So we are going to continue our study on the generosity of God. But generosity, what are some practical outworkings of generosity? How can we, as I've coined this message today, image God's generosity as his image bearers? And so with that in mind, let's pray and ask the Lord for help as we go through various texts together as the object lessons of those things. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I pray that we enter into this time of study, as we enter into this time of hearing from you, from your word. Lord, I pray that you would bring to remembrance the studies that I've studied throughout the weeks leading up into this study that would be helpful to my brothers and sisters today, to better understand your heart of what it means as a true expression of generosity, how we can properly reflect that in our lives. And Lord, I know that the only way to do that is by depending upon Your Word and carefully walking through what it says. No better place to do that than in the Gospels. We pray that in Jesus' name, Amen. So turn with me in your Bibles to John chapter 2 for our first example of generosity. And while you're doing that, I just want to remind you of what generosity is. In the Dictionary of Biblical Themes, Martin Manzer explains it this way. He says that generosity is the free and liberal bestowal of wealth. Think about that. It's free, it's a free giving, and it's a bestowal of your wealth, possessions, or food upon others. So bestowal of wealth, possessions, or food upon others. And the generosity of God, he says, in His free bestowal of grace upon undeserving sinners. So think about that. In a practical sense, the most profound expression of that is the provision of Christ as a sacrifice for our sin. Our redemption is an expression of God's ultimate generosity. And as we think about that generosity, as we have been redeemed, in terms of Him loving us, we love because He first loved us. We are generous because He has first been, in a sense, generous with us. As we work through these various examples, I hope that you keep that in mind. This is an outflowing of God's generosity toward us. Let's look at the wedding in Cana. I love this story. I love this story for many reasons, but let's read it together. Verses 1-11 in chapter 2. On the third day, There was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, they have no wine. And Jesus said to her, woman, what does that have to do with me? My hour has not yet come. His mother said to the servants, do whatever he tells you. Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding 20 or 30 gallons. Jesus said to his servants, fill the jars with water. And they filled them up to the brim. And he said to them, now draw out and take it to the master of the feast. And so they took it. When the master of the feast tasted, the water now became wine and did not know where it came from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. The master of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, everyone serves the good wine first. And when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. but you have kept the good wine until now. This, the first of His signs Jesus did in Canaan and Galilee, and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him." Why do I pick that as an example of hospitality, my first example? Well, I believe because God demands generosity of us, it's because He is generous. Look at the generosity expressed here. Why would it have been a problem during this kind of wedding feast to run out of wine? I think we miss this in terms of our culture today. Why? To be quite honest, we're not very hospitable people for the most part. We kind of keep to ourselves and do our own thing, even in weddings, even in wedding ceremonies, kind of just invite our personal friends and our family. We throw a party, a brief party, and then we kind of go on our way. Well, the Israelites didn't quite do it that way. The Israelites, and particularly in the first century, they invited their families and friends, and they came out, and guess what they did? They feasted together for a week on average. They were partying for an entire week on average. Now think about that. You're going to need a lot of wine, especially if you have quite a few guests. And in Israel's history, one of the things that they were condemned for often was their lack of hospitality. Now, if you go back and look what Jesus did for them, they're going to run out of wine pretty soon. What would that have said to the guests? It would have been a disgrace for the hosts to run out of wine. It would have been a sign in their understanding of the time of being inhospitable. They didn't care about their guests. They didn't love them, right? How much does Jesus produce? There were six stone water jars, 20 or 30 gallons apiece, filled to the brim. I mean, he went all the way, filled that thing all the way up. And not only that, what was this assigned for? How did this bless this family? They were probably poor. They were probably incapable of providing enough for the feast. And it would have been an incredible disgrace for them to run out because they would have been considered to be inhospitable. Yet Jesus, in His generosity, knowing that they needed to reflect His generosity as their friends, as His friend, He gave to them something they couldn't give their guests. They were mind-blown. Can you imagine? I don't know how many gallons. I mean, think about like six times, let's say at the minimum, 20. There was at least 120 plus gallons of solid wine for this feast. And it was the best wine, better than the wine that they were drinking prior. And they were able to tell the difference even though they had already well drunk. Think about that. What a beautiful gift that Jesus Christ gave to that family. And what does it say? Note this. It says that His glory was manifested and His disciples believed in Him. So, as a