The Neighborhood Podcast

"What Disciples Do: Disciples Practice Generosity" (September 28, 2025 Sermon)

• Rev. Dr. Stephen M. Fearing

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Preaching: Rev. Dr. Stephen M. Fearing

Texts: Luke 16:19-31 & 1 Timothy 6:6-19

What if generosity isn't just something God does, but who God is? Drawing from the parable of Lazarus and the rich man alongside Paul's wisdom in 1 Timothy, we discover a profound theological truth: generosity is God, and God is generosity.

This revelation transforms how we understand our spiritual journey. Like the rich man whose clenched fists rendered him blind to Lazarus at his gate, we too can become so focused on accumulating wealth and security that we miss the divine invitation to open our hands and hearts to others. Through the structure of the hymn "God Whose Giving Knows No Ending," we explore three dimensions of generosity: God's boundless giving, our calling to serve, and our responsibility to share.

God's generosity surrounds us in unexpected places—from intricate spider webs discovered on a camping trip to the joy of a child pretending to be an upside-down jellyfish. These moments invite us to "take hold of the life that really is life" by cultivating righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness within community. As baptism reminds us, we receive grace undeserved yet are called to share it abundantly.

The choice stands before us daily: clenched fists or open hands. We cannot have both. As channels of divine generosity, every act of kindness creates ripples of hope and healing that extend far beyond our immediate circle. This week, challenge yourself to find one concrete way each day to marvel at God's generosity, then respond with your own. The transformation might surprise you.

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SPEAKER_01:

Or allow me to share with you the prayer of illumination. God of the prophets, by the power of the Holy Spirit, speak your word to us. Seal it within us that we may heed your call. Amen. The first scripture reading is Luke 16 19 to 31. There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen, who feasted scrumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to be satisfied his hunger with what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs would come and lick his sores. The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man who died and was buried. In Hades, there was where he was, sorry, being tormented, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. He called out, Father Abraham, have mercy upon me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in the water and cool my tongue. For I am in agony with these flames. But Abraham said, Child, remember that during your lifetime you received for good things, and Lazarus in a like manner evil things. And now he is comforted here. And you are in agony. Besides all this, between you and us, a great chasm has been fixed. So that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so. And no one can cross from there to us, he said. Then I beg you, Father, to send him to my father's house, for I have five brothers, that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment. Abraham replied, They have Moses and the prophets. They should listen to them, he said. No, Father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent. He said to them, If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced, even if someone rises from the dead. Holy wisdom, holy word, thanks be to God.

SPEAKER_02:

All right, folks, we continue with our theme of uh generosity as the antithesis of greed with uh another of today's lectionary passages from 1 Timothy 6, 6 through 19. Let us listen for what God is saying to God's church. Of course, there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment, for we brought nothing into the world so that we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains. But as for you, a man of God, shun all this. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness. Fight the good fight, the good fight of faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and for which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses, in the presence of God who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession. I charge you to keep the commandment without spot or blame until the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will bring about at the right time. He who is blessed and only sovereign, the King of King and Lord of Lords, it is he alone who has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see, to him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen. And as for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life. Friends, holy wisdom, holy word. Thanks be to God. Let us pray. Amen. So, friends, this is the most eloquent sermon you all will hear me preach. As most of y'all know, I spent most of last week uh camping with my two best friends out in the mountains, um, and uh did not have quite as much time as I usually do. So please accept this offering of my disjointed thoughts of today's uh passage. So last week, you may remember, we uh Jesus shared with us a really tough parable that we unpacked together, a poignant parable that illustrated very simply the wrongness of greed. We saw that that uh that shrewd middle manager in the parable and how he shifted his loyalty uh from the rich man above him and the economic hierarchy to the poor farmers beneath him, possibly forgiving the interest that had accrued on their debt. So if greed is bad, that parable demonstrates the antithesis is also equally valid. That not only is generosity good, but generosity is God. So hear me, church, we not only affirm the moral truth that generosity is good, but in today's passages, I think both of them, we affirm the theological truth that generosity is God, and God is generosity. So to understand how this truth applies to our lives as disciples, we have this second passage we read today from 1 Timothy to guide us, but I really want to structure this sermon around the pattern of the hymn that you and I are going to sing together after this sermon. It actually happens to be one of my favorite texts in either of our hymnals called God Whose Giving Knows No Ending. So I kind of want us to follow for the purposes of this sermon the structure of the three stanzas of this hymn that we'll explore together. First stanza really emphasizes the generosity of God. The second stanza that we'll sing focuses on our calling to serve. And then the third stanza focuses on our calling to share. So you might, if you want to, you might find it helpful as you hear this sermon to open up uh to hymn number 716 in your purple hymnal, if you kind of want to follow along or if you can't see the screen too well. I did some research on this hymn, and it was written by a fellow named Robert Edwards back in 1961 as a competition from the hymn society in America to find a new stewardship uh hymn, a text for a new stewardship hymn. And the tune is a really low, lovely, simple shape note melody called Beach Spring, which is named after a Baptist church, Beach Spring Baptist Church in my home state of Georgia, on a county called Harris County, right on the Alabama uh border. Although I don't like the state of Alabama today. Some of y'all might know why that's the case. Good game, Scott Moore. Uh but let's uh let's just jump right on in uh with my simple singing here. The first verse goes like this: God who's giving knows no ending from your rich and endless store. Nature's wonder, Jesus' wisdom, costly cross, grave shattered door. Gifted by you, we turn to you, offering up ourselves in praise. Thankful song shall rise forever, gracious donor of our days. Gracious donor of my of our days is one of my favorite lines in any hymn that we sing. So this first stanza recognizes God's abundant grace and generous nature. Verse 17 of the first Timothy passage we read today says that God richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. And the first stanza of this hymn presents two pieces of evidence to prove this is true. One is the wonder of nature and the wisdom of Jesus. I got to spend some time in the wonder of nature last week when I was uh on a camping trip with my two best friends from seminary at a place called Douglas Lake that's kind of close to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. As it turned out, my family recently acquired a nice canoe thanks to the generosity of two congregants from this church, and I decided to strap it to the top of my subaru and take it along. We settled into our campsite and we noticed a small island in the middle of the lake, about half a mile away, and we decided to take our canoe out to have a little adventure. So we packed some beverages, some folding chairs, snacks, and everything that we needed to play a couple campaigns of dungeons and dragons. And we we somehow fed three adult men into that tiny canoe with all of our stuff and didn't capsize. And we got out to our little island that was about 75 feet in diameter, and in the center of the island was this little flat open space surrounded by trees at the perimeter. We found a good spot and spent several hours on a quest. I'm not big into dungeons and dragons. I know just enough to be dangerous. Your pastor happens to be a level 13 sorcerer named Carnisteer for what he lacks in strength and dexterity he makes up with in charisma. If you don't know what that means, I don't either, but we had fun. So as the sun set, we began to gather our things and we prepped our canoe to go back to our campsite. But as we looked around and we got ready to leave, we simply noticed that every single nearby tree that surrounded us was filled with humongous spiders. I'm going to show a picture of a spider on a screen. If that's going to freak you out, close your eyes right now. It's called an orb weaver spider. They're actually very, very beautiful. So we we noticed that our little private island was a small colony of these orb weaver spiders, which are known for their intricate webs. So we took several minutes to admire their beauty from a comfortable distance. One of the things that you should know about your pastor is few things sparked my sense of wonder and awe of the generosity of God in nature than a beautiful spider web. It just absolutely stuns me every time. So that kind of reminded me of the expansive generosity of God that's known to us in the wonder of nature. So nature's wonder indeed. And then the second piece of evidence that the uh the hymn writer gives is uh is the person of Jesus Christ, whose wisdom is revealed as we sang both through the cause the costly cross and graves shattered door. Love that line. This statement is a musical