True Generosity

 “True Generosity”

 Message @ Jericho Ridge Community Church – Sunday, Jan 4, 2015

Text: Mark 14:3-9 // Series: The Genius of Generosity

If you look back over the course of this past year, what would you say was the defining event of 2014 for you?  What words would you use to describe that event?  For some of you, maybe it was a positive event – the birth or adoption of a child, a new job or a new home, starting or finishing well at school, maybe it was a positive experience in another arena of your life…  For some, the defining event or feeling was not positive at all.  2014 brought the loss of a family member, unforeseen financial struggles; relationship challenges, the weight of betrayal or some other significant difficulty. It didn’t make it into your Facebook year in review in glowing terms.  My guess is that positive or negative, over the course of this past week as we made the transition into a new year you thought about that event and that it shaped your perspective of the year that was.  If it was big enough, it may have defined this past year in some way and when you talk about 2014, that there are a few words or images around that event that so stand out in your mind, that you’ll still be talking about them a long time from now because they were such a defining moment in the story of your life.  Positive or negative, that event or series of events will shape who you are and what you remember about 2014.

This morning, we’re going to look at one such defining event from the pages of Scripture.  A moment of generosity so radical and so shaping and so shocking that we are still talking about it today thousands of years after it occurred.  Let’s pray as we look into God’s Word this morning. 

As we launch into a new year, we are launching a new teaching series called The Genius of Generosity.  Over the course of the coming weeks, we’re going to explore what does it mean to be generous not merely with our finances, but with our whole lives.  What does it look like to have generosity define my personal values and family decision making as we step into 2015?  What might be some of the barriers that could crop up to being generous and how might you deal with them?  How can we be generous with our time when we feel that we have less this year than last?  How can we be generous with our skills and abilities that can make an impact on those around us not just in 2015 but for eternity?  These are just some of the areas we are going to explore together.  This emphasis comes out of our core values as a community.  Years ago when we asked “what do we want to define us as Jericho?” the answer that emerged was we want to be known as people who live generous lives.  So in our core values, we express it this way: “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.”       

It’s interesting to me when I listen to people talk about generosity that their minds and conversation rushes towards and sometimes stops at money.  But in our core value we take great care to say that financial generosity, in some ways, is the training wheels of generous living not the pinnacle of it.  Think about how, in some ways, it can be easier to write a cheque to a charity like the Gateway of Hope than it is to sit with people who are homeless and listen to their stories and to generously give them the dignity of a conversation.  True generosity isn’t limited to financial generosity.

But if true generosity isn’t solely financial, then how would we define it?  One of the writers of the New Testament, the Apostle Paul, describes a group of churches in an area called Macedonia and he praises them for their understanding of generosity & how they are not just talking about it, they are living it.  Look at 2 Cor. 8 I’ll be reading from The Message.        

Now, friends, I want to report on the surprising and generous ways in which God is working in the churches in Macedonia province. Fierce troubles came down on the people of those churches, pushing them to the very limit. The trial exposed their true colors: They were incredibly happy, though desperately poor. The pressure triggered something totally unexpected: an outpouring of pure and generous gifts. I was there and saw it for myself. They gave offerings of whatever they could—far more than they could afford!—pleading for the privilege of helping out in the relief of poor Christians. This was totally spontaneous, entirely their own idea, and caught us completely off guard. What explains it was that they had first given themselves unreservedly to God and to us. The other giving simply flowed out of the purposes of God working in their lives

Did you catch that… Money was the last thing they gave.  What was the first thing?  First, they gave themselves – they gave themselves to God and to those around them.  All of their other giving simply flowed out of this.  That, friends, is the definition of true generosity…  True generosity is not about giving your money; it’s about giving yourself.

