Today on Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram.
God loves all people equally, but he does not
bless all people equally. Some people he prospers
for a very specific reason. If you want to find
out what that is, stay with me. That's today
on Living on the Edge. The anticipation, the
joy of Christmas is a glimpse of how we're wired.
We were designed to give lavishly to those we
love. Yet when it comes to supporting our church
or the ministries that feed us spiritually, sometimes
we hesitate, we calculate, we wait for a better
time. But according to the Bible, generosity
is the smartest financial decision we'll ever
make. Today on Living on the Edge, Chip Ingram
explains why God blesses generous people and
how giving to kingdom work unleashes something
far more valuable than a bigger bank account.
Before we begin his message, I'll remind you
that Living on the Edge is making headway on
the December match that concludes midnight on
Wednesday. But in order to reach our goal, we
invite you to join us. We'll share more details
about the match later. Right now, let's begin
Chip's message titled, Why God Prosperous Generous
People. I want to begin with a little parable
that I ran across. It was very interesting. Imagine,
if you will, the scene. Once there was a man
lost in desert near death from thirst. He wandered
aimlessly throughout the burning sand for many
days, growing weaker by the moment. At long last,
he saw an oasis in the distance, palm trees indicating
there'd be water. He stumbled forward feverishly,
fell beneath the shade of the trees. Finally,
he might quench his thirst. But he noticed something
strange about this particular oasis. Instead
of a pool of water or a bubbling brook, it was
odd. There was a pump, and next to the pump was
a jar of water. And next to the jar of water
was a small parchment with handwritten note.
The note explained that the leather gasket within
the pump must be saturated with the water for
the pump to work. Within the jar was just enough
water for this purpose. The note also warned
the reader, do not drink from the jar. Every
drop must be poured down into the pump in the
opening so the base of the pump can be soaked,
the hard leather becomes softened, and as the
leather is softened and expanded, an unlimited
supply of sweet water would be available. The
parchment's final instructions were simply to
refill the jar for the next traveler. The man
faced a dilemma. He was dying of thirst. And
there wasn't much water, but he found some. Probably
not enough water to save his life, but it seemed
like the height of folly to take the little bit
of water that he had and pour it down the base
of a pump. And so, what do you do? On the one
hand, if the note is true and he pours it down,
he has all the water that he needs. On the other,
if he drinks what he has, temporarily quenches
thirst, but find himself in an oasis and die.
As I thought of this, I have a little jar here.
And it has a little note. And it's a note a lot
like what he had. And I'd like you to think about
this jar as your life. And all the water inside
this jar is all the time, all the energy, all
the talent, all the money, all the opportunity,
your 401k, your savings account. your car, your
house. It's all that you have. And we have this
ridiculous command of God that says, give. Pour
it out. Trust me. Don't be afraid. Don't be so
tight with your time. Don't be so tight with
your talent. Don't be tight and guarded with
your money. Trust me. with your life, and as
you give it away, you will never reflect my son
more than as you're generous. And then all the
promises of Scripture are how smart that is.
It's not noble or holy or wonderful to say, wow,
I'm going to pour this down so I can have an
unlimited supply. It's smart. But it requires
one thing, doesn't it? That note better be true.
And that pump better have water. I want to give
you four airtight facts about generosity that
are absolutely true that will help you and help
me begin to take the kind of steps that will
allow us by faith to say, it's smart, it's wise
to pour out our lives. In fact, Jesus is called,
he poured out his life as a drink offering. Paul
would use the same phrase when he talked about
his life and his love for the Philippian church.
So are you ready? Four facts that I think will
give us faith. Fact number one, God blesses generous
people. Some of you have been around. Do not
get nervous as I share these verses because some
of you are going to come to some conclusions
like, what's he saying? Is he taking us in this?
Just listen. And what I want you to do is I read
these verses. I just want you to ask and answer
the question, does the Bible teach that God blesses
generous people or not? I've got Old Testament,
New Testament, the wisest man in the world, and
Jesus himself. Follow along. First Acts 20, 35.
