 

–     Corinth stalled out after beginning well (8:6-11)

It’s like making a new year’s resolution or trying to kick a habit.  You can have the right attitude all you want, but you gotta back it up with some action!  Paul says to them – you started out so great!  What the heck happened?  Finish what you started.  Put your intentions into action. 

I don’t know about you, but this is a good word for me.  Sometimes I can talk and talk and talk about something and then forget to actually do something about it.  Generosity, oh yeah, I am going to be all about generosity in 2015!  And then I don’t actually DO anything differently. 

This might be the area of challenge that God speaks to you about today…

–     Stop talking about generosity, just do it! [with Nike swoosh)

And the “it” doesn’t have to be something big.  Start small.  Either in time or risk level or monetary amount.  Perhaps for you that risk is going deeper with people and you need to get into a small group.  Perhaps for you, you’ve been talking about simplifying your life and creating more capacity in your calendar for serving or in your budget for giving but you’ve not taken any practical steps.  You need to get into a Simplify group.  Ultimately, generosity is not measured based on our intentions or our attitudes.  It has to start there or it starts in the wrong place.  But it has to move from our attitudes, into our actions. Let your eagerness be matched by your giving, Paul says.  And then he continues through verse 14 for our third and final principle of generous living: 2 Cor 8:11-14 (single slide)

In this text, Paul has articulated for us how God measures generosity!

3. …not by the size of our gift, but the size of the sacrifice

We’re not being generous until it costs us something.  This is how you know when you have given sacrificially.  Your decisions to be generous have impacted your lifestyle.  You have to say no to things that you would otherwise be able to say yes to.  “It would be nice to go on that holiday but our time are already committed to serving youth on the margins here in Langley with Youth Unlimited.”  Yes, it would be great to buy that new TV that’s on sale this week but our finances are already invested in the work that God is doing in His church here in Langley so we’ll have to wait.  Generosity isn’t generosity until it pushes into the realm of sacrifice.  Sacrifice that Paul says is

–     Generosity is proportionally sacrificial (8:11)

In other words, it’s not about an amount. Some people will give in different ways but it will cost them the same in terms of a sacrifice.  An example of this might be a widow who uses some of her time and money to make blankets for refuges through Mennonite Central Committee.  Her level of sacrifice might actually be greater than a wealthy person who, out of obligation, donates enough money to buy hundreds of blankets.  This is what Jesus was driving at in the story of the widow putting two small coins into the temple offering box in Luke.  When Jesus says “she put in more than all the wealthy people” he is obviously not making a statement about a dollar amount but about the size of the sacrifice.  That widow gave to the place where it actually hurt.  Because it put her at risk. It took her to a place where it was uncomfortable and she had to trust God to provide for her needs.  What would the size of that sacrifice be for you?       

Paul is clear, however, that generosity is not about just gritting my teeth and giving.  Remember, it has to be rooted in the right attitude.. that being

–     Sacrifice is marked by eager willingness (8:12)

He is going to go on in Chapter 9 to say to them that “God loves a person who gives cheerfully” so don’t give out of compulsion or in response to pressure. If you are not giving out of a willing heart, don’t give. 

Paul is also clear that we are to 

–     Give what you have, not what you don’t (8:12)

We don’t make a big promise or pledge and then go to God and hold Him hostage and say “OK, God… I said I was going to give x of dollars away in 2015.  Now you better come through with that lottery win or else!”  That’s why we talked about having a generosity plan… so that you can give with both spontaneity and with strategy and wisdom.  I love the way that this verse is translated in the Contemporary English Version of the Bible:

 This week’s BMC: “It doesn’t matter how much you have. What

matters is how much you are willing to give from what you have.”

What are you willing to sacrifice?  This can’t stay hypothetical for us… We have to put feet to this.  So we are going to work to get Darryl and Jodi Bueckert on the screens via Facetime.  For those of you who may not know them as well, they are   

• Covenant members at Jericho Ridge
• Currently serving for 6 months in Mexico
• Follow along at www.lifeuntravelled.org

So the tech team has worked hard to make this happen.  Now we rely on the wireless signal here at the LEC and on the cell network in Mexico (what could possibly go wrong? J).  Let’s get them online via facetime…

“Give us an update – At Christmastime we were raising money for shoes for kids there in Mazatlan and I know yesterday you were out on a distribution that the people here at Jericho sponsored.  Can you give us an update on how that went?” 

Today we are talking about how generosity always involves sacrifice so I have a few questions for you…

1. What did you sacrifice before you left?
2. What does sacrifice look like for you now?  In the midst of that, how have you been able to be generous?  How have you been encouraged by the generosity of others?
3. How have your kids had to sacrifice?
4. How would you encourage people at Jericho to be sacrificially generous in their contexts?
5. How can we pray and support you guys over the next 8 weeks and upon your re-entry to Langley? 

Thanks to you.  We will keep in touch and you’ll be in our prayers.

As we move to response, I want to ask you to consider three

Generous Living Questions:

–     What sacrifice is God asking you to make?

It may be little, it may be large.  But it going to take you outside your comfort zone.  Might be money. Might be time. Might be a stretching conversation. Might be a risk of opening your life up to another person… It is going to cost you something.  What sacrifice is God asking you to make?  You may not know the answer to that.  Spend some time asking God as we worship in song together.   It’s likely that as soon as God brings something to your mind, you’ll come up with several excuses (some very rational) as to why He can’t possibly be asking you to do THAT!?  

–     What is holding you back?

Kevin and the team are coming to lead us in sung worship and response.  The song Oceans uses the metaphor of water to describe this process.  Moving into the unknown is an exercise in trusting God. In walking out into that water until you are so over your head that you and I need to depend on God in ways we never have before.  For Darryl and Jodi, that meant moving to Mexico.  What does it mean for you?  Because a generous person is one who sacrifices something.  Generosity is going to hurt.  So what’s holding you back from taking the step of obedience God is inviting you to take today?  And finally,

–     What are you going to do about it? 

Kevin and the team are here and we are going to move into a time of responding to God in song and prayer.  Our practice here at Jericho is to have members of our prayer team at the sides for you – Deb Jarvis and myself will be over at this side and Gary and Betty at this side.  Today, I want to challenge you to come for prayer around this. Invite you to kneel or sit or stand as you are able. 

Benediction: Father, I am grateful that It doesn’t matter how much I have. What matters is how much I am willing to give from what I have.  I desire to be a person who gives with an obedient will, a joyful attitude, and a compassionate heart.  Through the actions I take and the accountability I invite, I ask that you would shape me into a more generous person in this coming week than I was last week.  Through the empowering work of your Spirit, the sacrifice of your Son Jesus, to the glory of God the Father. AMEN.