Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - Joy in the Generosity Journey | More Than Enough | Part 3

Episode Date: November 26, 2023

The Bible tells us God loves a cheerful giver (2 Corinthians 9:6-8). Have you ever thought about generosity that way? The joy of giving can change our lives. Let’s find out more in this message.ABOUT THIS MESSAGEWe tend to hold tightly to the things that matter most. But soon, the fear of losing them can feel like a heavy weight. What if you could trade fear for trust that God will provide More Than Enough? Let’s learn how in our new series. NEXT STEPSHave you made a decision to follow Jesus? You may be wondering what’s next on your journey. We want to help! Let us guide you to your next steps in your walk with Christ: https://www.life.church/nextCONNECT WITH A PASTORDo you need prayer? Would you like to find out how you can get involved at Life.Church? One of our pastors would love to meet with you. Schedule a video call with a pastor: https://www.life.church/meetwithusABOUT LIFE.CHURCHWherever you are in life, you have a purpose. Life.Church wants to help you find your next step. Our hope is that your journey will include joining us at a Life.Church location throughout the United States or globally online at https://www.live.life.churchFind locations, videos, and more info about us at https://www.life.church or download the Life.Church app at https://www.life.church/appFIND US ON SOCIAL MEDIAFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/life.churchInstagram: http://www.instagram.com/life.churchTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lifechurchYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LCNowCONNECT WITH PASTOR CRAIGYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/craiggroeschelFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/craiggroeschelInstagram: http://www.instagram.com/craiggroeschelTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@craiggroeschel#lifechurch #craiggroeschel #morethanenough Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

If you're new or haven't been with us, we are studying two chapters in St. Corinthians, chapter eight and nine, and this is our third week. Just for context, this book is really a letter that Paul wrote in correction to the church in Corinth, who kind of started wandering away from what Paul had invested and taught them. And so kind of bringing correction, he devotes two entire chapters, talking about money and things and the transformative power of generosity. Because this group of Christians, they kind of exuberantly claimed that they're going to support their brothers and sisters who are suffering from famine in Jerusalem. They had a lot of intention to give, and they gave nothing. And I want as we start to kind of revisit something Pastor Craig talked about in week one with the

barn and the bag mindset because Paul continues this idea in chapter nine. So if you were to look at the things that you think about the most, care about the most, worry about the most, I want you to kind of in your mind or in your notes, grade yourself, where are you? Where is your life between empty and abounding? The idea empty, I am always perpetually in fear that I'm always perpetually in fear that I'm going to run out. Abounding, I have this deep sense of faith that there is more than enough. I don't know why the Corinthians talked about giving and didn't give, but I do know it is not uncommon for someone to start a faith journey. They proclaim their belief in Christ and they continue to live out of this perpetual, unchanged, worldly mindset. That is a life of disdeme.

and frustration, and you wouldn't wish it on your worst enemy. And so Paul begins with a universal truth. We're going to start in verse 6 of 2nd Corinthians chapter 9. He says this, remember this. Everybody say, remember this. Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. Whoever sows generously will also reap generously. this is interesting because Paul is beginning to make a case because this chapter is 100% about money and nothing else. He is making a case that money is no longer just something to use, but is it is now a seed that you can plant. He's making that case. He is establishing an irrefutable truth of the law of law of. the harvest, that if you want an abundant life or an abundant crop, you have to plant a whole

bunch of seed. One of my hunting buddies, Alan, who attends Midtown Tulsa, shout out to our community at Midtown Tulsa. About two months ago, we were up at his family farm. It's about two hours north from where I live, and we're kind of prepping for the season. There's just something about being in creation. It's just really healthy for my soul. And about halfway through the day, I was like, hey, you want to go see my dad? I think he's planting some wheat. Absolutely. So we hop in the truck. I bet we drive 20 minutes, never left the farm. Thousands of acres. We finally find his dad. He's sure enough, he's sowing wheat. He pulls over the tractor. And I'm kind of like a kid in this candy score. Anybody just grow up playing with like Tonka trucks and John Deer tractors? And I'm, the

tires on this tractor are taller than my head. And so I meet Mr. Killian and we're just talking about the crop that he's planning. And I'm kind of hoping he's going to invite me to do what I really hope he's going to invite me to do. And he does. Hey, you want to take a couple passes? You better believe I do. I make my B-line straight up the ladder to that tractor. I'm sitting in the seat like the captain's chair. I don't know what it's called. I'm sitting in the chair. And this is all GPS navigated. So I'm kind of familiarizing myself with the controls. You've got a stereo up here. And it's awesome. And he climbs up the steps. I'm confident he's going to give me a couple last minute tips. And he says, what's you doing? I said, I'm ready to go. He said, your seat's over there.

