Generosity

Matthew chapter 19 and verse 16, a man came up to Jesus and asked,

Matthew 19 · chapter mention

Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?

There's a story told about the amazing Apollos, who was a circus act and was a strong man.

He could bend iron bars, he could lift great weights above his head,

but the climax of his act was that he would soak a Union Jack in water

and then he would wring it out and he would challenge people in the audience to come forward

and see if any of them could wring any more drops out of the Union Jack.

Nobody could ever do this until one day the circus was in full swing

and Apollos did his act and issued his challenge

and this little old man came back from the back of the grandstand,

came down to the front, took the cloth off him and wrung out some drops.

Everybody was astounded.

The price for this challenge was £100.

So at the end of the circus, Apollos met with the little old man,

said to him, where on earth do you, what gym do you go to?

Where on earth did you train to do that?

He said, oh, it's simple.

I was the church treasurer for years.

Why is it that we find talking about giving so difficult?

And I suppose it's because we're quite private people.

Quite rightly, the Bible encourages,

don't let your right hand know what your left hand's doing,

but in our culture at least,

it's not the dumb thing to wander up to somebody

and ask them what they earn, for instance.

It's kind of private information.

And giving is difficult because it really tests what we're like on the inside.

There are some people in every congregation, as a matter of fact,

who the Bible would say has the gift of giving.

You can read about them in Romans chapter 12

Romans 12 · chapter mention

when Paul lists the gifts of the Spirit.

They are not all of you,

but all of you do have a responsibility for giving.

Those with a special gift give liberally.

I have a friend who has earned a lot of money

as a hedge fund manager.

And he gives away millions of his pounds of his money every year.

He's the kind of guy you would say ought to be rich

because he gets generosity.

But let me ask you, friend,

do you get generosity?

There's such a huge pressure, isn't there, in our culture

that if you earn a big salary,

you've got to live a lifestyle

that matches that big salary

because then you'll look cool.

And here, in our narrative this morning,

is this man who we know was very wealthy.

He comes to Jesus with a very fundamental existential question.

What must I do to inherit eternal life?

And of course, this was before the cross of Calvary,

before the resurrection,

before Jesus withdrew to heaven

and sent the Holy Spirit upon his people.

So Jesus gives the standard rabbinic answer.

Why do you ask me what is good?

There is only one who is good.

If you want to enter life,

then obey the commandments.

Which ones?

The man answered.

I imagine he was hoping

that Jesus might leave a few out at that point.

Jesus replied,

Do not murder.

Do not commit adultery.

Do not steal.

Do not give false testimony.

Honor your father and mother.

Blah, blah, blah.

And the man says,

Well, I've kept all these.

What's the problem?

Jesus nails the problem straight away.

If you want to be perfect,

go sell your possessions and give to the poor

and you will have treasure in heaven.

Then come follow me.

Verse 22, I think,

is one of the most amazing verses in the Bible.

Because it says that when the young man heard this,

he went away sad

because he had great wealth.

You would think, would you not,

he would go away mad.

And you imagine,

somebody you met for the first time

asks you to recite the commandments.

You've done pretty well on the commandments

and this is the one thing you've got to do.

Give everything away.

Am I the only person in church

that would be a little mad

if somebody said that to me?

Apparently so.

And it kind of quashes the myth

that everybody who came to Jesus

went away happy-clappy, doesn't it?

This man went away sad.

So you're sitting there thinking to yourself,

so have I got to go away and sell everything

and give my money to the poor?

Well, this was specific advice

to this specific man.

Clearly, this was his problem.

He had a strain, like most of us do,

of idolatry in his heart.

And his idol was his money

and his possessions.

And the only way

that he could be free from that idolatry

was to get rid of it.

Groucho Marx said

that when people say

it's not the money,

it's the spirit of the thing,

it's the money.

And I think he spoke into a reality there.

Let me ask you a question.

How much time do you think,

do you spend thinking about

what you might spend

as opposed to what you might give?

Let me ask you that again.

How much time do you spend

thinking about what you could spend

rather than

what you could give away?

Occasionally,

our hearts are stimulated, aren't they,

when we see a need

and it kind of connects with us

and we do something generous.

