Have you ever had guests over to your place and offered them drinks?
“Sure,” they say, “What do you have?”
Your cheeks flush as your mind races only to discover you have no idea what you have. “Ummmmm,” you mumble to buy time, and then realize confession is your only recourse. “I don’t know,” you admit. “One moment please,” you say with an embarrassed grin as you scurry away to see what you have in the house.
As we explore together as a church what it means to be generous there is a crucial question we have to keep coming back to. To be generous means to give. And you can only give what you know you have. So:
What do we have to give?
Last Sunday Ray David said, “Generosity does not begin with what you have done – it starts with what Jesus has done for you.” All anyone has is gift. It is given us from God. Our life, our bodies, the sun and moon, our brains, our homes, our children; it is all gift from the Creator and Sustainer of all things (Ps. 24:1).
Do you know the inheritance that is yours in Christ? Do you know the power you have been given through the Holy Spirit?
And as Christians in Jesus we have been given even more and so likewise have more to give. Do you know all you’ve been given? Do you know the details? Do you know the breadth and length and height and depth of the love of God poured out for you in Christ Jesus? Do you know the details of the new life you’ve been raised into and the freedoms that have come with it? Do you know the inheritance that is yours in Christ? Do you know the power you have been given through the Holy Spirit? Do you know all the gifts he brings to us?–supernatural wisdom, knowledge, faith, miracles, prophecy, spiritual discernment, healing, speaking in tongues, interpretation (1 Cor 12:1-11). Do you know about the fruit God promises we’ll bear since we live by the Spirit and as we keep in step with him?–love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Gal 5:22). These are all gifts we’ve been promised and offered and are bearing. And we can and must be generous with them. But first we need to know we have them. We need to know God has poured them out on us. How?
1. Read your Bible like crazy
Friends, it contains God’s words about all these things and more. It tells you what we have to give to each other and the world. It tells us all that God our Father has given us to give. Read, explore its riches, memorize it, immerse yourself in it and discover all God has given us.
2. Meet Together
Come to services and learn more about what we have to give from the preachers, the liturgy, the songs and the other people there. Talk about it with your brothers and sisters in Christ. Pray about it together in small groups. The Church is a body with different parts and by design we only work and learn and function together. (1 Cor 12:14)
2. Commune with God
The verb “commune” means– “to converse or talk together, usually with profound intensity, intimacy, etc.; interchange thoughts or feelings.” Do that with God, your Father, through the Holy Spirit in Jesus’ name. Pray. The Holy Spirit is right there with you wherever you are. He is always with you. Converse with him. Soak in his presence and meditate on him. Ask him what you have been given in Christ. We can read about it, but the Holy Spirit can show it to you. He can and will make it real for you. He can make it known to the depths of your heart and soul with confidence and clarity and assurance. He can give you revelation of all you have been given. (Eph 1:17, 2 Cor 1:21-22)
Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. 1 Cor 2:12
For in Him you have been enriched in every way, in all speech and all knowledge, 1 Cor 1:5
You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which through us will produce thanksgiving to God. 2 Cor 9:11
If we know all the food and drink and gifts we have in the house we can offer them all to our guests. And in our case, as Christians, our house has been fully stocked to overflowing by our Father. We have been given so much abundance and we can give generously in every way as a result. Let’s learn together about all we have because we are in Christ. Let’s allow the Holy Spirit to show us the reality of it and receive the power he desires for us. Let us know what we have as children of God, so we can generously share it all with everyone for the glory of God and the joy of all people.
