Generosity and Jesus: Where's Your Heart?
Generosity and Jesus
… where’s your heart?
In The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) Jesus laid out a mind-spinning, gut-wrenching, up-side down view of the world...at least from a human perspective. But for Jesus, it was everyday life. I'd like to take a few posts to dial in on what Jesus had to say about money and generosity in his Sermon.
Called to Greatness
First, a little background. Jesus pulled his followers up a hill overlooking the Sea of Galilee to talk about what he expected of them. You see, he wasn't your typical rabbi relating your typical religious teaching. He had something in mind that was radically different from what his followers were used to hearing from other rabbis. Jesus called them to live lives that were better than the religious people of that day. He called them to greatness. One of the things that would make them great was being generous with their money.
How You Spend Your Money Determines Your Greatness
Jesus’ sermon covered a wide range of topics, but his words about money may be the most challenging:
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin/rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin/rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. Matthew 6:19,20
Jesus said that if they wanted to be salt and light in the world then It was going to impact the way they spent their money. I bet they were hoping that they could be great without it affecting their money!
We often think like that, don't we? But don’t be too quick to think that Jesus wants something FROM you that you need to protect. Maybe Jesus wants something FOR you that you may not see just yet. Let’s look at why Jesus thinks laying up treasure in heaven will benefit you.
Where Do You "Hide" Your Money?
When Jesus talked about treasure he was talking about disposable income, that is, what is left over after your basic needs are met. Or, treasure might be what you bought with your disposable income.
The people in Jesus' day weren't looking for where to give away their money. They were looking for places to hide it. There were no banks or storage units then, so people would often dig a hole in the dirt of their home to hide their treasures, making sure they didn't lose them. Or they might find some other hiding place like a cave. But the downside of hiding your valuables was that they could be easily stolen or rust or animals could eat away at what was hidden.
My wife and I know what that's about. When we moved to a farm in 1990, we had a mobile home with no storage space. So we boxed up a lot of our belongings and put them in one of our machine sheds. Not smart! Seven years later, when we moved, all my books were moldy and mice had gotten into everything and chewed it up, even some of the rubber grips on my golf clubs. Who knew?
Unlike me, everyone in Jesus’ day was aware of the downside of hiding valuables, so Jesus used this common problem to make a suggestion: Instead of putting your valuables at risk, why not invest them where you KNOW you’ll get a healthy return on your money, the return being - treasure in heaven?
Generosity NOW Leads to Rewards Later
Jesus didn’t come right out and say it, but it was understood that storing up treasure in heaven meant that God will reward you in the next life...whenever you give money to those in need. Or, you might say: Your best investment, with the greatest return, is in helping others. I’m sure this was just as touchy of a subject then, as it is now. No one likes being told what to do with their money, especially from a preacher!
But remember, Jesus was trying to call greatness out of them and great people are people who look after the needs of others, not just their own. My guess is that the disciples weren’t sold on the idea of generosity and redirecting their money to others at first. Maybe one of them had just bought a new set of golf clubs. Or another just built a man cave in his basement and would be too embarrassed to invite Jesus over. And another disciple was about to remodel his kitchen and didn’t know how to break it to his wife that Jesus had other ideas for how they spent their money.
I don’t believe that Jesus was trying to be a buzz kill here. That means, I don’t think he was saying that we need to give away every penny of our disposable income. Jesus was just trying to get them to view their money with spiritual eyes.
Generosity Moves You Closer to God
Let’s see what Jesus had to say about storing up treasure in heaven. He gave three reasons for why they should give to the needy. First he said:
For... where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:21
Put another way, Jesus was asking: where do you want your heart to be…focused on God’s desires or on your desires? We know that God’s heart is for the needy. So we can never go wrong by investing in the lives of hurting people.
But we can’t always say that about our purchases, can we? Many times we spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars on stuff that never brings us the joy we thought it would. In fact, sometimes it brings us pain and obligation.
Instead of being a buzz kill, Jesus was trying to show his people that generosity is an easy way to draw close to God. It's a simple principle: Your heart always follows your money. If you want your heart to be close to God, you know what to do: help those in need.
No Shame
Now, there is no shame here. If you don’t want to draw any closer to God, then you don’t have to worry about where your money goes. Maybe you’ve heard sermons on money where the tactic was to lay on a thick layer of guilt. That’s not what I want to do here and I don’t think Jesus did either.
Jesus wanted his followers to know that they had the power to control their heart by how they spent their money. That’s a powerful concept if you think about it. You can move your heart closer to God today simply by redirecting your money to hurting people.
Let me ask you: where is your heart today? What consumes your money? Is there a disconnect between what you say about God and where you send your money? Again...there's no shame here. I just want you to see what Jesus was saying and help you to draw closer to God, if that's your goal.
In my next few posts I'll dive into other lessons Jesus shared about money and generosity.
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