Stewardship Pt. 2 - Steward Your Money

[00:00:00] Hey. Good morning, church. [00:00:04] It feels way better to be back down on the floor. I like this a lot better. [00:00:08] The guys had their first men's ministry dinner last night, and when we reset up, reset up so we could do this. And I like it. This is a good shift, guys. I'm glad you're here. I guess you survived your bout of meat sweats last night on the other side of the steak dinner. Were able to come back to, you know, the men's ministry did have their first event last night, and I do want to take just a really quick second and thank that team for serving the guys of our church. What a blessing. Awesome night that was. And special shout out. [00:00:40] Special shout out to my padre because he stood outside and ran the grill last night while everyone else was inside hanging out and joined the evening. He was outside at the grill, like, getting snowed on. Comes in, brushes the snow off him, gives guys steaks, goes back outside. [00:00:59] That's a rough way to go, but he did it for the lord. [00:01:05] Oh, guys, what a joy to be together today. We are continuing our series on stewardship today. We started this last week with, I think, a really fruitful discussion. We talked about what it means to be people who steward our lives unto Christ. And, guys, this word stewardship that we're kind of building this around, it's an important word. It's maybe not the funnest word in the english language. It's an important one. And when we talk about it, this idea of biblical stewardship, we're talking about, this idea of taking care of something that isn't yours. Right. A steward is something who takes responsibility to care for something that isn't theirs. Last week, we started this discussion by looking at Luke 20 in this famous interaction with Jesus and the religious leaders, he says, hand me the coin. Whose image is in the coin? And there's that famous line, render under Caesar the things that are caesars. Render under God the things that are God's. And we talked about the idea that we, as God's creation, are the ones who bear his image, and so we owe it to him to render ourselves unto the kingdom, to give ourselves completely and fully over to our creator, to his kingdom, to his purposes. By the way, a couple of you guys did give me a hard time this last week. If you didn't like being reminded that paying taxes is, in fact, biblical. And if that was you last week, I'm sorry. It wasn't me. It was Jesus you have a beef with so you and him can talk about it, but no, we focused in on this idea that as image bearers that we do, we render ourselves unto Christ. We give ourselves fully to our creator, and that, in fact, we are made for this. We're designed, we're built with God's kingdom, with God's glory in mind. And I reminded us of this phrase, solidiogloria. All glory to God. All glory to God. It's all his. We're all his. [00:03:04] We were made for glorifying God, which means our greatest joy, our greatest fulfillment, our greatest peace is found not in chasing after the comforts of this world, but in chasing after our sweet Jesus. Amen. [00:03:20] So today we're going to get really specific in our application of this truth. Today we're going to talk about how stewarding your money to the glory of God in the advancement of the kingdom is a good thing. Talk about stewarding your money. [00:03:38] I know, guys, that's not the fun one, right? Why are we talking about money? Why am I the one doing it? Guys, I think it's important to just call this out before we step into this time. And let me just say, I get it. I understand completely that as soon as I say we're talking about money today, some of us get uncomfortable. We've all seen or read about churches or televangelists or leaders who manipulate money out of people in the name of God. We've all read news stories about pastors with private jets who convince sweet old ladies on fixed incomes to pay for them. Right? But, hey, it also doesn't have to be some big, loud abuse of power to get money. I mean, we could just acknowledge the fact that I am, in fact, a paid staff person at this church, right? Like, there's maybe a little bit of a conflict of interest in me talking about whether or not you give financially to our church. And here's the thing, guys, that's true. I get my paycheck from Emmanuel Fellowship, which comes directly from you guys financial gifts. So thank you for that. [00:04:51] But let me tell you guys why. I think a couple of reasons why. I think it's not only appropriate, but good for us to have this conversation and for me to be the one who teaches on it, first and foremost, before we talk about anything else. Guys, money is a discipleship issue. [00:05:09] It is. Here's the thing. How we use our money is one of the most immediate, visible, and simple ways that we can put our lives on a kingdom trajectory, pure and simple. [00:05:21] How you use your money is a simple, immediate way to wrap your life around Christ, to bend the trajectory of your life toward kingdom things. Money is an easy idol. Amen. It's an easy idol. And on top of that, it's a cultural hot button. We don't like it when churches talk about money because of those two things, we need to talk about it. And guys, the fact is, if you cannot trust your pastors to talk to you about an important discipleship issue in your life and in our culture, they shouldn't be your pastors. [00:06:00] Like, just for real. That's kind of how it is. Second, I believe that I'm talking to you guys today as your pastor, but also as a fellow traveler on this journey. I'm going to be real confessional