result of this, this hospitality as an act of generosity, Him giving liberally, freely, of wealth, possessions, and food upon others, He didn't take, really, if you notice, He did it in private. He didn't take credit for it. He really, in a sense, allowed the parents, the family, to take credit for it. Jesus just is like, man, I have to be very careful at this point in time in my ministry on what I do and how I do it because I don't want to draw, in a sense, too much attention to myself. He says that to his mom. I believe that's exactly what he meant by that. What does this have to do with me? He did it in private and only the servants were aware of it, but his disciples believed, right? And note that he does it particularly towards strangers, people who, yes, he was friends with some of them, but probably many of them were strangers to him. Again, another point and example that we need to understand about the wedding at Cana and the issue of inhospitableness, if I can say it that way. It's a hard word to say. Hospitality was also a sign of spiritual health in Israel. Think of it this way. If you did not show care and concern for your neighbor, there was something spiritually dead about you. To the extent where if someone knocked on your door, there are other passages, I'm sure they're coming to mind right now, someone knocked on your door in the middle of the night and they needed some help, you were obligated to take them in and give them some help. If a stranger came to your house, right, there was an obligation, particularly within the family of Israel, the nation of Israel, to take them in and care for them. Right? And so think about it. Here we have disciples who are part of Jesus's entourage, if you will, coming to a wedding feast. There's a good chance that they weren't necessarily invited guests. Jesus just showed up with them. There were a lot of them. And they started drinking more wine than they had accounted for. And Jesus gave them probably 100 times more than they ever had and they probably had leftovers for weeks to come I personally have experienced that sort of hospitality matter of fact recently a Friend of mine came to visit from Texas and left more beer than I could absolutely drink in a year in my refrigerator That's the kind of hospitality that we should show to one another Think about that. This guy comes to my house I should be the one that should be hospitable and the dude comes to my house and fills my refrigerator with food and beer and I'm almost offended, right? I should be the one. He's stealing my blessing of being hospital, but that's as brothers and sisters in Christ. Think about that. That is the sort of feasting our love feast should be an outflow of such a thing. We should have an overabundance of food sitting in the back at the end, not worried or stressed that we might be taking too much, especially after the kids go through the line first, right? There should be an over and abundance. and outflowing and outpouring. Why? Because that sort of generosity is a demonstration of our love for God and our love for one another. Let's look at another example. So not only does God demand this generosity from us as a sign of our spiritual health, but we ought to generously celebrate additions into the family of Christ and restorations into the body of Christ. Listen to that. Not only should we be generous because God is generous, but we should generously celebrate additions into the body of Christ and restorations into the body of Christ. Let's go to an example that I think best reflects that in Luke, Luke chapter 10. Luke chapter 10, we find the parable of the Good Samaritan. And I'm sure many of you know already where I might be going with this, but I believe this reflection is what does it look like To not only give of goods, because God is generous, but to even break down barriers where they might exist among a people. Starting in verse 25, and we'll go through 37. And behold, a lawyer stood up and put him to the test, saying, Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And he said to him, What is written in the law? How do you read it? And he answered, You shall love the Lord God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with your mind, and your neighbor as yourself. And he said to him, You have answered correctly. Do this, and you will live. But then he said, desiring to justify himself to Jesus, And then who is my neighbor? Jesus replied, a man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now, by chance, a priest was going down that road, and when he saw him, he passed by him on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. And the next day he took out two denarii and gave him to the innkeeper, saying, Take care of him, and whatever more you spend I will repay you when I come back. Which of these do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among robbers? He said, the one who showed him mercy. And Jesus said to him, you go and do likewise. Now, why do I pick this as an example? If anyone is familiar with the history between the Jews and the Samaritans, you would know there was incredible animosity. As a matter of fact, they didn't even consider them, the Jews, the Samaritans, to be actually truly part of the nation of Israel in the Second Temple period because of what happened As they returned to the land, they took wives from foreign nations, which they were explicitly warned against. They even went as far as setting up another place of worship. Some of you may not know this, you may not be aware of this, but Samaritans were Torah-only-ists. They were Torah-only-ists. They rejected the writings, they rejected the prophets as the expressed word of God. Torah-only-ists. You have your Torah-only-ist with their only place of worship taking in other women from foreign nations, marrying them, explicitly rejecting the commands of God not to do that. And so the Jews quite literally despise