Genius of Generosity - How Does God Measure Generosity?, Part 1

Let me ask you a question. Would God look down from heaven into your heart and into your life and call you a generous person and stop stop right before you think about how much money you give. I want you to rethink the question. If God didn't even take into account anything to do with money. How generous are you from his perspective. Are there other ways that he measures generosity that might be even way more important than money and let me give you the answers yes you don't want to miss. Welcome to this Wednesday. Addition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram Jeff as our Bible teacher of his daily discipleship ministry. I'm Dave Burley today. Chip continues his series.

The genius of generosity by outlining how it's possible to effectively measure generosity beyond good intentions, dynamic generosity after the teaching trip will join us here in studio with some more personal comments about this journey generosity so I hope you'll be able to stay with us for that. If you have to miss it though this message and the rest of the programs in the series are available on the chip and remap all its drawing Chip out for his message.

How does God measure generosity. So how does God measure generosity while Jesus has a way of taking what we believe and what we think and how we evaluate and literally turning it upside down and and what he does. That is to bring life and to bring freedom, but we just get used to seeing things and evaluating things in ways that are very very subtle but lead us down past that ruin relationships that hurt people. In fact, the word miser comes from the root word for miserable, miserly non-generous people are miserable and yet there's something we think about generosity when we self evaluate recently. I think a pretty generous this series is not about money. This series is about generosity and being smart about living your life in a way that brings about the highest and best results for you and the greatest glory for God so Jesus as a teachable moment with his disciples.

There's a treasury over there is outside the temple people are coming and dropping large gifts and it and a woman comes by and drop something very small and Jesus stops.

Everyone says wait a second.

Don't miss this moment.

Luke chapter 21 verses 1 to 4 pick up the story as he looked up Jesus all the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury, and by the way I think was very thankful. I think when he gives people a lot in their giving gifts. I think brings great joy to his heart. There is not a good person and a bad person. The story there's a comparison.

He also saw a poor widow put into small copper coins, and so is looking at the balance some very, very large gifts to small copper coins. The notice what he does, I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put in more than all the others and think his explanation because I don't about you, but that's not good math right a lot of money versus two small copper coins they physically gave more, but according to Jesus, she gave more and then he tells us why all these people gave their gifts out of their wealth, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on the breakthrough concept here put it right up front in the notes.

This is how God measures generosity God measures generosity, not by the size of the gift by the size of the sacrifice what he was saying was that it cost her more to put in two small copper coins than it cost them. Why is it impacted her lifestyle. She basically had the faith to believe and had a heart to say I love you God.

By the way, when we give that that's that's the message. This is a performance when we give to God as an act of love and this woman said I don't have hardly anything left but I want to give what I have and I believe, and I trust that once I've given all that I had to live on, that the God that I serve is kind, generous and powerful he's going to meet my needs.

See, when Jesus sees sacrifice that impacts our lifestyle. What he sees as a heart of love and that's why he said she was more generous actually taught this at a conference. Once it was one of those like four days conferences review for five messages and on the very first day of the conference, I told people I want you to know even the title genius of generosity. It's really not about money. And you know how your aligned the buffet at one of those afterwards and I hear these two people talking and there, leaning one over to the other and did know I was behind him. Well, you know those guys is not about money but generosity. You know are the things going right and it was really interesting. When I got done with this message.

At the very end. That lady came up to me. She did know I ever heard it.

She said that you know when you said that this wasn't about money.

I thought yeah right she said when you finish this on how God measures generosity, she does. It's really not about money is said, ma'am, it's really not. It's really about heart.

It's about life. It's about how smart people live to understand who God is and what the highest and best for their life and for others and to honor him and not waste their life see the whole point of generosity. I mean, you know this intellectually. God really doesn't need your money. He owns everything but steps of generosity are a part of his plan so that intimacy and relationship with him can increase and the only way that intimacy ever happens with God is this mechanism called faith.

The conduit of relationship with God is not knowledge. Knowledge puffs up. Love edifies the conduit is faith.

