Rock Springs Family Values: Extravagant Generosity

When I was pastoring in British Columbia, I would take a week off in November, so our family could drive to Oregon to celebrate Thanksgiving. On one of our first trips we piled into our old blue Subaru Station wagon and had been on the road for about 90 minutes when we started the long uphill climb into Everett. But something wasn’t quite right. We were loosing power, so I pulled off at the next exit, but this was just another highway. Soon she just died… Now this was before cell phones, so I needed to find a pay phone. After hiking up a 300 foot hill, I found one, made the call, got a tow truck, and got our car off the highway. About two hours later after securing a rental car and feeding my family we were able to get on with our vacation.

Now what made this trip so memorable was that after getting back to BC, was the shock of how much it was going to cost to fix my Subaru.   The reason we’d lost power was that my transmission had failed. I remember thinking, how am I going to pay for this? After all, the bill was going be between $800 and $900, and I didn’t have that kind of money. Then I got the call that my car was ready, so I caught a ride to the shop, and asked, “So what’s the damage?” My friend who ran the place handed me the invoice and showed me the breakdown: parts, labor and taxes all added up to $879. But then with a smile on his face he pointed to the balance and it read “0.” I was at a bit of a loss and he could see it in my face. So then he told me, “A couple of good people from your church came by today and paid you bill in full. You don’t owe a dime.” I was speechless. I’d heard stories about extravagant generosity before. I had a few friends in college who were on the verge of dropping out because they didn’t have any more money, but then got a check in the mail for just what they needed. I always thought that was amazing. But I had never been on the receiving end of one of those stories until now. A couple of people knew we needed help. But they didn’t just help us, they paid it all! What a blessing.

Can you imagine what it’s like to be part of Church like that? I got to pastor that church. And you know what was so cool about pastoring that church? This wasn’t the only time I saw extravagant generosity. In fact, at the end of our first year, I was blessed by what our leaders decided to do with the surplus of our giving from that year. We had a surplus of $17,000. And then the question was asked, “What do you think we should do with it?” I don’t remember who said it, but one man simply said, “I think we should give it away to missions.” And so we did. And you know what was so great about that? Every year for the 8 years I served there we had a surplus, and every year we gave it all away. That’s extravagant generosity. I was so proud to be part of a church that so freely wanted to bless others.

Today, we want to look at this value of Extravagant Generosity. One reason God has led me to develop this as one of our values is that we’ve seen this value is already at work here. Your generosity has allowed us to bless our community through the Eloy Food Bank. Your generosity has allowed us to bless a struggling Church Plant in Ocean Beach. And your generosity has allowed us to bless hundreds of children through Operation Christmas Child. That’s one reason why. The other reason is that extravagant generosity is at the heart of God’s character. From the moment God imparted life to humankind to the climatic gift of salvation through the death of Jesus Christ, God has literally embodied extravagant generosity for us. So if there was ever a value we need to embrace it’s this one. For if we are to be the blessing God calls us to be, then extravagant generosity ought to be central to everything we do.

So, if you brought your Bible with you today, I want to encourage you to open them to John 3:16, where we will begin by answering why extravagant generosity must be one of our core values as a people of God. For it is here that

1. God reveals the heart of extravagant generosity     For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

God’s extravagant generosity to us… the choice to give us His Son; the decision to have the Son lay down His life for our sins; this choice to give us His best, His all… was initiated by love. That’s what love does. It seeks the best for the other.

And God sought our best because God saw our need. He saw how our sin separates us from Him; how our sin alienates us from warmth of His smile – His loving acceptance; how our sin separates us from the comfort of His arms – His loving protection; and how our sin separates us from the wisdom of His ways, so we are left to figure out this life on our own. And so God in His great love for us moved him to act. He gave the best He had for us. He gave us His Son to bring us back to a relationship with Him.

