Let’s pray.

Father in heaven, thank you for our students who participated in in this incredible opportunity to serve you right here in metro-Detroit.

Thank you for gathering us today to worship you. God, you tell us that as we look at your son on the cross that our response to you and to others in love should reflect the generosity of the king of our lives laying his life down for people who were far from him, people who were considered enemies.

Lord, we lift these things up in prayer to you.

Lord, I ask for that same type of mindset today for our entire church family—that we can operate with that type of singular focus on giving away ourselves for your glory, for the sake of others.

That is what separates you from all other idols in our lives. You do not cause distraction, you do not need to be carried, you move, shake, and thunder so your name can be made great. There is none like you God. You are true, you are everlasting, and you take all of our wisdom and teach us how much more we need to learn to fear of you. Lord, teach us today and manifest your spirit in us. Help us follow your son in complete obedience. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.

You two can go back to your seats. Let’s give them around of applause. Wow. So great! Can I tell you it takes a lot of courage to come up and share so vulnerable with all of you.

We’re going to be in several passages today, but it all starts in 1^st Timothy 6:17-19.

Did you know every good thing in your life right now or ever came as a result of somebody else’s generosity?

You may believe you’re self made, and that you’ve clawed your way up to the top. But your very first break, your very first investment, it was the result of somebody’s generosity, they took a chance in their generosity toward your mediocre sales pitch in your incomplete dream.

• Just think about it, for some of you, your wife generously laughed at that first corny joke that gave way to a second date, and a third, until you finally broke her down and she married you.
• For you women who generously laughed at that corny joke, aren’t you so grateful for your girlfriends who generously take you away from your corny husbands? It allows you to be generous in your marriage.
• For you kids and teenagers, you don’t see it, but everything that is yours comes from the generosity of your parents…the clothes you wear, the food you eat, the toys you have, your parents generously gave them to you.

Today, I want to talk about generosity. No, I’m not starting a fundraising campaign today.

The reason I want to talk about generosity is because God calls his people to be generous, but because life is the way life is, and the world is—disastrous as ever, we actually shrink back in our generosity. And instead, we allow scarcity to define the approach we take toward situations and toward people. And if scarcity becomes normative, we not only close our wallets, but also our efforts to love God and to love people. And that hinders our ability to be a disciple of Jesus.

1^st Timothy 6:17-19

¹⁷ As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. ¹⁸ They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, ¹⁹ thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life. (1 Timothy 6:17-19 ESV)

The context of this little passage is the Apostle Paul instructing Timothy how to follow Jesus and live for the gospel while leading other people to follow Jesus and live for the gospel while avoiding idolatry and heresy. This paragraph, highlights a big source of idolatry and why we need to take steps to avoid that idolatry.

Wouldn’t many of us here say that sometimes money becomes the thing we chase as important instead of the thing we use to chase what is actually important? Yeah, not much has changed in 2000 years.

The conclusion we make reading this passage is as follows:

1. Our hope should be in God, always, nothing else
2. God generously blesses us with good things in life
3. We, as the recipients of God’s blessings, should be generous in our works and in our material possessions
4. Giving our life and money away frees us to take hold of what matters most

If all that is true than we will:

Big Idea: Be Blessed by being Generous in God

I think all of us can agree that when we are generous, we are blessed by it. I mean like blessed in the experience of catharsis that happens in our bodies and souls that leaves us refreshed and renewed. In fact, that’s why some of you so generously giving your time, energy, and money because you know the blessings that come from that generosity. In fact, there three specific blessings from God that come from choosing generosity:

1. Our Lives Change – from Proverbs 11:25, from the NIV because it’s easier to understand, “A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed..” The more generous you are with your money and works, the more you will be blessed with the fullness of life.
2. It frees our hearts – Matthew 6:21 says, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Being generous frees us from obsessing having or lacking to pursuing what matters most. Life keeps us from being focusing on what matters most, generosity frees us.
3. Best of all, generosity is an investment into an eternal treasure.