In everything I did, Luke writes, I showed you
that by this kind of hard work, we must help
the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus
himself. It is more blessed to give than to receive.
Luke 6, 38, from the lips of Jesus. Give. Why?
And it'll be given unto you. Well, how? Good
measure, pressed down, shaken together, running
over, will be poured into your cup. For with
the measure or the size that you use, it will
be measured or given back to you. Solomon, the
wisest man in the world, Proverbs 22, 9. A generous
man will himself be blessed, for he shares his
food with the poor. Are you getting the drift?
Pretty strong argument. Solomon, Proverbs 19,
17. He who is kind to the poor lends to the Lord.
And what does God do? When people are kind to
the poor, he will reward him for what he has
done. Deuteronomy, Moses writes, when you're
out harvesting your field and you overlook a
sheaf, you know, you're harvesting your field
and oh boy, we forgot that one back there. Notice
what he says. Do not go back and get it. Leave
it for the alien, for the fatherless and the
widow. Why? so that the Lord your God may bless
you in all the work of your hands. Turn the page,
if you will, Proverbs 3, 9, and 10. He says,
honor the Lord with what? Honor God. What's it
look like? Honor God with all your wealth. How?
With the very first fruits of your crops. You
give the first and the best. What's the result?
Then your barns will be filled with overflowing.
and your vats are burst out with new wine. And
then finally, Solomon in Proverbs 11, 24, and
5. I love this one. One man gives freely, yet
gains all the more. Another withholds what is
justly due, but comes only to poverty. A generous
man will prosper, and he who refreshes others
will himself be refreshed. Now listen very carefully.
This is not a give to get, and this is not the
prosperity gospel. This is not a formula where
you can figure out, oh, this is how God has set
up life. I'm going to figure out how to use God
and somehow give so I can get more. That's just
being selfish. But what the Bible teaches from
Jesus to Moses to Solomon to all through Scripture
is very, very simple. You have limited capacity.
Limited time. You have limited money. You have
limited opportunity. You have limited energy.
You have limited talent. And God says to you,
if you will take those limitations and you will
give the first and the best, and trust me, I
have unlimited supply to help you fulfill my
purpose in you and my purpose through you. The
bright idea that comes out of this is this. Generous
living produces emotional happiness, spiritual
holiness, and as a general rule, material prosperity.
No give to get. No playing games with God. But
you know, people that are generous are happy.
They're like anti -Scrooge. You know, when you
just can't wait for your husband or your wife
or a close friend or one of your kids or a grandkid
to open something, right? You know they want
it. You know they want it. You've been thinking
about it. You checked it out on the internet.
You bought it. You can't wait. You know what
that is? You're made to give and to bless others.
And when you do, what happens? It's more blessed
to give than to receive. But God says this is
a way of life. There's an enemy to this, though.
Left to ourself and in our flesh, I'm a selfish,
greedy person. I mean, I want to appear generous,
but protect me, right? Now, none of you are like
that, but that's just left to myself. The only
antidote to greed and selfishness and the power
of money, the antidote is to give. It's when
I give God the first, when I give him the best,
it breaks the power of greed and that false belief
that just a little bit more, just a little bit
more, that it can produce security and it'll
take care of me. And someday when I have then,
that false belief. And then finally, what you
find is people that are generous with material
things and generous with their time, generous
with the talent, just the hand of God's blessing
is upon them. We'll hear more from Chip Ingram's
message in just a moment. First, we invite you
to multiply your year in support of Living on
the Edge through an exciting match that's active
through December 31st. Every gift is matched.
Every dollar multiplied by two. Every investment
maximized for kingdom impact. Double the impact
of your gift at livingontheedge .org. From his
series called The Genius of Generosity, again,
our Bible teacher, Chip Ingram. Now, you may
be hearing what I'm saying and thinking, okay,
now wait a second. Fact number one is God blesses
generous people. And you might be saying, well,
I think I'm pretty generous, but I'm not experiencing
that kind of blessing. In fact, I got a lot of
debt right now. I got a lot of pressure right
now. I don't have enough time right now. I mean,
how does this really work? Well, I did a little
experiment. I thought to myself, I wonder if
there's a difference between being truly generous
and just assuming or thinking that you're generous.
