Allen Jackson - Live Generously - Part 2
We're given several instructions and we don't hold the privilege of applying them randomly at our discretion. Why would we think there's anything different with our giving? Honoring our parents? Do you just get to honor them when you feel like it? Do you honor your parents when they're doing what you want? Do you honor them before the holidays because there might be a payout? No, we're told to honor our parents. There's a promise that goes with it, but you don't get the promise if you don't honor your parents. Well, there's promises attached to giving. I can give you an example that's fundamental to scripture. Jesus is presented to us as the Lamb of God. It's very much illustrative.
There's a connection in the mind of the audience to whom that presentation is first made to the Passover lamb that I described to you a moment ago, a lamb that was without blemish. And the scripture goes to great lengths to tell us that God offered his Son for us, his perfect, sinless, obedient Son. If just any sacrifice would have worked, he could have used any of us. Oh, guilty, broken, fallen, but no, God, there are principles in the kingdom of God, spiritual principles, that we can't just ignore or set aside. You see, we have trivialized spiritual things so much. We've talked about being born again, saved, converted. I believe in all of those things. But we've acted as if they really had very little implication in time. That's my ticket from when I step out of time into eternity.
Here it is, I'm saved. Folks, your conversion is intended to change everything about your journey through time. That's all over our Bible. It says you can no longer live like we used to do in the futility of our thinking. We belong to God. Well, that's a real challenge to us because of this constant avalanche of information and messaging that's giving us permission to be godless. Listen to what it says about Jesus, Hebrews 9: "How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God"? Jesus met the requirements for the sacrifice. He was unblemished.
In Romans 8: "What shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who could be against us? He who didn't spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not also along with Him freely give us all things"? God made a sacrifice, Jesus made a sacrifice. They planted something. What did they get? The Bible describes it as a whole new race. It says, "You're a whole new creation, a new creature". It's that same principle that we read about a moment ago. What is the legacy you are leaving? Not the answer you give in church. I mean, the real one. What are your aspirations? What are your dreams? What's the great emotion of your life? And most of us probably won't get that fully right.
And when you recognize that, I wanna ask you to have the courage to begin to quietly talk to the Lord and say, "Lord, look, the reality of this is I've wanted many things and you weren't at the head of that list". You don't need a preacher for this. You don't have to feel something spiritual. Have an honest conversation with God. Stop the religious garbage, from the professional Christian. But I am weary with the language we use that has behind it very little meaning and almost no intent. If we don't intend to align our lives to honor the Lord, stop calling yourself a Christian. And I'm not the arbiter of what that means, but you can have a conversation with the Lord that goes, "Lord, the truth is that hasn't been my greatest ambition. I don't wanna go to hell. I think there might be one. I'm not that excited about heaven because if it's like an eternal church service, you'd have to help me".
We're just not sure. We're not really sure we can trust the Lord. Now we cry out to him when there's a lot of pressure or a lot of pain and we're not getting the outcome we want, and we're frightened or anxious. But see, there's a big trust gap and we gotta start to talk to the Lord about this and say, "Lord, I would like to honor you with my whole heart. Help me. Help me". I've been amazed whenever I've been willing to be candid with the Lord and be that honest with him, what he's done on the inside of me. Truthfully, I'm amazed how he helps me change attitudes and behaviors and because I know how deeply rooted some of that stuff has been in me. And God is faithful, but you gotta tell him the truth.
Stop showing him the picture of where you go to church. He's not impressed with our sign. He's not impressed with your laminated card and whatever tradition you belong to. Tell him the truth. "God, I would like to honor. I wanna know you. I wanna get to know you better". He's not gonna take our leftovers. He's not interested. Look at what Peter has to say. This is the fisherman Jesus recruited. He wrote these letters in the New Testament near the end of his life. He's not a kid anymore. Much of the brashness has been worn away. He said, "You know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect".
