Giving
Sermon Transcript
0:00:14.0
If you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn there with me. We’re in chapter 6 this morning and verses 1-4. And if you’ve been with us in our study of the Sermon on the Mount, you know that we completed the first third of our study of Matthew 5, 6 and 7; a study of the most famous discourse that Jesus ever gave 2000 years ago on a hillside overlooking the beautiful Galilean Sea. And in chapter 5 His main aim was to help us understand that to be right with God, our righteousness must exceed the righteousness of the Pharisees. The Pharisees were all about externals. Putting on a spiritual show, looking good on the outside. But only Jesus, who could look inside their hearts, He recognized that their hearts had drifted far from God. And there was disconnect between the external and the internal. So He defined righteousness in many different ways, but in doing so, traveled deep inside the caverns of our heart and exposed our hearts for what they really are. He says your righteousness must exceed that of the best and most spiritual men in the community 2000 years ago. That was chapter 5, all about internals.
0:01:36.9
Now in chapter 6 He shifts gears in chapter 6 and verse 1. And He returns to the subject of externals and to our acts of righteousness. Let’s take a look at chapter 6 and verse 1. Chapter 6 and verse 1 begins with a word of warning. In my Bible it’s the word “beware.” In some of your Bibles it might be “take heed” or “be careful.” Chapter 6 and verse 1 sets the tone for at least the first 18 verses of chapter 6 as Jesus lands up on three acts of righteousness- our giving, our praying and our fasting. This morning we’ll talk about the spiritual discipline of giving. But He gives us this warning. And let’s read chapter 6 and verse 1 together. “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them, otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.”
0:02:39.7
Now, in verses 2 through 18, the next 17 verses, Jesus applies this general principle, this general warning, this warning against what I would call spiritual showmanship. Of practicing your righteousness before men in order to be seen by them. You know, some people would rather have the applause of men rather than the applause of heaven. And this is what Jesus is talking about here. He has the Pharisees particularly in mind, religious leaders that are given to spiritual showmanship. He’s saying that, yes, there are certain practices that we might engage in as His followers that have an external nature to them, like our giving, our praying and fasting, which He is going to talk about in verses 2 through 17. And these three practices are what I like to refer to as the pillars of piety, spiritual disciplines that you will find in every major religion of the world- giving, praying and fasting. And certainly in the 1st century a spiritual Jew would be found to be practicing the discipline of giving and of praying and of fasting. And in our giving we learn sacrifice. In our praying we learn self-discipline, we might say. And in our fasting we learn self-denial. These are all good disciplines for us to learn. But Jesus was mostly concerned about how we practice these things. And He says beware, take heed, be careful that you don’t practice your righteousness in order to be seen by men. If you do it that way, if the applause of men is more important to you than the applause of God, then you have lost your reward from your heavenly Father. It’s an interesting thing for us to consider. What Jesus is saying is basically that there is no room in the Christian life for theatrical performing. We are to walk humbly before our God. This is what the prophet Micah told us in Micah 6:8. And so this idea of spiritual showmanship is looked down upon.
0:04:52.7
It’s interesting though, if you’ve been carefully listening to the study of the Sermon on the Mount in chapter 5 and now in chapter 6, you might sense a little bit of a tension, maybe a contradiction in what Jesus says. Look with me back in chapter 5 and verse 16. Jesus says…remember in that section where He says to them, “You are the salt of the earth and the light of the world,”? He says, verse 16, “Let your light shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” He says put your righteousness on display. Shine, baby, shine. “Let your light shine that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” Then in chapter 6 and verse 1 He says, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them.” It seems like in chapter 5 He’s encouraging us to put our righteousness on display. “Shine your light before men so that they can see it.” But in chapter 6 He says be careful that if you practice your righteousness before men…it seems like He’s encouraging it in chapter 5. He’s discouraging it in chapter 6. How do we reconcile the two?
0:06:01.8
Well, it all has to do with our motives, doesn’t it? Because there’s a little phrase in chapter 5 and verse 16 that says “and glorify your Father in heaven.” In other words, if your deep and sincere motive in your heart in practicing your righteousness before men is to glorify your Father in heaven, then He would say, “Shine, baby, shine.” Let your light shine. Don’t hide your light under a bushel, but let it shine, if in fact your motivation is to glorify your Father who is heaven. But in chapter 6 and verse 1, if your motivation is to be seen by others so that others say, “Oh, that’s a very spiritual person. Did you see the way they gave? Did you hear the way they prayed? Did you know that they fast,” and if you’re more interested in the applause of men than you are the applause of God, then you need to go into hiding with your spiritual practices.
