The There for Principles [3] – The Generosity Principle
Ephesians 4:28
Over the weeks leading up to Lent, a season of preparation before Easter, we’re taking a look at the end
of this letter we know as Ephesians. In this fourth chapter, Paul has spelled out for the Church what our
reality is. We are made new by Grace, through faith in Christ. But because of this we can’t keep living
the way we had been in our old life. There are principles to live by in the New Life – and Paul tells us
how important these are with a word: therefore
A mentor of mine once told me that the biggest challenges we ever face will not be decided between
Good and Evil, but between better and best. I think that was the dilemma Paul found himself in as he
neared the halfway mark of his New Life Principles. With the first two Principles the objectives were
clear: honesty serves the community better than dishonesty; and being made holy is a better choice
than holding on to the sin in our old life. Those principles were easy because there was a clear
alternative. But here’s the challenge of what I’m calling the Generosity principle right from the get go:
what happens when the New Life cuts a line between two perfectly good ideas?
Let me say some things up front first: there are three kinds of sermons that preachers tend to avoid: 1)
texts of terror, passages that just don’t seem to have anything nice to say at all; 2) Passages that are
weird – this includes books like Revelation and Song of Songs that we just don’t really know how to
tackle; and 3) the money passages. This one we avoid not because we don’t know what to say, but
usually because we know what to say and don’t know how it will be heard. Any time someone preaches
on money we assume it’s either a – giving is down, or b – because the annual meeting is coming up and
pastor’s looking for a raise. Let me get those out of the way: this is my first year, so I have no idea what
givings were like last year; and two – I know exactly how much money I’m going to make for the next
seven years, so you can sleep well knowing that I’m going to talk about money not for either of those
reasons. I’m going to talk about money because for Paul, how Christians deal with the money in their
pockets is absolutely central to their commitment to the New Life.
Here’s where the Generosity Principle comes in: God is not interested in your money; God is interested
in what you do with your money.
Did you know that after the Kingdom of God, money was the thing Jesus talked about the most? He was
constantly dealing with rich people following him around (a problem the church probably wishes we still
had) and telling stories about coins, treasures, and wealthy men and women. Money mattered to Jesus;
but only as far as it served a purpose. In all the times Jesus talked about money, not once was it the
object of the story. Wealth in God’s eyes is always a means to an end; a lost coin sends a housekeeper
on a treasure hunt; money buried in the field tells us who was willing to trust; a rich man finds himself
on the opposite side of eternity from poor Lazarus. Money is central is all of these stories, but never
more than the people in them. That’s the first part of the generosity principle: money is never more
important than people. But that’s hardly a characteristic of transformed, new life. Not on its own. Every
single one of us would sign on the dotted line if that was the Gospel message, wouldn’t we? People over
profits is the slogan for any number of new compassionate organizations. In 1959, Martin Luther King Jr.
wrote an essay called the Measure of a Man where he broke down your typical average joe into what he
was really worth on the free market. Grind down your bones for glue; make a candle with your ear wax,
clothes with your skin and hair and your entire existence can be summed up on one side of a balance
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The There for Principles [3] – The Generosity Principle
Ephesians 4:28
sheet. Every one of us would reject that as our worth. We would stand together and declare that we
were worth more than that. We believe from top to bottom we have value that cannot be defined. We
are wired to believe that money is never more than people. Or putting it in more familiar terms; people
are more than money. We have a worth, a value that cannot be measured in dollars and cents – put
there at our creation when God made us in a divine likeness and breathed his breath into us. As if that
wasn’t enough, he saw enough worth in us that he wrapped his godhood in skin and bones and entered
into our life, breathing our air, walking our roads – and chose to die in our place. From Genesis to
Revelation the whole Bible testifies to this fact: you and I are worth more than we can ever count.
So if we believe that, why we sometimes not live like it? Take the coffee we drink; Canadians alone drink
48 billion ounces of coffee every year; and we do it as cheaply as possible. Even here at the church we
buy big tubs of Folgers for 7.99 each – so coffee is pennies a cup. But when we drink coffee cheap, we
do it on the backs of men and women around the world working as little more slaves to plantation
owners. The generosity principle needs to speak to this: money is never more important than people.
Ask yourself, the next time you go to buy coffee – for your house or the church – ask yourself: is this fair
trade? Are the people working this getting a fair wage for their work – or am I just looking to get coffee
as cheaply as possible? Here`s a fact: churches in North America drink enough coffee that if we all
switched to Fair Trade coffee we would forever alter the coffee industry. Coffee is just one side of this
problem though. Every time you buy something, from clothes to toys to food to the shoes on your feet –
you`re voting for a system that either says I want things as cheaply as possible; or I want to live as
though people are worth more. The generosity principle calls us to do our part, right here and now. For
a follower of Jesus, money is never more than people.
