Why be generous?
Text: Proverbs 11:24-26
Hosts:
J. Kent Edwards
Vicki Hitzges
Nathan Norman
Narrator: Brian French
The CrossTalk Podcast is a production of CrossTalk Global, equipping biblical communicators, so every culture hears God’s voice. To find out more, or to support the work of this ministry please visit www.crosstalkglobal.org
Produced by Nathan James Norman/Untold Podcast Production
© 2026 CrossTalk Global
Brian: In the 1987 film Wall street, the character Gordon Gekko defends corporate ambition and capitalism in a speech to the stockholders of a struggling paper company PA Announcing the new law of evolution in corporate America seems to be survival of the unfittest. Well, in my book, you either do it right or you get eliminated. In the last seven deals that I've been involved with, there were 2.5 million stockholders who have made a pre tax profit of $12 billion. I am not a destroyer of companies, I am a liberator of them. The point is, ladies and gentlemen, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed in all of its forms, greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge, has marked the upward surge of mankind. The movie portrayed a fictional story, but it emphasized that corporate greed, placing profit above everything else, is still very much alive. In fact, nearly all businesses today aim to maximize shareholder profit. Concern for the well being of employees, customers or society remains secondary to profit. That's why King Solomon's assertions in Proverbs 11:24, 26 about the folly of unrestrained greed and the wisdom of generosity are so startling. Join Nathan Norman, Vicki Hitzges and Kent Edwards as they explore Solomon's value proposition of generosity in Proverbs, chapter 11, verses 24 to 26. Welcome to Crosstalk, a Christian podcast whose goal is for us to encourage each other to not only increase our knowledge of the Bible, but to take the next step beyond information, into transformation. Our goal is to bring the Bible to life, into all our lives. Hi, I'm Brian French. Today, Dr. Kent Edwards, Vicki Hitzges and Nathan Norman continue their discussion in the Book of Proverbs. If you have a Bible handy, turn to Proverbs, chapter 11, verses 24 to 26 as we join their discussion.
Kent: King Solomon knew quite a bit about money, didn't he?
Nathan: Sure he did. First, Kings 10:14 says the weight of the gold that Solomon received yearly in tributes was 666 talents, 25 tons, not including the revenues from merchants and traders and from all the Arabian kings and the governors of the territories.
Vicki: Wow, Nathan, stop and think about that. Every year he got 25 tons of gold. That's an amazing amount of money. I've invested in silver and I have this little box. It's not a shoebox, it's about a fourth of a shoebox of silver, if that. And I take good care of it. He got 25 tons, that's 50 elephants. Worth of gold every year. That's amazing.
Nathan: Yeah.
Kent: I find it interesting, Vicki, that the Bible tells us that Solomon had so much money that silver was considered worthless.
Vicki: Wow.
Kent: In fact, some estimate that Solomon was worth over, in today's money, $2 trillion.
Nathan: Wow.
Vicki: I don't even know how much money that is. That's amazing.
Kent: Well, it's twice as much as Elon Musk hopes to have.
Vicki: Wow, man.
Nathan: Solomon probably went to Mars twice on that thing.
Kent: No, Solomon knew how to make money. But paradoxically, he also understood the importance of generosity. By the way, so many of the proverbs are paradoxes. What is a paradox?
Vicki: It's a sentence where you say something, but in the same sentence it contradicts itself.
Kent: Yeah. So, for example, with experience, some would say you need a job to get experience, but you need experience to get a job.
Vicki: Absolutely.
Nathan: Man. That is the hard cry of every 20 year old, isn't it? Anyone in their twenties. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Kent: Some could say there's a paradox with choice, isn't there?
Vicki: How so?
Kent: That having more choices makes you less satisfied. With our final decision, my wife and I are looking at doing some kitchen remodeling. And what I hate is that when I go to a store, they offer way too many choices. We look for what kind of flooring are we going to have? Do you have any options they have for colors and styles and materials? It is limited.
Vicki: You're right. I used to teach sales and they would always say a confused mind doesn't buy. People don't want too many choices. I used to model and if you had eight dresses and if they like the dress you had on, they would necessarily buy that dress. They don't want to see it in different things. They like what they see and that's all they want to see.
Nathan: It's like when you go to a diner.
Brian: Right.
