Welcome to Waymaker Church! We are so excited to have you join us today! We exist to Encounter, Live for, and Advance the Kingdom of God!

Today the title of this message is: Am I Generous?

There are two questions in this story that I think we should answer today.

1) Why would Mary give such an extravagant or generous gift.
2) Why would Judas be upset about it?

In this passage, there are two hearts displayed. The first is a heart of generosity, and the second is a heart of selfishness. I want you to notice what revealed each heart…Giving.

So when I shared the title of this message today it is in the form of a question: Am I Generous? The question is in the first person because your asking yourself am I generous or am I not. It is a first person question because I know in my own life there are times when I am generous and when I am not.

1. The enemy of Generosity is selfishness.

I believe that at the core of who we are we really do want to be generous, but sometimes we just don’t see how we can be. Remember I have told you in previous messages that we were born selfish in sin, and that we have need of being born again.

We know that God is pure and as a result He is generous. So much so that He gave his most precious gift in Jesus. When we are born again we are intended to become like Him. We just have to renew our minds.

The opposite is true, we know that satan is selfish. We are born into sin and the result is selfishness.

In the story Mary gives an extravagant offering and Judas makes this statement: Why wasn’t this sold and given to the poor?

I think we do this more than we would like to admit. Someone else gives something, or someone we consider to be more blessed than us does or gives something and we evaluate it. We ask a Judas question. Why didn’t they do ________ with it?

Judas didn’t ask the question because he cared for the poor. He asked the question because he carried the money box and was stealing from it.

Listen, it is always easier to point to someone else so we don’t have to point to ourselves. Judas was pointing at Mary criticizing her offering while giving no offering of his own.

The enemy of generosity is selfishness.

2. The extravagance of generosity.

Throughout the scripture there are several stories of extravagant gifts.
- One of them is King David. He personally gave 21 billion in today’s economy to build the temple of the Lord.

- God himself gave an extravagant gift. His one and only son Jesus. Anybody thankful for that? I know I am!

- Another gift that Jesus said was extravagant, others might not, but He did. The widows two mites. You see its not the amount its the attitude behind the amount.

- In our story today, Mary gave 300 Denari. Denari is the plural of denarius. The word denarius is about a days wage.

You see it is not the size of gift that impresses God. It is the heart and attitude in which we give. Think about it: Is there really an amount that we could give that would impress God?

I am talking about an actual amount now? The one who owns everything. The one who by the way paves his streets with Gold. Has twelve foundation to the new Jerusalem and all of the foundations are made of precious stones. Has gates that will be made by a single solid pearl.

An amount will never impress God, but let me shift the question. Can you give something to God that would impress Him? The answer is yes. When we put our trust in him He rejoices!

You see it is not the amount, its the attitude. It is the posture of our hearts that has the ability to impress Him, and can I tell you today God wants your heart. It’s easy for a person to say of course God has my heart, and I trust Him. Yet Consider Judas, he claimed to be a disciple when He was actually a thief. Jesus did not have His heart.

Judas’s heart was not with Jesus, it was wrapped in his selfish desire for more money selling out Jesus for a mere 30 pieces of silver.

Can I make a bold but true statement to you. If He doesn’t have your money, he doesn’t actually have your heart because when God gets our heart he also gets our treasure. Our trust is in Him. Our joy is in Him. Our contentment is in Him.

Here are a few statistics from 2021:
Of the 247 million Americans that identify as Christians roughly 1.5 million tithe.
- In a normal congregation tither’s make up only 10-25% of the congregation.
- Of the whole number that identify as Christians roughly 5-6% tithe.
- 94-95% of all believers never even get to the first level of giving.
- Of the group of 1.5 million about 80% of the people give 2% or less.

This means that roughly 94-95% of believers are under the curse. I am telling you that is not what God desires. We don’t have to be a people that walks in step with statistics. If we will choose to honor God, and operate in the principle of the first we can see the curse broken. Not only that but if you get to the first level. It will just be a matter of time before God opens the windows of heaven over your life and you make it to the second and third levels.

Remember, giving an extravagant gift is not about an amount. It is just something that is costly to you. But can I tell you from personal experience. When you get to look back on the gift you gave it will bring you more joy than you could ever imagine! For the rest of your life your thinking it was such a joy to do that, and it will cause you to give great glory to God!

3. The reward of generosity.

This same story of Mary’s extravagant gift is also in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark.

Notice that there was a reward with her Generosity. She didn’t give to get a rewarded, but Jesus said, wherever the Gospel was preached her story was going to be told as a memorial to her.

At the beginning of the message I asked two questions.
1) Why did Mary give such an extravagant gift?
2) Why was Judas so upset? We know that Judas was upset because He was a thief in charge of the money box.

The question we have not answered was why did Mary give such an extravagant gift? Here is why: A few months before this offering her brother Lazarus had been raised from the dead by Jesus. Knowing this is it even a stretch to wonder why she was willing to give a years wages in a single offering.

This morning we must understand that a heart of generosity comes from gratitude. Grateful people are always generous people.

The last thing I want to share with you is that God always rewards generosity. The definition of generosity is when you give expecting nothing in return. Selfishness is when you give and think God owes you something. That is selfishness. Generosity is when you give to not get anything back. But here is the amazing thing is that God always rewards generosity.

God is a rewarder. It is who He is. For Him not to do it would be to deny himself, and I am fairly certain that He will not do that. When you give with a joyful heart God rewards the attitude of your heart. What is the reward? It’s not money, it is Him.

He is our reward. It is His presence with us now affecting every area of our life. When that happens your gratitude increase and your joy will overflow!!