Dr. Rodney Plunket

The Joy of Generosity
a topical sermon on giving

  I want to begin our lesson this morning with a testimonial from Owen Hardwick.  Owen come tell us how giving has blessed you and your family.

God wants us to live by faith; He wants us to give to His work in the world with confidence that He will respond to our giving by richly providing for us.  Remember the words of Jesus that we read last week from Lk 6:38.  There Jesus says, “give, and it will be given to you.  A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.”  Owen’s story is confirmation of that statement from Jesus.

But there are countless stories of God fulfilling this promise.  Let me tell you just a couple.  Let me tell you of a church elder who prayed about what God wanted him to give one year.  He felt God wanted him to give $20,000.  He had no idea how he could ever give that much, but he decided to trust the impression he believed was from God.  The Lord poured out great blessings on his business, and he was able to give what he planned. 

Another story is told by a preacher writing in the middle of a fundraising campaign to build a new auditorium for the church.  Here are his words,

Last week, a man and his wife came to see me.  They’ve sincerely struggled for weeks to know how they can have a part in our effort.  The trouble is they have had serious financial difficulties for the past few years.  They’ve got lots of debts and have even been paying back taxes.

But in January, they took a huge step of faith.  In spite of all their financial difficulties, they decided to start tithing on the one income they have.  And now, they want to give something to help build the new [auditorium].  We talked for a few minutes.  I prayed with them and asked that God honor their desire, and that He provide some way for them to do what they want so desperately to do.

This week I saw them again.  And do they have a story to tell!  They received a check from the Internal Revenue Service this week, with the explanation that they had miscalculated and over-paid their back taxes.  The amount of the refund was equal to the two tithe checks they had written in January and February.  The wife took an offering envelope out of her purse and said, . . . “we’re now tithing the IRS check.”[1]

Brothers and sisters, if we will commit ourselves to generous giving, God will richly provide.  We will not out-give Him.  And He will provide more than material blessings.  He will give us joy.  This morning I want us to focus upon The Joy of Generosity.

Let me begin by sharing with you another story.

Most of 87-year old Oselola McCarty’s life has been spent working 12-hour days doing other people’s laundry.  That’s why people were amazed when she generously donated $150,000 to establish a scholarship fund at the University of Southern Mississippi.  What’s even more amazing is that this represented only 60% of her total life savings of about $250,000.  When asked how she did it, she simply said that she lived modestly, saved regularly, and gave generously.

Here is a woman who did not live to see how much stuff she could acquire.  Here is a woman whose modest life in a dismal job proved to be a blessing to herself and others, because she gave and gave generously.  Imagine the joy she felt in giving this substantial sum of money to a cause that she believed in.  Surely we all know that the joy she felt was far greater than any joy she might have received from acquiring more stuff with which to clutter her life.

Paul tells us in 2 Cor 9:7 that “God loves a cheerful giver”.  God wants us to enjoy giving.  God wants us to give with joy in our hearts, with a smile on our faces, with delight in our eyes.

And I am afraid that until we feel that kind of joy we will not truly be free from the bane of American affluence.  We will not, I believe, be free from the grip of materialism until we give generously and sacrificially of our wealth to God with joy.  Joyful generosity is the death knell of materialism, because it makes clear that the dynamic that empowers our lives is not having more but giving more.  The dynamic of our lives is not acquisition but sacrificial surrender to the will of God.

A recent study reveals that the majority of contemporary American Christian givers “are more earthly” than givers in the past.  A report of that study in a recent newspaper article says that “[i]n return for a dollar in the collection plate, churchgoers want new chapel drapes, day care for their children, a better choir and a renovated plumbing system”.  The article goes on to say, “‘Instead of people being generous and giving because they love God or are thankful, they give to get a nursery school program, or to fix the building.  It’s a consumer mentality’ . . . .”

That kind of giving means that people are not free of materialistic self-centeredness.  They even give to churches to get something for themselves.  Brothers and sisters, I urge us to give for the joy of it.  I urge us to give for the profound pleasure of worshipping God with the blessings he has lavished upon us.  I urge us to give to show God that we know that He has richly provided all that we have, that we are but stewards of His blessings.

Our Scripture reading earlier in the service was from the passage that I believe is the most relevant passage in the Bible for us if we are to avoid being caught in the snare of materialism.  That reading was from 1 Tm 6:17-19.  There Paul addresses those who are “rich in this world”.  Sisters and brothers, that is us; and we need to know it.  We are “rich in this world”.  So what does Paul tell those who are “rich in this world”?  He tells us “not to be proud . . . and not to trust in [our] money”.  He tells us why we should not trust in our money; it is because it “will soon be gone”.  He tells us instead to “trust . . . in the living God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment”.  Then he tells us “to use [our] money to do good” and to “be rich in good works” and to “be generous and ready to share”.  In v 19 Paul says that when we use our riches in this way we “will be shoring up . . . treasure as a good foundation for the future so that [we] may take hold of real life”.

I want all of us to experience the joy of generosity, because I want all of us to “shor[e] up . . . treasure as a good foundation for the future so that [we] may take hold of real life”.  Let’s take hold of the life of God.  Let’s take hold of that life by experiencing to the full the joy of generosity.

One of God’s greatest blessings is the saving fountain that washes away all of our sins and gives us the gift of the Holy Spirit.  That fountain is free to all who would come to their Father.  It is the fountain of Christian baptism which washes us and clothes us with Christ Jesus our Savior.  If you have never surrendered your life to Jesus, please, come now as we stand and sing.