Did you know that the happiest, healthiest, and most fulfilled people in the world all have one thing in common? Today we're going to learn what that is and how we can make it a part of our lives.
Stay with me. Today we're going to begin a new series called Living Generously by giving us 10 very specific reasons why living generously is the smartest, most exciting way to live. Now if you're a note taker, get your pen handy and maybe get Chip's message notes while you're at it. You'll find them at livingontheedge.org.
Just click the broadcasts tab or tap fill in notes on the app. Okay, let's get going. Here's Chip with part one of his message, Understanding the Journey. So I was a brand new pastor, super nervous. It was my first Easter and so we knew that the little church at 35 would probably mushroom to 50 people.
And I was just, I mean beside myself, I couldn't sleep all night and I'd worked on the message and it still wasn't very good. So I went into the office about 4 a.m. and 5.30 or so the sun was coming up and probably wasn't a really good plan but I so wanted to do a good job. And then across the street was a small African-American church where we've made some friends. And I heard a car door slam and I thought, it's Don, I wonder what's going on. And I saw a yellow bright Cadillac pull up. And then I saw a man that I recognized who was the chairman of our board. He's a guy who came to Christ late.
His name was John. And I watched he and his wife got out in the pre-dawn hours and all along there was all these steps, probably 25 steps. And they put baskets of fruit and all kind of different things all across. And then a little bit later, those people came to church. And it was, well my lands, who brought this? Did you do this, sister?
You know. And they can't figure out what's going on. And I just watched it grow and grow and grow and then people came over and said, well did you all do this?
Where did this come from? And people were just so excited and blessed. And pretty soon they're picking it up and sharing it with one another.
And I never, I dared not say a word and of course I never told John I saw who did it. Generosity going out of our way to love people is at the heart of worship. Jesus said it was more blessed to give than to receive. I don't think you turn on a faucet and you become generous overnight. And so I want to ask and answer five questions because what I realized when I grew up, if you would have asked me am I generous, I think I would have said yes. And yet when I look back I don't think I was generous at all.
Because I didn't understand it. And so first let's ask question number one is, what's it mean to be generous? A definition, this is Webster's. It's showing a readiness to freely give or share money or other valuable things.
Providing more than the amount needed or normal. It's giving in abundance, ample, showing kindness and concern for others. And sometimes you know when you get a definition I like to ask so what are, get your arms around it, what are some synonyms? People that are generous or liberal, lavish, magnanimous, open handed, free handed, bountiful, unselfish, ungrudging, benevolent, charitable, big hearted, free, noble, honorable, good. I don't know about you, I would love to have some people drinking coffee and talking about me and using just some of those words, wouldn't you? I mean aren't those the kind of words you would just long for someone to say, oh man she's so big hearted, they're so magnanimous, they're so generous, they're so unselfish. Another way to get your arms around a concept is to ask so what's the opposite, antonyms. The opposite of being generous is mean, stingy, selfish, meager, miserly, unwilling to share, cheap, greedy, tight, unkind, thrift and self-seeking. Now you don't need to raise your hand, anybody like that to be how people would characterize you?
Right, I mean that is ugly, right? Here's what I want you to get, we all have thoughts and words and time and stuff and money and influence to share with others. You don't have to be rich to be generous, in fact the research tells us that the poorest people are far more generous than the wealthiest people. We all have words, we all have positive thoughts, we all have time, we all have some level of money, we all have some influence and to be generous is to be ready and willing to share, to be kind, to be concerned for others.
Now I'm going to do something that's really dangerous for me. I'm going to give you 10 specific reasons both biblically and one scientific fact of why being generous is so absolutely important. It's important for your relationships, it's important for your eternity, it's important for your relationship with God, it's important about your money, it's important about your friendships and I'm going to give you 10 reasons but what I want you to see is to step back and go wow. People says a lot about being generous, in fact common sense says a lot about it but why is it so important to live generously? Number one, generosity is commanded by God. The apostle Paul will write, instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited or fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches but on God who richly supplies us notice with all things to enjoy. In other words he's saying hey instruct people that are wealthy and by the way in the context historically if you had enough food both for today and tomorrow you were wealthy.