the Samaritan people. Now here we have a Jew traveling from Jerusalem, down this treacherous road, and he's robbed. And this man's left for dead. And what does the Samaritan do? The Torah-only-ist. The one who is despised by the Jewish people. What does he do? He breaks down those barriers, doesn't he? And recognizes this is just a man in need. He's left for basically dead. And so I really, as just his neighbor, have an obligation to care for him. Note the lawyer, what he asked. He said, what does it mean to be one's neighbor? What do you mean? Who is my neighbor? The Samaritan demonstrated a few things that we need to take pretty serious as it regards God's generosity. That despite our differences, we are to show mercy. We're to have compassion on those in need, despite our differences. We need to come to their aid. And in this example, you know that he medically provided for him. And not only that, but physical protection as well. He put him in an inn and he gave him shelter. Note that he poured oil and wine. Those things were costly goods. It wasn't just cheap to just go, yeah, pour one out for the homies. This guy's, you know, this guy's, we're good, right? No, it was really expensive to pour out oil and wine on someone's wounds. He probably kept that for himself just in case he was injured on the road. Or he was probably bringing that for whatever reason. He had it with him. And he said, you know, I'm going to use this costly good for this man's need. He needs it more than I do. He needs it more than my family does. He needs it more than what I would use it for. Right. Notice also in this example, he gave two denarii to the innkeeper. If you note, some of you have notes in your Bibles, little footnotes. A denarius, it says in my Bible here, it says a denarius was a day's wage for a laborer. He gave up two days wages for a stranger, not only a stranger, but a man that had despised him as a person because he was a Samaritan. who likely would have despised him if he was in good health. Think about that. There was some serious issues, ethnically speaking, in terms of their national heritage, in terms of the way they worshipped. Take this example a bit further, just in John 4. What do we find Jesus doing with a woman at a well, who is a Samaritan? His disciples were flipped out, like, bro, what are you doing? Why are you talking to her? That doesn't make sense. What is he going after? What's he up to there, right? Not only do we struggle with talking to women in public already, culturally speaking, but especially not a Samaritan, and not one at a well in midday. There's a really good chance she's likely a prostitute, which we come to find out she is in the text. And what does he do? He just declares who he is to her. She goes off and becomes the best evangelist the Bible's ever seen. Brings the whole city out to come hear Jesus teach. Right? He breaks down those barriers. He breaks down those ethnic differences. He says, yeah, you don't know what you're talking about, woman. The salvation is for the Jews. We're not going to worship here. But I tell you what. There's going to come a point where you're not going to worship there, and the Jews aren't going to worship here. We're going to worship everywhere, and we're going to worship in spirit and truth. And he was demonstrating at that very time, what did he say to her? You keep drawing for water out of a well, and you're going to thirst again. The water I give you, think of God's generosity. Redemption? You'll never thirst again. He was demonstrating generosity to a Samaritan woman in the same way that this Samaritan man demonstrated generosity to this broken Jew who had been beaten and robbed and left for dead. He was willing to spend the money for this man he didn't even know. And then goes a step further. He says to the innkeeper, what? Quoting, take care of him. Whatever more you spend, I'll repay when I come back. That is mind-blowing. Just think about that. How many of you right now would take a dude who's just left for dead on the side of the freeway, right? Let's say you saw him get in a, you know, someone hit him on purpose, stole all of his stuff, like a truck driver or something, right? Beat him up on the side of the road, left him for dead. How many would you, and they were from like, let me find just a place that's just people that we have a really hard time with. What's one that comes to mind right out of the gates? He was one of Joe Biden's family members. I really don't like Joe Biden. So I would be like, ah, I know that's Hunter. He deserves to get beat up on the side of the road for all that nasty stuff that he's doing all the time. People might say that. I'm not thinking that personally. Please, guys, don't quote this. Don't clip it. Send it out to all your friends. I'll step down. I don't have any personal issue with Biden. I don't like him. I don't like his family. I don't like what they stand for. I believe that they're completely anti-Christ. I believe that he should not even be in the presidential office. I think that we need to step up and raise up men that should. However, he's our president. We need to respect him. But Joe Biden, Hunter Biden's on the side of the road, okay? He's despised among many people in our community. We don't like him. We don't like many politicians, to be quite honest. You can just plug in any politician's name and leave him dead on the side of the road. Most of us will go, awesome, he deserves to die. You know what I mean? Think about people you really have a hard time with. Think about evil dictators. Think about any number of people that you really have a hard time with, where there's this ethnic or any sort of tribal kind of animosity that you disagree with. Think of any number of the people who destroyed Portland. Think of those among the Black Lives Matters and the Antifa groups who are destroying societies right now, burning down people's