“Extravagant Generosity” — Feb. 19, 2012— 2 Corinthians 9:6-8,11

This past Christmas season we all heard stories of anonymous people paying off other people’s Christmas layaways. The news media picked up on these stories happening in cities across the country, including here in Cincinnati. It was so refreshing to hear these stories instead of the usual gloom and doom or sensationalism that characterizes our news media. The news showed the people when they found out that someone had paid for all their children’s toys or whatever else their families needed. There were tears of joy from those who received such generosity, and it did all our hearts good to realize that still today, in tough economic times, there are generous people in the world.

Everyone benefits from generosity, whether you’re on the giving or the receiving end. Think of a time when someone was generous with you. How did it make you feel? Think of a time when you were generous with someone. How did that make you feel? Giving or receiving, generosity brings good feelings—joy, gratitude and love result when we are generous with each other.

So now we talk about “Extravagant” Generosity. What do we mean when we talk about Extravagant Generosity? When you look up extravagant in the dictionary, most of the definitions are rather negative: like, flamboyant and wasteful as in an extravagant lifestyle. Or excessive and unrealistic, as in an extravagant promise. But here in our context, “extravagant” means that which is more than expected, surprising, extreme, unusual. Examples of truly extravagant generosity among people are relatively rare. But there is one being who consistently, without fail, practices extravagant generosity everywhere, all the time, and that is our awesome God.

God is extravagantly generous. God’s giving exceeds all expectations and is always more than we deserve. God’s creation is extravagant—look around and see it. The beauty, majesty, and interrelationship of all creation is everywhere. God’s possessions are extravagant. God owns everything yet always gives us everything we need in abundance. God’s love for us is extravagant. It never fades; it never fails; it never deceives or misleads; it is always true. God is always giving more than we can imagine. Consider God’s greatest gift—God gave us his one and only Son.

As believers in the Son of God, we are to practice Extravagant Generosity in all our relationships with God and with each other. With God, we are to give ourselves to him—all our hearts and minds and souls and strength. Completely. Without reservation. Follow Christ. Do things his way. Live the way he taught us. With each other, we are to give all we have for each other. Completely. Without reservation. When Jesus told us to love one another the way that he loves us, he means for our hearts to overflow with extravagant generosity for each other, in all our interactions with each other.

Jesus tells us that we are to be a fruitful church. To be fruitful, we are to live by the “Five Practices of Fruitful Congregations.” These are: Radical Hospitality, Passionate Worship, Intentional Faith Development, Risk-taking Mission and Service, and Extravagant Generosity. This week, we look at the fifth practice, Extravagant Generosity. What will help make us a fruitful church is how effective we are at practicing Extravagant Generosity in all our relationships—with God and with each other.

As followers of Jesus Christ, “generosity” describes our willingness to give unselfishly—giving to God to deepen our faith, and giving to others in order to make a positive difference in their lives. It is being generous in ways that show God’s love through what we do, bringing hope and strength to those in need. Extravagant Generosity describes giving in ways that exceed all expectations, that is way beyond normal. It is the kind of giving that makes people sit up and take notice. It makes them wonder, isn’t that too much? Extravagant generosity enlarges our hearts as we gratefully receive God’s abundance and share it with others. It realigns our priorities to line up with God’s priorities. By being extravagantly generous, we connect deeply with others, both inside the church and outside the church.

When you hear the word “giving” you probably think “money.” We must understand that “giving” is much more than that. The gifts that we offer in service to God and to each other include the “Three T’s”—treasure, talent and time. So when we talk about being extravagantly generous we are talking about money—our “treasure.” But we are also talking about our “talents” that God has given us to use in His service, and our “time” that we are to purposely set aside to do all the work in all its forms that God call us to do. We are to be extravagantly generous with our treasure, talent and time not just here in this church, but wherever God says there is need. And the way we use our “Three Ts” reflects our values and beliefs. Do we spend our treasure, talent and time on things that in the long run have no lasting value? Or do we invest our treasure, talent and time in God’s kingdom, helping to bring the Gospel to others, deepening our own faith, sharing the grace of God, making a real difference in our own lives and in the lives of others?