Nathan: And the diner, like the menu is a phone book size.
Kent: Yes.
Nathan: An old school phone book size. Right.
Kent: And it's huge.
Nathan: And you're like, I don't even know what I want anymore. There's too many options. And then you also know not everything is great off this menu. But I don't know what their specialty is. Right.
Kent: Yeah.
Nathan: It's hard. Then you order something and you're like,
Vicki: whatever, I've got one. The more you know, the more you realize you don't know.
Kent: Oh, yeah. Isn't that the truth?
Vicki: Yeah.
Kent: I. I remember obviously, many years ago, my first day in Bible school and we were sitting around a table. The freshmen were all sitting around a table and. And we talked and I remember saying, I don't think there is a theological issue that I don't understand. So after graduating with my bachelor's degree and my master's degree and two doctorates, I now know that I know so little. I just hope people don't ask me a hard question.
Vicki: I was listening to a podcast the other day and the host said, so do you have any questions? And I thought to myself, I don't even know what I don't know.
Kent: Yeah. Life is full of paradoxes. And Solomon introduces a financial paradox to us. In Proverbs 11:24.
Vicki: He says, One person gives freely, yet gains even more. Another withholds unduly but comes to poverty.
Kent: Oh, that's a paradox.
Vicki: In fact, I have to think about it.
Kent: In fact, the phrase there gives freely literally means scatters. One person scatters their money but gains even more. Well, that seems crazy because if you scatter your money, then you don't have much. Another withholds unduly, they hoard it for themselves. So you'd think that they would have more money. But yet Solomon says they come to poverty. I mean, on the surface that doesn't seem to make sense, does it?
Vicki: No, it doesn't.
Nathan: I remember one time, I don't even know what the context was, but I said to Kristen, my wife, I said, you know, it doesn't cost us anything to be generous. And she said, yes, it literally does. It literally costs us to be generous.
Vicki: What did you mean when you said that?
Nathan: I don't know what I meant now that she totally obliterated it. I just was trying to say we should be generous. And whoever we were giving funds to her or whatever it was, or tipping, I don't even remember the context, but I was trying, oh no, it's good to be very generous and to give freely. It doesn't cost us anything. She says, yes, it does. It literally does. But that's kind of what Solomon's getting at here, Right? One person gives freely yet gains even more. Yet another withholds unduly but comes to poverty. Right. Well, that doesn't make any sense.
Kent: Yeah. But I think the principle that Solomon is trying to communicate is that the tight fisted person ends up poor in the long run while the open handed person ends up richer. And it's true. In life, it's fascinating to me that there are physical benefits to generosity. I didn't realize this, did you?
Vicki: Physical benefits, like a person is healthier if they're generous.
Kent: Yeah. In an article published by Columbia University, Medical Center. Dr. Harding. So often we think about giving in terms of the recipient who gets the gift as benefiting. What is so remarkable about giving is that it benefits both the recipient and the giver. Just think of the last time you gave someone a gift expecting nothing in return, and how good it made you feel to do so. The benefits of giving without expecting anything in return extend to physical health. It boosts mood, self esteem and immune function while reducing stress, anxiety and blood pressure, all of which help us sleep better. And Dr. Harding is not alone. Medical experts in Australia found that generosity can extend our lifespan. A decade long study involving almost 3,000 people showed that those who did not regularly volunteer had more than twice the death rate of those who did.
Vicki: Wow.
Kent: Isn't that amazing?
Vicki: Yeah, it is.
Kent: Generous people also tend to have lower blood pressure, decreased risk of heart disease, and a lower chance of developing dementia.
Vicki: Huh.
Kent: Wow. There are huge physical benefits for generosity, but more than that, there are relational benefits of generosity. I mean, Solomon doubles down on the concept of reciprocity for being generous in verse 25, doesn't he?
Vicki: He says a generous person will prosper. Whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.
Kent: The word prosper there literally means to be fattened. It talks about, it's referencing wealth, abundance, full satisfaction in life and health. He's talking about an abundance of that which richly satisfies. A generous person, he says, will prosper. Whoever refreshes others will be refreshed. In fact, the phrase there talks about being drenched with refreshment. Drenched with refreshment. There are many benefits of generosity. And here Solomon talks about the relational benefits. Generous people have a positive reputation in their community, don't they?
