Today on Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram.
See, the whole point of generosity, I mean, you
know this intellectually. God really doesn't
need your money. He owns everything. But steps
of generosity are a part of his plan so that
intimacy and relationship with him can increase.
And the only way that intimacy ever happens with
God is this mechanism called faith. Well, Happy
New Year. We commend you for spending part of
this holiday with Living on the Edge. Most people
start the new year thinking about their finances,
budgets, goals, maybe even charitable giving.
But today, Chip Ingram poses a penetrating question.
How does God really measure generosity? What
you'll discover might surprise you. Chip shows
us that generosity isn't primarily about money
at all. It's about something far more profound.
By the way, if you're among those who contributed
to the December match, thanks so much. We're
deeply grateful for you. And now let's begin
Chip's message called, How Does God Measure Generosity?
The Christmas story is very interesting where
you have these probably Persian or Babylonian
studies of the stars who see a star probably
18 to 24 months before the baby was actually
born. They see it and they go on a journey. And
then you have these low -life kind of... actually
sort of the disenfranchised social group of shepherds,
they get in the story. And then you have a teenage
girl, Mary, probably 15, 16 years old, and a
blue -collar worker who's betrothed to her. Well,
they become a big part of the story. And then
pretty soon you have angels involved. And I just
started thinking about, and I just laid the story
out. And as I did, I thought, each step of each
person introduced into the story, is a snapshot
of what the Bible teaches about the heart of
God and generosity. Now, normally I would have
you get in those Bibles and follow passage to
passage with me, but I want you to listen to
the story through the lens of generosity. We
pick it up where far beyond money, the magi come
and that's what they give. I think God introduces
us to the magi. They know him the least and they
get the least clear revelation. But they respond
to what they know. But after they respond to
that, the next group is the shepherds. And you
know the story of the shepherds, right? The sky
lights up. It's a chorus. The sky lights up and
they're singing and you're going, what's this
about? We pick up the story. It says, when the
angels had left them and went into heaven, the
shepherds said to one another, let's go. Where?
To Bethlehem. And see this thing that has happened
which the Lord has told us about. So they hurried
off and they found Mary and Joseph and the baby
who was lying in the manger. And when they had
seen him, they didn't just worship by giving
a gift. They spread the word concerning what
had been told them about this child. These shepherds
probably didn't have anything to give. They didn't
have any money to give. Shepherds get to give
their time. For most of you, not for all, but
for most of you, your time's more valuable than
your money. When we're talking about generosity,
please don't think writing a check, as good and
wonderful that is, is that my question would
be, how are you doing in your growth of generosity
of giving your time? I want you to know money
is the training wheels. When you begin to say,
God, I want to give you the best of my time.
I don't know what that looks like for you. It's
the early morning for me. I want to give you
the best of my time. And if you're like me, you're
going to get a call from someone, and it shows
up on your phone. And I have about three people
in my life, when their name comes up, it's like,
this is not a short conversation. It's never
a short conversation. But you know what I've
realized is, Jesus made time for people that
most of us don't want to make time for. And what
I'm really saying, see, what generosity is, it
breaks your pride. Generosity says, this person,
with this dysfunction, with this conversation,
with this baggage, matters to God, so they matter
to me because he lives inside of me, and giving
my money is a pretty high control. I can do it
on my terms. I give my time. It gets messy. The
shepherds left work. It's one thing to write
a check, but, I mean, to leave work early and
other people get ahead while I... Yeah, it takes
faith, doesn't it? Are you starting to see time?
Is way more valuable. But it goes beyond that.
The Christmas story then introduces a new character.
And we get Joseph who's engaged. Now just. You
talk about your reputation. Alright guys. Think
about way way back. For some of you when you
were engaged. And your girlfriend comes to you
and says. Hey I just want you to know. I've never
been with another man. But I'm pregnant. And
you say well. How can this be? And she says well.
It's God. Oh, really? Yeah, it's God. Angel told
me. I mean, yeah, okay, so let's get now, you
have an angelic visit. And this angel, literally,
I mean, in the middle of the night, you have
this dream and he speaks to you and says, it's
okay. And then he says, this is the savior of
the world. The Messiah is coming. Mary told you
the truth. This is the real deal. I want you
to do it. Now sometimes we read these Bible stories
like Joseph, some wind -up religious robot. Oh
yes, God said it, I will do it. God said it,
I will do it. He's a guy. He's thinking, now
wait a second. I mean, this is when the sexual
mores were way different than they are now. I
mean, you could get stoned for adultery. You
don't have babies out of wedlock. So now Joseph
is going to marry a girl that's pregnant? What
are the guys down at the bar going to say? Joseph,
you fool. Joseph, you idiot. Can you believe
that? I mean, all of his life, the suspect, the
suspicion. How in the world could any man marry
some woman who's pregnant with someone else's
kid in that day? His reputation, gone. Let me
ask you, when you start thinking about money
or time or reputation, what's the most valuable?