with you guys for a second. Godly generosity is difficult for me. It's not something that comes naturally to my own faith journey. This is an area that I am still growing in my own holiness and my own devotion. It is difficult for me to trust that God will provide for me and for my family financially. Now, don't get me wrong, God always has his track record on this, on this matter is actually 100% positive in favor of taking care of my family. Right? This is not a God issue, but this is an issue where I struggle with faith and trust. My faith falters in this area. And it is because of loving, challenge and multiple disciplers in my life throughout my faith journey, even continuing to now that I've learned and continue to learn joy in kingdom minded generosity. And so I'm speaking to you guys today as someone who is in this with you, not just as someone who benefits financially from our church. Right? Lastly, I think it's important to talk to you guys about this because at the end of the day, kingdom centric generosity models Jesus'own love for us. [00:07:24] Guys, that's at the root of why financial generosity is important. When we step up to be radically generous to real financial needs in front of us, this is a small practical picture of Jesus who stepped to a real need in our lives. Amen. It's a small picture of a grand, cosmic gospel truth. When we were in need, Christ was radically generous. As we continue to be in need, Christ is radically generous. So when we choose radical generosity, it not only kills the idols of self sufficiency and worship of money and comfort in our lives, it testifies to who Christ is and the work he's accomplished on our behalf. Amen. So pray with me and let's jump into this. Jesus, we need your help. This morning we confess to you as a bunch of suburban Americans that we don't like people poking at our wallets. It's uncomfortable for us to be challenged on this stuff. And so, God, we ask the Holy Spirit that you would be gracious with us today, but that you would also be clear with us. God, give us open eyes, open ears, to hear from you, to be challenged, to be encouraged. Lord, let us not assume right now that this is a message for someone else in the room, but let each and every one of us have a humble heart to hear from you today and be challenged and discipled. God, we love you. We trust you. We need you for this work. So we pray in your name. Amen. Okay, we're going to be in two corinthians eight and nine today. If you want to turn in your bibles there, if you don't have a bible with you, we have house bibles around the room. This is a large chunk of text, and so we're going to go through it a little differently. I'm going to read a chunk and then we'll talk about it and make some connections. And essentially, as we go through these two chapters, we're going to see four main points today. We're going to see four truths, I think, come out of this text that is helpful for us in how we consider how we steward our money to the glory of God. First, we're going to see that we give God our first fruits and we care for local worship. We give God our first fruits. We care for local worship. And we do that because it's all his. It all belongs to him anyway. Second, we'll see that the challenge to give generously is a challenge to love. [00:09:43] That when we're talking about generosity, we are ultimately talking about love. And we'll see that what we already said, it's the connection to Christ, right? Christ's radical generosity in the midst of our need is an act of love. Our radical generosity in the face of real needs is an act of love. And Paul even calls it a test of our love, whether or not we are generous. Third, we'll see that kingdom, generosity at its base most level, really comes down to joy and trust. Do we trust God and is God the source of our joy? We'll see that you give what you can with joy, and you give it in a way that causes you to actually sacrifice because you trust. And then lastly, we're going to see that generosity becomes mission. [00:10:31] The generosity of the church is actually a testimony to the accomplished work of Christ, and it helps accomplish the mission of the kingdom in our world. So, two corinthians, we're in chapter eight. We're going to start in verse one. Let me set up this text with some narrative. I'm not going to read all this narrative because we don't want to be here 3 hours today. But if you were to go back and read acts eleven, Galatians three, and Romans 15, those three chunks of text would give you the narrative setup for what's happening here in two corinthians. Essentially, we're looking at a letter that the apostle Paul wrote to a church he had helped plant in the city of Corinth. And this is near the end of the book of acts. This is near the end of the Book of Acts. Paul, if you guys don't know, was a leader in the early church. He was actually considered an apostle, but he stepped into leadership several years after the church began to grow. He wasn't one of the original eleven apostles. He rose up into authority, into that position later in life. [00:11:38] His first real authority position in the church was in the church at Antioch. And that church grew out of a persecution that Paul himself helped initiate in Jerusalem. Right. Like Paul was an enemy of the church who actively persecuted believers. And then several years later, he's a pastor and a leader in one of the churches birthed out of that persecution. So at one point when Paul is serving and leading up in Antioch, there's a famine in Jerusalem, and the leaders at Antioch decide to take a collection to alleviate the need