Generosity: Part 2 of 4

Yesterday, I pointed out that the Old Testament passages of Deuteronomy 15:7-11 and Psalm 41:1-2 address the topic of generosity. God's instructions are to be open handed when taking care of the needy. But, God also promises blessings for those who do this.

Today, I want to return to ancient Israel, because even though Moses gave this very important law, the Jewish people eventually turned away from much of the law Moses had given them.

1500 years later, when Jesus arrives on the scene, the religious leaders had so manipulated the law, that it was impossible for the average person to keep. Plus, they had turned charity into something akin to a competition. In other words, those who had wealth would practice generosity, but not to help the poor. Instead, their goal was to bring fame to themselves.
In his sermon on the mount, Jesus tackles this problem head-on by pointing out that God wasn’t impressed with those who gave in order to get public recognition.

That teaching ran contrary to the popular practice in Jesus’ day, and it runs contrary to the philanthropy practices in our world today. It was counter-cultural 2,000 years ago, and it is still counter-cultural today. But, it was this practice that really defined the church, because when you combine it with Jesus’ other teachings on compassion and caring for people, you can begin to understand why the early church conducted itself as it did.

One of the characteristics of the first church was that they took care of each other. The poor were taken care of to the extent that other believers would sell their belongings to help people out.

That is so far out there that we struggle to understand exactly how this all worked. It’s hard for us to imagine selling what we worked all our life to acquire, so we could help others. But, it was this very thing that really set the Christian church apart from the rest of the world.

The world would tell the needy to fend for themselves, and not bother them with their problems. But, the church had applied something Jesus had said in John 13:34-35: when he commanded them to love each other, and noted that this would be how the world identified them as Christ-followers.

Jesus combined compassion and love as the way that the world would know who his disciples were. So, when the church first became organized, you saw an enormous outpouring of love and compassion for the other believers. And, this philosophy wasn’t confined to the church in Jerusalem. It spread to the other churches as the Gospel message was taken through the region.