Overflowing Generosity

The economy of the Kingdom of God is vastly different from the economy of God. It is based on your gifted sonship (robe and the ring given to the prodigal son in Luke) – Ephesians 1

The economy of the world is based on one’s earned success.

The values and ways of God are vastly different to the values and ways of this world. You and I and all of us are here because God is always infinitely and eternally a generous extravagant giver.

God is the greatest lover therefore He will always be the greatest giver. Because love always compels the one who loves to give - John 3: 16. Therefore, the greatest evidence that a man knows this God is that He truly loves and thus He truly gives (1 John 1).

It is impossible to truly know God, love God and live with God and not be a giving person. God does not disapprove of our getting or receiving. He truly delights in our prosperity and being blessed. But as His children, He wants us to understand that He expresses greater pleasure always more on not what we’ve got but on what and how we’ve given. He Himself said “It is MORE blessed to give than to receive” – Acts 20: 35.

Everyone is able to give something. Right now, you and I have something that we can give. Only a poverty mentality is unable to see that. Even the simplest of things can become a gift to another. If we meet someone without a smile we can give one of ours. If we understand this immense difference between getting and giving, we will be motivated to make our life journey with the Lord an adventure of giving rather than a life of merely getting. 

The power of giving is not first in the act but in the attitude. Everything we do in life, including giving, is first an attitude before it is an action.

 

Our giving should be an overflowing expression of love and worship. What does this kind of giving look like?

·      Cheerful Giving

2 Corinthians 9:7 ‘So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.
Your giving can bless the heart of God and bring Him immense pleasure
The Apostle Paul prepared the people to give properly so that when he received their offering it would not be a matter of ‘grudging obligation’ but a cheerful celebration.

Generosity is a joyful spirit. Generous people are joyful people. The people who give because they have to, or because they are obligated, give grudgingly. It is giving but not generosity and it is not what God is looking for. Generosity is liberality, lavishness, magnanimousness,  open handedness, freehandedness, bountiful, unselfishness, indulgence, prodigality, princeliness; 
In the Old Testament book of Exodus, the details of the offering commanded and collected are recorded. Moses extends the invitation to all who are of a ‘willing hearted’, to bring an offering to build the Tabernacle

Exodus 35:5 'Take from among you an offering to the Lord. Whoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it as an offering to the Lord: gold, silver, and bronze;.

Generosity is an attitude before it is an action. If we have this attitude, we don’t stop to calculate the cost to ourselves when a need presents itself. If we have the resources, then we find ourselves giving, cheerfully.

Responsible Giving:
1 Timothy 5:8 

8 But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
Proverbs 13:22 

A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children...

A husband and a father are expected to earn righteously and abundantly to provide for his family consistently and abundantly so that the needs of the family in the present are met and due provision is made for the needs of the future.

God has a family. It’s the church. And the local church is the visible, tangible and actual gathering and expression of God’s family. Now does this family have a vision to fulfil and needs to be met in the present? Well, what does church do?
We feed them spiritually on Sundays, every Sunday and throughout the week. We have small groups, fellowship opportunities, children's ministries, family ministry, half a dozen other ministries to organize and prepare our services and specific meetings for various aspects of our spiritual growth. We are there when babies are born, marry them, bury them, celebrate anniversaries, pastor them through hardship and live life with them. We have about churches in Mumbai, Nashik, Ahmednagar, Aurangabad, into Jalna, Beed & Jabalpur (MP)
And all of these cannot be done with mere thoughts of good will.

Giving to the local church isn't merely one good option among many. It's an imperative, a responsibility for every Christian.
Our church auditorium is called "the living room" because it is where our family gathers. But this “living room” is expensive.

Yes, it does bring in a deeper question pressed closer to our heart. Do you consider yourself to be part of this family? If you do....understand…
Your family deserves your support.

Church, like any organization, is a give-and-take operation. If you're fed on Sunday mornings, pastored through life and crisis, part of a cell group, you're benefitting from your church. And that's a good thing. You're supposed to benefit from your church! But those things can't happen without financial support.

The halls and office have to be rented and maintained. The staffs need to be paid. The bills need to be paid. Cleaning supplies, Bibles, chairs, various equipment and teaching resources must be purchased. There's work to do and things to buy. And these are only the basic needs. Time fails now to share with our goals for the future. I will....soon!

If you're part of the family, I encourage you to take responsibility to support YOUR FAMILY!

