Sermon Tone Analysis

Good Morning, we are in a series on “The Generous life,: and we have been talking about a flow of Generosity… That there is inputs and outputs of Generosity....The funnel of Generosity begins with the God’s gifts or grace towards us… A key passage is found in James chapter One..

God Generosity is more than a sentiment or a feeling… His Generosity has been expressed… in tangible and measurable ways…

His Goodness is revealed in Creation — God abundantly Generous in creation..

In His Plan of Salvation - Sending of His Only Son.

In Our Participation in His Divine nature — We are in Christ and He is in Us…

In the Outpouring of His Holy Spirit --- ..God’s River that flows into us and becomes this resource a reservoir that spills over to others..

“The foundation of the Generous life is a Generous God.”

One of the most encouraging take aways from James 1:17

Is that God is the Father of lights - WITH WHOM THERE IS NO VARIATION OR SHADOW DO TO CHANGE…GOD nature doesn’t change…God doesn’t have mood swings… We talking about God’s Divine Immutability… which means God free from all change.

Everything in this world changes from one degree to the next..

But God is free from Change because He exists outside of time…space and He is free from the movement o History… Everything in Creation changes, yet when it comes to God’s grace — his gifts they remain the same..

When Israel distanced herself from God --- God continued to be faithful and this continued from One Generation to the next...

In the times of the Kings - Israel Desiring to be like other surrounding Kingdoms having their own King rather than being a nation under God.

God listen to Israel and had Samuel anoint Saul as King and so God gave them a dynasty of kings — King Saul was followed by David and Solomon… others… if you read through the history of the Kings… it didn’t work out so well— lines of good and bad kings...

During the times of Prophets both Israel and Judah got off track and getting themselves intrenched in the foreign marriages and practicing idolitary..

Yet, God remained unchanging in His Nature and in His purpose of restoring Israel…

Even when both Israel and Judah were exiled to Babylon it wasn’t going to be forever… After 70- years God planned to give Israel hope and future… It was during this time Jeremiah prophecies to Exiles…Gives a message of Hope.

God says to nation that far from Him....

I know … the plans I have for your.”

… are not intended to hurt you but to give you “hope and a future.”

This is the ‘Book of comfort and encouragement”, There are great promises of salvation that await those who endure the exile.

The phrase ‘I will bring you back from captivity comes up over and over again..

The principle is that God is about restoration and he is about bringing about hope…No matter how dark the night… no matter how hard life feels right now in the moment… God is a God of Hope…

There is a huge difference between what this world calls hope and what the Bible calls hope.

The oxford dictionary tells us that the grounds for hope is believing that something MAY happen.

Biblical hope on the other hand is a SURE WORD, it is a confident expectation that God will be faithful both now in the future.

God was ultimately going to restore the fortunes of Israel..

Once Israel turned to God with a whole heart God would gather them from all the nations that they had been scattered from and bring them back into their land..

They could have hope for their children and grandchildren — would have a destiny of Hope.

One of the things about being part of Community Groups is hearing Stories of God’s goodness… Not only do we know God is Good Theologically, and Biblically… We know that God is Good because of Experience… We have seen God’s goodness in our lives, in our families, in our friends, in our finances…

T/s God’s generosity should lead us into the practice or into the habit of Generosity… But Generosity doesn’t come naturally to us..

We have to practice it.

Jack McDowell in his book, “There is more to life then making a living,” — In the book he Talks about developing the good and bad Habits… … The Habits we form impact our health, our finances, our relationships… The good thing about Habits is that we can reverse them…We can develop habit of spending realistically and strengthening our finances.

We can develop the Habit of seeing the best in others and affirming their strengths and building positive relationships

McDowell says that

“Generosity is a character trait that is strengthened by habit.”

Jack McDowell

The more we practice generosity, the more deeply that trait becomes a part of who we are.

The more we practice a habit the deeper that trait becomes part of who we are…

T/s We are going to look at Three habits we can develop through practice…

1. Cultivating Right Attitudes

Hoarding is becoming a huge problem…

There’s been an enormous amount of research on the widespread problem with hoarding.

