"Generosity"

 

"Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the Lord Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it."

 

            Malachi writes to the people of Judah in about 450 to 500 BC. The people have returned from exile in Babylon and they have rebuilt the city of Jerusalem and the temple. They are now living in the land again, but life is hard. They are struggling financially. They are still not free as a nation. The new temple is not nearly as nice as the one built by Solomon. So Malachi indicates that there is a situation of apathy, of half-hearted service to the Lord, and of declining moral standards. There are two themes that come from the people. One is that "God doesn't love us anymore" (1:2). The other is that "it is futile to serve God" (3:14).

            He then goes on to describe a variety of behaviors that he observes in the people. They are giving blind, lame and diseased animals for sacrifices in the temple. They sometimes make a public pronouncement about the fine animal they are going to sacrifice, and then at the last minute they switch it for a blemished one. The instruction of the priests causes the people to stumble. They have been marrying women who worship foreign gods. Some men are unfaithful to the wives of their youth. They divorce them and leave them destitute and then marry other women. Then he says there will be a trial against the sorcerers, the adulterers, and the perjurers, those who defraud laborers of their wages, those who oppress widows and orphans, and those who deprive the sojourners in the land of justice. Finally he says they are robbing God by withholding tithes and offerings. So this passage on tithes that is often read is actually just one issue of many that showed a lack of faith in the people.

            The idea of the tithe is that during harvest, one-tenth of the produce is set aside in the temple storehouse. This provides for those who serve in the temple, and to care for anyone who is in need. The offerings were specific gifts, some of them required, that took care of all the ongoing needs of the temple. By not giving the full 10 per cent of the produce, the storehouse did not have adequate grain to take care of those who depended upon it.

            I do not know why all of this was going on. Times were difficult, and for many reasons people did not feel close to God and were not depending upon God. They slid into apathy, complacency and immorality. They ceased to love God or obey him. Whenever people are stuck in a time of widespread apathy, it is always difficult to pinpoint the reason for it.

            In response God issues an invitation. He invites them to be generous. This is to be a whole-hearted response. He invites them to test him by bringing the whole tithe into the storehouse. He calls on them to allow generosity to lead them out of apathy and immorality into a new day of blessing and provision of the Lord. Their new found generosity would lead the way for a moral and spiritual renewal. In Chapter 4 we read, "But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays. And you will go out and frolic like well-fed calves." Apathy will be replaced with energy, inspiration, justice and healing. Generosity will lead the way back to God.

            For many years in the church when we have spoken of giving to the Lord, we have used the word "stewardship." I am now noticing a new word that is taking its place: "generosity." Sometimes a word change does not mean very much, but I think this is significant. Stewardship can be a difficult word to understand, because we do not commonly speak of stewards. We are not sure what one is. Stewardship speaks of managing resources and can often feel like an obligation, a duty. Generosity comes from the heart, it shapes one's character. If you are truly generous, you also care about justice, you love God and people. To be generous is a whole-life response to God. Generous people trust God, live by faith, and are genuinely hopeful.

            It is significant to me that this change in language has come during a long economic recession. We are going through a difficult time in which we are becoming less satisfied with self-reliance. We are seeing the difference between giving out of our excess and giving sacrificially, giving with faith. As we become aware of more and more needs, and as we see people struggling, often quietly, with financial issues, we know we need to find a guide through these times.

            Generosity guides us to some new models of giving, or maybe to rediscover some old ones. Our son Timm lives in a village in Alaska where he is a school teacher. This is a subsistence culture: they hunt and fish and gather to meet their needs rather than working at a job for a salary. Subsistence culture has a long tradition of sharing, and it seems to come easily to the people. Timm talks about his magical freezer that never seems to run out of caribou and moose and fish. The community also values people who cannot give, because they may contribute in other ways. There is great respect for elders in the village. They may no longer be able to go on the hunt, but they pray and give counsel and leadership. The tradition of sharing keeps the community alive in a harsh environment. Nothing is wasted. No one is forgotten. Generosity leads the way.

            In our setting, generosity meets needs in difficult times. It is a corrective to being overly self-reliant. It recaptures a tradition of sharing that is in our history. If we are able to share with those who are in need now, that will come back to bless us in years to come. God says "Fill the storehouse now, and I will open the floodgates of heaven."

            In our church generosity takes many forms. We give regularly and generously to the church, to our common mission. We share our lives generously. Some people meet financial needs. Others give of themselves in service. All generous gifts are valuable. The Lord does open the floodgates of blessing when we serve him, when we give generously. The guys who go out on furniture delivery have been known to stop for a doughnut as they wend their way around the county. Those have been good times of friendship building, of blessing. The dish crew on Wednesday evening seems to be blest in their time together. These are examples of generosity leading the way in building fellowship, and in encouraging discipleship.

            Then, Jesus points us deeper. When some leaders tried to trap him by asking question about paying taxes to Caesar, Jesus instructed them to give to God what is God's. They thought they had a clever trap laid for Jesus. If he had said they should pay taxes to the Romans, the Jews who were zealous for their independence would have questioned his devotion to God. If he had said not to pay taxes to Rome, they would have turned him in to the Romans on charges of rebellion. But Jesus asked them for a Roman coin, used to pay such taxes. They had one readily available. On the coin was a likeness of Caesar, a forbidden graven image, along with the words "Tiberius Caesar, son of the deified Augustus." On the flip side was his mother Livia pictured as a goddess, with the inscription "High Priest." David Tiede says, "This money was not theologically neutral." So Jesus says, "Give it back to Caesar. You shouldn't be carrying such a thing around in your pockets."

            Then he said "Give to God what is God's."

            That is the central issue of generosity. What is it that I carry that belongs to God, and how can I give it back to him? This is a matter of the heart. If I belong to God and if I am purchased or redeemed by the blood of Christ, then what is it that I give back to God? If I sing "I surrender all" or if I sing "Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee," then how should I be living in a new way? This is not about 10 per cent. Generosity is learning how to give back to God that which is His.

            Think about every part of your life, every part of your day. What does it mean to be generous? What does it mean to use the resources you have, the time you have for God's purposes?

            What has the Lord placed in your hand? How can you use it?

            What has the Lord placed in your heart? How can you express it?

            Generosity leads the way to the blessing of God.

            Amen.