businesses. You know, if you were a business owner of one of those businesses and you saw one of these Antifa people who you knew burned down your business, you would probably have a really hard time helping that person out. You wouldn't be like, let me pay for all your medical care. Let me give you all the expensive medicines that you might need to help preserve your life for now. Most people would go, no, leave them for dead. Right? You know what I'm saying? They wouldn't extend generosity. This is an extension of generosity that I would say is miraculous. That apart from having a heart and a mind transformed in Christ, we would not be apt or motivated to do. Look how generosity depicts the gospel in Luke 14. Let's turn a couple pages over. Luke 14, verses 12-24, in the parable of the great banquet. Listen to what Jesus says. He says, also to the man who invited him, when you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or even rich neighbors, lest they invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you'll be blessed, because they can't repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just." When one of those reclined at the table and heard these things and said, blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God. But he said to him, a man once gave a great banquet and invited many. And at the time of the banquet, he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, come for everything is now ready. But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, I bought a field and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused. And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen and I go to examine them. Please have me excused. And another said, I have married a wife and therefore I can not come. So the servant came and reported these things to his master and the master of the house became angry and said to the servant, go out quickly to the streets and the lanes of the city and bring the poor and crippled and blind and lame. And the servant said, Sir, what have you commanded has been done, and still there is more room. And the master said to the servant, Well, then go out into the highways and hedges and compel people to come in so that my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet." Who's being invited and why? Consider the generosity. He has set up a banquet. I am opening up my home. Hospitable expression you can make right? I'm opening up my home I provided a banquet and I've invited all these people and then he says earlier. What does he say? He says don't invite people who you you know for your homies Especially the rich they can repay you back. Don't be doing things by the way or Intentional gain or maybe prosperity or a way to climb up the ladder of success in society Do it in such a way where you're giving to a group of people that can't ever pay you back. This is obviously extreme example Who are those people? They're poor, they're crippled, they're lame, and they're blind. And he says you will be blessed because they can't repay you, but, no, you'll be repaid at the resurrection of the just. The wicked will be left for dead, and you'll be raised again to newness of life in the resurrection of the just, and you'll be repaid then. You'll receive your rightful restoration for what you've done. Think about that. You're doing things in your life. You're going about your life. And you're doing things in such a way where you know that you'll probably never be repaid in this life. You're helping out people that you'll never see any sort of repayment from because they actually can't repay you. Right. And then you're doing it in hopes and faith that ultimately that will be acknowledged and restored to you in the resurrection on the other side of eternity. Jesus says, blessed is everyone who will eat the bread of the kingdom of God. Angry of those whom he invited, that he declined. So the people that declined his invitation, the master was actually angry at. And then he turns around, and again, this is an expression of the gospel. I believe he's speaking about the Jews at the time, in Jerusalem, that should have acknowledged the fact that he was the Messiah. He's extending an invitation into his banquet, into his feast. And there are people who are just declining because they have better things to do in their life. And so the contrast is, well, there are a group of people who would really appreciate coming to this banquet. Go quickly to the streets, to the lanes of the city, bring in those poor and crippled blind and lame people. They're the ones who are going to be a part of his house. And they're going to be blessed while others are going to be left out. Think about celebrations given here just shortly after in terms of restoration. So you have addition through generosity. There's a generous expression of a banquet as an expression of the gospel. And then you have the other side. You have a restorational generosity. Let's look at this one. The prodigal son in Luke 15. Starting in verse 11, he said, There was a man who had two sons, and the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the share of the property that is coming to me. and he divided his property between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all that he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in the country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. And he was longing to be fed, with the pods that even the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself, he said, How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread? But I perish here with hunger. I will arise and go to my father, and I'll say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants. And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion and ran and embraced him, kissed him. And the son said to him, father, I've sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. But the father said to his servants, bring