19th February 2017 - Gen-er-ous – Simon Benham

Gen-er-ous – Simon Benham 19^th February 2017

Gen-er-ous – adj: willing to give and share unsparingly

Simon introduced the next 7 weeks’ series titled Gen-er-ous. Each day we are challenged to be generous in our actions and possessions. There will be blogs and weekly emails to encourage us throughout the seven weeks. This Monday’s challenge is to buy a present for someone. It can be big or small.  Simon then referenced Bill Hybels book “Simplify” which explains how we can handle finances and possessions in a way God wants us to. The book challenges the reader to simplify how they handle their finances and to use it to honour God.

Bible Verse: Luke 16 v 1

Jesus told the disciples of a rich man whose servant was accused of wasting his possession. The servant oversaw his masters’ possessions, but there are questions over whether the steward was dishonest and didn’t manage money well. 

Simon was clear that the Parable is not saying:

-          By spending money wisely, we can make it to heaven.

-          You cannot buy your way into heaven. There is nothing we can do to get salvation. Salvation is entirely through what Jesus Christ has done for us and not what we do for him. Salvation is a gift from God. This is an incredible gift the gift of eternity. All we must do is receive it.

-          Jesus Christ is not saying we should be dishonest with our money. If we are not trustworthy with our wealth this does not honour God. We should be totally honest with our TAX returns for example.  As a follower of Jesus Christ, we need to be above board with our finances.

Latest theory by commentators think the master had given £X to steward, who lent it to another person for commission. Then when the master wanted his money back, the servant went back to the third person asking for their money and not the commission: Hence returning the masters money but forfeiting his own commission. Therefore, the steward missed out in short-term but would gain in the long term. On the basis that the third person was to be kind to him in the long term for forgoing the commission.

V9 – Simon questioned us about when for us are our worldly goods gone? When we die. We will have worldly wealth throughout our life but we can’t take with us after death.

We leave everything behind …..none of our possessions are ours we are just borrowing from God.

He placed objects in our hands to steward….see James 1. Simon gave the example of John Wesley when a distraught man came to him and said “Your house has burnt down” John Wesley replied “No the Lords house has burnt to ground, that’s one less responsibility for me”

The house you live in is God’s, the car you drive is Gods…. you are not amazing….for getting such possessions…God gave it to you. You are just looking after it.

God was good before and after he gave you the car or the house or the job.  We should not associate our possessions with Gods goodness. Remember God is good when things are going well and when they are not well. God is good all the time.  Don’t judge God by the ‘stuff’ he gives you.

We were challenged as to whether we use our possessions for the glory of God. Q Are we using our possessions to impact peoples lives?

As we enter heaven we will be welcomed by the people that were impacted by our lives. Our greatest joy in heaven will be the people who we introduced to God, and spoke to them about God and showed them his love.

Q. Who are you impacting?

For some people this welcome will be muted…as we didn’t share God in word and finances. Those that share will have a loud cheer. 

Q. What are we going to do with our stuff?

Don’t store treasure on earth, store treasures in heaven.

Luke 15 is a story of three lost things a lost sheep, coin and son. God is saying treasure is “people”.  The people we interact with. We must use worldly wealth to gain treasure of friends. This doesn’t mean go to the pub and buy a round, or randomly hand out cash as this is short coming friends.  No, we must invest in the kingdom. 

Over the next few weeks we will look at finances, tithes and how we invest into life of church and it impact such as food bank, life etc. We will change the way we look at our finances to make it easier to do the right thing. Our money is not ours we are just stewards. Our possessions are Gods, we are just using them in the meantime. The treasure in heaven is people, so be a blessing to others.

Let’s see a generosity shift in our lives. God is calling us to be a more generous society.

Statement:

I hereby grant to you Lord myself, and all my money and possessions and all else I have thought of as mine. From this point forward I will think of them as yours to do with as you wish. I will do my utmost to prayerfully consider how you wish me to invest your assets to further your kingdom

In doing so I will surrender certain temporary treasures and gain in exchange eternal treasures as well as increased perspective and decreased anxiety. Amen.

Questions for Small Groups:

1 What value do you put on your possessions? Do you use them for Gods glory? If not, why not?

2 Is it easier to give God your larger possessions or your smaller possessions? And why? 

3 How do you feel about the eternal welcome being the people you impacted?

4 Who is in your life that you can be generous to this week?

5 As a group is there anything that you can do to be generous in your neighbourhood during the next seven weeks?