Generosity is something that churches must get right!
We're so glad you've made worship a priority this weekend. We have a great church here. We hope you'll hang around for some delicious food and conversation after the service. Be sure to watch for flying water balloons.
If there is one thing we have to get right as a church, it's generosity. Without generosity we have no credibility as a church, and our message has no power. Generosity is the very essence of Christ living in you and in me.
You're familiar with the story Jesus tells in Luke 10 about a certain man who was traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho. It was the equivalent of someone traveling from El Paso and crossing the border into Mexico. The road to Jericho was dangerous. Bands of robbers continually ambushed travelers. And so in Luke 10:30 (NIV) we're told how a man, "...fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead."
The robbers showed no regard for the man's life, whatsoever. But more importantly, the robbers had no sense of the power and willingness of God to provide for their needs. They were so desperate that they thought it was necessary to leave a man for dead in the gutter of road.
The priest and the Levite did not show generosity.
You know the story. Both a priest and a Levite saw the fallen man, heard his groaning and pleas for help, and passed by on the other side of the road. See Luke 10:31-32.
What you may not realize is the priest and the Levite were just like the robbers. They showed no regard for the man's life. They had no sense of the power or willingness of God to provide for their or his needs. They were so destitute spiritually that they thought it their duty to leave the man for dead in the gutter of the road.
Jesus is telling this parable to religious people like you and me because even though we profess to represent the true God, we're often the last to get generosity right. So along comes a man, a religious outsider, who just nails the essence of generosity.
The Samaritan, the outsider, nailed the essence of generosity.
Luke 10:33-35 (NIV) tells us, "But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.' "
Luke 10 made me think of James 2:14-16 (NIV) which says, "What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, 'Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,' but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?"
Just as faith is never about what we say, so love is never about what we say. The substance of faith, the substance of love, the substance of mercy, is generosity! Love is tangible. It's the bandages, the oil and wine, the donkey, the inn, the caregiving, the two silver coins, the instructions to the innkeeper, and the extra expense. Words are cheap. Generosity is costly.
Generosity can include feelings of pity. But generosity acts, it risks, it involves itself, it gives of itself, and it follows through. The good Samaritan was good because he was generous-- financially, personally, and sacrificially generous. This is what Jesus commended-- not love in the abstract, but the Samaritan's hard-core, tangible, costly acts of generosity.
Generosity reorients a person's heart back to God.
Now let's talk for a moment about the power of generosity. More than anything else, generosity powerfully reorients a person's heart back to God.
This past Thursday, Robert and Tammy came to our door seeking food and fuel assistance. Robert shared about his past life. He had been in and out of prison. He'd struggled with extreme bitterness, hatred, racism, alcohol and drug addiction, along with some heroin use. Robert was also a member of the Aryan brotherhood. While in prison, he associated with the skinheads. His arms were covered in tattoos, symbolizing his hatred of ethnic groups and his participation in one of the most notorious white supremacist groups.
Robert's wife Tammy was also with him. She grew in a home of heroin-addicted parents. Her mother was a prostitute who allowed her johns to assault Tammy without her father's knowledge. Tammy began sharing all about her abuse, her drug and alcohol addictions, the divorce of her parents, her adoption, and how she developed an overwhelming desire to end her own life through suicide.
So Robert comes to know the grace of Jesus Christ while in prison. He is so captivated by the grace of God that he begins feeling the call of God to preach. He loads up all his worldly possessions into suitcases and begins leaving them at various churches. He gives up drugs and alcohol. He gives up his hatred and bitterness. He begins hanging out with a pastor friend. One day they are visiting an elderly patient in an Alzheimer's wing, and they encounter Tammy. Tammy is angry and resistant to their friendship, but Robert keeps reaching out to her.
Robert described how one night after a date, Tammy pummeled his face with her fists, screaming her hatred for both Robert and God. But Robert kept praying for her, he led her to Christ, and he helped her learn to read the scriptures.
I didn't even know this couple was at our church, except that their conversation with Mark Gannar was so loud and animated that I walked to the office to ask Sondra who was in the conference room. So Robert and Tammy were headed south on Interstate 55.
As their conversation was getting underway, a second couple, a black couple, Mark and Piper drove into our parking lot. They were headed north on Interstate 55 to Wisconsin. Both couples traveling in opposite directions arrived at Lakeside at same time! They too were unemployed, and seeking food and fuel assistance.
While Mark was meeting with Robert and Tammy, I took Mark and Piper over to Wendy's. Mark and Piper were newlyweds. Mark had been in and out of prison, he had struggled with alcohol, and was struggling to find employment. He distrusted the police officers. His wife Piper had a Master's degree, but had been laid off from her position.
Both Mark and Piper were Christians, but Mark had just given his life to Christ a few years ago. They were understandably distressed about their circumstances. I prayed with them, I shared my testimony, and I told them about the Macedonian Christians. Despite the Macedonians' extreme poverty and severe circumstances, they fully trusted God and gave freely to others.
I encouraged them to be completely honest with me so we could know how to meet their needs. We filled up their gas tank. I called Mark Gannar to ask whether we had McDonald's gift cards so they would have food to eat later in the day. Long story short, Mark met me in the McDonald's parking lot. He had Robert and Tammy in tow, and I had Mark and Piper in tow. We were like a small group.
Mark tells me briefly about Robert and Tammy's past, and while Mark goes into buy gift cards, Robert and Tammy start telling me their story of how God was providing for all their needs, how some pastors in Vegas gave them their van, and how they ended up at Lakeside that day. And then they start sharing scriptures-- the same scriptures I'd just shared with Mark and Piper over at Wendy's!
So I pulled Robert, the former white supremacist, and Tammy out of their car and took them over to meet Mark and Piper. And so Robert began sharing their story with Mark and Piper of how Christ intervened in their lives and miraculously provided for all their needs. And then Tammy started sharing her testimony with Piper. And these couples were encouraging each other. And pretty soon they were all pulling their Bibles out of their cars and swapping books and contact information. And God was totally being praised, and totally getting the glory, and the Holy Spirit was among us all.
But then Mark Gannar I saw the craziest thing. Robert, the former white supremacist guy, reaches out and embraces Mark and Piper. That's when the magnitude of the moment hit me. My hands started shaking!
There by the grace of God, in McDonald's parking lot, a former white supremacist was embracing a black couple. There by the grace of God, Tammy was alive. Both of the couples were clean, and both were filled with faith and joy despite their extreme poverty and severe circumstances. There was no evidence of any hatred and bitterness. There was only a deep concern for people they'd never met before.
There by the grace of God, through the generosity of his people, Lakeside's Samaritan-like love abundantly supplied what both couples needed to get to their destination and much more. Generosity powerfully reorients people back to God.