Vicki: Yeah. You're not going to have a bad reputation for giving things away. People like generous people and not in a way to take advantage of them. You admire a person like that. You obviously want to be around a person like that. But you, you think highly of a person like that as opposed to a person that everybody thinks, ooh, he or she's stingy.
Nathan: Yeah. There's a trustworthiness to somebody who is generous.
Kent: Yeah. And I think the people who are generous enjoy a good reputation in their community. And a good reputation is important, isn't it?
Nathan: Well, for a lot of reasons. Relational reasons. Right. So you can have positive relationship with people, but also business practices. Right. If you have a business and somebody's looking to hire someone, they're going to go with somebody that they think is trustworthy, is generous, is kind, is going to treat them fairly of Course, Absolutely.
Vicki: I know that when people are generous to us, we're much more likely to be kind and generous back to them. I was very deeply taken advantage of by an HOA president, and I moved away. And there's a girl down the street from me that I met at a party in my new neighborhood, and she was an attorney. And I was telling her what was happening, and she said, I can help you with that. And she did. Now she's an attorney. She charges by the hour and on her own.
Brian: She
Vicki: helped me and she acted more or less like my attorney, but she didn't charge me at all. And I sued my old HOA in small claims court. And I couldn't have done it without her help. And after that, every time I went to the store, I'd buy her plants, I'd buy her flowers, I'd buy her chocolates. Anything I saw for years, I'd do it. Still now, that was years ago. I'd pick up something I thought she'd like and I'd just leave it on her porch and I'd just text her and say, open your door. And then she'd come out and there'd be a present for her. I don't do that for any of my other neighbors, but I'll probably do that for years to come just because she was so gracious to me. I think it pays off to be kind to other people, and it's contagious.
Kent: I remember years ago, in my dealings with your father, Vicki, Dr. Hadden Robinson. I wanted to have some time with him. And he was a busy man, no question. No question. But it was interesting. Your mother said to me on one occasion, he always finds time for people who are passionate about preaching. And I found he did. That was true. He did.
Vicki: He was great that way.
Kent: He made time. Even though probably my questions were superficial or not certainly very significant. But he spent time with me. He was generous with his time. And I want to be the same thing. In fact, it's interesting. Crosstalk Global now, I mean, all of our instructors and apprentices, they are all imitating what your dad demonstrated. They're spending time volunteering their time to build into the lives of others who want. Who have a passion for communicating God's word to God's people.
Vicki: Isn't that wonderful?
Kent: Yeah. But the opposite is also true. While Proverbs 11:24 includes the negative in the second half of the verse because it says, those who withhold unduly come to poverty. Down in verse 26, it's even clearer.
Vicki: It Says people curse the one who hoards grain, but they pray God's blessing on the one who is willing to sell.
Kent: People curse those who hoard grain, but pray God's blessing on the ones who are willing to sell. The context here seems to be famine. In a famine, people desperately need food. And so if you hoard grain, what are you doing?
Nathan: Keeping it all for yourself and allowing people to starve.
Kent: Yes, allowing people to starve. Because as they starve, what happens to the value of your grain?
Vicki: Oh, it keeps going up.
Kent: Yeah. And so you can kill people for profit.
Vicki: Oh, how awful.
Kent: Isn't that terrible? The question is not whether famines will happen, but how we will react. Do we take advantage of people's vulnerability to make profit? And if you do, you will lose the respect of others. People will curse the one who hoards the grain. They will not be your friends, they will be your enemies. And so will God. Do you remember what Amos said to the people who were doing similar things? In Amos, chapter eight, God was angry.
Vicki: He said, hear this, you who trample the needy and do away with the poor of the land, saying, when will the new moon be over that we may sell again? Skimping on the measure, boosting the price and cheating with dishonest scales, Buying the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, selling even the sweepings with the wheat. The Lord has sworn by himself the pride of Jacob. I will never forget anything they have done.
Kent: When you exploit others for your own gain, you make enemies. Enemies of the people and enemies of God himself. But the benefits of generosity apply not just individually, but they apply to ministry, don't they? Solomon isn't just talking about food in these proverbs. He's referring to the generosity we need to show in every area of life to meet the needs of the people around us. What are some ways we can show kindness and generosity to the people in our community?