0:06:58.6
I like the way one Bible scholar reconciles the tension here between chapter 5 and chapter 6. He says we’re to show, we’re to display if we’re tempted to hide. And Jesus says, “Don’t take your light and hide it under a bushel.” No, we’re a city set upon a hill. So if you're tempted to hide, you need to show. But if you’re tempted to show, if you’re tempted to spiritual showmanship, then you need to hide. And that’s what Jesus gives His attention to in Matthew 6.
0:07:30.6
There are two phrases that I want to kind of wrap our thoughts around this morning as we deal with the first of these three spiritual practices- giving in verses 2-4; next week, praying in verses 5-15—and contained in there is one of the most beautiful passages of scripture known as the Lord’s Prayer—and then in week 3 we’ll look at the spiritual practice of fasting, verses 16-18. But this morning the spiritual practice of giving. And there are two phrases that I want to wrap our thoughts around this morning. The first one is simply this. Down with showmanship. Say it with me. Down with showmanship. And the other phrase is up with generosity. Say it with me. Up with generosity. If you can remember those two phrases and that comes to your mind in the middle of the week, you’ll kind of have the essence of this morning’s message.
0:08:24.3
First, down with showmanship. This is essentially what Jesus is saying about our giving. He’ll say it again about our praying and about our fasting as well. But let’s look at verse 2. He says, “When therefore you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be honored by men.” He says, “Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.” Back in the 1st century the giving of alms was a common spiritual practice. We would call it today charitable acts of kindness to the poor. And they were as popular in the 1stcentury as they are in the 21st century. And in the 1st century there were some people like the Pharisees who wanted everybody to know that they were charitable to the poor. They wanted everybody to know just how generous they were to the poor.
0:09:21.5
And so if you could picture in your mind a parade, this is kind of how it happened. Picture a parade that comes to the city, into the streets and into the synagogue. And at the lead of the parade are a series of gifted musicians, trumpeters playing the sound of music as the parade comes into the city. And walking behind the trumpeters are the religious leaders of the day in their long, flowing, colorful robes. And they’re waving like the Queen of England to the adoring crowd. And if you look real carefully at this parade, you’ll also find some, well, some poor people dressed in the best rags they can get together. But this was a parade that was—well, at least according to the Pharisees—supposed to draw attention to the poor, maybe to drum up some more donations for them. But they would trumpet, Jesus said, their charitable acts of kindness.
0:10:18.2
And you really never know what somebody’s motivation is in something like that. I mean, we have people today, generous philanthropist in our world today who sometimes make a large gift to a charity. And they call a press conference. And you really don’t know what their motivation is because you can’t look inside somebody’s heart any more than I can look inside somebody’s heart to determine their motivation. But you always kind of wonder, is it all about them or is it all about the charity they might be supporting?
0:10:46.9
Sometimes, you know…and you don’t have to be a wealthy philanthropist to blow your own horn and to trumpet your own cause. You just make subtle comments here and there about maybe the charitable act of kindness you did here and did there just to hear a little bit of the applause of men. Jesus, who can look inside the heart and examine the motive of the heart, looked at the Pharisees and said, “This trumpeting that you do, you know, it’s really not all about the poor. It’s about you.” He says down with showmanship. When it comes to the giving of alms, when it comes to the charitable acts of kindness that you do, it’s not about you, He says. By the way, those are the first few words in Rick Warren’s famous book The Purpose Driven Life. He starts by saying it’s not about me, it’s not about you, it’s not about us. It isn’t, is it? The Christian life is not about us. It’s about God. It’s about glorifying Him. But if we are given to spiritual showmanship, Jesus would say that we need to go into hiding and to blow our own horn.
0:11:54.9
It was Charles Haddon Spurgeon, the great preacher, who said, “The penny in one hand and the trumpet in the other hand is the posture of hypocrisy.” Hypocrisy. And that’s the word that Jesus uses here, doesn’t He? He said, “Do not sound a trumpet before you.” Don’t blow your own horn. Don’t be given to spiritual showmanship. “As the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets.”