of believers in Jerusalem. This is, by the way, a really practical application of the way early christians lived when the church existed only in Jerusalem. In like, the first days of the church, acts tells us that folk lived with radical generosity in mind, that they gladly sold off property and liquidated and cashed out investments to make sure that everyone in the church had all their material needs met. It was one of the first things that acts actually tells us about the early church in Jerusalem was their radical generosity. But once the church began to become geographically larger, once there were churches in multiple cities, it became a little more complex, and it made sense for churches in one area that are having a season of plenty to help make up for the needs in churches that are having lean seasons. So the church at Antioch takes up a collection for the church in Jerusalem, and Paul was one of the men they sent to deliver this love offering. Galatians three tells us that when Paul is there, there's kind of this testing that happens. He's already gone on a missionary journey at this point. He's begun to operate as an apostle and plant churches. And the leaders in Jerusalem, they kind of test him, and they're kind of wanting to hear his doctrinal convictions and his call to ministry and all those things. And Galatians three tells us that in the midst of their testing, they basically urge him, say, hey, you're doing it right. God has called you. Keep doing this. The one thing we ask is, as you're out preaching the gospel and planning these churches, don't forget about this. Don't forget about this moment where you brought this offering to meet these needs, continue with your radical generosity to the poor. And Paul says, that was the very thing I was eager to do. [00:14:04] That was a passionate part of my ministry. And so what ends up happening is, as Paul goes on his second and third missionary journeys, he does exactly that. He's discipling these new believers and these new churches to operate in radically generous ways and how they use their money to meet real needs. There's a couple of texts that speak to this, but Romans 15 spells it out really clearly how Paul applied this to his ministry. During his second missionary journey, he began to essentially collect another offering or get commitments from churches to collect another offering. He says, hey, I think God is calling us to meet some real radical needs in Jerusalem as he's traveling throughout the entire roman empire. And so he essentially tells all these churches, I'm going to be here around this time next year, so save up some money now, and let's see what we can do to bless the church in Jerusalem. And he spreads that over the course of his churches. Now, two Corinthians picks up when that third journey is happening. Paul is traveling. He's going to these churches. He's encouraging them, he's discipling people, but he is also collecting together this gift, this love offering that he's been talking to these churches about for more than a year. And the second letter to the Corinthians is Paul sending some messages ahead of himself. I'm coming to visit you guys. I'm on the way. Here's some stuff I want to talk about. And the reason he does this for Corinth is if you read first corinthians, what you find out is this church did not have an easy go of it. Not because they were terribly persecuted, because they were terribly sinful. This church had a really hard time with personal holiness. And so Paul rebukes them. First Corinthians is not a letter you want your church to receive, right? Like Paul rips into them for their worldliness and their sinfulness and their lack of convictions and in between first and second corinthians, there's a couple in person visits. There's another letter that we don't have preserved. But by the time second Corinthians gets written, Paul and Corinth, they've reconciled. The corinthian church is walking in holiness. And so now there's this moment where Paul's getting ready to visit Corinth. A year ago, before all this stuff blew up, they made a commitment to make this big financial gift, and he's coming to get it, and he sends in this letter to basically be like, hey, guys. Hey, listen, I know we had some beef, but you did commit to do this, and I want you to do it, so have it ready by time I get there. [00:16:33] So that's where we're picking this up. [00:16:37] We're going to start in the first verse of chapter eight of two corinthians, we read this. [00:16:42] But I want you to know, brothers and sisters, about the grace of God that was given to the churches in Macedonia during a severe trial brought about by affliction. Their abundant joy and their extreme poverty overflowed in a wealth of generosity. On their part, I can testify that according to their ability, and even beyond their ability of their own accord, they begged us earnestly for the privilege of sharing in the ministry to the saints, and not just as we had hoped. Instead, they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us by God's will. So we urged Titus that just as he had begun, so he should also complete among you this act of grace. [00:17:26] So Paul has traveled through Macedonia, and again, if you don't have, like, ancient roman geography clicked in in your head, that's fine. This would be like the churches in Philippi, the churches in Berea, the churches in Thessalonica, like, these are the ones we're talking about. They have their own letters. Paul essentially says, look, I've already been through there on my way to you, and let me tell you a testimony of these churches. These churches