TEXT: Mark 3:20

SUBJECT: The Generosity of Christ

If one word could capture our Lord's human character, what would it be? Several might be nominated, of course, but I'm not sure we could improve upon this one: "Generous". Jesus Christ was a man of remarkable generosity. What He preached to others, He practiced Himself: "Freely you have received, freely give". The best known verse to speak of His liberality is II Corinthians 8:9:

"For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,

That, though He was rich, yet for our sakes

He became poor, that we through His poverty

Might become rich".

Meditation on this verses helps us admire Him. This we must do; but we mustn't stop there. We must go on to imitate Him. With the Spirit's blessing, we can best do so by looking at His generosity in concrete examples.

Let's begin by pondering our Savior's use of money. Mark 14:3-7 provides a familiar reference. The Lord and His disciples gave to the poor. This isn't terribly surprising, of course. Giving alms was a common practice in the Judaism of the First Century. Even the Pharisees did that. But what is surprising is this: Jesus and His disciples were poor men themselves! He described His own financial status with these words: "The Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head". Yet He remembered those worse-off than Himself. With the tiniest of incomes, His purse strings were always loose. He was generous in the use of His money.

His liberality has inspired others. The Macedonian churches, for example. About them Paul wrote: "[From] the deep poverty abounded the riches of their liberality...for according to their ability, yes and beyond their ability, they were freely willing, imploring us with much urgency that we should receive the gift and the fellowship of the ministering to the saints".

The believers in Judea were suffering the results of a famine. Paul brought their needs to the assemblies of Macedonia. They responded with a huge gift for the starving saints--a gift they squeezed of their own poverty.

Charles Spurgeon was also liberal. The "Prince of Preachers" had a large income, but died a relatively poor man. Why? Not because he was wasteful, but because he was generous. John Wesley was the same; so was George Muller; and George Whitefield. And many others. Why were they so generous? Not because they were made to feel guilty, but because they reflected upon God's "Unspeakable Gift".

Our Lord was equally generous with His time. Matthew, chs.8,9 illustrate this well. In Matthew 5-7, He has preached "The Sermon on the Mount". The people are agog at His Words. But as soon as the benediction is pronounced, they're all over Him. v.2--a leper; v.5--a centurion; v.14--Peter's mother; v.16--demon-possessed. Go the chapter 9, and you find the same occurring: A paralytic in v.2; a ruler in v.18; a hemorrhaging woman in v.20; 2 blind men in v.27; a mute demoniac in v.32; "Every sickness and disease" in v.35; "Scattered sheep" in v.36.

I needn't labor this point; anyone who reads the Gospels will find our Lord Jesus extraordinarily giving of His time. And, in the end, you find, nothing was left undone or half-done. "He has done all things well" is the verdict on His life.

Christ was especially generous with others' faults. How foolish His disciples were! How ignorant! How conceited! How malignant at times! Yet the Gospels do not reveal a nit-picking Savior! Many faults are overlooked. Some are reproved--but the reproofs have no trace of contempt in them. Never were the disciples left wondering if their Savior still loved them! "Now Jesus, having loved His own who were in the world, loved them to the end".

This trait was wonderfully seen in His meeting with the lunatic's father. He brought his bedeviled son to the disciples, but they could do him no good. As a last resort, he brings the poor boy to the Lord with these half-hearted words: "If you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us!" The request was full of doubt...yet the Lord answered it. Why? Because He was generous with the faults of others.

Never was a Man more generous than He who prayed "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do".

This generosity stands in alarming contrast to the stinginess of His disciples. When Mary anoints Him at Bethany, they attribute it to stupidity and wastefulness. When the Samaritans are inhospitable, James and John want to fire bomb the city! When they see a blind man, they ask, "Master, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?"

They hadn't learned much from their Savior; they hadn't taken His example to heart. Have we? Or are we more like the disciples than their Lord?

Why was our Lord so generous with others? John 5:19 leaves no doubt: "Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner". In short: He was generous because God is generous!

Is that so? Yes it is. Negatively, God is "slow to wrath". He's not eager to expose sin and to punish it. He has "no pleasure in the death of the wicked". No, He prefers the sinner to "turn and live". Consequently, He gives him time to consider his evil ways and to repent of them. It is, after all, "the goodness of God that leads to repentance".

Positively, "He makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends His rain on the just and on the unjust". In other words, He not only withholds the punishment sinners deserve, but does them good every day of their lives! Why? Not because they deserve it, but because He is generous. He is generous to the worst sinners; He is doubly generous to His people.

His word to us is: "Go and do likewise". God provide the grace, for Christ's sake. Amen.