That's great.

Please don't stop.

But do you think God

has some generous days

and then some days off

when he's a little more mean-spirited?

I don't see God like that at all.

The God who loves you gave,

gave his only Son

that whoever believes in him

should not perish

but have everlasting life.

What must I do

to inherit eternal life?

Great question.

And part of the reason why

it's a great question

is that many of us

are nearly good.

We're nearly good.

There are lots of things about your lives.

I know some of you.

I know you're basically good people.

But you know and I know

there probably is something in your heart

that is not so good.

Might be some malice.

Might be some meanness.

Might be some lust.

Might be whatever.

We're nearly good.

And this man was nearly good

but there was one thing

that got between him and God,

his idol,

and that was his money and possessions.

And Jesus said to him,

go, give it all away.

And the man goes home

sad.

Well, before I stood up

before you this morning,

I prayed that nobody

would go home mad.

Although that has happened to me.

I was once preaching

on giving at a church in Chesham

and in the middle,

about ten minutes into my message,

this guy stands up.

He had noisy shoes on.

He clunks out of the church

down the middle,

slammed the door so hard.

I swear to God,

I saw a crack appear

in the corner of the building

and a month later

the building was condemned.

I said, seriously.

And the vicar came to me

at the end of the service

and said, what shall I do?

I hadn't got a clue

what to say to him

as a matter of fact,

but being a minister,

I couldn't keep my mouth shut.

I thought I've got to say something,

you know.

So I said, oh,

don't worry about it.

You know,

sometimes the Holy Spirit

provokes people to anger.

Vicar phoned me on Tuesday

he said,

that man.

I said, what?

He said, he came around

to see me.

I said, what?

Did he hit you?

He said, no, no, no.

He wrote

a check for ten percent

of his income

and handed it to me.

I went to a women's meeting

in the same church

about two days later

to speak.

Women's meeting,

please note,

this guy's on the front row.

He's like a groupie.

Listen to me,

I am certainly not intending

to make you mad.

What I'm intending to do

is to inspire you

to fresh generosity.

We're nearly good,

but there probably is something

that you're hanging on to.

May not be your money

in your case.

That means you need to let go.

Do we all have to give

as Christians?

The broad answer to that

is yes.

Why?

Because it displays to God

that we get his generosity.

The sin of idolatry

lingers on strongly

in our culture.

And as I've said to you before,

the problem with idolatry today is,

back in the old days

when the Bible talked about idolatry,

it was like people

who had statues and images

of steel and metal

in their homes

that they worship.

Today's idolatry

seems much more subtle to me.

Because good things

can become an idol

in our lives.

Anything

that gets between you

and between God

is an idol.

Giving

is a spiritual responsibility.

You're not going to quibble

with me

that praying

is a spiritual responsibility

even though you really

struggle with it.

You're not going to quibble

with me

if you're a Christian believer

that worshipping

with the people of God

isn't a spiritual.

You're not going to say

that's not right.

But by your actions

you will demonstrate

whether you get

that giving

is as much

a spiritual responsibility

as praying

as worshipping.

And if you don't get that,

I mean,

this is the thing

about generosity

is that apart

from those few people

who've got the gift

of giving,

generosity

needs to be taught.

It doesn't come natural

to many of you.

I know that.

I've been in a pub

with some of you.

Giving is a spiritual

responsibility.

And our little clip

before

talked about tithing.

That was a practice

that was alive

and well in the Old Testament

when people would bring

10% of their produce

and hand it over

to the priest.

In other words,

10% of the work

of their hands

went over

to maintain

the priesthood

and to pay

for the cost

of the cult

around

the tabernacle

in the early days

and the temple

in latter days.

I would prefer

myself

rather than

talk about

tithing,

which seems to me

to be an obligation

of the law

to talk about

sacrificial giving.

I think

we should be prepared

to give

till it hurts us

a little bit.

I think we should

be thinking

a lot of the time,

is there anything

I could give up

in my life

so I could give

that money away

either to the

local church

or to a

worthy cause.

Giving

is a spiritual

responsibility too.

Why is giving

so important?

