Joyce Meyer - Generosity and the Power of Serving Others - Part 2

TOPICS: Generosity, Serving Others, Servanthood

Thank you for joining me today on, "Enjoying Everyday Life". It's always my prayer that you will receive what you need to hear on this particular day. We started talking yesterday about "Generosity and the power of serving other people". You know, we all have a tendency to be selfish and self-centered. I wonder, sometimes, "How many times a day I think about me, and what I want, and what I need, and what other people should be doing for me"? And that's not the way God wants us to live. He wants us to train ourselves to think of others first. The Bible actually says that, "We should value others above ourselves".

Now, that doesn't mean that we think less of ourselves or think little of ourselves, but it means that we should place great value on other people, because they are precious to the Lord. Do you know no matter how you feel about somebody else, God loves them? They're his child, and we need to treat them in a way that would be pleasing to him. How many people do you have in your life that you don't like? Well, you know what? You don't have to like somebody to love them. I may not like a person's personality, but I'm required by the Word of God to love them. God is love, and he loves all of us. We need to learn to love people where they're at, not where we would like them to be.

You know, I don't know about you, but I haven't ran into any perfect people yet. I was talking to somebody this morning, and we were talking about a specific work situation and an area where somebody needed to improve. And I said, "You know what? We're never gonna get a perfect person in any position that we have here. Everybody has some kind of a flaw. There's always something that you would rather that they wouldn't do". But God wants us to have a loving and a generous attitude toward other people. It says in Galatians that, "We should bear with the weaknesses, the failings, and the faults of other people. Not live to please ourselves, but live to please God".

Well, you know, serving people almost always involves giving of some kind. It involves giving time, or perhaps money, or an effort to do an act of service. How generous are you? And what does it even mean to be generous? To be generous means "To always do more than what you have to do, more than enough," going the extra mile. God is Jehovah-Jireh, the God of more than enough. He does exceedingly, abundantly, above and beyond all that we could ever dare to hope, ask, or think. He doesn't just do what he has to do, but he goes way beyond what we even ask him to do.

I think I ended yesterday with Galatians 5:13. It says, "You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free, but don't use your freedom to indulge the flesh: rather, serve one another humbly in love". Well, we'll talk a little bit later about the humbly part, because pride is one of the main things that causes us not to be able to serve other people. We just sometimes think we're too good to do that. And the Bible says that, "We should not think more highly of ourselves than we ought to," because if we think more highly of ourselves, we're always gonna think more lowly of other people than we should.

Now, there was a young man that's talked about in the Bible, in the book of Mark, and he went to Jesus and he said, "What must I do to inherit eternal life"? And Jesus said, "Well, you know the commandments, 'Don't commit adultery. Don't kill. Don't steal'". He went on down the list and the young boy said, "I have done all this. I've kept them from my youth". And in verse 21, Mark 10:21, "Jesus looked at him and loved him". And I wanna make a point out of that. "He looked at him and he loved him". So, he's actually getting ready to tell him something that's gonna be a little bit hard to hear. But he's doing it because he loved the boy.

A lot of times when God has to show us things about ourselves that we don't wanna see, he's not doing it to make us feel bad. He's doing it because he loves us and he wants us to have a better life. And in order to have a better life, maybe that thing has to be moved out of the way in our life. We're often blind to things and God shows us the truth. It's only "The truth that will make you free". So, "Jesus looked at him and loved him, said, 'one thing you lack, go, and sell everything that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, and follow me'".

Okay, why did Jesus tell this young boy to give away everything that he had? Is it wrong to have things? Is it wrong to have money? Do we all need to go give away everything that we have? No. You'll miss the whole point of this story if that's what you think. "At this the man's face fell. And he went away sad, because he had great wealth". Jesus told him to give away all that he had because he knew that he was too attached to it. He knew that it meant more to him than what it should. We need to always live open-handed and whatever we have, we need to hold it loosely and be ready to let it go anytime God asks us for it.

You know, we often talk about tithing, which is 10% of our income, and we think, "That's like, boy, this big thing if we're tithers". But really, everything that we have belongs to God because we wouldn't have anything if he didn't give it to us first. You need to think about the things that you have that if God asked you for them, you could not let them go because you love them too much. "He went away sad because he loved his money more than he wanted to obey God". "Jesus looked around and said to his disciples", who were there seeing this whole situation, "'how hard it is for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God'"!

Now, that doesn't mean it's wrong to be rich, but it is a temptation to let your money mean more to you than what it should. And I know some of you that are watching today and you maybe have a great need for money, you think, "Well, I would never be that way". But let me tell you something, money can get power over you and it can do it quick. Money pulls a lot of dedicated people away from God. And so, if I were you, I wouldn't pray to be rich, I would pray, this is the way I pray, "God, give me everything that I can have and it not keep me from keeping you in first place in my life". I don't want anything if it's going to take me away from God because when everything is said and done and everything here is gone, there's only gonna be God and I'm gonna spend eternity with him.

