3 Minute Church: The Mystery of Generosity
This blog unpacks Pastor Lee’s sermon from July 28, 2024: The Mystery of Generosity
“We never look more like Jesus than when we step into generosity.”
Pastor Lee Cummings
There are six things that generosity does in us supernaturally.
LET’S BREAK IT DOWN:
1) Generosity is contagious.
When we look at Jesus, we see a perfect love with no strings attached.
Generosity is a lot like Jesus’ love.
We give freely, not because we’re expecting a prize in return, but because the Kingdom of God celebrates when we look more like Jesus.
Generosity is contagious because the joy of the Lord is contagious.
In Christ, there is joy. And in joy, there is freedom. And In freedom we have the availability to give generously knowing that His hand will be over us every step of the way.
2) Generosity destroys covetousness.
Money itself isn’t evil. Money can do great things, build churches, fund missions…but the LOVE of money is evil. Living in a world with social media, coveting over what someone else has is incredibly hard.
But, God does not measure our success by how much we have, the things we buy, or the newest shiny toys we acquire.
God judges our success based on how much we did with the little we had—how we took our small seeds and grew them into fruitful crops.
When God becomes the ultimate provider for our lives, there will be no need to covet worldly things.
Everything we need flows from Him.
3) Generosity sets into motion the laws of sowing and reaping in our lives.
When we look at some of the biggest billionaires in the world and witness them donating millions of dollars, it’s hard not to take a moment’s pause and gawk.
But what we forget is that generosity is not based on the amount given, but how we give with what we have.
As followers of Christ, we can give generously, even when we might not have the means or time to, trusting that we are sowing into God’s plan for our lives.
We could each have a million dollars in the world, and it would mean nothing to give it away if it’s not for the glory of God.
4) Cheerful generosity is the result of Kingdom vision.
When we examine the successes of our lives, it’s not by our hand that we made it happen, but the gifts, talents, and grace that God has given us.
It would be so easy to take the benefits that we reap and spend them on worldly things. Instant gratification is easy; long term gratification is harder to achieve.
But, when we reinvest our successes, hold off on spending them in one place, and put on a Kingdom mindset, we play the long game that leads to even further success: glory for the Father.
5) Generosity is based on our conviction of God’s sufficiency.
Remember this: He is more than able.
Isn’t that enough hope for you to put your trust in Him?
The King of Kings has a unique plan hand-designed for your life. When we view God as the author of our lives and allow Him to write the story, our generosity will grow beyond measure.
He will always provide.
6) Generosity ultimately gives glory to God.
The day you met Christ, wherever it was, it was made possible because someone sowed into the Kingdom. They didn’t know your name at the time, but God did. He knew exactly when He would meet you and where.
Someone else’s trust in God allowed for your eternity to be changed.
And because you know Christ, someone else’s eternity will be changed.
The best part of it all?
He gets all the glory.
Tap to watch Pastor Lee's sermon now on YouTube.