WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.000 Quick question for you, but I suggest you pause for a few moments while you think about it. 00:00:07.000 --> 00:00:14.000 I want you to think of an experience in your own life when you were on the receiving end of generosity. 00:00:14.000 --> 00:00:17.000 Think about that for a few moments. 00:00:17.000 --> 00:00:24.000 And as you do so, remember who it was and what it was that they gave you or did for you. 00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:33.000 But not only that, try to recall how it made you feel as you came to realise and appreciate just what it was that had just happened. 00:00:33.000 --> 00:00:41.000 How did your thinking unravel as the truth of that person's generosity became apparent to you? 00:00:41.000 --> 00:00:45.000 What did it feel like? 00:00:45.000 --> 00:00:52.000 Generosity tends to trip us up. It stops us in our tracks. It catches us unawares. 00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:57.000 We've internalised that old saying that there's no such thing in life as a free lunch. 00:00:57.000 --> 00:01:02.000 We get so used to assuming that others must have some kind of hidden motive 00:01:02.000 --> 00:01:08.000 and that offers of extravagant kindness must come with some sort of catch. 00:01:08.000 --> 00:01:14.000 Perhaps there's a sense in which it's no bad thing to carry a healthy sense of suspicion. 00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:19.000 But is there a danger that we almost make that into a virtue? 00:01:19.000 --> 00:01:29.000 See, when we are confronted by genuine, unconditional generosity which has as its motive love and nothing other than love, 00:01:29.000 --> 00:01:34.000 then it takes us a while to process that, to unpack it. 00:01:34.000 --> 00:01:39.000 But when we have come to terms with the reality of an act of genuine, selfless kindness, 00:01:39.000 --> 00:01:45.000 when the truth of it lands, it has the power to do something to us inside. 00:01:45.000 --> 00:01:50.000 We find ourselves reconnected spiritually with others, with God. 00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:53.000 That's because God is love. 00:01:53.000 --> 00:01:57.000 Now, I don't say that casually as a piece of sentimentalism. 00:01:57.000 --> 00:01:59.000 I say it as a theological statement. 00:01:59.000 --> 00:02:06.000 It's right there in 1 John chapter 4, which tells us that love comes from God because God is love. 00:02:06.000 --> 00:02:12.000 That is, God's not just the source of love, but actually is love in his very being. 00:02:12.000 --> 00:02:19.000 It's the greatest power and is the only thing that can overcome anything and everything else. 00:02:19.000 --> 00:02:22.000 It's at the very heart and soul of life itself. 00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:25.000 It's intrinsic to ultimate reality. 00:02:25.000 --> 00:02:29.000 So that's why, when we're on the receiving end of generosity, 00:02:29.000 --> 00:02:32.000 and the reality of that generosity hits home, 00:02:32.000 --> 00:02:37.000 we're confronted with the fundamental goodness of God himself. 00:02:37.000 --> 00:02:41.000 Thing is, our everyday lives and our broken human nature 00:02:41.000 --> 00:02:45.000 has this awful tendency to pull us away from this truth. 00:02:47.000 --> 00:02:54.000 Way back in 1973, some social scientists carried out what eventually became quite a famous experiment. 00:02:54.000 --> 00:02:59.000 Some theological students were asked to prepare a talk on the Good Samaritan. 00:02:59.000 --> 00:03:06.000 When they arrived at their class, they were told they needed to go to another building on campus to deliver their talks. 00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:12.000 Some were told that their audience was already waiting for them, so they had no time to lose. 00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:19.000 On their way to deliver their talks, the students came across an actor who was slumped on the footpath, 00:03:19.000 --> 00:03:23.000 moaning and pretending to be in distress. 00:03:23.000 --> 00:03:26.000 You can probably see where this is going. 00:03:26.000 --> 00:03:37.000 Only 53% of the students hurrying to give talks on a famous parable about generosity stopped to help the man. 00:03:37.000 --> 00:03:44.000 And get this, the variable that had the most effect on whether they stopped or not 00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:49.000 was how much time pressure they thought they were under to get to the building to deliver their talks. 