It's the same message all the way through. Peter distinguishes between perishable things, it makes me smile. He calls perishable things, silver or gold. We're told these days that the most secure things you can have are silver or gold. And Peter said, "Not gonna make the cut. It's not part of the lift off". The most stable thing, he says, in the world that's available to a human being is the precious blood of Christ. He's Jesus's friend and he's writing to us after a lifetime of experience; we can benefit from his clarity. I wanna add to that an idea that giving is worship, I've already alluded to it earlier, as much as when a band plays or a vocalist sings or we sing a hymn that you like or a piece of music that is emotive to you. Giving is worship, we're introduced to that in the earliest chapters of the Bible.
We're introduced to it with Cain and Abel. They worshiped God with their sacrifices and if they didn't wanna do it in the way God prescribed, it made them mad. Gee, that's changed a lot. Nothing makes the room more quiet than when we talk about money. The carpet becomes fascinating or the lack thereof or something. I get it. It's not my first opportunity to have the conversation, but your giving is a part of how you... it's not the only part. It shouldn't be understood that way. In Malachi, it talks about robbing God. The prophet's talking to the people. He said, "You've been robbing God". It's an interesting perspective. He asked the question rhetorically, and answers it. "Well, how have we robbed you"? And he said, "In tithes and offerings".
You haven't given what you were directed to give. So again, we don't give to meet the budget of the church or because the church has a need. We give because we have a need. We have a need to break the stranglehold of muchness in our lives. It's never enough. Most of us have lived long enough and had enjoyed enough opportunity that we have more than we used to have. And what do we think we need? Probably a little more would be better. It's the nature of our unredeemed self and giving is one of the ways that we break that stranglehold. The Bible talks about it in a couple of ways: tithes and offerings. A tithe simply means a tenth. My practice and my belief is that the first tenth belongs to the Lord. It's not mine. That I offer that to the Lord. It's not even mine to broker. It's not mine to distribute. That part is the Lord's.
I believe our tithes belong to the place that we look to for spiritual food and support. And for an audience as diverse as ours, that means many different things. I understand that. But if you're not in the habit of tithing, I would encourage you to adopt it. It's one of the things where God says, "You can try me on this and see if I'm not faithful". I have walked this out with many, many people over many years, and I am amazed at the faithfulness of God in my own experience. Offerings are what we give beyond that. There are times and seasons in our lives where a tithe is a tremendous sacrifice. It represents a legitimate sacrifice for the Lord. There are other times in our lives where a tithe doesn't represent that. And I believe in those places, offerings are a part of our service to the Lord.
Now, giving is an experience key for God's abundance. I don't believe you'll experience God's full abundance until you incorporate giving into your discipleship. Having said that, you cannot pick and choose where you'll be obedient. If you give generously, but you're sexually immoral or you're filled with unforgiveness and hate, you shouldn't expect you're gonna experience the fullness of God's abundance. Make sense? Similarly, you may not be practicing sexual immorality, but you refuse to give. And I don't believe you'll experience the fullness of God's abundance with that equation either. I wanna take the minutes we've got left, and we're gonna do this really quickly. You've got the references, so I'm gonna give you the Cliff Notes.
Some windows into generosity. One starts with helping others. We've got some messed-up ideas around church. I'm sure not all of us do, but I have broad enough experience in church over enough years. We all wanna give privately. If you've ever been a part of a group of people that made a cash gift and then you were responsible for counting it, you would think Christians were fully committed to origami. You know, when you fold paper up into little bitty things. We're taught there's something intentionally personal, it's private. No one should know what we give. Shh. That idea is predominant. It's nobody's business. Well, there is a biblical lane for that, but it's not the whole discussion.
Look in your notes. It's Matthew 6. Jesus said, "When you give to the needy, don't announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets". So there were times and places when the poor received help and they literally played musical instruments. And Jesus said, "Whoa, bad idea. Don't do that". And then he tells you why: "I tell you the truth". You know by now what's coming next. Buckle up. "I tell you the truth. They have received their reward in full". So Jesus is acknowledging there's a reward in giving. You plant that seed, there's a reward. If you choose to draw attention to when you help someone less fortunate than yourself, he said, whatever reward there was, you get it in the midst of the transaction. Don't do it that way. "When you give to the needy," he said, "don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you".
