Allen Jackson - Generous Living - Part 1
I'm of the opinion that we're approaching the season that would suggest the return of Jesus to the earth is a possibility. I don't mean this week or this month. I'm not suggesting that. But it seems to me that many things globally, internationally happening in our world suggest from the prophets and the Scripture that that season is ahead of us. Now, what I know most about that season from Scripture is that from this point until that point, things in our world are going to intensify. It's not going to be a time of great tranquility, and ease, and consistency.
In fact, I understand it to be a time of great shaking, that there will be some turbulence, that there will be a polarization that will take place, that the middle is what's really in trouble, that stability as we have known it in our own culture for many decades is less probable in the decades ahead. And because of that set of awarenesses, for several years, we have worked to put some things into your hands, some tools into your hands to develop some awareness, to enable you to be stable in the midst of an unstable world, so that I can be stable, things like reading our Bibles. We think it's very important that the Word of God be in your heart, not just your favorite passage or your favorite book but the whole story of Scripture.
So the things we've done from the Bible reading plan to the Bible app that'll read it to you, all of those things, they're not entertainment or busywork. We think there's a tremendous value to taking the Word of God and putting it in your heart so that you know the character of God. We're just finishing the books of Moses: they're important. I understand that Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy may not be the most exciting read in the book, but I'm telling you, they're at the heart of the story, and if you skipped them, you're gonna have a hard time making sense out of the rest of the book. So we've read our Bibles. We've begun to learn to pray. We've taken some ways to take sentence prayers and inject them into the fabric of our lives so that prayer isn't something that's a part of a professional religious service or a public service, that prayer is integrated into who we are.
How do we avail ourselves of spiritual things if we stand apart from prayer? It makes no sense. This year, we've talked about the cross, why the cross is at the heart of our story, why the story makes no sense without the cross. And to do that, we need both the Old Testament and the New, the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament, or it remains blind to us. Well, in the midst of that set of things, I think it's equally important to understand the power of giving, because at the heart of this principle, or this idea, is that God is our source, that God's desire is to watch over his people. It's not something pastors dreamt up to separate you from your resources. It's fundamental to the book, and if you don't understand that God is your source, if you think you got this apart from God's involvement, you are incredibly vulnerable in seasons of instability.
And so, I don't wanna hurry through it, and I'm not pushing you towards a single objective, but I wanna plant in your hearts, and minds, and awareness this idea that giving opens your life to God's involvement in a way that will remain distant from you if you haven't learned it. And so, for this session, the topic, the goal really is about generous living. We'll start in 2 Corinthians 9 and verse 7. Says, "Each man should give what he's decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver". I like that last phrase. I grew up in a barn in Tennessee, so I'm not always the most clever.
When I find a simple phrase or something that God loves, I take note, I'm gonna get in that line. If it says, "God loves a cheerful giver," watch me learn to give with a smile. If the book said, "God loves pastors that preach barefoot on Sunday," I'd be losing my footwear. Folks, we don't have to make this too complicated. If you'll decide to treat it with integrity, you'll be amazed at the momentum it will bring to your life. God loves a cheerful giver. Now, verse 8, in all the Bible, in my opinion, is the most concise one-verse summary of God's intent for his people and their material possessions. Says, "God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work," pretty simple sentence. I like the beginning phrase: "God is able".
Now, I know it's attached to something, but it's a phrase that's used other place in the Bible. I love the description of God. What do you believe about God? I believe God is able and you can fill in the blank. I believe God is able to part the sea. I believe God is able to open a blind eye. I believe God is able to raise the dead to life again. I believe God is able to make a seeing eye blind. I believe God is able to forgive our sins. I believe God is able to direct his people through human history. I think God is able to be the Creator and the Initiator of all things. I believe God is able. I don't come to church to be polite, or to observe a ritual, or just to earn a paycheck.
I'm here because I believe God is able and you can fill in that blank with whatever is required in your life. Doesn't mean God's timing always suits mine. Doesn't mean I can explain every circumstance that I confront in life, but I believe God is able. And in this particular verse, that statement of God's ability is connected to something specific. God is able to make all grace abound to you. Grace means it's not merit-based. It isn't earned or deserved. "To make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, you'll have all that you need to abound in every good work". That to me seems like a pretty good definition of abundance. At all times, you'll have all that you need to abound in every good work. That'll work. Do you know God cares about your stuff? When Jesus taught us to pray, you know the Lord's Prayer? A part of that prayer is for your daily provision: Give me today the bread I need.
