In June of 2010
Bill Gates and Warren Buffett inaugurated the Giving Pledge, designed to
encourage people of great wealth to either give or pledge the majority of their
wealth to charity while alive or at their passing. As of this year, 139 pledges have been added to the list,
and the total amount of money pledged is 732 billion dollars.
$732 billion – isn’t that amazing! That’s three-quarters of a trillion
dollars! All of us fantasize about
coming into money, don’t we? Perhaps
we dream of winning the lottery, of finding money buried in our back yard, or discovering
you’re a long lost heir to Bill Gates or another wealthy individual. Who doesn’t enjoy thinking about the
possibility of coming into sudden and great wealth?
But while we often think about how much we
would enjoy coming into money somehow, some day, the real question we should
ask is – what will we do with what we have? We might come into money some day, but we might not, so what
will we do with what we have at the moment?
We are continuing with the series of messages I began last week,
based upon the theme of Building. The theme comes from Matthew 16:18 – on this
rock I will build my church.
Last week we began the series with the message Building Grace, and this week’s message
is Building Generosity. The topic of generosity, obviously,
ties in with Consecration Sunday, when we return our pledges, pledges that are
both financial and spiritual. I
realize that not everyone is comfortable using a financial pledge card, and
that is perfectly understandable.
I hope everyone will, however, fill out the portion of the pledge card
that relates to talents and abilities, as these are gifts that make such a
difference to the life and ministry of our church. We are, like all churches, a volunteer-driven body,
depending greatly upon the time, energy, and talents of our members. A large portion of our generosity comes
from the giving of our time, talents, and abilities. Without the offering of these gifts we would certainly be
greatly impoverished.
The passage that
serves as our Scripture text for today comes from Paul’s letter to the church
at Philippi. This is the final
letter we have that was written by Paul.
At the time of its writing Paul is in prison in Rome, appealing a
sentence to Caesar. Ultimately
unsuccessful in his appeal, Paul is eventually executed and, at this writing, he
is most likely already aware of his coming fate. Writing under such circumstances, Paul is in a very
reflective mood.
Philippians 4:10-20
–
10 I
rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me.
Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it.
11 I
am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content
whatever the circumstances.
12 I
know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have
learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well
fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.
13 I
can do all this through him who gives me strength.
14 Yet
it was good of you to share in my troubles.
15 Moreover,
as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the
gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the
matter of giving and receiving, except you only;
16 for
even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid more than once when I was in
need.
17 Not
that I desire your gifts; what I desire is that more be credited to your
account.
18 I
have received full payment and have more than enough. I am amply supplied, now
that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant
offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God.
19 And
my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ
Jesus.
20 To our God and Father be glory for ever
and ever. Amen.
Here is what I want
to say this morning about Building
Generosity.
1. Generosity is a
total way of life.
When we think of generosity money is most often
what comes to mind, but generosity involves much more. We know that generosity includes our
time and talents, but it’s still more.
Generosity is all encompassing of our lives.
Generosity is reflected in how we think. Can we think in an expansive way,
in an open-minded way, in a graceful way, in a compassionate way? All of those adjectives and more
reflect a generosity in the way in which we think.
Generosity is reflected in how we relate to and
treat others. Do we treat others
with love and grace? Do we demonstrate compassion in our dealings with
others? Do we speak to others in a
way that reflects that we see them as brothers and sisters in Christ, as fellow
children of God?
Generosity is reflective even of how we see
God, because if we fail to see God as being generous, it is unlikely that we
will be generous.
All of these were evidenced, I believe, in the
life and ministry of Paul. Reading
through not only this morning’s text, but the entire letter of Philippians, a
spirit of generosity absolutely flows out of his pen, because it flows out of
his heart.
2. Generosity is
not transactional.
I heard of a church once that, in planning for
their budget, decreed that every ministry and every program had to pay its own way. That is, every ministry and every
program has to generate enough money to justify its inclusion in the church
budget. I can’t imagine where such
thinking came from, as that is a really terrible way in which to build a church
budget.