There are many different opinions on tithing, but I have yet to hear a convincing argument that, in our time, God's house is not the local church. I'll be the first to agree that we have to budget our giving. In 2016 for 3 months I taught you the entire spectrum of Biblical finances. And I’ll do it again. The problem for many of us is not we don't have enough to give, it's that they're not wisely managing what they already have so that they can be generous and responsible in our giving to the local church.

I believe that if we spend and save wisely and give generously both to the local church and to places and ministries God’s leading us to, we will have more than enough to meet our church’s needs and we will able to move towards fulfilling our vision with greater speed.

·      Generous Giving:

Giving is one thing, generosity is another. We can be givers yet still not generous.

Isaiah 32:8 “But a generous man devises generous things, and by generosity he shall stand."                                                                 

This is the free-spirited, merciful, non-condemning person who easily gives far more than is expected, who easily gives far more than is expected, who easily goes the extra mile, which easily goes the extra mile, which easily exceeds what is required. This is the generous person. This is a large hearted, big thinking person. They think in terms of higher quality and larger numbers.

Abraham is extraordinarily generous when he offers the land he himself had been promised by God to his nephew Lot (Genesis 13:9)

David is generous when he collected and gave for work of the temple of God (1 Chronicles)

Jesus is generous when he turns water into 180 gallons (681 litres) of wine-at the end of feast when apparently much was not needed (John2: 6-10).

Jesus is generous to not only feed a multitude by miraculously by multiplying the five loaves and two fishes but ensuring there was 12 baskets overflowing with fish and loaves of bread for a little boy to drag them home for his sacrificial giving

The Apostle Paul is generous when he works hard and prospers and supports all those travelling with him (Acts20: 34).

The Lordship of the Holy Spirit in our lives is the key to generosity. When we are filled with the Spirit we are filled with generosity. We are generous with our attitudes, with our resources, with our money, with ourselves.

Psalm 51:12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and uphold me by Your generous Spirit.

The joy and richness of soul for the generous hearted is undeniable, even for those people who make incredible sacrifice and go without, simply so they can give.

A powerful prophetic example of Generosity in the Bible:

Generosity opens the door of destiny. Always be generous. It opens doors we don’t even know God is offering us. Genesis 24 tells the incredible story of Eliezer, the chief servant of Abraham traveling back to his master’s home land to find a wife for Isaac, Abraham’s son. He takes 10 camels laden with gifts for that blessed woman whom he will choose as Isaac’s bride.

As he approaches a well just inside the homeland, Eliezer prays that God will show him who the women is by her generosity. When he asks her for a cup of water, she will not only give him that, but she will also offer to water all his camels.

As soon as he has finished praying, a beautiful woman appears. He asks for a cup of water. Without hesitating, Rebekah offers to give a drink to all his camels also. This was no small offer. A camel could drink up to 25 gallons of water at one sitting (94 litres). Plus the well was not just a bucket-on-a-rope rig; there were about fifty steps down the well to the water. If each camel drinks its fill, that’s 250 gallons. At most, the women could carry 5 gallons backup from the well at a time. That’s 50 trips up and down the stair! This is generosity at a high price my friend. This is eager, willing-hearted cheerful generous hospitality in action.

Rebekah had no idea that she was engaged in answering the prayer of Eliezer that would take her into a destiny far beyond her dreams. When she had finished the task, Eliezer begins telling her his story. Her brother heard the story and they invite him back to their father’s tent. Within hours, the family is loaded with gifts, have agreed to the marriage and Rebekah is ready to depart. She becomes mother of Jacob, the father of the nation of Israel. She not only became a part of the wealthiest family of the east, she became part of the amazing plan of God’s chosen lineage for bringing Jesus Christ into the world.

This incredible story carries even more potent meanings for us though. Abraham is a picture of the Father, Isaac of the Son, and Eliezer of the Holy Spirit who has been sent out into the world to find and prepare a bride for Jesus Christ. Enthusiastic, willing-hearted generosity is the first quality He is looking for in the bride of Christ. The Holy Spirit comes with all kinds of gifts from the Father for the bride (church), and she opens the door to receive these gifts through serving the Holy Spirit however He appears.

We must actively live in an attitude of generosity and serving throughout our lives. At any given time, we must be ready to serve and be generous to whoever or whatever situation we find ourselves in. Amazing doors will open to us!