BE BOLD! In Your Generosity
Rev. Sam Hayes
9-15-19 Sermon Notes “Be Bold! In Your Generosity”
This Sunday, we will wrap up our series, Be Bold! Even though the sermon series will be coming to an end, the theme – the attitude – the whole approach to ministry and missions will continue. Be Bold is something that will be our motto going forward!
• We talked about being bold and intentional about our own faith development. I hope we’ve all accepted the challenge to partner with God in our spiritual growth. Have you joined a Journey Group yet? Maybe you could start a new one…
• We talked about bold, passionate worship…and gathering to draw our attention upward to God, inward to self-awareness, and then outward to where we say, “Here am I. Send me!” Our guest singer that Sunday, Dr. Anderson, helped to create a bold atmosphere of worship. I loved it!
• Then we on to talk about what it means to show bold hospitality….to welcome one another as Christ has welcomed us for the glory of God. This is an on-going challenge, and hospitality is so critical. People will often forget what you say, but they will never forget how you make them feel.
• Last Sunday, Pastor Carrie and Pastor Andy talked about what it means to have bold, risk-taking mission and service. Is that kind of ministry sometimes “messy?” You bet. Is it what we are called to do as the body of Christ? Absolutely
And so we wrap up this week with Bold Generosity. Here’s our Scripture…
6 Now while Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, 7 a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment, and she poured it on his head as he sat at the table. 8 But when the disciples saw it, they were angry and said, “Why this waste? 9 For this ointment could have been sold for a large sum, and the money given to the poor.” 10 But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? She has performed a good service for me. 11 For you always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me. 12 By pouring this ointment on my body she has prepared me for burial. 13 Truly I tell you, wherever this good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her.”
14 Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests 15 and said, “What will you give me if I betray him to you?” They paid him thirty pieces of silver. 16 And from that moment he began to look for an opportunity to betray him. (Matt. 26: 6-16 NRSV)
When I was in seminary, I would sometimes come into the student lounge where folks would gather and eat their lunch and sometimes unwind and watch a little TV. Well, I noticed every day at the same time a group would be huddled around the TV watching a brand new Soap Opera… The Bold and the Beautiful. I never got into it myself, but more power to them. The name is catchy, though. It reminds me of what this “unnamed” woman did for Jesus on that day. What she did was bold… to come up to Jesus with a super-expensive jar of ointment, break the top off, and pour the whole thing on Jesus’ head.
The disciples got mad. I guess they thought it was too bold. Or maybe, her generosity was so bold that they were reminded how little they had shown. Had they anointed his head? Even a little dab? Nope.
Jesus said, “Why do you trouble the woman? She has done something beautiful, and wherever the good news is proclaimed, her bold and beautiful generosity will be told in remembrance of her.” When it comes to generosity, this anonymous woman was The Bold and the Beautiful!
To make her generosity shine even brighter, let’s lay it beside it’s opposite. Let’s lay it beside the Wimpy and the Ugly. The woman’s heart beside Judas’ heart… Judas, who was the keeper of the money bag…who had his hand in the till… Judas, who complained the loudest at the “wastefulness” of the anointing… Judas, who went straight from there and said to the chief priests, “What will you give me if I betray him to you?”
One person says, “Lord, I’m giving my all to you…every bit!” One person says, “What can I get out of this?”
When God looks at our generosity, I pray that God sees, The Bold and the Beautiful!
See you Sunday,
Sam