Generosity is not transactional, and what I
mean by that statement is this – generosity is not dependent upon or expectant
of a corresponding return. That
is, if you invest $2,000 in a ministry, if you invest 100 hours of volunteer
labor into a ministry, we do not expect it to have an equal return in money and
volunteer hours. We don’t give to
the Kingdom of God with the expectation that a return on investment will come
to us. There is not a relative
value to what we do as the people of God.
Some things we do cost nothing, some cost just a little, and others
might be very expensive, but we don’t consider the value of a ministry based
solely on whether or not there is a financial cost, and certainly not upon any
idea that it must generate a financial return.
An investor in the stock market will
watch the market and will look for and expect a return. They will calculate the worth of the
stock by the amount of return it brings.
This is not how we operate in the church or in the kingdom of God. Not everything in which we invest has a
return that is measurable. Not
everything in which we invest has a return that is visible.
Return, in the kingdom of God, is measured in impact upon
lives. If we invest $1,000 or
$5,000 or $10,000 in something, we might not see any kind of financial
return. As much as we need money
to operate, financial return is not why we do anything that we do. What is the monetary value of
ministering to another person?
There isn’t a monetary value to that action.
Paul makes this beautiful statement – 15 Moreover, as you Philippians know, in
the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from
Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving,
except you only; 16 for
even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid more than once when I was in
need. 17 Not
that I desire your gifts; what I desire is that more be credited to your
account. 18 I have received full payment and have more
than enough.
Perhaps
those churches were thinking in a transactional manner, believing that an
investment in Paul would not be a good use of resources. If so, that certainly proved to be a
great misjudgment.
3. Generosity is the antidote to false
answers.
Even
though generosity is more than money, allow me to add this thought about money
– money can be a great servant, but is a terrible master. Allow me to repeat that – money can be
a great servant, but is a terrible master. Money can do many wonderful things, but it can also be used
as a way to deal with our many issues that we have as individuals, and we might
see money as an answer to those issues, but it is what I would call a false answer. A false answer is this – it is something to which we turn to
fill a need, but it cannot do so.
And even though it cannot fill that need, we continue to try and get it
to fill that need.
Here
is how money is often used as a false example – we spend money in order to feel
better, but feeling better after spending money is a very fleeing
experience. In fact, spending
money in order to feel better can very quickly be replaced by a sense of regret
when we look at our bank balance and discover we couldn’t afford to spend that
money to make ourselves feel better.
The opposite of spending – saving and, perhaps, hoarding – isn’t
necessarily better because no amount of money can insulate us from what life
might bring to us. I would
never be so naïve as to say that money and resources don’t matter; they do
matter. Life is very difficult
when we do not have the necessary resources and we cannot ignore the reality
that many people do not have the resources they need in life.
But those resources are not a final answer. Resources can give us a good life. Resources can even provide us with a
certain type of happiness – or, perhaps, satisfaction is a better word – and
resources can be used for a great deal of good. But if you listen to Paul when he writes – 11 …I have learned to be content whatever
the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I
know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in
any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty
or in want. 13 I can do all this through him who gives
me strength…we hear the voice of someone who was not captured by false
answers. It’s interesting to me
that Paul uses the word secret, not
because there is any secret to finding satisfaction in life, but because we can
so easily allow that path to satisfaction to be hidden from us.
If
you have seen the movie Titanic you
may remember the scene where people are piling into the lifeboats. One of the wealthy passengers offers a
stack of cash to a crewmember in order to secure a seat on board the
lifeboat. The response of the crewmember
was disbelief, because he knew the money would do him no good on a sinking
ship. There is always a point at
which money, or other valuable commodities, will come to an end and be able to
go no further. That is when we
truly discover the difference between a real
answer and a false answer.
Let
us build a sense of generosity in our lives. Let us build a sense of generosity in our congregation. And in doing so, know that we are
helping to build God’s kingdom.
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