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I hope that one of the things you have been doing this month, or will do this week, is to give thanks for all that God has given you. As we see war in the Middle East and Ukraine, we need to give thanks for the safe community we live in. God has given us families and friends to love us. God has given us food to eat and this week an abundance of food to eat. God has given us shelter and clothing and transportation. We have access to clean water, health care, and education. God has given us gifts, abilities, and passions to use for our own enjoyment and for the benefit of others. God has been so generous with us, and God’s generosity is part of what moves us to be generous. As children created in the image of God, there is a part of us that seeks to give because God has given, and there is a part of us that seeks to be generous because God has been generous.
Who do you know that has been generous, or maybe been generous to you? My Grandmother was the most generous person I’ve known. She gave gifts on her birthday. She made sure she tipped generously. She gave generous gifts at Christmas. One year when I was in High School, she gave me a gift that allowed me to go on a trip to Europe with the CT Ambassadors of Music. She was generous and having been blessed by her generosity makes me want to be generous.
When we experience the generosity of others, it makes us what to be generous, and the same is true with God. When we experience the generosity of God, something moves in us to want to be like God and give generously. The generosity of God can be seen in that one Bible verse we often memorized as a child. John 3:16. God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
God gives because He loves us, but the generosity of God’s giving, and the generosity of God’s love is seen in what God gives. God gives His only Son. God gives all He has and all He is in Jesus. God came to us in Jesus to live with us and show us the path of life, but God also came in Jesus to take on our sin and the penalty of our sin, which is death. God came in the person of Jesus to die our death so that we might live forever. Jesus willingly gave His life for us when He chose to not only carry a cross but then die the painful death of crucifixion on that cross.
The reality of this choice hit me when I was standing in the Garden of Gethsemane just outside the walls of Jerusalem. From the garden, where we think Jesus prayed and asked God for another way of salvation for us that wouldn’t require Him to die on the cross, you can see this gate of Jerusalem. It’s called the Golden Gate and it is the gate that the Jewish people believe the Messiah would enter when He came to set up God’s kingdom. The gate was open at the time of Jesus and as Jesus looked at this gate, He knew He had a choice. He could enter the city to establish God’s kingdom and be hailed a king, or He could be led back into the city as a criminal condemned to die on a cross.
When I stood and looked at the gate and how close it was, I understood more powerfully the choice Jesus had. He could have entered into the city in glory, or He could have turned, and just over the hill from the garden was a vast wilderness that Jesus could have fled to and hid in for months if not years, or He could carry a cross. Jesus chose not to run away. He chose to set aside His glory so that He could carry a cross for us. In love, Jesus chose us and what a generous love that was. God’s love in Jesus forgives us. It frees us from sin. It gives everlasting life. It is generous.
As I stood in the garden and realized what Jesus did, I was overwhelmed by how generous God’s love was, and how unworthy I was to receive it. I don’t deserve God’s love. I haven’t done anything to earn God’s love. In fact, I fall short of who God wants me to be every day. I can never repay God for taking on my sin and dying my death, and there is nothing I can give to God in return for the gift of eternal life he gives. I am saved by grace. God’s generosity made the way for grace and mercy and our salvation.
God’s generosity made the way for grace. This is true for all of us. We don’t deserve God’s love. We can’t earn Gods’ love. We can’t repay God for His love. Forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life are all gifts of God’s grace. The Bible says we are saved by grace through faith. There is nothing we have done or can do to make it right, it is all God’s grace. God’s generosity, God’s generous love, made the way for grace.
The person who shows us that it is generosity that makes the way for God’s grace is the Apostle Paul. Paul wrote much of the New Testament and he used the word grace more than anyone else. In fact. Paul used the word grace 100 times and in the rest of the New Testament it is only used 50 times. Paul was passionate about God’s grace and he wanted to talk about it because he had experienced it first hand and it changed everything for him.
When we first meet Paul in the Bible he is known as Saul. He is a Jewish religious leader who strongly opposes the new movement of Jesus. In fact, Saul had authority from the Jewish leaders to find those who said that Jesus had died and rose again for our sin and have them killed. Saul is first mentioned in the Bible when he authorized the stoning of Stephen. Saul is the one who holds the garments of the men who kill him. After Stephen died, Paul continued to hunt down the followers of Jesus. Acts 8:2-3
Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison.
Saul is persecuting men and women who say that they trust in Jesus as their savior. He has the authority to beat them, put them in prison, and stone them if necessary. Saul was proud of what he was doing and he felt like he was honoring God in it all. The next time we hear about Saul, he was continuing his quest to stop the movement of Jesus and destroy the disciples. Acts 9:1-4.
Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”
It was on the road to Damascus, while Saul was searching for Christians to be put in prison, when Jesus came and asked Saul why he was persecuting Him. Saul was struck blind in that moment and finally came to realize that not only was it Jesus who was speaking to him, but Jesus was the one who died and rose again. Saul begins to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Anointed One, the son of God and the Savior of the world.
