A Generous Heart
When planning special financial projects,
spiritual leaders should model generosity.
Here now is Gene Getz:
David's a great model of this Principle
of modeling generosity.
He knew that it was going to take a lot of
material gifts and support in order for
Solomon to build the temple.
And so he let Israel know that.
And the way he did it, first and foremost
as the king, was to demonstrate his
own personal commitment.
So here we have him making a
statement about that in
1st Chronicles 29:3 where the Holy Spirit
has recorded exactly what David said:
Moreover, because of my delight in the
house of my God,
I now give my personal treasures of
gold and silver for the house of my God
over and above all that
I've provided for the holy house.
Now obviously, he was the king and
he had a lot of personal treasures.
The fact is, coming from his life is not the amount
or the enormity of his resources,
it's the fact that as a spiritual leader
he wasn't going to ask others to do
what he didn't do.
So David illustrates this in a very beautiful way.
Now note what happened as a result
of his modeling.
We have 1st chronicles 29:6:
Then the leaders of the households,
the leaders of the tribes of Israel,
the commanders of thousands and of hundreds,
and the officials in charge of the
kings work gave willingly.
In other words, as a result of David's model,
we see that flowing over to all the other leaders.
And they're enumerated here--
leaders, commanders, officials.
They gave willingly.
Why did they give willingly?
Because David gave willingly.
He was the model.
This is a fantastic model, I think for us today.
And notice how this impacted all the people.
1st Chronicles 29:9:
Then the people rejoiced because of
their leaders' willingness to give...
In other words, David gave,
encouraged all the other leaders in
Israel to give.
And then the people all participated.
That's implied. And were rejoicing. Why?
...for they had given to the LORD with a whole heart. ...
They saw this.
And that's a key word--
they gave with their whole heart.
...[And] King David also rejoiced greatly.
As the leader, as he saw all of this
filtering down and through, and into the
whole body of the children of Israel.
But it began with his example and
then the leaders' model.
And you know we all need models.
This is something we see in the Old Testament.
We see it in the New Testament.
For example, Paul held up the
Macedonian churches as a model.
Here's a corporate model,
2nd Corinthians 8:1 to 5.
Here Paul is writing to the Corinthians. He said:
We want you to know, brothers,
about the grace of God granted to
the churches of Macedonia...
Now if we fill in the blanks there,
that would be the Philippian church,
the church in Philippi.
That would be the Thessalonians.
They were a Macedonian church.
It would involve the Bereans.
They were a Macedonian church.
And so Paul is simply saying
brothers, sisters, you there in Corinth.
I want to tell you about the Macedonian churches.
And here's what he said:
...During a severe testing by affliction,
their abundance of joy and their deep
poverty overflowed into the wealth
of their generosity. ...
Now what does that mean?
Well Paul explains:
...I testify that, on their own,
according to their ability and beyond their ability,
they begged us insistently for the privilege
of sharing in the ministry to the saints...
Wow! What an example.
What a model these churches were.
And obviously the Corinthians,
if you know anything about them,
needed this model.
And so Paul is telling them about this
corporate model. And he goes on to
say that they gave, they shared.
They asked and begged us to share:
...and not just as we had hoped.
Instead, they gave themselves
especially to the Lord,
then to us by God's will.
And isn't that true?
In David's life, I believe at this point in his life,
he had given himself to the Lord.
Which enabled him then to be able to
give himself sacrificially in terms of
his material possessions.
And this is a sequence that God wants
in all of our lives.
That's a great model.
If we give ourselves first to the Lord,
then a part of that giving is a part
of what we have.
So here's the corporate model.
And it's incredible that they
even gave out of poverty.
And as I have said on previous occasions,
I don't know what that's like.
Because I've never given out of poverty.
But these people gave out of poverty.
And again, it's not the amount
but it's what they gave.
It's like the widow's mite.
David gave out of his abundance.
But he was a model.
And here, the Macedonian believers
gave out of even what they didn't have.
And this was an incredible model to the
Corinthians and to all of us.
But we not only need corporate models,
we need personal models.
David was a personal model.
The children of Israel a corporate model.
The Macedonian churches a corporate model.
But here's another personal model
in Acts chapter 4.
We read about a man by the name of Joseph.
He's a Levite:
Joseph, a Levite and a Cypriot...