are hurting, and they're hurting because of persecution brought about because of their faith. What we actually know is that Berea and Philippi were actually very wealthy communities. If you read in acts about the planting of the church in Philippi, it was hosted in this rich woman's house, right? Like, these were actually affluent churches. But the reality of their faith has come into conflict with the reality of the pagan roman empire, and they are suffering. They are under an extreme trial that is having a very real financial burden on them. And what you see in this is that Paul essentially told these guys, hey, look, this is about people in a season of plenty meeting the needs of people in a season of lean. You're good. [00:18:38] But these churches begged Paul, and no, let us have the privilege of serving, give us the privilege of giving our generosity, even in the midst of our poverty. And this so struck Paul, this so convicted Paul, that he just goes, that's nuts. Yes, you can do that. And so he tells Titus, go ahead of me. Take this letter to the church in Corinth. They need to know what their brothers and sisters have done. But Titus is the one who delivers this letter. Two corinthians to the church says, go and share this testimony. And there are two things I want you guys to see here. These churches are being persecuted, and that persecution is having a practical effect on their financial life. [00:19:26] Paul's amazed. They still want to give generously and notice the two points of faithfulness here. I think this is actually important for us. It says they gave themselves to the Lord and to Paul's ministry in the context of this gift, this financial gift. What this is essentially telling us is that even in the midst of their poverty, they were giving financially to support the local worship, and they were wanting to give beyond this to the real ministry needs of Paul's ministry. Guys, there is a really practical application for us here. A life stewarded to the kingdom of God supports both local worship and like larger ministry needs. The phrase you'll often hear talked about in church world is this idea of tithes and offerings. If you've been in church a while, you've heard that term before, right? Tithes and offerings. Essentially talking about two different categories, or maybe not levels isn't the right word, but two different categories of how we give financially. First and the most basic is this fundamental, and I'm going to use this word because I think it's the right one, a fundamental obligation of the believer to financially support the local worship. And I'm using that phrase, the local worship, because this is a principle that goes back to Genesis, this goes back to the patriarchs. This is this term. You often hear the tithe, but God's people financially supporting the local worship to continue is a biblical principle. The Bible not only doesn't shy away from it, hits on it over and over and over and over. You can go back and you can look at Abraham giving financially to the priest Melchizedek after. This is like before Egypt, before the exodus, before Sinai. You go back and you look at Israel in the wilderness building the tabernacle, and God says, we're going to build this with the offerings from the people. And the people come and they give financially. To build the tabernacle, you go through the history book, so kings and chronicles, and you'll see every few generations there's this moment where they say, hey, the temple has fallen into disrepair and the king doesn't pay for it. The people, king helps pay for it, but the people pay for it. They would set up a collection box outside the temple and people would give to the support of the local worship to keep local worship happening. God even specifically says the Levites are set aside as the priests, the one who operate and keep the local worship happening. God says, hey, look, they're going to live off your offerings. [00:21:59] The priests are going to eat the food you donate. Their kids are going to wear clothes that you guys paid for because they don't have an inheritance in the land. Their inheritance is leading you guys in worship. That principle is a whole Bible principle that continues into the New Testament. When you see the old widow giving to the church, giving to that same silver box that's been sitting in front of the temple for hundreds of years, and Jesus says, that is good. Look at what she's doing. That is good and that is right, and continues on even to the era of the church. It's why I'm saying the local worship and not just the temple. Because when you look at the life of the local church, even the gentile churches that are far away from Jerusalem, Paul and Peter both say it is good and right for the church to financially support the local worship. Paul even says, hey, if your pastors are good at preaching, you should make sure they're paid well. [00:22:55] You guys are like B minus. B minus. [00:23:00] Sorry. [00:23:05] The point is, guys, this is a whole Bible principle and it's why I use this word obligated. [00:23:12] You can't read the Bible and not see a truth that God's people are blessed by local worship. [00:23:19] And so it is their responsibility to fund local worship, as this is the place God has provided us to worship. This is our space of local worship and we're all blessed by what God does here at Emmanuel. And so it's on us. It's on us to honor God by caring for this space in this group and this people and the financial obligations that it has. That makes sense. [00:23:42] But I think what we see here is there's a second category here. Not just they