Give Generously
Sermon
In the early seventies, Ian (my husband) and I started a business together. We were both chartered physiotherapists, and we bought a private physiotherapy practice in North Norfolk, where we stayed for twenty-one years.
The practice had been run by a physio who unfortunately had developed multiple sclerosis and was in a wheelchair, so by the time we moved in, the practice was completely empty of patients and we had to start from scratch to build it up.
This we did with the help of a bank loan and an overdraft, which we hoped to repay quite soon. But those were the days of 16% interest rates, and no matter how hard we worked and how much we expanded the practice, we were never able to repay the loan or to reduce the overdraft.
At the end of every year, in despair we would transfer the overdraft into a larger bank loan, and start again with a new overdraft.
It was a catch-22 situation which we were never able to resolve until we eventually sold up, twenty-one years later. Then we broke even and were able to pay off everything we owed.
We had some very worrying times during those years. There were times when we didn't know how we could possibly manage, and as we brought up our three children we spent our lives trying to make ends meet. But we never actually ran out of money and we always had a reasonable and happy, even though often quite frugal, life-style. Looking back over our life together, Ian and I often feel like the widow with the cruse of oil who looked after Elijah. The oil never ran out and although there was never a huge abundance, there was always enough (1 Kings 17:8-16).
The more I realise how God has cared for us and supported us through all these years, the more I find I'm able to begin to rely on God even for practical needs. I'm also able to be more generous with what I have, for I now know from experience that God won't let me down.
I think the principle extends to communities too. I was once in a church which struggled to pay its annual parish share. The vicar decided that the church should stop giving money away to charity, for he said that "charity begins at home." But when it stopped giving anything away and kept everything for itself, it was something of a death knell for that church, for everything started to go wrong and it was never able to pay its parish share in full again.
St Paul was well aware of the need to give generously to God's work, and of the temptation to give a little ungenerously by those who felt they couldn't afford to give. There was a famine in Jerusalem and the Christians there were suffering badly. Paul rallied the largely gentile churches which he had founded, to take up a collection for the mainly Jewish Christians in Jerusalem.
He urged the Corinthians to give out of their abundance, not so that they too would be poor, but so that there was some equality between their relative wealth and the extreme poverty in Jerusalem. He pointed out that everything we have comes from God. God has given to us abundantly; we're simply asked to give back to God with generosity of spirit. In his argument, Paul used the example of Jesus. "For you know the generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ," said Paul, "that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich."
Jesus gave up everything he had - a home, security, family life, a good job - in order to lead human beings to God. Jesus then went further and gave up his life to demonstrate his love for human beings. In doing so he discovered not poverty, but wealth, the wealth that really counts. Jesus told a story about a wealthy man who was never content with his wealth and who was unable to give generously to others. Instead, the man was determined to make more and more money. But that very night, said Jesus, the man died. His so-called wealth was worth nothing and he hadn't acquired any "real" wealth at all (Luke 12:16-21).
The Biblical standard of giving is very clear. Christians are asked to give just 10% of their income to God. That's a very small percentage when viewed in terms of what God gives to us, over and over again. If we don't give 10%, God doesn't stop giving to us. God still pours his love and his gifts upon us. God could no more stop giving to us than the rain can stop raining or the sun stop shining. But if we're not generous with our gifts to God, we build up a barrier between ourselves and God because it's a clear sign that we're not willing to allow God to fully take over our lives.
St Paul knew that. He knew the importance to our souls of generous giving and so he made it a principle in his churches. He said, "And in this matter I am giving my advice: it is appropriate for you who began last year not only to do something but even to desire to do something-- now finish doing it, so that your eagerness may be matched by completing it according to your means. For if the eagerness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has--not according to what one does not have."
We can only give what we have. God doesn't expect us to give what we don't have. But a cheerful and generous giver is a delight in God's sight.
The practice had been run by a physio who unfortunately had developed multiple sclerosis and was in a wheelchair, so by the time we moved in, the practice was completely empty of patients and we had to start from scratch to build it up.
This we did with the help of a bank loan and an overdraft, which we hoped to repay quite soon. But those were the days of 16% interest rates, and no matter how hard we worked and how much we expanded the practice, we were never able to repay the loan or to reduce the overdraft.
At the end of every year, in despair we would transfer the overdraft into a larger bank loan, and start again with a new overdraft.
It was a catch-22 situation which we were never able to resolve until we eventually sold up, twenty-one years later. Then we broke even and were able to pay off everything we owed.
We had some very worrying times during those years. There were times when we didn't know how we could possibly manage, and as we brought up our three children we spent our lives trying to make ends meet. But we never actually ran out of money and we always had a reasonable and happy, even though often quite frugal, life-style. Looking back over our life together, Ian and I often feel like the widow with the cruse of oil who looked after Elijah. The oil never ran out and although there was never a huge abundance, there was always enough (1 Kings 17:8-16).
The more I realise how God has cared for us and supported us through all these years, the more I find I'm able to begin to rely on God even for practical needs. I'm also able to be more generous with what I have, for I now know from experience that God won't let me down.
I think the principle extends to communities too. I was once in a church which struggled to pay its annual parish share. The vicar decided that the church should stop giving money away to charity, for he said that "charity begins at home." But when it stopped giving anything away and kept everything for itself, it was something of a death knell for that church, for everything started to go wrong and it was never able to pay its parish share in full again.
St Paul was well aware of the need to give generously to God's work, and of the temptation to give a little ungenerously by those who felt they couldn't afford to give. There was a famine in Jerusalem and the Christians there were suffering badly. Paul rallied the largely gentile churches which he had founded, to take up a collection for the mainly Jewish Christians in Jerusalem.
He urged the Corinthians to give out of their abundance, not so that they too would be poor, but so that there was some equality between their relative wealth and the extreme poverty in Jerusalem. He pointed out that everything we have comes from God. God has given to us abundantly; we're simply asked to give back to God with generosity of spirit. In his argument, Paul used the example of Jesus. "For you know the generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ," said Paul, "that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich."
Jesus gave up everything he had - a home, security, family life, a good job - in order to lead human beings to God. Jesus then went further and gave up his life to demonstrate his love for human beings. In doing so he discovered not poverty, but wealth, the wealth that really counts. Jesus told a story about a wealthy man who was never content with his wealth and who was unable to give generously to others. Instead, the man was determined to make more and more money. But that very night, said Jesus, the man died. His so-called wealth was worth nothing and he hadn't acquired any "real" wealth at all (Luke 12:16-21).
The Biblical standard of giving is very clear. Christians are asked to give just 10% of their income to God. That's a very small percentage when viewed in terms of what God gives to us, over and over again. If we don't give 10%, God doesn't stop giving to us. God still pours his love and his gifts upon us. God could no more stop giving to us than the rain can stop raining or the sun stop shining. But if we're not generous with our gifts to God, we build up a barrier between ourselves and God because it's a clear sign that we're not willing to allow God to fully take over our lives.
St Paul knew that. He knew the importance to our souls of generous giving and so he made it a principle in his churches. He said, "And in this matter I am giving my advice: it is appropriate for you who began last year not only to do something but even to desire to do something-- now finish doing it, so that your eagerness may be matched by completing it according to your means. For if the eagerness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has--not according to what one does not have."
We can only give what we have. God doesn't expect us to give what we don't have. But a cheerful and generous giver is a delight in God's sight.