You can have knowledge and never put into action. But when I believe what God says to the point that I trust and I act I respond to light any gives more like in the relationship and intimacy so want one not. All but one of the primary ways as he develops intimacy is by teaching me to be like him to trust that God is who he said he is that his word is really true that when I give my money or my time or will see our reputation, our future, or even my life or the most precious thing that I deem precious to me when by faith I say Lord, it's all yours and it's available whenever however you want. It cultivates this amazing thing with the love of God gets deposited in you and it overflows into relationships.

I was thinking about this whole area of the generosity. It was the sort of the background for this book several years ago, and as was think about generosity was just sitting at my desk in Christmas is a tough time for pastors on messages okay because I've never heard the story before but I may right. I mean you like okay this go to church. Okay, let's see, there's Magi. We got shepherds.

We got married we got Joseph get the manger. Anyone minus say and I was thinking about generosity and and you know sometimes I just put my feet up on my desk and had a good couple coffee and I just sort of mentally thought about Lord I don't know why this question came why did you come to this planet the way you decided to come and why did you introduce us to the very characters in length.

The Christmas story is very interesting. We had these probably Persian or Babylonian studies of the stars who see a star, probably 18 to 24 months before the baby was actually born they see it and they go on a journey and then you have these lowlife condo actually sort of the disenfranchised social group of shepherds they can in the story and then you have a teenage girl, Mary, probably 15, 16 years old and a blue-collar worker whose patrols to her will become a big part of the story, then pretty soon you have angels involved in and I just started thinking about and I just laid the story out and as I did. I thought it's it's a graduate level each step of each person introduced into the story all the way to Jesus and God the father is a snapshot of what the Bible teaches about the heart of God and generosity. Now normally I would have you getting those Bibles and follow passage to passage with me, but but I want you to listen to the story through the lens of generosity. We pick it up where far beyond money. The Magi, and that's what they give on coming to the house. They followed the star for almost 2 years and they saw the child with his mother Mary and they bowed down and they worshiped him. Then they opened their treasuries and they presented him with gifts of gold and incense and of murder and so the first people in the story are people that they literally get the least Revelation right I mean is not an angel.

It's just a star. They studied the stars that done some research, they follow it Atlanta over Bethlehem. Here's a couple they know the stars about the King of the Jews inquire about the king of the Jews. They see the child and they given I give money is great. Lots of good reasons and there generously. They want a war and it's an act of worship.

Notice it inside the gifts as they worshiped him.

Like David said I will not worship God with anything that cost me nothing. But there's a sacrifice there's a we want to honor him.

But here's here's the catch it when you get generosity just in the financial realm you can give and not be generous, you can give regularly systematically the first fruit and not be generous. I get an interesting email someone boldly went online because I ask you, tell me your story and she wrote the last few sermons have been very convicting says that when you talk to last week and he said everyone thinks they're generous. I knew in my heart that I was not a generous person. All my husband and I we give regularly to the church and when you went through the steps about giving the first and the best in systematically and proportionally.

We do all that. But I knew the personal level in my heart there still existed. The greed of a child looking at a birthday cake, always wanting the biggest piece and the best one that showed up often anytime. Our money was at risk, and especially when people showed up at my door and asked me for things it's it's come like unit boxes. We plan generosity give first got that done then you missed the point. Generosity is an issue of the heart always tied to relationships and it's a sense of how I love people and so the emails is pretty long and she goes on and says basically Lord, I believe now that you really do own everything and even my own, personal money and these people that sorta irritate me when I come to the door and want me to give them something and I just want you to know that I want to learn to become generous, so she actually prays and says send someone to my door and I want to give to them and so of course got answers his prayers pretty quickly and she was at the door right in the middle of dinner and had a ministry meeting that night had to be there by 7 o'clock the door knocked and she comes in here. Someone from teen challenge notes that the Christian group that does drug rehab and and she looked at him and you know her supper is there.

