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The Good Life - Ben part 3- 5pm
Sermon Summary
Ben teaches that the good life Jesus offers is a rich, satisfying life marked by generosity, where trusting God as our provider leads us to live abundantly and share freely, bridging the gap between belief and practice through intentional acts of giving and building margin in our lives.
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The made-up funeral eulogy exposes something that people already know deep down. A life of selfishness, even with the best cars, huge houses, luxury travel, fine food, and complete control, is not the sort of life anyone celebrates at the end. Generosity, hospitality, time for others, and love that does not keep itself to itself are the things that seem to carry weight. The good life, then, is not mainly about having more for oneself, but about becoming the sort of person who can gladly give.
Jesus offers the good life as abundant life, rich and satisfying life, life in its complete fullness. The world offers another version, built around wealth, health, comfort, security, influence, popularity, and the feeling of control. That version promises that hard work and good decisions can provide the life a person wants, but it always leaves a person wanting a little bit more. Jesus offers something far better: surrendering desires, dreams, plans, comfort, security, and control so that he becomes provider, satisfier, and the one who rewrites the future.
Generosity becomes the way that gap gets bridged between what a Christian believes and how a Christian actually lives. Jesus told the rich young man to sell his possessions, give to the poor, and follow him, not because generosity earns life, but because giving loosens the grip of the false life. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 9 that the one who sows sparingly reaps sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully reaps bountifully. That harvest is not some weird Christian investment scheme where cash comes back as more cash. The harvest is the good life itself, tasted more fully every time generosity brings behaviour back into line with belief.
Paul’s picture of provision is wonderfully practical. God provides “bread for food” and “seed for sowing,” enough to enjoy and enough to give away. If there is never enough to be generous, then the uncomfortable question is whether the seed meant for sowing has been eaten. Debt, overconsumption, clutter, and lack of margin can quietly become barriers to generosity, hanging over life like a bad smell.
The new strategy is simple but not shallow. Margin needs to be built, spending may need to be reduced, debt may need attention, and possessions may need to be released. Generosity can start small and spontaneous, like a $20 note ready to be given away. Structure also matters, because generosity rarely happens by default. The good life is chosen one decision at a time, as God provides not only for a person, but through a person, perhaps even as the answer to someone else’s prayer.
Key Takeaways
1. God gives bread and seed:
God’s provision is not pictured as bare survival, as though life were only about stumbling over the line. Paul’s language separates bread for food from seed for sowing, which means some provision is meant to be enjoyed and some is meant to be released. Generosity begins when the seed is not consumed as though it were just more bread.
2. Generosity bridges the belief gap:
The gap between believing Jesus gives the good life and actually living that way is not closed by better intentions alone. Generosity acts like a realignment of the soul, pulling behaviour back toward trust in Christ rather than trust in control. Each act of giving becomes a small death to the world’s version of life and a small taste of the life Jesus promised.
3. Debt fights readiness to share:
Debt is not treated as a reason for shame, but it is named as a serious barrier to generosity. When what is coming in has already been spent before it arrives, readiness to share becomes much harder. Freedom from that pressure creates space for obedience, compassion, and Spirit-prompted giving.
4. Small giving still reshapes hearts
Generosity does not need to begin as something massive, impressive, or complicated. A simple act, done intentionally, trains the heart to look for opportunities rather than merely feel willing in theory. Small obedience can become the place where God starts reshaping desires, habits, families, and futures.
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