Life.Church with Craig Groeschel - The Cure for Greed | Book Club | Part 3

Episode Date: June 25, 2023

You know the feeling. The one where you think you’ll be satisfied if you have the next new thing. And if you make more money, you’ll have what you need. What happens when a little bit more is never enough? Is it possible to live a generous life instead? Let’s find out together in this message.ABOUT THIS MESSAGENo one has all the answers. That’s why we need a variety of voices to help us grow. During our series, Book Club, we’ll get fresh perspectives on anxiety, relationships, generosity, and more from people who have been there and wrote the book on it. 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 #jonathanpokluda Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Such an honor and joy to be with you in this amazing place. And most churches to reach the nations, they have to get on an airplane. This amazing church, they can teach from this stage and the message goes all around the world. And one of the greatest joys of vocational ministry is actually getting to do that, get on an airplane and go and do mission work overseas. And so I've been to the island nation of Haiti six times, really enjoy being there. And on one of those trips there was a family it was a Christian family and they had a baby boy who was sick and so they take this baby boy to the church and they said hey would you lay hands on him he had a really high fever and they said would you just lay hands on him pray that the Lord would heal him and so the elders come around lay hands on him everybody comes up praise for this child and and we i was a part of this or i i heard about it right afterwards and and then they left there and they took the child to a voodoo priest, to the voodoo temple. And the voodoo priest did this satanic ritual over the child for his healing. And as I'm hearing this, I'm really confused. I'm like, wait, why would they do that?

And I'm confused that nobody else is confused. And they said, well, the Haitians believe in God. They just believe he's slow. And I said, but I don't understand. understand. Like how, if you're a Christian, why would you go to the voodoo temple? And they said, well, Haiti at the time is 80% Catholic, 20% Protestant, and 100% voodoo. They said it's just crept into all aspects of faith. Now listen, maybe you're watching from Haiti right now. I by no means intend to stereotype an entire nation of believers. That's not my intent. It's just what was shared to me.

And what it did for me is it caused me to think here in America where I do ministry. I thought, what is that blind spot? That if somebody came from overseas and they met with the church and they looked at the church, what is the thing that they would say, hey, I don't think you guys understand. This isn't normal. This isn't biblical. It's inconsistent with the Word of God. Now, that thing, whatever it is, we would be so inoculated to it.

You don't know what it is right now. You would have to really do heart surgery to get there. Well, praise God, it didn't take long for me to get the answer because I got to meet with a missionary who came to America from Russia now. And as we were meeting at the time, I said, hey, what is it that you see in our country that may be inconsistent with the scriptures, inconsistent with God's word. And he said two words.

Public storage. I said what? Public storage. And he said, yes. Your houses have closets that are full of your things. Your garages are so full that you can't put your automobiles in there. and as I drive down the highway, you have buildings spread out and built up where you store your things because they won't fit in your apartment or your house, public storage.

You guys are storing up things. It says, America is some percentage Catholic, some percentage Protestant, but 100% materialistic. and as another pastor heard this with me he said it seems as though we've become containers not conduits we've become pales not pipes if you understand the metaphor a container is where you store things a pale is where you store things but a conduit and a pipe is where you get things where they need to go And what I want to argue with you for just a few moments today from the scriptures is that God has made every single one of us to be a pipe, not a pale, a conduit, not a container. That he entrust things to us, he gives us things to us to us to move those things through us to get them where they need to go. And so I want to talk with you about the cure for greed, which is generosity.

Pastor Craig said I could speak on any chapter from this book. And as he said that, immediately my mind ran to this. If I can speak to the most influential church on any topic, apart from the gospel, which will be here, it would be generosity. And I want you to know, with an expression of gratitude, this church, your churches are known renowned for generosity. And if you're here and you're on the sideline, I just, with any credibility that the Holy Spirit might give me with you today, I want to compel you to get in the game.

Because it is my own story and experience that you're missing out. You're missing out on the full goodness of God. generous living is the antidote to materialism and it might feel like the church is always talking about money I want you to know I'm not I'm not and I am not trying to get the church to have your money I want God to have your heart and there's a big difference

between you leaving here and thinking oh the church just wants my money no no no no no God wants your money heart. Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. And he's doing incredible work. Honestly, I'm overwhelmed by the work he is doing through this place and the opportunity that we have to partner with him through that. And so the cure for greed, the cure for greed is generosity. I think a lot of you think, oh, the application is going to be just to tithe. It's not. It's not. If I can say this really controversial thing out the gate, tithing is an unbiblical idea. Before you charge the stage or, you know, start your email from your phone, wherever you're at,

hold on. It's an Old Testament idea. And when we begin to peel back the layers, I don't have time to go into this, but I'm going to give you resources so that you can just fact check me on this. When you peel back the layers, you're going to see that they gave, we think tithe 10% and we go before tax or after text, you're going to see that they gave between 25 and 30% in the Old Testament. And then when we turn to the New Testament, we're going to see what giving actually is from the scripture, this idea that is born out of God's example through his son, Jesus Christ. That is not just us saying this thoughtless idea that we would stroke this check and before tax, after tax, 10%, here you go, hey, that's an amazing starting place for some of you.