Secondly, the Generosity Principle implies a change of perspective. Hear it again: Let the thief no longer
steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands. This is a full 180 degree turn
around that Paul is talking about here – and he knows something about that. Generosity starts at the
point where everything changes. Throughout the Bible we get a picture of the power of change: Moses
meets a burning bush and becomes a Prophet of God. David, a small town shepherd boy gets anointed
by Samuel and becomes a King after God`s own heart. Mary, a virgin, gets a visit from an angel and
becomes the mother of God and Saul, a murderer and vicious persecutor of the church meets Christ on
the road to Damascus and becomes the churches greatest advocate. These are not small changes
because when God is involved there are no small changes. The New Life starts with an encounter of God
and leaves us shaken from top to bottom. If you`ve never had that kind of encounter, I pray that today
would be your day, that everything would change from today onward. Don`t misunderstand: I don`t
expect you to start talking to shrubbery outside or get struck blind by God on your way out to your car.
For most people God is much more subtle. But the change that happens is every bit as real. Every single
one of us has inherited our faith from the people who came before us, the great cloud of witnesses that
the Bible talks about. Faith is a product of who you are, who you have been, and who you are becoming.
We can`t escape from our obligation to the New Life because it`s been invested in us from before we
were born. Men and women lived and died for a faith they believed in so that you could have the
opportunity to hear and believe for yourself.
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The There for Principles [3] – The Generosity Principle
Ephesians 4:28
So the New Life is an all in / all out kind of prospect. When we hear the generosity principle, we cannot
do it half way. We need to be consumed by the Life of God so that change can take hold of every part of
our life. We need to be consumed by the Word of God, and we can only do that by spending time
hearing what He has to say to us. The Bible is not a paperweight to sit at the front the church and be
elevated. It`s meant to be read and used. It`s meant to be lived and breathed. Scribble in the margins;
dog ear the pages – break out a highlighter or sticky notes. A Bible that’s not used is a Bible that’s of not
use. The only way that the kind of change that the Generosity Principle is talking about can happen is if
we let ourselves be open to what God’s Word. Let the thief no longer steal. Because he is letting his life
be transformed by the Word of God he hears the commandment: Do not steal, and knows that his old
way of living won’t cut it anymore. Here, the generosity principle is informed by the previous two. Each
of us needs to ask the question about what we do with our lives: what kind of honest work can we do
that our conscience will allow? To put it in Biblical terms; it’s the question of “How then shall I live?” The
generosity principle wants to know how you measure your life? Is it changed? Where is the difference?
No one wants to be part of a church that invites people to live in the sepia tone of Kansas. People are
looking for the brilliant Technicolor of Oz. They’re looking for something different, and we can be that, if
we open ourselves up to the possibility of generous change.
Third, Generosity means that some things don’t change. For me, I’m still the same Jared I’ve always
been. My gift is teaching, as much as it has ever been. Only in the New Life, I don’t teach High School like I had planned - but teach the Word of God. A thief has certain skills that become essential when he
uses his powers for Good and not evil. And who better to work with recovering alcoholics than a
recovering alcoholic? That’s part of what made Paul so successful. He brought he same passionate
fervor for truth that he had in the Old Life, his same brilliant rhetorical mind, his same desire to serve
God - into his work as an Apostle. Some things do not change. But what changes is the focus. Each one
of us has been given gifts and talents that God intended for you to use for his purposes. The question at
the heart of the generosity principle is this: do your gifts, talents, and abilities serve you – or do they
serve the common good? That’s why I’ve called this the principle of generosity. Matthew’s Gospel tells
the story about a time Peter came to Jesus, trying to figure this New Life thing out. He asked how many
times he was supposed to forgive someone who wrongs him. See, the law said three times. But Peter
was thinking this New Life is expansive of the law. So he dreamed big and offered seven as an estimate.
But that just proved to Jesus that Peter didn’t quite get it. He was still thinking about rules. Rules don’t
serve the common good. They benefit the individual who keeps them. Rules are individualistic. That’s
why Jesus tells Peter to forget about seven times. But do it seventy times seven times. It’s a challenge to
cultivate an attitude of forgiveness.
That’s the same challenge Paul levels at us today. The principle of generosity doesn’t worry about tithing.
It doesn’t say you need to give ten percent to the church. It doesn’t say give twenty or thirty percent
either. The principle of generosity simply says more. Are you serving the common good with your givings?
Or are you giving just what you can afford to give away so that you can continue to have the lifestyle you
have become accustomed to? Can you give more? The story was told at a conference last winter of a
couple who felt called into missionary service, but then the husbands father suddenly died and he had
to take over the family business. They gave up their missionary calling but now donate a million dollars a
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The There for Principles [3] – The Generosity Principle
Ephesians 4:28
month to missionary agencies. That’s what generosity looked like for them. For some the principle of
generosity is about money. But not everyone. For some it’s about being able to be more involved in the
life and agency of this congregation than you have been before. It’s about using your talents and
abilities to the common good - sacrificing self for each other. But don’t let the particulars distract you
from the question at hand though. Each one of us can give more. Whatever you give, time, money,
energy, we can give more. Do you give only what you can to keep the status quo happy? Or will you lay
it all on the line for Christ who laid it all out for you. Will you sacrifice your job, your house, your car?
Will you give it all for the Good? Will you give more?
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