Radical Generosity: Living the Early Church's Common Life

And then he asked the question, whose inscription is on it? Caesar's, they replied. Then he says, give to Caesar what is Caesar's. See so Caesar's inscription's on it. His face is on it. That's his, so give that to him, but he doesn't leave it there. And give to God what is God's. And they understood what he was saying here. By saying whose face is on that coin, He is saying that someone, just as Caesar made that coin, someone made Caesar. The face is the image of God. It's the creation of God. Old Caesar may have that coin, but God made Caesar. God has everything. Who are you gonna worship? What are you gonna worship? [01:07:38] (53 seconds)  #GiveToGodNotCaesar

Jesus is saying that money is a great servant but a terrible master. The reality is is that just like our board game, money has this tendency to rise up and seek to gain our hearts. And Jesus understands this. There's this there's this great story. It's one of my favorite stories in the gospels. It comes from Luke chapter 20 when when, some of the religious leaders come to Jesus and they're wanting to trap him. They're wanting to they're wanting him to to declare allegiance. They they they come to him with a question seeking to compromise him, and it's this question. Is it right for us to pay taxes to to Caesar or not? [01:05:30] (46 seconds)  #MoneyServantNotMaster

Jesus extends this generous ethic to all people, And this is ultimately worked out at the cross. As we've explored in previous weeks, Jesus came and he opened, he stretched out his hands. He was pierced for our sins and our transgressions. Jesus died for us. And when we say Jesus died for us, he died for all. He didn't die for a certain nationality. He didn't die for a certain group. Jesus poured out his very life in radical generosity for every person. [00:48:39] (37 seconds)  #RadicalGenerosityForAll

And we, having act access to the kingdom of God, being invited into the kingdom of God, have been entrusted with the purposes and the plans of the kingdom of God. Everything that we have, every skill, every ability, your job, your capacity to make money, the resources that you have, the house that you have, the money that you have, it is not yours. Everything is a gift from God. It's not yours. It's not mine. It's God's. And we are but stewards of everything that God has given us. And when we get that vision, when we get that view, it changes everything. [01:08:45] (49 seconds)  #EverythingIsAGift

I think we all long for community, don't we? I think it's just something that's embedded in us. We've been created for it. We've been created in the image of God. And, therefore, we have been created like God is community, father, son, and holy spirit. We have been created to be in relationship, not only with God, but with one another. We've been created to find our people, to find our community. [00:37:21] (27 seconds)  #CreatedForCommunity

Why? Because there is something about opening our hands to give and receive in generosity. There is an overflow of joy that comes with a generous life. It's an overflow of joy. It's counterintuitive in our world today, but it sets us free to live. And Paul writes this to the church in Corinth. He says, remember this, whoever sows sparingly sparingly will also reap sparingly, but whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. [01:14:49] (45 seconds)  #JoyOfGenerosity

The grace of God and the impulse of generosity is for everyone, and it's this genius, this genius that the the early church figured out under, centered around Jesus Christ that radically changed the world. It's this that changed the Roman Empire. It's this that has shaped our Western thinking. It's this that makes us think about the value of every person today. [00:52:36] (29 seconds)  #GenerosityChangedHistory

God has placed in our hands everything. He's given us himself. And when we understand what we have won, one, we understand what it means to steward what we have, and two, it enables us to live with a new freedom because all our needs needs are met in him. It sets us free to live with radical generosity. We are called to live and to give with generosity just like the early church did. And as the early church lived with great generosity, they changed the world. See, generous living and generous giving will lead to generous growing. That small group of people, the early church, turned the Roman world upside down through their common life by being of one heart and one mind and living with great love around the person of Jesus Christ. [01:12:21] (77 seconds)  #GenerousLivingChangesWorld