if you've never gifted, been a part of a church, joined a church, been a member there in the way that you give. 10% is an amazing starting place. It really is. But I think the scripture calls us to more. And so there's lots of verses that I could go to on this. I could go 1st Timothy 6. I could go really all throughout the scripture. But I'm going to be here starting to look at the example of the Macedonians. I'm going to be in 2 Corinthians chapter 9. But to get there, I've got to start. start in 2 Corinthians chapter 8. As we're looking at the cure for greed, we're going to see the call to give generously, to give cheerfully, and to give faithfully from the scriptures. And so with the Macedonians as our model, this is what it says in verse 2. In the midst of a very severe trial,

like what kind of trial? I mean, there was like a global pandemic. They were like, mask, no mask, back. The world shut down, right? Do we know anything about a trial? Okay. In the midst of a severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity. For I testify that they gave as much as they were able and even beyond their ability. How do you give beyond your ability? And why would the Holy Spirit preserve that text for thousands of years so that I can read it to you today? That they, the one we hold up as the example of a faithful church as it relates to generosity, gave more than they were able to give. And then Paul says to the Corinthians, as I would say to you.

And I told them about your generosity. I told them how you were going to faithfully support the teaching of God's word and the building of the kingdom and the advancing of the gospel. And I told them I'm sending someone there to pick up the check. And then he says this. It's the word of the Lord. 2 Corinthians chapter 9 verse 6 remember this whoever sews sparingly

will also reap sparingly and whoever sows generously will also reap generously and so what is the word sow what? How does he call us to sow?

Generously is the word that is repeated there and so the cure for greed is to number one, give generously. We're to give generously. He presents this. He's like, not comfortably, not conveniently, comfortably would be sparingly. He's saying, I'm not calling you to give sparingly. I'm calling you to give generously. What does that mean? Generous giving is giving in a way that you feel. Like some of you think, oh, I've got a generous friend. They always tithes. 25% they're a generous

friend they may not be generous they might just be rich okay there's a difference generous giving is giving in a way that you feel it impacts you it costs you something that's generous that's what sets

apart giving from generous giving Jesus gives us this example in Mark chapter 12 Jesus sat down It's a story. It happens. History. Opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts, but a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.

Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth, but she, out of her poverty, put in everything. all she had to live on. And why did the Holy Spirit preserve this text for thousands of years? This example that we would read and learn from, I'll tell you, it is more difficult for a wealthy person to be generous. Right? Like if I said, hey, guys, guess what?

Let's celebrate. Someone gave a million dollar gift to Life Church. Was it a generous gift? We don't know. We don't know. But if I said, hey, somebody gave $5 to this mission, and it was the only $5 they had, was it a generous gift? It absolutely was a very biblical, scriptual, generous gift. This is what the word of God is teaching us. And so he's saying, give us.

more than you're comfortable giving. Let me just share a story because you're like, oh, you're a pastor. You're supposed to say these kinds of things. I haven't always been a pastor, haven't always been a Christian, became a Christian as a young adult, even though I grew up in church, didn't go to church in college. I was at a club 20 years ago. And someone invited me to a church. I sat in the back row hung over. I smelled like smoke from the night before, the club the night before. And I continued to go to that church and God, the Holy Spirit, did a work of my life and I eventually trusted in the grace of Jesus Christ that God had paid for my sins through his son Jesus Christ and he raised him from the dead. And when I understood that gospel, everything began to change in my life, but not

everything. Because I continued to go to that church and I never really even considered, like, who pays the light bill and like who paid for these comfortable chairs and the HVAC. I just never really thought about it like that. You know, it didn't cross my mind. And I thought, okay, all I knew was like P and L, profits and laws. I was a business guy, General Ledger, you know, I was like, what is the product they sell? I wonder where they get their money. This place is really nice. And then it dawned on me. Oh, faithful members support this mission out of the money that they are given and trusted to by God. and they funnel it. They're a pipe. They're a flow through. They funnel it to this organization so that this organization can build the kingdom and advance the gospel. And it hit me. And I thought,

