Jesus taught by his words and actions that giving to the poor and needy was of top importance. Yet, when Mary poured a whole jar of super-expensive perfume on his feet in a most unseemly display of outlandish love and gratitude, and Judas objected on the grounds that the money could have been given to the poor, Jesus defended her. How are we to understand this seeming contradiction?
God made a promise to Abraham, then to his son Isaac. Then, when Isaac’s son Jacob was running for his life after cheating his brother out of his birthright, God made the same promise to him. What can we learn from Jacob about God’s promise to us, and about what should be our response?
“Giving as Good as You Get”, by Pastor Ryan Emmons
Pastor Ryan’s Fall 2023 sermon series “Generosity” is inspired by a series of videos put out by the CBWC Foundation on that topic. You can watch the videos there.
The key verse for the series, chosen by the Foundation, is the words of Jesus in Luke 6:38: “Give, and you will receive. Your gift will return to you in full—pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, running over, and poured into your lap. The amount you give will determine the amount you get back.”
(Pastor Ryan notes that this is not an invitation to bargain with God by giving with the expectation of getting more financial return. It is an attitude of the heart and part of the larger principle of treating others with compassion, the way God treats us.)
The introduction to the sermon is not on the recording, so here is the introduction from Pastor Ryan’s sermon notes:
This morning we are starting a new sermon series on a topic that is not often preached about in many churches, and when it is, it has a bit of an awkward feel to it. The series is on generosity. The idea is taken from a series of short videos that has been provided by a branch of our denomination that helps our churches in a variety of ways that have to do with finances. This group is known as the CBWC Foundation. (CBWC is the Canadian Baptists of Western Canada.) If you want to know more about what the Foundation does, you can go to their website.
Yes, we will be talking about Money and what Bible has to say about it, how those truths intersect with our own financial experiences, and how we can grow in obedience and faithfulness as stewards of the resources that God has given to us.
The obvious challenge is that when a pastor gets up and lets people know that this will be a sermon on giving, it can seem a wee bit self serving, especially is any part of that message has to do with giving to the church specifically (we will get to that in future message) because it is the church that pays my salary.
This is not a sermon series to increase my salary. This is a sermon series to help grow and develop in the area of God’s desire for His people to be generous people.
As I said, the Foundation has provided a series of short videos to help start the conversation around generosity and money in churches, and so we are going to take a moment to watch the first video now. You can watch it on the Foundation website’s Generosity page.
Sermon Notes
Here is a PDF of Pastor Ryan’s full sermon notes (not a transcript) from the sermon.
Pastor Ryan recommends these three books as good resources on the topic of giving and generosity:
God and Your Stuff (The Vital Link Between Your Possessions and Your Soul) – Wesley K. Willmer
Argyle Road Baptist Church 