When I think about this definition, a defining moment of generosity so radical and so shaping and in some ways, so shocking comes to my mind from the life of Jesus.  Turn with me to Mark 14.  Here we encounter a woman who understands true generosity because she gives herself.  I’ll be reading Mark 14:3-9 in the New Living Translation. [3 slides]  

This would be a dinner party you would remember attending!  Jesus is in the city of Bethany, the home of his good friends, Lazarus whom he has raised from the dead, Martha whom we remember as the women who is busy, busy, busy and her sister Mary.  In Mark’s gospel the women in this story remains unnamed, but in the gospel of John, she is named as Mary. Quite possibly that same Mary who sits at the feet of Jesus.  We read at the beginning of chapter 14 that this is toward the end of Jesus’ life and the religious and political leaders are working hard to find a way to kill Jesus and so the atmosphere at this dinner party is tinged with a note of impending crisis. No one can think of an appropriate word or action. Perhaps the conversation over the meal wandered between suggestions that Jesus should get out of town, lie low for a time while others thought he should take a public stand against the powers that be. 

“Suddenly the quiet, contemplative Mary bursts forth with an impulse that has been growing in her heart. The alabaster cruse of precious imported perfume from the Himalayan mountains, so rare it that represented a full year’s wages—would not that express her feelings to her wonderful Lord?

Forgetting her reserve in the intensity of her act, she breaks the expensive jar and poured the oil on the head of Jesus (Matt 26:7; Mark 14:3).  Anointing a special guest was customary in the ancient world but this is not a small amount of perfume – 12 oz.  She doesn’t dab or spritz… she is full on in her commitment.  There’s no going back - she breaks the container and pours the contents onto Jesus’ head.    

This is not typical dinner party behaviour so understandably, this creates quite a stir.  People around the table are unsure how to respond to Mary’s act.  But let’s be fair… if you were around the table, how would you have responded?  Honestly, I’m a bit of a pragmatist so my mind would have gone to the financial aspect of the scandal that people may or may not have begun to refer to as “Perfume-gate”.   The practical side of me is just too strong and so if I were around that table, I would have a hard time seeing past the monetary value of what just happened.  A full year’s wages just got poured out right in front of me… that’s a lot of money!  Really, for what purpose?  What was the point?  So Jesus could smell nicer?!  Could we have done that for any cheaper?!

Some of the people around that table clearly feel this way as well and their private concerns spill over into public criticism.  “What a waste” they said “why didn’t she sell that bottle and give the money to the poor?”  Again, in Mark’s version the critic remains nameless but in John’s gospel, we find out that it’s actually Judas who is the spokesperson for this point of view.  Which is interesting because we find out later that Judas has actually been stealing from the disciple’s pot of money for his own personal uses so I’m not sure that his criticism is driven from a deeply healthy concern for people who are under-resourced.   But despite this, Judas puts into words what people are thinking: that was a lot of money that just went to waste.

And all eyes pivot to Jesus… How will He respond to this situation?  I mean, it is couched in the most spiritual language possible – how could you argue with someone who sets up the situation like Judas does: Option A: give tens of thousands of dollars to people who are poor; Option B – dump a small bottle of smelly stuff into someone’s hair.  It seems like a no-brainer.  But remember, we’ve already established that true generosity isn’t about giving your money, it’s about giving yourself.  And now we see also that true generosity Isn’t about the monetary value of the gift;  it’s about the heart of the giver.  So Jesus says “stop criticizing her.  If we are going to talk about helping people who are poor, you can do that anytime you feel like it.”  Jesus doesn’t not mean that it is wrong to help people who are poor… he is poking into the fact, however, that Judas didn’t really feel like it and really didn’t do it.  His criticism was a smoke screen for his own lack of generosity. 

And also it wasn’t his bottle of nard to start with it’s not really his decision as to what to do with it!  This brings up a third aspect of generous living which is profoundly good news.  That is that true generosity Isn’t about comparison to what others give; it’s about doing what I can with what I have: “God will never hold you responsible for managing someone else’s resources.  I love what Jesus says about Mary’s gift.  “She has done what she could, when she could with what she had”.  That’s generosity!  When we think of generosity, our minds often go to the spectacular examples of philanthropy and big gifts.  But Jesus here brings us back to the heart and says that true generosity is about doing what you can with what you have been entrusted.  It’s not about comparing your gift to other givers.  How much money someone else gives away in 2015 is not your concern.  Your concern is how much you will give away.  How much time someone else volunteers in the community or at Jericho in 2015 is not helpful.  What is helpful is for you to think about if you are being generous with your time & your gifts & abilities in 2015.  Mary did what she could with what she had.  What about you?  Are you doing what you can with what you have been entrusted?  True Generosity is about faithfulness, not about comparison.       

