Alissa and were recently invited out to dinner by a couple from our church. Being Christmas week they found it important enough to take time out of their busy schedule to be with us. We were grateful and honored by the gesture. We were unprepared, though, for a greater demonstration of their generosity later on. We were stunned.
As part of our dinner conversation we began to listen to business ideas which made it clear their generosity went beyond a one-time gift. Generosity was who they were. Too many of us pray that God would makes us “rich” so that we can become generous. But God makes generous people “rich,” not always the other way around. I’m almost certain I ate in the presence of a future millionaire.
Where God’s grace abounds, generosity abounds. I saw this connection clear in the heart of my friend. He had told me weeks ago that one of the deepest prayers and cries of his heart was that God would restore to him the joy of his salvation. God had answered his prayer in recent days. And as he recounted it to us with tears, I understood: an abundance of joy was overflowing in a wealth of generosity. He was standing in the river of grace.
Paul had seen this same river flow first hand in the churches of Macedonia. He wrote that “the grace of God” had been given to the Macedonian believers. The visible result was that grace “overflowed in a wealth of generosity” (2 Corinthians 8:1-2). They had made an extravagant financial contribution to others, yet out of their own “extreme poverty”. Paul was astounded. It was clear their true wealth and generosity was found in something beyond the amount of money they possessed.
Paul saw and later wrote that a mark of true Christian life and love is that we will “outdo one another in showing honor” (Romans 12:10). Paul means that each of us who meet with the mercy of God and are transformed by the love of Christ will “take the lead”. We are first in line to show honor and respect towards others. It’s not a “showing off” but a “shining out” of the inward working grace of God. Grace is active and can no more stop giving than the sun can stop shining.
Grace is the undeserved favor of God given once for all in Christ, yet it is also a gift that arrives and must be received again and again (2 Corinthians 8:1). God generously, continuously, and freely supplies us with His full grace and all the treasures that are found in Christ. This has the effect of opening and widening and deepening our hearts towards others. And since grace is a gift, our gifts become acts of grace and giving. Grace is a working agent in Paul’s understanding, an energy or strength or power that works within us. But of course the energy is not some mysterious force, but the very presence and life of Christ now living in us (Galatians 2:20).
Do we see it, then, Elim Grace? Generosity is not something we do, but something we are. God Himself joyfully present and active in our giving.
Giving is a grace, a gift. Generosity doesn’t demonstrate some virtue within us. It is rather the concrete expression of the grace of God given to us, received by us and working in us. At its root, the grace of giving and of generosity is a participation in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.” (2 Corinthians 8:9) Our participation in the gospel is an entering into relationship with Jesus Christ. Our generosity is the outflow of the inflow of the riches of God’s grace in Christ. It is the work of the Spirit of Christ in our hearts. It is a life of good works which glorify God and shine bright in our world.
Towards the end of our time with our friends I said, “We’re in the business of generosity.” I meant this not in the sense of making a transaction and exchanging goods for payment. I meant it in the sense that this is the Christian’s way of living, of moving and of being in the world. Our life in Christ is a life of generosity, of being generous. As quiet and effortless as a mountain stream, yet as breathtaking and powerful as a waterfall.
So, Elim Grace, may God’s grace flow freely and abound richly in us in 2024. May we continue to make generosity our “business”. Let’s continue to give our offerings away towards the goal of sowing 1 million dollars into our community. Let’s continue to invite one another out for dinner. Let’s continue to surprise one another with unexpected gifts of grace. Let’s continue to contribute to Gofundmes and shattering goals for the sake of others. Let’s continue to write cards and send texts of encouragement. Let’s continue to take the lead in showing honor and respect to everyone online and in person. Let’s continue to serve and to give of our time as members of the family of God. Let’s continue to grow big in the generosity of Christ.
By walking and living this way, we’re not buying favor from men nor earning favor from God. We are receiving the gift of God’s grace and in turn giving it away. We are participating in and entering into the life of Christ. He came to serve not to be served. He came to lay down his life for others not to save himself. He came to do His father’s will not his own. He came to give of himself and to give up himself for us. This year may our abundance of joy in the grace of God towards us overflow in a “wealth of generosity” towards others.