So here's the principle there. If you're helping someone less fortunate, don't make an announcement. Don't draw attention. Don't rob them of their dignity because they're in a place where they need assistance. That's a legitimate principle. But it's not the only commentary on giving we have in scripture. I gave you a couple of examples. There are times when we give to the Lord where it is a very public event, and the amounts given, and the reason for giving is a part of the public discussion.
In Exodus chapter 36, these are the former slaves of Egypt. They've been slaves for 400 years. You would think they would be the entitled group. But Moses has said to them, "I need you to give. We need a place to worship and I need you to give". And they give with such abandon and such generosity that the craftsmen that are doing the work, come to Moses and said, "You've got to tell them to stop. There's more than we can use". That's right there in Exodus 36. And Moses had to go to the people and say, "Wait, stop. It's amazing. Good job. But that's enough". They were giving together, publicly, openly, with enthusiasm and generosity, and the generosity of one person inspired the generosity of another person.
I hear crazy things in church world. Not so much here. We live in a bit of a bubble, but people say, you know, "Well, the church shouldn't have that much money". Really? So it's okay if Apple has it? Starbucks? Where do you want it to go? The universities? Whichever university you support, if you're going to say, "I just don't think they should really have the best athletic training facilities. Couldn't we get them something more mediocre"? Oh, it got quiet. I'm not taking up another offering. We're all safe. How did we arrive at this place? Because there's something washing over thus. They've taken our prayer out of our schools, the Ten Commandments out of our schools. They don't want our Bibles in a corporate setting. They don't want our biblical worldview in the public square. They don't want a nativity scene at Christmas in a nation with a Christian heritage.
Are we surprised that they prefer we be impoverished? But we've adopted the messaging. We wear it like a part of our armor, we're incensed. I'll give you another example. David's at the end of his life. And God has told him he can't build the temple. He said, "Your hands are bloody, and you can't do it". Now, to most of us, myself included, a rebuke like that might make me much less interested in a temple. If you tell me I'm not good enough to do it, I'm thinking, "Well, I'll do something else, if you don't want my gift. I was offering you something". But David, it's a little window into his heart. He says most remarkably, it says: "David said to the whole assembly: 'My son Solomon, whom God has chosen, he is young and he's got a big job ahead of him. The task is great. The palatial structure is not for man but for the Lord. So with all of my resources...'"
David gives him an almost incalculable amount. He said, "I've collected all of these things. I'm giving it". David is making a statement to the entire nation. There's a transition of power taking place. And in the ancient Near East, there's a real question about who's gonna secure the throne and whether Solomon will be able to hold his place. And David said, "I'm gonna give him an incalculable set of resources to build this temple". So it's not just about his giving. His public giving, his generosity, his attitude, is very much intended to encourage others.
Now, here's the problem. If we don't have a lot to give, we think, "Well, I don't like that". I want to add one more piece to this narrative. And it's this notion of sacrifice versus surplus. This was Jesus, not me. I mentioned this a moment ago. It's Luke 21. They're on the Temple Mount. "Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury. And he saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins. And he said, 'I tell you the truth.'" You know, right? Buckle up. "'I tell you the truth,' he said, 'the poor widow put in more than all the others. All these people gave their gifts out of their wealth; but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.'"
Jesus said, he called the disciples over and he said, "Wow, did you see that? That woman gave more than all they did". They're going, like, "No. Would you step over in the shade, you're a little overheated". And then he gave them the back story. He said, "No, that woman just made a sacrifice. There's been a lot of surplus gifts today. We'll celebrate them, we'll acknowledge them. But that woman just made a sacrifice". You see, if what you have to give seems small to you, you give it to the Lord and it is of an infinite value, amen? God will deal with the people that have more. Don't pick that up, don't carry that. I'm tired of people pointing at other people. That is very destructive leadership. You give what the Lord has entrusted to you, with the sense that it is sacred, an expression of worship. You do it with integrity and it will be celebrated in the halls of heaven.