you know what? I'm going to do it. I'm going to give. And so I pulled out a crisp $100 bill. And I put it in an envelope and I wrote my name on it so I would get the tax credit. And I went into the back and I put it in the box. And I thought, God is so lucky to have me on his team. You know? And now, you don't know what my life looked like at this time. I lived in a penthouse condo in uptown. I drove a Jaguar S-type, had different watches for every day of the week,

different suits for every day of the week. Wanted to be a millionaire before I was 30. It was just climbing the corporate ladder. And here I was, the icon of generosity because of the $100 bill I gave. Now, what happened is I continued to be disciples in that. that church and I got plugged into a small group and in this small group we began to go through crown financial ministries and and just kind of get instruction on on monetary principles financial principles and there was this day where we had to share what we made and and every I remember

somebody was like I would rather show up naked to group than to share what I you know my finances and for me I was like I don't know I'd love for you to like I'm you know I'm I'd love to show you what I make, you know, flex. And I did, and it was the most in the group at the time, right? This is, by the way, pre-ministry. And in the next week, we shared what we gave. And all of a sudden, I felt like I was naked. I didn't want to, I didn't want, I was like, so what happened was I made the most and I gave the least. And initially, that just fed a sinful, competitive spirit in me. Like, not anymore. You know, how am I going to win? How am I going to be? But as the Holy Spirit continued to work in my heart, we gave more and more. And then God called us into vocational ministry. And as we

worked the budgets of that, it just didn't make sense. And we were trying to figure out we had to sell our house and just thinking through this. And we continue to give more. And we continue to give more. and more, and I don't say that boastfully because I would tell you this, we never felt it. Like, God just came behind us, we would shovel it out, and as R.G. Laterno says, God would shovel it back in, and he just had a bigger shovel. And it raises the question, do we give to receive? And I just, I want to help you get over that real quick, and just say, it seems like the scripture allows you to. It says, you reap what you sow, and it's going to say some more texts here in a minute, just say, hey, it seems like the scripture

allows you to you to. But again, before you charge the stage and before you type up your email, it's the why. You give to receive so that you can give more. Right? God doesn't give back to you so that you can increase your standard of living, but your standard of giving. Because he loves a cheerful giver the text says. Why does God love a generous? giver? Because he is a generous giver. For God so loved the world, he, for God so loved the world, he's a generous giver. Did Jesus tithe his blood? You give 10% of his life for your sins? No, he models for us what it looks like to give everything. Each of you, verse 7, each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion.

For God loves a cheerful giver, it says. So the cure for greed, the second point, is to give cheerfully. We are to give cheerfully. And these first two scriptures presented a dichotomy, not sparingly, but generously. Not out of compulsion or reluctantly, but cheerfully. I was an example of someone who gave reluctantly. But God calls you to give cheerfully. what does it look like to give out of compulsion you may have done this when they passed the plate

earlier today or here in a moment in your service and you feel like who's looking at me and what are they going to think and so maybe i need to that's out of compulsion that's reluctance my mom grew up i she went to this country church like i'm talking in a town uh population was 450 people. And there's this church, the steeple, the whole thing. And the way that they would, the ushers would take up the offering is they would pass this, the plate was attached to a pole, almost like a swimming pool skimmer net thing. It was on a pole and they would just move it through the aisle. And my uncle Rubin, I mean, everybody would come in with their cowboy hats. This church has a clip for your cowboy hat. I mean, it's that, it's still around. And my uncle Rubin

had got into it with the usher before the service. I don't know what was said, but some words were exchanged, and then they went into church to worship. And as that usher moved up to him, you know, he put that pole at that basket in front of him. And if you weren't going to give, you just kind of break eye contact or, you know, look around. And so, you know, my Uncle Rubin didn't acknowledge him, but that guy just kept it there. And then he shook it a little bit. And I remember sitting behind Uncle Rubin and Red just kind of began to creep up his neck into his ears and he reached into his pocket and he pulled out some kind of bill and he put it inside the basket and the guy just shook it again a little bit more. And now everyone in the church is looking at him, you know,

and this is what it looks like to give reluctantly or out of compulsion. What happened earlier today may be your greatest act of worship and I'm not talking about the singing. What happens when you come into this place and you, you and God, just between you and him, and you make a sacrifice and you give something to support the mission, may be the greatest act of worship that you experience. God loves a cheerful giver because he is a cheerful giver. For the joy set before him, he endured the cross, scorning his shame. God loves a cheerful giver. because he is a cheerful giver.