weren't just dedicated to the Lord supporting the local worship, they were also dedicated to us. That there is this concept of beyond the tithe, the authoring. And by the way, that word tithe means 10%, and there's a very specific principle there, and I want you to put that in your back pocket because we're going to come back and talk to that piece. But for now, just hold on to this. Right. Like the Church is obligated to financially care for the local worship, right? But the second category is this idea of these offerings speaking to real needs. [00:24:17] They want to step up beyond their tithe and give what we might call a goodwill offering. So read on with me, starting in verse seven. Now, as you excel in everything, in faith, speech, knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love for us, excel also in this act of grace. I'm not saying this as a command, rather by means of the diligence of others. I am testing the genuineness of your love for you know, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though he is rich for your sake, he became poor so that by his poverty, you might become rich. In this matter, I am giving advice because it is profitable for you, who began last year not only to do something, but also to want to do it. So now also finish the task, so that just as there was an eager desire, there may also be completion according to what you have. For if the eagerness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what the person has, not according to what he does not have. It is not that there should be relief for others and hardship for you, but it is a question of equality. At the present time, your surplus is available for their need, so their abundance may in turn meet your need in order that there may be equality. As it is written, the person who had much did not have too much, and the person who had little did not have too little. Notice the shift here. See, we are commanded to support the local worship, but to offer up more to give an offering. This is, according to Paul, a testing of the genuineness of your love. [00:25:53] Paul says that the Corinthians'generosity in this matter is a test of their love. Beloved, hear this. It is good to be challenged in your generosity. [00:26:06] It's good to be challenged in your generosity because it shows our love for others. [00:26:13] Look how Paul connects this so bluntly to the gospel. Jesus is gracious for us in our sin need, and he meets that need, because this is why money is a test of love. When we use our money to meet real needs, rather than to try and build and protect and hoard our own comfort and our own desires, we are in this very small, yet very tangible way, living like Jesus to the world around us. Guys, it is a beautiful picture of the gospel in action, but there's something really important here. Paul says, I'm giving you advice, not a command. [00:26:57] I'm telling you this because it's good for you. I'm not commanding you. [00:27:02] I'm saying this is a good challenge because you have to want to give generously. Paul talks about how they were psyched about this idea a year ago, but now here it is. Time has come. You got to make sure this is both joyful and realistic. Right? He's essentially wanting them to avoid the emotional pull to over commit and under deliver. Right. Right. We hear about some ministry need something going on in the world, and we go, and our heartstrings are pulled and we go, I want to be a part of that. And they go, awesome. Cool. Here's how you can do it. I'm absolutely going to do that. And then when you get your checkbook out and you're thinking about your actual bills and your actual budget, and you go, ooh, I'm actually not so sure I can do that. I know I said this much, but let's inch this down a little bit, right? Like he's trying to avoid essentially the shame that comes with over promising under delivering, don't promise a gift you can't or don't really want to give. Rather, choose joyfully to sacrifice the benefit others, because that is what Jesus did for you guys. This is speaking to the idea of an offering, a joyful gift that you can make over and above your obligation to support the local worship. This is about additional resources to support real needs and real ministries beyond your local church. You guys all know what this is because christians all naturally do this. [00:28:31] This is exactly what happens when you guys give a love offering, when you guys give to a specific benevolence need, when you step up to support a ministry or a missionary or a feeding program in Columbia. Right? [00:28:47] Like, this is exactly what we're talking about. Real life needs that rise up from time to time. And Paul is directly challenging Corinth and us, and us, Emmanuel, to think of our offerings as a practical picture of Jesus'love. [00:29:06] He's challenging us to think of our financial generosity as a test of our love for others. [00:29:16] That picks a little bit, doesn't it? And I'm glad Paul said it, not me. That picks a little bit. [00:29:23] Guys, this is a great self diagnostic question. [00:29:28] It's a great self diagnostic question for your current experience of faith. Are you generous when ministry needs arise? [00:29:39] Are you or how about this? Are you able to be generous when ministry needs arise? Because some of you go, oh no, my heart is moved. I absolutely want to be part of that stuff. I can't, but I absolutely want to be a part of that stuff. Or how about this? Are you able to be joyfully generous when ministry needs arise? Some of you go, I mean, I can write a check. I don't want to, but I will. [00:30:07] I