On Extravagant Generosity

For a Christian, generosity is about being unselfish and willing to give or share what one has in order to make a positive difference on behalf of Christ. At the heart of being a Christian is dying to self in order to live for Christ. The Christian life is about putting the needs of others above one’s own needs, while at the same time being humble enough to receive from others. To give and give without receiving is a recipe for burnout. We need to receive with gratitude whatever anyone gives us, while we give what we can to others, so that there is mutual giving and receiving, a constant flow of blessing one to another. And all of this, the receiving and the giving, is done for the purpose of making real and tangible what Jesus declared in his opening sermon, that he came to announce the year of the Lord’s favor. Jesus came that we might have life, and that more abundantly. And the abundant life that God desires for all of us is made possible by the consistent flow of receiving and giving. Freely have we received; freely, we give.
Of course, this is an ideal situation. The reality is that there are some who have an inordinate amount of wealth and a multitude who have hardly anything. There is no economic balance in this world. So, Christians, being the salt of the earth, must be unbalanced in their generosity. We must be extravagant in our generosity for the purpose of having that balance that God desires for His economy. To be extravagant in generosity means to go well beyond what is expected. It is important to stress the importance of proportionality as opposed to how much is given. Proportional giving means giving a portion of what you have. An historic benchmark is the tithe. The actual amount, of course, will vary. One person’s tithe is another person’s walking around money. I will say more about proportional giving later when we look at the teachings of Jesus.
The point I am making now is that a fruitful congregation is one that is extravagant in its generosity, going beyond what is expected as a result of being sacrificial, and unselfish. Not only are we called individually to be unselfish in our giving, but as a congregation, we are called to be unselfish, to make sacrifices regarding what we want so that we can give to ministries outside of our own congregation, apportionments being a key way we do this.
Bishop Schnase tells the story of a finance committee that was struggling with how to pay a bill of $465 due to an emergency repair of the air conditioner. The congregation had already spent all the money allocated to building maintenance. They spent a lot of time stewing over where the money should come from. Should they take money from one budget item to cover this? Should they ask the congregation for a special collection? Should they have a bake sale or dinner? All these solutions seemed hard to pull off. The committee was really struggling with what to do. Then, the finance chair said, “Let’s all just take a time out and be quiet for a few minutes and ask God for guidance on what we should do.” They all agreed and started praying. After a few minutes, the chairwoman said to them, “You know, any one of us around this table could probably write a check for $465 and it would not dramatically impact our lifestyle or financial security.” She pulled out her checkbook and wrote a check out to the church for the full amount. And then she invited everyone else on the committee to do the same. Some also wrote the full amount, while others wrote a check for less. Because of this finance chair’s leadership, not only was the bill for the air conditioner paid, but the church now had an extra $1,695 from the finance committee in which to help launch new ministry initiatives. This is an example of extravagant generosity.

Now, let’s look at three teachings of Jesus Christ that relate to extravagant generosity. The first one is the familiar story of Jesus watching the widow putting in two coins. In this story, we are taught the amount of money given is not as important as the proportion of what is available. The widow, of course, has set the standard way above what any of us could hope to achieve, because she gave all she had to live on. We certainly will not give all our money to the church. But can’t we give a portion? Absolutely. It is our practice to give a proportion of what one has, a percentage of one’s income. The major benchmark of proportional giving is the tithe, which is 10% of your income. For some, that 10% would be $10 a week and for another $100 per week. It’s not how much, it is the proportion that we are to strive to increase. If this year, you gave 4% of your income, this year see if you can do 5%. If you are already giving 10%, see if you can give 11%.
The second teaching we will look at from Jesus comes from the story of the man who built bigger barns. The farmer was blessed with a bumper crop of grain. God had provided so much grain that he couldn’t fit it in his barn. He couldn’t leave the grain outside because it might go to waste. He decided to build a bigger barn. Then, he could kick back and relax because he had more than enough. He didn’t have to grow grain anymore. But God said to him, “You fool! This night, your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” Storing excess wealth is folly because it can be taken from us. Then what will we do? This is why John Wesley instructed his followers to save all they can and give all they can. It is prudent to set some back so that you can care for your needs and that of your family in an emergency. But to hoard wealth is folly. It is better to give your excess wealth away. Not only do you have a say in where it goes, it will also do good, easing the suffering of those who lack.
The third teaching from Jesus we will look at is the parable of the talents. Jesus told a story about a man who was going on a journey. While away, he entrusted his property to his servants. To one he gave ten talents, to another, five, to another, one. One talent would be equivalent to more than fifteen years’ wages of a laborer. So, you see that the servant who was given responsibility over ten talents was caring for a lot of wealth. To the credit of all the servants, they didn’t run off with the money. The first two took the money and invested it with the bankers, doubling their master’s money. When the master got back, and they reported what they had done, they were greatly rewarded because they had responsibly invested the money given to them. But the third servant, who had simply put the money under his mattress, so to speak, was berated for his irresponsibility. This story teaches us that responsible money management is an aspect of being faithful stewards of what God gives us. Money is a resource. And if it is handled responsibly, then much good can come from it. To handle money irresponsibly limits what can be done. So, as an individual and as a congregation, we must be responsible with the money we have in trust, so that this financial resource can be maximized for the benefit of the ministry of Christ in the world.
Extravagant generosity, like all the other fruitful practices of a congregation, is motivated by a deep love for God and for people. We give because God gives. We give extravagantly because God gives extravagantly to us. And we give because we want to make a positive difference in the world, and making a positive difference requires material resources. We give, not because the church needs money, but because as Christians we need to give, and give with joy and gratitude for all that we have received. We give because we serve God, the giver of all good gifts.
I just said that we give not because the church needs money, but because we serve God who gives. Giving is central to the life of a Christian and a practice that assists us in our maturity as Christians. Still, it is also true that the giving of material support is critical to the mission of the church. Look around you. Everything you see in this sanctuary is the fruit of someone’s extravagant generosity. We are beneficiaries of the sacrificial giving of those who went before us. Now it is our turn to be benefactors of future generations. Money isn’t everything. But it is critical. The ministry we can do, the impact we can make, the lives that we can touch, will be either enhanced or will deteriorate based on the money we have available through our giving. Without extravagant generosity, our ministry as a congregation will diminish.