0:12:25.2
How many times have you bumped into somebody who said, “You know, I don’t get into organized religion because of all the hypocrites down at the church.” That kind of stings a little bit, doesn’t it? Especially if you're a church-going person. But there’s always a hint of truth to that. Perception is sometimes reality for the unchurched world looking inside of the church.
0:12:50.2
John Bunyan in his classic allegory of the Christian life landed upon this notion of hypocrisy among God’s people. He talks about the parson of our parish, Mr. Two-tongues. You ever met Mr. Two-tongues, that duplicitous person who is lurking around the halls of the church. In the same conversation Bunyan also mentions a couple of other characters, Mr. Smooth-man, Mr. Any-thing, and—I love this one—Mr. Facing-two-ways. You ever met Mr. Facing-two-ways and his wife? Hypocrites, hypocrites in the church. Nobody likes them. And Jesus reserves some of His harshest words for the religious leaders who acted like Mr. Two-tongues or Mr. Facing-two-ways.
0:13:38.1
You know, the word “hypocrite” actually finds its origin in the theater. Did you know that? A hypokrites was an orator or an actor who played a part. And back in the 1st century you didn’t need a large acting troupe. You just needed an actor who could wear several different masks, because an actor would wear a mask and play a part. And the word hypokrites came to mean somebody who used the world as his stage, who wore a different mask and played a different part. You know where I’m going with this, don’t you? When Christians wear masks, when we play the part of the hypokrites, we lose our realness and our authenticity with the world. And, friends, the world is screaming. It’s asking for some measure of authenticity among God’s people.
0:14:28.4
And I want to give you some permission this morning. I want to give you permission when you walk into the doors of this church to be real, to be authentic. I know we’re all dressed up in our Sunday best, and some of us have different masks that we wear. We all have a smile on us. “How you doing today?” “Just fine, just fine. Yeah, we’re doing well. We’re doing just fine.” Liar. I know it’s not true in my own life. I have struggles. I have challenges. Why can’t we admit that to one another in the church today? Why can’t we be real and authentic? Why do we play the part of the hypokrites? I’ll tell you why. It’s because not many churches are safe places for broken people and confused people and, yes, even sometimes doubting people. And some of the most unsafe people to be around are people who have been in the church for years and have learned to play the part of the hypokrites. I’ll wear this mask this Sunday and this mask tomorrow morning out in the world.
0:15:35.8
Now, let’s be real, folks. Let’s be real about our giving. Let’s be real about our praying. Let’s be real about our fasting. Let this be a place that is full of authenticity, starting on this platform. Yeah, I have struggles just like you do. And where appropriate, I want to share those struggles with you and take off the mask and say, you know, sometimes the Christian life really is three steps forward and two steps back. And I may be in one of those two steps back positions, you know. And I’m really struggling in my relationship with the Lord. Let’s be honest with one another. Let’s not be on the receiving end of Jesus’s rebuke regarding the hypocrisy of our lives.
0:16:14.3
John Stott said, “Hypocrisy is hideous.” He says, “What cancer is to the body, hypocrisy is to the church. It is a killing agent. Unfortunately,” he says, “hypocrisy is also addictive. And even though Jesus reserved His most severe words of condemnation for the hypocrite,” listen to this, “we still seem to prefer that lifestyle to truth and authenticity.” I say, friends, it’s time to take off the mask and be real. Admit your struggles. You have my permission to do that where you are in your spiritual journey and in the life of this church.
0:16:51.8
By the way, the first hypocrites to be exposed in the early church with regard to their giving, their financial giving, was a couple named Ananias and Sapphira. You can read about them in Acts 5. Ananias and Sapphira apparently were a wealthy couple, and they owned some property. And the Bible says they sold that piece of property. And they gave the impression to everybody that they were bringing 100% of the proceeds to the apostles to be distributed to the needs of the church, and in reality they brought something less than that. And the scripture says that they lied to the Holy Spirit as they lied to the congregation. And you know how God dealt with hypocrisy in the early church? He killed them. I mean, they just dropped dead right there in the middle of the church. The ushers came and carried them out. Well, that will silence things. I don’t know if that’s really a church growth program or not. Something makes me think it isn’t. But aren’t you glad that God doesn’t deal with hypocrisy that way even today.