Nathan: Yeah, there's a lot of options and opportunities for churches and parent church organizations to show love and compassion. I mean, I hesitate to just throw out this is what everyone should do, but there's options, right? There's opportunities. So if there's food scarcity or food needs within the community, opening up a food bank or partnering with people who are running a food bank can be extremely helpful. If you have housing issues within the area, educating yourself and finding resources that help people with temporary housing or semi long term housing or emergency housing is important rather than just saying, yeah, we're a church, we don't know, right? So no Find out. What are the options, where can we send people? How can we help them? Something simple like if you have a snowblower and everyone gets buried in snow, help take your neighbors out. Help get your neighbors dug out, especially if they're elderly or might have a disability. If you've got, you know, in the fall, there's all kinds of people around that struggle to get their lawns in order and clean up after the trees and everything. Well, get a team together. Go help out, serve.
Kent: Yeah. Even something as simple as volunteering to babysit for a couple or a single parent because they need a rest. What can we do to show our care? How can we be generous to others? And Jesus gave us two commands. Love God and love your neighbors. I think we obey that command as we care about others.
Nathan: Right? Yeah. And, I mean, you can make churches can be more institutional with it, too. So there's things like divorce care or similar programs for families going through divorce. I mean, what a great way to share the love of Christ with people who are in a crisis of their personal lives to say, hey, we love you and Jesus loves you too.
Kent: Yeah.
Nathan: And divorce care for kids. Right. And Jesus loves your kids. There's grief share, just programs that say, hey, you're going through severe loss. You know, your kid broke off contact, your parent doesn't want to talk to you anymore. You've been abandoned, you lost a parent, you lost a friend. Come and we'll have conversation. We'll share our grief with each other. Those kinds of things are really helpful.
Kent: There's a church in my neighborhood that I like to brag about, the church's east side Christian Church. And they say that our ultimate goal is to inspire people to follow Jesus by bringing his love and hope to hurting communities.
Vicki: Oh, that's a good goal. I like that mission.
Kent: Isn't that impressive? That's generosity. When I go to their website and I look, they say people can volunteer to help with homeless people at risk youth, domestic violence victims, families who are at risk, help foster youth, domestic violence, help people who suffered from LA fires. They've got practical ways that people can show generosity and love to their community.
Vicki: And do people step up and do it?
Kent: They certainly do. In fact, a portion of every dollar that is given goes to care for others. I'll tell you, that church is growing and they've got multiple campuses. And one of the reasons for that, the many reasons, they're doing a lot of things well. But their care for others, their love for others helps them grow because people are surprised by generosity. We have physical benefits of generosity, relational benefits, even ministry benefits, as churches embrace what Solomon is saying here. But there are also eternal benefits. Let's never forget what we read in Matthew chapter 25 when the Son of
Nathan: man comes in his glory, he will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, come you who are blessed by my Father. Take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in. I needed clothes and you clothed me. I was sick and you looked after me. I was in prison and you came to visit me.
Kent: Gordon Gekko was wrong. Greed is not good. When Solomon wrote that a generous person will prosper, he was giving us wisdom to live by. Because those who choose the opposite, who exploit others, will fail in life and eternity. It may be wise to remember John Bunyan's have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you. Let's be people who radiate the generosity of Christ.
Brian: While we might be tempted to treat others selfishly, we do not want to face the consequences of being selfish. As we just heard, generous people will live a far richer life than stingy people, while stingy people who exploit others will will fail. I trust that today's discussion of God's Word has been helpful and served as an encouragement to not just be hearers of the Word, but doers together. Let's bring God's Word to life to our lives. This week. The crosstalk Podcast is a production of crosstalk Global Equipping Biblical Communicators so every culture hears God's Voice. To find out more about this educational non profit organization, please visit www.crosstalkglobal.org. crosstalk is training leaders in Bucharest, Moldova, Cuba, Kenya and Kansas over the next few weeks help us train the next generation of biblical communicators. All you have to do is click donate in the show notes and make a donation of any size. You can also support this show by rating it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you find it. Be sure to listen next Friday as we continue to learn from God's wisdom in the Book of Proverbs. You won't want to miss it.
Nathan: Great.
Vicki: Very good.
Nathan: Nobody say anything. Brilliant. I'm stopping the recording.
Kent: I never was
Nathan: self deprecating humor kind of day. Here are we.