confession of sorts testifying that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus turns us, as we sang in simple simple gifts with the choir, turns us to God, and it motivates us to offer ourselves and praise and raise the thankful song to the gracious donor of our days. So, in a sense, that's kind of what we're doing right now, uh, is a reflection of the hymn's message. Worship is the act of God's people turning towards a God whose generosity is the very reason that you and I gather today. It's where we gather as Timothy says, to take hold of the eternal life to which you and I have been called. And there are moments, friends, when everything becomes clear and we we see the difference between living and life. And for me, that was when I got home from my camping trip this week, and I got to spend some time with uh with my daughters after being away. I had a moment that Hazel Grace gave me permission to share with you all. Um, the Children's Museum downtown recently renovated their theater space. It's really wonderful now. And Hazel Krace and I had some time to kill before her own theater class downtown. So we did a little game at the theater where I would give her an animal to act out, and she just killed it. She did great. We started out easy with dog, cats, and then I started to throw her some really hard things, like a sloth, like an upside-down jellyfish, and an axolotl. And she nailed all three. I don't know how she did it. And we just had so much fun. And then I just had this moment of experiencing a deep and profound gratitude for the simplicity of that moment, the simple gift that we might call it. It reminded me that how much is broken in the world, no matter how much we can understandably be afraid of and how much grief I may feel, that God calls us to take hold of the eternal life to which we've been called, and just simply to be open to the small ways that that can break through in our lives. Now the second stanza will sing like this: Skills and time are ours for pressing toward the goals of Christ your Son. All at peace and health and freedom, races joined, the church made one. Now direct our daily labor, lest we strive for self alone. Born with talents, make us servants fit to answer at your throne. So there's a shift in this second stanza from God's generosity to our faithful response to it. First Timothy six urges us to pursue godliness and righteousness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness. As I reflected on this list of qualities this week, it struck me that I can't do these things alone. And neither can you. We all do this together. God's generosity is revealed when the community of God comes together. It's because we need one another to be righteous. Godliness isn't something that any one of us gets to define by ourselves. Faith exists in community. Love requires at least two people. Endurance is something that we develop together as a family of faith during hard times. And gentleness is a gift that one person gives to another, and in the process is a gift to themselves as well. So all these spiritual exercises are a commitment of the whole family of faith. So, for example, in a few short hours, we'll gather again at First Baptist Church to celebrate the baptism of Landon, James Bryant, as he receives this gift and responsibility of the sacrament. We will affirm together that Landon is part of a larger family who is promising this day and forevermore to raise him in the faith and to pursue, and to pursue those things that the author of 1 Timothy lifts us: that righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness. All of those qualities, y'all, are embodiments of God's generosity. And Landon's baptism will be a simple ceremony to remind him that he is not alone, but surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, and more importantly, accompanied by God who has promised to love him no matter what. Because baptism is the ultimate reminder of God's generosity because it confers a grace undeserved but graciously received and generously shared. Baptism is the church's prayer that God would direct our daily labor, lest we strive for self alone. So to recap, again, the first stanza emphasizes God's generosity, second stanza, our calling to serve, and the third, our calling to share. Treasure to you have entrusted, gained through powers, your grace conferred, ours to use for home and kindred, and to spread the gospel word. Open wide our hands in sharing as we heed Christ's ageless call, healing, teaching and reclaiming, serving you by loving all. Within just a few days, we used this little space outside our sanctuary as a makeshift donation drop-off for non-perishable items that were in need, and then a few volunteers among you took our church bus and drove them directly to where they were needed. And that's just one of the many ways that we of a congregation have reflected God's generosity in the past year. We've done it by serving our unhoused neighbors this summer. We've done it by comforting one another as we've said goodbye to some big pillars of this church over the past year. We've done it by showing up at the Greensboro Pride Festival through our robust children and youth ministries, just to name a few. We've done it by our PW circles looking after each other and the church. We've done it by sharing sacred music every week. The list can and does go on. This is a congregation that I think links arms well and shows up when there's a need. And it's one of the reasons I'm so grateful to be your pastor. And so I hope we'll remember that our journey of faith is closely tied to understanding God's limitless generosity. We've received much from God: grace, love, and community. And you and I are called to reflect that in our daily lives. This isn't just advice, but a div a divine mandate to pursue righteousness and serve selflessly and to share openly, because every act of kindness makes us channels of God's love, spreading God's message and creating a ripple effect of hope and healing. So I hope we dedicate ourselves to embodying this spirit. And remember the words of the hymn we're about to sing. Open wide our hands in sharing. Because remember, neighbors, we can either have clenched fists or open hands, but not both. As followers of Christ called to reflect God's generosity, the choice is ours. So this week, your homework is to find one concrete way each day to stand in awe of God's generosity. It could be the beauty of a spider's web, it could be the feeling of a hug from a loved one, a piece of music that calms your weary soul, or the sound of laughter of a silly kindergartner pretending to be an upside-down jellyfish. If you want to know what that looks like, it's just her being on her back going bloop, bloop, bloop, bloop, bloop, bloop, bloop. Yeah. Find one way each day this week to marvel at God's generosity and say to yourself, wow, God is generous and I want to be too. And then see where that takes you. All right, y'all. I can't finish the sermon by myself. Need your help. So let's rise in body or in spirit and sing God who's giving knows no ending, number 716. In the name of God, the Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer of may all of us, God's beloved, say.