See, I think we're reluctant to invite God into the discussion about our stuff, our money, our possessions, our assets because we're not sure we want his opinion, and it's not just about our money. We have that habit too with other, habit with other sections or segments of our lives. Sometimes we don't wanna invite God into our imaginations about sexuality because we really don't wanna know God's opinion. We're afraid it will limit our fulfillment, our pleasure, or our joy. It's not true. The biblical ideas and presentations around our sexuality and our sexual practices will bring greater contentment and fulfillment to your life than if you ignore them, and I believe the same is true if you invite God into the arena of your possessions.
And if you will take God's counsel and listen to what he says, he will bring blessing and abundance to your life. Sometimes it may seem counterintuitive or may not be immediately apparent, but I have convinced myself at least that God's smarter than I am. You said that because you think he's smarter than me too, didn't you? But it's harder to believe about yourself. I get that. Well, in this discussion, I think the best beginning point for me is with the word "generosity," 'cause I think at the end of the day, it's what God invites us towards, is to learn to lead generous lives, to be generous people. Generosity recognizes that there's a source beyond ourselves. Therefore, we don't have to live with tight fists and a sense of scarcity, and we can be aware of the one who created the earth and everything in it is the source of our lives.
In Proverbs 11, I like the book of Proverbs a lot because the book of Proverbs is filled with life counsel, and in so many instances, Proverbs tells you the end of a matter at the beginning so that you can adopt a behavior knowing the outcome. Now, that is a priceless gift. Proverbs tells you what's behind door number one before the door's opened. And that's true in this particular verse, Proverbs 11:25, "A generous man will prosper; and he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed". Again, that's plain language, "A generous man will prosper". Now, if you don't wanna prosper, don't be generous. If you want to live with scarcity, be stingy, but if you would like to live in prosperity, start to practice generosity.
Now, don't be foolish. You don't give God a dollar and demand ten back. God's not gonna be manipulated by you and me. That's foolish idea. But the principle holds true. Look in 2 Corinthians 9. I wanted to give you the larger context of the verse I read just a moment ago because context makes a difference. In verse 6, it says, "Remember this," you know why the Bible tells us to remember something? Because we forget. We leak. "Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he's decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver".
Then the verse that we unpacked: "God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. As it is written: 'He scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; and his righteousness endures forever.' And he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge your harvest of righteousness". The passage begins by talking about sowing generously, and then it says, "The one who supplies seed will give you seed to sow".
And in between is this statement that God is able to make all grace abound to you so that at all times you'll have all the things that you need. It's not a promise that hangs arbitrarily in space. It's linked between this notion that God will entrust you with things, time, talents, treasures, and that if you're willing to sow them generously, God will see to it that abundance comes to your life. See, God wants us to be aware that we don't live in a vacuum, God's not just a component of our life when we gather for worship, God is involved with our life 24/7, that no segment, no aspect of our lives is hidden from his awareness. He cares about who we are and how we conduct ourselves.
God's people can operate under less than God's optimum intent for their lives. But still, the targets, if you wanna understand the principles, God's blessing of abundance is his intent and poverty is not. Well, there are seasons to our lives, and you know, I believe God's intent is his people to be well. Doesn't mean we don't get sick. But we don't wanna stay sick. And it doesn't mean we don't go through hard seasons, difficult financial seasons, but God wants us to come through. I've had the privilege of living in community with the congregation over a broad period of time, which means we've gone through several economic ups and downs and ins and outs, and we've seen triumphs and victories and through all of that, I watch God's people live life, and it's not always simple and easy, but understanding God's intent and his desire makes the difference. It's our compass point for trusting him.
Now, there's a principle I wanna review with you. I doubt it's new. And when I say principle, it's an idea that we're introduced early to in Scripture, and it's consistent across the book. It reaches across cultures. It reaches across empires. It reaches across different seasons of Jewish history. It reaches across different cultural times. It's a consistent idea across the breadth of Scripture, something worth paying attention to. And this principle we're introduced to or certainly described for us in the book of Deuteronomy.
Now you're just finishing Deuteronomy, that thrilling read. Joshua is coming, there's a little more drama in Joshua. Hang in there. But Deuteronomy is this chapter of history when the Hebrew people are between Egyptian slavery and the Promised Land. It's truthfully a remarkable season. If you read it with something of an open mind, it's high drama stuff, because there's a group of people who've been enslaved for 400 years, and they're headed towards an inheritance that God has promised them, and God's intent is to take a group of slaves who have not even had self-autonomy. They haven't been able to self-direct their lives for generation upon generations. They have no history as being a people or a nation. They've never had a capital city. Their family album is filled with pictures from Egypt, and now Egypt is in the rearview mirror, and they're on their way to the Promised Land as God is gonna fashion from them a nation, he's gonna put social structures in place. He's gonna teach 'em how to worship. He's gonna put boundaries around that'll bring health to their bodies. And a part of that, he's interested in his abundance in their lives.
