"Steps of a Disciple: Generosity"
1Timothy 6: 6-19 by Rev. Carson Overstreet
Van Wyck Presbyterian Church
September 25, 2016
Praise the Lord, O my soul!
I will praise the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praises to my God all my life long.
Do not put your trust in princes,
in mortals, in whom there is no help.
When their breath departs, they return to the earth;
on that very day their plans perish.
Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord their God,
who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them;
who keeps faith for ever;
who executes justice for the oppressed;
who gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets the prisoners free;
the Lord opens the eyes of the blind.
The Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;
the Lord loves the righteous.
The Lord watches over the strangers;
he upholds the orphan and the widow,
but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
The Lord will reign for ever,
your God, O Zion, for all generations.
Praise the Lord! - Psalm 146
When we read the landscape of everyday life, it is hard to be a disciple. There is so much that competes for our attention. We are so easily distracted to take our eyes off the trail Jesus is blazing ahead of us. Paul is writing to young Timothy and gives him some encouragement on staying focused not just as a leader in the church but also as a disciple of Jesus Christ.
Listen to Paul’s words (1 Timothy 6: 6-19) according to the paraphrase in The Message, by Eugene Peterson:
6-8A devout life does bring wealth, but it’s the rich simplicity of being yourself before God. Since we entered the world penniless and will leave it penniless, if we have bread on the table and shoes on our feet, that’s enough.
9-10 But if it’s only money these leaders are after, they will self-destruct in no time. Lust for money brings trouble and nothing but trouble. Going down that path, some lose their footing in the faith completely and live to regret it bitterly ever after.
11-12 But you, Timothy, man of God: Run for your life from all this. Pursue a righteous life—a life of wonder, faith, love, steadiness, courtesy. Run hard and fast in the faith. Seize the eternal life, the life you were called to, the life you so fervently embraced in the presence of so many witnesses.
13-16 I’m charging you before the life-giving God and before Christ, who took his stand before Pontius Pilate and didn’t give an inch: Keep this command to the letter, and don’t slack off. Our Master, Jesus Christ, is on his way. He’ll show up right on time, his arrival guaranteed by the Blessed and Undisputed Ruler, High King, High God. He’s the only one death can’t touch, his light so bright no one can get close. He’s never been seen by human eyes—human eyes can’t take him in! Honor to him, and eternal rule! Oh, yes.
17-19 Tell those rich in this world’s wealth to quit being so full of themselves and so obsessed with money, which is here today and gone tomorrow. Tell them to go after God, who piles on all the riches we could ever manage—to do good, to be rich in helping others, to be extravagantly generous. If they do that, they’ll build a treasury that will last, gaining life that is truly life.
The human story has not changed a lot over the course of history. Comfort is sought over being content with the basics of life. Money is perceived to bring happiness. Status is a prized possession.
While Paul speaks how money can corrupt when it is misused or abused, it is actually a symptom of a larger issue within our history. That issue is a story that is threaded by the fabric of fear – the fear of not having enough, the fear of not being enough, and the fear of not being in control. Fear deceives us to trust ourselves more than God. Fear tells us we need to take care of ourselves first and foremost. And Paul wants Timothy to flip the script. “Run for your life from all this. Pursue a righteous life – a life of wonder, faith, love, steadiness, courtesy” (verse 11).
Paul wants Timothy to remember that the trail Jesus is blazing ahead of him is solid ground. If we blaze our own trail it is paved with idolatry because human nature puts other things before God. But the trail Jesus is blazing has a foundation laid with God’s generosity and it is a worthy path for us to follow. The most basic level of God’s generosity is revealed through love. “And we know love because God first loved us” (1 John 4:19).
The psalmist reveals God’s generous love in that God is our Helper and hope, the Maker of heaven and earth, and the Keeper and Giver of faith (Psalm 146: 5-6). God shows what love looks like in executing justice to the oppressed, giving food to the hungry, setting the prisoner free, opening the eyes of the blind, and lifting up those who are bowed down – particularly the stranger, the orphan, the widow (Psalm 146: 7-9).
God’s generous love stands beside us and pushes against that fear of not having enough. God’s generous love gives us identity and purpose and reminds us that as a child of God we are loved. We are already enough. God’s generous love meets us where we are and provides our every need to affirm that God is still in control and is worthy to be trusted.
I need that reminder this week because we live in a world with a lot of fear. There are additional pressures as tensions rise across our country and throughout the world. The political and racial tensions are high as distrust and fear are tearing apart the unity in our communities. We ask ourselves how are we to faithfully respond?