Saul is taken into the city of Damascus where a man named Annanias was told by Jesus to go and pray for Saul. Can you imagine what Annanias must have thought? No way am I going to do that! That man wants to kill me and all of us. I’m not going. But Jesus tells Annanias to go and he does. He prays for Saul and something like scales fall from Saul's eyes so that he can see. Immediately Saul goes out to preach that Jesus is the Messiah. Acts 9:20-22
At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. All those who heard him were astonished and asked, “Isn’t he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?” Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah.
Saul was literally persecuting the followers of Jesus when Jesus came to save him. Saul hadn’t done anything for Jesus to forgive him. Saul hadn’t done anything to earn God’s favor or love. There was no way Saul could repay Jesus for the persecution and death he caused. Saul knew that Jesus only came and forgave him and put him on the right path because He chose to come to him. It was God’s grace that turned Saul around. That’s why Saul, later known as Paul, was so passionate about God’s grace. It is Paul who said:
The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 1 Timothy 1:14
All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. Romans 3:23-24
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions — it is by grace you have been saved. Ephesians 2:4-5
It is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. Ephesians 2:8-9
Paul spoke passionately about the grace of God because he had experienced it in his life. God’s generous love and grace turned Paul’s life around. He stopped persecuting Christ and started to preach Christ. God’s generosity opened the door for grace in Paul’s life, but there was someone else whose generosity helped Paul become a leader in the church.
Right after his conversion, Saul was not accepted by the original disciples. John and Peter were not eager to welcome Saul as part of their movement because of his past; it was only after another follower of Jesus was willing to vouch for Saul, that the disciples agreed to meet with him. That man was named Barnabas.
When Saul came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus. So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. Acts 9:26-28
So the generosity of Barnabas opened the door for Saul to become a leader in the church. The generosity of Barnabas is what allowed Saul to become a leader in the church who shared with the world the message of God’s amazing grace. But why were Peter and John willing to listen to Barnabas? What made Barnabas such a respected leader in the church? Why did Barnabas have so much influence? It’s because he was generous.
When we first hear about Barnabas, his name is Joseph.
Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement”), sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles’ feet. Acts 4:36-37
Joseph's generosity was so powerful that it caused the disciples to change his name. His giving was so encouraging that they started calling him Barnabas - Son of Encouragement. Joseph gave so completely and faithfully and generously that it forever changed how people saw him. He was no longer just an average Joe, he was the Son of Encouragement. Joseph was influential because he was generous. He gave all he had.
It was the generosity of Joseph that opened the door for Saul to become a leader in the church and talk about the grace of God that has changed our lives. Generosity makes a way for God’s grace.
The generosity of God’s love sent Jesus into the world with a grace that brings forgiveness and everlasting life. The generosity of God’s love sent Jesus to Saul with a grace that transformed his life. The generosity of Barnabas' friendship opened the door for Saul to become a leader in the church and share the message of God’s grace, and the only reason Barnabas had influence with the leaders of the church so he could bring Saul to them was because of his history of generosity.
Over and over again, generosity makes a way for God’s grace to overflow into our world. If the world needs more of God’s grace, then the world needs more people practicing generosity. If the world needs more of God’s grace, then we need to become a Barnabas. We need to give generously. We need to encourage others and we need to do all we can to share God’s grace with others.
This week, as we give thanks for the overflow of God’s generosity and grace, let us also find ways that God’s grace can flow through us into the world. How can we be like Barnabas and give? Who can we be an encouragement to others? How can God use us to share God’s love and grace? God’s generosity brought grace into our world, it’s now our turn to be generous so God’s grace can flow into our world. I invite you this week to find ways to be generous.
Next Steps
Overflow - Grace
Make a list of all the ways you have experienced God’s generous love and grace. Thank God for all these things.
Read through the words of the hymn Amazing Grace.
● How do the words mirror your own life’s story?
● How has God’s grace changed your life?
Read the story of Saul’s conversion in Acts 7:54-8:3, 9:1-30.
Why was Saul (Paul) so passionate about God’s grace?
Read some of Paul’s teaching about God’s grace:
● Romans 3:23-24
● Ephesians 2:4-5
● Ephesians 2:8-9
● 1 Timothy 1:13-14
● 2 Timothy 1:9
● Titus 2:11-12
How did the generosity of Barnabas open the door for Saul? Read Acts 4:36-37 and Acts 9:26-28.
Generosity makes a way for God’s grace.
How can your generosity open the door for God’s grace to be experienced in someone else’s life?
How can your generosity bring God’s grace into our world?
How can you be generous in this week of Thanksgiving?
How can you be generous in the upcoming Christmas Season?
