Luke 14:12 (ESV) He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid.
Next Jesus turns to the host of the dinner party he had been invited to, a prominent Jewish leader. He told him, when you give a banquet, don’t invite all your friends, relatives and rich neighbors. That was exactly what the Jewish leader had done. The feast was filled with influential people. Why shouldn’t a person invite all these people? Because the motive is to invite people who can benefit yourself, who can repay you, who can invite you to their dinner parties. Rather …
Luke 14:13 (ESV) But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,
The poor, crippled, lame and blind are people that are not going to be able to do anything for your fame or fortune or career. When you invite these kind of people, you are doing it not for yourself, not for what you’re going to get out of the dinner. When you invite the poor, you are being generous and thinking about giving, not receiving. In fact, there was one lame person at this dinner party, but not as a guest. The man with dropsy had been invited to seek to trap Jesus, but the trap had failed. What will be the result when you are generous, not seeking a return for yourself?
Luke 14:14 (ESV) and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”
Jesus tells us that those who are generous are not going to miss out, they will be blessed. They won’t be financially blessed by the poor, the crippled, the lame and the blind. But the generous will be blessed in this life by God and will be repaid many times over in eternity. You see, being generous is a mark and value of the just or righteous, who will inherit eternal life. Being stingy, only helping those who you think will help you, is a worldly value. Jesus values generosity and so should we.
Generosity can apply to money, possessions and time.Do we hoard these things to ourselves, or do we share what we have with others. Do we only give to someone or something if we think there will be a return in it for us? Or do we give because we value generosity and trust God to meet our needs. A generous person gives tithes and offerings to the church to help the needy in St Louis and around the world. They are not going to be able to repay you, but God will bless you and meet your needs. A generous person gives of their time to serve others in need, both in their church family and in the rest of their life. A generous person gives, not expecting a return from the recipient, but only a blessing from God. God has called us to value generosity and trust Him to be our source.
Our message today was entitled “Do You Have Jesus’ Values”? After studying Jesus’ teaching this morning, we can all agree that we have room to grow in having Jesus’ values. God desires for us to value healing, because Jesus did. To value bringing healing to others more than our worries about what others may think of us.
God desires for us to value humility with our lives. To think of others as more important than ourselves and to serve them. To not seek to elevate ourselves above others, but to be a servant of all.
Finally, God desires for us to value generosity, to make it a priority in our lives. To give to others, even though we know they cannot repay us. Our faith is in God who supplies us with everything we need in life. May each of us say this morning. Yes, I want to make healing, humility and generosity values and priorities in my life. May God help us to grow in becoming more and more like Jesus.