A Generous Spirit

Today on Summit Life with J.D.

Greer. Money can buy you a $5,000 mattress, but it cannot buy you rest. It can buy you the latest toys, but can't give you joy.

It can give you a comfortable retirement, but not give you the ability to die at peace with God. And you know, ultimately, isn't that all the things that you were seeking? You were seeking rest, you were seeking joy, you were seeking fulfillment.

Isn't that what you were after? And Paul says it's uncertain. Welcome to Summit Life with pastor, author, and theologian, J.D. Greer.

As always, I'm your host, Molly Vidovitch. You know, most people begin to squirm when the pastor starts talking about how we handle our money. Some come from churches where wealth is looked down upon as a sign of worldliness or greed, and some feel guilty for having a nice house or a robust savings account. Others may have been burned by prosperity teachers who used false promises to manipulate the congregation into giving. But what does the gospel really teach us about wealth and generosity?

Pastor J.D. titled today's message, A Generous Spirit. So let's come with an open heart and open hands as we hear these truths from God's word. If you've got your Bible, I want you to open it to John chapter 15. John chapter 15, we're in the middle of, or actually coming toward the end, not quite at the end, of a series that we are calling Gospel. And we are talking about the revolutionary power of Christianity. And one of the things that I've given you throughout our time together is this kind of wheel that we are using to give you a picture of what growth in the gospel looks like. These are five or six things that come out of John 15 that Jesus said will be true of you if you are planted in him. First thing we looked at is when Jesus has changed you, he gives you a hunger for his word. He gives you the capacity and the faith to pray.

That was the first week. Then the second week, we talked about how God increases godly character in us through the gospel. We become more patient with others. We develop self-control and kindness and goodness and all the other fruit of the Spirit.

Then we talked about community. When Jesus has changed you, you develop a love for others that's similar to his love for you. And so you start to want to pour out your lives for others, especially the church, the way that he poured his out for you. Then we talked about how when Jesus changes you, you are compelled to go outward, to tell people on your team or in your dormitory or at your workplace who don't know Jesus, you're moved outward. This week, we're going to look at generosity, how what the gospel produces in us is a generous spirit. Now, before we jump into that, let me just kind of, this is not something we're just doing for a series.

This is something that we want you to be able to use. It's just kind of a metric to help you measure how you're growing in Christ. All right, so we're going to deal with generosity this week. Generosity is the sign that you have been transformed by the gospel. It shows up all over John 15. Let me show you one of the main places, John 15 verse 12. Jesus said, this is my commandment that you love one another as I have loved you.

Greater love has no one than this. Then someone laid down his life for his friends, which of course Jesus is talking first about him for us, but even he's talking about you and me laying down our lives for others. The mark, let me say this again, the mark that you have experienced the gospel is that you possess a generosity of spirit.

The love of God for you produces in you a love for others, period. Now, a lot of us grew up in different churches that emphasized different marks that as being indicative of the fact that you'd experienced God. Some of you grew up in traditions where if you'd really experienced God, then you had some ecstatic moment with the Holy Ghost. They don't call it Holy Spirit, it's Holy Ghost, and you got filled with the Holy Spirit and you did a little Holy Ghost dance in front of everybody and started to speak and say things that you didn't know what you were saying, and that was the sign that God was in you. Some of you grew up in traditions like that. Some of you grew up in traditions where the sign was you went through your first communion.

You went through a confirmation class and you got stood up and presented in front of the church. That was the sign that God was among you. Some of us grew up in traditions that the sign that you had God enter your life is you suddenly conformed to a set of rules that put you squarely in the middle of the 1950s, right? So if God, if Jesus would really come into your heart, first thing you did if you were a guy was you cut your hair short because that's just what Jesus likes. I mean, never mind that he had long hair when he was here, but now he's kind of changed his ideas and he likes a crew cut for guys.

If you were a girl, then you quit wearing the skinny jeans, all right, which probably is not a bad idea, but that was just a sign that you'd experience God. If you were a girl, you're allowed to have one subtle earring in each ear. None of this like up the earlobe stuff.

That's for prostitutes, but none of the hoop action either. It's got to be one subtle earring. If you're a guy, don't even think about it. Nothing on you should be pierced.

Certainly not one earring in the left ear. That's just a sign that God has come into you is that you have all this moral behavior. Of course, you start to vote Republican. You started to hate the demonic jungle beat of rock music, and you develop this insatiable desire for the Gaither vocal band. That was a sign that God was in you, right? These are all signs that you love Jesus. You developed a passion for potluck dinners.

That was another one. These were the signs that God was in you. Of course, most of that, all of that is pretty ridiculous, but there is an unmistakable mark that Jesus has come into you, and that is love for others, particularly other believers. This issue of generosity, the issue of generosity as a part of a believer's life, get this, is mentioned 2,285 times in the Bible. You're like, well, I mean, the Bible's a big book.