That’s extravagant grace! Because now, when anyone receives God’s gift of Jesus – when anyone puts their trust in him, God gives you the deepest desires of your heart. For it is through the Son that God gives eternal life. Not just life in some far distant heavenly place, but eternal life now: A life of peace: where nothing separates you from the loving embrace of the Father.  A life where you know that you belong to Him and He will never let you go.

A life of joy: where He opens your heart to experience the freedoms of grace and to see all the goodness and beauty of life He created you to enjoy and care for.

A life of meaning: where God awakens you to the reality of that nagging question: “Why am I here?” Because once you’ve tasted His extravagant generosity, God opens your heart to see that all that really matters in life is love. Not your possessions, not your achievements, none of that stuff the world makes such a big deal about – no. Once you’ve tasted the extravagant generosity of God through Jesus everything changes. Not only does your life matter to God, but now you realize every life matters to God.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son. Think about how the world sees generosity for a minute. Some people give because they can get a tax break. Some give because it eases a guilty conscience. And others are generous because it makes them look good. You see, you can give generously but not have love.

But there is only one true motive for extravagant generosity, and God has shown us what that is: Out of the abundance of love in His heart, God gave His all for us. That’s why love is at the heart of extravagant generosity. That’s why love must be the motive for why we give of our time, or our treasures or our talents, or ourselves.   All other motives are temporal. They won’t last. But love never fails.

Love should be the reason you give an offering. Love should be the motive behind serving others. For when we give out of love, that’s when we are most like God.

So how are we to do that? How do we keep our hearts filled with God’s love? How do we develop this value of extravagant generosity so that it embodies everything we do? Well, the answer is simple: By keeping our eyes on Jesus. Whereas God the Father, reveals the heart of extravagant generosity, Jesus reveals the way of extravagant generosity   Paul writes this: For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich. 2 Corinthians 8:8-9

Think of Jesus with me for a minute. Jesus came to the world as a “rich” person. As Son of God, He was rich in position. He had all the rights and privileges of God the Father. He was equal with the Father in power. He had all authority on heaven and earth. But in Philippians 2, Paul describes Jesus’ mindset when he came to live among us. Speaking Jesus Paul says: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God as something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. Philippians 2:6-7

Jesus had it all, but he became poor for us. He gave up His position. He gave up His power. He gave up His privileges. The Bible is very clear on this. He made himself nothing. He took the lowest position, by taking the very nature of a servant.

Can you see the beauty in his poverty? By becoming poor, by becoming a servant, he could now serve anyone – He could give himself away for anyone. He became poor so we might become rich. Not rich in the monetary sense – but rich in the spiritual realm. For you know the Bible teaches over and over again, that if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation – the old you is gone, and the new you in Christ has come. And that new you, that spiritual person has been made alive in Christ, is now an adopted Son of God with all the rights and privileges of Jesus. Everything Jesus gave up to come to us now belongs to you. He gave His all so He could give us all that belongs to Him. And now anyone who has faith in Jesus is a co-heir with Jesus. He gave us His inheritance, His identity, His presence, His character – everything! That’s an amazing act of generosity.

But there’s more: when Jesus came to us we were spiritually poor. The Bible says that our righteous acts were as filthy rags. In others words, anything we thought was of value to God, actually had zero value. Every person apart from Jesus is morally bankrupt. But when Jesus came, he changed all that. This is what God’s Word says: But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.  This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. Romans 3:21-22   What righteousness is given? His righteousness is given to you. The moment you put your trust in Jesus, God fills your moral bank account with His righteousness.   And when that truth sinks in, it sets you free. No more having to prove yourself to God – The pressure’s off. He sees you now with ALL the righteousness of Christ. That’s extravagant generosity!  He became poor sp that you through his poverty might become rich.

But let’s get back to the way of generosity for a minute. Jesus shows us the way of extravagant generosity. What is that? It’s the way of humility. It’s the way of selflessness. Jesus became nothing so he could serve us and then give us what we could not give ourselves.

