Can you stretch your generosity?
It’s almost that time of year when you’ll start seeing people outside of stores ringing a bell & standing by a red pale. It’s the Salvation Army Kettle. These wonderful people will wish you a Merry Christmas as they volunteer their time to help raise money for this organization that helps so many people in need.
Well, last year, in Minnesota, a couple put a check in the Salvation Army Kettle for $500,000!
They wanted to remain anonymous but in a statement they released they said that they hoped their contribution would inspire others to “stretch their generosity.” They said, “You get to a point in life where it’s time to take care of others, the way you were taken care of.” They told the Salvation Army that they once had to rely on food discarded by local grocery stores to make ends meet.
[Tweet “You get to a point in life where it’s time to take care of others, the way you were taken care of.”]I don’t know about you, but I love these kinds of stories of generosity. I think they’re beautiful. They remind us of what is most important. They remind us to be selfless. And they remind us to take care of others who are in need.
Give to the Help the Need
Many of you, this is the primary reason you give. You give when there is a need. If you know there’s a need & you know you can help, you’re quick to give, eager to give. You love to help people.
In his book, The Hole in our Gospel, Richard Stearns says that the church in America gives 2% of 2%. That is, on average people give 2% of their income to the local church. And the church gives 2% of its budget towards outreach & missions to help with needs around the world.
You’re probably aware that we are a part of the most affluent generation of Christians that has ever lived. What’s interesting is that if every church in America just gave 10% of their budgets to missions, we could solve almost every humanitarian crisis there is. We could feed the hungry, provide clean water to the thirsty, offer medications to the sick & hurting. You name it, we could do it with the resources available today.
It’s amazing to think about what God could do through us if we truly became generous givers.
The reason so many of us are so quick to help those in need is because we believe that helping others is fundamental to the Christian life. We believe that to help others is to be like Christ. To provide for those in need is to reflect the heart of God.
[Tweet “To help others is to be like Christ.”]We believe this because we see Jesus so often helping those in need. He was always there to heal the sick, make the blind see, the lame walk, the deaf hear. He cured the leper with his touch & even raised the dead back to life. When Jesus saw a need, he was quick to help.
And some of his last words before he went to the cross were a reminder for us to take care of those in need.
Listen to what Jesus said in some of his last words before he would go to the cross & give His life for us. He said…
What Jesus says about Helping the One in Need
31 “But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will place the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left.
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. 36 I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’
37 “Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? 39 When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’
40 “And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’
41 “Then the King will turn to those on the left and say, ‘Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons. 42 For I was hungry, and you didn’t feed me. I was thirsty, and you didn’t give me a drink. 43 I was a stranger, and you didn’t invite me into your home. I was naked, and you didn’t give me clothing. I was sick and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’
44 “Then they will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and not help you?’
45 “And he will answer, ‘I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me.’
46 “And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life.”
How Do We Enter the Kingdom of Heaven?
These are some heavy words.
Here, Jesus paints a picture of the final judgment. He separates people into two groups. To the first group, the sheep on his right, He gladly welcomes into His kingdom. They are welcomed into the kingdom because of how they treated others. This is interesting, isn’t it?
They weren’t welcomed in because they had kept the 10 commandments. They weren’t welcomed in because they had been baptized & got their ticket to heaven. Here, in this story, people are being held accountable for how they had treated others. And those who had cared for those in need enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.
At first, this group is confused because they don’t ever remember helping Jesus when He was hungry, thirsty, naked, sick or in prison. But Jesus clarifies & says whenever you did it to my brothers & sisters in need, to the least of these, you were doing it to me.
Then the story takes a turn. Jesus turns to those on his left & condemns them for never helping those in need. Because they ignored those in need, they neglected Jesus. And their consequence for not seeing to those in need is eternal punishment.
Jesus places a HIGH premium on helping your brother & sister in need. And he teaches us that when we give to meet the needs of others, we give to Jesus.
[Tweet “When we give to meet the needs of others, we give to Jesus. “]This speaks to the image of God in every human being. And, according to Jesus, this leads to salvation.
St. Augustine once said, “That bread which you keep belongs to the hungry; that coat which you preserve in your wardrobe, to the naked; those shoes which are rotting in your possession, to the shoeless; that gold which you have hidden in the ground, to the needy. Wherefore, as often as you are able to help others, & refuse, so often did you do them wrong.”
So this is my prayer for you & me.
That God would break you & me of our greed & our pursuit of the American dream & help us pursue a little more of what Jesus dreamed. That God would make you & me, all of us, into generous givers.
Jesus once said, “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.” Matthew 6.24
Too many of us have spent too many years trying to serve both. Yet Jesus says that those who inherit the Kingdom of Heaven are those who give to those in need.