quickly the best rope, put it on him. Put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet, and bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let's eat and celebrate. For my son was dead, and is alive again. He was lost and is found." And they began to celebrate. Now his older son was in the field, and he came and drew near the house and heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked, what do these things mean? And he said to him, your father has come and your father has killed a fattened calf because he has received back from him safe and sound. But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him. But he answered his father, look, These many years I have served you. I never disobeyed your commands. Yet you never gave me a young goat that I might celebrate with my friends. But when his son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you kill a fattened calf for him? And he said to him, son, you're always with me. And all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad. But this is your brother, was dead and is alive. He was lost and he's found. What does the father's response teach us? Think about the father's response. Look at his actions. While he was far off, he was literally standing there, some commentators say, and waiting for his son in hopes that his son would return. He saw him from a distance. He was eagerly anticipating in hope that he would return. Was his father angry with him? No. He ran to him, which in some sense was a cultural, like, you don't do that. You wait for that son to come to you. And in most cases, what most fathers would do is demand him grovel in that repentance until he had decided enough, okay, that's enough. And maybe would have even made him one of his servants. No, what does he do? He embraces him and kisses him. He gives him the best robe. He puts it on him in a ring. A ring was a sign of authority and leadership in the home. You are my son. No, you're not going to be a servant in my household. You have the best robe and you have a ring on your hand. You are my son. Put shoes on his feet. He restored that man's dignity. He was living in pig slop, hoping that even maybe I could just eat one of the pigs pods. I'm going to eat pig food because I'm starving to death. Then what does he do? He kills a fattened calf if it wasn't enough. A costly good that his brother complains about. Man, you have never done that for me, Dad. Why would you do that for him? I have honored you my whole life. How come you've never celebrated something like this for me and my friends? He recognized the costliness of the gift. He even went as far as to celebrate a feast, inviting all of his friends and family. It was a costly event. You can imagine what that was like. Did that father care? No way. He was just like, man, my son is home. Praise God. He was dead. Now he is alive and he is restored to the family. I am so happy to have him back here. I am so excited to celebrate this event. To me, it's better than a wedding. It's like a resurrection from the dead. He's lost and he is found. Think about that. There are people who have been among us who we've had to sadly excommunicate from this church. Our prayer and hope, we should be looking from a long way and a far off, like the father, praying that they return, praying that they come to their senses and escape the snare of the enemy, as scripture says. And with great rejoicing, look forward to maybe possibly celebrating with them, whether it be this side of eternity or the next. But if we had that opportunity, my question to you, if you have been wounded by these people, how quickly would you be to celebrate with them. Would you be like the brother? This is, imagine the faithful Jews in Israel, and here Jesus is calling in the Samaritans. Whoa, man, what in the world are you doing? We have been so faithful to the living God. Why would you call these people who went apostate and actually caused really the fall of Israel? They were taken into captivity as a result of their actions. They even intermarried, they defied your name, and yet you would bring them back into the fold? How is it that you can eat with tax collectors and sinners, feasting with them? These people hate our people. They have rejected our people. How is it that you could bring them into the fold and celebrate with them like they have been your brothers and faithful their whole lives? How would you respond if we restored someone, which we have, by the way, in this fold now? How have you treated him? Are you celebrating with him? You celebrating his marriage to his beautiful bride? Are you celebrating them as a couple? Are you struggling somewhere in your heart? Like, wait a minute. They've been unfaithful. They've struggled. Yet they're restored and they come to this table and they feast with us. Are you in your heart in some way harboring bitterness toward them? Can you come to this table today in a clear conscience? Are you like the father? Eager to put a robe on Give them a ring. Put some shoes on their feet. Kill a fattened calf and celebrate that they are your brother and sister in Christ. There are people here today who are struggling and wrestling with that. I'm a faithful one, man. They haven't been. They're really struggling. They're having a hard time. You know what? As their pastor, I've counseled them and I've had the opportunity to sit down with them. I love them. And I want them to be a part of this family just as much as you are. And I want to see other people restored. Let's run to them. Finally, Matthew 25. Interesting enough, there's an element where generosity actually determines final judgment in the kingdom of God. Think about this. Jesus describes final judgment in Matthew 25, verses 31 through 36. Listen carefully. When the Son of Man comes in His glory and all the angels with Him, when He was still on His glorious throne before Him, will be gathered all the nations, and will separate people one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep on His right, but the goats on the left. And the King will say to those on the right, come, you who are blessed, my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me food. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you welcomed me. I was naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to me. And then the righteous will answer, saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you as a stranger and welcome you, naked and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and visit you? and the king will answer them. Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these, my brothers, you did it to me. And then he will say on his left to the goats, depart from you, you cursed into eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels, for I was hungry and you gave me no food. I was thirsty and you gave me no drink. I was a stranger and you did not welcome me. Naked and you did not clothe me. Sick and in prison and you did not visit me." And they will answer saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger, naked or sick in prison, and did not minister to you? And then he will answer them saying, truly I say to you, as you did it to the least of these, you did it not to do it to me. And these will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. What's the primary thrust of that passage? There are two groups that are separated by their generosity or lack thereof. Why? There were people who needed things the most in their lives, around them, opportunities that existed where they did not extend that generosity. They kept it to themselves. Listen to the way they're described. They were hungry. They were thirsty. They were strangers. They were naked. They were sick. And they were prisoners. And Jesus says, as you did it to the least of these, my brothers, you did it to me. When we talk about outreach, when we talk about in-reach, this is the thrust. This should be the key understanding of what it means to be a body of Christ. As you do it to the least of these, do we have any naked among us? Any hungry among us? Any thirsty among us? Any strangers? Sick? Prisoners? Let's go to them. Let's clothe them. Let's feed them. Let's give them some water. Let's go out of our way to figure that out. This is an intentional thing on our part where we say, how can we come alongside you and aid you? Remember, the extension of the generosity. Go back to that banquet. The Lord opens His kingdom like He does a banquet hall in His own home. We are to go out and say, you are invited to the banquet. The king demands it. And if you decline it, he'll be angry. And by the way, if you're one of those stingy people, especially with your time, energy, efforts, finances, you're going to be a goat and you're going to come to him one day. And you might even say, Lord, as though you knew him. And he's going to say, depart from me, you worker of iniquity. I never knew you. You didn't clothe me. You didn't feed me. You didn't give me a drink. You didn't come visit me in prison. You weren't helpful. You kept all these things to yourself. That, my friends, is a hard word to hear. So let me ask this as we close. Consider what would happen to a society if they took these elements, and there are of course many more elements that could be expressed, if that society took generosity as seriously as God does. They actually believe the gospel. the ultimate expression of God's generosity. Let's take a minute. Individually speaking, individuals' lives would flourish. They'd be very blessed people. Would they be incredibly wealthy? No. Paul uses examples in Corinth where they were broke, so poor, they could hardly care for themselves. But yet in the limited amount that they had, it says they exploded with giving to make sure that the church in Jerusalem was cared for when he was raising up finances to take it to them. Think of that. So it doesn't mean you have to be uber rich to be super giving. As a matter of fact, most examples in scripture think about the woman who came to provide her minimal, the most minimal offering, these two pennies or whatever they were, right, in the offering. And what did Jesus say? Here's this really wealthy guy who's bragging in what he's giving. Look how awesome I am and all these things I'm giving. You might be the guy who buys the church. You might be the guy who has a monument out in the front because you bought the church. And then there's this little old lady who cruises in, and she's just doing whatever she can to hook someone up. Just like, hey, can I give you a ride to church with the limited gas I have? Hey, can I, like, buy you a meal or something? Get you a hamburger? I don't have much, but I know that's really important. You're hungry. What does Jesus say about this person who gives up these sorts of sacrifices? She gave more than this fool ever would. I don't care how sweet that church building is. I don't care about his dumb monument. I care about the heart behind it. This woman, she gave greatly, more than this man could ever give. And her reward will be great in the kingdom. So individually speaking, your lives will begin, you'll notice this, as your generosity outflows towards others around you, your life will be blessed beyond measure. And that doesn't necessarily mean monetarily, but spiritually full. Secondly, what would the family look like? So you have individuals within a household, because individuals make up a household. These individuals are expressing this sort of generosity toward one another. My sons, are you generous with your brothers? Are you going out of your way to figure out ways you could bless your brothers and your mommy? Kiddos, are you looking for ways to bless your parents? We were laughing yesterday, object lesson. Yes, I'm going to use it, Pierce, right now. Where I walk up to the dinner table and