know I should. [00:30:09] It's a great self diagnostic question. Guys. This is real practical application for us today. If you are going to be able to be joyfully generous in this way, it's going to be because you decided to budget for it ahead of time. [00:30:27] It's going to be because you have chosen to live this way, because you sat down and worked through your family's finances and said, I want to be able to joyfully meet needs when they arise. And so I'm going to assume that needs will arise. [00:30:43] A chunk of my financial life is going to be set aside not to my own glory, but to the glory of God in the meeting of real needs that I don't even know exist yet. That's a real practical application of this. Are you living your life in such a way that generosity exists in your budget? [00:30:59] Are you able to step up to needs as they arise? Are you willing, guys, hear this. Are you willing to change your budget to move it around, to forego comforts and pleasures so that you can be generous when needs arise? [00:31:15] Woof. [00:31:16] That brings us, I think, really well to this next section. We're actually going to skip 816 through 24. Not because it's not scripture, it's administrative. He's talking about the people he's sending and how they're going to collect the gift. And I want to be respectful of our time today. So jump with me over to chapter nine, verses one through five. [00:31:34] Now, concerning the ministry of the saints, it's unnecessary for me to write to you, for I know your eagerness. In fact, I boast about you to the Macedonians achieve has been ready since last year. Your zeal has stirred up most of them. But I'm sending the brothers so that our boasting about you in this matter would not prove empty, so that you would be ready, just as I said. Otherwise, if any Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we, not to mention you, would be put to shame in that situation. Therefore, I considered it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead to you and arrange in advance the generous gift you promised so that it will be ready as a gift and not as an extortion. [00:32:15] This is a great line. He says, look, guys, I've been bragging about you, and I don't want us to show up and you be like, oh, Paul, we've been fighting for the last year. We did not collect that money, right? Because they've had a rough year with Paul. And so Paul goes, hey, listen, I've been boasting about you, and God's actually used that testimony to help people. So let's just make sure. Let's just make sure you're good, right? Like, I don't want it to get there and be this awkward thing and you guys feel like you have to do this out of obligation. I want you to be able to live into the joyful commitment you made. I think what Paul tells us here is this really practical, really practical principle regarding giving and generosity in the church, which is this the best time to talk about generosity is not when the plate is getting passed. Right? That's not the best time to talk about generosity. Paul's sending this letter ahead of his visit. He doesn't want to get there with friends while they're all standing there. Be like, so you got that money you promised, right? Because this would be embarrassing and this would take away from Paul's actual teaching. Paul is discipling these people right now, and if it's in this moment of pressure and shame, it's going to mess up the teaching. It's going to take away from the authority. Guys, it's really easy to read manipulative motives into a teaching that comes alongside an immediate need. Yeah, it's really easy to do. So is this teaching really for everyone's benefit, or is this teaching here to meet this need? [00:33:47] I'm going to be real with you guys for a second. [00:33:50] This is why IFC made a dramatic budget shift last year without really asking for money. We talked about it, talked about the change happening, but we didn't do a series on stewardship last year when we were shifting our budget. And there's a reason for that, because this is an important discipleship issue. This is necessary for us to grow in our faith, grow in our faithfulness, grow in our joy. And we wanted our teaching on generosity to be from a place of eagerness, not compulsion, not guilt, not shame. If I came to you guys and I said, hey, money's really tied to church right now. So, anyway, I'm doing three weeks on giving. [00:34:31] That just wouldn't sit right. It would be easy for that to feel slimy right. It just would. So instead, we made a pretty radical budget shift. We shifted around our financial priorities, shifted around our staffing structure. We did our best to adjust our budget to the reality of our giving. We did this mid year, last year, and we set a budget for 2024 that is a little bit of a growth budget, but seems much closerly, like much more closely in line with the reality of what God is providing at our church. Feel good about it. Feel good about us doing our best to steward the generosity that God is providing our church through. You guys. And guys, I'm telling you this confessionally, a big motivator in not making a big deal out of that. Last year was this series, and I think this is important for us. I believe in my heart that this call to steward ourselves for the kingdom is vitally important for our church. Not because I'm trying to grow the budget, but because we need to be a people who are given over to the kingdom. [00:35:32] You need that? I need that. I didn't want any distractions, any semblance of mistrust to close our collective ears to this call to Jesus generosity in our life, in our