Most people would go to work and then that's why if you didn't pay people their wages they wouldn't eat that night and then notice he goes on. He says instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous, to be ready to share, notice the focus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future so they can take hold of the life which is life indeed or literally the word is so they can take hold of the life that is truly life. So if for no other reason God commands us to be generous so we invest in what's going to count so we can take hold of life and we can store up treasure for ourselves. Second, generosity is the antidote to idolatry.
In your notes it says Luke 1 through 15. It's the story of the unrighteous steward and at the end of it Jesus said you can't serve God and mammon, God and money. And so he tells them generosity can break idolatry in our lives. Third, generosity today determines the harvest for tomorrow. All through scripture, Old Testament, New Testament, the Proverbs there's this picture of sowing and reaping and it's an agricultural picture. Jesus would say in Luke 6 38, give and it will be given unto you, good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, back into your lap for whatever size measure that you give it will be given back unto you. Paul would say in 2 Corinthians, he would say this, now this I say he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly and he who sows bountifully will reap also bountifully.
Each one must do his purpose in his heart, not grudgingly for God loves a cheerful giver. All I want you to know is think of your time and your words and your money and your influence like seeds. And if you plant a lot of them, there's a harvest. And if you plant good ones and there's a harvest, if you plant just a few, you get a few back. And so there's this law of reciprocity in scripture that your future relationships, your future connection, your future positivity if you will.
And I don't mean that in the think, you know, positive and wonderful things happen. I'm talking about there's a law of sowing and reaping with your time, your energy, your words and your money that as you sow, the Bible's really clear, there's a harvest. Fourth, it's the way generosity expresses God's love and kindness to others. Let your light so shine before men that they might see your good works and glorify your Father who's in heaven.
The young gal or the child that gets pulled out of the sex trade, the kindness at work, the school that gets remodeled. Just the generosity is how you express God's love. Fifth is generosity results in joy to the giver. And sixth, generosity results in praise and thanksgiving to God by the recipients. Second Corinthians, it says you will be enriched in every way and generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. For the ministry of this service, speaking of giving, is not only supplying the needs of the saints, but also overflowing in thanksgiving to God.
So there's this weird thing that happens. When you're generous, there's a joy that you experience, but as you're generous to this person, it's like the people who have those baskets of fruit. Thank you, Lord.
I just saw a couple of those ladies. Thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord.
I didn't have any food. John got the joy of giving, but they thanked and praised God, and that's what happens. Reason number seven, generosity is God's method to fund his kingdom work. First Corinthians 16 says that on the first day of the week, each Christian should set aside money from whether it's a little or a lot, depending on what God gave you, to support God's kingdom work. Number eight, generosity requires us to put our finances and our priorities in order. It's interesting, if you give God the first and the best instead of what's left over, then sometimes you've got to get on a budget and sometimes you have to figure out, wait a second, we're going to offer ourselves first to God. Here's his promise, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things, and in the context, it's food, shelter, clothes, whatever you need.
They'll be given to you. The ninth reason generosity is important, it grows our faith and develops our intimacy with Christ. As you study the Sermon on the Mount, it's so interesting as he talks about walking with God and then he talks about giving and giving privately and praying privately.
He gives this radical thought, when your father, that was a radical thought then, when your father sees what you do in secret, he will reward you. Generosity is one of the ways that your heart and God's heart, because he's generous and when you become the conduit, he actually draws you to himself. Number nine, generosity grows our faith and develops our intimacy with Christ. And then number ten, generosity is a prerequisite to claiming God's promise to meet all our needs. That promise is for people who are generous with their resources.
And so, those are just ten reasons just from scripture. Dr. Stephen Post did a longitudinal study, he picked it up from a group that started the study in 1920. And so he did a study to find out what was the impact of generous people. The impact of generous people habitually were generous, they are happier, they have deeper relationships and they literally live longer. Is that amazing?