That is he was from Cyprus, the island Cyprus:
...[he was] a Cypriot by birth,
whom the apostles named Barnabas,
which is translated Son of Encouragement. ...
In other words, they changed his name.
The apostles changed this man's name.
And one of the reasons they changed
his name from Joseph to Barnabas,
which means Son of Encouragement,
is because of what he did as a model
in sacrificial giving.
Notice what he did.
...[He] sold a field he owned...
This was a field in Jerusalem.
But the fact that says "a field"
means he owned more than one field.
He was a very wealthy businessman,
investing in real estate in Jerusalem.
Which was very, very expensive
at that particular time.
But the church was in need and he was
a God-fearing, Grecian Jew.
Which means he probably was tithing.
And he'd learned that from the
Old Testament model.
But in addition to that, he sold a field
that he owned.
But notice what he did with it.
Once he got the money from the sale:
...[he] brought the money, and [he] laid it
at the apostles' feet.
And that was a very, very public
demonstration for all the believers
in Jerusalem to see.
That was a personal model.
And God wanted us to know about that.
And so here He's recorded it in Scripture
so that people all over the world who read
this story know that Barnabas was a model.
And we all need these models.
And here was this incredible
demonstration of this giving to help
build the body of Jesus Christ.
So here's the Reflection and Response question:
Though we definitely need exhortations to put God first
with our material possessions,
why are models of generosity
often even more impactful?
Well I think we need both.
We need exhortations.
But foundational to exhortations
involve a model.
You see, David could have said to all the
people of Israel, all the leaders of Israel:
I want you to give generously to build
this temple to help Solomon.
Well he did say that but he said it
first and foremost, with his life.
He said it with his own gifts.
What he did.
And then he said to everyone else in Israel.
The leaders and the whole family of God,
in Israel at least,
to join him and to follow his model.
He put feet to his exhortations.
And he modeled that.
So all of us, I think, we need models of generosity.
I know I have needed models in my own life.
My wife, who happens to be right here, was a
great model to me in terms of generosity.
Right from the very beginning of our marriage.
Because I didn't really have that model
in my parents. But she did in terms of giving.
And right from the very beginning
with my first paycheck,
lo and behold, she wanted to take
ten percent before taxes and give it to the Lord.
And I said: We can't do that.
I mean, how are we going to make ends meet?
And if you knew how much money
I brought home, my first paycheck,
you would realize why I was
nervous about that.
But she said: God will provide.
And being a submissive husband,
we began to tithe.
And by the way, we've never missed that since.
I think a couple of times we got behind
but we always made it up.
And that became then the minimum
in terms of our giving.
That's what we set as a goal for ourselves.
But I needed that model in my own life
and I'm so thankful.
And I can share that with you.
Perhaps that can be then a model to you
in terms of the fact that we all do need models.
You know, there's a misunderstanding
here I think in relationship to what the Bible
really says about being a model in this area.
And have you ever met a Christian who says:
None of your business what I give to the Lord.
And you know what they quote?
Jesus said: Don't let the right hand know
what the left hand is doing in terms of giving.
But give in secret.
That's a pretty strong verse isn't it?
What did Jesus mean?
Well look in the context and you will see
that He also said: When you pray,
go in your closet so nobody can see you.
And then God will hear your prayer
because you have done it in secret.
Well we all know that Jesus was
a part of public prayer.
The church in Jerusalem was a part of public prayer.
Prayer is a corporate thing.
Why would Jesus say: Go in the closet?
Why pray in secret?
Well the context is, he was talking the Pharisees.
And the only reason they prayed was
to be seen of others.
And the only reason they gave was to
be seen of others.
And so the Lord removed the reason
and said: Go in the closet.
Do it in secret.
And he knew that they would stop giving
because the only reason they gave
was to be seen of men.
No. You see, God wants models.
And that just becomes an excuse.
Your children need models of giving.
Your children will not grow up to be
generous unless they see that in our parents.
The church needs models.
And we can be very discreet about this.
We don't have to mention specifics or numbers.
We can simply say with models of generosity,
God is using these models.
God wants to use these models with
what we do as spiritual leaders,
as we lead the church.
So here again is a very significant
Principle to Live By:
When planning special financial projects,
spiritual leaders should model generosity.