Generosity

 

Text: Mark 10:17-31

Focus: Greed

Function: to help people rest in God’s provision

¹⁷As he was setting out on a journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” ¹⁸Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. ¹⁹You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness. You shall not defraud. Honor your father and mother.’ ” ²⁰He said to him, “Teacher, I have kept all these since my youth.” ²¹Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, “You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” ²²When he heard this, he was shocked and went away grieving, for he had many possessions.

²³Then Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” ²⁴And the disciples were perplexed at these words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! ²⁵It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” ²⁶They were greatly astounded and said to one another, “Then who can be saved?” ²⁷Jesus looked at them and said, “For mortals it is impossible, but not for God; for God all things are possible.”

²⁸Peter began to say to him, “Look, we have left everything and followed you.” ²⁹Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for my sake and for the sake of the good news ³⁰who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. ³¹But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.”

Good Morning!

The title Generosity might seem a little bit odd for this passage.

It might have served us just as well for me to title the sermon: “Where are you living for?” and talk about the way believers are people who are different because they believe that some day they will indeed meet God and will face God’s judgment for their own reward.

It might even be titled “Faith in the after life” because the thing that separates us believers while living for an eternal reward is actually believing that there is some sort of life after death.

Bible scholars see the underlying influence that living with respect to the fact that God will judge our actions someday is really the difference between the people of faith and what the book of Proverbs calls them: “Scoffers.”

I love the verse in Ecclesiastes that says that God has placed eternity in the hearts of humanity.

We sense that there is more to life than just this here on earth. The comfort that we feel when we know that someone is in a better place is real to me and spiritual. I mean, we feel it and we know it in our spirits. Faith in God springs from that sense of God inside of us, the Holy Spirit who draws us to God and leads us to follow Jesus.

So, we have the story of the rich young ruler who believed in life after death and was asking Jesus if his obeying the commandments that teach us to love each, which are six of the ten commandments, was good enough for him to get to heaven.

And Jesus’ answer is very disturbing to all of us. He asks a question that gets to the heart of whether or not he really believed in an heavenly reward. He asks him to give up his possessions to prove it.

And the man choose earthly reward over heavenly reward.

It is kind of a scary thought.

But God saved us through Jesus Christ. And we are not working anymore to escape the concept of eternal punishment, but we are living to be part of God’s kingdom here on earth. And Jesus comforts the disciples with the knowledge that even though it was difficult for that rich young man, it isn’t impossible with God.

Jesus said, do not work for earthy reward, but lay up for ourselves treasures in heaven. For where our treasure is, there will our hearts be also.

By having confidence in God’s reward is one of thw ways that people find the passion to live sacrificially for others. One of my favorites saints is Saint Francis of Assisi. He was born to nobility and wealth. But through study of the scripture he gave it all away and lived among the poor and learned joy through suffering. He was a real man of peace and founded a movement that is still going strong and it reaches now beyond Roman Catholicism and is partnered with believers like us.

But the idea is not so much living for heaven as it is living for God. Because when we live in communion with the Holy Spirit, we are led to a life that serves others and loves others unconditionally and that brings to us an abundant spiritual life that brings peace.

We know this next truth, but the worldly influences around us deny the power of how it can bring us to a place of peace and joy regardless of the circumstances because we see the hand of God through the Spirit of God in our lives.

The truth weknow is that money cannot buy happiness. And yet, this poor soul, rich in money, but poor in his soul walked away from peace to hang on to what he believed would keep him safe.

Perhaps he was afraid to trust God to keep him and he believed that his money would.

And we believe that about money. The scripture even backs it up. In Ecclesiastes again we read that money along with wisdom protects us, but wisdom is better because it saves our souls.

We believe that if we have enough money we are safe and will be protected. The problem is fear.

Money itself isn’t evil. We need it. The Scripture says it is the love of money, or greed and hoarding that is the root of evil. And I believe it first comes from fear and then comes from pride.

The love of money is worldly. Having our confidence in our money is just as worldly.

What I mean is that faith in God is what we rest in here. We pray every week for the Lord to provide for us on a daily basis and we live by faith resting in God’s provision.

And when we rest in the fact that God will provide for us, we are no longer afraid to be generous.

We need money and would have to beg without it. We work, or worked hard for our provision and feel a sense of pride and accomplishment by getting there. God, we believe, has blessed and helped us. We thank God for that.

And in that thanksgiving, we know that God will provide for us. We rest in God.

And that gives us the faith to be generous instead of greedy. Greedy is evil, generous reflects the very nature of the love of God.

And it is the kindness of God that draws people to this new life in God.

We get to reflect that kindness.

May people see the love of Christ in us.