I went to a little strip mall where there was
multiple little restaurants and a Starbucks.
And I went from person to person to person. I
said, I'm trying to find 100 people. I have one
question. It's a survey. I just want a yes or
no answer. No explanation. Yes or no. And I mean,
I had young people, old people, all kind of ethnic
backgrounds. And I walked around and I was scared
at first, but it got to be fun. I said, excuse
me. Two ladies are stopping. You know, hey, I
don't want any money. I'm not going to do anything.
It's a survey. Can I ask you this question? And
I said, here it is. Do you consider yourself
to be a generous person? Yes or no? Do you consider
yourself to be a generous person? Yes or no?
If I ask you that, just right now, don't raise
your hand, don't do anything, but just your self
-talk. Do you consider yourself to be a generous
person? Yes or no? Well, my very unscientific
survey revealed that 80 % of the people at that
strip mall consider themselves very quickly to
be generous people. Only two people said no.
And so I couldn't resist. I had a follow -up
question. So you don't think you're generous?
No. Kind of like, I don't think I'm generous.
I'm not trying to be generous, buddy. Just, you
know, move on, you know. Get your own coffee
or something. Now, here's... What if all the
verses I talked about aren't for people who think
they're generous? What if all the verses, I mean,
these are the words of Jesus, the words of Solomon.
What if God really has a standard or a criteria
that if you fulfill that, you're generous and
these promises apply to you, and if you just
think you're generous, which I'm now learning
80 % at least of the people think they are, then
they really don't apply to you. And so let me
give you fact number two. Fact number two is
that God provides clear criteria for becoming
or knowing that you're a generous person. I mean,
right out of the Bible, you know, you may have
said yes, you may have said no, but I will tell
you in about 10 minutes, you can know with absolute
certainty from God's perspective whether he looks
at you as a generous person. The first two are
review and the last three are new. Characteristic
number one. Genuine generosity gives the first
and the best to God. When God looks at people,
when they get the first crops, the first of their
paycheck, the first blessing, the first opportunity,
they come to God and say, I recognize all I have
belongs to you. I want to give you the first
and the best. People who do that, from God's
perspective, are generous. Second, genuine generosity
is systematic and regular. So it's not just a
ooey -gooey feeling or near Christmas or this
person has a need and I gave them a couple hundred
bucks or I helped this person over here. Genuinely
generous people on a regular, systematic basis
give. That 1 Corinthians 16, verse 2, where Paul
is writing to them and says, now on the first
day of the week, I want you to prepare yourself
and I want you to decide. In proportion to how
God has blessed you on a regular, systematic
way. In the New Testament times, most people
were paid daily. They were paid at the end of
the day. Most of us get paid, you know, every
two weeks or once a month or by commission. And
so the issue is, when I get paid, do I regularly
and systematically give the first and the best
to God? So that would make us generous. If I
don't do that, I can feel generous, but from
God's perspective, I'm not. Third criteria. Genuine
generosity is proportional to our income. Notice
that same passage, 1 Corinthians 16, 2. He says,
let everyone decide on the first day of the week
according to what? According to his income. Let
me put it this way. Let's pretend that right
now I could invite one of you up here and you
were just very bold and we learned that you earn
$30 ,000 a year and live in the Silicon Valley.
And someone else was very bold and very open
and vulnerable. And I had them come up and they
own 300, or they make $300 ,000 here in the Silicon
Valley, okay? A, B. Both of them have maybe grown
up in the church. Both of them love God. And
both of them have learned that tithing is important,
giving the first 10%. But they've been taught
that that's God's part and somehow unconsciously
believe the biggest lie in the church that the
other 90 % is theirs. So you just give 10 % to
God and it's like, boy, I'm glad that bill is
taken care of. But they miss generosity completely.
