3 Ways To Be Generous
Sermon Notes
Intro:
Now this is the last week in our teaching series called Generous, which is about learning to give, in a world of greed. In week 1 we talked about the motivation for giving, in week 2 the benefits of giving, in week 3 the attitude of giving, and today we’re talking about 3 ways to be generous. We’re talking about being generous with our time, talent, and treasures. It’s 3 ways both skeptics and believers can be generous, but here’s the question. Do people view you as generousin those 3 ways?...Does your spouse, your kids, your family, friends, co-workers, the church view you as generous with your time, generous with your talent, generous with your treasures?... Which of those do you need the most growth in?...Today we’re discussing 3 ways to be generous using the example Jesus gives in the Good Samaritan. One of our codes at City Awakening is you can give without loving, but you can’t love without giving, and the parable of the Good Samaritan is an example of loving others in such a way, that you’re willing to give up your time, talent, and treasures for them. So let’s turn to Luke 10 and get into it. If you open your bible to the middle, keep turning right, you’ll find Luke. We’ll be in Luke 10:25-37. The title of today’s message is 3 Ways To Be Generous, and the big idea is that generosity can be displayed through your time, talent, and treasures...Generosity can be displayed through your time, talent, and treasures.
Context:
Here’s your context. In Luke 10 we learn Jesus sends out 72 people to serve and share the gospel in their cities. He sends out 72 people who were everyday ordinary people like us. Some of these people had families, jobs, deadlines to meet, houses to maintain, bills to pay, diapers to change, kids to homeschool, and schoolwork to complete. Yet these 72 people were still willing to give up their time, talent, and treasures to serve Jesus in the transformation of their cities. But in vs 25-37 we’re about to learn about a lawyer who wasn’t so generous. Let’s check it out.
The Word:
Luke 10:25-37 states, “Then an expert in the law stood up to test him...” Most scholars believe this lawyer isn’t trying to test Jesus in a hostile way. Instead he’s simply trying to test Jesus to see how much of an expert Jesus really is on Jewish law.
Again vs. 25, “Then an expert in the law stood up to test him, saying, ‘Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ 26 ‘What is written in the law?’ Jesus asked him. ‘How do you read it?’ 27 The lawyer answered, ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’” The lawyer breaks down all of God’s laws into 2, it’s love God and love your neighbor as yourself. He says the way to inherit eternal life, the way to get into heaven is to love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, meaning you need to be 100% dedicated to loving God. He says you need to love God with all not some of you heart, soul, strength, and mind. You need to be 100% dedicated to loving God and your neighbor to inherit eternal life in heaven.
Vs. 28, “Jesus tells him, ‘You’ve answered correctly. ‘Do this and you will live.’” Jesus tells the lawyer “Do this, and you will live.” It’s a brilliant response, because Jesus is now testing the lawyer. He’s using the lawyer’s own test to expose the lawyer’s failure to live out these laws. If the lawyer was already living out these laws, if he was already loving God and his neighbors, then Jesus would’ve said “keep doing this.” But instead Jesus says “do this” because the lawyer isn’t doing this. Jesus is exposing this man’s inability to love God and his neighbors.
See if we aren’t careful we might think Jesus is teaching we can earn our way to heaven by loving God and our neighbors. But Jesus is actually teaching it’s impossible to earn our way to heaven, because nobody can love to the degree God’s law requires. Nobody can love God or their neighbors with 100% dedication and perfection. Nobody can claim they love God with all their heart, all their soul, all their strength, all their mind. There’s no way anybody loves God to that extent considering how much we struggle with just trying to love our neighbors. I mean it doesn’t even say to “Love your neighbor more than yourself,” it says to “love your neighbor as yourself.” In other words just meet other people’s needs with as much dedication and delight as you do your own, but we can’t even do that! We don’t love our neighbors enough to meet their needs with as much dedication and delight as we do our own. Like the lawyer we all fail the test, we all fail to love God and our neighbor with 100% dedication and perfection, which is exactly Jesus’ point! His point is we’ll all fail at loving God and our neighbors as we should, and so we need God’s grace to save us. Jesus is saying the way to inherit eternal life in heaven is to rely on him, instead of ourselves. It’s to rely on his unfailing love, instead of our failing love.
Vs. 29, “But wanting to justify himself, the lawyer asked Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’” The lawyer wants to ‘justify’ himself, but Jesus is saying he can’t. Jesus is saying there’s no way he could ever love God and others perfect enough to inherit heaven. It’s because eventually everybody fails the test, everybody fails to love God and their neighbor, except Jesus. The lawyer thinks he’s loving God and others well, but Jesus is about to expose his sinful heart.
