Some subjects I need to preach on can make me a little nervous. When that happens I spend extra time in preparation, scripting myself to make sure I get the words exactly right. Then as I’m preaching, I’ll be concerned about how the message is received. Like the time a few years back when I was preaching on racism and, as I began to talk, an African American man in the room got up and walked out! Another time I was preaching on hell, I thought in a compassionate way, but an unbeliever I had been praying for and who was in the service, got up and walked out right as I was getting into the heart of the message. Talk about getting my attention!

Some things are harder to talk about than others. But talking about God’s call to live a wildly generous life is not one of those subjects. The teaching of God’s word is just too obvious. But the call to live generously is not really about money, at least not exclusively.

Jesus’s “Sermon on the Plain” in Luke 6 begins with a version of the Beatitudes far more focused on economic matters than those given in “the Sermon on the Mount” in Matthew 5. Then in the midst of commands about loving your enemies and the danger of hypocrisy are tucked two short verses that speak of a kind of whole life generosity.

Luke 6:37–38 (ESV)

37 “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; 38 give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”

This challenge from Jesus is about way more than money. In fact, the giving he talks about makes perfect sense when we get the gospel. As a response to his grace, God calls us to be generous with our hearts which provokes generosity with our time, with our homes, with our effort, and yes, even with our money.