So let's do a little bit of math. $30 ,000, give
the first 10%, is $3 ,000. This person's going
to live on $27 ,000 in the Silicon Valley. How
sacrificial is $3 ,000? That's a lot, isn't it?
This person, by God's blessing and grace, makes
$300 ,000. And by the way, don't read into good
person, bad person. These people both love God
with all their heart. This just person makes
less. This person makes more. They tithe and
they give $30 ,000, the very first portion. But
who's the most generous? I'm just going to go
out on a limb. We have people from all kinds
of incomes. I'm going to go on a limb, and a
number of you would say, I could squeeze by on
$270 ,000 a year here in the Silicon Valley.
I mean, it'll be tough. We'll have to really
get a budget, but I'm going to figure out how
to make it. Do you understand? What I want you
to get is this jar represents yours, but some
jars are bigger than other jars. For people that
have small jars, what they give and how they
give it, God never measures the amount that you
give. God measures the amount of the sacrifice.
That's generosity. That's why when the widow
would drop in the two small copper coins and
the other people gave large gifts, he wasn't
saying the large gifts were bad. In fact, the
temple couldn't run without the large gifts.
He just was saying, comparatively, this woman
has given more than them. Well, you've got to
say, Jesus, your math is all wrong. No, they
gave this much and she gave this much. Why would
Jesus say she gave more? Because it was a greater
sacrifice. Generosity is the first and the best.
It's regular, it's systematic, and it's proportional.
So it's not like you pay a bill. You're on a
journey. As God blesses you more, you get to
give more. You get to be involved more. You get
to stretch. You get to love. You get to expand.
I've had times where I was given more, and then
I had times where everything went down to here,
and one of the most humbling times of my life
was to say, I used to be able to give this. Now
I can only give this. It's proportional. Fourth
characteristic of generous people is genuine
generosity is sacrificial. The same setting,
Paul writes a lot about generosity in 2 Corinthians
chapter eight and nine. He says, now brothers,
we want you to know about the grace that our
God has given the Macedonian church. He's writing
to the Corinthians and he's talking about the
Macedonian church. He says, out of their most
severe trial, their overflowing joy and their
extreme poverty, it welled up in rich generosity.
I underline those four things because I don't
think we think about generosity coming out of
that, do you? I'm going to be generous when there's
an extreme trial. I'm going to be generous when
I'm under it. I'm going to be generous when I
don't have much at all. In fact, poverty. He
said, what welled out of them was rich generosity.
Now notice what he says. He says, for I testify
that they gave as much as they were able and
even beyond their ability. And then notice the
motivation. Entirely on their own, they urgently
pleaded with us for the privilege of sharing
in this service to the saints. And the service
he's talking about is over here, these Jewish
Christians, there was a famine and they didn't
have any food. And these Christians over here
said, Gentile Christians, they were new Christians
and there used to be all this hostility, but
Christ broke that wall and they said, we have
and they don't have, so we're going to share.
See, it's sacrificial. It's like that widow.
I came across a email that I want to share with
you. This is maybe one of the greatest pictures
of generosity I've ever seen in my life. Let
me read it to you. In fact, it's close to home
because it's a dear friend. He says, 10 years
ago, I stopped to have my car washed at this
brand new car wash at 87 and Capitol. A couple
of friends, Chuck and Patty and his wife, had
spent the last couple of years developing the
property. It was a huge investment for them.
As my car was being washed, I went up to the
office just to say hello. After a brief chat,
and I was about to leave, I asked Chuck, hey,
what's your blood type? He said, that's an odd
question. Why? He said, well, I need a kidney
transplant. He said, that's interesting. And
he said, well, I have the right blood type. He
said, I think maybe God wants me to give you
my kidney. I said, don't make any quick decisions.