So, I wanna make sure that I'm doing the right things now. "We need to spend our time here getting ready for there," is what I always say. The disciples were amazed at these words of Jesus. "But Jesus said again, 'children, how hard it is to enter the Kingdom of God! It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the Kingdom of God". Now, when we see that, we automatically think of like a camel trying to get through the eye of a needle and we think, "Well, that's just impossible". But really, the eye of the needle was a gate in Jerusalem.

There were many gates going into the City of Jerusalem and one of them was called "The eye of the needle". And it was a gate but it happened to be a shorter gate. And so, camels would come loaded down with all kinds of goods. And in order for a camel to get through this gate, "The eye of the needle," the only way it could get through it would be for its owner to get it to get down on its knees and crawl through. And what I always take that to mean is that "The more material things we have, the more time we should spend on our knees praying to God that we never let our things come before him and that we use the things that we have".

Yes, enjoy yourself, enjoy your life. God wants you to enjoy your life. But he also wants you to be very generous to other people. And, you know, we often think of giving to the poor and that should be foremost in all of our minds because the Bible talks about how important that is to God that we give to the poor. But, you know, somebody doesn't have to be poor in order for you to bless them. Sometimes I think rich people are some of the ones who need a gift more than somebody else may because nobody ever thinks of giving to them. And we don't always give to somebody just because they have a need, but we give to make them happy. We give in order for us to be a blessing.

I remember a situation one time, where I just really felt in my heart, I was going to lunch with somebody and I really felt strongly in my heart that God wanted me to ask this other friend to go. And I did, and she said, "Oh, I'm sorry, I can't. I've got other plans today". So, then, the first thing I thought was, "Well, I wasn't hearing from God". And so, I was talking with the Lord about it and I said, "Why did I feel so strongly that I was to ask her to go and she can't go"? And the thing that he spoke back in my heart is, "I told you to ask her. I didn't tell you she would go". She needed the blessing of being asked. God is so smart, isn't he? I wouldn't have thought of that, but she just needed to be asked. She needed to know that I wanted her to go if she could.

So, "The disciples were even more amazed", after Jesus said this, "And said to each other, 'well, who then can be saved'? Jesus looked at them and said, 'with man this is impossible, but with God: all things are possible'". Hallelujah! Thank God you can have a lot of things and you can enjoy them and you can be generous to other people and you can inherit the Kingdom of God. You can keep God first, but it's something you have to regularly take a look at in your life and ask yourself, "Am I giving everything that God is asking me to give"? "Then Peter spoke up", and he said, well, "'we've left everything to follow you'. 'truly I tell you,' Jesus replied, 'no one who has left home or brothers or sister or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel'", now listen, "'will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age'".

He didn't say when you go to heaven, he said, "In this present age you'll receive a hundred times as much". "If you have given everything that I tell you to give, you'll get back, even in this lifetime, much, much more than what you have given away". You know, God's economy, he has a different kind of math than we do. We think "If you want more, you've gotta take some away from somebody else, you've gotta save everything you've got". But the Bible economy says "If you want more, you need to give away some of what you have. You take some of what you have and you sow it as a seed and then you get a harvest in your life".

So, when Jesus said to this young man, "You lack this one thing," he knew his money meant too much to him and so he said, "Take everything that you have and sell it and give it to the poor". Now, what would have happened if the young man would have obeyed God? Well, there's no telling, what kind of blessings he would have had in his life. He would have ended up with a lot more than what he gave away. But because he couldn't obey God because he loved his money too much, the Bible doesn't tell us, but it wouldn't surprise me if he ended up with nothing. He may have lost it all in a bad venture or something else could have happened that caused him to lose it all or he may have wasted it all.

Obeying God is one of the smartest things that you can do in your life. Don't ever hold on to something because you think you can't part with it. It's only a thing. Trust me, it's only a thing. The Bible says in 1 John that, "We are not to love the world nor the things in the world". You can enjoy them, but you can't be in love with them. If I were you, I'd be careful about looking at things that you have and saying, "Oh, I just love that, I love that, I love that". How about just saying, "I thank God for that and I'm enjoying it, but I know that it's a gift from God".

Love is costly, but the reward is great. Philippians 2:4-10, "Let each of you esteem and look upon and be concerned for not [merely] His own interests, but each for the interests of other people". Don't be selfish and self-centered and think only about what you need and what you want, but purposely, like I said yesterday, if you weren't watching yesterday, I said yesterday that "We have to purpose to serve other people and to give to other people". Take a few minutes every morning and pray and ask God, "What can I do for somebody else today? Who do I know that needs to be encouraged? Do I need to send a text to somebody that needs encouragement, that needs a lift today"?

I sent flowers to someone last week, and the person had recently lost their mother. She died and the girl that I sent them to said, "I was having a really rough time today and the flowers that you sent really cheered me up". Well, it cost me a little money but it brought her joy and it brought me joy that it brought her joy. The Bible says "It's more blessed to give than to receive". So, when we give, we get joy. When we receive, we only get a thing. Don't ever think that things are more important than joy. I know a lot of very unhappy, wealthy people, so what good is their money doing them if they're miserable? "Let this same attitude and purpose and [humble] Mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus: [let him be your example in humility:]" well, that's quite an example that would certainly be hard to follow.