Everybody's eating. She's gotta go all the things that make you want to be what non-generous, and she remembered her prayer she listen to their story and then hope the little girl said I just want to thank you for listening to us. No sky like we going door-to-door and is not going real well and she said will actually your answer to my prayer. She is our pastor talking about generosity and I prayed, God would someone someone to my door today that I could give Tucci was I gave to her juice while you go on the top of our minister report and it here's here's what you get that in the email says joy welled up in my heart I went back I had only five minutes to eat my dinner. I ate my dinner in five minutes everyone had already eaten there's I was going to be a little late for the meeting. I was a little late for the meeting but my countenance, and my heart and my Joy who showed up that meeting was a different person you see the difference between just giving your money and being generous. Know what I want you to see in the Christmas story is I think God introduces us to the Magi.

They know him the least, and they get the least clear revelation, but they respond to what they know but after the respond to that. The next group is the shepherds and you know the story the shepherds right the skylights up. It's a chorus singing can imagine. I mean, you're just sort of a regular guy you're out on the job. Hey Bob it's your turn of the night watch.

Okay, you know, it's kind of metal lightning will write the skylights up and they're singing about what's this about we pick up the story it says when angels have left them and wanted to have in the shepherds said to one another. Let's go leave work. Yeah let's call where to Bethlehem and see this thing that is happening with the Lord is told us about.

So they hurried off, and he found Mary and Joseph and the baby was lying in the manger.

And when they had seen him they didn't just worship by giving gifts as they spread the word concerning what a been told them about this child. The shepherds probably didn't have anything to give then having money to give me these are people there like way below are welfare me. They just had subsistence living.

They couldn't get into good restaurants they smell. They had a bath once everyone month and what they need or not.

And God chose to reveal the child to them in the notice. They got a story because they went around and they were the first evangelist with the first people to say the Messiah has come, and we seen him and so the Magi were generous with their money and their hearts were open, but they got a star the shepherds they get an angelic choir with clear direction and they hear from the parents.

This is the Messiah and they get the privilege of taking what they had and sharing it for the first time in all the earth, the awaited God man who would come to save the world. Shepherds get to give their time for most of you, not for all, but for most of your times more valuable than money. When we talk about generosity.

Please don't think writing a check is good and wonderful.

That is, is that my question would be how are you doing in your growth of generosity of giving your time. I want you to know money is the training wheels.

When you begin to say God I want to give you the best of my time. I don't what that looks like for you is the early morning for me. I want to give the best of my time and if you're like me, you can get a call from someone and it shows up on your phone and I have about three people in my life when their name comes up.

It's like this is not a short conversation, it's never short conversation. In fact, it's a conversation where I can ask one or two questions in 45 minutes later I'm I'm not sure if I hung up, they would know it. You know what I've realized is Jesus loves unlovely people.

Jesus make time for people that most of us don't want to make time for and what I'm really saying see what generosity is. It breaks your pride, generosity, says this person were this dysfunction with this conversation with this baggage matters to God so they matter to me because he lives inside of me and getting my money is a pretty high control. I can do it on my terms.

I give my time, it gets messy.

The shepherds left work. It's one thing to write a check, but I mean to leave work to not work so much to give time to family or a friend or to minister or to open your home in a small group all I have to leave work early and other people get ahead. Why yeah text faith doesn't your start to see time is way more valuable, but it goes beyond that the Christmas story then introduces a new character in we get Joseph who's engaged in as you read this engagement. In the Jewish culture is new. The families would be involved in the families would agree this is the right man.

This is the right girl and in this culture would be a semi-arranged marriage. And then there will be what's called the betrothal and so you would get engaged and then you have up to. Sometimes a year and I am within get the house ready and get financially responsible and where they gonna live in the betrothal. Was very official. I mean it wasn't like today when you engage and say hey you not I'm not sure this is really right but break engagement. The only way to break in engagement then was habitable. Now listen to Joseph story and and and think of what would be like, especially guys think of this as your girlfriend and you hear the story about her.