You see, when most people hear the word “generosity,” the first thing they think of is giving away money. Jesus didn’t have much money. But he gave us so much more. HE GAVE HIMSELF! He was available for His disciples. He gave them love. He gave them truth. He gave them hope. He GAVE THEM A WHOLE NEW WAY TO LIVE!

This is the most challenging aspect of extravagant generosity. Because if we are honest with ourselves – this is where we struggle. In our fallen nature we are naturally selfish. So we can be selfish with our time, with our attention, with our truth, and with our lives. This challenges me. I hope it challenges you. Extravagant generosity is so much more than just writing a check. It’s more about being available to people and sharing our lives with them, giving our lives for them! That’s what Jesus did.

So what will help us do that? What will transform us? What will change us to help us live more like Jesus? What will help us become people who are not just generous with our money, but with our lives? What’s the one thing that will fuel this value of extravagant generosity in us? Here it is: GOD’S GRACE

3. God’s grace is what fuels extravagant generosity Listen to this description of the early church. They were known for their extravagant generosity: All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need. Acts 4:32-35

Now that’s extravagant generosity! It’s the kind of generosity that turned the world upside down. First, All the believers were one in heart and mind. They were unified by God’s grace. Each one had experienced the mercy of God, been forgiven by Jesus, and had this new hope and joy in their new life with Jesus. Not only that, but

No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. In other words, meeting the creator God had changed their view of their possessions. They now realized that they owned nothing.   God was the owner. They were simply stewards of whatever God had given them. So since their stuff was God’s stuff, they held their possessions loosely, and shared them whenever there was a need.

With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. The resurrection of Jesus changed everything. No longer was life about putting food on the table, keeping a roof over their heads or worrying about their Roman oppressors. They had a king who was so much bigger than this world. Jesus had risen. He was alive. So the powers of this world had no hold on them. Jesus did! And because Jesus did, they were now an unstoppable force of grace and goodness!

And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them. ALL had been transformed by grace. Each one was set free from guilt and shame. ALL knew God loved them and that His love would never fail. ALL had the sure and certain hope of eternal life in Jesus Christ. ALL experienced the presence of the Holy Spirit. Inside the soul of every Christian is a God-inspired desire to live a generous life!  So freely had they received the extravagant generosity of God so freely they gave: The moment anyone was found to be in need, they were so full of grace that it was as natural as breathing to help the person in need. Wouldn’t it be great if that’s what could be said about us?

What is so revealing about this final observation is that what they did ran so counter to their times. No one in their day did anything for the poor and needy. There were no government programs, no housing projects, no food stamps – nothing. Theirs was an unfeeling and self-serving culture.   But with the generosity of these first Christians people everywhere began to take notice. And because they helped others that no one else would help, the generosity of these first Christians did more to bring people to faith in Jesus than all the preaching that was done.

I’d like to think the same thing could happen again in our day.   I’d like to think that the same grace that fueled those first Christians can and will fuel us today.   There is great power in grace. There is great power in loving others with no strings attached. There is great power in extravagant generosity.

Extravagant generosity is counter-cultural. Its rare to see this quality in people today, let alone in churches. We live in a world that tells us to “look out for number one.” Yet, Jesus came into our world to show us another way. Jesus gave His all, so He could change us all – to give like Him.

Just imagine the impact we will have if Jesus changes us?  We won’t just fill the food banks in Eloy, but we can have an impact of the people who live there.  We won’t just help Regeneration Church move forward, but will help other Churches like it.  We might even start planting other Churches.  Whose to say, that God can’t use us to start a movement of Churches?  Can you imagine that?  We won’t just bless a few hundred children with shoe boxes, but maybe God will send us to take those packages ourselves to villages of children and be blessing to them.  God has called us to bless our neighbors and our world with Extravagant Generosity.  But its not just about opening our bank accounts;  it starts with God opening our hearts.