Photo taken on Columbia University campus by Noah Zinsmeister
Among many other things on our whirlwind weekend in New York, we went to the church that my little brother goes to on the Upper West Side. It's a very famous church with an incredible congregation, from what I can tell (young, note-taking, full-voiced, and eager). Redeemer has several pastors but we were blessed to be able to hear the founding pastor, Tim Keller, preach. I've been to this church twice, and both times Tim Keller gave the sermon. He is an incredibly gifted minister and his sermons, on both occasions, have been memorable and so meaningful.
The message for the sermon yesterday was on generosity. He spoke on how we so often think of generosity in terms of money, but what God really cares about is much more than that--He wants generosity to live in our hearts. It is so easy to be superficially generous (giving our financial resources) but not radically generous (giving our time, sharing our home with others, opening our hearts and our vulnerabilities to those we love, not expecting anything in return for a good deed). Our earthly generosity so often tends to be superficial, but what God wants is for our generosity to be radical--for our hearts and our minds to be open and giving.
There was much more to the sermon but I wanted to share this little bit with all of you readers. The idea of trying to be radically generous is so powerful--just those two words together are inspiring.
What do you think? I would love to know!
Awesome message. I read The Prodigal God & it is a wonderful book.
ReplyDeleteThat word pairing is quite powerful! I think it's so important to recognize that generosity is not something that can be funneled into one, neat category such as finances. It is an outward display of the heart's condition. Thank you for sharing this!
ReplyDeleteI read the Book "The Meaning of Marriage" by Tim and Kathy Keller and found it so helpful in my understanding of gender roles in a marriage. The topic was palatable to me in a way it hadn't been before. I also love the term "complementary" in reference to such roles. I'll stop now before I become all impassioned and write much more than a comment's-worth! :)
I agree, generosity is more than giving financially, although tithing is biblical. We can give love, time, talents and many more things that God puts on our hearts. I enjoyed your post!
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