0:17:58.0
So down with showmanship. And you know what the antidote to spiritual showmanship is? It’s secrecy. Let’s read on in verse 3. “But when you give alms,” Jesus says, “do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing that your alms may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will repay you.” You know, there is something real powerful about an anonymous gift, isn’t there? You ever been somebody’s secret Santa? There is a joy and a reward associated with that that goes unmatched. I mean, just to be able to see from a distance the joy in somebody’s life when you act in a generous way toward them and they have no idea who did it. You’re acting in secret, not knowing what the left hand or the right hand is doing.
0:18:55.6
In his book The Spirit of the Disciplines, which was a bestseller many years ago, Dallas (0:19:00.1) Willard writes eloquently about the spiritual discipline of secrecy, the spiritual discipline of secrecy. Listen to this. He says, “In the discipline of secrecy we abstain from causing our good deeds and our qualities to be known.” He says, “We may even take steps to prevent them from being known if it doesn’t involve deceit. To help us lose or tame our hunger for fame, justification, or just mere attention of others, we will often need the help of grace.” Isn’t that true? “But as we practice this discipline, we learn to love to be unknown, and even to accept misunderstanding without the loss of peace and joy and purpose.” And then Willard goes on to say, “In the practice of secrecy we experience a continuing relationship with God,”—listen to this—“independent of the opinions of others.” Some of you (0:20:00.0) need to be set free from the opinions of others in whatever aspect of the Christian life you're practicing, whether it’s your giving or your praying or your fasting. Be set free of the opinions of others. And the way to do that is to go into hiding and to give without the left hand knowing what the right hand is doing, an anonymous kind of gift.
0:20:26.6
Now, some people take this, you know, left hand and right hand thing to an extreme. I know of some churches that say, “Well, for that reason we’re not going to pass an offering plate because as it comes down the aisle my left hand will know what the right hand is doing.” Come on, that’s just silliness. Not all of our giving needs to be private and anonymous. I don’t think that’s what Jesus is saying, that all of our giving should be private and anonymous. If you are given to spiritual showmanship, if the applause of men is more important to you than the applause of heaven, then, yes, you need to practice the spiritual discipline of secrecy. But I can point you to places in the Bible where the giving, especially of the leaders in the church and some others, was very public. For instance, in 1 Chronicles 29 and in chapters around that you have the story of the temple in the Old Testament. David raised the money. King David of Israel raised the money for the building of the temple. Solomon, his son, later actually constructed the temple. But the Bible tells us in 2 Chronicles 29 that David went public with his gift. He publicly announced how much gold, how much silver he gave to the temple project. Now, you read 1 Chronicles 29 for yourself. Was David just blowing his own horn? Was he violating the principle of the left hand and the right hand? I don’t think so. David’s prayer for the temple and for the funding of the temple was a model of doing such for the glory of God.
0:21:57.5
And then you come into the New Testament. Remember the story of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5? Well, back up a little bit to Acts 4, the latter part of that, and you meet a guy named Barnabas. Barnabas was known as Mr. Encouragement. He wasn’t Mr. Two-tongues. He wasn’t Mr. Facing-two-ways. He was Mr. Encouragement in the scriptures. And Barnabas was a wealthy man. And he had some property. And he sold that piece of property. And the Bible says he brought it, laid it at the apostles’ feet and said, “Do with it as you see fit to meet the needs in the local congregation here.” That wasn’t a private gift. It wasn’t an anonymous gift or we wouldn’t know about it in the scriptures, right? So let’s not take this principle too far and say that all of our giving should be private and anonymous and secret. No, if you’re given to the spiritual practice of showmanship, yes, practice the discipline of secrecy. But there are times when we can glorify God with a giving testimony or with some announcement of a gift that is made. You have to, you know, look inside your own heart as to whether you’re doing that to glorify the Lord or to receive the applause of men.
0:23:13.7
So down with showmanship, right? Down with showmanship when it comes to our giving. And they may not be something that you struggle with. But let’s go to the other side of this, and that’s up with generosity. And that’s where we get stretched a little bit, don’t we. Let me just offer this as a disclaimer for the next five or ten minutes. There is no hidden agenda here in talking about giving. No hidden agenda here talking about generosity. There is no capital campaign we’re announcing next week, trust me. Some of you who were here 2 ½ years ago when I came, you understand we…I came into a set of circumstances. And we jumped into a capital campaign real quickly. And you see the construction project going on. The last thing I wanted to do as a pastor, but there we were. But there is no hidden agenda here. We’re not gonna pass the offering plate a second time in the service, okay. I just want you to relax. This is a time when we can talk about an important spiritual discipline in our lives without the pressure of acting upon it right now.