1. Isn’t about giving your money; it’s about giving yourself
2. Isn’t about the value of the gift; it’s about the heart of the giver
3. Isn’t about comparison to what others give; it’s about doing what I can with what I have

The crazy thing about this whole experience in Mark’s account is that Jesus has been forecasting and talking about his impending death for a long, long time now.  But not a single person is taking him seriously!  Even those closest to Jesus do not understand what is going to happen.  They say things like “let’s not talk about that “dying thing” again!” or “Oh, Jesus. The religious leaders will never get to you!  Think how popular you are!  How safe you are!  Don’t talk like that, it’s just so negative!”  I am challenged to see the act of faith in Mary’s generosity…  She actually believes what Jesus says is going to happen will happen.  And her faith prompts her to do in advance what she will not have opportunity to do in person.  To anoint Jesus’ body for burial.  Her love for God and her faith in Jesus and in His words move her to act in a way that could be seen as reckless or as wasteful but it becomes something beautiful and generous and lavish.  This is expressed beautifully in a poem by Herbert Lockyear: 

Selfishness seeks a gift,

Love loves to give;

Love gives itself away

Love loves to live.

Love’s grand munificence

Counts not the cost;

Feeling, tho' nought is left,

Nothing is lost.     

How’s that for a million dollar word: munificence.  Your word for the month is in that poem.  Munificence is defined as ‘the quality or action of being lavishly generous.  Great generosity”  That’s why, wherever the good news is preached throughout the world, Mary’s deed will be discussed and remembered.  Because it was munificent.  And because as an act of faith, it foreshadowed the most munificent action ever undertaken in the history of our world: the moment when Jesus gave up his life for you and for me. 

So let’s put some feet on this and ask “how do you and I respond to love’s great munificence?”  Mary responded by saying “it is worth it to me to give away a year’s salary and risk public opinion to demonstrate my love for Jesus.” 

As we move into 2015, what are you and I willing to be generous with? 

Am I willing to cheerfully share what I have with others?  Am I willing to listen to and depend on God in every circumstance with a humble spirit of gratitude?  Am I willing to let generosity touches all aspects of my lives: my friendships, my service, my time, my gifts and abilities, and my material resources? 

That whole process starts not with the gift itself, but with the giver.  And so as we begin a new year, I think it is right and appropriate and healthy but very risky at the same time, to say to God “I want to give myself to you again in a fresh way” Are you willing to Give yourself fully to God today.  For some of you here, this is a radical and new notion – responding to God’s great love for you by saying “take all of me”.  I give you my heart, my soul, my mind, my strength.  Surrender is an act of radical obedience and you may not be ready to take it today, but if you are, know that you will begin to know and experience the munificent grace of Almighty God in a way that you have never imagined.  God gave himself fully for you – the response to love’s great munificence is to give yourself fully to Him.

Maybe you’re here and you’ve been following God for a long time.  2014 felt like you wandered.  Actions, circumstance grew cool or distant.  Today is the day to start afresh.  Give yourself fully to God today.  Repentance.  Obedience.  I want to invite you to be bold.  Kneel.  Hold your hands out as a physical expression saying “God, I am all in in 2015”.  Maybe that feels risky because other people will see you!  That’s one thing I love about Mary’s actions – she went ALL IN on this one.  She was scolded harshly and publically criticized.  But she was willing to risk it!  What about you and me?  We tend to like to play it safe and private but responding love’s grand munificence might call you and I to higher levels of risk in 2015.  Stop playing it so safe in 2015!  Yes, there’s time for being careful and calculated but probably way more times for reckless generosity that you think.  Do something reckless for God in 2015.  Start by getting over your fear of what other people think of you – come for prayer.  Kneel.  Worship with a bit more abandon and a bit less calculation.    

Ron and the team are coming to lead us in songs of response.  They are songs that put words to these desires.  To offer our lives up to God.  To be people who demonstrate the grand munificence of God to a world who deeply and desperately need it.  Let’s pray together.