I'll give you one more piece because it's important: your attitude matters. Did you know that? It's not in your notes, but Philippians chapter 2, Paul writes to the church at Philippi and he said, "Your attitude should be the same as Jesus". Did you know God cares about your attitude? That'd change church, wouldn't it? That's another sermon. 2 Corinthians 9:6: "Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will reap sparingly. Whoever sows generously will reap generously". It's that same principle we started with at the beginning of the day, back in Genesis. You only sow one grain of corn, you're probably not gonna get 100 acres of corn. "Whoever sows generously will 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".
There's the attitude part. Don't give with reluctance. Most of us, we learn obedience reluctantly. That's where you start. That's the beginning point. That's the starting, "Oh, I get it. Is this the thing I'm supposed to do? I'll do it". When we were little and we lived at home, my parents were determined that we would learn some of these principles. They'd get my brothers and I together. I got two brothers. My mom's in heaven, she earned it. But they would say, you know, "You're gonna forgive one another". I don't wanna forgive him. I was the oldest. I wanted to hit him, right? So you'd say, "I forgive you". "No, you're gonna say that like you mean it".
I meant it the way I said it, right? And then they'd really just get weird. Like, you'd do that. "I forgive him". And say, "Okay, now give him a hug". I don't want to hug him. He's my brother. So I can't tell you that we started that little ordeal with, like, this overflowing emotion. "I forgive you, man. Can I have a hug"? There was none of that. I mean, it was a brittle, stiff... only the enforcement of George got the boys across that line. And I'm sure what he was threatening us with would have hurt him worse than it would have hurt us, but nevertheless, it was right there on the table. And so when I read a passage like this, I think we all should understand, when you start it doesn't feel particularly joyful or godly.
That's why in Malachi, God says, "You can try me on this one". And if you add to that all the cultural pressure and the messaging and the weight and their attempts to separate you from a godly practice and a godly lifestyle and a godly habit, they want you to be dependent on something other than God. Do you understand that? They want your trust placed someplace other than the creator of heaven and earth. Don't cooperate with the deception. Take the biblical principles and begin to put them into play in your life. Regardless of what happens to nations or empires or the Federal Reserve, God will take you through. Put your trust in him. Start to build that confidence in him.
That last sentence in that passage in Corinthians gives you God's definition for abundance. Says: "God is able". This is about the ability of God, not the ability of governments. "God is able to make all grace abound to you". Grace is about something you don't deserve. If you deserve it, it isn't grace. "God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, you'll have all that you need, and you will abound in every good work".
Now, that's what God has promised. That's not what I always want. God said he will see to it that at all times, I'll have all things that I need for every good work. My preference would be to have all that I will ever need for every good work that I might get to do stored up today, and I'd like the key. But that's not the promise. In fact, the one man that Jesus told us about that thought he had achieved that, God said he was a fool because he said, "I'm pulling your ticket tonight, and none of those things you stored up because you thought you were gonna need them are necessary for you anymore. And that's a fool's errand to try to do that".
See, God's counsel is to live generously with your time, with your attention, with your resources, because he said, "If you'll do that," he said, "I promise you'll have all that you need, at every instance, to do what needs to be done. You can trust me". And if we have the courage at that point, we say, "Yeah, but I'm not sure I do". And that's the rub. So let's decide to start to lead generous lives. I brought you a prayer. Why don't you stand with me? What an honor to serve the Lord. He's so good to us. Let's read this prayer together. If you're at home, you can read it with us. We can hear you right through your phone. Well, you know Google can. Why couldn't we, huh?
Heavenly Father, You're my creator, sustainer, and provider. You blessed my life with abundance. You're my strength, my wisdom, and I know You hold the future. I choose to honor You with my life. You've given me everything necessary for a Godly life; teach me to walk uprightly before You. May I be pleasing in Your sight, in Jesus' name, amen.