0:24:16.2
And I just want to give you three simple giving principles that come to my mind as I read this text. The first one is this. Giving is not optional for the believer. It’s not optional. Where do I get that? Go back to chapter 6 and verse 2. Jesus says, “When therefore you are giving your alms.” Verse 3, “But when you give,” emphasis on the word “when.” In fact, He emphasizes this all throughout the first 18 verses. He doesn’t say, “If you give,” and “If you pray,” and “If you fast.” No, He says, “When you pray,” “When you give,” and “When you fast.” There’s the expectation—not a command—but an expectation that a true follower of Me will engage in certain spiritual practices. And there are more certainly than giving and praying and fasting. But here is a good place to start. Giving is not optional in the believer. And being people who are on the receiving end of God’s generosity in Jesus Christ, who gave us the most generous gift in the universe, that free gift of eternal life, we in turn should be growing in the grace of giving and excelling in the virtue of generosity as believers in Jesus Christ. Nobody should be more generous on this planet than believers in Jesus Christ. It should be something we are known for. Not in a way to draw attention to ourselves, but in a way that glorifies God. Giving is not optional for the believer.
0:25:48.9
Now, if you read some of the latest research that I stay in touch with regarding the giving practices of church-going people, you would think that most people in churches today think that giving is optional. Eight or nine years ago when I was doing my doctoral research, I came across an Illinois-based research firm called empty tomb, inc. And they kind of keep their finger on the pulse of the stewardship practices of church-going people today. And they came out with some updated statistics. Did you know that the average church-going person today gives away 2.56% of his or her income; 2.56%. That’s not a whole lot different than the average American who may not even go to church. The average American gives to charitable causes, which according to the IRS is 1.8%. And experts like the empty tomb and others who kind of keep their finger on the pulse of these trends have said if the giving practices inside the church are not a whole lot more than the giving practices outside the church, we have a stewardship crisis in the church. And these same experts have looked out into the future and into the coming generation and said if it continues along this pattern…and, by the way, that 2.56% is less than what church-going people gave during the Depression era. I know we’re in a deep recession, but this isn’t a depression, all right. And these numbers even pre-date some of the recession of 2008 and 2009. But these experts have looked ahead and said the stewardship crisis, if we don’t turn it around, if we don’t teach and train people the responsibilities of giving and the joys in giving, we will be planting few churches, sending few missionaries onto the mission field and participating in fewer charitable acts of kindness to the poor. I could go on and talk about that, but I don’t have time. I just want to emphasize the part here that giving is not an optional spiritual discipline. There are real matters for us to consider as believers in Jesus Christ regarding the future of the church and the funding of the kingdom of God. But also as a personal spiritual discipline as we grow in the virtue of generosity, it is very important to our spiritual lives.
0:28:28.4
Secondly, giving is a spiritual gift. I go outside of this Matthew text for this. Think about the spiritual gift passages in Romans and Ephesians and Peter’s epistles. You’ll come up with a long list, as many have, of spiritual gifts. A spiritual gift being different than a natural talent. A spiritual gift given to you at the moment of salvation by the Holy Spirit for you to use to bless the body of Christ. And did you know that one of those spiritual gifts is the gift of giving. Some of you have the spiritual gift of giving, and you love it when the pastor preaches a giving sermon. Your heart just begins to race. You are all about generosity.
0:29:14.0
Look at it in Romans 12:6-8. Paul says, “We have different gifts according to the grace given to us.” And that’s true, isn’t it? We all have different gifts in the body of Christ. I have the spiritual gift of teaching. And it developed over the years. And, you know, that’s one gift I know I have. I don’t know if I have very many after that, but it’s one gift that I know I have. And I’m using that in a vocational way to hopefully bless the body of Christ. You have a spiritual gift. And one of the great joys of the Christian life is discovering what that is. We have different gifts according to the grace given to us by the Holy Spirit. And then He goes on to say in verse 8, “If it contributing to the needs of others.” If that’s your speaking gift, he says then give generously. Give generously.
