ON EARTH AS IN HEAVEN
What does this mean?
Through Christians, empowered by the Holy Spirit, living out the principles of God’s Kingdom
This has been happening for the last 200 years
Things that we can thank Christians for:
Ideas/ideals of Human rights
- Care for the poor/helpless
- Protection of the most vulnerable
- Concern for the foreigner
- Hospitals/Nursing
Raised the value of women to the same as men
- Raised the value of children
- Adopt twice as much
Value marriage and family
- Seen as a sign of God’s relationship with his people
- Foundation of Society
Historically, we give more money
Principles like:
- Going the extra mile
- Turning the other check
- Might DOES NOT make right
Why has all of this happened?
- Because of the teachings of Jesus.
Where are those teachings found? In the Bible. This means:
The Bible is extremely relevant to your life
Each week, we have looked at something that CULTURE VALUES and we are asking WHY?
Today is about
GENEROSITY
- “Just talked about money…”
- Not just about money, but a GENEROUS LIFE
Generous Life: Being Generous with…
- Treasure
- Talents
- Time
Modern Psychology shows:
- That giving is good for us
- Volunteering has a positive impact on our mental and physical health
- Actively caring for others often yields greater physical and psychological benefits than being cared for
- Helping others in the workplace seems to improve career satisfaction
- Financial generosity has psychological payoffs
This doesn’t surprise the Christian… But WHY
- Because Jesus said…
Acts 20:35
35 In every way I’ve shown you that it is necessary to help the weak by laboring like this and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, because he said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
To drive this home, atheist social psychologist Jonathan Haidt observes:
Surveys have long shown that religious believers in the United States are happier, healthier, longer-lived, and more generous to charity and to each other than are secular people. . . . Religious believers give more money than secular folk to secular charities, and to their neighbors. They give more of their time, too, and of their blood.
One of the POWERFUL things that separates US (Christians) from everyone else is our RADICAL IDEAS on generosity
How should we understand generosity?
Generosity is about leverage
- You choose to leverage what you have on behalf of another
- Jesus told the perfect story about Generosity
- See if you can catch the points of LEVERAGE in this story
Luke 10
25 Then an expert in the law stood up to test him, saying, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
26 “What is written in the law?” he asked him. “How do you read it?”
27 He answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,” and “your neighbor as yourself.”
28 “You’ve answered correctly,” he told him. “Do this and you will live.”
29 But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
30 Jesus took up the question and said, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him, beat him up, and fled, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down that road. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 In the same way, a Levite, when he arrived at the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan on his journey came up to him, and when he saw the man, he had compassion. 34 He went over to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on olive oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him. When I come back I’ll reimburse you for whatever extra you spend.’
36 “Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?”
37 “The one who showed mercy to him,” he said. Then Jesus told him, “Go and do the same.”
Where is the Generosity displayed?
1: The Decision to Stop
- 2 others chose not to
- Religious leaders. those who should have had compassion
- Fellow Jews
Choosing to stop was more than JUST compassion, but a willingness to make himself VULNERABLE, too
- What if the robbers were in the area
- What if this guy deserved what he got (owed someone money)
- JEW vs SAMARITAN
The Samaritan chose to COMPASSION
the key ingredient in generosity
In deciding to stop, he chose to LEVERAGE his TIME
2: Bandaging the Wounds
- More dangerous than stopping was stopping to bandage the wounds there
- Could have just thrown him up onto his animal and said, “I hope you make it”
Bandaging his wounds was LEVERAGING his TALENTS
What do I mean by TALENT?
- Skill
- Gifting
- Unique to you or your trade
Talents are usually used to MAKE MONEY
- Craftsman
- Skilled Laborer
- Doctor
- Scientist
- etc
- May have paid a lot of money for those talents (SKILLS)
The NON-CHRISTIAN thinks…
“Why would I use what makes me money to benefit someone I don’t know for free?”
- That makes sense, except for CHRISTIAN COMPASSION
The Samaritan chooses to use his talent of bandaging this man up, costing him time, materials, and SKILLS
You may be asking, What does this look like in my case?
- Well, talk through some APPLICATION in a few minutes
- Let’s keep moving for now
3: Restoration
Luke 10
Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him. When I come back I’ll reimburse you for whatever extra you spend.’
I think this part is the most challenging
- Following Jesus is ALWAYS challenging
He not only puts him up in a room but promises to REPAY AN UNKNOWN PRICE when he returns
We can assume:
- He knew the innkeeper
- He was putting his PROFESSIONAL REPUTATION on the line
But He chose to LEVERAGE his TREASURE (Money)
The compassion of the Samaritan was his desire for FULL RESTORED health over Financial gain or protection
How should this work itself out in our regular lives?
I think 3 ways:
1: We must have systems in place to respond to and care for those we come in contact with as a CHURCH.
- Corporate response
- Leverage both our fiancees and our Relationships/connect with others who can help
2: We should look for and anticipate opportunities to serve those who can’t repay us.
- Individual response
- May know them, may not
Anticipate means MAKING YOUR HEART READY
- Resist the urge to WALK BY
Don’t just look for those who can give you INCREASE
- But those who can’t repay you
Think practically
- May not be safe
- Call someone to come help
- Logical limit
- There are times to say no
3: Do for ONE what you wish you could do for many.
- Serve the ones God has placed in your path
- Don’t get overwhelmed by the problem
- Be faithful in the small things