On the other hand, some of us live stingily. We hoard blessings. Something happened that caused you to hold tight, not wanting to let go of the things you have and so a scarcity mindset developed within you. You started being obsessed with your lack of. Fear starts to drive you. Whether it’s a lack of:

• seeing what is possible,
• lack of skills,
• lack of time,
• lack of money,
• lack of experience,
• lack of connection.

Then the blessings you really wanted and are holding on to start becoming a lack of and your worst fears become reality. There things and areas in your life that is defined by scarcity. We obsess over the lack. We’ve all experienced it. The TP scarcity of the last two years. Now there are people who have garages and basements full of TP that they won’t use in at least seven lifetimes, but still won’t give it away.

The scary thing about a scarcity mindset is that it actually causes us to place our hope in the wrong things and it makes us arrogant in others.

A mentality of scarcity keeps us from seeing God for who he is—infinitely generous. And if that is our mindset, we will fail to see the work he is doing where he is doing it. So we actually miss out on the riches God created for us to enjoy.

So how do we live generously?

The Apostle Paul tells Timothy that “[The rich] are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share.”

I see the wheels turning here. Some of you are trying to justify your way out of being generous and receiving the blessings of God by saying you’re not rich, your neighbor is, you actually have to go to work. That’s exactly what somebody obsessed with scarcity would say. We lack. We lack. We lack. So stop it.

Let me define rich: you have a place to stay and you ate or you’re going to eat at some point today. It doesn’t matter if the place you call home is a room rented somewhere, or a mansion, or if the food you’re eating is a steak or instant noodles, If you have a place to stay and ate or get to eat, you’re rich.

So the first way we live generously is by:

Point 1: Being Rich in Good Works

The example we have for being rich in good works is God himself. God, in his generosity, sacrificed his one and only son to be the atonement required for our sins. So that he could adopt people who were at enmity with him, and give them an inheritance they did not deserve. That’s generosity! If we placed our faith in Jesus Christ, as our savior, because not only did he die for us, he was resurrected for us, then that makes us rich! We are rich because we’re alive through the salvation bestowed upon us through Jesus Christ’s good work.

How rich his work was too, he poured out his life for us. So we live generously like our savior, allowing our good works exemplify the salvation we have in our Christ. We live without fear of lacking. Without fear of death. Without fear of being rejected by our Father in heaven. Not now, not ever. So we are generous with our works because we follow Jesus who generously gave himself for us.

The temptation for us living in a culture that presses us to have more and be more because scarcity makes capitalism turn, is failing to actually believe we have more than enough in Christ. We caught up with the distractions of scarcity and we fail to do the good works we’re called to in faith because we’re busy sowing our work in the wrong places and the wrong things. Look at how the Apostle Paul talks about this temptation of falling into a scarcity mindset in Galatians 6:7-10.

⁷ Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. ⁸ Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. ⁹ Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. ¹⁰ Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. (Galatians 6:7-10 NIV)

We reap what we sow! If the scarcity mindset dictates where we spend our time and energy, then you will sow to “please the flesh”, that’s just to say that you will start to pour your time and energy into a broken system that will fail. So we look to God and how he generously provides for us, and use every opportunity into “doing good to all people.” I love how vague that is, but what the Apostle Paul is saying here is to spend your time and energy into loving people, like invest yourself into their lives.

This past week I was with a team of middle school students from HOPE Week. When the team was initially told that they would be leading kids in FLIP Camp, it was like, “FLIP Camp? Then they were told that they would be in Hamtramck doing community organizing in the afternoons. I don’t know what made them more fearful and apprehensive: leading kids a little younger them in VBS or going to Hamtramck where they got these crazy preconceived notions about the people who lived there. They jumped into a scarcity mindset. You know who has the scarcity mindset by who is asking all the questions. They were being driven by fear. Fear of rejection. Fear of being unable to communicate. Fear of alienation. Fear of not having authority.