0:30:01.5
One of the things I’ve learned over the years is that the spiritual gift of giving has nothing to do with economic level. It transcends income levels. In fact, I remember one of the first churches that we served in Houston, Texas. I remember a lady named Marilyn, a single mom. She was doing the best job she could to support her two kids. Boy, did she have the spiritual gift of giving. She just exuded generosity. She didn’t have much by the world’s standards. But she’d come up to me and say, “Pastor, anytime you need somebody to share a stewardship testimony, I’m available.” And she would on occasion. And she didn’t have an ounce of spiritual showmanship in her, but she was just the most generous person. And, friends, generosity is not just about putting something in the offering plate. Somebody who has the spiritual gift of giving is generous in every aspect of their life. You just can’t have conversation with them without just sensing the generosity of spirit coming through them, yes, in terms of their resources, but also their time and their giftedness and their talents. They’re always offering themselves to be generous. And I have this crazy vision, this crazy vision I’ve been carrying around for a long time as it relates to spiritual gifts. Wouldn’t it be great to elevate the spiritual gift of giving to at least a level that we elevate other spiritual gifts to? And to identify those people in the body of Christ with the spiritual gift of giving and to equip them and to train them and to empower them and to deploy them into the body of Christ to create what I like to call a generosity choir made up of spiritually gifted people who are passionate about matters of generosity who can lead us and inspire us to produce a revolution of generosity in the body of Christ today.
0:31:52.7
Remember, I said the most generous people on this earth ought to be followers of Jesus Christ because we’ve been recipients of such generosity from our heavenly Father. Generosity is a spiritual gift given to some. It is a responsibility given to every one of us. We need those of you with the spiritual gift of generosity to come forward and be a part of this generosity choir and inspire a revolution of generosity throughout the body of Christ. It’s a crazy vision that I have, but I think it was one that would honor God. So if that’s you, if you find yourself saying, “Yeah, I have the spiritual gift of giving,” regardless of your income level, come see me. Or come talk to our stewardship pastor Ralph Weitz, and we’d love to talk to you.
0:32:40.9
Thirdly and finally, God rewards those who give from a humble heart, emphasis on humble heart but also emphasis on reward. Did you see it in verse 1? “Otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. Truly I say to you,” verse 2, “they have their reward in full.” He is saying those that are given to spiritual showmanship, yeah, they have their reward. And that reward is stamped “Paid in full.” You know what it is? It’s the applause of men. If that’s what you're looking for? Your reward is paid in full, He says. He says then in verse 4, “And your father who sees in secret will repay you.” Does it make anybody nervous that the notion of giving is somehow tied to reward? In fact, Jesus is gonna use the word “reward” in our praying and in our fasting as well. I don’t know what that reward is, friends, but I’d rather be rewarded by my heavenly Father than be rewarded by any of you. And I think you would desire the same.
0:33:50.1
Our God loves to reward His kids. He is a reward-giving God. And one of the ways He motivates us to act righteously, okay, to practice these things, to grow in these virtues and in these disciplines…one of the ways He motivates us is by reward. And I just have this sneaky feeling that God’s eternal reward system is better than anything I might get on this earth, certainly better than the applause I might get from any person.
0:34:21.8
I can’t think about up with generosity without going back to a familiar verse of scripture, John 3:16. “For God so loved the world that He,” did what? He gave. The first expression of His love came from the generous depths of His heart. And how generous of our heavenly Father to give His only begotten Son, and through His death upon the cross to make available to us the free gift of eternal life. How generous of our Father. And when you get a sense of that and that becomes your personal possession by faith in Jesus Christ, I just have the sneaking feeling that true followers of Jesus Christ can’t help but return that generosity through charitable acts of kindness in a variety of ways as we just choose to say down with showmanship and up with generosity. Amen? Let’s pray together.
0:35:30.2
Father, thank You so much for Your Word. I thank You for Your generosity toward us by giving us the free gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And if there is anybody here today, Father, who has yet to receive that free gift, would You give them the faith to believe? Would You give them the courage in their heart to say, “God, I know that I’m sinner. And I understand You to be the most generous being in the universe, so generous that You sent your Son to die upon the cross for me and to shed His blood and to offer to me the free gift, fully paid for, the free gift of eternal life.” Father, would today be day of salvation? I know You’re doing Your work. You promise that You never stop working, of reaching out to men and women and young people and children and calling them to Yourself through faith in Christ. We look forward to that, Father. And as Your followers, as Your true followers, Father, help us to grow in that virtue of generosity. To model before this world in a way that glorifies You. To model the generosity You’ve showed toward us. And we pray this in Jesus’s name, amen.
0:37:18.1