And so I end up sitting in like the granddaughter chair in a very tight cab as we took a couple of passes. It was still a great day. But if you were to ask a multi-generational farmer, like this man knows what happens in sowing and reaping. Mr. Killian, do you ever get a little bit freaked out, like you may not have enough? Like, what if you didn't plant all the wheat? And what if you, like, ground some of it up

and made a bunch of bread just to, like, you never know what's going to happen. He would look at me like I'm a crazy person. Why? Because every seed will produce 30 to 100 times the one that goes into the ground. Farmers do not look at seeds for what they are. They look at them for what they will produce when planted. And Paul's not talking about agriculture. He's talking about your money. Here's what I know. Whatever you choose to keep is all you will ever have. But what you choose to sow. But what you choose to sow. or give in faith is what God has the power to multiply. Seed and harvest. I've been in full-time ministry

for about 30 years, and I've had, I can't even tell you how many conversations with people about money and possessions and generosity and the theology behind it all. And this is just my opinion, what I'm about to kind of present is, is like, thematically important for the rest of the text that we're going to talk about today. But when I look at 66 books of the Bible, I see three money mindsets, like mindsets that shape how people choose to live. And the first one is this. It's that everything that I have is all from me and all for me. The vast majority of our planet lives out under this belief, that everything I have, I have, I have. I have. I'm a lot of created it, and it's for me to spend. So Jesus tells this parable of the farmer,

and we're still in the agriculture theme, and he says this. He says, watch out. Be on your guard. It's almost as though greed is a predator coming after you. Be on your guard against all kinds of greed, for life does not consist an abundance of possession. So this is the first money mindset. It's all from me, and it's all for me. The second mindset I clearly see in Scripture is this. The first belongs to God. The first belongs to God. Craig talked about this in week one.

And just look at what Solomon writes in Proverbs chapter 3. Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops, and then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine. And the last money mindset, that if you read the teachings of Jesus, the letters of Paul, unmistakably, you see this idea that we are all called to live as a living sacrifice.

Not 10%, everything I am, and everything I have belongs to God and is available to him. In that same text in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus says to them all, whoever wants to be my disciple, if you want to follow Jesus, you must deny yourself, take up your cross daily, and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. And then he just brings it home.

What good is it for someone to gain the whole world and yet forfeit or lose their very soul. self? What if this is not three money mindsets? What if this is a progressive journey every follower of Christ has to take? All of us. I mean, Pastor Craig was talking about the two-year-old. Like, this is where it started for me. I learned, I learned the word mine. That was the first thing I learned. Like, everything is for me. I don't want to share. And we all start there. And I distinctly remember, I think it was seven years old. I grew up in a Catholic church, and one Christmas, midnight mass, the buckets came past, and I had two dollars in my pocket. That was my allowance. And I don't know why, but for whatever reason, I took it out and I put it in the offering

bucket. So I've now taken one step. I'm not way over here, but I've taken one step to give. and in high school and college, life is very, I'm enjoying myself and becomes a little bit destructive. I'm an addict. There's a lot of darkness. And in 1991, Jim Rosellis shares the gospel with me and I give my life to Christ in San Marcos, Texas. A year later, I meet Cindy Beale, who I proposed to and is way, way out of my league. And she said yes, and we got married. and there was a couple in their mid-70s, Frank and Ruth Mooney, the most generous people I ever met in my life. And they encouraged us to honor God with the tithe. And I had some issues with this. The first thing is I struggled with the fact that the tithe just seemed like a money grab from pastors. They're just trying to get a very little amount of money that this college

