Thoughts from the Sermon, “The God Who Gives Generously”

Thoughts from the Sermon, “The God Who Gives Generously”

by Vermon Pierre, Lead Pastor

1. Americans increasingly spend more on themselves. This is noted especially well in the book, Passing the Plate, by Christian Smith and Michael Emerson:

“Generally, between 1959 and 2000, while the financial giving by American Christians was declining (today it’s around 1-3%), the personal consumption expenditures of Americans increased for eating out in restaurants, toys, sports supplies, live entertainments, foreign and domestic travel by U.S. residents, lottery tickets, casino gambling, photography, sports and recreation camps, and other entertainment expenses.”

2. Our culture teaches an ethic of” mine.” We believe we are better off holding on tight to whatever we can get. God wants to lead us to a better ethic, an ethic marked by generous giving.

3. Becoming a generous giver begins with understanding that God owns everything (Ps 24:1-2, Ps 89:11-12, Rom 11:36). To say that God owns everything is to also say that God owns us. The human race comes from God, owes its existence to God, and as such belongs to God.

4. Amazingly, while we human beings came into this world with nothing, everything was given to us (Gen 1:28-30). God graciously appointed us stewards over the whole world inviting us to live in it and enjoy it under his authority and care.

5. Unfortunately we rejected God’s gracious gift. We believed the lie that God was somehow not generous enough and so we reached out and grabbed for ourselves. The result was spiritual bondage. The things of life that we could have enjoyed as God’s gracious gift to us have now been perverted and become our masters. We have become enslaved to things like money, sex, power, fame, relationship.

6. God however continued to show gracious generosity towards us. He gave to us yet again by giving the ultimate gift, the gift of his only Son Jesus (John 3:16). There is not greater gift than this. Our rejection of God’s gifts have brought ruin and frustration to human existence. But God giving us the gift of his Son Jesus has turned around our ruin and frustration and brought us life (Rom 5:15, 17).

7. By trusting in God and receiving in humble faith the gift of his Son, we end up gaining everything again (Rom 8:32). This is remarkably freeing, since if God has promised to give everything to us, we can generously give of our time, talents, resources, and money knowing that whatever we give we never actually lose. It will come back to us, and it will come back to us in a way far more satisfying than if we had kept it for ourselves. Thus, we can give money away knowing it will come back to us in kids being educated and healthy. We can give talents and time away knowing it come back to us in lives being saved and people being built up in our their faith. What will you give up so that it can come back to you better and bless you more and give you more joy than if you had kept it the whole time for yourself?