church. [00:35:46] It's not the best time to talk about it when the plate's getting passed, right? So we waited and we're talking about it right now. [00:35:52] So continue on with me. This is where we're going to get to the money shot here, starting in verse six of chapter nine. [00:35:59] The point is this. [00:36:01] The person who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. The person who sows generously will also reap generously. Each person should do as he had decided in his heart, not reluctantly or out of compulsion. Since God loves a cheerful giver and God is able to make every grace overflow to you, so that in every way, always having everything you need, you may excel in every good work. As it is written, he distributed freely. He gave to the poor. His righteousness endures forever. Now the one who provides seed for the sower and bread for food will also provide and multiply your seed and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way for all generosity which produces thanksgiving to God through us. [00:36:48] As Paul lays it out clear as day here, our generosity is very closely tied to our own experience of kingdom vitality. [00:37:00] When we are generous, we experience the generosity of God. When we are stingy, we miss it. Now, please do not mishear me. This is not some prosperity gospel blasphemy telling you to write a check so that God will make you rich. No, reject that. Don't hear that. Don't take it. If anyone tells you that, stop listening to them. This is referring back to what was already said. When we are generous, we're living like Jesus. [00:37:32] When we are generous, we are behaving like Christ. Jesus is so radically generous to us. When we live like him, we are opening our heart to greater and greater experiences of the generosity that he has poured out for us in his own life. On the cross and his resurrection, we grow in our awareness of Jesus's joyful generosity to meet our needs. [00:37:56] What great news to follow a God who finds joy in sacrificing on your behalf. Find a God who, for the joy set before him, endured the cross, who loves you and I, who poured himself out, who didn't take on the nature of God being found an appearance of the man. God finds delight sacrificing for you and me. What a joy. [00:38:21] Guys, here's the thing. At the end of the day, all your resources belong to God anyway. [00:38:28] Everything you have is his. [00:38:31] The whole creation is his. You are his, right? It's all on loan. You are stewarding them to his glory. And when you point God's resources toward real needs in God's kingdom, don't be surprised when you suddenly grow in your experience of God's generous provision in your own life. [00:38:53] It's how it goes. [00:38:55] So Paul gives us two really practical applications here when it comes to our generosity, our giving. Give what you were led to give and trust that God will provide for you. [00:39:07] Give what your heart leads you to. Give and trust that God will provide you. Guys, generosity at the end of the day is about joy and is about trust. [00:39:16] So give as generously as your heart will allow you to. [00:39:19] There are endless needs, right? I mean, our church supports, supports these different ministries, and we care about them. There are 500 more that we hear about. Spend ten minutes on social media, you'll hear about 13 more that are great and wonderful and worthy of your time, your attention, and your money. There is plenty of need to go around in a sinful and broken world. You can't do all of it. [00:39:40] So you give as generously, as much as your heart allows you to, to as many things as God allows you to. [00:39:48] This is where we're going to step back to the ties for a second. [00:39:51] One of the practical money questions that comes up in discipleship all the time has to do with the ties, this obligation to support local worship, right? [00:40:01] Isn't that an old Testament law? Are christians bound to this? It's got to be 10% of your gross income. Pretax like, is that what we are bound to? [00:40:13] This may feel like a shock, but the biblical answer is no. No, you're not bound to the Old Testament tithe. [00:40:21] New Testament Christians are not bound to tithe and give 10% of their income to sustain a local worship. The New Testament standard seems to be to remember that everything you have belongs to God. [00:40:32] The New Testament standard seems to be 100% of you and your resources go toward the kingdom of God. So you meet the needs of your local worship and larger kingdom needs as you are joyfully and sacrificially able to do so. What does that mean? [00:40:47] Means you give what you can give with joy, and you give it in a way that legitimately causes you to sacrifice. [00:40:55] But you give until you feel it, until it affects you. C. S. Lewis has this quote in mere Christianity about giving. I think it's really helpful. I'm just going to read it to you verbatim. He says, I do not believe one can settle on how much we ought to give. I'm afraid the only safe rule is to give more than you can spare. In other words, if our expenditures on comforts, luxuries, amusements, et cetera is up to the standard common among those with the same income as our own, we are probably giving away too little. If our charities do not at all pinch us or hamper us, I should say they are too small. There ought to be things we should like to do and cannot do because our charitable expenditure excludes them from our budget. [00:41:38] The tithe is still a helpful answer. [00:41:42] It's still a helpful amount because it points us to this larger principle of sacrificial