What I'd encourage you to do is just like, if you're married, if you have a family, gather your family, make this like a family event. Hey, here's what we're doing. Let's talk about this. Let's pray through it together. If you need accountability in this area, invite others into it, to speak into it. Hey, here's how I'm doing. Hey, would you pray for me?

I realize that things and stuff and status have a grip on my heart. I need help here. verse eight and god is able to bless you abundantly so that in all things at all times having all that you need you will abound in every good work as it is written they have freely scattered their gifts to the poor their righteousness endures forever he quotes psalm 112 verse 9 and then he says to them now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase again he's talking about god here we can't can't avoid these verses and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be

enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion and through us, your generosity will result in Thanksgiving to God. And you use this seed metaphor. Now, could you imagine being the first farmer that you're hungry, your family's hungry, your crop produces a stalk of wheat and you can grind that wheat into flour and produce bread so that you can eat or you can do something crazy. You can take it and bury it in the ground. And could you imagine the first time they did that? No, I'm going to take it and I'm going to bury it in the ground so that it produces a harvest. In faith, I'm going to give it away so that it produces a harvest. This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of the Lord's people, but is also overflowing in

many expressions of thanks to God. This is great for you, Life Church. This is a word for you, Life Church. Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. God gives those who are generous, more to be generous with, so that the world talks about their generosity, and as they talk about their generosity, they talk about their generous God, and this is the cycle that we see in the text. And so the cure for greed is to give faithfully. Number three, give faithfully. The meaning of this word, it's a double meaning. One, given faith, but two, give regularly,

like not just wait till the end of the year, not give when it's convenient, but make it a regular practice of your act of worship that you would give in faith and that you would give regularly because, verse 13, of the service by which you have proved yourselves, others will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ. I was so excited to speak to this church on this topic because you guys, I think, and I mean, it's crazy to be able to say things like this with no flattery and no exaggeration void of hyperbole I do not know of a more generous church you guys I've got the Bible almost everyone in my congregation has the Bible on their phones the congregation I serve with because of the generosity of this church nearly over 600 million

people I mean that's crazy that's crazy and this church is doing more to translate that Bible, to put it in places where they don't have the scripture in their heart language than any other church that I know of, to pave a way for Jesus to return to. Life Church is bringing back Jesus to the earth in the way that you are living out the gospel. You, this church, has given away over, I got to look at my notes because I'm like, that can't be right, 20 million free resources. It's crazy. Every week, every week I preach the gospel from a stage in Waco and tens of thousands of people hear that message because of a platform that you guys have shared with us, your online platform. It's crazy, the generosity of this church. I

don't know that there's ever been a more influential church. And I'm telling you, I'm not kissing up. Like, mad respect to Pastor Craig, mad respect to this staff, mad respect to you guys. I'm not trying to cause you to sin and pride or boastfulness. I'm just saying, I hope you consider it an amazing privilege to support this mission. that you would give faithfully. Not trying to guilt you. Take baby steps if you haven't started.

I learned a lot about this from my son Weston. When he was about four years old, we hit this interesting parenting dilemma. He would just give away everything. I know, it was crazy. All he wanted for his birthday is in September, mine's in November. All he wanted for his birthday is in September. was this truck. He had, you know, dropped hands. He had circled it, you know, sending us, you know, having his sister send us text messages to links to the truck. He went this right. And so

for his birthday, he got the truck. He was so excited. Well, my birthday came two months later. And there was one package wrapped on the table that you could tell a four-year-old had wrapped. It was just kind of mummified. And I opened the box thinking, what is he going to give me? And when I looked inside, I took my breath away, you know, because he had given me his truck. you know and i'm just like i'm like buddy you can't give me your truck and he goes daddy you're special to me i want you to have it you know and this is just like the it's just like the generosity in his heart and that oh that that's so sweet that you just felt i think that should mark the church it should follow us it should go everywhere we go it's one of the things that people should see

from afar when his grandparents would give him money he would just divide it up between his sisters Here's a dollar for you, a dollar for you, a five for you, a five for you, a five for you, a ten for you, a ten for you. I mean, truly, you just give it away. One day we're at a restaurant, and he asked Monica, my wife, he said, hey, do you have any change? There was a gumball machine nearby, so I figured he wanted that. And so she hands him her coin purse, and he takes it, and he walks around the restaurant. He just puts change on all the tables. Everybody that's there, he just starts giving it away. And I'm like, what do I do? I'm like, son, you can't just give away all our money. You know? He's like, dad, why not? And I'm like, I don't know. But you can't. Right? And God just taught me, maybe you're supposed to. Like maybe you've just been too responsible.