Come on, you can relate. When we put ourselves out there vulnerably, or start things we haven’t done before, or experience something that’s not familiar. We get fearful. We get flooded with thoughts of potential rejection. We start going what if, what if, what if, and start making back up plans that have nothing to do with the goal you set out with. The scarcity mindset kicks in and says, I’m not good enough. I don’t have enough. I won’t be enough.

So these teenagers, whether they knew it or not, spent a week practicing generosity by placing their hopes in God. Because living generously is a practice in faith.

In the mornings, they were giving their entire selves over, heart, body, and soul, to exuberantly leading kids during FLIP Camp at our Farmington Hills Campus. In the afternoons they were out on the streets of Hamtramck, knocking on doors, talking with strangers, boldly putting themselves out there, risking rejection, alienation so they could learn more about the community; about the problems and issues the community is facing; learning about what would help, how to make sure the community can benefit. By the end of the week, they were sharing the gospel with kids who did not know the gospel, and a people group who did not know the gospel.

What blew me away was how God richly blessed two endeavors. You see, even in my own mind, the mentality of scarcity was kicking in with lowered expectations: these are kids, these are kids from the suburbs, these are kids who were in FLIP camp last year. So on and so forth. God didn’t bless these endeavors because of the great strategy or impeccable execution, although those things were awesome. God blessed the faithfulness a bunch of teenagers showed through their generosity. They opened their hearts to people that didn’t ask for that love. They went above and beyond what was expected of them. They risked being hurt. They risked rejection. The generosity of God overflowed in them and not only were they blessed by it, they blessed others with it.

I want all of us to experience that type of blessings. You know the only reason we do announcements is so that we can share opportunities for you to do good for all people so you can be blessed just like our middle and high schoolers this past week. I have 5 opportunities that you can be generous with that will definitely bless you.

1. Back to school backpacks – We’ve already identified 200 kids that need school supplies and backpacks. These may be random kids to you, but they are not random kids to God. Be rich in good works. Who knows, it may because you went and got somebody a pencil and loose-leaf paper that they learn the life saving skills that cures us from cancer one day.
2. Walk for Life – raise awareness and funds to assist a pregnancy resource center. You may be educated and have the information needed to handle a pregnancy, whether it was planned or unplanned, but not everybody does. We forget that pregnancy resource centers exist because they want to help people who are in crisis, with pregnancy being their crisis. They don’t know what to do, they don’t know where to go. Along with that, did you know that it’s not just women they help, they also help men. This is not just for women, moms, and children. It’s for men as well.
3. Kids Ministry or Student Ministry – If you ever thought the next generation is in trouble because of all the participation awards, bad parents scaring their kids into sleeping by threatening them to throw them to the wolves, then be a part of the solution. For one hour a week, twice a month, you can mentor the next generation into knowing their savior and living victoriously in faith.
4. Fitness Classes for Women – this is an opportunity that’s opening up in Hamtramck through our friends and partners at One Humanity Community Development. If you’re a woman excited about fitness or passionate about exercise. What if you gave refugees and immigrants the opportunity to focus on fitness and exercise.
5. ESL for refugees and immigrants – this is another opportunity in Hamtramck through our friends and partners at One Humanity Community Development. Teach English. You want to talk about teaching somebody how to fish. This is it. If you want to get a job, if you want to apply for benefits, if you want to advocate for yourself, you need to know how to speak and read English in this country. This is a life-giving opportunity for good. 

But good works isn’t limited to what the church manufactures for you. There are plenty of people here today who serve in incredible capacities not just in the church but outside the church, changing the community one good work at a time, one person, one family at a time. This is the mark of a disciple of Jesus: when you start sowing good works, not for your personal gain, but because the spirit leads us to sow in faith what God will harvest. Be rich in good works!