I guess it's not. I mean if God designed us and wired us and if his kingdom practices and purposes, because he's generous, is he wants us to be generous and it gives us life when we're generous, it only makes sense that when we're miserly and living to the opposite of the way God wants, it would have negative impact. And it has positive impact. In fact, the research now is when we're generous and when we give, even the same endorphins that go off when you're working out really hard, or like when you eat food, or when you have sex, the same things are happening in your brain when you're a giver. God literally has wired us to be generous people. And here's the amazing thing, that may be true, but it doesn't come naturally, does it? I mean whether it's two little kids, or two older people, left to ourselves if there's only one of something and there's two people, you know, sometimes we're polite about it, but your human nature and my human nature, I want that for me.
I want more time, I want things for me. And so all I want you to know, it's a journey in generosity. Now logically, if all these things are true, and I think they are, they're true practically, they're true scientifically, they're certainly true biblically, here's the summary. Living generously is the most logical, wise, and rewarding way to arrange our lives and resources. So pause, okay? I'm done with my quick run through the Bible. Living generously, lean back, lean back, look at me for a second, is the most logical, wisest, rewarding way to arrange your life and resources. At least intellectually, would you sign off on that?
Right? Your relationships would be better, idols come down, you're arranging your finances, as you give, you know when you give away friendship, you get friends, when you give love, you get love back, when you give away money, God multiplies it. So here's the question, if generosity is this good, it's designed by God, and it's even commanded, why are so few Christians generous? Do you know of all the Christians in America, that 50% of all Christians give nothing to their church, give nothing to any charitable cause? Of all the Christians in America, only 3 to 5% give what's called a tithe, or 10% of their income.
Think of that. I mean, we'll talk about that as we go on, but long before there was a law, Abraham gives to Melchizedek 10%, just as an offering to say thank you, and then that was a part of the Mosaic law, when the harvest would come in, they would give, you know when the first grapes came, the first wheat, they'd just take the first 10% as an offering to say thank you, and then later at the very end of the harvest, they would bring 10% when it's all full to say thank you. It was just a personal offering.
I did a little research once, this is a completely unscientific, anecdotal, but it's been repeatable. I've done this a couple of times, I go to like a mall, or try not to act too weird, and I have a little clipboard and I act like, you know, I'm taking a survey, and I've gone and I've just asked people, excuse me sir, would you consider, hey, what are you doing, just one question, just yes or no, would you consider yourself to be a generous person? Yes or no. Excuse me ma'am, would you consider yourself to be a generous person? Yes or no.
You know what comes out every time? 80%. I don't know whether people were Christians or non-Christians, but I can tell you that 80% of all the people that you ever meet, probably including the person sitting in your seat, we think we're generous. We do. And that presents a problem because if we think we're generous, but we're really not, then we're not sort of asking God to help us be more generous or learning how to be generous, correct? So we're going to go on a journey of generosity.
And some of you just lighten up, okay? There's no big ask coming, there's no big project coming. You know what I want you to get? I want you to experience the joy of generosity. I want the kindness and the love of God to start trickling in your families. I want your neighborhoods to say, what happened to Joe?
What happened to Mary? I want people at your work going, what in the world are you learning at that church? You're bringing us coffee here, you signed up for extra work here, you took care of me here.
How come you're being nice to me now, you've forgiven me over there? Because generous people change the world. The most generous person in the world was Jesus. He gave his life. Actually, he's the second most generous person. As difficult as that was, the Father gave his son.
And the Holy Spirit and the Godhead together came and just said, we love you all. So if you want to learn to be generous, this is, if you're expecting a guilt trip and a lot of statistics and get with the program and why don't you give more, sorry. At best I can pump you up for two weeks and you'll fall right back to your old way of thinking. I want you to learn how to experience generosity. And it just gets birthed inside your heart where you'll get so excited, you'll start saying, you know, are we going overboard on this? And what you'll learn is you can't go overboard.
So how? How do you become more generous? Here's our first steps toward living a generous life. Number one, recognize it's a journey. You know, if you wanted to be a classical guitar player, a great athlete, no one went from putting on the skates to doing one of those dances.
