Living well: generously
John 3:14-21
Many of you are dog lovers. You have dogs, or were brought up with dogs. I too have dogs, two of them. Anyone who tries to break into my home will be met by two dogs who will grab a.. toy for them to play with. Though they are useless guard dogs, they are cute. I’ve found they are on my intellectual wave length, they and I share the same intellect. They must be very intelligent dogs. We discuss together philosophy, theology… And yet, sometimes, what I say and what they hear are two different things. For example, at the end of every day, I open the back door and say “Let’s go pee” (for some reason, I say it in a pseudo-Scottish accent?) and out they go to pee (as bright as they are, they still haven’t ‘clocked’ we have toilets inside the house!). One day, I instead said “Pets goatee” and still they went outside to pee. I said one thing, they heard another. Hold on to that.
BibleGateway.com enables you to search the whole Bibe for specific words or phrases. It’s a quick way to see how big a theme is in the Bible. You’d think ‘belief’ is important in the Bible. The word ‘believe’ appears 289 times; ‘pray’, 367 times; ‘love’, 686 times. And ‘give’? 1,433 times. Giving and generosity are major themes in the Bible. Today, as part of our Living Well series, we’re all about living generously.
But, remember, what is said and what we hear can be two different things. When we hear “living generously”, some think, OK here we go, the Church wants more of my money. Strap tight, don’t make eye contact… Today, we’re thinking about the broader call to live generously: being generous with all that we have – our time, encouragements, hospitality, skills, resources…
We know when we see it, we can equally spot the absence of it, but how do we live generously? And why? What’s the big deal about it?
GENEROSITY COMES FROM GOD
God is generous. God is generous with His invitation/ inclusion, His gifts, His time, with His Son… God gave without demanding a rebate. 
“For God so loved the world that he GAVE. What?  His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 
“He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” Romans 8:32
“This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” 1 John 4:10
God gave without hesitation what was most precious of all: Jesus, God the Son.
GOD’s GENEROSITY IS LAVISH. Instinctive, whole-hearted. He holds nothing back in reserve. Generosity is about giving beyond just the minimum. 
Generosity involves a degree of sacrifice. The costlier it is for us, the more generous the gift. If I gave you a £100 pounds, you might think I was being generous. If Elon Musk, the world’s richest man worth over $203 billion dollars, gave you a £100 you might think that less generous.  It’s the same action, but the cost is very different. God gave sacrificially. He held nothing back in reserve. God went “all out/ all in” for you. There was no Plan B.
God gives GOOD gifts.
“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?” Luke 11:13
God is generous. And God models to us how life is best lived. Genesis 1:26-27 says 
“Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’
 So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”
We are made as Image Bearers of God, to reflect God’s nature. We carry God’s DNA, we inherit His genes. And the more we get to know God, the more time we spend actively in His presence, the more we display His mannerisms/ characteristics.
Apostle 2 Peter 1:4 says:
“..God has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”
WE ARE DESIGNED TO BE GENEROUS – because God is generous. As humans, we thrive best when we live as God intended, designed for us. Made in the image of generous God, we were designed to be generous. We discover life is best lived generously. We literally feel better when we live generously. 
Even the NHS 5 steps to Mental Well-being guidance advocates:
1.	Connect with others
2.	Be physically active
3.	Learn new skills
4.	Give to others
5.	Pay attention to the present moment – mindfulness
The book of Memes – a.k.a. Proverbs (11:24-25), says
”One person gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty. A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.“ Proverbs 11:24-25
The Message puts it:
“The world of the generous gets larger and larger; the world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller. The one who blesses others is abundantly blessed; those who help others are helped.” 
Have you noticed, those who appear stingy with their time, compliments, money, possessions etc, never seem to have the most fun: miserable in actions, miserable in spirit – just plain miserable. 
It’s right to be good stewards of God’s Creation, to reduce our carbon footprint by not wasting energy. That’s a godly, holy thing to do. But when our motive for switching off that light, is because we are stingy, miserable of heart, sometimes, we can be so concerned to minimise waste, we miss out on God’s abundance because we fear getting something wrong.  The safest/ most efficient thing is always to do nothing. To close down. Don’t sweat the small stuff. Instead:
“Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” 2 Corinthians 9:6-7
When we live generously, we feel blessed. And when we don’t, we don’t.
We don’t give in order to receive. That’s return on investment, not generosity. Generosity is giving with no expectation of return. Being generous just because… e.g. Toy Sunday
On the one hand, Luke says:
“Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.” Luke 6:38
On the other hand:
“It is more blessed to give than to receive.'”  Acts 20:35
Matthew warns about doing our good to gain reward/ recognition from others. What’s the use in that? Instead, seek God’s recognition. One generous Being to another.
When we are generous, we bring glory, not to ourselves, but to God – because we are reflecting back to God His nature.
One vital way we can all be generous is with our time. God is relational. God exists in community. Father, Son and Holy Spirit co-exist, co-eternal together. That’s a lot of time together. Because we are made in God’s image, we too are made to be in relationship with others. God frequently says what He has made is good/ very good.  But God says, it is not good for a person to live in isolation – alone from others. We know now that loneliness is a life-shortener. When we feel cut off from others, life seems harder. There is a cost to time. Time spent doing one thing is time we don’t have for something else. God is generous with His time towards us. He is constantly, consistently available to us. There’s something very powerful about making time for another person, co-existing together. Going out of our way to include them. Accepting their interruption – and with grace and joy. Remember, it’s not generosity if you make it all about you and your needs or ego.
What does it mean to live generously? Using your God-given time, listening, encouragements, skills, hospitality, and resources to bless and serve God and our community.
What does it mean for you to live generously?

07840 046020   DannyBrierley@ChesterRoadBaptist.org.uk