giving. The vast majority of us cannot give away 10% of every dollar we earn without feeling it. For most of us, that is true. When you give, does it cost you? But here's the thing, guys. There are people in this room for whom 10% is legitimately, genuinely untenable. That if you were to give 10% of your income, you would not eat. [00:42:13] Don't do that. Don't do that. It's not that you should meet other needs and then yourself find yourself in extreme need. God has provided for you. Don't give in such a way that you are causing your children to be naked in the streets. Right? Like, that's not what God is calling us. To some of you guys, though, some of you guys, let's be honest, 10% is not enough. [00:42:35] You make enough money that you can give away 10% of your income without noticing it. Or changing your lifestyle in any way, that's something you need to wrestle with. [00:42:46] If your giving does not affect you at all, is it actually sacrificial giving? If we step back to the standard and say, what can I joyfully give? What can I give with joy that will actually cause me to feel it? [00:43:01] It's a really good standard. For many of us, the tithe gets us there, but for many of us, we need to be really honest and step back to this larger biblical principle. Am I giving with joy? Do I feel it? Let's look at this last little chunk of this and then I'll end this out. 912 through 15 for the ministry of this service, not only supplying the needs of the saints, but also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the proof provided by this ministry, they will glorify God for your obedient confession of the gospel of Christ and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone. And as they pray on your behalf, they will have deep affection for you because of the surpassing grace of God in you. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift. Beloved. Here we get to the real end of generosity. [00:43:48] The real end of generosity. This is not to fill up a church's bank account. This is not to fund every cool nonprofit with a social media account. Paul says that generosity is part of the mission. [00:44:00] Paul says that generosity, generosity gives testimony to the truth of the gospel. [00:44:09] This is true in a really practical way, right? When you give money to ministry, ministry happens, right? I mean, guys, my goodness, do you guys get the updates from like Paturka and win the saints? Read about the stuff going on over there? See those videos? Little girls singing rescued from brothels. That happens because people give money to that ministry. [00:44:33] It's paid for by believers in Christ who love Jesus and give generously and joyfully to that work. When we give to ministry, ministry happens. [00:44:42] But it's also a testimony of the truth of the gospel to those in the church and those out of the church. [00:44:49] It shows us what Jesus is like when people give radically to meet real needs. [00:44:55] Jesus has been so generous with us, beloved. He met us in our sin need and he gave sacrificially. And when we do the same, it shows that we take him seriously. [00:45:07] It shows that we believe his sacrifice means something. [00:45:13] So band, if you want to come back up, I'm going to land us out. [00:45:17] I'm going to give you guys three thoughts to reflect on today as we land this out. [00:45:22] The first one is this. I'm going to ask you guys, as we always do, right? Like, let's sit and pray for a minute and consider what God is telling us. And I want you to think through these kind of three areas as we kind of land out today. The first one is this. [00:45:35] Take a minute today to praise God. [00:45:38] Remember the gospel. [00:45:40] Take a moment to celebrate how radical generosity changed your life. [00:45:46] Generosity is always going to pour out of our own experience of Christ. Are you full of Christ? Do you experience his love? Do you trust his provision for you? [00:45:56] You find yourself short on these things, thus short on generosity. [00:46:01] That's you. [00:46:03] The cure is to remember Christ. [00:46:06] The cure is not to white knuckle your way into giving more money. It's to remember Christ. [00:46:11] Reflect on the gospel, think of his sacrifice and let that guide you to joyful sacrifice. [00:46:18] And number two, guys, and this is one, it's just what it is not going to shy away from it. You should evaluate your giving. This is a healthy self reflection for a follower of Christ. Do you give financially? [00:46:33] Do you give financially to your obligation to support local worship? [00:46:37] Do you give offerings over and above to support ministry? [00:46:41] Is your giving sacrificial? Is your giving joyful? [00:46:46] These things are worth considering. What does that mean for you? What does it look like? And then lastly, I would put this one out there. Do you need help with your finances? [00:46:56] I know for some of you guys, this kind of teaching can just be wrecking as you're going. I do feel the call to give sacrificially and I can't. I am so in over my head with money. As we have brothers and sisters in this church who would love to walk with you to find freedom, enjoying your financial life, there is no reason for your money to own you. We would love to help you with that. I'd encourage you to consider those three things and just ask yourself, what might God be calling you to today as we are generous because Jesus was generous with us, living like Jesus. We live like Jesus when we freely and joyfully give. [00:47:40] Take a few minutes to be with Christ and then we'll end our time.