I'm like, I just asked him to clean it. And what did I do? I went, you done here? He went, yeah, I'm done. I went, what's this mess on this table? Why, I cleaned up the stuff you asked me to. No, no, see, I'm not asking for that. What I'm asking you to do is be a blessing to your mother. Isn't that what I said? Right? How can you be a blessing to your mother? Not just like, let me get by with the bare minimum. We hate people like that, don't we? We hate working with people like that, don't we? It's like you go and ask them and you're like, let's say you're working in a business together, right? Let's say you're like, I'll just use my business, for example. I hate it when people don't put their parts back after they use them. They get by with a bare minimum. Well, I dumped the sanitizer out and left them in the bucket there. Get out of here, bro. Put the stuff away. So that when I come to use the parts the next day, they're ready to go. How about you be a blessing to me as much as I am a blessing to you? I go out of my way to figure out ways to be a blessing to you in the workspace. You should go out of your way, Pierce, to be a blessing to your mother when you clean up. And what does that look like? You go and you knock out stuff daddy asked you to do. get it all knocked out, and you're like, hmm, there's still crumbs on that table. You know what? Mom would love that if I wipe that table off. Do you know what would really be a greater extension of generosity? If I put all the chairs back in the cushions where they belong. And maybe it would be really sweet if I put the actual, you know, placemats back away. Maybe I'm gonna wipe down the counter. Mom would love that. Maybe I'll put that food away after I took it out. You know what? Is there anything else that I could organize right now that would be a huge blessing? You know what? Mommy always talks about me cleaning the basement. Right, Vance and Jace? Right? Mommy talks about me cleaning the basement. Instead of going, gosh, dang it, do I have to come down there and check it to make sure every little detail was knocked out that I asked you to do? Do I have to micromanage you the whole time? That's exhausting, guys. Any parent know that? Yeah, amen. Can I get an amen? We're Baptists here. Yeah, amen. Thank you. So Baptists know that. That's horrifying. And a family situation, you got four of them, and man, you extend that more, right? If you're one of those 19 kids and counting kind of people, get ready for it. You're gonna be like, I'm gonna micromanage this detail, micromanage that detail. No, pull the hair out, and you end up giving up, right? Most of us do. We understand what that's like. But if you raise your children to go, how can I look at opportunities? And by the way, husbands, help your wives. I just learned this in the toxic war on masculinity. It is an attractive thing when husbands help their wives with chores around with that man. I won't say what I call it, but yes, I will. Chornography, I call it chornography, and it's hardcore. When the husband goes out and does work, you like that, I know that. It is. Women are like really attracted to men who help out around the house. Amen, ladies? Thank you, look at this, we're Baptists now, right? So, think about this, in the familial situation, the husband's not saying, I am the head of this home, you must serve me and call me Lord. Women love that, right? They're super amped. Right? To do that. And just demand their free time and their recreation the moment they come home from a hard day's work. I, in my mind, in my heart, my apologies to my wife right here publicly, have done that. Like, man, I'm tired. I need to sit here. Maybe play some Call of Duty for a little bit. I don't want to think about cleaning anything, or making anything, or doing anything. I don't know homework. I don't want to do spelling stuff. You know? My apologies. But it's good. It's an extension of generosity to your wives. And the wives the same way. It's an extension of generosity to your husband in serving them and loving them. As the Lord has called us to do. Kids, be a blessing to your family. Look for ways that you could bless your mother and father and one another as siblings. Go out of your way to figure it out. When you see something, go, man, I'm going to pick that up right now. When you see an opportunity to go help mom with dinner, hey mom, can I help you? When I came into the room, one thing I was very blessed. Let me call you out in a good way, guys. You know what I was very blessed about yesterday? We got a Walmart delivery. And you know what my kids did? They put the groceries away for their mom. It wasn't even there. Thank you for doing that for your mother. That is a blessing. That is a familial extension of generosity. Please keep doing that kind of stuff. And I promise you, you will see smiles, not the lip, you'll see smiles on your mom's face more often than the lip. My wife does this lip thingy, we all know when she's mad. So, yeah. Congregationally speaking, okay? Congregationally speaking, what does it look like to be a blessing to one another in the congregation? I've mentioned a few. The love feast is just an opportunity for you to, in an extension of your generosity and your time, prepare something to share at the table. We've struggled with that in our congregation. Sadly enough, we've had complaints about what people bring. Stop that. That's dumb. Don't complain about what other people bring. That's horrifying, to be quite honest, and it kills the desire for other people to want to bring anything, okay? When someone brings something, realize that is an extension, no matter what they bring, of a generosity of their heart. Let them bring it, okay? And for those who never bring anything, please start bringing stuff, especially you single people. Okay, families, can I get an amen? Single people, you have plenty of time. There's not much you're doing