Extravagant generosity is very biblical. In Genesis, Abram sets the example of tithing, as he gives one tenth of everything he has in response to God’s blessing. [Gen 14:20] Throughout Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy, the practice of tithing and giving first fruits to God is evident. We are to give with a generous heart, not from duty or obligation. [Ex 35:5] The teachings of Jesus are filled with examples of how we are to give generously, how we are to give proportionally as we work towards tithing. Beyond the teachings and parables, we see in Jesus Christ himself the greatest example of Extravagant Generosity. For God so loved the world that he sacrificed in crucifixion and death, then raised in triumph of resurrection his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. [John 3:16] It doesn’t get any more extravagantly generous than that.

We the church are to be extravagantly generous for the glory of God. We have an example of how the church is to function in our Scripture reading. Paul is writing to the early church in Corinth, encouraging them to raise funds for their fellow Christians back in Jerusalem, where there is famine and poverty. He says, the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. [2 Cor 9:6] We reap what we sow. We get what we give. I don’t know about you, but what I give comes back to me ten times greater. Paul continues, each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. [2 Cor 9:7] Sounds like our annual stewardship campaign, doesn’t it? In the Greek text, “cheerful” means “prompt and willing.” Paul explains why we should be prompt and willing givers in the next sentence. Because God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work. [2 Cor 9:8] We are blessed by abundance; we share our abundance, we do God’s work cheerfully. For then, Paul writes, you will be enriched in every way for your great generosity, which will produce thanksgiving to God through us. [2 Cor 9:11] When we practice Extravagant Generosity, we give glory to God. People will say, “Wow, God is good.”

It is our Methodist tradition to practice Extravagant Generosity. John Wesley taught us to “Gain all you can, save all you can, and give all you can.” We are to work hard, prosper and make money so we have more than enough to support our own families, our church, and others who legitimately need our help. Christians believe God owns everything. What we earn belongs to God, and we should earn it honestly and in ways that reflect our being Christians. What we spend belongs to God, and we should spend it wisely on things that enhance life and do not cheapen or pervert it. What we save belongs to God, and we should invest in ways that strengthen society according to biblical values. What we give belongs to God, and because He has given without reservation, we should give generously in ways that bring people to Christ, serve people for Christ and make a difference for Christ. That’s our mission. That’s why we are church. And we must teach this way of living to our children, so that they connect generously giving their treasure, talent and time in service to our mission doing the work of God.   Extravagant Generosity is rooted in grace. It is emptying ourselves for others, an expression of our love of God and neighbor. It is giving our money. It is giving our compassion. It is giving our love. It is giving our abilities. It is giving our time. It is giving all these and more, extravagantly, all in service to God and in service to others. It is giving all of yourself, as Cheryl said last week, with no strings attached.

We are the church. We are to be fruitful. This is the place that offers Radical Hospitality, where we offer God’s grace-filled invitation to be part of God’s family through Jesus Christ to all people, all the time, without reservation, without fail. This is the place of Passionate Worship, where we come with a deliberate expectation to encounter our living God, through prayer and music and the Word, giving God all the glory. This is the place where we Intentionally Develop our Faith, where we make a purposeful commitment to know God, reading our Bibles together, sharing in small groups, lifting up and supporting each other, growing in faith together. This is the place that launches and sustains Risk-taking Mission and Service, all the good work we do to make a positive difference in the lives of others for Jesus Christ, and in the process transforming the life of this church and our own lives. This is the place where we practice Extravagant Generosity, using all of our resources in service to God and to others, giving all of ourselves away, in ways that exceed all expectations.

As we wrap up this series on the Five Practices of a Fruitful Congregation, my prayer is that you do not say to yourselves, ‘OK, that’s done, what’s next?’ Remember these practices. Inscribe these practices on your hearts. Let us live by these practices, using them to guide us to be the kind of church that Jesus Christ wants us to be. Let God use these practices overall in our church and individually in each of us, to transform us so that we bear much fruit for Jesus Christ.

Let us pray: O God, we offer ourselves to you. All of ourselves. Use us to fulfill your mission. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, all of God’s people said, Amen.