CHS Downtown sermon | +Quigg Lawrence

So we're gonna start with a video, but I wanna set it up for you guys. You're gonna see a clip in just a second that came from Jos, Nigeria this week. Jos, Nigeria. And those of you who've been around Church of the Holy Spirit know that Archbishop Ben Kwashi is the archbishop of Nigeria. He's one of several archbishops, and he oversees a ridiculous number of people—a million people or something. Who knows? He had cancer, and he came here. His wife, Mama, and they stayed in our house for eight months.

And everybody goes, "Oh, you guys are so spiritual for having people in your house for eight months." I'm looking at people right here that have had people in your house for two years. So eight months, that's a flick. But what I'm gonna tell you is, you know what? It was just the Lord. Like, I'd love to claim some credit. If I could claim any credit, I would just grab it. All I wrote is like, "Ben, you have cancer. Get your butt over here." That's as spiritual as it was.

And after eight days, he sent me a list of 14 questions asking all these details. I'm like, "Ben, I'm not a detailed guy. Just come. You're gonna die if you could just come." He did, and it saved his life.

But what I want you to notice is they feed 500 kids every day, and they really consider them their kids. But of those 500, 74 live in their home. And some of you go, "Wait a minute, Quigg. A month ago, you said 72." That's right. It was 72, but they added two while they were here.

And so I want you to see these kids. These kids are all throwaway kids. Kids with AIDS, kids with cleft palates, kids who—one kid his whole family was killed by Muslims. And he was on a garbage dump for over twenty-four hours, and everybody was dead on top of him. He was two years old, and they call him God Bless. These are the kids who have missed their parents for eight months. And the scene you're gonna see, while it's not great in terms of cinematography, it is awesome in terms of the joy you're gonna see. I want you to see generosity at work.

---

There are many more, and there were a lot of Mama and Ben dancing and all that. I couldn't show you everyone because this is a fifteen-minute segment is what they tell me. I can't even get through my opening in fifteen minutes.

But what I want you to understand is the reason those kids celebrated and the reason they were filled with joy is because more than a handful of people gave. They donated services. We had doctors, several doctors—I think four doctors who donated their services completely free. We had doctors that worked with the hospital to knock the fee down to something that we could raise money for. We had people praying around the world, maybe 3,000 people praying night and day, night and day, night and day. And it's because of the generosity of people—whether nurses or doctors or people who prayed—that those kids got to celebrate.

And this is the hard part. Those are throwaway kids. They're all throwaway kids. Could you imagine if the people that were generous that made that happen had not—if it was just a regular day when they stepped forward. What would it have been like if those people hadn't have stepped forward? Nobody compelled them to, but what if they hadn't have had an open hand and been generous?

I see those same kids. It's kind of like Ebenezer Scrooge. Right? It's kind of like A Tale of Two Cities. Could you imagine in a world devoid of Christian generosity or any generosity, these kids would have been receiving a casket at their house. That's what they would have received. But instead, because of the Lord, they're rejoicing. And friends, they are so, so happy.

And I wanna tell you as we get our scripture real quick that Archbishop Ben and Mama Gloria have lived a life, a married life, for how long? Thirty-five years together. They're extremely generous. And I tell you this, I'm not—they're not here, so I'm not gonna embarrass them. They make $7,000 a year. On $7,000 a year, they spend over $15,000 a month on housing, feeding, clothing, schooling. They're 74, but also feeding seven days a week, 500 people. And the scripture says, for those who are generous, God will be generous.

Generosity in Proverbs

So I wanna look in Proverbs just real quick. You guys have some great questions. Half the time I don't even look at them because we get engaged in some deep spiritual conversation at our table, but the questions are there. Let's look in Proverbs.

In Proverbs, I totally ripped off these headings. There's a couple things we learn in Proverbs. I read the whole book of Proverbs this week. It wasn't that sacrificial. It wasn't War and Peace. It wasn't like reading some tome this big, but it still took time. But I wanted to know every place where Proverbs mentioned generosity or greed. I just wanna see for myself. Because what if you start preaching and you missed two-thirds of them?

Generosity is a Path to Blessing

So the number one thing we learned from Proverbs: generosity is a path to blessing. Ben and Gloria lived and live and will live a life of generosity. And now they're recipients of it. Could you imagine being somebody in a country where you make $7,000 a year and a bunch of people you hardly know donate $300,000 of services? That's beyond. Here's the proverb:

One person gives freely, and yet gains even more. Another withholds unduly and becomes poor. A generous person will prosper. Whoever refreshes others will be refreshed. — Proverbs 11:24-25

Ben gained his life back. One person gives freely, yet gains even more.

A lot of people go, "Oh, Quigg, that's so difficult. You all didn't know whatever." No, guys. It wasn't like they put us on a stretching rack. We didn't leave all tired. It wasn't like that at all. When they left, Gloria goes, "I really miss them. They were a joy. They changed our lives. They're our forever family."