In a recent article in Scientific American… there was an article entiled

Material things don’t just fill basic emotional needs:

In fact, our possessions do not just make us feel secure by substituting for important people in our lives; we actually see these objects as an extension of ourselves.

We believe—or perhaps act as if we believe—that in some ways our very essence permeates our things.

If these things become damaged or lost, we ourselves become damaged or lost.

People can and do let us down, but not things.

“That worn sweatshirt is not human.

It does not show us compassion.

Neither does a teddy bear or a coffee mug.

But, scientists point out, these objects are utterly reliable, always present and under our control.

“We can count on them.”

According to Professor Ian Norris, “Other people are an extension of our self-concept.

When those relationships are unstable or unfulfilling, people may lack the connection they need and attach meaning to products that fill the void.”

Hoarding sufferers use their belongings to safeguard their identity, to ‘soothe their fears’ and to build ‘fortresses’ to make them feel more secure.”

Somehow our possession give us a sense of Security… replace the need for community and relationships!

The apostle Paul was an amazing man --- When he wrote to the Philippians he was a prisoner chained to a Roman Guard.

He had not comforts and no guarantees but yet he talks about having joy and hope.

We don’t find Paul bemoaning his life --- but rather his thoughts are occupied with the thoughts of others… In Philippians chapter 2 Paul encourages us to have the right attitude towards ourselves others .

Paul in this text deals with two important attitudes… Our attitudes towards ourselves and others…He starts with these — If statements…He is asking rhetorical questions… which everyone already knew the answer too..l

Is there any encouragement in Christ?

Being a Christians and being part of his body… In Christ… have you found verbal or nonverbal encouragement?

How about from the scriptures...

(Well, yes, I suppose there is.)

Is there any consolation of love?

(Well, yes, I guess so.)

Is there the feeling of being loved..

Is there any fellowship of the Spirit?

(ok, that too.)

Is there any affection and compassion?

(Yes, I suppose so.)

Paul’s goal was not to make us question these things, but to remind us that they are present… Paul is using a Rhetorical Device used in Greco Roman argument…

He makes truth statements that lead us his readers to come to the same conclusion…

If these things are true… then… is the implication...

If you have received anything from following Jesus… if His love has made any difference in your life… THEN make my joy complete… by being of one mind.. Paul is not asking for uniformity… but rather unity… Uniformity comes from pressure from without..

We don’t have to all look the same… However, because we have been changed from the inside out… Because … we have been immersed into Christ… We are baptised into Christ, We are baptized into his Spirit....

The H.S the Comforter Himself lives within, and knits our hearts together with other Christians.

What ‘fellowship of the Spirit’!

The Holy Spirit shares His very presence and gives a new desire to share themselves, with God and with others who know Christ, and help one another.

Then the natural Outcome is being like-minded… Whenever you see God’s people having one heart and one mind in the Bible good things begin to happen within the community.

When the spirit fell on the day of Pentecost… they were were in one place with one heart…Unity comes when we practice habits that bring like minded… Habits have to be practiced they don’t come naturally,

Practice Having the SAME MIND

Having the same love

United in spirit

Doing nothing from selfish ambition

Counting others more important

Not looking after your own interests.

At first glance, it looks like Paul is telling us to forsake our own interests in the pursuit of serving others, but this is not the case.

He could have told us to look out for our own interests and the interests of others, but this would have made them equally important.

Using the rhetorical “Not only … but also …” construction tells us that he wants us to do both.

But there is more to it....

As human beings, we most likely look out for our own interests, possibly even to the exclusion of anyone else’s!

A sure cure for selfish ambition is appreciative recognition of others’ good qualities and their walk with the Lord.

It is easy to get caught up in competition, aggressive acquiring, and vying for our own rights and needs.

But compared to knowing Christ, those interests seem shallow.

We need Christ’s attitude of self-sacrifice to look beyond ourselves to the needs of others.

The Key is balance…In Matt 22:37 Jesus told the Pharisees the greatest Command is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, Soul and mind… and the second is like it Love the your neighbor as yourself… The whole law is summed up in these two laws… Love God and love others as yourself…

Self love needs to be balanced with love for others..