Matthew chapter 1.

Beginning verse 18 says this is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about his mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together she was found to be with child to the Holy Spirit because Joseph her husband was a righteous man. He didn't want to expose her to public disgrace, but he had in mind to divorce her quietly, but after he considered this, an angel of the Lord that that phrase often angel the Lord is the pre-incarnate Christ the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your life because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

She will give birth to a son. You will given his name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins at all this took place to fulfill what the Lord said to the prophet, the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel, which means God is with us. When Joseph woke up he did with the angel of the Lord had commanded him and he took Mary home to be his wife tripled back and just to talk more about this message. But if you're just joining us, you're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram chips teaching today is from a series the genius of generosity as this four-part series unfolds you'll discover that generosity is far more than just a financial issue. It's a lifestyle and according to Jesus, it's the smartest way to live, to take a closer look at all of the genius of generosity resources go online to LivingontheEdge.org and when you do, you'll see the new release of chips book the genius of generosity. It's a beautiful little 100 page volume with a soft leather like cover and because we hope you'll use it with your small group or Sunday school class we discounted the five pack bundles because living a life of generosity is one of the greatest testimonies we can have and we want to help you do that, the genius of generosity. Order your copies@livingontheedge.org or just give us a call at 1-888-333-6003.

In today's teaching I made one central point God does not measure our generosity by the size of our gift, but by the size of our sacrifice and I talked about the widows might a very familiar story, but what I want you to really think and ponder with me is that finances are the training wheels of generosity when the God of heaven looks down from heaven at my life in your life and he's evaluating our level of generosity, he goes so far beyond just our money and the graduate course in generosity is it's the incarnation it's the Christmas story and so you know, as I talked about the Magi bring their money. The shepherds bring their time and then in the conclusion of this message, you learn that Joseph will give his reputation that Mary will give her future that Jesus will give his life and that the father will actually give his one and only son. And so what I want you to know is that this generosity journey is so much more than you know what percentage and is it off the groceries it off the net and that God wants your life to be a living sacrifice. That's generous and so if we could just remove the money side. Although it's very important. Are you generous with your time.

Are you generous with your reputation. You do are you generous or it could God do whatever he wants with your future. Do you have time for people. Are you off of the treadmill of of demand and other people's expectation and having to be in control is your life with palms open, saying God I'm a conduit of the supernatural grace that you've given me, and it's your time, and it's your reputation, and it's your future entrusted to me and it's all my life and what I want you to know is that when you get on that ladder of generosity, amazing things happen. Yes, the price tag goes up, but what you see and what you learned in the conclusion of this message is that the intimacy with God and the impact of your life exponentially multiplies as you learn to be generous with far more than your money. I just have to tell you it's one of my most favorite messages and you really need to see the chart that I made him go on the website it's LivingontheEdge.org and work says message notes click and download, print out this message and just look at the picture and at the bottom of the picture. I write generosity is to love as thunder is to lightning and I just want to know that at the end of the day it's loving God and loving people in the way we love God and love people at the heart of it is being generous. Ask God to make you a generous person and then start practicing with your time today and then don't miss the conclusion this broadcast will chip just mention the message notes and the picture of that ladder you drew. It's an amazing way to view the connection between God's generosity in the Christmas story. If that's something you'd like to take a look at you'll find chips message notes on our website.

Just go to LivingontheEdge.org and click on the broadcasts tab on our homepage will just before we close. I want to say thank you to those who make this broadcast possible through your generous financial support. If you've been blessed by the ministry of Living on the Edge, but haven't yet become a financial partner. Today would be a great day to join us to send a gift or set up a monthly donation.

Just go to LivingontheEdge.org and click on the donate button on the homepage or if you prefer, you can always give us a call at 1-888-333-6003 on behalf of Chip and everyone here.

Thanks in advance for your generosity will help you make plans to join us again tomorrow is chip wraps up the series.

The genius of generosity. Until then, this is the really say thanks for listening. this Edition of Living on the Edge