Now, God is caring for them. See, one of the ideas in Scripture, we get really tense when we talk about this stuff at church. I mean, I don't mean you, but just in general terms. But God's desire is to care for his people. When God planted the garden in Eden, there was abundant provision for the human beings, right? There was no scarcity there. It wasn't like, "What will we do for tomorrow"? When God delivered the Hebrew people from Egyptian slavery, he did it miraculously, supernaturally by displaying his power to the Egyptian people. Finally, after the the death of the firstborn in every house, the Egyptians said, "Get out, go, we don't want the sun to set and you be here again. We're so anxious for you to go. You take our gold and silver". They plundered Egypt, the Bible says. They took with them the payment for their years of service.
Now, the only problem with that is God led them into the wilderness, the Negev, it's a brutal desert. I've been there many times. And the people knew they had a problem 72 hours after the Red Sea was behind them. They're grumbling, they said, "We ate better in Egypt". And God steps in again, and he feeds the whole nation. Costco had not made it to the Negev yet. God provides food, water. It says their clothing didn't wear out. There were no sick people amongst them. It's a beautiful presentation of the provision of God for his people.
See, we lose sight of this a little bit. We live in a nation with such abundance and so many opportunities and that we kind of think, "Oh, I got this". And while there's so much opportunity around us, maybe you do. You don't have to look at God for this part of your life, but I would submit to you that there's a season ahead where you will need to know God is your source. Deuteronomy, I was headed towards there, wasn't I? Moses is giving the people some instruction. He said, "The land you're entering to take over is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you planted your seed and irrigated it by foot as in a vegetable garden". As you turn the page, may I ask you a question? What's the economic engine of Egypt in antiquity and today? It's not a trick question. It's the Nile River. They have an abundant, ready, stable source of water.
And Moses is saying to the Hebrew people, "The land you're headed to is different. They don't have a river as mighty as the Nile". I mean, there's some rivers in Israel, but they're tiny, insignificant, even the Jordan River you've sung about in church since you were children, many of you. Folks, when you see the Jordan, it's not the mighty Mississippi. It's not even the awe-inspiring Cumberland. In fact, it doesn't quite measure up to the mighty Stones River just down the street. It's just Israel is not a land that is filled with those powerful water supplies. The most precious resource in the Middle East in antiquity and today is water, not oil, and Moses is explaining this to the people, he said, "The land that you're crossing the Jordan to take possession of is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks rain from heaven. It's a land the LORD your God cares for; the eyes of the LORD your God are continually on it from the beginning of the year to its end".
Now, there's the contrast. You can live in a land where there's an abundant supply of water, which you imagine secures your future or are you gonna live in the land where the Lord said his eyes are continually on it? I would submit it's better to imagine that God is our supply, that he is our security. Verse 13, it's the condition. It begins with "if," "If you faithfully obey the commands I'm giving you today: to love the LORD your God and to serve him with all of your heart and with all of your soul, then I will send rain on your land and its season, both autumn and spring rain, so that you may gather in your grain, your new wine and your oil. And I'll provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you'll eat and be satisfied. Be careful, or you'll be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them".
Did you catch it? There's a promise in there. It starts with "if" in verse 13: "If you faithfully obey the commands I'm giving you today". And he didn't give him 600 commands. He gave him a really simple sentence. It's summarized. Said, "If you love the LORD your God and serve him with all of your heart and with all of your soul," then there's a promise, but the promise has the condition of the "if". You gotta love the Lord. He said, "If you'll love the LORD with your whole heart and your soul, then I will send the rain to your land, the fall and the spring rains". That doesn't mean much to us, we live in a land where it rains year round. That's why it's green in Tennessee. But I have lived in Israel, and it doesn't rain-year round. Jerusalem, from the end of April until the end of October, it will not rain.
If it rains in Jerusalem in July, the Messiah is coming. Pack. I don't mean it'll rain a little, you know, but it's just not gonna rain, it will not rain from the end of April to the end of October, maybe the middle of October, it's not gonna rain, none, nada. The rain they're gonna get is gonna come in the fall, and then typically, there'll be a little bit of a break and then again in the spring, and so, it's not just enduring the rain. They celebrate that first rain in the fall like our kids celebrate the first snow of winter. There's enthusiasm, and excitement, and anticipation because it means everything changes for them. It was true in antiquity. It's true today. And they'll utilize that. They don't just enjoy the rain when it comes. They capture the rain because that's their water supply for the year.
