Welcome to our Together on Mission podcast, where we seek to be with and like Jesus, as we begin a conversation with Jesus in the morning, through scripture, prayer, and meditation, and then continue that conversation within throughout your day. Your host is Travis Twyman, the pastor at the Inland Vineyard Church in Corona, California. Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the daily Together on Mission podcast. Happy Thursday morning.
We are in Matthew chapter 6, so go ahead and turn there, grab a cup of coffee, find a spot, grab your journal. We're going to talk a bit about Jesus, and then we're going to enter into a conversation with Jesus that is going to last throughout the day. The title of the podcast this morning is Natural Generosity. And I spoke about this last Sunday, and I used that phrase, and I was in Matthew chapter 6, and typically I don't do a podcast based on Sunday's message, but I can't seem to get this passage out of my mind.
I've had a number of conversations since Sunday, and I think that we need to think about this just a little bit more. Maybe meditate on this idea this morning, read the passage, pray, think about generosity from a different perspective. And so the title of the podcast this morning is Natural Generosity, and the question is, do you find generosity to be natural? Do you find giving to just flow?
Whatever you're giving to, whomever you're giving to, do you just find it to be natural? Almost like a reflex, automatic, effortless. And most of us, not all of us, but most of us would say, ah, probably not. Now, what can begin to take hold in our minds and in our hearts, and I think this has pretty much become the prevailing view in the modern church, is that generosity is not natural.
It's just, it's not. It's difficult. It's forced. We need to be motivated to do it.
We need to be revved up. We need to be, have our emotions stirred. And in some ways, we feel like we have to twist ourselves out of shape and bend this way or bend that way or fight through this or fight through that in order to be generous people. And that, my friends, is not the perspective that Jesus of Nazareth had.
And it's not the perspective that he taught his disciples. When Jesus was talking about generosity really in any form, whether it was in the form of service, in the form of a compliment or an affirmation, or whether it was in the form of financial generosity, Jesus taught that it was natural. And of course, there are all kinds of things that get in the way of doing what is natural, but giving is natural nonetheless. And so what I am hoping happened a bit on Sunday, and the Spirit of God has been continuing to do it, and we're going to hit it again this morning.
What I'm hoping is that when it comes to generosity in any form, that our minds would be transformed, that our hearts would be renovated, and that we would begin to believe what Jesus indeed believed and taught and lived, that generosity is natural. And that will change our hands, it will change our lives, and it will change the world. And so Jesus, in Matthew chapter 6, beginning in verse 2, says to his students, so when you give to those that are in need, don't announce it with trumpets like the hypocrites do on the street corner to be honored by other people. Truly, they receive their reward in full.
But when you give, when you, my students, my disciples, my apprentices, those that are learning to live life the way I'm living life, when you give to the needy, don't even let your left hand know what your right hand is doing so that your giving will be done in the secret place, and then you will discover the Father who sees what is done in the secret place, and then you will be rewarded. And right at the heart of that passage, right at the center of the fulcrum, the linchpin of that passage, is this interesting phrase, left hand not knowing what your right hand is doing. And that was simply a first century euphemism for automatic, a reflex, natural, effortless, even simple. Your left hand, not even knowing what your right hand was doing, that is the opposite of forced.
It's the opposite or the antithesis of trying to do it. And so what Jesus is saying is he's opening his students' eyes to how natural and how effortless and how unforced the rhythms of generosity are in our lives. Again, whether it's giving of a compliment, giving of service, giving of money, whatever the context or the means of generosity might be, Jesus says, in my kingdom, with this new heart and this new spirit, you will find that generosity is natural in your left hand, will not even know what your right hand is doing. And that invites us, in Jesus' language, into this secret place of giving.
Secret is the antithesis of what the Pharisees were doing, which was giving on stage or giving to get. And I think if I could press in with one more question this morning, I was going to make a statement. I don't know how to turn this into a question. Do we find that often when we give, whether it's a compliment, whether it's service, whether it's money, whether it's help, do we often find that there is an ulterior motive?
There's a desire to get in return. There's a plan. There's a strategy. And Jesus would call that, like the Pharisees give, he would call that giving on stage to be honored by others.
And so we contrast that with the in the secret giving, where we are now playing to an audience of one, not an audience of everyone, right? And when we play to an audience of one, our Heavenly Father, we are literally set free from playing to an audience of everyone. And the reward for that kind of living, Jesus says, the reward for that kind of giving, you know, no strings attached, playing to an audience of one, giving without thinking about getting anything in return, that kind of giving will bring rewards that are so much more than momentary, rewards that last, rewards like living the kind of natural life that we were created to live, rewards of joy and fulfillment and meaning and purpose. And we will discover, and the statement did not originate with me, but it's a fun one to make.
We're going to discover that when it comes to giving, it is actually true that God is not looking for something from us, but he is looking for something for us, something truly for us. And so in this teaching, as well as whenever Jesus of Nazareth teaches, there's a transformation of the mind, there's a renovation of the heart, that giving is natural. So can we go into today and whether it's financial giving, whether it's giving a service, whether it's giving of a compliment, whether it's giving up our parking spot or the best seat or whatever that giving might look like, let's go into today, walking and talking with Jesus, knowing that the natural thing to do is generosity. And when those unnatural things come in, like materialism or consumerism or worry or fear or anxiety or judgment or greed, when those unnatural things come in to steal and kill and destroy what is actually natural, let's recognize those things as unnatural.
And by the power of the spirit, let's recognize generosity in every form as natural. And as we walk and talk with Jesus today, let's embrace this, our left hand, not knowing what our right hand is doing, this seamless, restful, relaxing, natural, automatic life of generosity. And we'll talk soon. Thanks for listening to the Together on Mission podcast.
We truly hope that you were blessed and encouraged by it today. If you had any questions about the Inland Vineyard Church, our ministries or our Sunday services, feel free to connect with us on our brand new app, which you can find in the Google Play and the App Store. And check out our social media pages like Facebook and Instagram, or even check out our website at InlandVineyard.org.