Have you ever

heard this said

or have you ever

said it

yourself

that it's not

the money,

it's what you

do with it?

That's a very

common

middle class

explanation

for a middle

class lifestyle.

not the money,

it's what you

do with it.

Well Jesus

never taught

that.

Jesus taught

that money

was, do you

remember that

funny word

he used,

mammon?

And mammon

is a rival

God.

Mammon

can take a

hold of you,

money can take

a hold of you.

I think

in our culture

there are a lot

more people

who are owned

by their

possessions

than own

their possessions

and their

wealth.

How much

time do you

think spending

thinking about

what you

could spend

rather than

what you

could give

away?

Is there

anything in

your life

you could give

up in order

that you could

give a little

more generously?

And Jesus

didn't teach

it's not the

money,

it's what you

do.

What he taught

was that if

you get

your attitude

to mammon

wrong,

it will

take a

hold of

you.

I've heard

people say

in our

culture,

and I know

what they

mean,

people will

do anything

for money.

I mean,

you can spot

that pretty

well,

can't you,

amongst the

criminal classes?

What they

would do

for money,

exploit children.

send women

and young

men into

the sex

industry

for money.

Money has

got a grip

on us,

and Jesus

suggests that

it's mammon,

and the only

way we can

break the grip

of money

upon us

is to give

it away

generously.

That's a

tough message,

I get that.

what can I

give,

or what

shall I

spend?

That's what

we need

to think

about,

what can I

give,

not just

about what

I could

spend.

The third

thing is,

we do

need to

give

sacrificially.

I went

to the

national

prayer

breakfast

in the

House of

Commons,

and Bill

and Melissa

Gates

were the

speakers.

And you

may or may

not know

this,

but Bill

Gates is a

pretty rich

guy,

and he's

given away

billions of

his money.

I mean,

you know,

we're like sad

for him,

because he's

only got a

billion or so

left.

In 2018,

there were

only 60

odd cases

of polio

worldwide

reported.

Why?

Because Bill

Gates has

given his

money into

that course.

I have no

idea whether

this guy's a

Christian,

but he gets

generosity.

Somebody said

to him,

why do you

do this?

Bill Gates

said this,

he said,

it's the

work of

God.

It's the

work of

God to

give.

He then

said,

a Labour

MP stood

up and

said to

him,

so how

many

billionaires

have you

persuaded

to give

it all

away?

He

said,

he

chatted

with his

wife for

a second,

he said,

we think

67.

Labour

MP said,

well,

that's not

many.

Bill Gates

said,

well,

it's a

start.

I don't

know what

giving

sacrificially

would look

like for

you.

And I

don't know

about this.

Many of

us feel

these days

that those

of us who

are older

and years

that we

got to

help our

kids and

all that.

I don't

know whether

I should

include the

help I

give to

my kids,

which is

pretty

paltry,

I would

think.

I don't

know whether

I should

include that

in my

giving.

Let's

look it

after my

own,

isn't

it?

As

Clive told

you,

Ante and

I just

came back

from

Guatemala,

I mean,

you want

to see

poverty,

take a

trip.

You want

to see

depravity,

take a

trip there.

Kids as

young as

three and

four sold

into the

sex industry.

it's

difficult to

walk by

that kind

of thing.

So,

it's a

call to

give

sacrificially.

You know,

one of the

first sermons

I heard

was from

a well-known

guy in

Bristol at

Pippin J

Church.

He was the

vicar there

for years and

led the

church into

renewal in

the 1960s.

Malcolm

Widdicombe

was his

name,

probably

more well

known as

his sister.

Anne

Widdicombe.

And one

of the

things he

said was,

I was never

quite sure

about this

ultimately,

although I

was massively

impressed by

his message.

But he

turned to

the book

of Malachi,

the last

book of

the Old

Testament,

and Malachi

has a

kind of,

you know,

meltdown with

the people of

God,

saying,

you've been

keeping back

your tithes,

you've been

robbing God,

is the language

that he used.

And then

Malachi speaks

the word of

God to them.

God says

to them,

test me

in this.

In other

words,

you want to

find out how

generous I

am,

why don't

you try

being a

little more

generous and

do what the

law says,

and give my

tithe.

