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Wednesday
Luke 10 v 25 – 37
2 Corinthians 9 v 6 – 15
The second major effect that the gospel of grace has on a person is that it creates
spontaneous generosity.
The priest and the Levite did not stop despite many biblical injunctions to help a
countryman. But no one expects the Samaritan to give mercy. One of the reasons
that Jesus puts a Samaritan in the story is that he, by virtue of his race and history,
has no obligations at all to stop and give aid. No law, no social convention, no
religious prescription dictates that he render service. Yet he stops. Why? Luke 10 v
33 tells us he was moved by his compassion.
What a clear message! As Edmund Clowney has put it, “God requires the love that
cannot be required.” Mercy is commanded, but it must not be the response to a
command, it is an overflowing generosity as a response to the mercy of God which
we received.
Common sense tells us that, if human beings are to live together on the planet, there
should be a constant sharing of resources.But this approach is very limited in its
motivating power. Ultimately it produces guilt.It says, “How selfish you are to eat
steak and drive two cars when the rest of the world is starving!” This creates great
emotional conflicts in the hearts of Christians who hear such arguing. We feel
guilty, but all sorts of defence mechanisms are engaged. “Can I help it I was born in
this country? How will it really help anyone if I stop driving two cars? Don’t I have
a right to enjoy the fruits of my labour?” Soon, with an anxious weariness, we turn
away from books or speakers who simply make us feel guilty about the needy.
The Bible does not use the guilt-producing motivation, yet it powerfully argues for
the ministry of mercy. In 2 Corinthians 8 v 2 – 3, Paul tells us that the
MacedonianChristians gave generously to the Jerusalem famine victims. The
Macedonians were not of a higher social class than theneedy in Jerusalem. They
apparently were going through terrible trials of their own.What, then, was the
dynamic that moved them to give? “Their overflowing joy…” (verse 2) and “they
gave themselves first to the Lord” (verse 5). It was the Macedonians’ response to