What's the hardest to give? I'm going to guess
that Group this size, we have people that probably
give your money faithfully. And I bet there's
people in this room that actually are pretty
willing to give your time. But I bet there's
some of us that as relatives come in or when
a topic comes up at work. And it's one of those
black and white issues. And you know the Bible
says this, and it's really clear, and your personal
convictions are here. But you know if you would
fly your flag and verbalize that, they would
think you're one of those Bible -thumping, anti
-intellectual, evangelical weirdos. And you know
what you do? You don't say anything. Because
what people think of you matters more than what
God thinks of you. And how you appear and it
might impact your career and it might impact
the future, right? You tell people you go to
church here and they look at you like, so you're
just not smart or what? You're not a thinking
person? You're not an intellectual? Are you willing
to give God your reputation? Are you willing
to kind of go out there on the limb and say,
you know, Lord, and by the way, I don't mean
be stupid. I don't mean be argumentative. I mean,
there's a lot of Christians that please, you
know, act in ways that actually hurt. God's reputation.
I'm talking about, you know those areas when
the Spirit of God is prompting you to step up
and verbalize and model what you really believe
and all this pressure that you're so afraid of
what people think. Generous people. Joseph gave
his reputation. For Mary, it was beyond her reputation.
I mean, her reputation was ruined, but she gave
her future. We pick the story up in Luke chapter
one. It's in the sixth month. God sent the, now
notice the angel, Gabriel. He's the great messenger
of God who announces the greatest announcements
in scripture. Gabriel goes to Nazareth to a town
of Galilee to a virgin pledged to be married
to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David.
The virgin's name was Mary and the angel went
to her and said, greetings, you're highly favored.
The Lord is with you. I mean, I just, I don't
know how or where this happened, but I just picture
it had to be in a private place and, you know,
maybe Mary was just getting ready for bed or
maybe she couldn't sleep that night and all of
a sudden, an angel's in the room. I mean, light
emanating out of him. He starts to speak to her.
Her response is, Mary was greatly troubled at
his words and wondered what kind of greeting
this might be, wouldn't you? But the angel said,
do not be afraid, Mary. You've found favor with
God. You will be with child and give birth to
a son and you're to give him his name Jesus.
This is really good because at least Joseph gets
a dream that says Jesus is the name and Mary
gets a visit that says Jesus is the name. So
when they talk together, they're on the same
page. Then notice, he will be great and be called
the son of the most high. The Lord God will give
him the throne of David and he will reign over
the house of Jacob forever and his kingdom will
never end. Mary understood what was going on
here. The throne of David, his kingdom. Later
in the same book, she has this prayer, this magnificent
prayer, and she talks about how God is faithful
to the humble, and she quotes 12 to 15 different
parts of Old Testament passages. This young girl
was godly, maybe 15, 16 years old. Knew God,
loved God, found favor. Those words, the throne
of David, he'll be called the son of God. She
understood the long awaited Messiah, God visiting
the earth, fully God, fully man, is going to
take up residence inside my body. And I will
give physical birth to the son of God and I will
be the mother of the Messiah. But she sort of
had a methodology question. And so her response
is, how can this be? Since I'm a virgin. And
the angel said, the Holy Spirit will come upon
you and the power of the Most High will overshadow
you so that the Holy One to be born will be called
the Son of God. And then almost as though, can
you imagine a little 15, 16 -year -old girl trying
to take all this in? And it's like the angel
said, you know, by the way, let me give you a
little touch of reality. You know Elizabeth,
your aunt? Yeah. You know the old lady who can't
have kids? Yeah. I mean, way past childbearing?
Yeah. Right now, she's six months pregnant. And
what we find is after this, Mary goes and visits
her and I think it was a great encouragement
to her faith, especially when she walked in the
room. And John the Baptist would leap inside
of Elizabeth in recognition of this is the mother,
the savior of the world. And he says, for nothing's
impossible with God. And then I love her response.
Because now I want to talk to you ladies. And
I don't know much about this except I have one
daughter. and one wife. And I talked to my wife
a lot about the dreams she had someday and what
the wedding would look like and this guy that
she was going to marry and the kind of person
he would be and maybe, you know, two or three
kids or, you know, when you're a young girl,
don't you have dreams about your future and what
it's going to look like and who he might be and,
you know, where are you going to live? And, you
know, back then, I don't think they had white
picket fences, but, you know, Mary gave her future
away. Her life was never normal. And her response
was, I am the servant of the Lord. Be it unto
me according to your word. Before we continue,
we want to thank those who gave to our year -end
match before the December 31st deadline. God
has blessed Living on the Edge through your generosity.