He says,

I will open

the storehouse

of heaven

upon you,

and pour

out the

riches of

heaven.

Some of you

are sitting

there saying,

well,

I'll take the

money,

thanks.

Test me

in this.

I don't

want to make

you go home

feeling,

you know,

if you're not

giving what you

could,

that you're

robbing God

or something

like that.

I don't want

you to feel

bad about

this.

I want you

to try and

be inspired

to be more

generous.

And we

shouldn't be

more generous

so God

will bless

us,

but a lot

of people

have found

that being

generous means

that God

does bless

you.

I had the

meanest

grandmother

on the

planet.

She used

to give

me like

ten shillings

for my

birthday.

And one

day I

was,

Anthony and

I worked

at the

kind of

sister

community

of Liabi

together

before we

got married.

Our

earnings there

were three

pounds fifty

a week.

And we

used to get

paid on a

fortnightly

basis.

So you

get a

five pound

note and

two,

do you

remember

one pound

notes?

All the

millennials

look completely

perplexed at

this point.

You get

one five

pound note,

two one

pound notes,

and one

day I

had been

paid and

I was

going to

go downtown

after the

service,

so I got

a fiver in

my pocket

and the

collection plate

came round.

You know,

and it was a

plate,

it wasn't a

bag where

you can put

your hand

in and

flick the

side like

you put a

load of

money in it

or anything

like that.

So I'm

oh what

do I

do,

what do

I

do?

So I

put the

fiver in,

looked heaven

would pray

that the

storehouse of

heaven would

open up on

me.

Right?

I was so

fed up,

like I

can't,

this is,

what was I,

you know,

why,

I go to

the board

where they

used to

pin your

post when

it came

through and

there's a

letter from

my granny.

And I

opened it,

there's a

ten pound

note in it.

I mean,

you know

what,

she,

I mean,

I don't

know what

she was

thinking,

you know,

maybe she

was under

the weather

or something,

I don't

know,

but listen

to me,

God wants

to bless

you,

he's not

going to

make that

conditional

on what

you do,

but actually

if you show

God that

you want to

bless him,

that's a

cool thing,

isn't it?

Test me in

this,

says the

Lord.

So listen,

just let me

close by

dealing with

some very

good and

common

questions that

people have

at the end

of a message

like this.

First of

one,

do I have

to give

all my

money to

the church?

Clive says

yes.

No,

no,

no,

I'm joking.

Look,

broadly the

answer is

no,

except they

do remember

that the

tithe was

given for

the maintenance

of the

clergy of

the time

and the

cult,

the costs

of the

tabernacle,

the costs

of the

temple.

So I

think you

have to

bear that

in mind

and then

on top

of that

of course

what Jews

would do

was give

free will

offerings.

You know

somebody

stands up

here,

says the

team going

to Uganda,

we need

to take

this stuff

out with

us,

here's the

rough cost

of it,

can anybody

you know,

and then

what happens

is we

get this

out.

Right,

I love

this thing,

I don't

know if you

can see

this down

the back,

but when,

this is a

machine that

you can give

directly,

I've got to be

careful what I

press here as a

matter of

fact.

You can give

directly with

this and then

Clive,

right,

I love

this,

when the

collection comes

up he gets

hold of this

and sticks it

in the

basket and

holds it

up.

We're into

modern religion

here.

We would get

that out,

free will

offering,

we give

some extra

to help

somebody who's

doing a

project in

Uganda or

wherever.

And that's

a good thing,

and Jews

would liberally

do that,

on top of

the tithe that

they gave.

So the

answer to

the question

should I

give it all

to the

churches,

no you

don't have

to,

but bear

in mind

running this

church costs

some money

and it's

helpful if you

can contribute

to that.

Second question

is,

hang on,

I pay my

taxes,

isn't that

enough?

No.

No.

At the

time of

Jesus,

believe me,

you would

rather pay

tax and

2020 to

the revenue

in the

UK than

pay taxes

to the

occupying

Roman forces.

Not only

that,

but we

know that

guys like

Zacchaeus

would not

only exact

what the

Romans wanted,

but then

would add

10% for

his own

back pocket.

