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WEEKLY
Volume 4 Number 20
11 October 2009
A Generous Heart
(Message delivered by Rev Hien Nguyen at the
Worship Service, 2:00 pm, Oct 11, 09)
Text:
2 Cor 9:6-8
People with a generous heart are
usually praised and admired despite their poor or uneducated background,
but those who have a selfish or stingy heart are always despised whether
they are rich or poor. A generous person is willing to bless, to give
and to help. Those who do not have a generous heart are usually selfish,
greedy and stingy. They like to take and to receive, but not to give.
Due to the corrupt, sinful, and depraved human nature, people in this
world are selfish and greedy. Many may be willing to give to the poor
because they are so rich and have plenty of things, and many others may
show off their generosity to get the praise from men like the Pharisees
(Matt 6:1-2), but their selfish nature will be exposed when they are in
need, in debt, or in trials. When I studied at the Teacher’s Training
College in my country, a lecturer who had joined the re-education camp,
shared with us what a hard time he had gone through, “We used to be very
rich, polite and generous, but in the re-education camp with a weak and
sick body due to hard work and lack of nutritious food for months and
years, we hungered for good food. Once in a while, if someone had
gotten some food from his loved ones, he would just keep it for
himself alone, knowing that it was not enough to sustain him for several
days. Sometimes, many in the camp were not shy to expose their
greediness when they scrambled for food on a special day. They were not
polite or considerate any more.” We may laugh at them because we are not
in their situation, but if we have lost our job for a long time, have
withdrawn all our money from the bank, have carefully spent all the
money on food for many days and months, and if we only have enough food
to sustain us for today, without God’s grace and love, it is not easy
for us to share our small amount with others in the same situation. We
shall see our selfish nature in our great need, difficulties and trials.
The Lord our God is so good and
generous, and He always loves and blesses those who have a generous
heart like Him. Do you and I want to have a generous heart? God, who has
created us, saved us and given us His eternal life in Christ, is able to
fill our hearts with His love, goodness, and kindness so that we may be
generous to others.
Blessings for the Generous in Heart
When we have a generous heart, we are
willing to bless, to give and to help others with what we have received
from God, and God will surely bless us:
Be like God:
God is so good and generous. He has given mankind so many good things to
enjoy, “Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he
did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling
our hearts with food and gladness… For in him we live, and move,
and have our being” (Acts 14:17; 17:28), and “A man can receive
nothing, except it be given him from heaven” (John 3:27). God even
gave mankind His only begotten Son to die for their sins, “For God so
loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John
3:16). And to His children, God “is able to do exceeding abundantly
above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in
us” (Eph 3:20). Then, if you and I have a generous heart, we shall
be like our God the Father, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your
Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matt 5:48).
Be more blessed:
“It is more blessed to give
than to receive”
(Acts 20:35). Many like to receive than to give. But before God, when we
can give something to the needy, we are more blessed and will continue
to be blessed by Him, “And God is able to make all grace abound
toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may
abound to every good work” (2 Cor 9:8), and “Blessed is he that
considereth the poor: the LORD will deliver him in time of trouble.
The LORD will preserve him, and keep him alive; and he shall be blessed
upon the earth” (Ps 41:1-2). Then do you and I want to be blessed?
May God help us to bless others with the blessings we have received from
our good and generous God. May God make us a blessing to others.
Be remembered and recorded:
The poor widow’s generous offering was praised by our Lord and recorded
in the Scriptures, “Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow
hath cast in more than they all: For all these have of their abundance
cast in unto the offerings of God: but she of her penury hath cast in
all the living that she had” (Luke 21:3-4). Mary of Bethany broke
her costly and precious jar of perfume to anoint Jesus, and she was
praised by our Lord and her generous deed was recorded in the
Scriptures, “Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be
preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath
done, be told for a memorial of her” (Matt 26:13). Truly, “For
God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye
have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints,
and do minister” (Heb 6:10).
Some day Jesus will come back again,
you and I may be surprised and say to the Lord, “When saw we thee a
stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we
thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?” (Matt 25:38-39), and
the Lord will say, “Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done
it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me”
(v 40).
A Generous Heart
Do God’s command:
As what we have, even our being is from God, so God commands you and me
to help the needy, “especially unto them who are of the household of
faith” (Gal 6:10), “If there be among you a poor man of one of
thy brethren within any of thy gates in thy land which the LORD thy God
giveth thee, thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from
thy poor brother: But thou shalt open thine hand wide unto him, and
shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth”
(Deut 15:7-8). God also wants you and me to acknowledge His blessings by
giving our thanksgiving offering to Him as a token of our thankful
heart, and when we honour Him, He will bless us more while we do not
expect or deserve, “Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the
firstfruits of all thine increase, So shall thy barns be filled with
plenty” (Prov 3:10-11). If we fail to honour God with our substance,
it is sin, “Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say,
Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with
a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the
tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and
prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you
the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not
be room enough to receive it” (Mal 3:8-10).
