Generosity

“Jesus, worn out by the trip, sat down at the well. It was noon.”



It was noon. . .

At first glance this could be a throw-away statement, but not so. Noon says everything about the person who is about to visit and draw water. Nobody drew water from the well at noon unless you didn’t want to be seen by the townspeople, or you were a person of disreputable character, or possibly both. It was too hot for a journey to a well on the outside of the city, the women of the city would leave in the morning while it was still cool. It would be used as a social time, where they would walk and talk about life’s events. Not so with the woman who Jesus was about to encounter, he knew from the start she was an outcast, and his word’s of life would help recreate who she was.

“Would you give me a drink of water?” Jesus asked, “How come you a Jew, are asking me, a Samaritan woman for a drink?” Jesus answered. “If you knew the generosity of God and who I am, you would be asking me for a drink, and I would give you fresh living water.” (The Message)

Generosity is what drives the kingdom of God! God so loved the world he gave; God isn’t stingy with anything He owns. I wish I could say that for the church. It’s often out for the best bargain, holding on to God’s grace like it thinks there isn’t enough.

If you really want more of God’s favor on your church so you can impact your community you have to become generous. Our outreach cost money big time. To a secular accountant, it looks like a bad investment, but the returns are amazing. A friend puts it this way, doing what we are doing (for more information visit loveyourcity.com) we are removing the black eye from the church.” It’s slowly changing how people (Christian and non) view the church.

We are actually moving out from beyond the four walls endeavoring to give people a small taste of the kingdom, usually in a tangible form like food, water, a cold can of Coke, new clothes, or ice-cream. The church, indirectly, makes this statement when being generous; “we are here to serve, not speak.”

Serving has always been the message of the church. In today’s changing culture we have to find creative and outward-focused ways to serve. How does a church best serve? When it decides to give itself away to lost and broken individuals, and the only way it can give itself away is through generosity.

Ten years ago, in May, we assembled in a gravel parking lot as a single church, ready to serve in any way possible. Our Coke was warm and we were a bit afraid. We were a church being restored from the ashes. One could say we weren’t quite the picture of strength, but God speaks truth in the middle of our weakness. He had given me a single scripture, “If you knew the generosity of God.”

I showed up at that gravel parking lot determined that God’s intention for us was to be generous, no matter what the bookkeeper told me. Generosity would be our calling and, generosity our passion. When we begin to see the world through the eyes of generosity we finally see the people Jesus came to love. The least – the last – the lonely – the lost and spiritually dead. This question needs answering in your community. Do the un-churched/pre-churches know the generosity of God through your serving?

Reprinted with permission from SERVE! Magazine Steve Sjogren, Publisher.