That didn't

negate for

the Jews

their need

to pay

their tithe

or to

give

sacrificially.

Third thing

is,

should I

give from

my net

salary or

from my

gross

salary?

Answer,

I would

start with

your net

salary and

maybe build

up to

your gross

salary.

I went to

a very

strict church

when I was

first converted

to Christianity.

I mean,

there wasn't

much we were

allowed to

do,

but we were

allowed to

give.

And the

guy there

taught tithing

as a kind

of obligation

of the law.

I don't agree

with that,

but it

started me

on a good

footing from

the very

earliest days

of my

Christian life.

It had

gone before

I even

thought about

what I

could spend

my salary

on.

What if

I'm already

in debt?

I want to

say a

sensitive word

to you.

Because

honestly,

you really

should work

at paying

off the

debt before

you start

thinking about

giving a lot

of money

away and

getting yourself

worse in

debt.

And I

am sure

that if

you are in

debt and

you're

desperate,

then there

are people

here who

you could

confidentially

talk to

and be

able to

help you

and find

your way

out of

that debt

in a way

that you

can manage

and then

you can

start to

be generous

to others.

And the

fifth question,

oh my

goodness,

we used

to be in

this kind

of middle

class parish,

I should

say that

was after

I'd been

in Slough,

in this

middle class

parish and

I preached

a message,

I used to

preach every

January to

all our

congregations

the message

about giving.

And I

preached it

and the

next thing

is I

get a

phone call

from a

man who

I don't

know.

He said,

you know

my wife,

he said her

name.

I said,

oh yeah,

I do

know her,

yeah.

He said,

she's just

signed over

10% of my

salary to

your church.

I'm like,

what?

He said,

she doesn't

work,

she just

signed 10%

of my

salary over

to your

church.

I'm like,

thank you

very much.

Look,

let me say,

if you are

a spouse

and you

are not

an earner,

before you

start giving

away your

earning spouse's

money, I

should have a

conversation with

him or her.

Is that fair

enough?

Oh yeah.

Oh yeah.

So, what

must I do

to inherit

eternal life?

This has

nothing to

do with

what you

give.

This is

entirely about

what God

has given

to you.

His Son

on a

cross,

so that

you'll

sins can

be

forgiven.

The

nearly

not good

bit of

you

can be

forgiven.

And you

can be

set free.

And as

the Bible

teaches,

you can

receive the

gift,

please note,

the gift

of eternal

life.

Some of you

are sitting

there saying,

well is it

like life

forever,

like life

now?

No.

It's a

completely

different

order of

existence.

The Bible

says you're

even going to

get a new

body.

I know that

will be a

source of

relief to

many of

you.

Getting

into heaven

in the

light of

the cross

is not

about what

you give.

it's

about what

God has

given to

you and

for you.

And that

is why

it's

important to

show him

that we

have generous

hearts.

I'm going

to end

with a

little

couplet

that Mr.

Bubbers of

the Church

Pastoral Aid

Society taught

me many

years ago.

It goes

like this.

What?

Giving

again I

asked in

dismay.

Must I

keep giving

and giving

all way?

Oh no,

said the

angel whose

gaze pierced

me through.

Just stop

when the

Saviour

stops giving

to you.

Let us

pray.

Lord,

thank you

very much

that you

are such

an amazingly

generous

God.

Lord,

our hearts

skip a

beat

when we

think that

you would

send your

son to

deal with

those parts

of our

lives that

we don't

like and

we're ashamed

of.

To put it

bluntly,

our sin.

And Lord,

I pray that

this morning

that amazing

act of

history,

God so

loved the

world that

he gave

his only

son,

that whoever

believes in

him should

not perish

but have

everlasting

life.

Lord,

I pray that

your generosity

might at the

beginning of

this new

year kindle

some fresh

generosity

within us.

Lord,

help us to

know the

joy of

giving

as opposed

to a

mean-spirited

heart.

Lord,

that this

world might

become a

bigger and

better place

for all

human

flourishing.

And we

pray these

things in

Jesus' name

and the

people who

agreed said

together.

Amen.

Amen.