When I remind you of God’s Word
relating to giving offerings to Him, I do not have any purpose to raise
funds for the church like many other churches, but just to remind you
and me of our duty to the Lord as He commands. It is our duty and
responsibility to use what God has given us according to God’s will and
way because some day when He comes, we shall give our account unto Him.
Surely, we do not want to hear God’s Word to those who are cursed,
“Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye
cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels…
Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least
of these, ye did it not to me” (Matt 25:41, 45).
It is not wise to blindly give our
offerings to a church when we know that she is neither right nor
biblical or fails to use God’s money according to His will and way. Many
charismatic churches are proud of their great fund. Why? They preach the
gospel of good health and wealth and encourage the members to give
offerings in order to get more material blessings from the Lord. It is
like an exchange for greater blessings from God! It is worse for the
Roman Catholic and other human religions because they teach that the
offerings and good works are necessary for their forgiveness and
salvation!
Be born again:
As human heart is selfish, sinful, and depraved, we must be born again
to have a new heart from God. Please do not be offended when “Be born
again” is repeated in almost all of my
messages because it is so vital and important for each one of us. If we
are not born again, all our good works will be in vain. We must be saved
first and then all our good works will be recorded. If you are not born
again, it is very vital for you to repent of your sins, come back to the
Lord and exalt Him as the Lord and Saviour of your heart and life. When
you and I are born again, we are partakers of God’s divine nature (2
Peter 1:4). We still need to do our part to have a generous heart.
Look at Jesus and be constrained by
His love: When
we look at our Saviour Jesus Christ, we shall see how He loved us, how
He left His glorious heaven and came into this sinful and curse world
because of us, and how He gave His life and died for us, we shall be
constrained by His love to love Him and others and to follow His steps,
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for
his friends” (John 15:13), and “For the love of Christ
constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then
were all dead: And that he died for all, that they which live should not
henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and
rose again” (2 Cor 5:14-15).
Die to self:
Even when we are constrained by Christ’s love to love and to give, our
sinful self may hinder us from following His steps. The only way is to
hate our “self” and to die to self, “Wherefore I abhor myself, and
repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:6), and “I am crucified with
Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the
life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of
God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Gal 2:20). Dear
friends, if you and I die to self, it is a great blessing to be free
from its bondage! Our heart, our mind, our body, our time, our life, our
money or what we have are not ours anymore but the Lord’s and we are
only His stewards. When we offer back to Him, we can say like David,
“But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so
willingly after this sort? for all things come of thee, and of thine own
have we given thee” (1 Chron 29:14).
Be a cheerful giver:
God’s Word encourages us,
“But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly;
and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man
according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly,
or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. And God is able to
make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency
in all things, may abound to every good work” (2 Cor 9:6-8).
Without love and gladness of heart,
our good works are vain, “And though I bestow all my goods to feed
the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity,
it profiteth me nothing” (1 Cor 13:3). Are you and I happy to give
our offerings to Him or to help others in their need without any
murmuring?
Know the value of true happiness:
While we deserve to be condemned to Hell, God has graciously saved us
and redeemed us, guided us, taken good care of us, and given us many
blessings including true happiness, peace, joy and satisfaction, which
neither anyone nor anything in this world can give to us. Then, shall we
not highly value God’s spiritual blessings than material blessings?
Money is good and necessary, but it is not everything, and “the love
of money is the root of all evil” (1 Tim 6:10). It is sad that many
know that money cannot buy true happiness, but they just want to argue
about money. Many couples do not know that they are damaging their
happiness due to their arguments or murmurs over the use of “money.”
Moreover, life is short and we can be called home tonight and must leave
everything behind, “Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a
man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he
possesseth…But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall
be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast
provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not
rich toward God” (Luke 12:15, 20-21). Then, “Charge them that
are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in
uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things
to enjoy; That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to
distribute, willing to communicate” (1 Tim 6:17-18). Are you and I
rich toward the Lord?
Conclusion
Dear friends, all things we have are
from the Lord, and we are just His stewards, and we shall give Him our
account of what we have done when He comes. Life is short, and what we
gladly do for the Lord according to His Word will not be in vain. May
Christ’s love constrain you and me to love Him and others, willingly
sharing with them what God has given to us, especially, God’s truth and
salvation in Christ. May God make us a blessing to others. Amen.
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