student has. That's my first challenge. The second challenge was that I struggled with, is this a New Testament idea, right? I honestly struggle with it. And the more that I wrestled with it, you see this idea of first fruits all throughout the Bible. Like the verse I just quoted was not in Malachi, it was in Proverbs. This is a book of wisdom for all time. Paul used the idea of first fruits in Romans to describe the Jews and the Gentiles becoming the first century church because the Jews were the first fruits of God. And so I had decided this is a New Testament idea. It's a principle of God. But even more than that, can I tell you what made me step across the line and give my first tith check? What was unmistakably clear to me is that the destination was giving

my whole life. And regardless of what I believed about the tithes, aren't we all going to pass through giving 10% to God on our way to living our lives as a living sacrifice. I'm telling you, some of you are stuck here, and I'm begging you to take a step in this journey. Every person listening to this message is somewhere on this continuum. You're somewhere. There are some of you that are like way over here, actively trying to outgive God, and you never will do it, but it's sure a whole lot of fun trying. there are some of you that you've gotten to the point where you're like, God, the first is yours, and you gave your first tithe check. I want to encourage you, the tithe is not the finishing line

of generosity. It is the starting blocks. It's where it begins, and honestly where it gets fun. And there are some of you, if you're super honest, you're here today, and you're like, I don't want to give. at most, I want to want to give. I wish I wanted to give, but I'm not sure I want to give. God can actually work with that. No matter where you are today, every single one of us have another step to take. And as we dive back into second grade in chapter nine, that next step is going to start with this truth. The journey of joyful generosity starts with a decision. it starts with a decision. Look at what Paul writes. In verse 7, each one must do what he has what? What he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion for God loves a cheerful giver. Some of you are probably waiting on some burning bush moment to tell you what to give and to whom to give it. Church, that may or may not happen. Probably won't. Some of you are waiting on a emotional urge, like this deep emotion before you give.

That may or may not happen. With how expensive the world is today, most of you are waiting on a large raise or a winning lottery ticket before you take this step into joyful generosity. That might not happen either. We are not the only ones who are waiting. I believe God is waiting on us to just decide. Each of you should give as you have decided in your heart. This is such a powerful text. Paul kind of gives us some conditions. Like your motive matters here, right? Not reluctantly or under compulsion. So the decision you make to give probably should not be with expectations. of getting something in return. That's actually a business transaction, not an act of generosity. However, almost every part of scripture that talks about giving, there is a promise of heaven associated with it, yet that can't be our motive. We shouldn't be reluctant or coerced by social

or religious presser or even a sermon you're hearing right now. Motive matters. There is one word in this text that radically changes the meaning for me for the whole passage of scripture. And up to this point, you know, I've been following Jesus since 91. Every time I've read this verse, I've kind of read it and said, okay, basically, you better give and you better have a dang good attitude about it, right? That's kind of my takeaway. Like, don't give improperly because God's watching. I don't read it that way anymore.

because the one word that changes everything is the word heart. Each of you should decide from your heart. That's an interesting, like, do we need my heart? Can I just use my brain or my budget to decide what I'm going to give? That's not what Paul's going after. Let's look at the Greek word for heart. And it's the word cardia. And it literally means the center and seat of your heart.

spiritual life, the fountain from which your thoughts, passions, desires, appetites, and affections flow. It is your soul. So let me restate this passage. Each of you should decide, make a choice, but make it from the center and the seat of your spiritual life. Make a decision from the fountain. sent inside of you, from which your thoughts and your passions and your admiration's flow, what is he calling us to? He's calling us to make a soul decision. Dallas Willard, who's one of the most prolific philosophers and theologians of our generation, was famously quoted, having pinned these words,