God loves a faithful giver because he is the most faithful giver. My God will meet all your needs according to his riches of his glory in Jesus Christ. In summary, the cure for greed is giving generously, the cure for greed is giving cheerfully, and the cure for greed is giving faithfully. I tried to understand why Weston was so reckless with his giving, my four-year-old. And I was kind of parenting through this,

and Monica and I were talking, and I was praying about it and then it hit me. It's like, oh, he has a dad who loves him. It's going to make sure that he has everything he needs. You know, that all his needs are going to be met. He's not going to go hungry. He knows that at four years old. He knows that.

And I turn in the scripture like, Matthew 6, he's like, look at the birds, look at the flowers. Your heavenly father, feeds them does he not love you more than them and i'm like god i don't believe that but aren't there christians who start i mean i just don't i don't know and i'm just telling you one of the greatest acts of faith that you can take and the way that you can cure for a greed that has inoculated an entire country and if you're in another country you can identify whether this is your struggle or something else, but I'm just telling you, I think it permeates

throughout the world. We love stuff. And if you just start reading this book like you're on a deserted island, you realize stuff has mass and mass has gravity and it's just pulling you out of a right relationship with God, meaning you're not experiencing the abundance of riches that he has for us. So my prayer for us is that we would. Let me pray. Father, that's my prayer is that we would. We're going to need your help in that. I thank you for the faithfulness of this place. It's really the faithfulness of you, God, working through this place. We all know that. We protect us from arrogance, protect us from pride, in the midst of the amazing things that you're doing. But Lord, we do give you thanks.

And I thank you for the ways I personally have benefited from it. Our church has personally benefited from it. I pray that you would multiply churches like this. And I know that the 501c3 has an amazing reputation of generosity. And I pray that every single member would be marked by that same reputation because it's your reputation. Because you gave generously and you gave cheerfully and you give faithfully. We love you Lord. And Jesus, Amen. Pastor, thank you. Thank you for a heartfelt message.

And how many of you feel a little convicted? Because I got some stuff in storage. And I kind of felt like I was generous because I give a lot, but I haven't really felt it in a while. And so I would just ask, and you don't have to close your eyes, but how many of you as disciples of Jesus want to be more like Jesus and want to be more generous? Yes, so Father, stir up.

within us. And God, I thank you for a church that already is, does have a heart for generosity. God stretch us even more, that we could meet the needs of people in this world, that we could give out your word, not just half a billion, but a billion or two billion people. God help us to resource churches, help us to meet the needs of people that are hurting, and help us to lift up the name, that name that is above every name, the name of Jesus, and draw people to know him. Bless these people as they give. God, as we give, give back to them,

not just so we'll have more, but so they could be a conduit of blessings and ministry all over this world. We give in faith. We give in faith. God speak to us. What we have,

we make available to you. As you keep praying today, there are some of you, you've got to make a gift that's bigger than anything you've ever made before. What do you give? Well, let me tell you first,

what God gave for you and J.P. said it. God sent his son, Jesus, his only son, the greatest gift of all for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son. Jesus, the perfect sacrifice who shed his blood, died on the cross and God raised him from the dead. And so what do we do? How do we earn that? We can't. Our only reasonable response is to trust that that was enough for us. And in return, we just give them our life. We just say, my life is yours. I'm no longer, the king is no longer about my stuff is no longer about me. You be first. You be Lord. You be my savior. I want to follow you. There are some of you like me for years. You were holding onto a sin you like. You're holding onto the stuff of this world. It's time to let it go. Who is he? He is Jesus.

He is the son of God. He is the king of kings. He is the Lord of Lords. When you call on him, God hears your prayers. He forgives your sins. He makes you new. You're no longer bound by the stuff of this world, but you become a child of the most high God wherever you're watching from today. He gave his life for you. Your only reasonable response is to say, I want you, I want you. I give my life to you. I give my life back. Jesus, save me be the Lord of my life. Wherever you're watching from, what do you do? We're stepping away and repenting of our sins. And we're saying, yes, I give you my life. I surrender all. Jesus, would you be my savior? Would you be my Lord?

I give you my life. That's your prayer today. Would you lift your hands right now? All over the place. Churches around the world online say yes, Jesus. I surrender to you online in the comments section. Say I'm surrendering to Jesus. Just type that in.

I'm surrendering to Jesus. Let's pray wherever you are. Pray Heavenly Father. I turn from my sins. I turn toward Jesus. Jesus, forgive me. Save me. fill me with your holy spirit

lead me you are my lord I want to serve you direct my steps my life is not my own I give it all to you as your disciple your child

make me more generous make me more like you take all of my life in Jesus name I pray because somebody celebrate a generous God a good God a God who makes all things new Thank you.