It doesn't surprise me. Hope is mentioned 185 times. Faith is mentioned 246 times. Love, 733 times.

Generosity, 2,285 times. What does that tell you? It tells you it is essential. The Apostle John would say this in another place. The same guy who wrote the Gospel of John said this in one of the epistles, which are not the wives of the apostles, but they are the letters that he wrote to the church. 1 John 3.14, we know that we have passed out of death into life.

How? How do we know that? Because we love the brothers. It's not how much or how often we attend church that shows that we pass from death to life. It's how we talk about people on the way home after church that shows whether or not we have experienced the Gospel.

Whoever does not love abides in death. By this we know love that he laid down his life for us. How do we come to know the love of God?

How did that happen? Was it because God articulated the doctrines of his attributes to us in a careful, precise manner that we memorize? Is that how he did it? Did he flatten out a systematic theology textbook on our dining room table and say, master this? Is that how he taught us the love of God?

I mean, those things are important, certainly. But no, in this context, the way that he demonstrated the love to us was by laying down his life for us. That's how the invisible character of God became tangible to us. That's how we felt and perceived the love of God, not by the articulation of doctrine, but by the laying down of his life for us. So, he goes on to say, so we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers because that's how other people know God's love as well. Not by just our articulation of the love of God, but by our demonstration of the love of God. Verse 17, if anybody has the world's goods and they see his brother in need, yet they close their heart against him, how possibly could God's love abide in him? How could we possibly say that we understand a Jesus who, according to the gospel, saw us when we were his enemies, when we were separated from him, then left heaven, emptied himself, came to earth, died a tortured death in our place. How could we say we perceived that and then see somebody who has a need, whether it's spiritual or physical, that we know that we could meet that need and we just turn away from them? John says that's inconceivable.

Inconceivable, or maybe that's Princess Bride, but either way, inconceivable. It is inconceivable to say that you have experienced the grace of the gospel and then not be moved to give for others the way Jesus has given for you. So, he says, little children, but it's not love in word or in talk, but in deed and in truth. Not in word or talk, but in deed or in truth.

Christian love is not just a doctrine to be articulated, it is a lifestyle to be pursued. Our witness is both word and deed. Without word, the gospel has no clarity. Without deed, it has no power.

Both of them are essential. And a lot of people, I think, ought to think about this because, first of all, let me start without word. A lot of people have this, it's like this, I mean, it sounds spiritual, but it really is ridiculous. Like, well, I don't really tell people about Jesus, I just kind of live the gospel. You know, you've heard the statement attributed to Francis of Assisi, preach the gospel, if necessary, use words. How do you preach the gospel without using words? It's like watching a newscast with the sound turned off.

You might know they're excited about something, you might know something's wrong, but you have no idea what because the sound's turned off. How do you preach the gospel without words? It's just, it's impossible. It's like saying, tell me your phone number, if necessary, use digits. Your phone number is digits.

You have to use digits. The gospel is word. Without word, the message has no clarity. But without the deed, the message has no power. The demonstration of the love of the gospel that is shown in giving, that's where the real power is. And these always go together, the explanation of the gospel with our mouths and the demonstration of the gospel with our lives.

Sometimes churches like ours are pretty good at the preaching and the explanation part, but we're not so good at the demonstration part. That's why I've given you the third part of the gospel prayer, as you have been to me, so I will be to others. I will warn you this is a radical, life-changing dimension if you pray this and you mean it. God, the same way that you have been generous to me, what you did with your resources, with me, that's how I'm going to start to approach others everywhere I see them. That will lead you to a pretty dramatic reorientation of the trajectory of your life, because it is generosity in response to the generosity of Christ. Jesus.

But it's so much more. This amazing gift that God gives us doesn't merely punch our ticket to heaven. It powers everything that we do as believers, giving us the power to change and the path toward holiness. Make these lessons you're learning personal with our eight session video Bible study, simply titled Gospel. Reach out today in support of this ministry and give us a call at 866-335-5220 or go online to jdgrier.com and get this Bible study today. Today I want to try to show you why the Gospel produces a generous spirit. To do so, I want us to go to another place in the Bible, to one of the clearest places where this is explained. It is 1 Timothy chapter 6. So if you'll go to 1 Timothy chapter 6, we're going to spend the rest of our time there.

Now, let me just say this as many of you are turning there. I need you, I need you as much as possible to separate this issue that I'm about to talk about. I need you to separate this from giving to the church. The reason I say that is because I know some of you right now are going to be like, oh, he's talking about generosity, he's talking about money, he wants our money. All right? I know that's what many of you think and maybe you've had bad experience with churches and maybe that's a fully justified thought, but I can tell you that is not what this is about.