Vs. 30, “Jesus took up the question and said, ‘A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him, beat him up, and fled, leaving him half dead.” So contextually the road from Jerusalem to Jericho was considered a very dangerous 17 mile road through mountainous terrains. In fact it was so dangerous it was called The Bloody Way. It’s because it was full of caves where thieves would hide to beat people, take their money, and sometimes kill them. Traveling this road was like walking in a dark alley in the worst part of a city, but for 17 miles without any streetlights. It was a long dangerous road with no streetlights, police stations, or paramedics...They didn’t have cars to lock their doors, cell phones to call 911, or mace, tasers, or Glock 40s...It was a long 17 mile dangerous road to Jericho called The Bloody Way...Jesus says a man traveling on that road, and the guy was beaten, robbed, stripped naked, left on the side of the road half dead...This could’ve been your dad, your brother, your son, your friend...He’s dying...His heart’s fading...Who’s going to save him?...Who’s going to generously give up their time, talent, and treasure to help this man?...Who’s going to love their neighbor?
Vs. 31, “A priest happened to be going down that road. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 In the same way, a Levite, when he arrived at the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.” Okay so here we have both a Priest and Levite, a Levite is like an associate pastor who helps assist the Priest. So we basically have a pastor and an associate pastor walking down The Bloody Way, and they see this guy laying half dead on the side of the road. The text says they literally saw him, but they chose to pass him by. Maybe they were scared for their own lives, maybe they didn’t want to go through Levitical cleansing from touching a dead body, or maybe they just didn’t care. We don’t know why they didn’t stop, we just know they cared more for their own lives than this man’s life. They weren’t generous with their time, talent, or treasure, and as I studied this part of the text I was like “How could they do that? How could they leave this guy half dead? I mean they’re pastors! It’s their job to care for people, especially somebody who’s dying!” But then I realized I pass by people every day. They may not be half dead on the side of a road, but I pass by hurting people every day, and so do you. We pass by the homeless, pass by the outcast at school, avoid the Debbie Downer because we don’t have the time or the emotional energy to talk to them. My point is we’re a lot more like the Priest and Levite than we think. We pass by hurting people every day. So we need to be careful not to think too highly of ourselves like the lawyer, because Jesus would say we’re a lot more like lawyer than we think. We’re a lot more like the Priest and Levite than we think, passing by hurting people every day.
Vs. 33, “But a Samaritan...” This is where the story really shifts, because a Samaritan was a mixed race that the Jews called half breeds. They were half Jewish, half Samaritan, and the Jews hated them for being a mixed race. In fact they hated them so much, they’d actually pray for God to not forgive Samaritans. That’s how much of a hatred they had towards Samaritans. Jesus is using a Samaritan in the story, to expose the lawyer’s unloving heart toward Samaritans.
Vs. 33, “But a Samaritan, on his journey came up to him, and when he saw the man, he had compassion. 34 He went over to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on olive oil and wine.” Notice this Samaritan’s living out 2 of the 3 ways to be generous. The text says he went over to him, meaning he’s giving up his time to help the man. Whatever was on his calendar, what was on his agenda, whatever board meetings he had to make or down time he was hoping to take, all that went out the window because of the urgency of the situation. It’s okay to guard your downtime because you won’t be much help to anybody if you’re burnt out. But sometimes we need to sacrifice our schedule and our downtime based on the urgency of the situation. The Samaritan saw the urgency of the man in need, and abandoned his schedule, sacrificed his time to help...But he was also generous with his talent, because it says he bandaged his wounds. Was he a doctor, a nurse, a paramedic? We don’t know, but what we do know is God gave him hands to help others, and he used them. He used his hands instead of sitting on his hands. He used what skills he had to help bandage this guy up. In the same way God’s given you hands, gifts, talents, to help bandage the wounds of others in our city, and we’re to use our hands instead of sitting on our hands. The Samaritan used both his time and talents to help this guy, and we’re to do the same.
Vs. 34, “He went over to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on olive oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him. When I come back I’ll reimburse you for whatever extra you spend.’” So now the Samaritan’s living out the 3rd way to be generous, he’s being generous with his treasures. He gave up some of his treasure, some of his money to help put this guy in a hotel until the guy could recover. The text says he gave the inn keeper two denarii which was 2 days worth of wages. He basically paid for this guy’s hotel room for several days, and some scholars say it was equivalent to 2 months. But he also offers to reimburse the inn keeper any extra money that’s spent on helping care for the guy. If you try putting somebody up in a hotel for several days, for a couple of months, it’ll cost you. This Samaritan’s being extremely generous with his time, talent, and his treasures. Are we as Christians doing the same? Are we as a church doing the same? Are we being generous with our time, talent, and treasures?...Now after Jesus tells this story, he asks the lawyer this question.
