Gospel Response

Note: This is Part 5 of a series of sermons based on Pastor J.D. Greear’s study, Gospel Revolutions.

Part 1, Gospel Change
Part 2, Gospel Discovery
Part 3, Gospel Acceptance
Part 4, Gospel Approval
Part 5, Gospel Response
Part 6, Gospel Faith
Part 7, Substitute Gospels (Coming March 18, 2012)
Part 8, Gospel Depth (Coming March 25, 2012)

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Text: Luke 19:1-10

Every holiday season, newspapers, radio DJs, and television anchors become fascinated by people who stand on corners and hand out $100 bills to strangers. There have been occasions where such bills – in large quantities – just floated down from the sky onto a city street during the season of giving. This past year, the kind, anonymous benefactor moved to another technique to impart their gifts on total strangers. Instead of just handing out bills randomly to anyone in the street, the benefactor would wait until someone approached store counter to make a payment on a layaway bill. At that moment, the stranger would then declare that they were paying the bill in full, thereby allowing the family to take home the items intended for presents. Such kindness and generosity took place all over the country and brought smiles and shock to families who were struggling to provide for their own in the current economy.

Such acts display a sense of generosity on the part of the one paying the bill or handing out the cash. One dictionary defines generosity as “readiness or liberality in giving.”[1] Another defines it as, “willingness and liberality in giving away one’s money, time, etc.”[2] Generosity takes what it ours and bestows it on someone else without cost or obligation. Such things often take us by surprise. We see them so rarely, because we are as a society and modern age so caught up in our own problems, agendas, and goals. We work hard for what we have and desire greatly to use it on ourselves, or at least on those close to us or causes we are passionate about. So to watch such displays between strangers really is eye-catching.