The most important thing in your life is not what you're. you do. It's who you become. Most of my life, I'm 52. I have, I've analyzed my life through the lens of, do I like where I'm at? Do I like where I'm headed? And do I like what I've accomplished? And at 52, I'm asking a very different question these days. I'm asking while I'm where I'm at, and while I'm headed where I'm headed, and while I'm accomplishing what I'm accomplishing, do I like the person that I'm becoming? Why? Because the only things that will live forever next to God himself are His Word and our souls. What's your soul? It is your mind. It is your will. It's the byproduct of your emotions. And I think that is what Paul is challenging us too. It's the point

that he's trying to instill in us that it's not so much what God requires of you. Church, generosity is the pathway to becoming the person you want to become. It is the process by which we go down this journey of joyful generosity and you change in the process. I love this. Craig challenged us in week one with this idea that what you love, you will give to. And what you are giving to, you will eventually love it. More specifically, the person you are becoming can, with some degree of accuracy, be predicted by the story. that your calendar and your credit card statements tell. Ouch. Ouch. Is anybody feeling a little bit uncomfortable right now? Like, you're getting into my business just a little bit. Like, Chris,

I don't know how that would even play out. Like, I look at how expensive the world is. I look at my bills. I look at things I'm wrestling with. I'm barely trying to keep my head above water. And it's not that I disagree with God's word. I just have no idea. how that would look in my life. And I'm here to tell you that God knows what you're worrying about. He does what you're thinking about because of look at Paul's next four words. And God is able. I don't care what you're worried about. He is able. If you are stressed, chances are you're living out of your own ability and that's going to fall terribly short. And God is able. But I'm afraid. He's able. I don't know how it would actually work in my budget. Maybe you don't have to worry about that. God is able. What is he able to do? He is able to bless you abundantly. So that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, not what you want, but what you need, he will abound in every good work. As it is written, they have freely scattered their gifts to the poor and their right.

righteousness endures forever. Your God is able. Maybe the whole point of this journey is to bring us out of self-sufficiency. Remember, it's all from me and it's all for me. If you do a word study on greed, you would not wish on your worst enemy what that life is like. And God is inviting us to depend on the fact that He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. He owns everything. And God is able. Would you just compare that text to how you answered the question a little earlier? Where on the scale, from empty to abounding, is your present life?

And if you are anywhere near empty, can we just for a moment realize the distance, the grand canyon between my present reality, and the life that God has purposed for us. And he is able to bless you abundantly. So that in all things, at all times, having all that you need, you will abound. The word abound is the same word used to describe what the disciples collected after the feeding of the 5,000. It is this abundant overflow reality of the economy of heaven. And generosity is the pathway to becoming the person that you really want to become. Let's look at our last verse in verse 10.

This is so good. Now he who supplies seed to the sower, remember, we're making a decision from our soul. not to give, but to become a giver. God, I'm pre-deciding, I'm going to learn to love sewing. And in response, God says, so if you've chosen to be a sower,

you don't even need to figure out where to get the seed from because I'm going to provide it for you. Now, he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food. oh by the way i'm also going to take care of your needs along the way will supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness some translations say and will enlarge the harvest of your generosity so god's calling us to generosity to breed more seed

so that we can have this infinitely large harvest of more generosity and in the process you become the person that you really want to become. I want to challenge you, we do not know intrinsically how to do this on our own. We don't. We are selfish by nature. We all start with that mind mentality. And watching how Craig and Amy have modeled this for 22 years,

I'm surrounded by people that are better than I am at this. and I want to be great at this. Like I want to be great at this. It's deeply spiritual to me. And I want to learn from people that are great at it. And if I looked at every person in my life and was going to decide, I want to model my life after this person,

it would be my 91-year-old mother player. She is a giver. and she's never had anything to give, but that's never kept her from being a giver. It was like those $5 gifts that she'd send to the grandkids or the great grandkids. They were so much more impactful even than the Xbox that dad bought them, why? Because it came from the heart of a giver. It's just a different power when you're on the receiving end of someone who's a giver. and it wasn't even though she was generous with finances because she was,

but she's the most generous person with her words that I've ever met in my life. She would thank you and praise you for things over and over and over. In fact, I remember I built this stone pathway between her back patio and the pool so she didn't have to walk through the mud. I built it in the Reagan administration. No kidding. Ronald Reagan was praying. for those of you in other countries, this is an American reference. So I built this thing for her like way, way back in the 80s. I stopped getting thanked for it in the Obama administration.