00:03:49.000 --> 00:03:54.000 It's easy to approve of generosity. 00:03:54.000 --> 00:03:58.000 It's much more difficult to be generous. 00:03:58.000 --> 00:04:02.000 And that old experiment exposes a really important truth. 00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:10.000 It's so often simply the rush and pressure of everyday life that stops us being generous. 00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:13.000 We don't disagree with generosity. 00:04:13.000 --> 00:04:15.000 It's not that we disapprove of it. 00:04:15.000 --> 00:04:16.000 In fact, it's the very opposite. 00:04:16.000 --> 00:04:19.000 We love it and we want to be generous. 00:04:19.000 --> 00:04:21.000 It's just that it's hard. 00:04:21.000 --> 00:04:26.000 And one reason why it's so hard is that life throws demands and pressures at us 00:04:26.000 --> 00:04:32.000 that we become distracted from the very things we actually know in our hearts are most important. 00:04:32.000 --> 00:04:37.000 And let's not think that life has only become pressurised in recent years. 00:04:37.000 --> 00:04:41.000 That experiment was carried out in 1973. 00:04:41.000 --> 00:04:46.000 And of course, Jesus told that famous parable rather earlier than that. 00:04:46.000 --> 00:04:52.000 His teaching is timeless because God's understanding of the human heart is timeless. 00:04:52.000 --> 00:04:55.000 So what might we do about it? 00:04:55.000 --> 00:04:59.000 How can we, in the midst of all the pressures of ordinary life, 00:04:59.000 --> 00:05:04.000 retune ourselves to the generous heart of God that actually gives us life itself? 00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:08.000 Well, we're given a bit of a clue in the life of David, 00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:15.000 a snapshot of which we see in today's reading from 1 Chronicles 29 verses 10 to 14. 00:05:15.000 --> 00:05:18.000 Now, as a king, David would have led a busy life. 00:05:18.000 --> 00:05:24.000 He would have faced pressure, stress, big decisions, difficult challenges every day of his life. 00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:28.000 And yet he made sure he remembered God in it. 00:05:28.000 --> 00:05:30.000 He prayed. He gave thanks. 00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:36.000 He looked to God as his provider, as his source, as his rock and as his fortress. 00:05:36.000 --> 00:05:39.000 He made time to do that. 00:05:39.000 --> 00:05:41.000 We know that because he wrote the Psalms. 00:05:41.000 --> 00:05:47.000 And here in 1 Chronicles, as David draws to the end of his life, 00:05:47.000 --> 00:05:53.000 he's busy getting things ready to build the temple that he knows he won't live to see. 00:05:53.000 --> 00:05:57.000 He's busy, busy making plans, busy doing important stuff. 00:05:57.000 --> 00:06:02.000 But by this stage of his life, he's been around long enough to know that the busier you get, 00:06:02.000 --> 00:06:06.000 the more important it is to keep your focus on God. 00:06:06.000 --> 00:06:08.000 And that's precisely what he does. 00:06:08.000 --> 00:06:10.000 He gives thanks. 00:06:10.000 --> 00:06:13.000 In 1 Chronicles, we get to see David doing this. 00:06:13.000 --> 00:06:15.000 We see him praying. 00:06:15.000 --> 00:06:18.000 And his prayer is a pretty good one for us to make our own. 00:06:18.000 --> 00:06:20.000 He says this, 00:06:20.000 --> 00:06:23.000 Lord, everything comes from you. 00:06:23.000 --> 00:06:28.000 And we have given you only what comes from your own hand. 00:06:28.000 --> 00:06:33.000 Let's make that our prayer every day. 00:06:33.000 --> 00:06:38.000 And as we go from here now, let's make it our prayer right now. 00:06:38.000 --> 00:06:39.000 So let's pray together. 00:06:39.000 --> 00:06:47.000 Lord, as we go into this coming week, may we keep our focus on you each day. 00:06:47.000 --> 00:06:56.000 Help us to remember that everything we have comes from you and is only ours because you have entrusted it to us. 00:06:56.000 --> 00:07:04.000 And so help us to be generous with our lives and to remember that everything we offer you is what comes from your own hand. 00:07:04.000 --> 00:07:07.000 Thank you in Jesus name. 00:07:07.000 --> 00:07:08.000 Amen. 00:07:08.000 --> 00:07:13.000 And we'll see you very soon. 00:07:13.000 --> 00:07:14.000 Go in peace. 00:07:14.000 --> 00:07:16.000 Have a great week. 00:07:16.000 --> 00:07:17.000 God bless you.