There are additional concerns for our children as life unfolds in real time on cell phones and social media. The interwebs have become places of virtual violence with graphic images and words that attack rather than build up. We wonder how to guide our children to make right choices with digital communication. We have to look at ourselves and how we are modeling that too.
There are additional questions as we all consider what kind of world do we want to live in? We pray for the brokenness of our world where it seems that corruption, mistrust and fear reign higher than God’s ways. Some days it leaves us all feeling quite small and helpless. And we really wonder how is God leading us to take the next right step?
The writer of Hebrews speaks loudly to me this week. “Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another....do not therefore abandon that confidence of yours, it brings a great reward. For you need endurance so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised” (Hebrews 10: 23-25, 35-36).
Today it is imperative for the twenty-first century disciple to follow that trail Jesus is blazing for it is marked with God’s will. Scripture shows us the heart of God’s will is generosity. God’s generosity is bold. In the Greek, that word ‘generosity’ holds a powerful image of being ready to reach out with open hands. Those hands search for ways to give an offering of intrinsic good. They reach out with God’s purposes in mind. Clenched fists learn to be open for the sake of creating a beloved community. This is how the hands of our Creator are shaping us to be as disciples.
I am always amazed how children and youth lead us in life lessons. Our young ones teach us rich gems of wisdom.
Just over a month ago a five year old boy was pulled from a demolished building in Allepo, Syria – a place marred by civil war. His name is Omran Daqneesh and his picture caused the world to sit with bated breath. Omran sat in an ambulance covered in grey dust and blood, sitting in silence and shock, as chaos churned around him.
And just a few days ago a six year old boy named Alex from New York wrote the most generous words to our president. Alex’s wisdom shines bright hope in our broken world.
Dear President Obama,
Remember the boy who was picked up by the ambulance in Syria? Can you please go get him and bring him to [my home]?
Park in the driveway or on the street and we will be waiting for you guys with flags, flowers, and balloons. We will give him a family and he will be our brother. Catherine, my little sister, will be collecting butterflies and fireflies for him. In my school, I have a friend from Syria, Omar, and I will introduce him to Omar. We can all play together. We can invite him to birthday parties and he will teach us another language. We can teach him English too, just like my friend Aoto from Japan.
Please tell him that his brother will be Alex who is a very kind boy, just like him. Since he won't bring toys and doesn't have toys Catherine will share her big blue stripy white bunny. And I will share my bike and I will teach him how to ride it. I will teach him additions and subtractions in math. And he [can] smell Catherine's lip gloss penguin which is green. She doesn't let anyone touch it.
Thank you very much! I can't wait for you to come!
Alex
In a world where money deceives, wars rage, politics attack, and racial tensions rise – just imagine the healing and unity that could come about if we all modeled Alex’s generosity. And yet Alex’s vision of generosity is already among us but we must open our eyes to see it. We must commit ourselves to open our hands and hearts to tirelessly work for it.
Generosity is a virtue God cultivates within us in order to join God in this holy work of reconciling the world. It is necessary for us to be united in generosity to follow Jesus’ call.
Generosity is as simple as giving someone different than you a hand shake, a hug, or even a warm welcome to recognize our common humanity. It is an act of humility that sacrifices something of self for the sake of including and connecting others to the whole. Generosity chooses to be kind instead of insisting to be right or prideful. This virtue of a disciple offers gifts to build God’s kingdom with our financial treasures, our time, our actions, and our words. Generosity flips the script from focusing on what benefits us to what benefits the whole of God’s coming kingdom.
We know what God’s generosity looks like through God’s Word, through Christ’s sacrificial love, and through examples like Alex. As we continue to learn about generosity we are called to go and do likewise. We are to do good, to be rich in good works, and be ready to share. Generosity empowers us to grasp the truest essence of life.
We feel a sense of God’s pleasure and purpose in life when we share the riches of God’s kingdom with others. In these difficult times that we are experiencing consider how God’s Spirit may be nudging you and me to be a little more generous.
Send a card to someone going through a difficult time and include a Bible verse of encouragement. Schedule a coffee date with someone who shares a different political perspective and commit to listen to one another without judgment but to gain new insights on shared concerns. Plan to meet someone for lunch of a different ethnicity or race to listen to their perspective on life in this tense time. Say thank you to a woman or man in uniform who serves our community. Help your children and grandchildren to reflect on generosity. Ask them who they helped at school or on the playground. Prayerfully consider how you might share your resources to partner with God in ministry here and beyond.
May we take the next steps of a disciple to go after God and provoke one another to love and good deeds. May the Spirit open our hands and hearts to practice extravagant generosity.
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
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