1 - Introduction - Living like a real Christian Work - Cultivating The Garden | Page 6

the self-emptying Lord. Their gifts were a response, not to a ratio ofincome levels,
but to the gift of Christ!
Mercy is spontaneous, super-abounding love which comes from an experience
of thegrace of God. The deeper the experience of the free grace of God, the more
generouswe must become. The ministry of mercy is a sacrifice of praise to God’s
grace. Therisen Lord of our salvation is not here bodily for us to anoint his feet, but
we have the poor to serve as a sacrifice to Christ of love and honour. The offering
of the Macedonian believers to the hungry abounds to God in praise (2 Corinthians
9 v 12–15), the Philippians’ refreshment of Paul is “an acceptable
sacrifice,pleasing to God” (Philippians 4:18), and the writer to the Hebrews
teaches that economicsharing is a sacrifice of praise (Hebrews 13 v 15–16).
Why is generosity the mark of being a Christian? Imagine a person who is
deathlyill. The doctor announces to him that there is a medicine which can
certainlycure him. Without it, he has no hope. “However,” says the doctor, “it is
extremelyexpensive. You will have to sell your cars, even your home, to buy it.
You may notwish to spend so much.” The man turns to his doctor and says, “What
do my carsmean to me now? What good will my house be? I must have that
medicine; it isprecious to me. These other things which were so important to me
now look paleby comparison to the medicine. They are expendable now. Give me
the medicine.”
The apostle Peter says, “To you who believe…[he] is precious” (1 Peter 2 v 7).
Thegrace of God makes Christ precious to us, so that our possessions, our
money,our time have all become eternally and utterly expendable. They used to be
crucialto our happiness. They are not so now.
Challenge Point:
What things prevent you from being more merciful?

Thursday
Job 31 v 13 – 28
Matthew 5 v 43 – 6 v 4
James 2 v 1 – 17