In fact, so much so that I would say this without the slightest ounce of exaggeration. If that is a problem for you, honestly, give the money somewhere else. If you feel like, hey, I just can't trust you, I feel like this is all about that, then give it somewhere else. I am much more concerned, honestly, I'm much more concerned with you learning to respond to the generosity of Christ and becoming a generous person than I am with meeting the budget of our church.

Just, you know, this is about you becoming generous in response to Christ. Period. Okay? So can we do that?

Can we separate those issues? All right, here we go. First Timothy chapter six, let's begin in verse 17. I love this passage. This has completely like brought clarity to so much of my life and my budget. As for the rich, Paul says, in this present age.

Now, let's stop right there. Because some of you immediately think, well, this passage is not for me because I'm not rich. Here's a little sociological insight about Americans. Nobody in America thinks they're rich. Rich is always one or two levels above where you are, right? I saw a Gallup poll the other day that proved this.

The Gallup Corporation did this big survey. They asked people, what qualifies you as rich? So they asked a group of people whose household income was $30,000. What level of household income makes you rich?

If you make $30,000, the answer that you gave was $75,000. If you make $75,000 or more, you are filthy stinking rich. They asked people who made $50,000 for their household income, what amount of money makes you rich?

Their answer, $100,000. You break the six-figure barrier, you are just swimming in money. The most commonly given answer in America to what income qualified you as rich was $120,000. Except, of course, for the people that made $120,000. And then they felt that what made them rich was to be in the $200,000 range, right?

A little perspective here. If you earn $37,000 a year, your combined household income is $37,000 a year, you are in the top 4% of the wage earners in the world. 96% of the world is poorer than you.

If your combined household income is $45,000 a year, you are in the top 1%. The same article talked about Bill Gates visiting India, and he talks to some little old lady in a village in India, and after he's done talking to her, a reporter comes up to this lady and asks if she realizes she is talking to the richest man in the world. And the little old lady's response is, of course, everybody from the West is rich. So in other words, if you had been the next person to talk to this lady after Bill Gates, she would have put you in the same category as Bill Gates. The point is, this is all a matter of perspective.

When you compare us, even the poorest of us, to other societies around the world, we definitely qualify as rich. Then you go on a mission trip, and then you come back here, right? And you start to think about what's normal here. Many of you have remodeled some part of your house. That's not that unusual.

Try explaining that to a person in another culture. Yeah, I had a perfectly functional part of my house, and we just like, it was so 1995. So we just ripped out a perfectly functional part of our house and put in something new. We had a perfectly functional couch that we just sat out on the street. But we got a new one, and the person from the other culture is like, what, you don't sit on the floor?

What's going on with that? You have leftovers in your refrigerator, right? And here's the thing, you feel frugal when you eat those leftovers.

You have leftovers, which means you had so much food at one meal, you couldn't eat it all. So you put it in the refrigerator. You have a garage.

People from other cultures are like, what, you got a whole house just for your car? How about one of those things in the middle of your sink, you put garbage in there? No, you put food that you don't even think qualifies as a leftover. You have a storage unit where you put stuff that you don't even know what to do with yet.

You just put it somewhere that has air conditioning, that you can even figure out what you're going to do with it later. My whole point is, you definitely qualify for the first part of this verse. All right, it's just a matter of perspective. This applies to you. This applies to you, all right, it applies to you.

Now, let me also use that first phrase to deal with another objection. There's some thinking out there right now that basically says that churches who take Jesus seriously won't have any rich people because people who love Jesus will give all their money away. Based on this passage, that can't be true. If there were no rich people in those first churches, there would have been no need for that warning. God expects, yes, all of his followers to be generous, but that doesn't mean that some of them are not still rich even after they are gospel generous. First Samuel chapter two, verse seven, Hannah says, God makes some poor, God makes some rich. Both wealth and poverty come from the hand of God, which means that God has made some of you rich even after being generous. You are still rich, and he did that for a purpose, and you are not supposed to feel guilty about it.

Someone's explained to you that in just a little bit. He expects all people to be radically generous, but that doesn't mean that some of them aren't so rich afterwards. Here's what Paul says to rich people in the next several verses.

Again, best explanation of gospel-centered generosity anywhere. First thing he tells you, he tells you what not to do with money. Verse 17, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God who richly provides us everything to enjoy. Number one, he says, do not be haughty with it. Do not be haughty with money.

You see, money very quickly becomes the measure of our status and our value because money allows you access to things that others don't have access to. Other people would love to live in the neighborhood you live in, but they can't. Other people would love to drive the car that you drive, but they can't. They would love to sit in that part of the airplane that you get to sit in, but they can't.

They would love to wear the kinds of clothes that you wear, but they can't. And what happens is you start to think that your worth, your significance is directly related to your financial status. And Paul says that means you don't understand the gospel at all. Because the gospel is that you are a sinner who deserves hell, but is loved by God and redeemed by his blood. Your worth comes from his grace, not from your inherent worthiness. There is no difference in class to God.