The reality is, friends, when you have an open hand, I promise you it's not like God is putting you on a stretching rack. He really wants to invite you into his joy. The joy you saw in that video, and even the joy you didn't see in the other videos that was even greater. That's what the Lord wants us to walk in and live in—not be this uptight person trying to control everything and manage so you don't run out.

Let's look at another proverb. I love this one.

A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children. — Proverbs 13:22

Don't you wish you'd known the Bible when you're a kid and you could have told that to your grandparents? I'm not suggesting we need to leave a wad to our kids because that can be its own problem. But what Proverbs is describing is, when you're generous, it is a pathway to blessing. That's true in Jos, Nigeria. It's true here.

Here's a great quote I ripped off from the Internet: Stingy and greedy people see the world as a pie. Being a kid who grew up with a twin sister and fighting over pieces of pie—hers is bigger than mine, mine's bigger than hers—we almost got a fist fight. My mom says, "Okay, stop. Here's a knife. Cut it." When do you cut it? When do you get to pick? We had to pull up the nanometer. It was like an hour-long thing. I started to cut it and I was like, "No, she's getting a smidge more than me," and I just couldn't find the right line.

So it's saying here: stingy and greedy people see the world as a pie and there are only so many pieces to go around. If they give away what they have, they believe they will have less. So they hoard and protect their wealth. Generous people see the world through the lens of anticipation and gratitude, while the greedy see the world through the lens of scarcity.

The Generous Lend to the Lord

Number two is a great one: The generous lend to the Lord. Now, you may say, "What are you, a televangelist? I want all you guys to plant your seed of faith. How about a $1,000 seed of faith? Give it to me and it'll be multiplied 50 times, 100 times, a thousand fold." I believe in those principles in Scripture. What I don't believe is that God wants it to go to the third jet for the televangelist or to buy new rotors for his third helicopter. I just don't think that's the way God wants his money invested, especially when kids in that city are starving to death or being abused. I just don't get it. That's pure greed.

But the principle in Proverbs, found over and over again, is the generous lend to the Lord. How can we lend to the Lord? Because He's not right here. I can't touch Him.

Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord. — Proverbs 19:17

You know, if I was a guy at Tanglewood Mall with a sign, that's what I would have on my sign.

The rescue mission actually says, do not give them money. They make $37,000 a year. The rescue mission can buy a meal for about 35¢. I don't know how they do it—it's magic, it's a magic box. But if you give somebody out of the goodwill of your heart and flip them a $100 bill, you may feel great about yourself, but it may go for a good cause or it may go for drugs.

We've given money from Church of the Holy Spirit to people, people that grew up in our church. And you know what they did? Put it right up their nose. So we don't do that anymore. We work through credible Christian ministries or even through our own benevolence committee.

But the bottom line is we don't wanna use that as an excuse not to give. In Proverbs 31, we see an example of a woman. You've heard of the Proverbs 31 woman. If not, it's great. You should read it. It says, this godly woman described in Proverbs 31, she opens her hand to the poor and she reaches out her hand to the needy. Now, this woman described in Proverbs 31 was actually a businesswoman. So all you guys think that women can't work. It's a man's place to work. I like to work. You men like to work. But there's nothing in the Bible that suggests women can't work. They're smart. They know how to juggle more balls than most guys. Right? They do. And we have an example in Proverbs 31 of a woman who did take care of her house. You can read it. But she also did business. And in the midst of that, guess what she did? She had the eyes and ears to see and hear the poor and to reach out her hand in love to bless them. So there's an example.

So the first point again was: the generous—generosity is a pathway to blessing. Number two, the generous lend to the Lord. The last one is the generous like Jesus have kingdom ears. Now, that's the weirdest thing in the world. I grew up when I was a kid and I had big ears. I didn't know I had big ears till I went to grade school. Right? Do you ever go to grade school and everybody said, son, you have a great voice. Are you really this? Are you really that? You go to grade school and some cruel kid in elementary school says, you have big ears or you have a big nose. I never knew I had ears that stuck out like Dumbo. I just never knew that. You could tell I'm over it. Right?

So here's the point. It says, the generous like Jesus have kingdom ears and they are quick to listen to the cry of the most poor. Again, not to shucksters, not to people who are trying to get something for nothing, not for people who refuse to work when they're healthy. But the generous like Jesus had kingdom ears—quick to listen to the cry of the poor.

Here's three Proverbs. Proverbs 21, Proverbs 14, Proverbs 19. Here we go.

Whoever shuts their ears to the cry of the poor, they will also cry out and not be answered.