And God said, "I will send you the rain. If you will serve me, I will send you to the rain, and the outcome of the rain," he said, "is you'll prosper". It's an agricultural society, an agrarian economy. Their well-being depends upon their crops and their cattle, their vineyards. And God said, "I will see to it that you prosper if you will worship me with your whole heart". God cares about your stuff. He just doesn't want it owning you. He's not opposed to it. Now somebody will say, "Well, Pastor, that's in the book of Deuteronomy". Very good, Obi-wan. But in Matthew chapter 6, Jesus is speaking and it's a lengthy discussion. He's talking about worrying, but he's not talking about worrying in the abstract. He's talking about worrying about the possessions in your life. He said, "Why do you do that"? He said, "You can worry all you want, and you can't make yourself as pretty as the lilies in the field". He said, "You can worry 24/7. You can't make yourself taller".
He's reminding us that we're a part of his creation and that he's the Creator. He's inviting us to redirect the focus of our life. And at the end of Matthew 6, there's a summary passage. I put it in your notes. Jesus said, "Do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' The pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them". You can sit in church on Sunday. You can serve in the church, but if you spend your life anxious, doing your best to secure what you're gonna eat, or drink, or wear, Jesus said, "You act like the pagans do". And then he gives us the reason. Verse 33, he says, "Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well".
It sounds a lot like the condition for the promise in Deuteronomy, doesn't it? "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul". "Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well". What things? He's not just talking about the kingdom and his righteousness, what you need to wear, what you need to eat, God knows you, it's not that they're not important. They are important. They matter a lot. The question is: How are you gonna secure your physical future? How are you gonna provide for yourself and your family? And the invitation of the Bible, the principle that we're being introduced to and reminded of consistently through the story, is that God is our source and that if we will live generous lives, God will bring his abundance to bear in our lives. There's great freedom in that.
Jesus goes on to say so: "Don't worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself". That's been true in my life, how about you? Most of the energy I've spent worrying about tomorrow, when I get to tomorrow, the problems are different than I thought they would be, so it was useless energy I spent worrying about it. It just isn't helpful. And Jesus, I like the integrity. He said, you know, "Every day has enough trouble of its own," amen.
Don't go borrow tomorrow's, today is about all you can carry. So the reality of this is that we learn to give. Now, don't be offended by that. You know, we learned many of the principles that make our lives better before. We learn to forgive. We learn patience. We learn the Word of God. We're not born intuitively knowing the character of God. We have to learn that. In the same way, we learn to be generous. If you leave Allen to myself, I'm a very selfish person. I do not have to be coached up on being selfish. I started out that way. I got better at it.
When I was a little fellow, if you gave me a bag of M&M'S, and my parents came along and said, "Don't you want to share it with your brothers"? "No! Let my brothers get their own bag of M&M'S," right? "No, I think you should share 'em". "No, really, I'm good, thank you. Chocolate's not good for you. I don't want to give them any bad health habits. They eat all that sugar, they'll be hyped up, you'll spank them. I'm thinking of their best interest. I'll keep the M&M'S". My dad was a hundred pounds heavier and a few feet taller, so I shared with my brothers, and I found that it didn't destroy me as I thought it would. I got over the emotional angst, and I learned to share sometimes. And we learn to give. Please don't be offended by that. If you've never learned it yet, it's not too late. And don't just sit in the seat of the skeptics and make fun of those who've learned to lead more generous lives.
I wanna close today by asking you to join me in a prayer of repentance. Jesus told us to "seek first the kingdom of God". Now, I know what he said. Then I would tell you that that's important, that we wanna do everything that Jesus said. But I also would probably have to tell you that in my life, I typically seek the solutions that I know how to get to first. If I've got a friend, if I've got the strength, if I know how to accomplish it, if I know how to organize it, I'll go to all those things that are under my influence first. If I fail in those places, then I go to the Lord. Well, I'm ignoring him. I'm not taking his counsel. He said, "If I would seek first his kingdom, he would bring to me what I need to live," a place to live, the clothing, the shelter, all those material needs that fill our lives. So I wanna tell him I'm sorry, and I wanna invite you to join me in that. Repentance is the doorway to the best things that God has for us. Let's pray:
Jesus, I thank you for the wisdom that you shared with us, with the counsel that you've given us, and we come today to humble ourselves and to say we're sorry for seeking first our own kingdom to establish our own excellence or our own opportunity. We didn't come to you first, forgive us. And now we come to give you a new place, a new priority, and a new authority in all we do, in Jesus's name, amen.