It was my privilege to serve as a Philanthropic adviser at Luther Seminary for 8.5 years. A Philanthropic Adviser is a major gifts consultant.

• I helped people create gifts in support of our seminary. We needed to raise multiple millions of dollars each year to support the day-to-day operation of the school.

One of the things that happened to me on a personal level is that I came into contact with some incredibly generous people.

• You would like them…as a rule; I found them to be happier and more positive than the average person.
• They are usually quite clear about their priorities and how these priorities are informed by their commitment to Jesus….and they are deeply faithful to the Gospel….They know Christ’s presence. They aren’t all wealthy as we may sometimes measure wealth but they are wealthy in terms of living with a deep sense of God’s spirit in Christ. People who are generous because the spirit of Christ has opened them to a way of living remind me of a definition of stewardship that I find attractive. Stewardship is organizing life in such a way that God can spend you.
• Their spirit is infectious. And it impacted us as a family in deepening a desire to live out of a clear faith-center.

Paul, in his second letter to the Corinthians, truly captures much of what I have seen in the daily lives of generous people. This morning, I would like to share Five Principles of Biblical Generosity with you that are based on Paul’s letter. These are very practical and I hope that you will find them to be as helpful to you as they are to Rebecca and to me.

Let me tell you first about the Macedonians…..

• They were poor…dirt poor.
• Lived in what is now northern Greece – barren land and with few opportunities for trade and industry…still that way.
• However….Paul took a collection from them for the poor at Jerusalem…and this is what he said to the people at Corinth about the Macedonians.

Paul wrote to the Corinthians: I want you to know, brothers and sisters about the grace of God that has been granted to the churches of Macedonia; for during a severe ordeal of affliction, their abundant joy and their extreme poverty overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. For, as I can testify, they voluntarily gave according to their means and even beyond their means, begging earnestly for the privilege of sharing in this ministry to the saints.

• They gave as much as they could…beyond their means…
• Because they wanted to give witness to their Lord…

As Paul says…And this not merely as expected; they gave themselves first to the Lord.

The first principle of Biblical generosity….GIVE YOURSELVES TO THE LORD

• Not as a way to gain favor with God or to guarantee your salvation but because you are the Lord’s…you are saved…loved. Surrender yourselves to who you are in Christ and celebrate what it means to be a child of God.
• This is called Stewardship: Stewardship is the management of Life with Jesus Christ at the Center…it impacts all of our relationships…God….others….self and creation.

The truth is…we surrender ourselves to so many things that we risk the loss of our identity…. In a practical way we surrender ourselves to a political party that calls for your loyalty to candidate and platform. TV ads dominate the screens these days assuring you of an urgency that will require a deep commitment from you for the coming election.

Later today, many of you will go home and plop down in front of a TV for several hours as you surrender to the Vikings and later this month you can surrender nightly to the American League playoffs giving your all to the Twins.

You surrender to an employer or the loyalty of an alma mater or a favorite pastime.

What will it take for you to surrender yourselves to Jesus Christ first? This is the first principle in Biblical stewardship and perhaps the most challenging.

Paul goes on to say…Now as you excel in everything…….we want you to excel also in this generous gift……do what is right….in the sight of others.

Second Principle…..Generosity is a proof of faith……

• Did you catch this….it isn‘t only in the sight of God…but of others….let me see you as a faithful person.
• Let me see your action congruent with your words.
• My experience…generous people don’t have this as a goal…it is an outcome.
• There was a police officer following a driver….The driver was very aggressive and rude as she cut between cars….raised a digit on her hand in response to some angry honking. She followed a car at 6” from the back end. Finally shook her fist at the police officer who was driving an unmarked car. He pulled her over and did an immediate check to see if she was driving a stolen car. The officer said, “you had a bumper sticker that says, Jesus is Lord! I couldn’t believe that the owner of a car with that sticker would be doing the things you were doing.

• There are people who can talk so graciously about their faith and give so little….it hasn’t caught yet….
• What we do serves as a witness within the community and beyond...
• I am grateful that this congregation is witnessing before others in the work that you do in the community and beyond. Your missional work says something to the community. The church is witnessing to its people.

Paul goes on to the Third Principle:

For if the eagerness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what you have and not according to what you have not.

Third principle…..You give from what you have.

• What an opportunity….take inventory…stock of what you have…inventory everything….family, assets, decisions you’ve made for faithful living.
• Giving in the US has dropped to less than 2% of annual income – people have a lot but they haven’t given much.
• Walter Brueggemann has said that this is a sign of living in scarcity in the midst of God’s abundance….when you live in scarcity you are scared and stingy….self- centered and narcisstic.
• The positive…we don’t have to live this way.…invitation to another way of seeing things.
• I have coached future pastors in a class on stewardship that they probably should not use the word abundance when talking about resources with members of their church…most people don’t feel they have abundance….we do have sufficient resources. We are the wealthiest of people on this planet. Our perspective is often in error. We see ourselves as not having gifts to share when we have been richly blessed in every part of our lives. It is time for us to be much more realistic about what we have.
• Break out….now……be a giving person according to what you have.

Back to Paul, it is appropriate for you who began last year not only to do something but even to desire to do something. Now finish doing it….

Fourth Principle…Create a Plan for Giving and Generosity

• Faithful people need to have a spending plan….A spending plan reflects your faith…principle one……give yourselves to the Lord.
• I am going to share with you a very basic plan. Look at the summary of your 2009 income. Next add up all the giving that you participated in during the same year. This includes giving to all organizations that do the work of God’s presence in the world. What was the percentage? Take that percentage and increase your giving by 1% of your income for this present year.
• The important thing is to plan to have a spending plan and let that plan reflect your faith and God’s abundance for your sufficiency.

Paul goes on….Each of you must give as you have made up your minds, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

Fifth Principle...Give Freely and Cheerfully

• Don’t give under compulsion….Paul didn’t want to coerce people into separation of their money from their persons…….Some of you may not be ready.
• You are saying…the church is always asking for money and I resent it, or I have a lot of other obligations…or I am just not ready to make this stuff the center of my life.
• If you do not have the heart for giving out of generosity then please don’t do it for it will only create resentment and anger.

This is only an invitation for a way of seeing things…but it is scriptural… tuck it away… read the text… pray about it. Above all, please pray about.

One does get to cheerfulness….The Lord, loves cheerful givers. The New Testament was written in Greek. The Greek word for cheerfulness is hilairon…which we also translate as “hilarity.” Can you imagine this…..The Lord loves a hilarious giver. In other words, don’t give until it hurts, give until you are hilarious….then you will be approaching true biblical generosity.

The image I have here is that of Scrooge on Christmas morning. Scrooge, the creation of Charles Dickens, awakens after an awful night of terrifying nightmares and visions. He has seen the truth about himself and he has hated was he has seen. When he awakens he is relieved, even giddy with joy for a second chance at life. He jumps up and down on his bed and goes to the windows of his room. He throws open the windows and opens his purse and throws coins to a boy who is walking by…run to the butcher and buy the biggest goose you see and bring it to Cratchit’s house, he yells.

Scrooge is now giddy, hilarious with generosity….a new way of seeing all of life. That’s what Paul sees when he looked at the Macedonians. That’s what Paul sees when he looks at you. It isn’t hard but it is a major change in life.

No matter what…God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work.

Amen.

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