No one just put on some skis and then, you know, went like seven million miles up in the air and landed, you know. It's a journey. So what I want you to really think about is what would it look like for you personally to say wherever you're at on a scale of one to ten or one to a hundred, if I'm here, what would it look like to move toward becoming more generous? And you might even at this moment whisper, God, I'd like to be more generous. Would you help me be more generous?
Second, reevaluate your view of God. Chip will be right back with his application. But if you're just joining us, you're listening to Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. And Chip's talk today, Understanding the Journey, is from his series, Living Generously. Living Generously gives us a practical guide to becoming the winsome, generous spirit we so admire when we see it in others. Chip uses biblical examples and Jesus' teaching to illustrate the rhythm and harmony of the law of the harvest and how that applies to living a more generous life yourself. Now, if you'd like to dig in and learn more, you'll find the discounted Living Generously resources on our website, livingontheedge.org. For more information, just give us a call at 888-333-6003. Well, Chip, as we begin this series on generosity, would you take just a minute and tell us why these messages are so important?
I'd love to, Dave. Growing up, just because of my background, I really thought the only people that could be generous would be mega wealthy people or like super holy people. And I completely missed that it's the most logical, it's the wisest, it's the most rewarding.
At the top of the program, I talked about it. There's amazing research that says that generous people actually have a stronger immune system, generous people are happier, generous people have much more positive relationships. And so I think there's a lot of confusion about what it means to be generous. And this is a little series that's super practical because generosity scripturally is at the core of experiencing God's joy and it's at the very center of loving people. And I just can't think of anything that's going to be more winsome, more encouraging, and I mean just practical to help people experience more of God and express His love for other people.
Thanks, Chip. Well, in addition to the discounted resources of this series, Living Generously, we're also discounting Chip's amazing little book, The Genius of Generosity. Only about 100 pages, this is a quick read that will profoundly change the way you view everything God's given you, including your life. Once you learn the genius of generosity, you'll look at your circumstances and people in a whole new way.
To order a copy for yourself, or to order more to give as gifts, just give us a call at 888-333-6003, tap special offers on the app, or go online to livingontheedge.org. The Genius of Generosity, check it out today. As I wrap up today's program, I kind of flew through some of these very practical, some were relational, some were spiritual, some were actually even physical reasons why generosity is so smart. You know, I always think of generosity as something that's genius. You know, the world has created a system that says get, get, get, keep, keep, keep, hoard, hoard, hoard, because something bad might happen and you have to take care of you. And Jesus says the kingdom of God is an upside-down kingdom.
That means it's counterintuitive. And so what he teaches us, and then it plays out in every area, that being generous, giving, caring, sharing, every aspect, your time, your money, your talent, it just is amazing that it's the wisest, most logical, beneficial way to live. So this is one I have to tell you.
Go to the website or go to the app and download the notes. You need to see this for yourself. So are you ready?
Lean back for just a second. Here's some quick, quick reasons why being generous is so smart. One, it's commanded by God. Two, it's the antidote to idolatry. In other words, it protects us. It determines tomorrow's harvest in your life. It expresses God's love and kindness in practical and powerful ways. It results in joy to the giver and thanksgiving and blessing to the receiver. It requires us to realign our priorities and our finances. It causes our faith to grow. It allows us to get more intimate in our relationship with Christ.
And it's the prerequisite for experiencing a lot of God's promises. All I want you to know is that people that are habitually generous have a life that's really life. Check it out. You'll find the message notes Chip just mentioned in a couple of places online. Just go to livingontheedge.org and click the broadcasts tab.
App listeners will find them by tapping fill in notes. All those points Chip went through are there for you, in addition to all scripture references, so you can dig in and study for yourself. As we wrap up, I want to say thank you to those who make this program possible through your generous financial support. Your gifts help us create programs, purchase airtime, and develop additional resources to help Christians live like Christians. If you've been blessed by the Ministry of Living on the Edge, would you consider sending a gift today? You can call us at 1-888-333-6003, tap the donate button, or donate online at livingontheedge.org. Your support is greatly appreciated. Until next time, this is Dave Druey saying thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge.
