Upside Down View of Generosity

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Upside Down View of Generosity

03/20/2021 - Dave Riddle 

Key Passage: Mark 12:41-44

Oikonomics: The economy of God’s household. The way our family on mission invests it’s available resources in and for the family of God.

Five Capitals:

• Spiritual Capital is about the depth of our relationship with God as a follower of Jesus, producing a spiritual equity that we invest in others.

• Relational Capital refers to the quantity and quality of our relationships which produces a relational equity we have to invest.

• Physical Capital is all about our ability to devote time and energy to both people and tasks. It includes the time we make available and the capacity we have to use that time.

• Intellectual Capital refers to our capacity to think and reason, to use our minds as something to invest as part of God’s family on mission. Ideas and knowledge.

• Financial Capital is perhaps the capital that we are most familiar with. Money. Treasure.

Generous: showing a readiness to give more of something than is strictly necessary or even expected.

The Widow’s Gift

• Mark 12:41-44

  • Not a parable but an event Jesus is witnessing.

Priority, Regularity, Individuality, Proportionality

• 1 Corinthians 16:2

• They responded zealously!

  • 2 Corinthians 9:1-2

No one can serve two masters

• Matthew 6:24

Give Thanks

• Hebrews 12:28

Love Generously

• John 13:34

An Assertion of our Trust

• Mark 12:44

Give Cheerfully

• 2 Corinthians 9:6-7

  • God loves it!

• “You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who cannot repay you” - John Bunyan

Paul’s Apostolic Travel Plan

Paul’s Apostolic Travel Plan

Dave Riddle - 2/16/20

Key Passage: Romans 15:22-29

What Was

• Romans 15:23b - ...I have strongly desired for many years to come to you...

  • He never allows his personal desires to override his calling.

  • Taking the gospel to those who had never heard it was Paul’s primary objective.

What Is

• Romans 15:23a - But now I no longer have any work to do in these regions...

  • There was still a lot of work to be done, but Paul’s work was finished.

    • He had planted churches, trained leaders, and empowered believers.

• Romans 15:25 - Right now I’m traveling to Jerusalem to serve the saints...

  • Why was the church in Jerusalem so impoverished?

    • Potentially as a result of their extreme generosity (as seen in Acts 2 & 4).

• Romans 15:26-27 

  • Paul acknowledges the importance of the Jerusalem church in the planting and thriving of churches all around the Mediterranean.

    • He is asking now for those churches to bless the Jerusalem church in the midst of their great need.

What‘s Next

• Romans 15:28 - I will visit you on the way to Spain.

  • Spain was one of the furthest reaches of the Roman government at the time

    • Many Jews, few Christians.

    • A place ripe for the gospel.

  • A tremendously long and difficult journey.

• Romans 15:24 - I hope to see you when I pass though and to be assisted by you...

  • He isn’t staying long.

  • He anticipates being “filled up” by their fellowship and support.

What’s For Sure

• Romans 15:29 - ...I will come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ.

  • He takes the focus off himself and places it on Jesus.

What do we take away?

1. Paul’s preoccupation with the Gospel

2. The importance he places on people in need.

3. The importance Paul places on the mutual benefit we have in building each other up.

Generosity Pt. 2

Vitals - Generosity Pt. 2
Dave Riddle - 08/25/19
Key Passage: Mark 12:41-44

Generous: the readiness to give more of something than is strictly necessary or expected.

Scripture: at the core it’s about God giving to us.

Embracing a lifestyle of generosity...

• A Reflection of God

  • John 13:34 - Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.

    • Jesus is the perfect picture of generosity for us to emulate.

• A Display of Gratitude

  • Mark 12:44

    • Even though she had very little, she realized that she was blessed.

  • Hebrews 12:28

    • We’ve received a kingdom that can’t be shaken. Our response should be an outpouring of gratitude.

• An Assertion of Trust

  • Mark 12:44

    • She gave everything and, trusted that God would provide for her.

      • Not a suggestion that we are all prescribed to do the same.

      • But a challenge for us to examine the way we give.

    • Do we give out of our surplus, or do we give sacrificially?

• An Attack on the “King”

  • We are our own biggest enemies: our selfishness, our self-centeredness, our greed. We are the kings of our own lives.

  • Matthew 6:24 - ...you cant worship God and money both.

Generosity Pt. 1

Vitals - Generosity Part 1
Dave Riddle - 08/11/19
Key Passage: Romans 8:32

Definition: Showing a readiness to give more of something than is strictly necessary or expected.

Scripture: At the core, it’s all about God

Jesus: Perfect example of generosity

• He gave willingly

  • John 10:18

• He gave joyfully

  • John 15:13

• He gave purposefully

  • 1 Peter 3:18

• He gave sacrificially

  • Ephesians 5:25

  • Philippians 2:5-8