God's Gracious Generosity To Us

Hello again and thanks for dropping in on The Living Word podcast. It's Ian Greig here with episode for Aug 6, 2023. It's a simplified, compact format over this summer season — holiday time for many, and a lot of exciting changes going on for us as a family as we're gaining grandchildren and trying to be in several places at once. We're not doing the videos for now and working with podcasts and posts instead which are less demanding in a busy week. We hope you'll understand... Anyway this week we're talking about generosity. God's generosity, to be precise. Some folk mistakenly see God as a harsh judge, expecting perfection from us and finding plenty of reasons not to meet our needs! That's religion, not reality, and the Bible paints a very different picture of God, who created us, loving us despite our fallibility and looking for opportunities to be a good partner to us as we partner with him. There's an introduction which was posted earlier — it sets the scene with the whole story told very briefly. Then we come back in a deeper dive to explore more how the different parts of the story apply to us in our lives today. So let's get into it! ////// Quick look God is generous — and gracious in giving whether we deserve it or not. A lot of people, in church as well as outside, don’t believe this. On one level it's easy to grasp but the disasters, differences and difficulties of human existence can seem like barriers. It’s as if God has set us up to fail. But with faith, we see how by experiencing failure we seek His rescue, and find it. Without experiencing the opposite of God’s love and salvation, we cannot value what He freely offers us. The story of Jacob is from way back in time and culture, but it makes this point. Despite Jacob’s tricky character, God, in His generosity, has decided to invest in him. And His way of getting Jacob in the right place was an epic all-night-long wrestling match. We read: "The man (personifying God) asked him, "What is your name? "Jacob," he answered. Then the man said, "Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and overcome.(Genesis 32:27-28) Which teaches us that we, of less-than-perfect character, can turn to God for help and direction. This is what the crowd on the hillside following Jesus were doing, and their immediate need was finding food. We read: Jesus replied to the disciples, "They do not need to go away, you give them something to eat.”… So they all ate and were satisfied.(Matthew 14:16,20) God provided for them in their thousands, abundantly and without discrimination. But note that He involves people like us in His provision. To these Jews, a flashback to the time God provided bread in the desert meant He was offering His salvation again. But this time Jesus is central — teaching us that He is our connection with God’s generosity. Jews in their history knew all about God's generosity, as Paul reflects. "Theirs is the adoption to sonship, the divine glory... the covenants." (Romans 9:4) And for us who do not have that history, he asserts: "How how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree?" (Romans 11:24) So let’s not pass on what God is generously offering — whether we think we deserve it or not. /////// Deeper dive So, that's a quick summary which gets the bearings of the story set out for us. Now we can take a deeper dive, and start to hear what each part of the story means for us and our lives, as we consider God's grace and generosity towards us. We're going to find three different but collaborative ways God reveals His generosity. In Jacob we see God's generosity to those who clearly don't deserve it! Then through Jesus, Gods generosity is experienced by others through His disciples — believers, like us who God relies on — and lastly in Paul's regrets, expressed in this letter to Christians in Rome, we are reminded that generosity is so much a part of who God is, it is not just a promise but an expectation of His covenant with us, and us with Him. Our way of connecting with God's generosity is Jesus, but God speaks to us through all of His word, and Jacob's story has particular application for us, Jacob’s story Let's look more closely at Jacob's experience, and understand what thist teaches us, living in a very different time and world, but relating to the same unchanging, generous and gracious God. Who among us can say that we don't ever have an undisclosed motive or a hidden agenda or a bargaining position? Of course we do, because that's part of the fabric of life. However, we would aim to be open and transparent in our dealings — that's part of our witness if we have become Christians by asking Jesus as Lord into our hearts and living new life in Him. If we have been following this series, we have got to know Jacob already. In those days, name and character went together, and 'Jacob' meant 'grasper' or something like it. He grow up to be someone we might nickname 'tricky Dicky' or Wheeler the Dealer'. He was clever, and had the insights of a spiritual person but he didn't always use them well — or generously. Being clever can result in a calculating cleverness, and observant can easily become opportunist. There's a bit of Jacob in all of us in our old flesh nature! We learned that Jacob was unsure whether or not God was with him, as he left Canaan. Then God gave him the amazing vision in a dream of a pyramid-like staircase to heaven, and spoke to him from the gate of heaven. Now he's learned that his brother, who her artfully persuaded to give up his birthright, was heading his way with 400 men. He has prepared an impressive gift to send, but for safety he has sent his family over the river, and he is now all alone. Then, apparently out of nowhere there came... From the Bible "... a man (who) wrestled with Jacob till daybreak. When the man saw that he could not overpower him, he touched the socket of Jacob’s hip so that his hip was wrenched as he wrestled with the man. Then the man said, "Let me go, for it is daybreak." But Jacob replied, "I will not let you go unless you bless me." The man asked him, "What is your name?" "Jacob," he answered. Then the man said, "‘Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome." (Genesis 32:24-28) Jesus and a LOT of people on the mountainside The way we become changed from the old life to the new life is by meeting with Jesus. In some traditions it is common for people to adopt a new name when they become Christians. That might be the idea behind christening or naming ceremonies today for a new baby, but of course we can't choose to receive Jesus for them, but we can certainly prayerfully encourage them to grow up and make that choice and decision for themselves. What has that got to do with the crowd of men, women and children who were on a long march as they followed Jesus and listened to Him teaching them in a mountainside natural arena. Jesus taught them that the kingdom of God had come near to them, and they wanted this new life, this living under God's order of justice and love and provision. Many, many years ago their ancestors had escaped oppression and slavery in Egypt with the promise of a land of their own to settle in safety. The journey took them through a desert, wilderness area and like the deserts we sometimes encounter in our lives, God was using this — a prolonged time — to get the Egypt and slavery mindset out of them and relying on Him and His promises int o themI It took a generation, and while they were 'on hold' in the desert God provided food for them, a bread-like substance they collected and called manna. What happens next is set against that backdrop, that part of their salvation history that they all knew off by heart. They are far from home — and hungry. And Jesus knows this, and has compassion on them, healing those who were sick and aware of their every need. And right now, it is — food. We read in Matthews account: From t… This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thelivingword.substack.com