In Acts 20:35, the apostle Paul speaks of a teaching that he heard from Jesus which isn’t recorded anywhere else in the Bible. This teaching is one that is well known to many of us—Paul tells us that Jesus said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ Here, and in many other places throughout Scripture, a heart of generosity is commended to God’s people as the proper way to live in light of God’s grace and mercy toward us in Jesus.
When we think of generosity, we immediately think about money. We think of giving to our churches every month, donating money to various charities, and perhaps sponsoring underprivileged children living somewhere else in the world. Without question, these are all amazing acts of generosity that honour the Lord greatly, and I would absolutely encourage each one of God’s people to seek to be generous in these ways. However, if our understanding of generosity begins and ends with money, we will lose a very important piece of what it means to have a heart of generosity, especially as it relates to life in church.
One of the core values of our church is ‘Radical Generosity,’ and if we stop to think about it, we can be radically generous with so many areas of our lives. In fact, I would argue that being generous with money is potentially even easier than being generous with other resources such time or personal space! And yet, as Jesus said, it is more blessed to give than to receive, and one of the primary opportunities we have to give of ourselves in sacrificial love is in the body of Christ.
In Ephesians 4:12, the apostle Paul teaches us that ministry in the life of the church isn’t actually meant to be accomplished solely by the leaders in the church. In fact, leaders have been given to the church to equip all of God’s people to do the work of ministry. He says, “And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.” This is where we get the term “priesthood of all believers,” and this understanding stands over and against a Roman Catholic philosophy of ministry that can only be done by the chosen, ordained ministers of God’s people. All of us in Christ’s church are called to do the work of ministry, being radically generous with one another in the process. We seek to be generous with our time, our energy, (and yes, our money) in order to build up our brothers and sisters, and we also seek to be radically generous in forgiveness and love towards those who have wronged us.
And so, in light of God’s radical generosity toward us, let us seek to be radically generous with one another and find that Jesus’ words are indeed true, that is more blessed to give than to receive!
All the best,
Luke