Now, listen to this. "Who, although being essentially one with God and in the form of God, [possessing the fullness of the attributes which make God God]..." Jesus, of course, was God, the Bible says, "It was God in Christ reconciling the world unto himself". We have God the Father, God the son, and God the Holy Ghost, one God manifesting in three persons, the Trinity. Can't figure that out mathematically in your head but nonetheless it's true. "He did not think this equality with God was a thing to be eagerly grasped or retained".

He was equal with God but it wasn't something he felt like he needed to hang onto. "But he stripped himself [of all privileges and rightful dignity], so as to assume the guise of a servant (a slave), in that he became like men and was born a human being". Wow! "And after he had appeared in human form, he abased and humbled himself [still further] And carried his obedience to the extreme of death, even the death of the cross"!

What he did for us is so amazing. And the Bible says, it doesn't just say that he took our sins on the cross, but it says, "He became sin". Can you even imagine he was so holy and so perfectly righteous and what that did to him to become sin for us so that we might be made the righteousness of God in him? And, of course, because he did humble himself and lower himself to become that servant, "Therefore [because he stooped so low] God has highly exalted him and has freely bestowed on him the name that is above every name, that (at) the name of Jesus every knee (must) bow, in heaven on earth and under the earth".

This is the thing that we wanna see. If we will humble ourselves and lower ourselves to be servants to other people and to do everything that we can to make everybody else happy, what are you doing to make somebody else happy? Or are you just angry because the people in your life are not making you happy? I remember when I used to get mad at Dave all the time because he wasn't making me happy. What he was doing wasn't making me happy. He would go play golf on Saturday and that made him happy, but it didn't make me happy. He'd watch football on Sunday and that made him happy, but it didn't make me happy. "What about me"? "Why aren't you making me happy"? And God finally put this in my heart, "Joyce, stop giving Dave the responsibility for your joy".

Wow! That was one of those things that Jesus told me because he loved me. I needed to see that because I was giving Dave the responsibility for something that he could never keep me happy all the time. I remember Dave telling me after we'd only been married a couple of years, he said, "I've tried everything I know to keep you happy and you just don't wanna be happy. And so I'm finished trying". And you know, there are people like that. They've already determined they're not gonna be happy. And so no matter what you do, they're not gonna be happy. So, he told me, he said, "I'm going to enjoy my life and I hope someday you get happy, but if you don't, I'm still gonna enjoy my life".

And that's really what we all need to do. Don't become so codependent on somebody else's behavior that if they're not happy, you can't be happy. Make yourself a servant to people and in "Humbling yourself under the mighty hand of God, he will exalt you and lift you up". Whatever you give in this lifetime, God will reward you many, many, many times over. You know, Jesus is our example and we are to follow him. The apostle Paul always referred to himself as a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. He then did say that he was an apostle, but he didn't start out with that. He said, "I, Paul, the servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle and separated unto God".

He didn't call himself to be an apostle, he was called by God to be an apostle. He made it very clear that everything he was doing, he was doing because it was what God had called him to do and empowered him to do and that he was only a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, ministers are to be servants. They're to serve the people that God puts under their care. 1 Corinthians 9:19-20. "Though I am free and belong to no one", Paul said, "I have made myself a slave to everyone". Wow! "So that I might win as many people as possible". I wonder what would happen if we would start really seeing ourself as servants instead of thinking, we're so important that everybody in the world needs to wait on us and serve us and do things for us?

I don't know about you, but I've got a ways to go. My "I's" still need to grow in this area, and maybe some of you do too. Paul said, "To the Jews, I became like a Jew to win the Jews. To those under the law, I became like one under the law, (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law".

I love this, you know, because Paul said that he adapted and adjusted himself to the people around him. And I think about that, you know, I'm a talker, but let's just say that I'm with somebody else who is more of a talker than I am. I've learned that one of the ways I can serve God is by just letting them talk. I can actually be quiet on purpose and let them talk. You know, whoever you're around, you need to make the decision to adjust yourself and adapt yourself to them.

In Romans 12, the Bible talks about the importance of peace, and it says that, we should adjust and adapt ourselves to other people. Boy, I tell you, I was not willing at all to do that in the beginning of my walk with God. I wanted everybody to adapt and adjust to me. But that's one of the ways that we can serve other people. "Where would you like to go for lunch"? "Well, maybe it's not where I wanna go, but I can adapt and I can adjust and go there for you".

And that's a big sacrifice for me because what I eat is important. I don't eat a lot, but I sure wanna like what I eat when I eat it. And I'm picky about what I eat. So, for me to go to a restaurant that I'm really not very crazy about is a very big sacrifice for me. And there are different ways that we all sacrifice that might sound foolish to you, but you've probably got something in your life that is just as foolish as that. Let's learn to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God and make ourselves a servant to all doing what is best for them and not what is best for ourselves.