The second way we are blessed by our generosity is by:

Point 2: Sharing What You Have

This is about money and material possessions. We don’t share what we have because we ascribe value to having more even if it serves no purpose. So my younger daughter, Clara, started crawling. Which means she’s getting into everything, especially her older sister’s toys. One night, I had charge of both Kate and Clara because Michelle was out. So Kate was playing with her toys on one side of the room and Clara was on the other, licking the baby safe toys that her sister littered on the floor for her. So it’s peaceful and quiet and there is no crying. That’s great, so I can do some stuff around the house. Then all of a sudden, I hear, “No!!!!!! that’s mine!” and I run to the living room and Kate is ripping whatever Clara was playing with out of her hands. Here’s the best part, the thing Kate is ripping out of Clara’s hands wasn’t even a toy. It was a piece of scrap paper Kate had cut into a triangle that she decided was too valuable for her sister to play with.

Don’t we sometimes have the same relationship with money and things. That’s why some of us go and spend money buying those non dishwasher safe serving plates that you never use. You don’t host anybody, you don’t even like inviting people over to serve them. You just hope that by having them collect dust in your cabinets, your life will be fuller for it. We feel like we lack, so we buy and hoard. We’re obsessed with our lack and in our lack. We don’t think we have enough money. Or we think we’ll never make the money again, so:

• we don’t give to church,
• we don’t give to charities.
• we don’t give to your family.
• Heck, we don’t even give a tip at a restaurant.

Giving away money and possessions is hard and it gets harder as we accumulate more. This is not a new thing. The Apostle Paul saw this happening in the church at Corinth. So he gives them a method to help them. Let’s go to 1^st Corinthians 16.

Now concerning the collection for the saints: as I directed the churches of Galatia, so you also are to do. ² On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come. ³ And when I arrive, I will send those whom you accredit by letter to carry your gift to Jerusalem. (1 Corinthians 16:1-3 ESV)

If you have a hard time having a generous mindset like our Father in heaven, then we have to practice it. Set a time, set a value, and put it aside for being generous. Look at that, I just saved you hundreds of dollars that you could have spent on a financial wellness class. The attitude and mindset of generosity is not under compulsion, because that’s calculating scarcity, but of putting a value aside and setting a time to put it aside and then giving it away when the time comes.

In 2 Corinthians, the Apostle Paul takes it further in chapter 9, listen to what he says in verse 6 and 7:

The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. ⁷ Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. (2 Corinthians 9:6-7 ESV)

That’s what a generous mindset is. When we choose to be generous financially, go big and do it cheerfully. The economics of generosity is clear: The more generous you are, the more you will get back from your generosity. When we do that, the blessings we receive from God leaves us beyond thankful.

A lot of us are saving money or spending money for something that is superfluous in our lives that causes us to think we lack:

• a new car
• a lavish vacation
• a dinner at a fancy restaurant
• whatever streaming service
• a newer, bigger home

Instead, be generous in God, attach your money and things to a place and people God is working and moving. When we do, God will bless us. I want to challenge you to cheerfully and generously set aside the cost of some of the superfluous things in your life for the works of God. Just think about how your life would change, how you would be free to pursue what matters most, how you are investing in the eternal.

Our faith in Jesus leads us to living with a generous mindset. In our generosity of good works and giving, God will bless us infinitely more through his generosity as we bless others with ours. Will you respond generously and richly in works and possessions?

Let’s pray.

Father in heaven. Let us be generous. Let us have the same mind as you, to be infinitely generous to you and to others around us. We do so because you richly provide us with everything we need to enjoy the life you created for us. If there are those of us here who are living under the disillusion of scarcity, let those fears, idols, and distractions be removed so we can live free. Free to be your creation. Free to sow generously. Free to give away all things in your name. Lord we want to live the blessed life of generosity. We want it to be a mark of our discipleship in you. That just like you, we give it all away for your glory. So that the world will know that even if there is reason to be afraid of the lack of, our heaven father will provide and that we would not lack. Thank you for this blessing. In Jesus name. Amen.