Walk to the mess – Giving – Generosity He gave his feet to walk to the mess. He gave his hands to serve in the mess. He gave his heart’s to love messy people. And our generosity writes us into the story of what God is doing in this world. Generosity is absurd because it rests upon a supernatural promise from God that doesn’t make any sense at all. Luke 6:38… give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.” I want to light of generosity fire under you today. Matthew 21:1 Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” 4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, 5 “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’” 6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. 7 They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. 8 Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” 10 And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” 11 And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.” 1. Generosity begins when God asks for something from us and we cheerfully give it and the fact that he would ask something from us is absurd. The fact that God would ever need anything from you is absurd. We live in a world that practices what we might call the consumption assumption. It’s the assumption that everything that comes to me, is for me! Luke 16:13 “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” So what is Mammon? Mammon is the evil spirit that surrounds money. Mammon is always whispering in your ear; - life would be sweeter if you only had more of me. - People would listen to you if you only had more of me. - I am what buys the nice things of life. My mental map, for a long time, was one of poverty, scarcity, “there’s not enough and I have to keep what I’ve got.” Level 1: I’m poor, I can’t. The grudge level. The law level fueled by guilt. 2. The Second thing that we need to see about the story is that Jesus rides into town on the generosity of ordinary people. Our generosity writes us into the story of what God is doing. Matthew 21:7 They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. 8 Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” 10 And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” 11 And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.” That is how Jesus is going to ride into Fredericksburg – by riding in on the generosity of ordinary people. 2 Corinthians 9:6 The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. The third season of giving; God is my provider, so I can. This is the grace level of giving. The last level of giving is what I’m trying to live with now: I am rich, and I want to give. What’s so amazing about generosity is that it writes us into the story of what God is doing. Here we have the God of the universe who, if he chose to, could do anything that he wants. I tell every single one of my dollars were to go. I tell so many of them to go to heat my house – to pay my mortgage – to give me water – even to take out my trash. Some dollars are given for entertainment, going out to eat and I accepted that I have to part with these dollars. But why is it that when it comes to funding the kingdom of God and being generous it can be so difficult to part with those dollars? Our generosity can write listen to the stories of all kinds of people whose lives are being changed by Jesus.