Think about it. Pray about it. By the way, I've
got five or six brothers and sisters. They're
all being tested right now. Let's just see how
it works out. The very next day, I got a phone
call. Chuck said, Mike, I'm your man. God told
me to do this. I want to do this. His only request
was, could we make sure we get this done before
hunting season? I couldn't believe it. As it
turned out, all my siblings were eliminated for
one reason or another. Chuck went through the
testing. The results showed that it was a better
match than anyone else. We had an operation.
Chuck later gave his testimony about this experience
several times, and importantly, he's met with
multiple kidney donors and recipients. to encourage
them to consider doing what he did. To date,
five different people have received a kidney,
and who knows how many indirectly because of
Chuck's testimony. Even though they were unknowns,
even though he was just getting his business
off the ground, he chose to be generous. Consistently,
Chuck says this, it's the best thing I've ever
done. I'm so thankful God allowed me to do it.
Kind of raises the stakes on what it means to
give, doesn't it? I mean, most of us are sitting
here, depending on where you're at, going, you
know, I think God really wants me to get my finances
in order and I got a lot of debt. Or, you know,
gosh, when he used that illustration about the
10%, I've been giving 10 % for 22 years and I
thought that was just God's and I would have
to rethink my whole equation. And some guy was
willing to lay on a table and let someone cut
out half of what he owns. From all I can tell,
kidneys are pretty important, and we do have
two, but most of us want to have two. But he
had a friend that didn't have any, and he gave
one of his two. Are you starting to see? See,
when God sees that, you know what the heart of
God says? There's a generous man. There's a generous
woman. There's a generous student. There's no
give to get. There's no formula. It's the heart
of a father saying, you know what? He's treating
his friend the way I feel about him. He's loving
him and he's giving and he's caring. And when
God sees that in your heart as evidenced by your
behavior, then God, guess what? He just, he's
a father. He just wants to give whatever you
need. You need more time? You need more resources.
You need a greater opportunity. You need more
money. God has unlimited supply. But only right
now, about 2 .8 to 3 % of all the people who
claim to be born again in America are willing
to say, I believe you to the point that I would
pour out the first portion of even my income,
let alone my time, and trust that your supernatural
supply will meet all my needs. And the theory
goes, well, someday when I get enough or someday
when things turn around or when I can get this
or get that, that's not how it works. Out of
their deep poverty and severe trial, when he
was starting a business, when it was the last
thing you wanted to do in the world was put your
life at stake, that's sacrificial, that's generosity.
We're midway through a message from Chip Ingram
called Why God Prosperous Generous People. Stick
around. Chip has an illustration he wants to
share with you, and that's coming up in just
a moment. But first, I'll remind you that Living
on the Edge is in the final stretch of one of
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God. Chip? There is a massive difference between
knowing about God and actually knowing God. You
know, lots of Christians can tell you facts about
God, but somehow there's a disconnect between
their head knowledge and their heart experience.
They believe intellectually the right things,
but they're not experiencing the transforming
power that Jesus promised. This has brought so
home to me a few years ago as my back was hurting
and I went to see this doctor and he was a friend.
He went to our church. He says, I think I can
help you. And in the conversation, I challenged
him to read the Romans 12 book, True Spirituality.
And we met the next time and he said, hey, I
got to tell you something. I said, what? He goes,
um. I surrendered to Christ. I said, great. And
he was a former college athlete. And so he gets
in the Bible every single day. And I go back
for all the checkups. And three months later,
he's saying, man, my life is completely changing.
I mean, how I see my family, how I see everything
I do at work. He goes, there's a big difference
between a church -centered Christian and a word
-centered Christian. And he was the... picture,
the snapshot of what I see happening and how
God uses living on the edge. You know, so many
people, and with good intentions, it's basically
in your head and you believe a set of things.
But there's not transformation in how you live
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As you sense that God is stirring you to respond,
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.org. Why is it that some people seem to prosper
and others don't? I'm Dave Drewy, inviting you
to hear Chip Ingram's biblical answer tomorrow
on Living on the Edge.