There is no difference in race. There is one class and race and that is fallen sinner. There is one solution for all people of all races and all class, and that is the precious blood of Christ which is without value. So those people who are in Jesus have a unity that exceeds all of these class distinctions, and they have a worthiness in themselves that exceeds their inherent net worth, and that is the worthiness of the blood of Christ. So if you understand the gospel, he says don't be haughty because everything that God gave you is grace.

He says number two, don't set your hopes on it, don't set your hopes on it. Many of us base the security of our future on how strong our bank account, how secure our employment, how stable our retirement plan is. And so for many of you, the idea of losing your retirement, the idea of making a bad investment or a bad business deal, having your identity stolen, losing your job, these are devastating thoughts to you, right?

Because that's where your security is. Some of you have gotten so accustomed to luxury that you couldn't imagine living without it now because your hope has been set on those things. You're like, well, I just like the finer things. No, no, you didn't like the finer things before you could afford them. You just developed a taste for them after you could afford them, and now you couldn't imagine life without them because you have set your hope on those things, and truth be told, they bring more significance to your life than God himself does.

That's why you could not imagine life without that level of creature comforts and status. Paul says there's a problem with that. You see, first of all, it's uncertain. Money is uncertain.

Even the most secure plan is not foolproof. Do we not realize that now of the Wall Street crash or whatever many years it's been now? Have we not at least understood that? Isn't this why so many people are in such disarray because what happened is the God that they worship got in there because what happened is the God that they worship got crucified. That's why it threw you into a tailspin. That's why it devastates you because you had a false God. You worship that instead of God, and it was uncertain.

It did not help you, and so God knocks things down. By the way, what happens when you get a call from the doctor that says you have terminal cancer? What's your money do then? How many rich people have I sat with who could afford the best healthcare, but then suddenly they get something that no doctor can fix? Well, what happens when your marriage begins to fall apart? How many rich people have I sat with who could buy a small state, but they can't keep their marriage together? What happens when you lose control of your children and things that you thought money could help can't help?

It's uncertain, he said. It's not something to base your life on. Money can buy you a $5,000 mattress, but it cannot buy you rest. It can buy you a house, but not a home. It can buy you the latest toys, but can't give you joy. It can send your kids to the best colleges, but it can't make them wise.

It can give you a comfortable retirement, but not give you the ability to die at peace with God. And ultimately, aren't those second things all the things that you were seeking? You were seeking rest. You were seeking joy. You were seeking fulfillment. You were seeking a stable family. You were seeking stability.

Isn't that what you were after? And Paul says it's uncertain. It's not where it comes from. You see, money is, listen, the number one competitor for God in our hearts. Who or maybe what are you serving?

Many of us are enslaved to our finances. But when we dive deeper into the gospel and soak in the truth of God's word, freedom really can be found. You were listening to Summit Life, the Bible teaching ministry of pastor, author, and theologian, J.D.

Greer. Pastor J.D., sometimes we think of the gospel as, you know, this one-time event that appears only at conversion. But that's a really shallow view, isn't it? Yeah, you know, all the Bible writers, particularly the New Testament ones, show you that the gospel is not just the way that you begin the Christian life. It's also the way that you grow in the Christian life. That's a major theme for us here at Summit Life is that it's by going deeper into the gospel that you grow more alive in Christ. The gospel is the one thing, the one thing in the whole Bible that is directly referred to as the power of God, other than Jesus Christ himself. The gospel is the only thing that's called the power of God. This month, Molly, we are offering a resource, a video-based curriculum that I created called Gospel that will take you deep into what that means. Like, what does it mean to say the gospel is the center?

How do you go deeper in it? It's foundational. It's like core for my own kind of approach to preaching and ministry. The Gospel Bible Study Kit, that's what you'll get.

It has two DVDs, five study guides so that you can complete the study with others, and a copy of the book called Gospel. So it's like an amazing and it's an incredible package. And I think it'll really help you both with yourself, your family, and with other people. Take a look at this bundle of resources we have for you this month.

I'm really excited to recommend this. Just go to JDGuirre.com. Thanks, JD. And I think for many of us, we're ready to dig deeper and get to know God on a new level.

And this study is a great launching point. Get your copy of Pastor JD's Gospel Bible Study today when you support summit life with a generous financial gift of $50 or more. Call 866-335-5220. That's 866-335-5220.

Or give online at JDGuirre.com. That's J-D-G-R-E-E-A-R.com. I'm Molly Vidovitch, encouraging you to join us again tomorrow when we'll continue this study of how the gospel transforms our finances. We'll see you here Friday on Summit Life with J.D. Greer. Today's program was produced and sponsored by J.D. Greer Ministries.