And because of your faithful giving, we'll be
able to accelerate our impact in our 30th anniversary
year, 2026. Your partnership means pastors will
be equipped, families strengthened, and believers
around the world discipled. Thank you. Now let's
get back to today's teaching from a series called
The Genius of Generosity. Again, our Bible teacher,
Chip Ingram. Here's what you got to grab. God,
who actually made all that there is, wants to
do things in you and through you beyond your
wildest imagination. But he doesn't have your
heart and can't start to guide you until you
can demonstrate you trust him. And you say, Lord,
I'll trust you with the training wheels of my
money. And then you begin to say, I'll give you
the best of my time. And then it's your reputation.
And then here's, a lot of people get there and
what they say is, now God, here's what I want
you to know. Inside this box for my future, as
long as I work at this kind of job, marry this
kind of person, never get geographically beyond
where I am, You know, I just want you to know
inside this box, you can do whatever you want
with my life. And you know what God does with
most people's lives? He does exactly what you
led him to inside that little box. And you can
go to church and you can write your first check
to the Lord and you can read your Bible and you
can go to a little Bible study now and then and
even share your faith now and then and feel like,
but God's been tapping on your shoulder and say,
what about your future? What about your future?
You willing to go anywhere? 80 % of all the people
in America have a job they hate, but they won't
leave it because the economic income is greater
than doing what they were made to do. See, I
mean, it's a scary, you're starting to get generous
when you say, God, I want to do with your future
anything you want done in my future. And that
usually requires some sort of step of faith.
And then people that we interview or people that
you know that have this sort of winsome, attractive
love for God that oozes out of them and it's
the kind of Christians we all someday kind of
want to be, I will tell you what, they've...
given their future to God. And they're doing
some things and experiencing things they never
dreamed would ever happen. They thought it only
happened to, quote, really spiritual people or
really smart people, really holy people. And
what I will tell you is the Bible is filled with
only ordinary people through whom God does extraordinary
things. And their prerequisite isn't gift or
talent or smarts or heritage or background. Their
prerequisite is trust and availability. And that's
why the Christmas story is a graduate level in
generosity because it's unlikely people who God
does improbable, impossible, amazing things as
increasing levels of generosity. And she gives
her future, and then Jesus does what? He gives
his life. Mark 10, 45, for even the Son of Man
came not to be served, but to serve and give
his life. For many. The word for there means
in the place of. It's a substitute for. And you
can kind of see, I sort of picture, you know,
down here they see a star. A little bit of revelation,
they respond to it. They get an angelic visit.
Over here, wow, he gets a dream with an angel
of the Lord. She gets a visit from Gabriel. Jesus,
before the foundations of the earth, looks through
the portals of time and the eternal now. And
who for the joy, not reluctantly, who for the
joy. Was it hard? Yes. Did he anguish in his
soul? Yes. Was it in the garden? Was it a struggle?
Completely. I like that because it is for me
too. But when he gave his life, it wasn't a reluctant.
It was who for the joy set before him endured
the cross, despising the shame, offering himself
so he could pay for you. and you and me and you
and you and whosoever would believe in him. The
father goes beyond that. The father gave his
son. In that window, in that moment of time when
Jesus hung upon the cross for the first time
in eternity, the Father would turn away from
the Son and the just wrath of God, your sin and
my sin and the sins of all people of all time
would be placed on him as a sin offering and
so he would cry, my God, my God, why have you
forsaken me? And he would take on your sin and
mine and the Father would give. And for some
of us, as you learn to become generous and God
uses you, there's an Isaac in your life. That's
why that picture's in the Old Testament. There's
been times when one of my kids has been an idol
in my life and God, are you willing to let him
loose and go away and pursue this career that
I thought he's never gonna make any money, he's
never gonna have a life and it's probably not
gonna work out. And it's a long way from here.
Yes, Lord. Or letting your kid go to a mission
field. There's another time in my life when my
wife was an idol. And she would tell you now,
that's one of the hardest, most difficult times.
But what God did in and then through. What precious
possession, what are you hanging on to that God
just wants to pry your little fingers off of
so he could let you experience his love? Last
night at the end of the service, there was a
guy waiting around for quite a while. I thought,
what's up? And he said, I just came here to thank
you. I said, what for? He said, well, I've been
kind of involved in ministry and 29 years old,
I'm in a graduate program now and I do some teaching
in my church and I've told people all kind of
stuff for lots of years. But in the last two
weeks, three of the biggest things happened that
just shattered my life. And he said, you know
something, there were two or three things that
I've always held back, even though I was involved
in ministry and read the Bible. Two or three
things that were just, mm -mm, God, I'm not trusting
you with those. And I, for the first time in
my life, told God, I'm all in. And I surrendered
my life. I mean, I've been a Christian for years,
but I surrendered all that I am, all that I have.
