Sermon Illustrations on abundance

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Background

The Flow of Abundance

We are meant to be part of the flow of abundance: to open our hands to receive what we need and share what we have with others. Jesus taught his followers to be radically generous when he said: “Sell your possessions and give to the poor” and then “They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.”

Inspired by this, I was once part of a group who challenged each other to sell or give away half of our possessions. Our experiment was deeply transforming. We decluttered our closets and homes. It exposed our unhealthy and consumptive spending patterns. We learned to be more content. And we experienced the joy of sharing resources with our neighbors in desperate circumstances around the world. “It is more blessed to give than to receive” is a truth proven by both research and experience. You can cultivate a posture of openhandedness by asking yourself each day, What do I have that I can share with others? Time? Money? Or possessions and food that someone else can use?

God’s Abundant Provision in Genesis 2

There is a tendency among readers and scholars of Genesis 2:16-17 to focus on the prohibition of verse 17: “but the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat.”

…I want to pause to consider with you verse 16: “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden.”

We have already learned in Genesis 2 that God “made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food” (2:9). Now we hear that the man, and by implication all human beings, may eat the fruit from every single tree in the garden, save one. God is giving us all kinds of fruit from all kinds of trees, inviting us to enjoy it. The Hebrew phrase which could be rendered literally as “from all the trees of the garden to eat you may eat” underscores the opportunity and freedom for human beings. We may “freely eat” the fruit of every single tree, with one exception.

I’m struck here by this picture of God’s generosity. God did not give us just one kind of tree with one kind of fruit. God did not provide just what we need to survive. Rather, God created a great variety of trees with a great variety and quantity of fruit. If you’ll permit me to read into the text a bit, God created apple trees and orange trees, lemon trees and pineapple trees, cherry trees and plum trees, almond trees and coconut trees, peach trees and pear trees, pecan trees and olive trees. (If I have missed your favorite fruit tree, please add it to the list!)

God made all of this variety and then said, not, “Eat just what you need” but “Freely eat” from all of this. “And as you enjoy the taste and benefit from the nutrition, enjoy the beauty of the tree as well, not to mention its shade.”

Many Christians were raised in homes and churches in which God was not seen to be generous. God was stingy, giving us only what we really need and no more.

Moreover, God was the rule maker, who formed our lives principally by telling us what not to do.

Taken from Mark D. Roberts, Life for Leaders, a Devotional Resource of the DePree Leadership Center at Fuller Theological Seminary

Stories

Fourteen Good Days

In a July 2014 New York Times article about happiness, author Arthur C. Brooks quotes tenth-century Moorish king Abd Al-Rahman III, who assumed his throne as a young man and enjoyed tangible abundance far beyond that of any modern-day American celebrity, reflecting upon his life:

I have now reigned above fifty years in victory or peace; beloved by my subjects, dreaded by my enemies, and respected by my allies. Riches and honors, power and pleasure, have waited on my call, nor does any earthly blessing appear to have been wanting to my felicity…I have diligently numbered the days of pure and genuine happiness which have fallen to my lot: they amount to fourteen.

Quoted in Brian Russell, Stop Moaning, Start Owning, Health Communications, Inc

Starving Amongst Abundance

Dave Nessia was starving himself to death while hoarding food. It was on the hit reality show Alone. After 73 days alone in the wilderness, he had lost 40 lbs. and his blood pressure had fallen to 80/60. Medically speaking, he was in an advanced stage of starvation.

But here’s the bizarre part, he had caught, dried and saved 30 trout that he planned on rationing out every-other-day. At 200 calories per fish, he calculated he could keep going for another 2 months. But you can’t survive on 100 calories a day. He was starving himself to death while hoarding food.

I wonder how often our fear of what we don’t have blinds us to the reality of what we do have?

It’s true that some things come in an unlimited supply—like mosquitos and thieves. And there are limits to other things—like money and time. But it’s good to remember that the universe is the product of a Creator who…

…is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work.

(1 Cor 9:8)

It’s a great irony in life that security doesn’t come from what we have, it comes from what we give.

Dave Peterson

Analogies