And so it's not like just some random thing. I know like 168 kids in Roanoke City are homeless. I know there are kids in our city that go to bed hungry every night. I fasted a few times. I hate it. I hate being hungry. Imagine if that was your daily deal. And it says, if you shut your ears to the cry of the poor, eventually you will cry out and no one will answer. It may not happen on this earth. It doesn't say that. But it says, there'll be a day you're gonna cry out for mercy and there will be none. That's a warning because God loves us.

Another proverb says:

Whoever oppresses a poor man insults his maker, but he who is generous to the needy honors the Lord.

Whoever is generous to the poor lends to the Lord himself.

And didn't Jesus say the same thing? We're in Proverbs, but didn't Jesus say it?

I tell you the truth. As you do it unto the least of these my brothers, you've done it to me.

Friends, could it be more clear? Could the Bible be more coordinated? Proverbs and Jesus in sync.

Greed

Okay. Last one. Greed. Because we've got two minutes left. Actually, as I read all—how many proverbs are there? I forget. 31. That was rhetorical. 31. And there are how many days in a month? Thirty or thirty-one. So do you see a pattern you might find for reading Proverbs if you wanted to? You could read one Proverb a day. Right? One Proverb a day. What if you want to read Psalms? How many Psalms are there? A bunch. 150. Divide that by 30. How many would that be a day if you want to read through the Psalter? Five a day and one Proverb a day. If you don't know how to read the Bible, that's a great way to do it.

So what does the Proverbs teach about greed? Actually, greed is really the opposite of generosity. To be greedy, you don't have to be Ebenezer Scrooge. You don't have to be that. Greed is when you're not generous. There are a lot of us who go, why ain't greedy? I mean, when I go to a restaurant, man, I tip. Oh, yeah. Really? I've seen your tip. You gave 15% of the Christian track. You know, when I was a server, I couldn't stand people like you. You know, save your track. If you love Jesus, show me. Don't leave me a track. There are a lot of Christians. I'm telling you, if you're a believer tonight, next time you go to a restaurant, start at 20%. Start at 20%. Don't give them a track. If you wanna say, God bless you, that's great. But let's make up for the Christians who are tight.

So what Proverbs is basically saying is just one main point on greed. The main point is, he says in like three different places: don't use unequal weights or scales. Don't use an unequal weight or scales.

Now, a lot of you guys, do you ever use a weight or scale? I have one, and I don't like it. You know why? It lies. I get on that thing, and I'm like, okay. I haven't had a drink of water. I don't have my clothes on. I have my watch on. I don't have my glasses on. I got nothing on, and you've gained three pounds in a day. You're lying.

But here's the point Proverbs was getting to. Some clever fellow back in the old days was selling grain or corn or something. And all of a sudden, he said, you know what? I want to make a little more profit. So, rather than work harder or work longer, he decided, I'll cheat people. He figured a way to rig his scale or to change the weight of it. He would shave an ounce here and there. He did trickery. So when he would weigh grain that you would come to buy from him, he was ripping you off, but you didn't even know it.

Let me give you an example. How many guys like coffee? Good coffee? I love it. I roast my own beans. You know, back in the old days—those old days—they used to give you a bag of coffee. How many ounces were in that bag of coffee? I don't know. I just buy it. It's thirteen ninety nine. I just pick it up and go. It used to be a pound. Do you know what they did about five or seven years ago? They changed it to 12 ounces. Y'all didn't even notice. They're ripping you off. That's 25% less. That's exactly what the guy in Proverbs was doing, and God says he hates it. It's an abomination.

Proverbs talks about generosity and greed. Proverbs talks about two women who call your name: wisdom and folly. Wisdom speaks and calls out, be generous as Jesus is generous. Because if you're generous, you're going to enter into the master's joy. And if you're tight-fisted, you're going to be a miserable, miserable, lonely person. That's what's going to happen.

The Parable of the Closed Fist

Here's where we're going to end. We're going to do a parable here. So if you have a hand or hands—if you don't, try your feet. Okay. You got two hands. Now, this is kind of weird, but what I want you to do is ball your fist up like you mean business. Like, maybe you've got the crown jewel or you've got a thousand dollar bill, and your grandkids are all coming around trying to pull it out of your hand. You ain't letting it out. So go ahead. I want you to squeeze as tight as you can without passing out. And I want you to hold it for at least forty seconds.

Squeeze tighter. Tighter. Tighter. Tighter. Can you feel it? Hold on. You ain't even there yet. Tighter. You ain't tight. I'm talking about tight. I'm talking about when you go to the doctor and he says, let's see how much strength you got. You feel it? It's starting to cramp. Tighter. Tighter.

Now, open it.

That's a parable for being generous. This is stingy. This is cramped and miserable and terrible. This is freedom. In Proverbs, wisdom calls us to freedom. Wisdom calls us to joy. Wisdom calls us away from stinginess.

I think at your table, you're going to have some very probing questions. I hope you guys will really get into it with one another.