God, I want you to know I'm afraid, but I believe
that you're good and you're kind. You're a sun
and a shield. You give grace and glory. You won't
withhold any good thing. But now I'm taking that
step. And he said, I just can't tell you what's
happened in my life and my heart. I've been a
Christian most all my life, but the power and
the experience of God and the love of God that
I've heard about but never experienced came because
I gave. Why? What's the scripture teach? Give.
And it'll be given, good measure, pressed down,
shaken together, run over, back into your lap.
But it's not about money. Money's the training
wheels. Yeah, when you give, yeah. But time,
same. Reputation, future, life. Precious possession.
There's three little things I want you to fill
in. I've shared these, but I want you to just
jot down three observations about the Christmas
story and graduate level generosity. Number one,
generosity is not so much a virtuous act as it
is a virtuous response. Each time it was God.
God put the star. God sent the angels. God was
in the dream. God appeared to Mary. He loves
you. He's reaching. He's drawing you. So generosity
isn't something great you do. You respond. Second,
God doesn't measure generosity by the size of
your gift, but the size of your sacrifice. And
I would just ask you to begin to ponder what
would it look like to go from the step that I'm
on to the next step on this journey? There's
a sacrifice, but not as some legalistic I've
earned God's favor, I want to respond to God's
love at a deeper level of love. And finally,
increasing levels of generosity bring increasing
levels of reward and blessing. I mean, each time
the blessing is greater and greater and greater
and greater and greater. Because you give and
God always gives back. And on this first day
of a brand new year, Chip Ingram concludes this
four -part teaching series called The Genius
of Generosity. Generous living is joyful living.
Stay with us because Chip will share a personal
illustration in just a moment. As we enter the
new year of 2026, you might be hunting for a
Bible study to share with your small group at
church, or perhaps an interesting subject you
can pursue in your daily times with God. Well,
Living on the Edge offers a robust collection
of options, including the teaching series that
concludes today on the genius of generosity.
In this study, we discover the power, the freedom,
and the rewards of developing a generous heart.
To hear the four messages in this countercultural
series, go to livingontheedge .org and look for
the study called The Genius of Generosity. Chip?
As we wrap up today's program and the whole series,
I have to tell you something that I did, and
it was so fun and so exciting. I taught through
the generosity ladder. You know, I talked about
your money with the Magi, your time with the
shepherds, your reputation with Joseph, your
future with Mary, your life with Jesus, and then
the most precious possession, how the Father
gave the Son. And we had a big ladder up on stage.
I mean, a really big ladder. And I had a friend
come. His name is Mark Green. And he and his
family... own Hobby Lobby. And he went through
each rung on the ladder. He actually stepped
up on each step as he shared his testimony on
each of those points. It was so powerful. And
he talked about how his grandmother taught them
to give money. And then how, as he got older,
his father taught them about time. And then just
Hobby Lobby, their reputation, where they said,
you know, we are just not going to be open on
a day. Our reputation matters. And then their
future and how they took steps. faith. And then
as they did that, it's very interesting. At Hobby
Lobby, for the last three years, they have given,
as they've prospered, all their employees a raise
over the last three years because it was a season
of prosperity, even though the economy was bad.
And then on top of that, they take all their
profits. And it's something ridiculous. 40 or
50 percent of all their profits, they fund ministries
all around the world in evangelism, discipleship,
feeding the poor. And it was just so cool to
have him there because I taught it. And he climbed
up and shared his story, how each rung of that
ladder and how the increasing generosity developed
greater intimacy in his own heart, in his family.
And then he talked about the game plan they've
developed to teach his kids and later. grandkids
about generosity. And I just thought, what a
legacy. What's your legacy? What's it look like
to be generous beyond money? In this season,
what will it look like for your time, your reputation,
your future? In fact, your very life to be a
gift back to God and let him use it however he
wants. I can tell you from my time with Mart
and his family, it is a powerful, precious thing
to give away. Be generous. You will never regret
it. Thanks, Chip. And as we close today's program,
we want to thank those who gave generously to
the December match in which your contributions
to Living on the Edge were doubled in size and
impact. We can't give a final report because
it's too soon to know the final amount that arrived.
Mail is still coming in. But I can tell you this,
the outpouring of support was remarkably strong.
And because you participated so generously, we
can step into the new year with boldness and
confidence. Now, if you meant to send a contribution
but didn't meet the match deadline last night,
it's not too late to make an impact with your
generosity. Here's where to address your letter,
Living on the Edge, P .O. Box 3007, Atlanta,
Georgia, 30024. Our address again is P .O. Box
3007, Atlanta, Georgia, 30024. Or give online
at livingontheedge .org. Need direction on how
to make 2026 the best year ever? I'm Dave Drewy,
inviting you to hear Chip Ingram's insightful
answer tomorrow on Living on the Edge.