When we hear the word “giving,” many of us immediately think about money. But one of the striking things about the early church is that it was extraordinarily generous in so many different ways. In today’s passage from Acts, for example, we’re told that the believers sold their possessions, opened their homes, shared meals and cared for one another to such an extent that no one was needy. The first Christians’ generosity was a powerful witness to the transforming work of the Holy Spirit within them.
And generosity remains a sure sign of Christian conversion, of authentic discipleship today. So the question we should ask ourselves is “Am I a generous person?” – Does a generous character and sacrificial lifestyle provide evidence that Jesus is in charge of my life? Generosity is so revealing because it exposes four important things about us. Our generosity reveals the extent of our gratitude to God, the state of our hearts, the source of our security, and our love for other people. Let’s take each in turn.
1. Our generosity reveals our gratitude to God
Firstly, our generosity reveals our gratitude to God.
The Bible tells us that our Heavenly Father is himself a generous giver. He gave us life. He gave us this world. He provides for our physical needs. And, most importantly, he gave his Son to be our Saviour. As John 3:16 so famously says: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son.” God the Father surrendered his Son to the cross so that we might become his forgiven people forever. This Christian Gospel is testimony God’s extravagant generosity, his unmerited grace to sinful human beings like you and me.
So if we’re Christians generosity shouldn’t be an onerous duty, but an expression of gratitude to God for all that he’s given us. When we truly appreciate Christ’s sacrifice for us, our generosity stops feeling like a chore and becomes instead an act of thanksgiving and joy.
2. Our generosity reveals our hearts
Secondly, our generosity reveals the condition of our hearts. We often talk about “setting our hearts” on something, don’t we? Whatever is “on our heart” is something we love, something we prize, something we seek.
If our heart is set on possessions, wealth, comfort or pleasure, then we will be very reluctant to give. We won’t be generous with our money if it threatens what we love most. We will hold on to our assets if wealth is what we value above all else.
But if our heart’s desire is to serve God, to advance his kingdom and to bless others, then we will view our assets differently. We will willingly surrender them in pursuit of these bigger, better goals. If our heart is set accruing treasure in heaven, we will be ready and willing to be generous with our treasure on earth.
In 2 Corinthians 9:7, the apostle Paul writes: “Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
God is not interested in reluctant generosity. He is looking for Christians who will give freely and cheerful. Freely and cheerfully because they have set their heart on things above, not things below. Freely and cheerfully because their hearts’ desire is to honour God and help others, not themselves.
If our heart condition is healthy, giving should not feel like paying a parking fine. It should feel like a privilege – the privilege of participating in God’s work in the world.
But if we do struggle to give sacrificially, the good news is that we can retrain our hearts for the better. By practicing the habit of generosity, we can recalibrate our hearts to love God and other people more and more. As Jesus said: “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
If we invest only in ourselves, our hearts will remain resolutely self-centred. But when we choose to invest more in God’s priorities – in people, in the poor and in the mission of the church – then our hearts’ desires will begin to change for the better. As we practice generosity, the Holy Spirit will make our hearts’ desires ever more wholesome and healthy.
3. Our generosity reveals where we put our trust
So our generosity reveals our heart condition, as well as our gratitude to God. Thirdly, it also reveals where we put our trust.
Faced with the uncertainties of life, do we seek financial security? Do we accumulate assets, buy expensive insurance and hold onto our income in case of a rainy day? Many do.
But Jesus repeatedly taught his disciples to trust our heavenly Father.
Generous Christians believe that God is their benevolent redeemer and sustainer. They know their true source of security is spiritual, not financial. As they face the future, their confidence is rooted in the Lord who can create the cosmos, raise the dead and feed the 5,000. A wise Christian seeks true security from their relationship with God, not in their bank balance or portfolio of stocks and shares.
Whenever we are generous, we are declaring that our ultimate sense of security is found in God, not in the value of our current account or the scale of our assets.
4. Our generosity reveals our love for others
Fourthly and finally, our generosity reveals our love for other people.
One option in life is to hold onto our time, treasure and talents. To use them to serve our own purposes, to ‘feather our own nest’. But when we use our resources to support the work of churches and Christian charities:
• Sinners find forgiveness;
• The lonely find community; and
• The needy receive support.
In short, lives are transformed. We may never know this side of heaven how many people benefit from our acts of generosity.
The first Christians in Acts kept their eyes open looked out for needs in their community, to ensure no one went without. Who in our church or community – or amongst our family and friends – would benefit from more of our money, time or energy? And looking further afield, Christian mission agencies are spreading the Gospel and serving the needy amongst the world’s poorest people. For example, as a congregation it would be wonderful if we could do more to support the ministry of our partner dioceses in eastern Congo.
Conclusion
So as I finish this morning, we’ve seen that generosity ought to be a characteristic of every Christian, just as it defined the early Church in Acts. We should aspire to be open handed people, who hold loosely to our worldly assets and possessions, who see them as gifts to be shared.
For with God’s help, our generosity shows the watching world our gratitude for God’s gifts, the health of our hearts, the source of our security and our love for other people. So let’s pray.