Like decades. I would, oh, Chris, that path is just the most beautiful thing you've ever done. And I've watched this verse come true in her life. I've watched God multiply seed to the sower because she would just continue to give and give and give. And like, for example, my family we've owned mineral rights, oil rights, for about 80 years, several generations, and never drilled on it. But then when my mom, who's living this life of pouring out, guess what? We get a phone call and a gas company wants to drill on it, and guess what that does? It creates a monthly revenue of more seed because this woman has decided to live her life as a sewer. This is the funnest life in the world, church. It's the funnest thing in the world. Giving is, it's a spiritual discipline.

And I just want to challenge you with this thought, spiritual disciplines are not religious obligations. If you're hearing this message and thinking yourself, just one more thing God needs me to do, you've missed it completely. This is not an obligation. It is an invitation. It is an invitation. to a transformed soul. I mean, think about prayer for a minute, right? Prayer is not a religious obligation. It's an invitation to intimacy with the Father. Service.

Those of you who love serving. You know this. This is not an obligation. This is an invitation to become the hands and feet of Jesus. Generosity. Church is an invitation to a invitation to an inexplicable joy that cannot be found in any other way. Why does God love a chill forgiver? Because he is one. And when you pre-decide at the soul level, God, I'm going to learn to

love to sow. I'm going to learn to live an open-handed life. I believe he sees a glimpse of his own nature in you. And I believe it puts a smile on his perfect face. All of our locations together, would you join me in prayer today? Father, your nature, you love us so generously. Your grace and mercy are so abundant. God, help us be compelled from the right motive to pour our lives out as an offering to you. In this moment of prayer, this journey of joyful generosity is not three steps. It's thousands of little ones. And with every step you take, you are moving away from a life marked by emptiness, and you're moving toward a life marked by the abundance of heaven. And I just want to ask you, between now and the end of this year,

How many of you would commit? You're hearing God's voice saying, you know what, God? Between now and the end of the year, I'm going to take one more step in my generosity journey. I'm not sure what it is or to whom it will be, but I'm going to take another step and my journey to become a soul giver. If you'd commit to that today, would you boldly raise your hand in all of our locations? Hands going everywhere. Praise God for you. God, you see the hands, but more than that, you see the hands.

the heart behind it, the desire to live a different life. And God, I pray that you would give us the faith to give sacrificially and joyfully from the soul level. And God, multiply it to impact so many people with the love of Jesus and the power of His gospel. As a we continue to pray today, I want to go back to that Greek word that I shared a moment ago, Cardia, the foundation and seed of your spiritual life. That word is also used in another passage in the New Testament. And it was the very word that that young man in San Marcos, Texas, shared with me several decades ago to lead me into relationship with Jesus. And it was this, Romans 109. If you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord and you believe in your soul that God raised him from the dead,

you will be saved. Period. Period. Period. Why do we pray out loud at the end of every life church service every week? We're confessing with our mouths. Jesus is Lord. There is. There is. There is. some of you listening to this message and your life is dark. It's dark. And hope seems like a fiction, something so out of your reach. Salvation begins with agreeing with God that we've sinned and our sins separates us from a holy God. And that is the bad news. But the good news is that while we were sinning, Christ died for us. For the joy set before him, he endured the cross, for the hope that in a moment like this, at a time like now, some would finally step across the line and confess, Jesus, you are my Lord, and I believe in my soul that God raised you from the dead,

and that you will be saved. It takes a moment of faith and a little bit of courage, but I'm telling you it will change the trajectory of the rest of your life and change your eternal destination. With heads, bowed and eyes closed at all over locations, those of you saying, God, I don't know you. And I'm certainly not living for you. But today, I'm surrendering my life and giving all that I am to you. I want you to boldly raise your hand right where you are. Just lift it up right where you are. Jesus, I'm saying yes to your grace.

Praise God for you. Just lift it up for a moment. I need you. God loves you so much. Others of you. Others of you. Jesus, I'm giving you my life. All of our locations, praying with those out loud who are saying yes to Jesus. Pray this with me. Father, I need you. I've sinned. I'm asking you to save me. Jesus, I believe you died on a cross you didn't deserve to pay for my sin. And you rose from the grave to bring me life. Fill me now with your Holy Spirit that I could serve you always. In Jesus' name, I pray. God's church said. Come on, everybody.