Vs. 36, “Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” Jesus reverses the question on the lawyer. Remember the lawyer asked “who is my neighbor” but Jesus is asking “who proved to be a neighbor.” That’s two totally different questions. The lawyer asks who is, but Jesus is askingwho proved to be?
Vs 37, “‘The one who showed mercy to him,’ he said.” Notice the lawyer can’t even say the name Samaritan, instead he says the “one” who showed mercy. The lawyer has so much hatred in his heart that he can’t even say the name Samaritan. Jesus exposes the lawyer’s sinful heart by making the Samaritan the hero. He proves the lawyer isn’t as loving as he thinks.
Again vs. 37, “‘The one who showed mercy to him,’ he said. Then Jesus told him, “Go and do the same.’” Jesus says “Go and do the same. Go and do likewise,” meaning go and love your neighbor with your time, talent, and treasures like the Samaritan. City Awakening there’s people in our city dying everyday physically, emotionally, spiritually, but the question is will you love Jesus and your neighbor enough to care for them?...Will you be like the lawyer, the priest, the Levite, or the Samaritan?...Will you be generous with your time, talent, and treasures, especially within the church, because the church is the primary place Jesus equips and empowers his followers to spread his love? The church is the primary place where we gather to grow, but then scatter to go and spread the love of Jesus in our city. I’ve recently seen this happening in our own church. I’ve seen people being generous like the Samaritan, literally providing medical care and places to stay for people who are sick. I’ve seen a small group raise $1800 to help a family that lost some income when they were sick with COVID. This past week I’ve seen people provide meals and support for a mother and father who lost their son. They literally sacrificed their time, driving several hours with these grieving parents to the hospital where their son died....These are just a few examples of people in our church who are generously loving like the Samaritan, and what Jesus is doing with this lawyer is what we need to do with our lives. We need to evaluate our lives, evaluate our hearts, and realize we aren’t as loving as we think we are.
So evaluate your heart, evaluate who you are in the text?...Are you the lawyer, the priest, the Levite, or the Samaritan?...Who would your family, your friends, your co-workers, your church members say you are?...Would they say you’re generously loving with your time, talent, and treasures like the Samaritan, or passing by others like the lawyer, the priest, and the Levite?.. Spend some time this week evaluating the 3 ways to be generous. Evaluate your time, perhaps creating margin in your schedule to meet with a few people you’re pouring into, or even making your attendance and involvement in the church community more a priority. Evaluate your talent, perhaps thinking about ways you can use your physical talents to help spread the love of Jesus in and outside the church. Evaluate your treasurers, perhaps giving to the church for the first time, giving more consistently, or giving more sacrificially, giving more in 2022, to help us expand the ministries of the church and reach more people with the love of Jesus. Evaluate your heart so we can become a generous church, filled with generous good Samaritans, who are willing to give up our time, talent, and treasures out of a genuine love for our neighbors, and to bring Jesus glory.
The Big Idea:
The big idea of the message is that generosity can be displayed through your time, talent, and treasures...Generosity can be displayed through your time, talent, and treasures, but you’re going to fail at living that out. Both skeptics and believers are going to fail at being generous, fail at loving God and our neighbors, at the level we desire and Jesus requires. See the primary point of this parable is that we’re the lawyer. We’re all the lawyer, we’re all failing to love God and our neighbors with 100% dedication and perfection. We pass by people everyday, just like the lawyer, priest, and Levite. So none of us deserves eternal life in heaven, since none of us loves God and our neighbors at a level that’s worthy of heaven.
But the good news of the gospel is Jesus lived the perfect life we haven’t lived and died the death we deserved to die for our sins. The good news of the gospel is we’re really the person in the story who’s laying helpless in the ditch, half dead, needing somebody to save us. Our sins have robbed us, wounded us, left us for dead, but Jesus has compassion for us, stops to heal us, and raises us back to life. Jesus is the greater Samaritan who traveled The Bloody Road of the cross and gave up his entire life for us. City Awakening he saw you!...Jesus saw you...He saw you and couldn’t pass by you...He’s the greater Samaritan who saw you laying half dead in your sins, and came to save you. The more we see ourselves as the person on the side of the road in desperate need of a savior, and the more we see Jesus as the generous savior who’s willing to stop and save us, the more generous we’ll become. It’s because you can’t experience the kind of generosity the guy on the road experienced, and not be changed by it. A heart touched by grace, will extend grace...A heart touched by Jesus’ grace, will extend his grace...So let’s be generous with our time, talents, and treasures, because it’s Jesus who saw you, and was generous to you.