right now, okay? You may think, oh man, I'm super busy. I'm having a hard time in my life. No, you're not. You're not married, and you don't have kids. You'll learn what that looks like, right? You'll learn what that looks like. So you have a ton of time to be a huge blessing to the body who have, if you haven't noticed, half our congregation is families, and a bunch of families with little ones. Look at these tiny guys everywhere. Everywhere, they're everywhere. It's great, it's wonderful, but they need help. Look, maybe an opportunity to serve one another in that level. Hey, look, I notice you have a ton of kids. Any way I can come alongside of you and help you with those things? Right? Think about ways, look, that extension of generosity from the family now to the congregation who are made up of families are now looking for opportunities to bless one another. By the way, Liz, can I publicly thank you and Elena for making loaves of bread for our wonderful communion? Thank you. She's busy. She's got little ones. That is awesome. Lovely loves. And Alina too. Thank you so much publicly. This is a blessing to our congregation. Can you imagine if folks in our congregation spent their time looking for ways to extend generosity to one another? What would that look like? I mean, man, the individual's looking pretty awesome. The family's really starting to look great. What about the congregational life? Now let me spill this on over to close this out into the government. from the church. Trick question. Is the government supposed to be generous? Generous with what? Let me just say, I'm going to go out on a limb and say, no, they're not supposed to be generous at all. That's not their job to be generous. Why? Because if the individual family and congregation were, the government wouldn't have to be. They would not assume those responsibilities. And yes, I'm saying it today. God demands that we all be on an individual level, family level, and congregational level, generous. When we are not, the government assumes that responsibility. And they create things like a welfare state. They create things like government-controlled medicine. They create things like care for orphans and widows and the homeless. See, the reason why we're struggling and wrestling with the thing that we're wrestling so much with today with the government and their overbearing stripping of our finances to the tune of 40 to 50 percent is because we have stopped being generous with one another. We have given that up and the government's like, well, I'll assume that paternal responsibility. I'll take on the individual responsibility of being benevolent and generous. I'll take on the family responsibility of being generous. And I'll take even the congregation's responsibility of being generous. See, historically, you might not be aware of this, but it was the church that cared for families in need. It was the church that helped the homeless. It was the church that helped the widows and orphans. Yes, that's right. James says true and undefiled religion is this, that we're here to what? Visit widows and orphans in their distress. Do you know the number one reason why Israel was kicked out of the country? Is because they were inhospitable people. Inhospitable people go listen to what Isaiah has to say about hospitality. You'll be mind-blown So again, this is not an exhortation To condemn you some of you are very hospitable people and very generous and I want to tell you personally. Thank you We are a very blessed church as a small community of people a very blessed church of people But there's some among you aren't and you know who you are. You know exactly who you are I'm gonna tell you right now. Do you want to be with the sheep? In the end? Or do you want to be with the goats? Remember that the gospel transforms our minds. The gospel changes our attitudes toward the way we see things, our finances, our time, our gifts, our abilities, and what we invest those things in. We're either going to be other-centeredness or we are going to be self-centered. We're going to love God and our neighbor or not. We're going to reject that whole idea. We might say it with our lips, but trust me, everybody, we are watching your feet, especially the leaders. We're watching what you're doing, not what you're saying. And in the Lord even more so. And that particularly starts with us and it trickles on down. The gospel develops generous families which in turn forms generous congregations and by virtue of that impacts governmental systems. and develops generous nations, which by might I say, the people who believe this, that founded this country, believe that wholeheartedly, and you are benefactors of that today and breathing its theological fumes. So we either make the decision today to change that, or we watch destruction happen in our country. Bow your heads with me. Heavenly Father, I pray and commit this time to you that the Lord would have, that the word, your word would have gone forth, Lord. It would have gone forth in power. We would have gone forth in encouragement for those here today who have this heart, have this passion, who are doing these things, who care about their families, who care about others, who love one another well, who are looking to expand your kingdom generously, and who are looking to restore those as lost sheep, who will go after the one and leave the 99. Lord, that there is an abundance of love outflowing from this place and into our society, Lord. And Lord, that we would slowly but surely strip our tyrannical government away from caring for the needs of others, because why, we have such an amazing, flourishing congregation, and we know, as my brother played this morning, like Gideon's army, it does not have to be big to do great things, because you are a great God. And Lord, I pray that this would instead would stick fast in our hearts like a well-driven nail. And I pray that in Jesus' name.